Chapter 1: How I met Damon
Hey, it’s Elena…Elena Mayer
You can seldom make out what goes on my mind. It’s not very often that I have a clue of whats right. I ask for your attention because I want to tell you a story, a tale that may be intriguing and quite relevant.
Our office AC was under maintenance, the client was not holding back my escalations either and here I was suffering the Monday blues. Having nothing great to do, I hesitantly opened Facebook after ages, only to find countless pending Inbox messages, silly notifications & friendship requests from forever single boys.
A girl like me ,preferred to live an independent life, with very little passion for my career. However, I had managed to earn enough to suffice my desires. By no means I stand amongst the pretty , but mind you, expressions often supersede beauty. So, coming back to Facebook, I went on an unending friendship request cancellation mode. It could be a reaction of my recent breakup with silly Ex & hence the disinterest.
Cut two: Here comes a request from a guy who shared a couple of my mutual friends. A sober guy with stubble, who had sent this request couple of months back. I somehow liked him & added him without thinking much. His name was Damon.
On accepting my request, I thought he would bother sending a message but he didn’t. Hence, I finally send out a message to him to initiate the conversation, and I still don’t know why. Not sure if it was a dream or a nightmare, but he replied.Our chats started getting lengthier. Every passing day our likes and dislikes, daily routine, good and bad habits were shared. I exclaimed myself to be a bathroom singer but a good listener who occasionally writes blogs too. I have always had a lot of faith in the almighty.
Damon was a happy go lucky person who loved to hangout with his friends. He was totally into sports. He always claimed Football as his first love. He revealed me that he had recently quit job in order to peruse further education abroad. We had disputes over this decision.
Chapter 2: First Call
A week later, while returning from office, I got stuck in traffic. A thought popped my mind that we were chatting for a week but never spoke over a call. Resolving my to be a not to be dilemma, I pressed the green button.
I think he was somehow expecting my call. Although initial couple of minutes were fine but somehow I wasn’t comfortable. It was just our first call & yet, Damon asked me to meet in person, and was being too frank. I found this a little weird & awkward. I started doubting his intentions too.
Unable to resist, I stopped Damon & made my point clear. I openly expressed my discomfort to him. He was quick to realize the same and apologetically promised of a more composed behavior. This little conversation probably made him realize about the kind of girl I was. I think, he somehow adored my honesty.
We did talk to each other everyday since then and Damon was always very decent and polite. He used to make me laugh, his sense of humor was something else. He could make fun of himself and find happiness, not everyone has this virtue.
Chapter 3: His past
The calls slowly but surely started to get longer. Now we knew a lot more than hobbies, about each other. It was a Friday night a long weekend was awaited & Damon asked the question he wanted to asked far so long “Do you have a Boy Friend?”. I smirked, as I was expecting it. I bluntly replied a lot & none, both. A lot of proposals, but none qualified as a boy friend. I expressed that I had dreamt of just having one BF, Always & Forever.
I reciprocated the question which was answered by a long silence by him. ‘I have loved a lot of girls, with my hands, but only one with my heart’. This answer was a shocker for me. However, I stopped myself from reacting as Damon went ahead to elaborate further.
Jessica was the girl. She had proposed him in standard 12th.. Obviously, he affirmed her only because of her good looks and the lust he had. Although they parted their colleges in couple of years, Jessica did everything she could for him. The distance between them now hardly mattered. It was an absolute honeymoon period for both of them. This had changed Damon too. He stared loving her as much as she loved him. Her unconditional love was the one thing that he had fallen for. He was so into her, that he was the first one to introduce her to his family.
Years passed, the only thing that Jessica ever complained was Damon’s lack of seriousness towards his career. He did try to get settled, but for some or the other reason, best known to him, couldn’t stick to one job consistently. This disturbed her every single night. Things started to get worse when their debates transformed into quarrels & quarrels into fights.
Their chats and meets were considerably reduced. She had developed a new bunch of friends and started hanging out with them. There was this one special fellow colleague who was seen everywhere with her. This already had developed poison in Damon’s head. When things were already not going well, Damon saw a kiss emoticon given by Jessica to him. This added salt to wound.
Things went too far when Damon got drunk & created a scene at Jessica’s apartment much to her and her families embarrassment. He persisted to question Jessica if she was dating the doctor and she refused to answer. Her family got involved, her brother went a step head and even warned him of a police complaint.
By the time, Jessica had already blocked him everywhere. The strings were cut. Luckily for him, his friends stood by him and consoled him stating that she never really deserved him by calling her a gold digger. Few months passed & Damon heard the expected news. Jessica had got engaged to her fellow colleague.
Chapter 4: Our bonding
I cannot judge, if what happened to him was wrong or justified, but I definitely developed a soft corner for him. We started getting closer and although none of us proposed officially, both of us sensed that now we were not just friends. His unintentional touches now started making me comfortable. We started hanging out almost every other day.
It was 30th of January his birthday. I made sure to give him a call at the stroke of 12 to wish him. I asked him of the gift he desires, and and all he asked was a ‘Promise’, that I would spend the entire next day at his place. Although I couldn’t deny, I was little conscious knowing the fact that his parents were away, but I trusted him and affirmed his invitation.
