I Call It The City Of Love

ONE

‘I’ll definitely try and talk to him today, no matter what.’ This is what I’ve been promising myself for the past few days.

See, I’ve been so obsessed with this thought that I completely forgot to introduce myself. I am Gaurav, a partial narrator of this story. Wait! Let me correct myself — I am the lucky author who was given the chance to watch the exquisite ending of this intricate story of the protagonist’s life. Well, the one I’ve been wanting to talk to is none other than the protagonist, the primary narrator of this story.

It had been over two weeks since I’d begun working on a story for my novel. With a notebook and a pen, looking over the beautiful Marine Drive, I had been preparing a story that could show all the different flavours of love; I was trying to build wonderful fictional characters that my readers would be desperate to meet.

Well, it’s never really easy to plan and get exactly what you want. Within the past two weeks, I have learnt that writing a novel is an arduous journey. It not only needs a peaceful state of mind, but also abundant amounts of feelings, emotions, calmness, patience, control, and self-encouragement. After crumpling up several papers and being completely pissed off with my work, I decided to take a long walk along Marine Drive one evening, without my notebook, only to listen to my inner self and untangle the knots of the story that my heart desired to write. Amidst profound thoughts, I was abruptly interrupted by the frequent, but heavy, sighs of a passerby. Despite it being chilly, a thick drop of sweat fell from his forehead. His well-groomed beard complemented his fair skin. With his physique, I could easily guess he was interested in fitness. Had it been another day, another time, I wouldn’t have spared him another look. But today, there was something about his person that drew me in. After his brutal workout, he looked yearningly at the tall building of Hotel Continental as if someone in there was closely related to his heart. I was curious to know about him but lacked the courage to break his reverie. And that’s why I’ve been promising myself everyday — ‘I’ll definitely try and talk to him today, no matter what.’

Like every other day, I was waiting for him at his usual spot — opposite Hotel Continental. In the sleepless city of Mumbai, I carved out time to actually see the city almost asleep. It’s the cusp of dawn when the sky is still dark, when the birds still have a few minutes to enhance the flavour of honey in those dulcet sounds that come from the crashing waves of the sea. While other humans still hadn’t left their beds, there was a person running like a cheetah along the jogging track at Marine Drive. As the distance between us grew shorter, my blurred vision became clearer. It was him. He stopped at his breakpoint, heaving right in front of me. Where his body depicted zestfulness, his eyes emoted some kind of affliction. After catching his breath, he turned to his left to face Hotel Continental. I couldn’t resist asking him his reasons for his depression, the reason for stopping at the same place every day, the reason for the pain in his eyes and the reason for working so hard on his physique. With each passing day, I was getting more and more desperate to know the story that lived within him. As I was, as usual, collecting the courage to talk to the seemingly ill-tempered but good-looking man, he turned around and met my eyes.

That’s when I knew it was time I stopped creeping him out and introduced myself.

‘Hey, I am Gaurav.’

Despite my friendly introduction, he looked intensely uninterested and refused to acknowledge me.

‘What’s your name?’ I prompted.

‘Do I know you?’

‘No.’

‘Are you an athlete?’ The curiosity within me enquired out of nowhere.

He stepped up the concrete to face the endless Arabian Sea. It was rude, but I guess I expected it.

‘I need to talk to you and it’s really important,’ I said.

He went down with the support of just one leg and swiftly came back up with his hands parallel to the ground. The movement of his muscular calves fascinated me. Before watching him doing that, I had never seen a squat executed so gracefully. I too stepped up the concrete to give it a try. Going down on one leg was quite an easy task but the same couldn’t be said for coming back up from there. My next logical step was to thump my ass on the floor rather than invest vain efforts in flattening my knees.

‘At least tell me your name,’ I almost begged from the ground.

‘But who the hell are you?’ he sternly asked.

I was scared with the undue rage he had in his eyes. ‘My name is Gaurav and I’m a writer.’ I got up, dusted my jeans, and continued, ‘I have written five short stories and now, I am planning a story for my novel. I come here at this time to — ’

‘What do I do with this, dude?’ he expectedly interrupted.

‘I see a story in you,’ I simply said, looking boldly into his dark brown eyes.

He shook his head in frustration and headed towards Nariman Point.

‘At least tell me your name.’ I tried to catch up with him.

He started walking briskly.

‘Hey please,’ I requested, trying to match his steps.

‘Don’t irritate me, you — ’ he warned at the point of his fingertip.

I raised my hands up to surrender. With lost hope, I also lost my peaceful state of mind. I looked at Hotel Continental and then back at the cheetah-like figure moving away from me. I held my head and sat down.
It’s tough to understand some things in life and understanding his behaviour was the toughest, but fun arises only when you don’t give up and stubbornly pursue what you want.
_________________________________

The next day, I was back again with renewed confidence to talk to him, but he didn’t show up. He was missing the following day as well.

When I almost gave up on him, there he was again! However, this time he didn’t even remotely resemble a cheetah — his body lacked energy and his furious eyes were weaker than ever. He didn’t even stop at his usual spot.

‘Hey,’ I called as he crossed me.

He turned around.

‘I’m sorry to disturb you once again — ’

‘I am Grishm — Grishm Talwar,’ he said without letting me complete.

I was astounded to see the drastic change of behaviour in him.

‘I am sorry I was rude the other day,’ he continued.

‘It’s completely fine, Grishm. But what happened to you? Why do you seem so low today?’

‘Because of love.’

I knew it. I knew that a man with a broken heart can only be so weak.

‘May I know why you stop here every day?’

‘Because of friendship.’

My curiosity was aroused once again. After all, that’s what I’ve been wanting to write about — a blend of love and friendship.

‘I know you are looking for a story. But I am definitely not the one you should be talking to. I’ve only had losses in my life. I have lost friendship, love, respect and even the courage to fight for the only thing that is left.’

‘Will you please begin from the beginning?’ I said, rubbing my palms against each other.

‘You are wasting your time.’

‘I know I am not. Okay, tell me this — what’s that only thing that is left in your life?’

‘What do you have to do with that?’

‘I have seen the pain in your eyes and to see your dedication and hard work, I can bet that you are going to achieve that thing. Who knows, maybe listening to you might give me a story and maybe, that story might be published someday.’

He smirked. ‘Novels need a duo of a rollercoaster journey and an epic fruition. My life story is definitely a rollercoaster, but its ending would be the most hateful one for your readers. Trust me! No one is going to like it.’

‘I just want to listen to your story as your friend and not a writer.’

‘Right now, I don’t have time. I am getting late.’

‘When can we meet then?’

‘I’ll see you inside the hotel at 8 a.m.’ he said, pointing at Hotel Continental.

‘Will I have to wait for three more hours?’

‘I won’t mind even if you don’t.’

‘I am sure this wait is going to be worth.’

‘See you!’

_________________________________

I was standing outside the hotel when Grishm arrived in a cab.

‘Good morning, sir,’ the man in black suit greeted us as we entered the lobby.

‘Hello, Grishm Sir. How are you and how is ma’am?’

‘We are both well, thank you Mr. Kabir,’ Grishm replied. ‘Are you still on duty?’

‘I was just signing off. Please tell me, how may I help you?’

‘We just wanted to spend some time here. Can you please lead us to the most isolated spot at the property?’

Mr. Kabir wore a pleasant smile on his face and led us to the elevator.

‘Sir, I think I’ve seen you somewhere,’ Kabir said as we entered the elevator.

‘Eh…me?’

‘What’s your name?’

‘Gaurav Tahlani.’

His eyes lit as he heard my name. ‘I have read your stories, and also, I have seen you in an interview. Your writing is outstanding, sir.’

‘Thanks, Mr. Kabir.’

‘What are you doing here?’

‘He needs a story for his debut novel, and he believes that I have one for him,’ Grishm said.

‘Really?’ Kabir confirmed.

Grishm nodded.

Kabir patted my shoulders and wished me luck.

We reached the beautiful terrace of the hotel from where we could see the full view of Marine Drive and feel the cool breeze wafting up from the sea.

‘Thanks, Mr. Kabir,’ I said.

‘It’s my pleasure to serve you, sir. May I help you in any other way?’

‘A cup of coffee for me,’ I said.

‘Shall I count it two?’ he asked, looking at Grishm.

‘Yes, sure.’

‘I’ll place your order and sign off.’

‘Thanks, Mr. Kabir.’

‘See you, sir.’

My mind was boggling and planting several assumptions to see Grishm’s bond with Kabir. Now, I just wanted to shut the nerves of my mind and open my ears.

‘Shall we begin?

_________________________________

Tap Buy to read the full story.

Beyond the kitchen

Dedicated to all those women who are agonizing under the peer pressure of the society

‘What’s the problem if my girlfriend wants to carry on with her job after marriage?’ I argued.

‘I don’t think it’s mandatory to clarify the reason to you,’ my uncle said.

‘I beg you to let her carry on with the job.’ I almost freaked out.

‘Kindly, do me a favour. Start cooking and let her earn for you.’ He smirked. ‘Also, put bangles on your wrist and become an eunuch.’

Rage was burning me from inside but I wanted to deal with calmness. ‘Uncle, there’s nothing wrong if a girl opts for something apart from being a housewife. In fact we should encourage them.’

My attempt was well ignored when he blared at his wife for a glass of water.

‘If not her, I won’t marry anyone else,’ I divulged.

‘If it is the matter of job, then my decision is firm and I bless you to stay single forever,’ he concluded. ‘No women of this house has ever worked and this tradition is going to be the same for you and whomsoever you want to marry.’

I desiderated my parents. They would have never repudiated my desires if they were alive.

‘Are you done with it?’ uncle asked his little daughter who was sitting on a couch and mugging up a portion from her book.

She nodded apprehensively.

I walked up to her and snatched the book from her hands.

She was startled and looked up at me with innocence.

‘Why the fuck are you studying?’ I ranted, losing my patience. ‘You have got no right to do that. Go… go to the kitchen and help your mom. This callous man will never let the girls of this country think beyond the kitchen. Men like him call themselves a man but they—’

I got a hard slap on my cheek before I could complete.

