The crazy little thing called LOVE – Love Short Story

[The crazy little thing called LOVE – Love Short Story]

2010:

I looked into the sky. It was getting dark and the stars began to shoot out. My throat seemed to be locked with a lump. I leaned forward and rested my face on my knees. The waves sprinkled cold waters on me. It kind of felt better. Better in the sense, eased the tears that were struggling inside. The sharp rocks pricked my skin through my jeans but the pain was hardly anything compared to what I felt in my heart.

Suddenly I heard my phone give a jerk. It was a message from my friend.

‘He cheated u.’

I read the message ten times before hurling the phone into the sea. An urge to yell took over me but I had to control. But the agony inside was too much to take in. the shaking anger inside burst out as I smashed my hand across the rocks.

2001:

It was lunch break. Anvesha was sitting beside me and we were having lunch together. I offered her a piece from my sandwiches. They were her favorite and mother packed it especially for her. Her face glowed as she took a bite.

‘Can I join you?’ I heard someone squeak behind him. It was Nikhil, my classmate and an acquaintance. He was just in my group but hardly a friend. Out of formality, I nodded. He sat next to me and opened his lunch box. I felt a murderous rage inside me. I closed my lunch box and went to wash my hand. I gulped down the water, replaced my box in my bag and returned to Anvesha. Nikhil was gone and I felt better. I sat next to her and smiled. She was still munching the same sandwich.

‘How long will you eat? The break is almost over’, I teased her. She flashed an angry look that startled me. That was something I never experienced before and I felt scared.

‘How can be so mean?’ she asked. I looked confused. ‘Why do talk with me if you don’t like me! Go away! You are a cheat!’ without another word, she ran away crying. I was completely in dark. The bell rang and we had to get back to the class. All through the class I could only think of her. She wasn’t in my class and I had no idea how she was doing. I looked across at Nikhil. What did he do, I hissed to myself.

After the school, I rushed after Anvesha but only managed to catch up with her friend. My fears were confirmed. Nikhil messed it all. He told her that I was talking behind her back and to prove it to her, he told one of her secrets which until then I thought I was the only one to know. But from what her friend told me, Nikhil also knew it – God knows how, and he messed up with my friend. Thankfully her friend trusted me and she was ready to help me.

The next day, I told my other friends about the incident and they agreed to help me. It was lunch break and we went to her class together. One look at her made me feel bad. Her eyes were swollen and her face looked blotchy. She tried to walk off on seeing me but her friend made her stay.

‘You believed when one person told you I talk behind your back. Would you believe if six people tell you that you are my best friend? If I really told anyone about you, you can try to find it out with anyone in the entire school. You can ask anyone.’

My friend, Varun, spoke up for me. ‘Hey, Nikhil is an idiot. He must have heard it from someone else outside the school. Don’t bother him. Everyone in the school thinks you are good. That’s how Smaran pictures you. Leave it all and be normal again.’

Luckily, it worked. Nikhil did not interfere again with us.

2005:

I looked at myself in the school mirror, may be for twentieth time. It was farewell and we were in blazers and the girls in saris. It was an official farewell and I felt like an idiot in the blazer. I looked across the room. Still no sign of her. I gestured her friend asking about her. She shrugged. I was standing among my friends. We all had decided to join together for our intermediate. Suddenly my friend nudged me in my ribs and pointed towards the door. I knew why and smiled to myself. I turned around. It was her. I couldn’t help laughing. She looked like a pumpkin in the sari. I walked up to her.

‘Hey!’ she greeted me. ‘How do I look? Don’t tell me if it’s bad.’ I laughed.

‘Nothing bad. Just like a small pumpkin. Height suits it too.’ She took the joke well. She was going to join along with me in intermediate. I appreciated that. It would be great if all my friends were at the same place.

The program started and everyone was engrossed in it. My friends and I chatted, not bothering about what was going on.

‘Hey, smaran!’ It was Nikhil. I wished him in return and pulled a chair for him next to me. ‘You never told Anvesha has a boyfriend?’ my friends looked up. Anger started bubbling inside me.

‘Nikhil, she’s no friend of yours. So why don’t you just concentrate only on your friends?’

‘She’s your friend, dude. I thought you are the only guy she’s close with. But guess I was wrong.’ I took a deep breath to control myself and faced him.

‘Once you tried to mess with her. It didn’t work. Now you’re trying with me and it won’t work. Let me make one thing clear. If you again try to do it, I might end up breaking your bones, dude. You aren’t very strong, you know. And another point, I don’t care if she has a boyfriend too. She’s just my best friend.’ He got the warning tone and remained silent. I got up and walked off from that place. Varun and Akshay followed me. We sat away from the crowd and waited for the celebration to get over.

