LOVE – A mystery ~ Final

Almost after a fortnight one day she was surprised to see a mail from Avinash waiting in her inbox. With every click her heartbeat was increasing.

Hello…

Hope everything is fine now and Uncle is in a better shape. I know you must be wondering why I didn’t write you for so long. Actually I wanted you to settle down there and spend some time with Uncle and Aunty. I can understand how tough this must have been for you.

She could not read further as tears welled up in her eyes. How wrong was she in judging him she thought and cursed herself. She continued reading further.

I missed talking to you so much I can’t tell you. I have decided that now as we cannot chat we will write mails to each other. I will write to you daily describing my day and you can reply as and when you have time. This way we will feel we are still talking to each other just like old times.BTW I have joined Face book. Why don’t you also come there? You could see my other friends and family.

Do take care of yourself and your parents. Will write to you soon.

She read and re-read the mail over and over again. After what it felt like ages Sakshi smiled. A tiny flicker of hope was rekindled in her and she was looking forward to more of it. Without waiting any further she started drafting a reply giving him piece by piece information of all that happened over the last few days. After sending that mail she mechanically went to face book, created a profile for herself and sent a friend request to Avinash. She opened one of his pictures uploaded there and kept on staring at it for some time,” It feels so good to see you after such a long time….” She thought when something caught her eye. His relationship status read it’s complicated. As she scrolled down she saw his friends had asked him about it to which he had replied, I luv sumone but dnt have the guts to tl….I dnt wanna lose a good friend followed by comments from his friends. She laughed and asked his picture, “How much more time do you need?” but then she thought she herself needed sometime to settle the emotional turmoil she was facing. After that she would look at an appropriate time and speak to her parents also.

Sakshi felt slowly her life was coming back to normalcy. Their chats had been replaced by mails and the daily exchange continued. She was enjoying with her parents and was happy to see her father recover well. After few months passed in what seemed like a convenient arrangement one evening as she was working on a client’s project her cell phone started ringing.

AVINASH calling….. The screen displayed. Wondering what could have made him call her at this hour she answered the call, “Hey….what’s up.” “Guess what…” Avinash sounded ecstatic at the other end. “What?” she asked bewildered.” I am coming to Pune” He said and smiled. Sakshi could feel the joy in voice over the phone. “Ok….” was all the she could manage to say to hide the excitement in her voice. What came next was least expected by Sakshi. He said,” I want to meet you and your parents.” Sakshi could barely squeal “Sure….let me know once you are here…” before hanging up.

Sakshi could barely contain her excitement. She felt she will burst with all the joy which was beaming inside her. She called up Khushi immediately to share this news with her. Khushi was convinced he was coming there to propose her and meet her parents to talk about their marriage. Imagine her happiness when Khushi told her Avinash had changed his relationship status in a relationship on face book. Khushi said “He has already declared to the world that he is in a relationship and he is not declaring her name. He says it’s a secret. I am sure it is you. He is waiting for your answer to make it official.”That was quick she wondered smiling to herself. Next week seemed to be very far away as Sakshi could not wait for the moment when she would get to meet Avinash after such a long time. She was both anxious and excited about their meeting.

The week flew by as she had a client’s project to be submitted during that time; adding to it the constant stream of visitors to check on her father. She was tied up with many things at the same time but her heart was still not there. She was imagining various possibilities and blushing in her thoughts. She even tried to imagine what her reaction should be once he proposed her. She finally decided to fake her reaction of getting angry just to tease him for a while.

Amidst all this running around she just didn’t realize when finally the D day had arrived. Sakshi waited with bated breath for that one call which would mean Avinash had reached Pune. She was restless the entire day constantly checking her mobile phone for any missed call or messages. Even her parents noticed her anxiety but refrained from asking her anything thinking it might be because of all the stress she has undergone off late regarding her job, her father’s health etc. She completed her project and sent it to her boss for a final verdict on it. With nothing to do on hand she wrote a nice long mail to Khushi just to while away her time updating her about the latest developments of how her father’s health was shaping and how they might move back to Mumbai so that she could rejoin office.

Still there was no call from Avinash. Lazily she logged on to Face book to kill some more time. “Waiting is such a boring thing .When you are waiting for something very badly why does each moment seem like ages “she thought and a sigh escaped her lips when all of a sudden her expressions changed to that of shock. She was taken aback on reading something on her screen. She could not believe her eyes. Slowly tears started rolling down her cheeks. She wanted to scream and cry but she could not find her voice. “Why???” was all that she could say as she read Avinash’s relationship status: Married to…. She could not read further and broke down into sobs.

Her phone started ringing…. AVINASH calling…… flashed on her mobile screen.

It later on turned out that Avinash was in love with a girl from a different religion who happened to be his friend. Since past couple of years he could not gather the courage to propose her for the fear of rejection. Finally he had managed to do that and they had got married. Owing to opposition from both the parents they had ran away from their home and were coming to Pune expecting Sakshi to help them in hiding for few days. Sakshi’s heart was wrong all this while when it gave hints that this was love. Had she listened to her mind may be she would not have faced this. Maybe….

This special feeling called Love is mysterious and magical. One moment it can make you feel like the richest person on earth and the next moment it can make you feel worse than a pauper.

Sakshi's love remained a mystery all his love to Avinash as he never got to know her real feelings. Sakshi felt it was all her fault as she had grossly misunderstood his genuine concern and care as love.

Avinash's behaviour of being in love remained a mystery all their lives to both Khushi and Sakshi.

Khushi could not forgive herself for having lead Sakshi to fall in love with Avinash. She felt she was the one to be blamed.

There were many unanswered questions hanging in between - Whose fault it was? Avinash - for having hidden about his love from his co-called best friend? Sakshi - for having understood his actions to be of that in love? Khushi - for having made Sakshi think about his love? Or was it pure destiny playing a cruel joke on all of them?

Love is truly mysterious....you never know when it happens, with whom and how.......