Story 5 (Complete the Story Contest )

My love story started when I turned 16.The lucky girl's name was Soniya,only she didn't know that she was 

all that lucky. Cause to Soniya we were 'just friends'. I was the guy she turned to when she had problems in 

Math. But to me she was. Well, she was more, much more.

'And if I had my way, someday she would be mine.'Her bungalow was just in front of the apartment where my father had a one bedroom flat in the fourth floor. I used to stare at her for hours from the small window next to my study table when she sat on the terrace swing and chat with her friends on the BBM. I was not even on her friend's list as with my little pocket money I could neither afford a blackberry nor the monthly BBM service charges.

Every day my love for her just grew more ,until sometimes I would to breathe ! I know this may sound strange,but I pictured us and the places we would go. It didn't matter to me if it were Goa or Kashmir or some hot sweaty jungle somewhere.You see the feeling was always the same because I was with Soniya and she was  with me .

Well.. looking back now,it was all so simple then.And that's when it all went wrong.

I am Rahul and this is my story . 

Such innocent and pious is first adolescent love. It makes you spend sleepless nights tossing and turning and sometimes even shedding tears. Praying to the almighty to grant just this one wish .  

" You may know Soniya that I have always loved you . " I blurted abruptly and awkwardly.

I could not believe I had just said that. She had come over to thank me for getting 90 percent in ISC board maths.

" What are you saying Rahul ? I did not expect this from you " she said and just turned and walked away. 

After that once or twice that we crossed paths she never even looked at me although I kept hoping she would say something in clarification. Few days later I came to know she had gone to LSR , Delhi for further studies.I realized then what a fool I had been to even imagine she would ignore the gap between us. I was 

a simpleton with oiled hair, plain shirts hanging out above the loose trousers ,a below average looking lower middle class boy.How could I even propose to an uptown girl like her ?

That was six years back.

 As they say everything happens for good.That episode changed my life.I went to the gym, the parlour and the boutique, taking tutions to earn a handsome pocket money to spend on grooming myself. I did my engineering from IIT delhi, playing the spanish guitar at the inter institute war of bands, winning the badminton tournament. I was elected the best all rounder and also became the president of the gymkhana. I had left behind the demeaning past. 

Boom. The gunshot sounded and I was running on the 400 mtr track, ahead of two Britishers ,a Korean and an Australian finalists.The girls were going wild cheering their favorites. It was elating to hear the sound of my name as the most prominent, even at oxford, where I had come to do my Masters in Business Management. It had been only three days and I had become the favorite fresher of my batch. I would have won easily, had something not slowed me down near the finish line. It was the sight of the unlucky one Soniya, standing and waving at me from the crowd.

 In a split second my impulse told me that I would give her the same treatment she had dished out to me.

I could see her walking towards me now, smiling.

She came and shook my hand and said " Hi, I am Soniya. Where are you from ??"

Then it struck me that how would she recognize me when I had changed so much. I decided to maintain status quo and smiled back casually saying "India " and turned to my other friends. 

Soniya looked the same as before. She was one of the most good looking girls I had seen till high school, but now she was hardly noticable in the Oxford girls crowd. I was glad I did not have any feelings for her now.

" I know you don't like me much,but i just cant stop thinking of you Rahul. ", said Soniya . 

I had been avoiding her for almost a month.

" I understand ,but I don't think there is any chemistry between us "I replied coldly, standing in the garden in 

the campus, where she had caught me alone after a long time, usually i was accompanied by friends.

She stood there frozen for a second, then said " Ok, take your time" and walked away, her eyes misty.

Over the next one year I could feel her obsession with me and I felt a certain sense of satisfaction that she was going through the same misery I had gone through.

On her last day at the university she had called me alone through a mutual friend to the same garden where we she had first confessed her feelings for me.

"You know I have always loved you " she blurted out abruptly and awkwardly as I stood there with apathy.

"I am sorry if I have bothered you but I wanted to end this so that at least if we ever meet again in life, we can greet each other with a smile like friends".Tears were drifting down her cheeks.

"So that's it " I asked "Can I go now ?"

Without waiting for her reply I started to turn around when the sudden downpour took me by surprise. My spikes were washed down to the oily plain hairstyle,my clothes clung to me like basic fabric they once used to do. She could see the same Rahul standing in front of her that she had once rejected.Her expressions changed from surprise to happiness and finally sadness.

" Oh my god. Rahul I think the circle of life has finally completed itself." She started to walk away completely sure there was no hope for her.

I held her hand and pulled her close to me. It seemed the rain had washed away the thin veneer of vengeance and exposed the underlying love , the first love, pure and pious. She was once again the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

-Sumit Agarwal