Childhood love

Susan and Nat were friends since their childhood. More than friends, their parents were cousins and Susan’s uncle and Nat were neighbours. Every summer vacation Susan used to visit her uncle. Her cousins used to join her for almost a month. They used to go the farms, pluck mangoes from the trees, hit the bee hives and collect the honey, play since morning till late evening. They used to enjoy having their dinner under the stars. Other kids from the locality used to bring their food and join Susan and cousins for dinner.

Nat was a studious kid and hardly played outside with others. Nat’s cousin used to visit him during the same time, and both of them used to be in the house, in their room or walking around the streets on their own. Susan used to visit his house to meet him and also join them in their room, watching television or playing board games. Susan also used to join Nat for dinner (uninvited) in his house. Occasionally, Susan’s cousin used to join her too.

As years passed and everyone started to grow from kids to teenagers, things started to change. Susan continued visiting her uncle’s house every summer. Some of her cousins continued to visit and some couldn’t. Anyways, whoever visited, always enjoyed their time there because of the weather, food, games and overall the company. Nat was out of station for studies.

One summer, something unexpected happened. Susan had completed her high school was on a break before entering the college life. As usual, Susan was at her uncle’s place. That year, after a gap, Nat was home at the same time. Nat, who used to not talk much to Susan or rather to anyone, had changed a little. His physical appearance had changed, he had started sitting out of his house and he had started talking. One day, Nat called Susan and handed over a letter to her asking her to open it and read at her own space. Seems that Susan had received her first love letter. She was shy, feeling unexplainable emotions and also nervous. She wasn’t sure about handling such situation. The only thing she knew was that she didn’t want to hurt anyone. One of her cousin, stole the letter and showed to Susan’s aunt and Susan had to deny that there was any such emotion between them. Nat was in a zone where he was enjoying the rain, calling Susan to share snacks. And, at the same time, her uncle was calling her inside the house, Susan doubted that her aunt must have mentioned this to her uncle.

Nat and Susan started spending more time together. Nat’s cousins who knew about his feelings, started pulling Susan’s legs and hinting her to accept the feelings. Nat and Susan sat full night outside talking to each other. Waking up to see each other and to share the coffee. Susan was not sure about her feelings but she enjoying every moment with Nat. And, before she could think about it, it was time for her to return back to her house and join the college. Nat became emotional and gave her a gift as a memory. This was getting a little awkward to Susan as she had never accepted anything from anyone before. But it was time to go anyways.

Susan joined college. Nat joined a college near to his place and days were passing until Susan started receiving calls from Nat. Susan was afraid that her parent will find out and the situation will get worse. Even though there was no serious attachment between both, it will be hard to explain them. Susan spoke to her friends and they supported her to call Nat and make it clear. When Susan asked Nat not to call her, Nat became emotional and wasn’t very happy about it. After several calls from and to Nat, there was a silence. A silence that ruined the friendship they had since they were little.

After, a good number of years, Nat emailed Susan to say hello and Susan felt relieved and happy to see it. They both then started chatting via emails. Nat apologized Susan for his behavior years back. Susan who had enjoyed his company and how he made her feel for that little time, had realized sooner that this was all just an infatuation and not love and told Nat not to apologize or think about it or feel guilty. The connection between them was just paused and wasn’t over. They soon became best buddies and started sharing everything with each other. Nat wrote poem for Susan to express out his feelings. He also used to recite other poems written by him, record and email to her.

Nat and Susan started sharing the personal life stories to each other. They started talking about their crushes and friends and also any important or fun things that happened to them in those years when they didn’t talk to each other. They used to chat with each other until late nights without realizing the time. They definitely were not starting to fall for each other again as Nat had a girl who used to love him but they were not in solid relation yet. And, Susan also had someone in her life who she was in love with and were to marry him soon.

One fine evening, during their chat, Nat asked Susan if she can travel to meet him as he wants to meet her and talk to her before she gets married. He said, it will be strange to invite her to meet him once she is married. Susan told him that she will try but cannot guarantee as her vacation days are very less and it’s difficult to travel around with limited time. When Susan visited the country, she couldn’t make it to meet Nat. She emailed him and let him know about it. She then also sent him her wedding invitation card. She tried calling but he had blocked her number by then. It was very rude of him to completely neglect or avoid Susan without any farewell.

And, that one incident where Susan didn’t travel to meet Nat, ruined everything they had between themselves. Years passed but Susan heard nothing from Nat. When Susan was on a vacation, she happened to visit her uncle. Assuming that Nat doesn’t stay there, Susan paid visit to Nat’s father and returned. She later found out that Nat was around and he had just avoided her. From cousins and aunts, Susan found out that he was getting married and also had stepped in as a writer in the entertainment industry. Susan messaged him to congratulate him but there was no acknowledgement.

A friendship that started when they didn’t even know the meaning of a friend, had bumped into a rock of infatuation or love but overcame the barrier just to realize that there was no more land after that rock and fell so bad, never to be seen.