"The One" [ITales Vol. 3a]

One night not so long ago I was talking to someone special or so I thought – “The One”.

She called me at 11:30, after that I lost track of time. I don’t know whether it was 3:00 or 4:00 but it was late. I have never been so happy, so thrilled. In the end she said something and I felt like someone hit me in the n*ts. An agonizing ache, like a bite from a Giant red-ant. I swallowed my pain and waited for the sun to rise so that I could call Ron and Ted.

At 7:00 mom came into my room, I heard the footsteps and went inside my blanket, covered from top to toe. She thought I was asleep, so left. Few moments later I took my cell phone and rushed to the grocery store to buy some milk. She was amused as I never did that willingly. In my heart I was dying 100 deaths. When Ron and Ted heard about the night they too were shocked. They comforted me by singing funny songs. Ted cracked few grown-up jokes, which in reality lit up my mood by a little. I went back and my mom made nice cup of tea and served me my favorite butter and cashew cookie.

To know what happened lets back up a bit.

Ron and Ted went to high school with me, but we moved apart to different cities due to some reasons. I and Ron were at the top of our high school class. Ted’s always been the funny and imprudent. We came from entirely diverse culture and family background. But this vividness became the prime reason why we fused well. The story of how we met is kind of funny.

In our last year of high school I had this monstrous crush on our sections hottest girl “Veronica”. I mean she was so hot that if she went in hot tub it’d have vaporized. They had these special tone which they used whenever she passed by me. I never tried to meet her in person, as it was just a crush in my opinion. Yet those bastards always joked “it is love”. Just before our last semester destiny gave me a chance to meet her. When she heard that I had a monster crush on her she hugged me. I realized then what I had wasn’t crush, it was pure love. But we never said “I ♥ you” to each other.

Days passed and my proclivity grew stronger. However I never knew back then how she felt, as they say “Love is blind”, I was just a spectator of both our lives. Everyone knew that we liked each other but we never came face to face, our interactions were reduced to a minimum. Days passed without hearing her voice, we hardly shared 1 or 2 SMS in month. I always wondered on what I should do. So I asked her for a coffee. Firstly she giggled but eventually agreed. We went to a fancy café …..To my misery I forgot my wallet and to be frank I was ashamed. She laughed when she saw my face and paid the bill. To see her laugh like that just made my day. We went out in cold and sat on the bus stand.We started a game; the prize was to get whatever other wished. The rules were simple : Close your eyes and guess the hotness of persons reaching the stand on a scale of 1-5. If partner agrees by the guess +10 if not –5, and you can’t pass. I won it 120-85 and asked her to dance with me, she took a pause. It was getting late so she asked if we can keep the dance for later. I wanted to say no, but you can’t say no to a beautiful girl, so I agreed!

Next day, I discussed the date with Ron and Ted. Ron said “dude, she definitely loves you”, Ted however said the opposite. I wasn’t sure what to believe. I mean I used to hear a lot about her boyfriend from other places, but I always believed she was different. Apparently “love also makes you deaf”.

When we first met she said to me that she will never have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship and hence I never expected her too…
But as days passed everyone including me noticed her spending a lot of time with another. I wasn’t jealous or anything but Ron & Ted were angry with me. That summer her favourite band was gonna perform, so I bought 2 tickets for the concert. I called her but she politely turned down the request. I didn’t mind as I knew she must have had reasons. I decided not to go, instead gave one of my tickets to Ron. Ted also had one so they went with few others friends. An hour to midnight Ted called me and told that it was Code RED. I ran to that concert just to see that they weren’t kidding about that. Code RED was a unique code for Veronica, when I first saw her she in a red dress. So I knew it was about her, but what I saw just broke every bit of nerve I had. She was with the same guy everyone talked about, his group also accompanied him. She seemed happy and he was all over her. I just couldn’t take more so I bolted out. Ron & Ted came out with me. I wanted to confront her, but with hindsight, I had no right to do so. I mean I never said that I loved her. So if she wishes for someone else, it her choice. We sat in the parking lot for about an hour, and then went home.
I never heard from her again.


High school ended and Ron, Ted and I went our separate way. I felt all alone for the first time in a long time. The pain was unbearable, all I did that summer was craved, what would have happened if I told her. Does that have made any difference? Then College life started, I had new friends, my life became super busy. I devoted most of my time in Facebook and studies. Now whenever Ron or Ted called we used to laugh on how many juvenile things we did back then. I googled her, searched on Facebook, tried to get her contact number but no luck. In the end I gave up.

