Remains of a Lost Heart - Part 2

If you did read Part 1 here.... continue reading this :). This is the second installment in this journey of emotions :). Read on ................


Chapter 2 - The Reunion and The Fallen

Arya got up with yawning from his bed and looked straight into the mirror. The reflection he saw in the mirror scared the wits out of him. He decided he needed a shave that was now long pending and thought of what happened last night as he splashed water onto his face. For a moment, he stood still staring at the mirror in his bathroom and cleared his mind and decided to go for work as he had a meeting a little later in the day and lots of work to complete.

Arya was a software engineer in one of the leading IT firms in the world. A 23-year old, bright young lad, with a special passion for computers and a fanatic craze for automobiles and speed. Academically, not the toppers but was easily one of the most brilliant one could find in times of doubt. Arya was a person who was fun to be with all through college and even at his workplace. Arya was a popular guy and he had the looks and intelligence to back him up. Arya was extremely good when it came to people skills and that was an added advantage. He had a great reputation at work place for his efficiency and productivity and had a well designed career ahead of him.

Arya was planning to quit the company and head out for higher education. He was in the middle of various things when he came across Nisha’s profile on a social networking site. He added her as a friend and waited for quite a while before she accepted his request. “She is not a regular visitor to the site I guess”, he thought to himself. One fine day, he found her online and they started chatting. Arya kept chatting and did not realize how late it was. They just caught up on all the time they had been apart. They were just giving each other updates on what was going on in their lives. It was just about 1AM when Arya said he was sleepy and that he was going to log off soon. Arya just then asked her for her phone number. “I’ll give you a ring sometime”, he typed and put a winking smiley right next to it. She took some time to reply back with her phone number and she just gave him the phone number with a smile and a line that read “Sure doJ”. Arya sent her a GNSD (Good Night Sweet Dreams) and a rose emoticon and logged off. He stored her number on his mobile and stared at the mobile with a blank expression on his face for a few minutes and then dozed off.

Arya jumped into his car and drove off to office. While he was driving, he thought about Nisha and the times they had spent together during school days. It brought about a special feeling in him that he could not get over for the rest of the day. Arya was caught dreaming in the meeting and left the conference room, quite embarrassed. He did not even know what he was thinking and had no clue why. Arya went home that evening and called Nisha. They rambled on and on for hours together. They ridiculed and laughed at each other, thinking of all the stuff back in school. Arya all of a sudden asked “So, how is your love life? Found anyone yet?” Nisha did not take any time and replied instantly “No dude. And you? I am so sure you would have found at least 10 girls to flirt with by this time. You were such a charmer” and she giggled. “Aaah no…. I am still single ‘cos you weren’t here right?” and Arya giggled. But, deep down both knew there was some bit of seriousness in what Arya was saying. They changed the topic spoke about some other things and Arya hung up at about 12AM. He then messaged her goodnight with a flower emoticon and dozed off.
          

**********************************************************************************************

Arya now was too involved in thoughts about Nisha although his concentration in studies never slumped. Every passing day and every single moment he spent with her, he only wanted to get better. She had that influence on him. It was school excursion time and they were heading to an amusement park. The whole class was excited and so were Arya and Nisha. The day came and everyone had a band around their wrist and ran into the park. Arya stayed behind the rest of the pack. Nisha a few yards away stopped and turned back and asked, “What happened Arya? Come on… Let’s hit the ferris wheel.” Arya sighed heavily and said, “You go on Nish…. Divya wanted to go with you. I heard you guys talk about it in the bus.” Nisha walked right back to him, “Oh this was it eh? Buddhu^* you should have heard it fully. I told her I was going with you on all rides and no one else.”, saying this she rapped him on his head and took his hand in hers and dragged him along and joined the other kids at the ferris wheel. Ajay looked for Arya and waved to him asking him to come ahead and he subtly nodded saying no and Ajay immediately knew what he meant. Ferris wheel was a great time when Nisha held on to Arya and was screaming on top of her voice and Arya was putting up a brave front and was smiling and laughing at the way Nisha was behaving. They both thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the day went on like that till lunch break. When lunch time came, they had lunch with all the kids and all of a sudden Nisha started feeling sick after going on all those rides. The kids moved on to all the other rides and so did the teacher after asking her to drink some lemonade. Arya stayed back with her and they wandered away to a place which was free from all the frenzy. She started feeling much better and she held his hand throughout. They sat down at a bench and she rested her head against his shoulder. Arya looked at her cherubic face and admired the innocent look on it. The day ended on a great note for them and other kids.

