The love story that never ended

Once again, he sat down with a firm mind. “I can do it “, “I will do it” .He said himself louder. His hand scribbled something on paper.

 "No", screamed his tongue and now the paper was in the dustbin, crushed by the same hand that wrote. “I am not good at anything” he thought. His mood went off and his lights too…

Later, the room was lit up by the sun. He sipped a cup of coffee and returned to his writing desk. “ I must read some motivational quotes before I start” said his mind and he switched on his internet.

Ti... Ding….

 His notification panel showed 20 new messages for him. He opened them eagerly. And, there was that one... That message… the message that he had been longing for years. He opened the chat.

 It said, “Hi”. His face glowed brighter than the Moon.

He typed as fast as his heart bet” Hello, how are you doing?” The message was sent, delivered and seen in a fraction of second. He was excited like a child seeing a holiday announcement on TV.

 “I am doing great” came from the next end.

 He typed “Did you eat?” and erased as he saw, ‘typing… ‘on the top.

 “What about your contest? How is your preparation?” queried the text. Never did he know that she was concerned of him. With eyes widely opened, he tapped,” Yes, it is good. The contest is in 3 weeks.”

“Good, All the best” flashed with an emoji of a heart, That’s all.

He flew into the sky. Yes, getting a heart from his college crush was really special.

 It had been over five years since they lost contact and finally met at a mall accidentally a week ago and exchanged their contacts.

His mind played back the past. Her question, “Where do you work?” shot a hole in his heart. He stammered and stuttered.

His thoughts ran much backwards. It stopped at the day of his first interview for a job as a civil engineer. His college broke the promise of 100% placement but he was not broken. He was very confident. Though he was not a brilliant student, he scored average and had a better English. Movies he watched gave him the confidence that good English can get him a job”. But his thought was in vain. Then the number of interviews he attended bet his age, but still he had no job. He finally decided to rely on his English. He loved English since childhood. He had won many prizes in school and college for short stories and poems in English. English was something special to him always. So, He applied for various short story contests and among them was this huge contest – R.K Narayan Short story contest that offered a lump prize amount that was big enough to put as an investment as a freelancer.

Suddenly his thought chain cut and he was in front of ‘her’ who was waiting for his reply.

 “I don’t like working under someone. So, I am preparing for a short story contest seeking to win a prize and invest as a freelancer.” He said proudly swallowing the bitter truth.

“Good”, she said and bade him good bye.

After that meet, it was now that she is talking to him. There was a rush of Adrenaline in his stomach. Only 20 days left to finish a story that should help him reach a milestone in his life.

 The sun was at peak and that’s when he realized that he had already wasted his four hours on Mobile which he opened for getting motivated but ended up sailing in a flashback sea.

“What is more motivating than Love?” he thought as he started writing a story with all his love for her. “Romeo Juliet is nothing in front of this” he murmured.

 His pen never stroke a word. His hands poured the ink as his mind said.

 He wrote each word from his heart.

He had been sitting in place for 3 hours with no food and water but with a page of lovely content and a ton load thoughts of ‘her’.

 He chose each words wisely and the story was getting more of a poem than a simple short. He poured all his love and was half way through making a history of this ‘Immortal love story’.

 He was sinking in ‘her’ thoughts and that was when a sound revived him.

Ti…Ding…

 Again a message from her. With much enthusiasm, he opened it.

“Hey, Are you free?”

“Yes” he typed.

 “On that day I was busy shopping, so I could not spend much time with you, Sorry”.

“That’s okay, Not a problem” he poured words.

“ I still remember how our gang rocked at college Ha ha!”

 “Yeah they were golden days” he texted.

“ Time flee fast. I lost contact with all of you. I could not have found even you, if I had not met you at that mall”.

 These words sounded as sweet as Rasamalai (his favorite dish) to him.

 “ You are so much important to me. So…..” the message put a hook.

 His heart was beating faster and faster and then came a picture with a message.

 “ Surprise!” The photo showed his name on the top row of the “ Best compliments from” in ‘Her’ wedding Invitation.

“This is the first copy. It came today only. Tell your address and I will come home and invite you and family.” The message said.

The texts dissolved in his teary eyes.

 “ Hey! Are you there?” the query came from the other side.

 Yeah, I will send” he typed and threw the phone. It broke into many pieces as same as his heart did. He broke into tears and wept for the rest of the day.

 It was 2 am and his stomach grumbled. He tried to ignore but in vain. He ate some canned food and switched on the TV. Only Love stories were telecasted, channel after channel. He plugged off the TV in frustration. It took a week for him to get out from the heart break. In between he sat many times to finish the story. But he had no more love mood. He hated his expectation for ‘her’. He repeatedly sank into deep bitter pasts. Now he completely hated his story.

The words which sounded poetic and conveyed thousand meanings now bore emptiness. He did not dare to throw away them because, his love for her was real.