‘I need another slap.’

He glared at me.

‘Because I am leaving you and I am leaving this house.’

COVID-19

This COVID-19 pandemic has changed the entire world in all forms whether it be socially, physically, economically or emotionally.

When the news of this emerging deadly virus— originated from China— reached our ears, none of us imagined that it would spread across the world in its virulent form. Such diseases are always entertaining in the reels whereas its effects in the real world are beyond one’s imagination.

When you go out to buy basic essentials like vegetables, have you ever imagined that those vegetables or carry bags provided by the vendors might transmit the virus in your body? Probably, you haven’t. And even if you were aware about it, you must have never took any precautionary measures to stop its spread. Well, if you can be so careless then the fact is that you may be in the next count of the increasing number of infected patients on record.

With this life ending virus in your body, life is never going to be easy. Primarily, with your carelessness, you have infected yourself and then, by the time you’ll get to know that this virus is ruling in your body, you might have infected as many as hundreds of other people, including your friends and family. It’s you and your immunity which may help you in reviving your health, but the oldies at your home have the most likely chances to contribute in the number of deaths due to COVID. The undiscovered reason behind the death toll is you. You are the reason behind the corpse that is getting buried under the earth with no rituals performed. The unsaid bitter truth is that you—the youth of India—are no less than a murderer.

Corona virus has taken away numerous lives from the earth and God knows in what else way will it affect people’s life. Every single day, the number of cases is sloping upwards and so is the number of deaths. What’s constant throughout this pandemic are the efforts of the doctors, who are trying their best to save most of the lives and the scientists, who are working hard to create a vaccine to end the virus. Every day, they are risking their lives for us by being around the deadly virus. Meanwhile, in the other world, we can’t do what we are advised to do— stay in house unless it’s really important to go out. If we succeed in being at home for one single day, the next day we are so happy as if we have already defeated the virus from getting into our body. I really wish that those doctors and scientists could feel it that way. But they won’t… because their only motive is to build the world once again—as it was. The scientists are trying hard to deliver good news to the people of the world. They are trying their best to bring back the employment to the people who lost it in this pandemic. They are working hard to send those back to home, who are suffering in the hospital. They are trying their best so that the world starts growing once again as it was growing.

Here’s an appeal to all the people of the world. I am not here to say what others say because you already know how important it is to stay indoors or how essential it is to wear masks while you go out. It’s an urge to all of you to not harm others by harming yourself. I request you to be careful, if not for yourself then for others and your own family. It’s not easy to fight against this virus and every life is important. Together, let’s save them!

THE LOST LOVE

DISCLAIMER

This short story is inspired by the 2008 blasts in Delhi and is a work of fiction. All characters, incidents and all other entities are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used as a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

CHAPTER 1

DUBAI

26th November, 2010

“Why isn’t Burj Khalifa amongst the wonders of the world?” I wondered standing in front of the tallest tower in the world.

Indeed, it should be amongst the wonders of the world. The tower that stood high till the sky was visible from any part of the city. I pondered if the 163rd floor of the tower was hitting the stars. It was challenging to capture oneself with the Khalifa tower in a picture. Many tourists were trying to do so.

The city had beautiful architecture. Even though most of the buildings displayed the name of Emaar; the most popular real estate development company in the UAE, all the buildings had some unique elevation and features from one another.

Undoubtedly, Burj Khalifa is the top most tourist’s attraction and it allured me as well.

A few minutes ago, I got the extortionate value of Dubai. I had hired a cab to travel. The distance from the hotel where I stayed to the Dubai Mall was not too much but the taxi meter displayed 76 UAE Dirham, which is around 1500 Indian Rupees. I realised that it’s important to ruminate before hiring a cab at this place. While paying to the taxi driver, I was thinking about the source to add those money for compensation in my company. That’s the best thing about being on behalf of a company and compensation being the best part of it.

Rats were leaping in my stomach. I started searching for some good food. I saw a hoarding outside a food store named as ‘FIVE GUYS!’ It read,

‘OFFER OF THE DAY!

Buy any burger and get UNLIMITED soft drinks for FREE!’

I stepped inside the food store and joined one of the queues which headed towards the counter. The best burger on the menu board was what I was looking for. Price didn’t matter to me because compensation is a strong word, as I said.

“One Hamburger please,” I ordered and heard the echo of it in a female vocal. The girl standing right next to me in another queue ordered the same.

We looked at each other in surprise to hear the same order. The girl startled me.

Isn’t it weird to find someone familiar in some other countries?

“Eighteen Dirham!” the man behind the counter said.

I paid him, hurriedly.

“There sir!” he pointed towards the beverage vending machine, handing me a tray that had a burger, an empty glass, a paper napkin and some pouches of sauce.

I rushed away from there with a lot of questions running through my mind.

How weird does it feel when we give up on someone and suddenly see the person back again?

I felt exasperated. My mind couldn’t work. I filled the glass with the soft drinks and gulped two sips of it to drench my dry throat. Then, I filled back the glass. A muscular, well-heighted, English man looked at me as if he was the one organising the soft drinks for free. Disregarding him, I moved towards the vacant seat and kept the tray on the table. Instead of having the burger in my hands, I had my head.

Was she her? Or her duplicate! Am I dreaming?

I became obsessed with such questions.

“Can I join you on this table?” a female voice came in.

I looked up at her. Her ravishing eyes took all my attention, as always. It was Zeba!

CHAPTER 2

THE FIRST MEETING

20th January, 2007

“Oye Ballu! Ik aloo paratha liaa.” Kabir ordered at his accustomed place in the streets of Chandni Chowk.

It was his favourite dining place in Delhi and Balvinder aka Ballu, being his responsive and loyal waiter. A girl entered the place and stood at the back of the only vacant chair opposite to Kabir.

“Can I join you on this table?” she asked, pulling the chair.

“Yes please!” Kabir responded.

Kabir got lost looking into her eyes and her eyes were lost finding out the one who would ask for her order.

“Ithhe aa Ballu!” Kabir called Balvinder and gestured the girl to order him for what she wanted.

“Ek paneer paratha!” she ordered and passed a grateful smile to Kabir.

Kabir didn’t want to end up the interaction so soon.

“You have a beautiful voice!” Kabir started the conversation with a compliment.

The girl responded with a smile.

“This is Kabir.”

“Zeba… Zeba Khan!”

“Are you from Delhi?”

“Lahore!”

“Loharu? Haryana?” Kabir confirmed.

“Lahore, Pakistan.”

With that response, silence filled in between the two and Kabir was filled with remorse for starting the conversation. He was confused whether to take the conversation ahead or not when Balvinder came in and served them the plates that had a mouth-watering Parathas with the slices of butter upon it and the complementary curd and pickles by the side of it. They couldn’t hold on and jumped onto their respective meals.

“We aren’t that bad!” Zeba exclaimed when she noticed the silence followed by the declaration of her nation.

“No… it’s just that…” Kabir couldn’t think of what to say. “…it’s rare!”

“What’s rare?”

“I mean… isn’t it rare to find someone from Pakistan in India?”

Zeba nodded.

“What are you here for?” Kabir asked.

“I work here in the High Commission of Pakistan.”

Kabir scratched his head.

“It’s a diplomatic mission of Pakistan in India. Say, an embassy.” Zeba clarified.

Kabir responded with a nod.

“Are you from Delhi?” Zeba asked.

“Yes. Born and brought up in Delhi.” Kabir said, proudly.

They finished their meals and Kabir asked Balvinder to bring the bill for both of them. Before Zeba could take out the money from her purse, Kabir paid. Zeba pleaded with him to take her part of the bill but the delhiite stubborn declined to take the money. On her obstinacy, Kabir got a chance to hit on her.

“I won’t mind if you pay the next time we go out for dinner.”

Zeba found it fair and she agreed to it. They exchanged their numbers.

Since then, Kabir and Zeba kept meeting each other on almost every weekend. Their feelings for each other were developing but the border between their countries made a line of border between them and they promised themselves to never take their relationship beyond friendship.

But… Life never happens as per our desire.

CHAPTER 3

ONE STEP CLOSER

7th June, 2008

Their venue for this weekend was a club.

The flickering dim lights, loud beats of the music and the crazy crowd gave them a proper feel of being into a fascinating place. Both of them settled down at one corner, close to each other and ordered a glass of beer and red wine for themselves respectively with some snacks. The waiter served them. They cheered their glasses and relished it, moving their bodies in rhythm with the song. Then they ordered half a dozen of tequila shots and walked towards the dance floor. The waiter made their shots ready and served it in a tray. They gulped each shot in one sip. The bitterness of the drink hit their noses and throat but that didn’t stop them from performing the dance. Zeba’s order came to an end with a glass of lime water while Kabir’s order continued to a glass of whisky. When the waiter served them, Kabir came back to take some rest and Zeba accompanied him. Kabir’s order went on to a few more glasses of whiskey and a glass of vodka at the end. Then the jockey played an item song on which Zeba’s hot moves took everyone’s attention. All eyes in the disc ogled her. Kabir too remained astounded. Zeba winked at him and invited him to join her. Kabir approached her.

“You dance so well,” he screamed, leaning towards her.

“Thank you!” Zeba mouthed, extending the you.

Kabir got closer to Zeba and gently held her waist. The beats of the music were throbbing their hearts and striking their minds. He could feel her moves and tried to match his moves with hers. Zeba put her hands on Kabir’s shoulders. He got goosebumps in his body. The alcohol had started ruining them. Their faces were so close to each other that they could sense the warm breath of each other. Steadily, Kabir’s lips approached Zeba’s and they kissed. Alcohol played its role by vanishing the line of border that stopped them from loving each other. They kissed once again and embraced each other without uttering a word.

—Force yourself to do what you want… but what’s meant to be, will always be!

The next day, Kabir called up Zeba to meet him.

“Do you remember what happened last night?” Kabir asked, embarrassingly.

“Of course I do, I wasn’t out of my senses like you!” Zeba said and busted out laughing.

Kabir remained shocked to see that response from her. He expected her to be upset with him for what he did but his expectations were far away from what actually happened.

