A Love Story

Have you ever experienced how your life can turn upside down in a span of two days? Read the story below. Those who have gone through similar phases in life can feel what a heartbreak would feel. From a loser’s (or winner’s ?)perspective –

A Love Story

This is the story of one girl & two boys.

The girl dearly loved one boy. The boy also. They planned their life together. But between them came the social wall. The boy could not take the decision. The girl waited. He finally told the girl that he could not honor her love. The girl was shattered. The boy was shaken, but could not commit. She cried her heart out, but she waited. When there was no hope, she waited. The girl left the place, came to her home, tears in her heart. When she had none to turn to, she cried & prayed to God.

But what the girl could do? She has to marry someone. Family pressure increased. No promise from the boy, no assurance, only the mutual feelings lingered, perhaps unspoken, unheard, but alive.

Enter the second boy. An arranged match. Why the girl chose him among others, unclear. This boy was a loner in heart games. Naïve. Shy. From the first, he opened his heart like a long closed metal chest, opening with a clank. Nothing was hidden from view. Suddenly the world seemed too colorful, too rosy to him. He never thought the feeling of belonging to someone special can be so fulfilling. All of a sudden, the long lost sweet romantic self woke up in him. He consciously tried to change his wild lifestyle. He prepared himself for her to come into his life, oblivious to any sign of the storm that is brewing in the distant sky.

The girl was hesitant, but went along. She never committed mentally, but without any option, gave in and tried to walk along. But the mental barrier was there. The boy had sensed the presence of the barrier, but didn’t understand why it was there. He thought he was impatient. She also told him that. He learnt to be patient. Time went by. His attachment to her grew deeper & deeper. He said that he could literally take his heart out if she wanted. She said that she would see that in time.

Marriage was coming nearer. The girl thought, thought and thought. And cried. She never told him about the first boy. Was it for the fear of rejection from this second boy also? Or for the eternal hope that she was carrying in her heart? It will never be known.

Marriage bells ringing now in the doorsteps. Preparations complete, on both sides. She grudgingly accepted, hiding her feelings from everyone but her heart. Even now she prayed to God, cried & waited.

The second boy was living in dreams. His life was coming to a fulfillment he cherished from his imaginative, dreamy childhood. He was ecstatic. He planned so much for the new life. He sacrificed dreams that were once very dear to his heart. Only for the life of togetherness, for the bliss.

Did we forget the first boy? No, obviously not! Not the girl. Not their common friends, who have seen them together, happy as butterflies in the spring. For the first time he was feeling the pangs of impending loss, the loss which could be very dear and unrecoverable. His behavior was erratic, friends feared for him. His family gave the nod finally.

Marriage is now less than seven days away. The first boy summed up his courage and arrived on the stage. Was the timing deliberate? Was it forced? Perhaps yes, perhaps not. Never could it be known. The first boy met the girl to say something dearest to her at the last hour. The girl was overjoyed, happy as a reborn. What she wanted all her life God has gifted her. God has heard the cries she always had deep within her heart. She believed and had faith that “true love comes back”. She was proved right!

But at this stage, what her options were? No one from her family would listen to her. Who is the last person to save her and her love? Why, the second boy? Didn’t he promise that he would give her his heart if she wished? But is she doing the right thing? Who knows, but in her heart she knew that she might not make him happy if married. Perhaps this realization came too late, perhaps too early. Perhaps it was true, perhaps not. Who knows the answer?

So, now is the time to tell everything to the second boy. The causes of her hesitation, the barrier that he easily felt, the emotional disconnect that he might have perceived, her first love and the returning of her first love, all, everything. She begged him to leave her, for all the good or bad she had done, uttered, written, spoken, unspoken. She said everything between her and him was forced and possibly untrue, that she had taken her chances and acted accordingly. Perhaps true, perhaps not. Who knows?

To put in a single line the condition of the second boy, his soul was fatally wounded. The pain of the shock numbed him. His faith in human beings was shaken for life. He was adamant to let his love desert him. He could not fathom the fact that the girl he dearly loved loves someone else. But he could not tolerate the girl’s cries. The voice that gave him company in lonely nights, in heavy workdays, in the wee hours of the night, in the morning, in the evening, in the mountains, in the city, in the rains, in the summer, in Sundays, in Mondays, in the train, in the hotel, among friends, within family, however fake that might have been, however forced that might have been, how much acting that might have been, but it was the voice he can never bear to hear it cry, to beg, to plead, even for all the right reasons, for all the wrong demands, for all the wrong acts. Is this what love is like? He does not know. It is for you, dear reader, to decide.

The second boy let the girl go to the boy of her choice. Laughable. He never had this girl, so how can he “let her go”? No answers. He thought what he did was the right thing to do in such a situation. But he was not happy. There was enormous swelling of emotion in him which rapidly transformed into a wildfire of anger of unknown proportions. He felt that it is not right to let others, who let him trap and suffer in such a manner without any of his fault, remain happy. He promised to himself that he will see the end of it.

In all this earthquake in his mind, there came an angel in the disguise of a friend, who supported him, cared for his well-being & health and tried to heal the deepest of the wounds. She reasoned, coaxed, and pleaded him not to destroy his core, which he was hell-bent to exterminate for he thought goodness has no value in this earth anymore. He wanted to be the baddest of the bad, worst of the lot and take revenge. But he was not happy. He reached deep in his heart to find out what is the cause of all this unrest. Why is he not happy even when he is revengeful and taken the first step? He found that these thoughts are actually killing whatever little bit of older heart remained in him, not regenerating. These thoughts do not suit him. But why is he so angry? It is because of his hurt ego & pride, which let him believe that if he ever loves a girl dearly, she will never turn away or betray him for another boy. He believes that love can not be forced. This is why the cry of the girl, whom he loved so dearly, for another boy was so bitter, so painful, so hurting to him. Perhaps she felt worse than him in doing all these, perhaps not.

No one has any answer. She cried when none supported her decision. She cried because she thought what she was doing was beyond forgiveness, not right. Perhaps she was true, perhaps she was acting, but he could not bear her cry. It pained him so much to hear her cry. He gave his support to her decision, steadied her and asked her to move forward. He did what his heart told him to do.

What makes a man happy? To love and forgive the ones he loves, loved and would love. The second boy has learnt a lesson of a lifetime. Everybody else is right, there are more to life than this one setback. After all, we have only one life to live, play, sing, explore, expand. The second boy is now at the lowest point in his life. He can only rise from there. He earnestly prays to God that the boy & girl live happily ever after, otherwise his sacrifice would not be worth a bit. Not an iota of what have happened till now should jeopardize their lives from now on. They showed what true love is all about. The second boy was very much jealous of the first boy, for he is luckier to have a girl like her in his life. But this jealousy would end. The second boy would move on in his life. He really thinks that someday he would find a soul mate who would want him for what he is worth of or unworthy of.

He truly has forgiven her at this point of time for what right or wrong she has done in her immaturity, in her indecisiveness, in her selfishness, in the situation she was in, for love, for the one boy she wanted in her life. The pain will linger for sometime more, but he wants somebody to heal that slowly, surely by understanding him, caring for him, nurturing him.

This story is a tribute to love, to the wonderful girl and to the angel. And to all who supported the three main protagonists throughout. Let the story unfold beautifully in the years to come, when the last protagonist is also happily settled in life.

Cheers to all who have the patience to read this far and maybe, are part of this journey.

Ameen.