It
was the Diwali night and Riya was standing in her balcony seeing that new look
of the city in the festive eve. The rustling sound of crackers and the
lightning in the sky was spellbinding. She just sat there trying to remember
some memories of the last Diwali she had with her best friend, Sumit. “A
memorable one it was …” she murmured and sighed.
She had often heard people saying
that having a best friend who loved and cared for you was much better than
having a boyfriend who didn’t guarantee to stay forever because as the reality
was friendship offered more loyalty than any lover could ever give. Same was
her case; she had found that best friend cum lover in her best friend and she
was more than happy with that feeling. They used to spend hours together-
teasing each other, caring for each other but they weren’t in a relationship.
People would often comment on the bond they shared and on the fact that they
were so guileless with each other but this never bothered them. They were happy
in their own world in which they didn’t give a damn of what’s happening in the
world. In fact, they complimented each other’s life and were the happiest
people to be ever found …
But,
sometimes, as it’s said, destiny makes people meet but doesn’t let them to be
together. Riya and Sunit were the victim of the game cruelly played by destiny.
Many sorts of misunderstandings had crept up in the bond which was unbreakable
and everything had shattered in their life. Riya had fallen for her best friend
and she was afraid of letting him know about her feelings’. She tried to
distance herself from the guy she loved because she knew that Sumit loved some
other girl. He had shared his feelings’ about some other girl with her. As
such, she didn’t want to spoil Sumit’s life and wanted him to be happy. So she
moved away from his life. This resulted in a disastrous situation and the bond
that they shared had started to weaken. As the days progressed, Sumit tried
more to court that other girl by taking advices from Riya about the same and it
was becoming unbearable for the girl to take all this and see her love fall for
someone else. A day came, when someone told Riya that Sumit had got into a
relationship with that girl and this broke her already broken heart to small
bits. Though she herself wanted Sumit to settle but she knew that she would
never be happy without him.
It
was impossible for her to accept the fact that Sumit could never be her
boyfriend and she stopped taking Sumit’s call. She stopped replying to his texts;
Sumit tried his best to maintain both relations with his girlfriend and his
best friend but love always ruins friendship and Sumit got drifted from Riya
due to his newly found relationship and Riya was unable to take it more. It was
intolerable for her to see Sumit smiling with another girl and giving all his
time to her. She loved Sumit selflessly and wanted him to be happy with his
girlfriend.
Riya
changed her number without informing Sumit and went her way. She wanted Sumit
to be happy always in his life and she preferred to put all her happiness at
stake for him, for her best friend and the love of her life. Destiny had compelled them to part ways and
they were left with no other option.
Riya closed her eyes remembering the
scintillating Diwali she had with her best buddy, Sumit, the very last year
before they parted ways six months ago. Suddenly she heard her little brother
calling, “Di, I wanna go out to see these crackers please, c’mon let’s go …”
Riya was in no mood to relive the moments of the past year and she wanted to be
alone this year with her loneliness and her saved up memories and so she let
down her brother’s wish asking him to go away and leave her all alone. But, her
seven year old brother was not the one to understand the situation and since
she loved her brother the most, after losing her parents in the car blast many
years ago, she had to make him happy. So, she complied with his wish and went
to the chowk where scores of crackers were being lighted giving the
atmosphere a dazzling look. Her brother went on running everywhere trying to
see everything and she found her happiness by giving all joys to this little
one.
As she kept on wandering in the
lighted streets, she suddenly bumped and fell on the road. She was hurt and had
tears in her eyes while her brother was nowhere to be seen. She was tensed and
was unable to stand up, walk and look for the latter. She tried her best when
she sensed a hand in her arms helping her get up. A bit comforted by the
warmth, she stood up to look at the face of the beneficiary at the time of
need. Her eyes met with his and she saw a face well known to her.
Yeah!
It was Sumit, her love and her life whom she had left months ago. It was the
same adorable face with the deepest eyes smiling at her. It was the same strong
hands supporting her to get up just like it used to happen six months ago. She
was shocked and was awestruck by seeing him. Words weren’t coming out from her
mouth and all she could whisper was, “Sss … uummmitttt …” He was happy too, she
could sense the sparkle in his eyes. She was in loss of words and had been lost
in those memories of the past when Sumit shook her arms gently trying to make
her come back to the reality. There were numerous questions in her mind and she
couldn’t ask any and she heard his voice, “How are you? Did you find your
prince charming?”
Once again, Riya felt numb. She had
no answers as she still loved him. She tried to reciprocate but no sound
escaped her mouth. The power of her gallant love was what she had never known
before. She hugged him tight. There were tears in those beautiful, limpid eyes
and she muttered “I loved you Sumit and I still do …” in his ears. There was so much she wanted to say to him
but her words were not contemplating with her feelings’. She had finally confessed
her feelings’ after months of silence and she felt herself relieved. But, she
regretted the very next moment for her absurd behaviour. A bit disheartened,
she realized that Sumit had been in a relationship and this could ruin his
life. She was in her own thoughts and her own little world where her heart and
her mind where giving different opinions of what she had said to him when a
voice left her bizarre. Sumit had responded with “I love you too …”
Riya couldn’t believe her ears on
hearing Sumit’s words and loosened her grip on his body. She parted herself
from him and looked at his eyes intensely trying to understand whether whatever
she heard was true or just an illusion of her own feelings’. But, with one
glimpse of his smiling face, she knew that it was the reality and her Sumit was
back. She asked him if whatever she heard was true and he gave an affirmative
answer.
He
said, “I realized my love, my feelings’ for you after you went away. I had
never actually loved that girl I was in a relationship with. I could never find
that frankness with her which I found with you. I could never love her like I
loved you. I could never try to create a bond with her which I had created with
you … Yes! I love you Riya. I have been trying to contact you since three months
but have been unsuccessful. You changed your number, blocked me on face book
and went away from my life like you never existed. I am sorry I could
understand my own feelings’ for you… But, its high time, might be destiny
wanted us to be together. I want you to be my life partner, will you be?”
The
long lost dream of Riya was going to be true after a silence of six months and
her self-effacing love was going to be bear fruits now. She replied
affirmatively and soon enough, her lips were wet with his. They kissed in the
crowded chowk itself and this lip-lock signified the reunion of two lost
lovers. They broke the kiss to see a cracker lighted on the sky just like the
one which she had witnessed with Sumit the last year and hugged him again. This
time the hug melted them into others’ arms and they were the gladdest couple on
Earth. :)