That was the day when they decided to marry each other. Zeba had just one person who took care of her since her parents left the world in her younger days. It was Abu uncle. He used to work with Zeba in the High Commission of Pakistan. Zeba knew it for certain that her uncle would happily let her marry the person she loves. And Kabir was confident enough to convince his parents to let him marry a girl from Pakistan.

CHAPTER 4

THE BLACK DAY

13th September, 2008

Another weekend came in and like every Saturdays, Kabir and Zeba had planned to hang out with each other. Kabir dialled Zeba’s number at 8 p.m. but couldn’t connect with her. And that’s probably when she’s at her work place. He tried her number for a few more times as Zeba didn’t work so late. He didn’t succeed in connecting to her. Then, he switched on the television and waited for her call. An anchor from a news channel reported loud, ‘Five synchronized bomb blasts in Delhi!’

Kabir lost his reaction. He was shocked like all other Indians. His parents joined him on hearing the news report and they too remained still with their jaws dropped down. Kabir switched the channel.

“Five blasts in Delhi within a span of 31 minutes.”

“Blasts in Karol Bagh, Connaught Place and Greater Kailash 1.”

“13th September, 2008, remarked as a Black Day.”

All the news channels covered these headlines as the breaking news. Now, Kabir could only think of Zeba. He once again tried to call her but nothing changed.

Kabir perspired heavily in stress. He stood up expeditiously and rushed out.

“Where are you going Kabir? It’s not safe outside!” Kabir’s father warned.

But Kabir didn’t listen. He just ran towards the place where he could find Zeba.

Upon reaching The High Commission of Pakistan, Kabir saw a huge crowd surrounding the building. The strikes had started. The blasts caused the ruckus there. Despite a good number of securities, the crowd was hostile. Some people had glass bottles while the others had sticks in their hands. Delhi police were trying their best to stop the violence. And then there was Kabir in the fiercing crowd, just to save Zeba, if she was in. He didn’t give a damn to what would happen to him and without any second thought, he just entered the crowd to reach the other side of it but it wasn’t that easy. He didn’t move a little even after a lot of effort. The crowd jumped over the barriers and attacked the building. Kabir yelled out Zeba’s name but his voice stood nowhere in the crowd. That wasn’t just a public; it was the public having anger in their eyes, the public who had lost the lives of the people of their nation and the public who wanted revenge. The police started charging the crowd with batons. Kabir yelled out Zeba’s name once again but just to be audible to himself. Later, he gave up and got fainted therein.

The next day, after coming back to senses, Kabir found himself in the hospital. He was worried for Zeba and he tried to call her. Her number was unreachable. Kabir got tensed.

Every news channels covered the updated news about the blasts in Delhi.

“Pakistan! We’ll answer.” A politician raged.

Months passed by, Kabir didn’t receive any information about Zeba from any of the sources. One day, he once again visited The High Commission of Pakistan but got no information about Zeba. Tears shredded in his eyes. He sat down there on his knees and cried out Zeba’s name, without even knowing if she existed anymore.

Kabir lived his life with a mystery since then. He believed that there were just two possibilities. Either Zeba was dead in the public movement or she was involved in the blasts. She might be a terrorist! He didn’t have a clue whether to love Zeba for she lost her life without any reason or hate her for her involvement in the blasts. He lost hope in finding her and got involved in his normal life. Surely, he missed her. Every place in Delhi had some memories of them. And to avoid those memories, he stopped going anywhere else. His day ended up between office and home.

One day, his boss raised an opportunity by offering him a project in Dubai. According to his boss, the project was going to be risky as its failure would bring a big loss to the company and its succession would lead to the biggest favour. Kabir confidently agreed to the opportunity.

Also, he wanted to leave Delhi for a few days to get rid off Zeba’s thoughts. Being indulged in the project would help him to do so.

His boss asked him to give his best on that project and Kabir got a promise from his boss to fulfil any of his desire if he succeeded in the project. That boosted up Kabir’s confidence. And the project took him to Dubai, where he found his lost love!

CHAPTER 5

BACK TO DUBAI

“Yes! Ahem! Sure,” I got shook on Zeba’s appearance.

Though I had a lot of questions running through my mind, her appearance was the answer to many of them. Firstly, the mystery that I lived my life with, was sorted. And the hint that she is alive, was a clear reflection of her involvement in the blasts. Her appearance upreared the hatred in me towards her.

“How are you Kabir?” she asked politely.

“I am here in front of you. You can see me, right?” I answered.

She took her eyes off from me.

She didn’t deserve a polite answer. The inner me got fiery. I regretted to start the conversation with her on the first day. I should have ended it up when she declared that she is from Pakistan. All Pakistanis are of the same kind.

“What are you doing in Dubai?” I asked.

“I work here in the Consulate General of Pakistan!”

“Planning to destroy Dubai?” I finally took out the frustration in me.

Zeba looked at me, puzzled.

“What motivates you to destroy so many lives?” I put up the lethal question in front of her. “I guess Pakistanis are born heartless! Aren’t they?”

She looked at me in revulsion. Her eyes turned red and tears dropped down from them. Those tears proved my last statement to be wrong.

She snuffled, “Do you really think so?”

I wanted to speak the worst out of myself but not while she had tears in her eyes. I couldn’t see her crying. She kept waiting for my response but I didn’t say anything.

“All Pakistanis are not terrorists, Kabir!” she muffled.

“Then why did you leave me like that?” I shouted and banged the table with my fist.

Zeba trembled and everyone around us stared at us. She felt embarrassed and walked away. I followed her.

“I need an answer!” I held her hand and pulled her back.

“If I had not left India, I would have also been killed like Abu uncle!” she yelled in vexation.

I was appalled.

The next moment, we were sitting at the outdoor seating of Five Guys.

“Abu Uncle knew that Pakistanis would not be safe in India after the blasts in Delhi and so, he sent me to Pakistan through his sources in the border, ” she started, calmly.

I kept looking into her eyes, contemplating if she was going to speak the truth. I didn’t want to trust her so easily, once again.

“I never wanted to leave India like I did, but Abu uncle didn’t listen to me. He had to protect me and all other Pakistanis who were being beaten up for no reason. Also, I requested him to come with me to Pakistan but he always gave priority to his duty.”

“Why didn’t you inform me about it?”

“It was a tough time for me; I was in trauma when I got the news about Abu uncle’s death in the public movement. He gave me everything that I needed even if he had to sacrifice something. And in the end, he sacrificed his life as well, to save me and other Pakistanis,” she paused, her heart was loaded with emotions.

My heart melted.

She took a deep breath.

“But gradually,” she continued. “I started believing that I need to be strong like him to support myself. I started interviewing for the job and it took me a year to sort out my complicated life. I wanted to inform you about everything that had happened but at the same time, I thought that you too might have been settled in your life by then and I didn’t want to disturb you once again.”

I got disheartened upon hearing that she had been struggling throughout her life.

We both were silent for some time. The beautiful lights of Burj Khalifa that was swaying in rhythm with the Arabian song diverted us from the ongoing conversation. Almost everyone were capturing the soothing sight.

“Blasts in India is never supported or appreciated by all Pakistanis,” Zeba explained.

I shifted my attention from the Khalifa tower to the girl sitting next to me.

“Even we are humans and we too feel bad for the lost lives,” she continued. “Just because someone from India killed my uncle, doesn’t mean that all Indians are killer,” she concluded and looked into my eyes.

Shamefully, I took my eyes off from her. Guilt filled within me and I realised, anger is the worst emotion in humans.

“Well, there’s no point to embarrass you. Finally, I am placed in Dubai and I am living at least a safe life here.”

I smiled looking back at her.

“By the way, how come in Dubai?” she asked.

“For a company project,” I said, clearing my throat.

“For how long are you here?”

“I’ll leave soon after the project is done. Maybe, for a month!”

She nodded.

Once again, we were silent. And a big question stood in front of us —”What next?”

“Well, I’ll take a leave now!” Zeba said, standing up. “And I’m sorry for not informing you about all that had happened.”

“Why are you sorry? Indeed, I should apologize for being rude.”

She smiled. We hugged each other and our past flashed in front of my eyes at one go. I didn’t want her to leave me once again. Tears shredded in my eyes. I didn’t want to live without her.

“Can’t you stay here, for some more time?” I pleaded.

She didn’t say anything.

“Can’t we stay together for the rest of our lives?” I further asked.

“You know well, it’s not going to be easy for us to survive in our lives after we get married with each other. All Indians will behave the same with me as you did, a few moments back. People will start hating you as well. And we can’t explain everything to everyone. It’s better to live our lives, the way we did. At least, we should be happy that we met once again.”

I was disappointed but the bitter truth was that we had to live without each other.

CHAPTER 6

THE FINAL PART

30th December, 2010

It was my last day in Dubai. The project was successfully done. I called Zeba at my hotel to meet me for the last time. She entered the room with a bunch of flowers, a cake and a bottle of champagne.

“Many many Congratulations on your success!” she greeted me with the flowers.

While I cut the cake, she jiggled the champagne bottle and removed its cap with a pop sound. Foam flowed out from the bottle and she served it in two glasses. We fed the cake to each other and cheered our glasses to celebrate my success.

My eyes were struck into hers. I felt gratified whenever I had her by my side.

“Our togetherness comes to an end with this drink!” she said, disappointingly, taking the last sip of drink from her glass.

I stayed quiet.

“Are we going to meet anytime in future now?” she asked.

I shrugged.

“I think, I should leave now, ” she said, standing up from the bed.

I too stood up. We hugged each other and she turned around to leave. As she took her first step, I held her hand.

Two years is a big time. It had been over two years since Zeba left me and that was the worst time period of my life. I felt like I had lost the reason to live. Everyday, I prayed to God to send her back into my life and finally, she entered my life once again. How could have I let her go so easily? I wanted to wrap her in my arms, forever.

She didn’t turn around. I guess, she didn’t want to show me her crying face. But still, I spoke.

“When you left me in Five Guys, I held back there for an hour or so. I was just thinking about some way that would make us live our lives together, peacefully.” I took a pause.

“…And an idea clicked in my mind.”

