A tale of love, Episode 2

Life was no longer the same for Paarth. It’s not that he never had any ‘crush’ in his life time. There were many. However, none of those made way to his mature self. With age came responsibility and with responsibility came maturity. For Paarth, there was more to life than rosy love stories. He knew that there will be a time when his parents will want him to get married and settle down. However, he was not sure if he was ready for that. However, after seeing this girl, somehow, some feelings started hovering in his heart. He still did not know whether it was ‘crush’, ‘infatuation’ or for that matter ‘love’. He was not someone who would ever go so deep in matters like these. Nevertheless, this feeling is different. Still, he thought, it’s always nice to give time to such perceptions, because, if it is a fleeting feeling, he will get over it soon.

After he got ready for work, he decided that today he won’t go out in the balcony to get a glimpse of her. He got ready for work. Donning a white full shirt with vertical stripes, with sleeves folded,a pair of black formal trousers, and a pair of formal black formal shoes, Paarth looked dapper. He went to the parking space, took his car out and went to work. He did glance back even once at the girl’s apartment. ‘Victory’, he told himself. I am not going to miss her if I don’t get a glimpse of her. He reached his work place, got absorbed in his work. During coffee break, he took out his phone and looked at all the messages. ‘Damn it!’, he said to himself. ‘I wish I had her number. I am still thinking about her. No, she is not going to get out of my mind. I will have to figure out a way to get her phone number. Forget her phone number, I don’t even know her name. Damn!’.

That evening when Paarth reached home, the first thing he did was go to the balcony. She was not there in her balcony. The chirping of birds in the dusk orange sky became noisy. They were all flying back to their nests. Paarth waited. The balcony door was closed. However, the window of one of the rooms was wide open with the curtains drawn open. That’s when he saw her. She was standing in front of the mirror, combing her hair. He noticed every little thing she did. She neatly combed her hair. She then applied some moisturiser on her face and hands with the perfect strokes. She then took a lip balm and applied subtly on her lips. She then came towards the window to close the window. She saw Paarth. Paarth, just like last time, kept on staring at her without realising that she saw him looking at her. She could not stop giggling. That’s when Paarth realised what was happening. He quickly brought himself back to reality and waved at her again. She smiled warmly and waved back at him. Paarth smiled. His twinkling eyes and canine teeth had such a warmth of charm that she could not stop looking at him. Paarth knew that this is the moment wherein he can get to know her name. He gestured her to wait, went to his room quickly and came out with a sheet of paper with something written in bold letters. The paper read ‘ I am PAARTH’. She read and smiled. She then gestured him that she would come out to the balcony. He waited for her. She also wrote something in bold letters in a sheet of paper. The paper read, ‘I am DHWANI’. Paarth smiled. Now, he knew her name. He wanted her phone number but he did not know how to ask her for that. Before he could gesture something to her, she waved him bye bye and went inside.

Paarth went to his room. ‘Dhwani’, he said to himself. ‘Such a beautiful name and such a pleasant human. I wish I could meet her properly once, hear her voice and talk to her.’ Paarth tried to keep himself busy because the moment he was not busy, Dhwani’s face came right in front of his eyes.

Today before going to work, Paarth knew he was not going to miss seeing Dhwani offering her prayers to Sun God. Dhwani usually offered her prayers at around 7:30 a.m in the morning. Paarth usually left for work by 7:45 a.m. Today, he was there at the balcony at sharp 7:30 a.m. Dhwani was usually 5 to 7 minutes late, but today, it seemed she was there before 7:30 a.m. because she was already done with her prayers. Paarth had a feeling she was waiting for him. However, he did not want soar his hopes high. Yet, the strangest thing happened. Instead of he waving at her first, she waved at him and smiled. Paarth smiled and Dhwani’s eyes said she looked forward to seeing his smile. Paarth looked at his watch. It was 7:50a.m. He was late for work. He waved bye bye at her. She quietly waved at him but deep somewhere Paarth felt, she wanted to tell him something.

Paarth was happy. He had never been so happy in life. Seeing Dhwani in the morning, waving at her and the hustle bustle feeling of something sweet going on in his mind, made him elated. He never lost focus on his work, however, the moment he was free, Dhwani was on his mind.