Not often, that I lie to my Mom, but today I did. I reached his place and honestly, it was not very welcoming. Empty Beer cans and stinking ash trays conveyed me the party, Damon must have had with his friends last night. He still managed me a coffee with red eyes. Things slowly started to fall in place again. We chatted on random idiot topics. He made me laugh like always. I still don’t believe that I said this to him, ‘I want to drink with you ‘.
That was probably my trust speaking. Damon laughed out loud, he wasn’t expecting that. ‘Cheerssss’, we started drinking and our emotions started pouring out fluidly. My head was on his shoulders and I couldn’t have been more comfortable. We kissed each other for the first time. It was his birthday, but a more memorable day for me. He dropped me home in the evening with a confirmation that we would meet the next day too. I was happy. Our bond only grew stronger.
Chapter 5: Second time lucky
The valentine day had arrived. For a change. I had expected something for myself. Nothing materialistic, I just wanted something that was meant only for me. We met in the evening. Few minutes passed but I got nothing. I started getting itchy. I started refusing to respond to his questions. Gauging my discomfort he bought out a greeting for me. I had realized that it was only because of his current condition that he managed a card, otherwise Damon would have left no stones unturned to give me surprises. I pounced on him with joy, and yes we did make love that day.
I still value those sandwiches and chips that he used to keep ready for me after a tiring day at office. Although unwillingly he started accompanying me for prayers every Sunday. I don’t know what he had in his prayers, I certainly prayed the almighty to fulfill his prayers. He also joined me to visit old-age/orphanage homes too. I think, I gave him a broader perspective and positive thinking towards life.
His job and higher education dilemma was still not resolved. It was not that he wasn’t trying but somehow things were not falling in place. I tried searching on my level too, but without success. We just could not find light at the end of the tunnel. A hefty amount was involved in foreign studies. There was hardly any bank left wherein we did not pay our visit. Both of us tried everything we could for his loan approval and finally we tasted success.
I was happy to see him happy. However it wasn’t not meant to be. Our happiness didn’t last long. Unexpectedly his visa got rejected. It was a shocker, I could just see his dreams getting shattered in his eyes. I know I was being superstitious here but I urged him to wear the ring I gifted him as I believe it might turn his fortunes. I am sure it was not because of my ring, but his visa did get approved in our reapplication. I think he was always destined to be second time lucky.
Chapter 6: Unhappy ending
You must be thinking that it was such good going between us, but that was not the case. Fairy tales are often limited to books. Somehow his career, his future, his tensions, became mine and somewhere the love lost. At times I used to ignore my priorities for him too. It was always about Damon and never about Elena.
He started ignoring me and attended phone calls of his friends even when we were together. More often than not, I found his call waiting. His attention grabbing Facebook comments to different girls did not help either. I warned him number of times to drink responsibly but his friends and probably his ego superseded.
He had started finding ways to differ everything I say. He termed me as a preacher, even went ahead to term me uninteresting and irritating. Finally day came when our difference of opinions turned into a big fight. Both of us were shouting, not ready to back-off. Then came a line that I’ll never forget. ‘I do love you, but not as much as I still love Jessica ‘. My world stopped. I could not utter a word and left the place.
Few hours I spent thinking, if he said it out of anger and kept looking at my phone for his call, but the phone didn’t ring. This time I was not going to make up, as it wasn’t my ego, it was about my self respect. Days, Weeks passed and we were not even in touch. What’s worst was, his FB posts, Insta pictures did not even reflect that he cared. I started living a life without his presence. I wasn’t even aware if we had broken up or just a break before we get back again.
My question was answered 3 weeks later. Saw his Facebook check-in confirming that he had landed in US. Yes, He went even without bothering to inform me. He did not even believed that I deserved a goodbye. I wonder how people make you nothing when you had made them your everything. I smiled and cried together reading the post. I did miss him a lot, but the occurrences started reducing.
Chapter 7:
It happens, no matter what, you tend to move on. But, destiny had other plans. When I was in my own happy space, my phone rang displaying a call from US. I knew who it was. I tried my best to stay composed and said ‘Hello’. Initial couple of minutes he was all charged up and spoke to me as if nothing had happened and started sharing his experiences, his routine etc. I though it was the limit of his shamelessness.
Soon he became aware of my disinterest and started his silly explanations as to why things went wrong between us. In an unapologetic tone, he asked me if we could just stay good friends as he wasn’t in love with me. I grabbed this opportunity to get back at him. The lava that was somewhere deep down burning inside me now came out. I thrashed him stating how selfish he was in his act. How it was all about him in the relationship, how he disrespected my emotions. I also made my point clear about, how wrong I was in judging Jessica. She must have surely had her part of the story too and the history had repeated. I controlled my tears and hung up on him warning him to not dare call or meet me ever.
I discussed this incident with my friends and got mixed reactions. Tell me what you think readers, is it fair to be ‘Just friends’ with the one you loved and burn yourself daily seeing him/her with someone else or stay friends reasoning yourself that somethings are not meant to be the way you want them to be.
–END–