Ajay and Arya headed to Arya’s place that night as it was quite late and Ajay’s house was too far to go. Ajay was too tired and he slept off. Arya stayed up and waited for Nisha’s call after she had reached home. She called and told him she reached and ended it soon. Arya sat up and thought how amazing his day was. He picked up the notepad next to him and started writing a poem, something he had started doing too often these days.

“Oh, how I wish time could have come to a stop….

When we were on the ferris wheel, right on top….

I think it was just great when she held my hand tight in the roller coaster….

Never felt like that before, I could feel my heart beat faster….

A kid’s glow I could see on her face, as she went on the merry-go-round,

It gave me boundless joy, as I sat there and watched her go around.

We walked around hand in hand throughout the day,

Every single moment, in my memory - will stay…….

Now I think I know what being in love feels ……..

For her I know, I have gone head over heels!!”

Ajay got up next morning before Arya and saw the notepad. Ajay started worrying about this and he wanted to make sure everything went well. He shook Arya out of his sleep and asked him, “What the hell is happening? What is going on? I saw what was happening yesterday. All these days I did not see anything, but, yesterday I could see something different going on. Do you guys love each other or something?” Arya stood there and stared blankly at Ajay and said “I don’t know man. All that I know is I cannot stay away from her at all. Looks like my life is blank without her……” Ajay quickly cut him short and retorted, “I think you are mad. We are 16 years old and I do not think this is the right time for all this. Shove all this aside; let us start preparation for the half-yearly exams and the boards. May be it is a crush or something; it will go away as time flies by. By the way, have you told her?” “No. I am planning to talk to her today. I will go mad otherwise”, said Arya. Ajay frowned heavily and walked out.

Arya called her and started talking about usual math problems and science homework stuff. Arya went over to her place. “Hey all the fun yesterday, it was great and now we are stuck with crappy geometry and stuff, damn it would have been great if time had stopped yesterday”, said Arya. Nisha retorted quickly, “Oh man it should have stopped when we were on the ferris wheel” and Arya was taken aback. It was as if she was reading his mind now. “Oh beautiful!”, Arya struggled to get these words out of his mouth. Nisha looked at him with a doubt on her face and replied “The view from there was so beautiful, I can’t agree more man.” He quickly shook out of the little state of shock and said, “Ya ya the view …. It was awesome.” She looked at him and instantly found he had something else to say. “So are you going to tell me what this is all about or are you going to behave like a lost moron all day?”, she asked him teasingly. “Uh ….Ok….”, Arya was cut short at that and she said “so let us both break our head with trigonometry now.” He just agreed and they worked out math for the next 2 hours.

Arya was now tired of this and could not take this anymore. He wanted to tell her what he felt. He looked up from the book and realized she was staring at him and he just looked her in her eyes. “I cannot take this anymore. There was something very very special that I felt yesterday between us. I don’t know if this is how it feels like to be in love or something. But, I really think I love you very much.”, said Arya mustering all the courage that was left. He showed her the poem he wrote the last night. From the expression on her face, he could not make out if she was surprised or shocked or offended or anything. He just looked her in her eye for some kind of acknowledgement. “I am going to leave this poem with you and I am going to leave you alone for a bit. Not that I expect some answer or anything. I had to tell you. I really do love you.”, saying this Arya walked out of the room and said bye to her mother and brother who were in the living room and went back home.

**********************************End of Chapter 2**********************************

P.S: Leave me your feedback and suggestions on how this should go ahead :) Bouquets and Brickbats welcome :)