They reached home and
by then everyone had went home. She put Zenith down for sleep and came out of
the room and saw only Aryan standing there. She saw him and gestured towards
the seats, went there and sat. Aryan came and sat leaving a gap of one chair,
fearing she might hug him again. None of them knew what to talk about. Both of
them were just sitting there looking at each other.
“Who was the girl that
was with came with you??” he somehow awkwardly asked.
“She is mine and
Rachit’s daughter, Zenith. He died when she was just about a year old.”
“Yeah I heard about him
during that time. Sorry about that. He died a martyr.”
“Yeah”
“So how have you been??
It had been almost 10 years since I had seen you. Last time I saw you was…………”
he just remembered that day and somehow could not say anything.
“Yeah I know, well
after Rachit I had been really busy in my life. I ran away thinking I might be
saving my parents some embarrassment but I guess what I did was in repairable.”
“No it is not so, and
you know that. You did what you thought was right at that time and that is how
life goes.”
Then they got to
talking and Aryan asked all about how the past 10 years were like. Everything
about Zenith. Everything about everything.
“So that is pretty much
it from my side, you tell how have things been on your side?”
“Well to start with I
am married to a beautiful girl Reet now and I have a beautiful little daughter
Ishita, right about the age of Zenith.”
“Wow, so tell me your
story, how you met this girl Reet???”
“Well it is a very long
story.”
“Well I guess we do
have the time” she said smiling. The smile that pushed Aryan about 10 and a
half years back.
10 AND A HALF YEARS
BACK…..
It had been just few
days since Pratima left for the army. Initially Aryan felt that yes I can do it. She is there serving the
country n the least I can do is to support her. Make her stronger not weaker
But in some time all
the lies that he told himself that he can live without her were falling apart
one by one. He started missing her so badly that he almost spent his whole day
visiting the sites where he and Pratima used to meet. This was affecting his
health as well as business. But he had no idea what to do. Just then a thought
struck his mind. He had read something somewhere on how you should write down
your feelings if you can’t tell those to the person. He knew if he tried to
contact her, she will know that he is missing her and would start thinking
about him too. Which as it is doing to Aryan affect her work. Which he never
wanted. So all he had to do was to write down his feelings for her. He came
running back to the house. Flashed his way into his room and started looking
for a pen and a paper. He was initially very confused on what to write and if
he did write this letter should he send it or not? He then tried Pratima’s
method; he closed his eyes and tried to think about her. The way she looks, the
way talks, the way she walks, the way her eyes light up every time she starts
smiles, the way her dimple looks on her right cheek, the small little cute mole
on her face that she always hates. Suddenly he realized what he had to write.
He gathered his thoughts and started writing.
Hey baby,
I know I wasn’t supposed to miss you so much, but
it is all I am able to do. The last time I felt alive was the last time I saw
you, since then I have only been a dummy walking and talking but not living.
Only if I knew I was going to see you after such a long time, I would have frozen
the time there and then and watched you just standing there smiling at me. You
know every night when I go out and see the starts shining, all I can think
about is you, I thank god for every mistake I did because that brought me to a
path that lead to you…………………………………………………………………..
He got up to this when
he heard a loud honk just right outside his door. There was a car, followed by
a moving truck. The house that was right in front of their house was sold to a
family. Man his wife and his daughter. Daughter was about Aryan’s age. He
completed the letter. Put it in his back pocket and left out to meet the new
neighbors.
He rang the doorbell. A
lady came out.
“Hello, I am Aryan
Sharma. I live in that house right in front of yours. I thought I should stop
by and ask if you need anything??”
“Oh hello, I am Mrs.
Gupta. I am o glad you came. It is good to see people helping others out in
these times too. Why don’t you come in and meet the rest of the family??” she
asked ecstatically.
“Oh I would love to.”
And he went inside. He had seen that house more than a 100 times before too.
But right now it all looked so different. With all the new furniture and all,
he remembered the time when Pratima’s family shifted right next to their house.
“Hello young man.
Myself Mr. Gupta. Welcome to our new house. I suppose you live in the house
that is right in front of ours??” he asked.
“Yes sir, oh and I am
Aryan.”
‘Pleasure to meet you”
“Me too sir”
“I would like you to
meet my beautiful daughter Reet.”
“Hi, nice to meet you”
he said shyly.
“You too.” She replied
even more shyly.
So this was the first
meeting of the many meeting to come. Aryan liked to spend time with Reet. They
became really good friends. He told her all about Pratima and she was really
excited to meet her soon. But what Aryan didn’t know was that Reet formed a
certain kind of likeness towards Aryan. Even knowing that he was in love with
someone else she could not help falling to him. He had a crush on him since the
first time she saw him sitting by his window writing something lost in his
thoughts. But because of the already complicated situation she never confessed
her feelings for him. That was the reason that when she heard Pratima was
getting back from her services and he would be married off with her soon she
somehow persuaded her father to allow her to stay at her aunty in Chandigarh
for a while. About the time the wedding was over. It had already been hard on
her, loving a person who she knew loved someone else.
A few months later when
she heard about what happened during the wedding of Aryan and Pratima she felt
bad and thought Aryan needed a friend. So she packed up and went all the way
back.
When she reached his
home she saw Aryan devastated. He looked like he had not eaten or slept for
days now. He stopped talking to anyone. His parents feared he might not do
something to him so they seeked her help. She went into his room, she saw him
looking outside that very same window that she for the first time looked at
him. He was lost in his thoughts just like the first time but this time he
looked pale. She went ahead and without saying anything hugged him.
Aryan had not felt something like that in days. For a
second he felt that Pratima came back but when he turned around and saw Reet
standing there his excitement fell down and he turned away again. But Reet was
determined to make him happy
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