It was almost towards the end of the program when I saw Anvesha and friend walking towards us. I couldn’t help smiling. She looked comical in the sari.

‘You think I have boyfriends, do you?’ she hissed at me. I rolled my eyes and sighed. He did it again, I cursed. Varun and Akshay looked aghast. ‘You think I move close with all the guys, huh?’ I stood up and looked straight into her eye.

‘Look, if you want to believe all the nonsense you hear from that guy, fine! But before you do its better you know what happened. Looks like you trust the entire world more than me’, I snapped at her. Her face fell and that bought me back to my senses. ‘Listen, I am sorry. But you can ask me what had happened before accusing me like this.’ I told her about the complete situation with some help from my friends. And again, at the end, she was back to normal.

‘I’m sorry’, she pleaded. I smiled at her. I didn’t ask for her apology. I just wanted her to be my friend.

2007:

It was after our intermediate. We had a long break. And it was my birthday. It was the best day. My friends started off the day’s party at night 12. They arranged for a cake-cutting in the beach. We took long drives all the night and returned to our home in the morning. None of us felt like sleeping. We went for a breakfast at Executive Court and returned at 11. That afternoon I spent with my parents.

The best part I was waiting for was the dinner. It was exclusively for Anvesha. Since we had no common friends, I had to take her alone. And for the first time, she agreed to come. After a long discussion with my friends, I decided to take her to Fusion Foods. The Chinese restaurant was good enough.

I pulled over my new shirt and jean. I combed my hair at least ten times, to make it look decent. I thrust my wallet in the pocket and drove to Fusion Foods. She wasn’t there yet. Of course, she had no cell phone so I had to wait for her with no clue where she is. I parked my bike and sat on it. My phone rang kept me busy meanwhile. I checked the time. It was half past 7. I was beginning to wonder if she would come. And then I saw her bike at a distance and smiled to myself. She drove in and parked her scooty next to my bike.

‘Happy birthday again!’ she greeted.

‘Thanks’, I smiled. We walked into the restaurant and the waiter directed us to our table. We talked and talked endlessly as we ate. After twelve years, we were about to part. We got seats for our engineering in different colleges. She promised to be in touch. She told me she would be taking a mobile in two days. I was glad. I didn’t have to wait all the day for her wondering when she would come online. We can talk whenever we want.

We finished eating and walked back to the parking. Just before she left, she gave me the gift. It was a wallet. I thanked her and she left. There was a little pain that I wouldn’t be seeing her so often, but I reassured myself by remembering we could talk regularly.

2009:

I sat in my friend’s house. I had met Anvesha after a long time that day and for some reason, the meeting left behind a weird sensation in me. I wanted to go back to her.

‘Don’t tell me you fell in love with her’, my friend teased, watching me staring blankly at the ceiling. I smiled at him and he thumped me on my back in glee.

2009:

She was staring right into my eyes. I could see anger bubbling in her gaze. Nikhil had struck us again. He hinted her that I might be in love with her. And she was mad at me.

‘Don’t believe him. He makes all assumptions by himself. I would tell you if there is really something like that, wouldn’t I?’ I tried to sound firm. But that incident brought down the hopes that she loves me too. And I decided to remain silent.

2010:

I hated the idea of using Nikhil’s computer. Mine was not in a good condition and definitely couldn’t survive if I had installed Photoshop. It was the day before Anvesha’s birthday and I had decided to propose her. Whatever be the consequences, I couldn’t lie to her more. And that day I was making her a greeting card myself, with the ‘love’ notes. At the end I planned to get it printed on a glossy paper and give it to her the next day.

I carefully designed the card, deleted from his system and saved it in my mail. Just then Anvesha called up and asked me to get her a recharge as soon as possible and I rushed out of Nikhil’s house.

2010 – Her birthday:

It was only the next day I understood that, in my hurry to get her a recharge, I did not sign out of my mail. I wouldn’t have realized it if she hadn’t opened the card in her phone as soon as I walked up to her to wish her. She didn’t even choose to talk with me. It was the worst day. There I was, standing in front of The Park, gazing blankly at her angry face. She looked at the card and read every word of it.

‘You’ve been lying to me all this time!’ she hissed and turned away. I ran behind her.

‘Anvesha, I’m sorry that I’ve been lying. But just listen to me once. Why do always take into account his actions? Can’t you understand that he’s actually acting sick sending his friends personal greeting cards like this?’