She turned around, wiping the tears from her eyes. Her eyes were eagerly waiting for me to speak.

“I googled… if the laws of Dubai permitted an Indian guy to marry a Pakistani girl. And guess what?… They do!”

“But you’re leaving Dubai, right?”

“Yes, I am.”

She was puzzled.

“I’ll be back after a week.”

She was still confused.

“After googling all the details, I called up my boss and asked for the favour that he was about to return, if I completed the project successfully.”

She thought for a while about what it must be.

“I asked him for a permanent placement in Dubai.” I declared. “My boss agreed to it. And the willingness to stay with you forever gave me all the confidence that I needed to succeed in the project.”

Zeba’s face glowed up.

She looked at me in love. I pulled her closer to me.

“I can’t stay happy without you.” I kissed her cheeks. “Promise me, you won’t leave me again!”

She smiled on that. I clasped her in my arms. Thereafter, love scattered in the room. I don’t understand why people think that there isn’t love between India and Pakistan.

We were just friends!

THE WALK

In the cold breezy night, we were walking past the restaurants where the dim lights and the dulcet music made the ambience. The temperature was about to show nought on the thermometer. She was rubbing the palms of her hand with each other to raise her body temperature. I wanted to take my warm hands out of the pocket and grasp hers. But I applied the brakes on those feelings because we were just friends!

It was for the first time when I went out with her. Hesitation kept me away from meeting her. All of us hesitate! Once we have a crush on someone, we always hesitate to talk to them. I had no courage to ask her out until a day before she sent me a message on Whatsapp, asking to choose a number between 1 to 50. I chose 10 and she sent me the labels with those numbers. Number 10 was labelled with ‘Ask me for anything!’ Taking advantage of the situation, I asked her out for dinner and being friends, she couldn’t deny. That gave me a favour to spend some more time with her until I dropped her off at home.

Weather had started being cooler and the cold breeze started turning into a more aggressive version of itself. On the sound of her chatter, I rolled my eyes towards her and found her shivering badly; indeed having thick layers of clothes covered around her body.

It was getting tougher for me as well to survive in that temperature. But, I couldn’t see her suffer.

“I guess you need this,” I said, unzipping my jacket and then taking it off like the male protagonist from the Indian cinemas.

“No,” she said, trembling. “It’s too cold… you should… put it back.” she chattered.

Ignoring the formality, I put the jacket on her shoulders.

“Wear it, I can bear the cold.” I lied.

She looked at me as if she knew I lied. I just smiled at her look and she wore the jacket properly. That was a promising moment for me; I promised myself that I would never remove away that jacket from my closet. She put her hands in the pocket of the jacket and the smile on my face couldn’t vanish.

“How much time will it take us to reach your home now?” I asked.

“It will take 10 more minutes if we walk with the same pace.” she said. “But I won’t mind if you leave.”

That would have been the stupidest decision of mine. I wished those ten minutes could be multiplied by a zillion because I was not sure if that outing was going to give me any more of them! And as I said, when we have a crush on someone, we always hesitate to talk to them. This hesitation might have portrayed me as a nerd. Who likes nerd? And who wants to go out with the same?

A few moments later, I started shivering even though I’d tried not to.

We saw some boys and girls warming themselves in the coal of fire.

“Can we join them for a few minutes?” I asked, trembling with cold.

Warmth was the secondary thing I needed, primary was to spend some more time with her.

“Of course, we can!” she said, propelling me towards the relief of the moment.

We stood facing the fire. The bones that had started crushing in me were forming back. The blood in my body which was almost frozen, started melting once again.

I wanted to sit there with the girl next to me and talk to her till the dawn. I looked up at her. Her apple red cheeks were attracting me towards her, but I distracted myself from such thoughts. We were just friends!

“Should we sustain the walk?” she asked.

“No!” I wanted to say, but I just nodded and we left the warm place.

A few minutes later, some street dogs started barking at us. I wondered if the dogs were angry to see me with the super gorgeous girl. The super gorgeous girl started panicking to see those furious dogs. The dogs were slowly stepping towards us with a roar and the gorgeous girl was stepping towards me with the same pace. The male protagonist within me had started dying to see those irated dogs. With every second, their barks were getting louder. The distance between the dogs and us was getting shorter; so was the distance between me and her. The loudest bark of the dog surprisingly favoured me as it made the gorgeous girl hold my arms, tight. The dogs, whom I was wondering to be the evil turned out to be my pals.

But not hers…

I bent down to pick up the stone and before I got up, those new pals of mine ran away.

“Thank God!” she sighed a big relief. “I am very scared of dogs.”

I couldn’t respond because the inner me was sensing a remarkable moment; the moment when she was holding my arms. I wanted to pull her closer to me. But I couldn’t. We were just friends!

She retracted her hands in embarrassment to hold them for so long. We started walking silently.

“Actually, I am even scared of dogs,” I said to break the silence.

She didn’t say anything.

I didn’t have much to speak.

Hopelessly, we were standing outside her home and it was time for me to take a leave off her.

“Thanks for the jacket.” she said, taking it off.

I took it back and put it on myself. It was delightful to realise that the jacket I was wearing was also worn by her.

She stood there;

I stood there with folded arms.

She had to go;

But I didn’t want her to.

I just wanted to look into those beautiful eyes forever.

“Bye!” she said, approaching me for a hug. “I had a good time with you.”

The cold body of mine got the warmth. The fire I was standing in front of, a few minutes ago, was nothing in front of that warm hug. The fog in the air looked more like smoke to me. Those couple of seconds made me lost somewhere in the other world.

“Bye!” I whispered.

And she left.

I tried to keep my eyes on her till the last second I could. When she disappeared from my sight, I envisioned her stepping inside her home and then, climbing up the stairs towards her room. When the lights of her room got turned on, I wanted to wonder even further but I left the place because we were just friends.

Till the time I got in the cosy bed of my room, she was the one who had occupied my mind. Lying on the bed, I closed my eyes to replay the time that I spent with her! What I could think of, was her smile on my silly jokes that I always wanted to see on her face, her straight long hair that I wanted to stroke, her cute cheeks that I wanted to caress, her dark brown eyes that I wanted to look at and her soft hands that I wanted to hold forever. These wants of mine has been remained as a desire which can never be fulfilled.

Inside those closed eyes, was an ocean of emotion called tears. They were trying to flow out of my eyes and I was trying hard to hold them because tears are the most weakening emotion in a living being as its appearance can make a person lose hope in himself. Also, the fact is that they can’t be held for long! My face shrinked and being a human, I couldn’t even hold those tears any longer. I stuffed my mouth with the corner of the pillow to unmute the sound of my cry and I cried out all the emotions that I’d been holding since last hour when she refused my proposal.

THE PROPOSE

When we stepped out of the restaurant after having dinner. I wanted to propose to her but neither I’d any flowers of devotion nor did I have any ring. I was just left with the heart that was jumping out of my chest to be hers. I wanted to do it wholeheartedly.

“Actually, I… I want to say something to you…” I stammered as we started walking.

The prettiest eyes on earth looked at me. I was confused about how to proceed. Proposing someone is the most risky step as it can either bring people closer or separate them forever. I had no other options because my life with her, as a friend, was already incomplete. I made up my mind to propose to her.

“Actually, I love you.” I made the riskiest moment of my life happen by finally uttering those three golden words of love. I waited for her to convert them into four.

Surprisingly, she just had a smile on her face.

“Did you hear?” I confirmed.

“I did! I already had a clue about that,” she said without even looking at me.

I stopped there and looked at her in chaos.

“It can easily be seen on your face! The way you asked me for dinner, the way you are behaving since we are out,” she stopped as well, turning towards me.

I nodded confusingly and we continued walking.

“So?” I asked because she hadn’t responded to the proposal.

She took a long pause to respond, but she finally did.

“You are not the only one who proposed to me. A lot of guys had already done… ”

“I know that!” I interrupted her in between. That was such an evident thing. Who would miss the chance to propose to her?

Once again she took a pause.

“Would you like to know the reason for why I am single?” she asked and waited for my response to her query.

“Is it a No?” I didn’t want her to digress because I was already jittered.

“Will you please let me speak?” she exhorted.

“Please don’t say anything if it’s a no.” I retorted, I couldn’t hear the No with so many excuses. People should learn to speak without digressing.

She didn’t speak anything.

It was a No!

Tears filled my eyes. I slowed down my motion to make a distance from her. Quickly, I wiped my eyes and then levelled my steps with her. I didn’t want to cry and spoil the precious time with her; indeed, I wanted to make every second count and enjoy the last few happy moments of my life.

We continued walking.

And THE WALK was worthy. Wasn’t it?

THE CONFESSION

When my eyes were drained, I cleared out the choked throat within me and blamed myself for not asking her the grounds for refusing to my proposal. I took the jacket in my hands which she wore and hurled it on the floor in frustration. Then I got up from the bed and went to the washroom to wash my face. As I switched the lights on, I saw myself in the mirror. The red eyes of mine horrified me. I splashed the water on my face and wiped it with the towel.

“She is so beautiful!” I thought while watching the photos in her profile. “I wish she could have been mine.”

Tears came to my eyes once again. I felt revolting.

I started texting her,

“Why? Why the fuck did you do this to me? What made you refuse to my proposal? I bet you, you’ll never get the love from anyone that you were about to get from me.”

Before tapping on the send button, I used another key called backspace.

The single word now left was, ‘Why?’

I hit the send button.

Immediately, there was a blue tick on the message that I sent. And below her name it showed typing…

I didn’t like the way you interrupted me every time I spoke. Will you let me speak?

Five minutes later, when I didn’t reply to her query, she gave up on me and started typing…

I would like to make it sound very clear! You are not the first one proposing me. I have been proposed by a lot of guys. How could I accept any proposal when I already love someone else?

This message from her struck deep in my heart.

I wanted to ask her about the one whom she loved.

“Who is the lucky one?” I typed.

Before I hit the send button, a new message arrived.

Let me finish first and then type what you want to.

I erased what I typed.

Then came another message from her.