After reaching home today, Paarth decided to go for an evening jog. That would serve two purpose. One, he could get glimpse of Dhwani and two, he would get his regular share of exercise. Being a fitness freak, exercise was an important aspect of his life. Maybe, first time in his life, he was jogging with someone’s face distracting him. Every gesture of Dhwani came to his mind. When he was back home from his jogging, Dhwani was there at the balcony. It was dusk and he could not see her face clearly. The moment Dhwani spotted him from her balcony, she switched on the lights. He waved at her. Dhwani waved back at him. He did not know whether, what he was about to do now, was right or wrong, but his heart told him to do it right away. He gestured her to bring a pen and a paper. Without wasting a moment, Dhwani went inside and brought a piece of paper and pen. With gestures he gave her his phone number. She wrote it down. He gave the thumbs up gesture and waved bye bye. Dhwani blushed. Her cheeks turned red and waving him bye bye she went inside.

Paarth reached home, freshened up, helped his mom with dinner, had dinner with the entire family and then came back to his room. He was someone who used to check text messages occasionally because he barely got time to fiddle with his home. After dinner, he glanced once at Dhwani’s balcony. However, he knew she would not come out at this time. That’s when he recalled, he had given her his phone number. ‘ Phewww’,he said. ‘How can I forget? What if she has texted me?’, he said to himself. He hurriedly checked his phone. There it was. A message from a new number, almost 2 hours ago. The moment he had shared his number, she had texted him back. It said, ‘Hi Paarth, Dhwani here.’ He immediately saved her number and texted her back, ‘ Hi Dhwani, nice to meet you.’ Paarth was tired today. For the past couple of days he was unable to sleep. It was all because of the mixed feeling of fear of missing Dhwani, not getting her number and not getting to see her. Today, after getting her number, he felt relaxed. He knew now that he could be in touch with her henceforth. He looked at the time. It was 10:30 p.m. He checked his phone. Dhwani had not replied. He smiled to himself and said, ‘It’s okay. She may text me tomorrow’,and drifted off to sleep. This was the most peaceful sleep he had after these many days of getting a glimpse of Dhwani.

Come morning, the first thing he did was check his phone, which he never used to do earlier. He always used to check his phone only when he was free. Today, he had the feeling that Dhwani might have texted him. He was right. There was a message. It was sent at sharp 5:00 a.m. The message read, ‘Good Morning Paarth. Have a blessed day ahead.’ Paarth smiled to himself and said, ‘ Good Morning Dhwani. You too have a beautiful day ahead.’ Texting that, he went about his daily schedule and before going to work, he went to the balcony. Dhwani was there. He smiled brightly at her. She shyly smiled back.

Paarth reached his work place. Never in his life did he want to check his phone so desperately. But his work was such, it was not possible to check his phone off and on. At lunch, the first message he saw was from Dhwani. The message read, ‘You have a sunshine smile Paarth’. Paarth sat there wondering if this was really happening? Is Dhwani feeling the same, or is it just a mirage? Dhwani did not know him. He did not know her. Was it possible to like someone without knowing? Was his mind playing games with him or will it take a serious turn? He did not know. Paarth came from a conservative, orthodox family. His two siblings had already disappointed his parents when it came to choosing their respective life partners. Hence he had decided he would not hurt his parents. However, he never knew this was coming. He knew nothing about Dhwani or her family, forget about cast, creed, religion or values. The only question he asked himself now was, ‘ If cast, creed, religion or values come in the way, will I distance myself from Dhwani?’ He then went ahead to tell himself, ‘Well, if that is what I would do in future, I might as well do it now. There will always be a probability that these things would come up in future. I think the right thing would be is to put a full stop on this now or else I will end up hurting everyone and the person who will be hurt most will be Dhwani.’

Meanwhile, Dhwani stood in front of the window, waiting for Paarth to come from work. Dhwani saw Paarth’s car. Paarth parked his car. Dhwani waited for him to look at her. He did not turn around. Dhwani checked her phone. Paarth never texted. Dhwani closed the window and with a heavy heart went about her daily chores.

26 year old Dhwani was a girl with a sensitive demeanour. She was that girl of coy nature who would never hurt anyone knowingly. She was someone who was always scared of falling in love because she always had a fear that her love will leave her. Hence, she had always distanced herself from ‘love’. She had never fallen in love in her entire life. With Paarth, she could not stop herself. All the same, she had told herself, if falling in love with Paarth, had to happen, she would tell Paarth her worst fear and let him decide if he still wanted her in his life. All the same, today Dhwani knew that this relationship broke even before it started. She looked at Paarth’s number. Deep in her heart she felt he would never text her again. He would never see her again and the number would remind her of him. She deleted his number.

To be continued……….