‘Oh yeah, at least I am glad he warned me.’ I stopped dead in my tracks.

‘Warn? I am not killing you here, Anvesha. I love you and damn! I want to marry you’, I yelled. It was her turn to stop dead. She looked at me like I was a ghost.

‘You spoiled my birthday enough. Don’t spoil it further’, she said and walked away. I didn’t have the courage to stop her. I walked into the beach alone and called up Varun. The incident was something I couldn’t tackle alone.

2011:

Three months passed since she had stopped talking to me. Life was beginning to get terrible. She had changed her phone number, blocked me in her mail and deleted me in Facebook. All because I love her. The reason was enough to bring about tears in my eyes. I withdrew from my friends because Nikhil was always there. Once in a week I visited Varun and Akshay.

It was Sunday and I was sitting in my house on the terrace with Varun. He was trying to persuade me to go to a movie with him. But I had lost interest in it. Moreover, love stories only make my condition worse. I leaned across the wall and was playing with my mobile when I heard the terrace door open. It was my mother. She looked at me and sighed.

‘Do something, Varun. I am tired of seeing him like this just because a girl rejected him. Why does give so much importance to someone who left him trusting another guy? Talk some sense into his head’, she snapped and left after handing over the snacks. Varun looked at me in dismay.

‘Dude, she’s damn serious.’ I nodded and munched the chips when the door opened again. It was Akshay.

‘How was the party?’ I asked him. He remained silent. It was then that I noticed he wasn’t alone. I jumped on to my feet when I saw Anvesha stepping in. Varun looked surprised. As for me, I was speechless. My eye brows closed into a frown out of question.

‘I had no idea that she and Rachana are cousins till today’, Akshay told me. Rachana was his friend to whose birthday party he went that day. He and Varun left us alone and walked out of the terrace.

‘Sit down’, I told her. I was trying to keep my emotions calm. Three months! I was literally fighting back the tears on one side and on the other I wanted to jump in happiness that she finally decided to come and talk. She sat in the chair and I leaned over the wall across her.

‘How are you?’ she asked. Great question, I thought. She ditches me first and then she turns up three months later and asks me how I am. What a girl!

‘Good’, I answered. She still was trying to avoid my gaze and that roused my anger. ‘Anvesha, if you don’t like talking to me why the hell did you come here?’ she looked up in surprise.

‘If I really don’t like, why do you think I would come?’ I stared at her blankly. ‘I thought you might like to talk with me. Guess I was wrong.’

‘Why do you always take wrong assumptions?’ I murmured.

‘Then listen!’ she yelled, jumping onto her feet. ‘I know I was wrong when I believed Nikhil. After all the things he had done, I should have realized he was trying to wreck your plans.’ I heaved a sigh of relief. Finally! Things were getting back into place.

‘Forget it all. I’m glad you figured it out’, I told her. But she wasn’t done yet. She gestured me to remain silent.

‘Three months I was in the feeling that you’ve cheated me. But that only made me sad and angry because I thought whatever happened between you and me should be a secret. And when your friend started intervening, that made me really angry. I thought you are not giving importance to me and that you are telling everything to him about me and stuff like that. But the main thing is, I was angry not because of the letter…’ I waited. I sensed something ahead. Her tone soothed drastically and her expression held a great concern. I could hear my heart beating like a drum. It was as if my blood was humming. ‘I was angry that I had to know it all from him.’ And she stopped there. Why wouldn’t she complete it, I cried to myself. I was dying to hear the conclusion. She left it all abruptly and the curiosity was far more painful than the three months of hell. I felt like a lost kid trying to find way back home. But she made no move. He eyes were fixed on the floor and she looked like she had turned into a statue.

‘Anvesha, this suspense is killing me. Leave this discussion aside and listen to what I say carefully.’ I moved near to her and held her hands in mine. She didn’t look up and it left me in blank to what her reaction was. At least I was glad she didn’t pull away. ‘What happened had no effect on how I feel about you. Three months ago I told you I am in love with you and I still stick to my words.’ I took a deep breath. I never thought I would do this; I smiled to myself and went down on my knees.

‘Hey! What…!’ she exclaimed, but her excitement and happiness didn’t go unnoticed. I didn’t let go off her hand and locked my eyes with hers.

‘Will you marry me?’ she burst out laughing but tears rolled out of her eyes. I got my answer. She nodded still half laughing and half crying. She held my collar and pulled me to my feet. Before I could realize what she was up to, I was locked in her embrace. My heart leapt in joy. It was the best feeling I ever had. I held her close to me, never wanting to let her go and the world around dissolved in this weird, new and lovely sensation.

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