Now that you know the reason why I am still single, you’ll be dejected to know that I was about to confess my love to the person I love but life went beyond expectations. One day, I had the medical reports in my hand which stated that I suffered from brain tumour. Who wants what at that stage of life when they know that death is a few months away from them?

Tears still didn’t stop flowing out from my eyes, just the reason had changed.

Doctors stated that I needed to get it operated as soon as possible, otherwise the risk of my life would be increased day by day. I cried because I had so many things to do in my life. Also, I had not even confessed my love to the person I loved. The fear of not returning back from the operation theatre filled my mind.

I bent down and took the jacket back in my hands. Then I kissed it and kept it on my lap.

Before entering the operation theatre, I wanted to confess my love to the person I loved. But love is a beautiful emotion. Prior to ourselves, it makes us think about the one we love. I feared how would he feel if I confessed my love to him and never returned back from the operation theatre. He might be depressed for the rest of his life. I didn’t want him to waste his life. And that’s when I decided that I shouldn’t let him know how much I loved him. I wanted to live for him and for my family. I promised myself to confess my love to him if I returned back from the OT.

I was shaken and I’d started regretting for proposing to her. She loves someone so immensely and I tried to come in between them.

My parents signed the consent form which clearly stated that the life of the patient will be risked during this operation. With everyone’s eyes filled with tears, I entered the operation theatre. Can you even think of my feelings at that time? Though I didn’t want to lose hope but I was prepared to leave this world with so many feelings in my heart. But thanks to the doctors who came out of the OT after 5 hours with a happy news of my new life.

I sighed a big relief. With that message, she put a new life in me too. It was then, when I realised that she was about to reveal all this to me at the time, I proposed to her. I regretted for not letting her speak. Now, I had a great reason to be happy. I had her walking by my side. She is alive! What can be better than that? I promised myself to stay happy with her, being friends. We were just friends and we can always be so. I prayed for her to be happy with the one she loves.

A new message popped up!

Now, I would like to tell you that I know you are a gentleman. I know you are sweet, caring and loving. I also know that you will always be the same. And you will be glad to know that you were the reason I wanted to live for. You are the person whom I love and it’s you with whom I want to spend the rest of my life.

At that moment, surprise and shock hit me at the same time. She loved me and I could never think of it. I was living in the real world where everything was being like a dream. I called her up to hear her voice. She received the call; sniffing and crying. I felt bad for her, though I had tears of joy in my eyes. It felt amazing to realise that she loves me. I didn’t know what to say because she didn’t need my words. She needed me!

Finally, she spoke,“That day when I sent you the message to choose any number between 1 to 50. You chose 10. I swapped the label of Number 10 with “Ask me for anything!” I wanted to see what you ask me for. When you asked me out for dinner, I made up my mind to confess my love to you after the dinner but while I gathered the courage to do so, you proposed to me. I already had an idea that you loved me because it clearly reflects on your face. It’s just that I didn’t know that you’ll propose to me. I was surprised when you did it. Before replying to your proposal, I wanted to tell you about everything that had happened but you didn’t let me speak.”

“You must have not cried so much, had you let me speak at that time,” she said and laughed.

“I have not spoken a word. How do you know that I have been crying?”

“Because, I love you too!” she finally turned those three golden words into four.

EPILOGUE

The next day, we had our dinner at the same restaurant. When we stepped out of it, we started walking towards her home. I held her hand and filled the gaps between her fingers with mine. Her hand was soft like that of a little baby. We saw a few people sitting around the coal of fire. She asked me to join them. We sat there and enjoyed the place. She snuggled up to me and that was the first time we kissed each other.

We left that warm place and continued walking with my hands on her shoulders. I pulled her closer to me and she blushed.

Finally we reached her home and she invited me inside. How could I say No?

After all, her friend was turned into the beau now!

Because it was about Love

When I arrived at Indore Railway Station, I found the train already there and hurriedly ran towards the platform. Somehow, I managed to get into the train and soon after that, it whistled; the whistle of my victory celebration as I succeeded in getting into the train. I smiled while gasping and then proceeded in search for my seat.

“15!” I found it.

Sliding the gate of the compartment, I entered and saw a person already sitting there. He was busy staring outside, through the window.

“Hey! This is Suyash,” I said, extending my hand towards him. It’s always important to make a good bond with the companion while travelling as it helps in making the journey easier.

He didn’t even look at me. Being embarrassed, I took my hand back and started putting the luggage under the seat. Then I sat on the seat and took a few sips of water, looking at the only person sitting in front of me with his legs folded, one of his hands on his lap and the other supporting his chin. It was pretty clear that either he was not so delighted with his life or he might be an aloof.

“If he’s an aloof, I’ll regret being in the first class AC,” I thought. He was going to be the only companion for me in that compartment and the journey was not that short.

“Where are you travelling to?” I asked, hesitating this time.

Expectedly, I was ignored once again.

“Enough is enough!” I thought to myself and laid down on the seat in anger.

Something irritated me in my finger. I took my fingers close to my eyes to look for it. It was a ring; my engagement ring. I never felt comfortable with a ring in my finger but I was really very happy with that ring, even though it annoyed me.

A day before, I got engaged to Shruti Malhotra.

Though, marriage was nowhere the plan of my stressed out life, but running away from marriage is something what we call inevitable when we have Indian parents.

Indore is my hometown. It had been an year since I’ve been working as a part-time writer in a company in Mumbai but the basic reason of going to Mumbai was to stay away from home and search for a story that must hit the market.

I’d already been the author of two best-selling novels. But it had been over 2 years since my last novel. And failing in finding another story was depressing me down. I’d not been in the state of mind where people think of marriage because ambition, for me is something what comes prior to marrige. My mom tried her best to convince me to come to Indore and meet the girl she’d found for me. And here I am, with the engagement ring in my finger!

I put my hands down and turned my face towards the person who was still sitting in the same position like a statue.

“He might be a deaf!” A thought emerged in my mind and I got up quickly.

“Hey? Hello?” I tapped on his lap.

Gradually, he turned his face towards me. I was very happy to see him responding but soon, the smile on my face disappeared when I saw his eyes; red and terrible. I was horrified and it was very clear that he had been crying since long.

“Can you please stop disturbing me?” he asked, gently, in a heavy voice.

I was taken aback and decided to stay quiet throughout the journey.

I laid down once again and slept.

Sleeping is the best thing I enjoy while travelling.

An hour later, I felt a tap on my foot. A man was standing with a pen and a paper in his hands. He was in a black t-shirt and a black pant with a cap on his head.

“Sir, Dinner!” he bent towards me. “Vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian?”

“Non-vegetarian!” I said rubbing my eyes.

“What about you sir?” he looked at the statue, who was in the same position and the statue still didn’t respond.

“Vegetarian!” I said on his behalf, assuming that Non-vegetarians are never so depressing.

The man left the compartment.

It had been 4 to 5 hours since I’d met the statue and he was sitting in the same position since then, lost in some other world. Asking him anything was also risky. He could have punched me if I disturbed him once again. I was curious to know about what was going on in his mind.

My phone buzzed. It was Shruti. I received.

“Hey!” I said with an excitement. I left the compartment because I didn’t want the statue to hit me for disturbing him.

Coming back to the compartment after an hour or so, I saw something what I’d never expected for. The statue changed his position! He was lying down on the seat with one of his hands resting on his stomach and the other rested on his forehead. I sat back on the seat and took out the phone from my pocket to watch the pictures of my engagement ceremony. I kept sliding the images and zooming in at her.

Shruti Malhotra! The girl with whom I was going to spend my life.

Though my Mom convinced me to come to Indore, I was still prepared to reject her in the first meet. Infact, I would have rejected any girl because I was not ready for the marriage. But, life is full of surprises. When she came in front of me for the first time, I was literally amazed to see her charm, her beauty which made me fall for her. In my mind, I changed my decision. When everyone sent me to spend some alone time with her in the garden outside, I was taking a quick glance of her whenever she looked away. It was then, when I got to know about Love at first sight.

We discussed a lot of things about our lives in those 30 minutes. In fact, she also told me about the person she’d loved and wanted to marry to. When I asked her about the reason of not marrying him, she told me that she’s a strong believer of Trust. Her Mom, who was a divorcee, never wanted her daughter to have a Love Marriage because she herself had it and didn’t have a good experience over it. Shruti, of course, trusted her mom more than anyone else and so she decided to give up on love marriage.

When I asked Shruti about what if she ever regretted about her decision of marrying me!

She just said she won’t. Trust was all that she needed from me.

“Am I that trustworthy?” I asked myself and started deleting all the contact numbers of the girls with whom I used to flirt. “I have to be trustworthy.”

Meanwhile, I heard someone sobbing. Obviously, it was the statue. I kept my mobile on the seat and leaned towards him.

“Hey, is everything alright?”

“I loved someone!” he said in a broken voice. “I really loved her!”

I knew it. I knew he was in love. Lovers with the broken heart can only be so depressing.

“I don’t know how she gave up on me so easily! I have been in a relationship for 5 long years and today, I still think that I needed to know more about her,” he said and wiped out tears from his eyes with the sleeves of his t-shirt.

“She just left me because her mom didn’t want her to have a love marriage. Does that make any sense?”

With this statement of his, I was quite shaken because Shruti had told me that Abhay, the person she loved was in Indore to meet her. And the story of the statue sounds similar to that of Abhay. I should have not thought of such a huge coincidence but I had to consider it.

“Who’s she? Whom are you talking about?” I asked, being very nervous.

“I am talking about Shru. I loved her immensely. I won’t be able to forget her,” he said, looking away from me.

My eyes were widely opened.

“Shru can be a short name for Shruti,” I thought.

Though Shruti had already told me about Abhay. But she didn’t tell me that she was in a relationship with him for 5 years. I don’t mean that she wanted to hide this from me, because if she wanted to, she must have never told me about her love for someone. And of course, 30 minutes are never enough to share everything. Maybe, I was thinking too much. Shru could have been a short name for some other names as well! I needed to confirm it.

“What name is it? Shru! Weird! In India, we don’t have such names. Is she from some other country?”

