Remains of a Lost Heart - Part 7

Seriously, this delayed posting of parts has almost become a habit and I have a different reason all the time. This time around, its Nyah. Yup, she caused the delay in this post. Shes my new Nikon D90 and she is keeping me busy enough not to write. Now, here goes Part 7 of the story. Read on......

Chapter 7 - The New Company

Arya was lost for a few minutes and he tried to build random conversations to find out who it was. And then it struck him, it was the very same voice he was pining to hear for the rest of his life, a few months back. Somehow it brought up all the memories he had tried to bury over time. He felt the same nervousness and excitement that he felt eight and more years before.

“Oh my god! Is that you Nisha and you are calling from a local number. Am I thinking right?”, asked Arya with a clear tone of excitement and joy in his voice. He was literally jumping up and down and his friends had no clue what was happening. “Oh yes dude. You are thinking just right. I am here on work for a few weeks. So tell me… Long time no see, How have you been?”, said Nisha in a rather un-enthusiastic tone. They caught up over all the time they hadn’t spoken and then Nisha asked, “So, when and where are we gonna meet Arya?” He thought for a while and he said, “I am kind of busy with settling down here Nish.. I’ll call you during the week and we can make plans. Ok?” They both agreed and went about their daily activities. 

He sat down to think and there was something about the call that made him uncomfortable. He did not want to go through the whole confusion again. He was determined not to let any memories harm him anymore.  In her couple of weeks of stay, they only met once. They went to a pastry shop and had something to eat. It was like a very formal meeting of two people who have hardly met before. Arya tried hard to make void and shallow conversations. Somehow, towards the end of the conversation, he couldn’t take it anymore. His heart won the battle over his brain. He asked, “Are you seeing anyone now? I am still wondering, would you have gone out with me if the distance wasn’t an issue?” Nisha was surprised and taken aback by the question.

It made the already uncomfortable situation, awkward. He told her not to bother answering the question. She did not. He walked her home. She waved goodbye and walked away. He thought about what had happened and walked away into the darkness. She stood in the balcony, looked at him and waved into the darkness. She wanted to answer the question but she wasn’t sure. She was leaving for India the very next night and he called her just before she left. After a routine bye-bye conversation, Nisha said, “About yesterday…” and she was quickly interrupted by Arya, “Well I told you, you don’t have to answer the question and I am sorry if I brought up something even without knowing whether or not there was someone in your life now.” Nisha heard him out patiently. “You know what…I want to answer the question. It isn’t easy for me. But, yes. I would’ve gone out with you but for the distance. Anyways, now it doesn’t seem to matter to you. All the best.” and she hung up.

Arya felt miserable. The only reason he did it was because he did not want to put her through the same old confusion and get himself in the same trouble. He thought about the whole thing for a couple of days and he let it all pass. He was now thinking he had to move on and let her do the same. A new school, new people and new routines had him immersed neck deep and he had no time for any old thoughts to penetrate his time. He was sitting outside the café one fine afternoon and thought out aloud before he dug his teeth into a 6-inch sub, “Whoeva said an idle mind’s a devil’s workshop must be a genius!” and he took his first bite. A sweet voice distracted his thought, “I can’t agree more… ” He looked up at the source of the voice.

She was the prettiest girl he had seen. The little smile she had across her face made a small dimple on her right cheek. A small subtle, but, persistent breeze threw her tied dark and long hair in front. She carefully moved it back and removed the clip to redo her hair properly. She pulled out her band, put it around her wrist as she adjusted her hair. Arya almost went into a trance. “Well, now that you are looking here, I may well tell you, I am Divya. I am a Software Engineering major and I joined this Spring. And you are?”, she said thus and extended her hand for a handshake. She waved in front of his eyes to get him out of the trance and then he shook hands. “Well, I did not mean to stare. But, you are so gorgeous. So software huh? We are classmates for the next two years. I am Arya.” After the brief embarrassment, they caught up about where they were from and what they had been doing before they had landed in California. They were both from Chennai and they seemed to have a lot of common interests. Arya and Divya soon became the best of friends.

It was almost end of the semester and they were doing their project together. Arya had dozed off sitting next to her. She woke him up when she was done with her part and was pulling his leg about the way he slept. He worked on his part and she slept off right next to him and she asked him to wake her up before he was going to go back home. He finished his work and almost tucked her in and slipped out of her house silently the next morning.

It was around noon when she woke up and gave Arya a call. “I asked you to wake me up…u crazy fella. Why didn’t you?”, she questioned. He had just gotten out of the shower, “Well, you were in deep sleep and you looked too cute that way. I just did not have the heart to get you outta that”, he answered. Divya was blushing and with a tone of embarrassment she asked, “Wait…. Are you trying to hit on me?? ‘cos you know it will not work right?” Arya hadn’t thought of it till then, now he was thinking. Out of the blue he just asked her, “So, do we go out and get a cup of coffee today evening? I mean… go out …go out.” Divya wasn’t surprised he asked her. She knew that he was quite the sweet-talking charmer when it came to women, but, she was surprised. In a surprised tone she said, “Well, I will have to think this through. Can I call you in 5 minutes?” He hung up and waited for a call.

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P.S: Please leave me your valuable comments and feedback.
P.P.S: At this point, I would like to make the disclaimer that, as opposed to popular belief, all characters in the story are purely fictional and any resemblance to any real life person is purely coincidental.