Five years passed since I saw her, I was working as an intern in a MNC. One day, I was on my way to a conference when I saw a huge crowd before a pet shop. Some girl was blaring on the owner for not taking care of her pet “Schwan” – a feigned rat! For heavens shake I chuckled in my mind, her voice was so sweet that I was hauled to the crowd. And there she was, with “zombie kiss” black top and denim jeans, perfect figure to be cocky. Her fierce face was covered by golden locks with brown highlights. The moment she ran her perfect hands through them, I fell in love. I had the meeting so I didn’t get to say hello, and to be true I’m glad that I didn’t because given her mood she would have slapped me.
A year later
One day while coming from work my driver stopped abruptly. When I asked he said a dog came in front of the car. When I sneaked a quick look I saw that a cat was chasing a mouse and the dog was chasing the cat. I stepped down and ran towards the rat, few cars stopped nearly killing me but I didn’t stop before I seized that big grey rat. When I looked closely it turned out to be a beaver not rat. I was knelt and just when I leaned down, a high-heeled boot came near my face. I was bent down, and hence everything was upturned, her face was not clear. When I unbent myself I was astounded. It was the same girl, I saw at the store that day. She was breathing heavily and so was I. All those sweat made her look divine; her beauty was at its acme; however it made me look like a pig.

I offered her a ride, after catching my breath I realized she was changed, her haunted look now became more sophisticated. Her curls were the same, tough her top was plain white. She looked like a princess with that pink flesh. She introduced herself as Allie “Alison”. I was a bit diverted by her face so never bothered to introduce myself. I also never cited about that previous incident. She admired my Audi, and I just said you are beautiful in a friendly way. She said Schwan is the only one she trusts and she would do anything for him. It was adorable! Moments later she stopped the car and went home. 30 seconds later she came with “Thank You” cookies, and thanked me for saving Schwan. She asked if I wanted to come inside, but I didn’t want to show her that I was frantic,
so I said later. She grinned and went inside. My driver winked at me and after going a little further stopped and said engine failed. I acknowledged him for being there for me, and ran to her. She broke in laughter again; I checked why just to find that a bird pooped on my head of which I had no idea. She scoured it and offered me hot coffee.
She lived alone and I liked her from the very first moment I saw her. We became friends; I spent nearly every free moment with her. This went for over a year. One day she called @ 2 in the morning, Schwan died and she was distressed. I tried to ease her but she just couldn’t grasp moaning. I told her things that leave us, if ever loved makes their way back to us. So be faithful! She kissed me and we said goodbye to the reason we met. Since that day Allie and I were one. Whenever and whatever she needed I tried in my best effort to make it come true.
Meanwhile, Ted was in headway of a wonderful career prospect and Ron had already begun working on an ultramodern project. So they had no time for some silly matters of mine. However I called them to tell that at last I found the love of my life. That summer they came to visit me where I found that Ron was in a relationship himself. Bastard kept it a secret but when you stand-up suddenly from dinner and run out, it logical to think that something’s fishing. Usually we ignored but once he was in bathroom and when I passed I overheard his conversation. All six of us went out for dinner. Oh! Wait, the sixth member was my friend Carl a co-worker at the firm and one of my entourage. After that when they left we decided to go for a walk. She swiftly ran to a graveyard. I could see the tear drops around the corners of her eye. She said it was of her best friend who died few years afore we met. It was dark and frankly I wasn’t interested to know about her deceased friend. I mean why dig the past if it only brings gloom in present. Later in the car she felt asleep. I didn’t want to wake her up, so I stayed inside my car for the night.
Things were pretty romantic, our relationship was blossoming.
Yesterday she called, everything was normal when……. She asked me whether I will be joining her or not to 3rd memorial service of her friend from the graveyard. I wanted to be with her, so I agreed. In the end of our passionate conversation she repeated “Be there for Veronica’s rite’s by 2:00 pm sharp!”
I was like what….???? Is she…..How…..This can’t be true….I …I…..

to be continued….

“What we cogitated doesn’t always materialize unless

the deity wants that for you”

ps. We met and we lived happily ever after. She’s still the same and there’s only thing I know…We were made for each other.

STORY BY SAURABH K.
FOR MORE OF HIM  FOLLOW
http://saurabhk15.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/irreplaceable-tales-vol-3a/