Though, this question didn’t fit the situation, but I had to confirm it if he was talking about Shruti Malhotra.

“Her name is Shruti. I used to call her Shru!” he said something what I never wanted to hear.

Honestly, my body started shivering from upside down. I pinched myself hard to confirm that I was not dreaming. And I wasn’t. It was actually a coincidence. I was numb and my mind had stopped working. I was confused whether to call Shruti and tell her about this or to confess Abhay about myself or stay quiet and listen to him like a stranger. That was the most difficult situation of my life. I had never tried to hurt someone in my entire life, but right then, I was watching someone cry because of me.

“Why did she give up so easily on you?” I decided to be a stranger.

“She is a great believer of Trust. Choosing between love marriage and arrange marriage, for her, was like choosing between me and her mom. Obviously, she trusts her mom more than me and so she chose her mom.”

He had cried so much that his eyes were swelled up. Of course, I was feeling very bad for him. He cried out everything about him and Shruti, and I’d turned into a statue now, who was just listening to him.

“Speaking one’s heart out to a stranger feels so good!” he said and smiled.

I really wanted to reveal him about myself but I feared to tell him that the villain of his life was sitting right in front of him. I wished he’d been the statue throughout the journey.

“Were you in Indore to meet her?” I asked.

“Yes, I got the information of her engagement and I left all my work to travel all the way from Mumbai to convince her for one last time. But she denied.”

There was a sudden silent in the compartment for the next 5 minutes.

“She must have got engaged yesterday,” he smirked.

Slowly, I covered my engagement ring with the other hand and took it out. I didn’t want him to have any clue about my engagement.

“Don’t worry bro, Hope for the best. Everything will be alright!” I tried to console him.

He got up and left the compartment.

I was worried. What if he already knew the name of the person whom Shruti got engaged to! I prayed he’d not paid attention when I introduced myself to him.

He came back to the compartment, wiping his face with the hand towel.

“Sorry for being so rude,” he said and extended his hand towards me. “This is Abhay!”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking hands with him, without repeating my name once again. I was evidently dreaded of him.

Later, we had our dinner and slept.

I woke up in the morning at 6 and saw Abhay already awaken.

“You woke up so early?” I asked.

“I didn’t sleep,” he said. “Love has snatched away everything from me!”

I felt disturbed on this statement of his. I felt guilty to take away Shruti from him. I wanted to call Shruti and scold her for what she has done to Abhay. I couldn’t believe that I was engaged with a girl who doesn’t know about what’s right and what’s wrong. She just decided to leave Abhay because her mom wanted to! What a stupid decision!

I left the compartment and stood by the side of the gate.

“Maybe, Abhay is wrong! Maybe, Shruti has some other reasons of rejecting him!” a sudden thought clicked in my mind.

I called Shruti. Amid our conversation, I asked her about the reason of leaving Abhay. She spoke the same thing once again.

I remember I’d once written,

“Trust is a word and an emotion that ends up with Rust”

Watching someone trusting the trust so much, made me feel I was wrong.

I went back to the compartment after sometime. We were about to reach Mumbai. Abhay was still lost somewhere. Probably, thinking about Shruti. I really felt bad for him.

“Stay strong Abhay! Trust God!” I said and cuddled his hair.

He just smiled.

We finally reached Mumbai and I hugged Abhay to console him for the last time. I really didn’t know if I was right for not telling him about myself.

I reached my flat.

Raghav congratulated me for the engagement.

Raghav was my flatmate cum best friend. I was eager to meet him and tell him about everything that had happened. Like me, he was also shocked to know about that coincidence and it took him 5 minutes to realise that it really happened. We had nothing to say and we both were silent.

I was just left with two possibilities; one, forget about the train’s journey and two, forget Shruti.

“What about your story? Did you find one?” Raghav asked to break the silence.

“No,” I said and we both were silent once again.

“This can be a story!” I jumped up from the chair.

“Is this a story? Do you know how bad it is!”

I just smiled.

Three days later:

A girl was sitting on a chair in our flat. I was standing in front of the camera screen which showed the entrance of the lift.

“Who’s she?” Raghav came out from the room struggling to open his eyes after waking up.

“I don’t know anything about her,” I said without looking at him. “I found the number of an agent in the newspaper and asked him to send a call girl for a night.”

“What?” Raghav was appalled.

I was staring at the screen and didn’t respond anything.

“Whom are you waiting for?” he pulled me in front of him.

“Shruti! She was about to be here to surprise me,” I said moving my eyes back at the screen.

“What the fuck Suyash? Have you been mad?” he shouted coming in front of the screen. “How…How did you know about this surprise, by the way?”

“You know well, how bad my mom is in keeping secrets.”

“Ask this girl to leave, you fool!”

I saw Shruti in the screen. She had just arrived and pressed the button for the lift.

I held Raghav’s hand and pulled him back into the room. I pleaded him to stay quiet for next few minutes.

Returning back to the screen, I saw Shruti had been disappeared. Raghav started banging the door. I ran back to him and requested him to stay quiet. He stopped. Quickly, I unhooked the main gate and went close to the girl sitting on the chair. She stood up. Gently, I grabbed her by her waist and while I approached to kiss her, Shruti entered the flat. On hearing the sound of her bags dropping down, I looked towards her, shockingly.

“Shruti!” I acted. “It’s nothing like you are thinking!” I walked towards her.

She started crying and covered her mouth with her hands. When I tried to touch her, she slapped me hard. Then, she picked up her bag and ran away.

I was standing there with one of my hands on the cheek.

“Slap was not the part of my expectation!” I thought to myself.

“You can leave now!” I looked at the girl who was giving me a weird look.

She left.

I opened the door of the room in which I’d locked Raghav. He was standing there with a big question mark on his face and waiting for me to speak. But I didn’t.

“What did you do Suyash?” he asked, finally. “I watched out everything from the eye hook. Are you mad?”

I smiled.

“Somehow, I had to make her believe that trusting someone so badly can be harmful. Her Mom is not right if she doesn’t want her daughter to marry Abhay. And Shruti isn’t smart enough to understand that Abhay is the perfect guy she’ll ever have. No one can love her as Abhay does. I am a writer and I understand the emotion of a person. I had seen the pain Abhay had to get away from her,” I sat on the bed. “Abhay knows her since 5 years, I feared that he will not be able to live his life without her and I would have always regretted if I married Shruti.”

“What if she doesn’t go back to Abhay? And even if she does, what if her mom still doesn’t allow her to marry Abhay?”

“Trust was the only barrier that came between them. I broke Shruti’s trust on me and the barrier is no more there. Her Mom believed that Love marriages always failed. She’ll now believe that Arrange marriages also don’t guarantee anything.” I took a pause. “They’ll be together.”

Raghav tapped my back.

“I am feeling bad for Shruti. She must be feeling so broken and so lost. I wish I could have told her the truth.”

“Sometimes, it’s better to keep quiet.” Raghav said.

I nodded.

“And trust me, this story is going to be the best seller,” he said.

Two months later:

I was sitting on a chair, working on the story when my phone buzzed.

It was an unknown number.

I received it.

“I can’t believe that the stranger I was talking to, was Shruti’s fiance. What a shocking coincidence!”

It was Abhay.

“Hey, Abhay!”

“Thank you Suyash, you are the best person I’ve ever came across in my life.”

“Are you guys together?” I asked without responding to the thanks.

“Yes, we are in Singapore for the honeymoon,” he said happily. “Sorry for not inviting you in the marriage. We got to know about everything today.”

“You are the best, Suyash.” Shruti said from behind.

I felt that I had won the world and it felt amazing to hear them happy together.

“We still can’t believe how you managed to do all this!” Abhay said.

“When it is about Love, I can manage anything.” I said. “I can’t express about my happiness today. You guys are the perfect match. Call me after coming back to Mumbai, we’ll meet soon. Enjoy your time now.”

“Bye!” they both said.

I rested my back on the chair and looked at the first page of the booklet kept on the table.

“Because… it was about Love!” it read.

The wicked boy who loved

Uday was shivering as if he was undergoing an electric shock of 440 volt. He was tied with a chair by a thick rope and a cloth was stuffed in his mouth. His sight had been blurred as his spectacles were coated with fog produced by the heat of his body.

Hemant had a gun in his hands which was pointed straight at Uday’s head.

“Come on Hemant, kill him!” Rahul was consistently trying to persuade Hemant to end Uday’s chapter once and for all.

Hemant’s eyes were filled with rage and his face was turning red.

---

PAST:

Hemant had only two things to do in his life. One, for his earning and the other for his living. For his earning, he dealt with kidnapping and blackmailing. And, for his living, he stalked Aarushi. Watching her satisfied him. So, he followed her quietly from her house to college and back and forth. He was madly in love with her. The day he didn’t see her, he felt incomplete. Sundays were the most lonesome days of his life. He had confessed his love to her. She too liked him, but only till she got to know about his way of earning. Once, she’d found him doing this for the pleasure of his so-called brother, Rahul.

Rahul loved the world of crime and he loved working on the kidnapping contracts. Aarushi found it completely wrong. Of course, she wanted to spend her life with Hemant, but not like this. His way of earning and fulfilling Rahul’s cruel desires was unacceptable to her. She wanted him to quit committing all the crimes and leave Rahul’s company. Hemant had tried to convince Rahul for quitting on crime, but Rahul never liked this idea and for the sake of Rahul, Hemant repudiated Aarushi’s offer.

Why wouldn’t he? After all, Rahul was his family. They both had been with each other since childhood. They were bought up in an orphanage and after sometime, they escaped from there. They had always celebrated their good times and supported each other during their bad times.

Eventually, Hemant stopped being involved in these crimes but whenever he had to support Rahul, he never held back either.

One day, Hemant was stalking Aarushi from her college to house. But he felt something unusual that day when he was watching her from behind the trees. There was not only Aarushi walking on the silent street, but also, he saw a man ambling towards her with a bottle in his hands which seemed to be filled with some liquid. Hemant ran towards the man without thinking twice. That man heard the footsteps approaching towards him and before he could turn around, Hemant grasped him by the scruff of his neck and with the other hand, he grabbed his wrist, snatched the bottle and threw it away. As the content of the bottle fell on the ground, smoke emerged out of it. Aarushi turned around as she heard the commotion from behind and she was stunned. Hemant kicked the man and started hitting him badly. The man fell down with blood on his face.