 He tried to jump into other popular genres like friendship, confidence, lesson teaching, and motivation. But he had no motivation to move on. He felt like a man left in a desert with no water.

 His doorbell rang. He washed his face and rushed to the door. He was slapped tight when he opened the door. It was his friend from his native. “Why did not you pick the calls?” he queried.

“We were frightened” a shivering voice came from the back.

It was his mother. He rushed and hugged his parents tightly like a child who had reunited after getting lost. His parents were shocked by his behavior and made him relax.

 He completely spent a week with his family and his best friend and finally felt better when he had a week to create his career decider.

 He was at his full motivation. He dared to combine all genres in one. The story had motivation, friendship, love and what not. He carefully created a garland of words that described his life best.

 He wrote his own life in a best way he could. He also added lies which complimented the story. He was completely devoted towards the story and was never distracted.

 He was completely taken care by his family. They supported him. Also, he broke his phone. So, there was no way to make him get out of focus.

When there were a couple of days left for him to submit, he completed his master piece story, his life turner.

A month passed smoothly and he had also got a job in a civil firm. He was eagerly waiting for his results and the day came.

 He was awarded with nothing but a participation certificate. He was disappointed but not broken. Because, he had a job to look after. He worked diligently and saved enough money that equaled his prize amount in two years.

 Now he was ready to put all his savings and hard work to become a free-lance writer in English. He slowly started developing in his firm as he had put his whole heart.

He had his office, staffs and clerks. His stories started appearing in magazines. He published story books, Poems etc…

 One day, on his interview for his personal assistant, he came across ‘her’ name. His eyes blurred with a tear drop for a second, then dissolved.

 It was ‘her’ name but with a Miss in front. He smiled and got ready for his 34th interview, but this time him being the interviewer.

 The candidates were called one by one and then came a woman with ‘her’ name.

She walked in. It was like seeing ‘her’ come, to him.

 She sat in front of him with a smile, with a same smile of ‘hers’.

 “It must not be happening” he thought to himself as he went through her certificates.

She had studied in the same college as he did. He started to realize it was no more his imagination.

 It was actually ‘her’.

 He was amazed to see her.

 He called off and postponed the interview for the rest.

“Why did you not inform me that you are coming?” he asked.

“Did you see my texts? Did you take my calls?” she interrogated with an empty smile in her face.

“Don’t be mad at me. I could not attend your wedding because my short story contest results were announced on that day and I was upset!” he lied.

 “And, sorry for mentioning your name as Miss, it was by mistake, I’ll correct it” he apologized again.

The same empty smile rolled in her face. “What are you apologizing for?” She said as her eyes turned towards the distant mountains beyond the sky touching buildings.

He was terribly confused. “I am sorry, Will come to meet your husband and family someday” he said.

 She laughed and said,” You need not”. Tears rolled down on her cheeks as she revealed how she escaped of the mental abuse and her marriage last year.

 “I was literally broke and searched for some good support as I had no parents to back me up. My relatives gave up on me and I had no friends to help me through this.”

 “I tried contacting you several times but in vain”, she poured in.

 “ I am sorry for all that you had gone through” he surrendered.

 “I am glad at your success. Is it all because of that story contest?” she queried.

 “Partly yes!, because, I had to work harder since I lost in the contest.”

 “Oh! Okay, please inform me the date when should I come back for this interview” she requested.

 He smiled and took a piece of paper from the shelf, that he had been cherishing, the paper where he poured his love for her. He took a pen and continued writing, hiding it from her, “This was my first story of you and me written for the contest but given up at the middle because of your wedding announcement. I would like to continue if you wish the same”.

 He carefully folded and gave it to her. “Please go home and read it. I look forward for your positive response” he said with a smile.

 “Is it a call letter?” She laughed.

 “A sort of!” he said, and gave his personal phone number.

 She said “Okay, Bye!” and went off.

 She was overwhelmed and excited to open the letter, but she chose to do it later as she had to walk home. She opened the doors of the empty home and sat down; she opened the letter and started reading. Till she came to the last line that he wrote recently, she thought that she has to answer questions based on the story. But the last lines melted her, when she re read the story, everything felt meaningful. She was floating in happy tears as she came to know that someone has loved her and still does.

On the other end, he was lying restlessly on his bed thinking of various possibilities of how she would react.

 “Will she think that I am a cheap man?”

 “Will she think that I took advantage of her situation?”

“Will she hate me?”

“Should I have waited for some days and said her?”

 Questions like this circled him continuously, until he heard the sound.

 Ti…Ding (Yes! He had the same notification sound in his new mobile too).

It was her message and…. It was a “Yes” from that side.

He jumped in joy and he could not sleep the whole night. He informed his parents and they married happily.

 He continued the love story for ‘her’ both in his life and the paper. He received the cash prize for this story in the R.K Narayan short story contest which was conducted that year.

Though the prize amount was not a big deal for his status now, the prize because of ‘the story for ‘her’’ would always be special to him.