Continuing from where we last left.
…Three years later
No matter how hard she was trying now, there was no way she could contact him. Old phone numbers no more existed; his social media links got directed to a 404 error message page.
And then one day, she received a call from an unknown number.
It was him.
“Where in the world were you and why didn’t you ever contact me!’’ stuff replaced “Hey, how have you been?” stuff. Deep within, both hearts smiled. Time wasn’t able to wash away the bond that they always had.
That day, they talked on the phone for hours. Like they were filling it up for all these gone-away three years. Both got updated about each other’s lives. That night, somewhere, the cherry-blossom trees bloomed to their maximum. Two souls were happy, once again.
A few days later, she landed herself with an internship at the same place where he lived in now. Glad as she was to her fullest, she planned to not tell him at all about it. Instead she would surprise him with her visit and finally tell him face-to-face, what she had realized about her feelings for him, in the past years, when he had gone away.
The night, that call.
She: Hey, what’s up?
He: Hey, umm…I called you up to say something.
She: Yeah, go on!
He: Okay, so … umm… I am getting married.
She: What? Must be kidding! Are you serious or is this one of those bad jokes of yours?
He: No .. this is me speaking in my most serious state. Kasam se, yaar! Dead serious!
She didn’t know what to say next. Like time had frozen. For that moment. What about all the plans she had made all this while? Should she just confess over the phone? Would it be right to say that to someone who was about to get married? Will her confession now change anything at all? So many questions. No answers to any. Coming back to her senses from this sudden whirlwind moment, she ended the call saying, “Congrats ..am happy for you. Lucky guy! Shaadi mein bulana!”. Deep inside, a gripping fear for being found out from the tone of her voice about how heart-wrenching that news was for her. Days later, he got married to the soulmate that he was “destined” with. She went ahead with her internship, her surprise plan remaining forever incomplete for execution.
Thus, emerged somewhere a piece of an incomplete story to write about. Stories as incomplete as such isn’t anything unusual. It happens with most. Each day somewhere new relationships are formed, each day somewhere old relationships say heavy goodbyes. Amidst them, there are some relationships that struggle all odds and survive to carve out wonderful happy-ending stories.
We all are no strangers to the feeling of love. Like it all has touched us in some way or the other. Maybe if we all want to, we can each pen down stories about our own love-related experiences. Each having a different story. And for those with heartbroken love stories, it all comes down to the factors of fear, misunderstandings, high expectations, trust-related phobias, family problems and so many more. At the end of the day, these are all but excuses. What if we just LET IT GO and dive in and see where it takes us. All we need to do is plunge in. Love can be frightening, but once in a while, we need to follow our heart.
The story above could have had so many different endings. Let’s say she had taken the plunge then itself, three years ago. It could have been a “happily ever after” story or it could have been a sad breakup story. Let’s say she had confessed her feelings the day he told her about getting married. It would have either resulted in him cancelling the marriage or it would have resulted in both being stuck in a loop of complications. The ending took place according to the decisions she made. The decision she took three years before; the decision she took three years later. And we say, it all lies in the hands of fate(?).
Not much to say. We are all in our own way experts in love. Seasons come, seasons go. Love comes, love goes, love stays. Try once. You fail, then try again. I do not believe in having to try again and again and again. If you feel you have tried with all your might and yet you have failed, it’s better to step back, rethink once and leave. You never know what other good things might be out there waiting for you, while you are here stuck on trying to get something that is seeming so hard to get. It’s a myth that you can love only once. Do you hate only once? Love can happen as many times; it all depends on whether you want to move on ahead with your own feelings or want to be stuck in a particular time. Of course, first love-always an exception. No matter how hurt we were, no matter how gruesome an ending it was, no matter how embarrassing those times were, memories of first love gets imprinted in our minds for lifetime. We would certainly never forget the first person who made us go crazy in love, right?
Closing this part with these wonderful lines I picked up from somewhere.
ON A RAINY DAY, WHAT IS YOUR UMBRELLA?
A VOICE THAT RESPONDS WHEN YOU CALL.
MEMORIES OF SEEING THE SAME THING AT THE SAME TIME.
THE FIRST TIME YOU MATCHED EACH OTHER’S PACE.
DID SOMEONE COME TO MIND?
YES. THAT’S THE PERSON.
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