“Who are you? And what was there in the bottle?” Hemant asked aggressively, gasping for each breath.

The man couldn’t speak. He was trying to breathe hard.

“Tell me? Who the hell are you?” Hemant enquired, tapping his cheeks.

Aarushi was standing with her eyes wide opened and jaw dropped down. She was absolutely shocked, unable to process what just happened.

Before that man could say anything, his eyes were closed.

Hemant touched his veins to check if he was dead, but he wasn’t. He had just fainted. Hemant took out the phone from his pocket and called up Rahul. He told him about the incident and Rahul assured him that he would be there within 5 minutes.

Then, Hemant looked up for Aarushi and found her standing behind him. He ran towards her.

“It’s ok Aarushi, Everything is fine!”

She didn’t say anything. She was thinking about what could have happened to her.

“Aarushi? Aarushi?” Hemant called.

But she still didn’t respond.

“Aarushiiiiiiii?” Hemant shouted while shaking her by her shoulders.

Aarushi looked up at him.

“Who… Was he?” she asked, panicking. “Why did he try to attack me?”

“I don’t know.”

By then, Rahul arrived in a car and asked Hemant if he was fine. Hemant nodded and asked him to take away the fainted man so that they could enquire him about everything when he’s back in his senses. Rahul nodded and took away the fainted man in his car.

“How did you come here?” Aarushi asked with a big question mark on her face. “And saved me?” she doubted Hemant.

“You think I asked him to come and attack you? So that I’ll come and be the saviour of your life and become a hero!”

“Maybe!” she smirked. “It’s not that tough for you.”

“Aarushi, I follow you every day. I love watching you and so, I roam around you.” Hemant explained.

Aarushi sneered and walked away in anger.

“Aarushi, I love you. Please don’t leave.”

Aarushi stopped.

“Either it’s me or Rahul and your bad deeds, you know that.” Aarushi responded without turning around.

“I would have not been able to save you if I was not involved in this crime world.”

Aarushi turned around.

“You must be having foes everywhere. The person who tried to attack me might have been sent by some of your enemies,” she said. “You say you would have not been able to save me if you were not associated with criminals. I say, I would have not been attacked by someone had you not been associated with them.”

“Hemant had nothing to say. Aarushi walked away and Hemant was left there with nothing but disappointment on his face.

---

As Hemant went back to Rahul, he saw the man with his eyes open. Hemant was enraging. He ran towards him and grabbed him by his collar.

“Leave him Hemant, he has spoken everything.” Rahul pulled Hemant away from the man before Hemant could ask him anything.

“Who’s he? Why did he do this?”

“He’s Raghav.” Rahul said. “Do you remember Uday?”

“Uday?”

“Yes, he’s the culprit. He had sent Raghav to attack her with acid.”

Uday was a classmate of Aarushi. He’d always been flirting around with her. One day, Hemant asked him to stay away from her. Uday ignored the warning. Hemant took out a gun from his pocket and aimed at his head. Uday freaked out after this and he promised that he’ll never ever be seen around Aarushi.

“Do we need this man anymore?” Hemant asked.

“No, we can let him go.” Rahul said.

Hemant took out the gun from his waist and shot Raghav.

Rahul was shocked to see this instant reaction from Hemant.

“This person didn’t have the right to live.” Hemant exclaimed.

“Hemant, are you mad? Why did you kill him?”

“Whoever will try to hurt her will be treated the same way.”

Rahul was shocked at Hemant’s anger.

“I want Uday right in front of me as soon as possible.” Hemant ordered.

“Calm down Hemant, we’ll plan out something and then we’ll take action.”

“No, I want him infront of me right now.”

“OK, I’ll get him here.” Rahul said then took out his phone and called some people.

In next few minutes, Uday was sitting infront of Hemant with his hands tied back and a piece of cloth stuffed in his mouth.

---

PRESENT:

Uday was tied with a rope and a gun was pointed at his head which was in the hands of Hemant. Rahul was still trying to persuade Hemant.

“Get out of here!” Hemant threw the gun away and untied the rope from Uday’s hands.

Uday stared at Hemant to confirm what he heard was right. Rahul was shocked to hear this.

“What the fuck? What are you saying?” Rahul left his chair and approached Hemant.

“Gooooooooooo!” Hemant shouted and kicked Uday’s chair.

Uday was shocked to be sent free, unharmed. Hurriedly, he stood up and ran away.

“Do you know how difficult it was to bring him here? And you left him so easily! What the fuck, Hemant! I am confused.” Rahul bursted out at Hemant.

Hemant didn’t respond. He sat down on the chair, took out a cigarette from his pocket and lighted it up with a lighter. Then, he took a deep puff from it and exhaled.

Hemant took another puff from the cigarette and once again, exhaled.

“Will you tell me? Why did you let him go?” Rahul asked, almost shouting.

“Hemant threw the cigarette on the floor and rubbed it under his shoes. He then, looked at Rahul. Rahul was giving him a puzzled look.

“That day, when Aarushi went away,” Hemant started. “I was crying there alone and suddenly my eyes went on a phone lying over there. I picked it up and saw Raghav’s photo on the home screen. I knew that Raghav must have been connected with the person who asked him to attack Aarushi. I went through the logs and found that there were a lot of times he had been connected with a person named ‘BOSS’ and when I tapped on the name, I found the number to be yours. And then, I found a message in his inbox from his BOSS.” Hemant took a deep sigh and stood up from the chair.

Rahul started stepping back.

“Why did you do this Rahul?” Hemant grabbed him by his neck and pushed him against the wall. “I always chose you over her. You know I love her, right?” Hemant questioned and gave a hard punch on Rahul’s face.

“I sacrificed my love for you and you tried to attack her with acid? You fool!” Hemant gave another powerful punch on his face.

“Yes!” Rahul shouted. “I wanted to take away her beauty because that girl hates me and I’d always thought that you’ll leave me one day because of her and that’s why I decided to take this step.”

“Unbelievable! I trusted you the most in this whole world and you turned out to be the villain of my life?” He slapped Rahul.

“Did you even think how would have I felt if you’d succeeded in your plan? How would have I felt when I would have known that it was you behind this plan?” Hemant gave incessant slaps on his cheek.

Rahul fell down on the floor.

“Yes, I’d thought of how bad you’ll feel when you’ll get to know that I was the mastermind being this plan but, I was worried. When I was coming back to home with Raghav, I was thinking of the guy who would have been most suitable in this situation and found Uday to be the perfect guy. I made Raghav wake up and ordered him to take Uday’s name when asked. But you didn’t even ask him and shot him.” Rahul said, gasping for air to breathe. “I knew you’ll believe me and together we’ll kill Uday and you’ll never get to know the truth.”

“I could have shot even you at that time, but I wanted to see how far you were willing to exceed your limits. And see! You were ready to let Uday die.”

Hemant took the gun back in his hands and aimed at Rahul. He had tears in his eyes to see Rahul in that condition. He had always supported Rahul but today, he was left with no choice but to point the gun towards his own brother. Though he wanted to trigger the gun, but he took it off and put it back in his pocket.

“Never show me your face Rahul.” Hemant warned while wiping off tears from his eyes and left the place.

---

Hemant couldn’t sleep at night. He went to park at the time of dawn. He was sitting there with deep thoughts running through his mind. He knew he’ll get Aarushi now, but he realised that he’d lost Rahul. He was disappointed and so, he screamed. He screamed loud enough to release his pain and anger. He screamed for Rahul’s behaviour and he screamed for hitting him. After he was done, he became absolutely quiet. The only sound that could be heard in the park now was of the birds chirping. He stood up and left the place.

Hemant took a few days to get out of this shock of betrayal by his own brother and then, he asked Aarushi to meet him.

Aarushi came to his house and she could easily see the disappointment on his face. Hemant explained everything to her.

“So, where were you these days?” Aarushi asked.

“I was just trying to cope up with this bad time.”

“Will you be able to live without him?”

“Definitely, yes!” he said with a big NO on his face.

“Yes, I can see that.” Aarushi mocked him. She took a deep sigh. “He came to me a couple of days back and he’d already told me everything. He was very sorry about what he did and he asked me to convey his apology to you.”

Hemant was surprised.

“Where is he now?” Hemant asked.

“When Rahul came to my house, I was not willing to let him in but he practically begged me so, I opened the door. When he was describing everything, I was avoiding to look at him so I tried to get myself engaged in some work but when he completed he sounded so disturbed, I eventually turned my face towards him. The first look I got of him, I saw he had tears in his eyes and a gun in his hands which was pointed at his head. Before I could reach him, he triggered the button and fell down.”

Hemant was numb. His heart was beating faster. He was recalling everything in his mind. He covered his face with his hands and quickly rubbed his face.

Aarushi was sitting with a lot of disappointment on her face. She had tears in her eyes.

“I ran towards him and took his head on my lap. I was shocked and unable to ask him anything. The last words he uttered were that he loved you and he would have not been able to live without you.”

Hemant had tears in his eyes and a lot of guilt in his heart. His mind went numb and his heart was sinking deep with the thoughts of Rahul. He couldn’t control it so he started crying. He cried out loud. Aarushi took him in her arms and she tried to console him. But Hemant didn’t stop. It was the most unbelievable thing that could have happened to him. The boy who loved a girl, got her. But, he will never get back the wicked boy who loved him.

Life was not easy without you

Sitting on a bench facing the Worli Sea Face, holding a cigarette between his fingers, Dhruv was deeply absorbed in his thoughts. Since last couple of years, this place has been his only companion. Not a single soul could be seen over there at the crack of dawn, except Dhruv and a little boy who used to work there in the tattered garments to serve the first tea of the day to Dhruv. After having the tea, Dhruv used to leave the isolated place.

Dhruv was a prominent personality of his college. His lifestyle and good looks were not the only hot topic amongst the students but, his football skills were also very much envied. Despite being such a sought-after personality, Dhruv tried to escape from everyone in the college. He used to leave the college as soon as the lectures got over.

Priyanka, who once used to be close to Dhruv, was a new student in college. On one hand, girls in college were crazy about Dhruv and on the other hand, Priyanka’s beauty with her sizzling figure were good reasons for all the boys to hit on her.

Priyanka was a perfect companion for Dhruv but she went to Dubai for her graduation and after being there, she got too busy with her life to connect with Dhruv. But somewhere in her busy world, she missed Dhruv every single day. Her destiny brought her back to Mumbai for her post graduation. She had planned to surprise Dhruv by taking admission in the same college but that surprise turned into a less than pleasant experience when she got completely ignored by Dhruv on her very first day of college. Priyanka thought that Dhruv must have been upset with her because he never wanted her to go to Dubai in the first place. But soon, she realised that she misunderstood the whole situation, turns out that Dhruv stopped talking to everyone a long time ago and he had not a single friend left in his life.

Months went by, but Dhruv didn’t stop even once to talk to her. Priyanka also tried to connect with him on social media only to find out that she was blocked. She kept observing Dhruv for months and figured that Dhruv used to meet a person outside college and they both used to ride away on that person’s bike.

One day, Priyanka decided to follow Dhruv and see where he goes.
But she needed some help, so she took Shantanu’s help, the only genuine boy in her class who she could trust. She asked him to help her follow Dhruv. Shantanu agreed to help her and the next day, both of them bunked their last lecture and waited outside the college. As they saw Dhruv coming out of the college, both of them put on their helmets. Dhruv again met the same person that Priyanka observed the other day; they shook hands and sat on Dhruv’s bike. Dhruv started the engine of his bike and accelerated. Shantanu and Priyanka let him take a 100 metres lead and started following him after that. The speed of Dhruv’s bike was far beyond what they had expected. They could hardly keep up for a couple of miles, then they gave up.

***************

The next day, Priyanka and Shantanu were sitting on the stairs and they were contemplating why on earth Dhruv was riding his bike at such a blistering pace.

“Dhruv was always scared of riding his bike at such a high speed,” Priyanka said. “I can’t believe it was Dhruv riding his bike yesterday.”

“I don’t think anyone needs talent to ride a bike like that on such a busy road. Having no regards for their own life is all they need.” Shantanu expressed.

In the meantime, Dhruv was coming down the stairs, hurriedly.

“Dhruv!” Priyanka yelled. “What made you ride your bike so fast?” she asked vigorously, standing up from the stairs.

“Stop following me, or else I’ll ride it even faster.” exhorted Dhruv.

“Take it easy Dhruv.” Shantanu said coming between them.

“No, I won’t.” Dhruv said while getting closer to Shantanu.

Shantanu pushed him gently to maintain a distance. Dhruv came back towards him expeditiously and punched him on his face. Both of them started fighting. Priyanka tried to pacify them but none of them listened. Within a few seconds, crowd started gathering and eventually pulled both of them out of that fight.

“Stay away from me, or I’ll kill you.” Dhruv threatened Shantanu and left the place.

Shantanu got pissed and immediately left the place afterwards.

Priyanka sat back on the stairs and started crying.

Tanya, who was one of her classmates, saw her crying and she went to accompany her.

“Why were they fighting Priyanka?” asked Tanya.

Priyanka explained everything to Tanya. She also told her that she was very upset with this attitude of Dhruv’s and that she can’t see him behave like this anymore.

Tanya got lost in her thoughts after listening to Priyanka and went absolutely quite.

“What are you thinking?” asked Priyanka.

“Do you have any idea about what happened with him?” Tanya interrogated.

Priyanka shrugged.

“I knew it.” Tanya whispered.

“Do you know Dhruv? Is he your friend?”

“No.” Tanya said disappointingly. “He used to be my friend”

“Oh! Then what went wrong? You’re not friends anymore?” Priyanka asked desperately.

“It’s not just me. It’s all of his friends that he has stopped talking to.”

Tanya took a deep sigh.

“We became good friends in first year itself. So much so, that he started sharing a lot of things about his life with me. Mostly, all of his stories and anecdotes revolved around you. He was very hurt over your decision of going to Dubai. He confessed to me that he fell for you when you were here. But just when he started settling down in his life without you, a disaster ruined his life.”

Tanya took a deep breath.

“What disaster?” Priyanka asked impatiently.

“He lost his parents in a road accident.”

Priyanka was shook, her heart beats started racing faster than Dhruv’s bike. There was a lump in her throat and she couldn’t speak any further.

“I get it, all of this must be very shocking for you,” Tanya continued. “This tragedy changed him a lot. He locked himself in a room and kept crying. He hardly ever came out of it. Unable to see him like that, his grandfather called all of his friends to make an attempt at cheering him up but it didn’t work.”

“So, is this why…?” Priyanka asked in a heavy voice.

“No, there is more to it. His grandfather gave him all the love and care that he needed to cope up with that loss. Eventually, he started getting back to his functional self. He began coming back to college. He started speaking to everyone and also, was attending the lectures as well. But one day, his grandfather got a heart attack and he couldn’t recover. Dhruv was left all alone but this time, he didn’t even cry much. He was absolutely numb. He shut the whole world out. He stopped talking to everyone, again. He stopped participating in everything, even football (the one thing that he loved more than anything). Now, he just comes to the college, attends all the lectures and leaves. Whoever tries to talk to him, gets to see nothing except his bitterness. I tried to cheer him up initially, but one day, things got too far when he pushed me in front of everyone in the college. Since then, I have stopped talking to him just like everyone else.”

Priyanka’s eyes were full of tears. Her heart was loaded with a lot of guilt for not being there when Dhruv needed her the most. Tanya tried to calm her down.

“I know it’s not easy for you to absorb this right now. You should take your time to let it all sink in, take a day off to sleep over it.” Tanya said offering her a water bottle.

Priyanka took a few sips from it. She was going through a range of emotions. There were a lot of thoughts running through her mind.

“I have been observing that Dhruv meets someone outside the college, almost every day. Do you by any chance happen to know him?” Priyanka asked.

“Yes, he’s Vidyuth. He got expelled from our college long back. He was caught taking drugs in the boys’ washroom. That boy is the very definition of trouble. If Dhruv is spending time with him, he must be feeling absolutely lost.”

“He was such a role model with kindest personality in our school, but look at him now.” Priyanka thought to herself.

***************

Priyanka did not come to the college for next four days. Dhruv noticed her absence and was curious to know if everything was alright. One day, he found a piece of paper on his desk.

Priyanka left this college and went back to Dubai. She was here just for you. But you ended up fighting when she tried to talk. She asked me to inform this to you. I wrote it on a piece of paper because you don’t want to listen to anyone. Hope you didn’t throw this paper without reading.

–Tanya

Dhruv felt horrible, almost as if he was heartbroken once again, if that was possible. Though, he didn’t want to talk to Priyanka when she was there but her presence meant a lot to him. He never thought that she’ll leave him again like this. He was taken aback and he didn’t know what to do. He lost her once again. All of these thoughts became unbearable so Dhruv left the college immediately.

***************
Dhruv went to his usual spot, sitting on a bench facing the Worli Sea face. He was lost in his thoughts. The only sound that could be heard was that of the waves. That little boy came to serve him tea, as always. But this time, he also handed over an envelope to him. The boy ran away before Dhruv could ask anything. Dhruv looked around but there was no one else that could be seen. He opened the envelope.

Dear Dhruv,
I know you are facing the worst pain that there is, the loss of people that we love. I also know that you are disappointed from this world for taking away those who were most precious to you. But, it had nothing to do with you, punishing yourself is not going to undo anything. If your parents and grandfather were alive, can you imagine how bad they would have felt to see you like this? All they ever wanted was for you to be happy.

Dhruv looked away from the letter. His eyes were filled with tears but he couldn’t resist reading the rest of the letter.

You should start talking to your friends again, let them in. Shutting everyone out will only kill you from the inside. You’ll get nothing out of it. In fact, you will end up losing the ones who genuinely care for you. Give life, a fresh chance. Start getting involved in everything that you loved again. Go, participate in all the football matches and win them like you had planned. Make your parents proud. We all want you to stay happy. I hope you will listen to me.

-Yours… look behind to know that!

Dhruv was hoping to see Priyanka while turning around. Dhruv closed his eyes and turned his face. He opened his eyes. Tanya was standing with her hands behind and a big smile on her face. Dhruv was slightly disappointed. He was confused and by this point, exhausted to ask anything.

Tanya took out a big piece of paper from behind which read “Look in front of you!”

Dhruv took few seconds to process what was going on and then he turned around to see Priyanka, who was standing in front of him with a hoarding which read “I LOVE YOU DHRUV”

Dhruv once again felt alive in that moment. He got back to his senses. He got up from the bench and ran towards Priyanka. He hugged her tightly and broke down. Priyanka had tears of joy in her eyes. She finally got her Dhruv back.

“I love you Priyanka. I’d missed you a lot while you were gone. Life was not at all easy without you.” Dhruv cried out.

“Everything will be fine Dhruv. Life can be full of pain sometimes but things don’t have to stay like that forever.” Priyanka said, stroking his hair.

“I am not going anywhere. I am here to stay and I’ll always be there for you. I promise.”

Priyanka wiped tears from Dhruv’s cheeks and then she signalled Tanya who was standing behind them.

“I am sorry Tanya; I am really very sorry for being such a horrible friend to you, and for behaving like a total jerk that day. There is no way to justify what I did. But, I hope you can still find it in your heart to forgive me.” Dhruv said.

“I forgive you, Dhruv. I didn’t realise you needed space. I was worried about you, I just wanted my old friend back.” Tanya said with a warm smile.

Dhruv hugged Tanya.

“Thanks for giving me my friend back.” Tanya winked at Priyanka.

“Thank you for helping me carry out this amazing plan.” Priyanka smiled.

Dhruv smiled at Priyanka and she smiled back at him.

The Journey Begins

THANKS for joining me!

Creativity is intellegence having fun. – Albert Einstein