Love Happens Only Once

Love Happens Only Once

By : Shashank Sahay The story tells about how two best friends turn up to fall for one another and their journey of reciprocating their feelings to each other. The story tells about the problems, anxiety that a modern day teenager suffers accompanied by his love story. The feeling of losing his best friend if she rejects her proposal. Will Raghav ever manage the courage to tell Rashi that he loves her to the depth of the ocean where light can reach or it will end up being another unfortunate story?

Published on

www.booksie.com/Shashank Sahay Copyright Shashank Sahay, 2012 Publish your writing on Booksie.com.

Love Happens Only Once

Love Happens Only Once

Love Happens Only Once

Love happens only once Prologue Our flight is late Dad; I checked out at the inquiry, we will have to wait for about 3 more hours in this petite Airport of Dehradun. It happens Beta, if you are hungry, you can buy some snacks. No, Dad I am not hungry, can I talk to you as my best friend for some time? Of course you can, tell me what is the matter that even my daughter s grey cells are having problem to deal with? Dad, I like a boy. Oh my God! That is great news my Beta, then what is the matter? I know this boy named Sanjay for about 4 years now. We met in one of my friend s birthday party. We both took off really well and soon become very close friends. As time passed I started falling for him and now I am in love Dad. And I am confident that it s not any kind of infatuation. Then where is the problem, Beta? Dad, I don t know that whether he loves me or not and if god forbid she rejects my proposal, I don t want our friendship to suffer because of it. I really like him as a friend and would love to be considered as his better half. I guess it s time that you know about your father listen to it? C mon dad. So here it goes .. Chapter 1 Ouch . Not so hard RV it hurts, I had told you the last time as well. Why do you forget that I am a girl after all? Oh! I m so sorry Rashi, I don t know how to clip these stupid butterfly clips or clutchers or whatever you call it in your so china wall type long hairs. Why do you forget even I am a guy after all. You know what Mr Raghav Verma s/o Mr Mahendra Pratap Verma, Director - Future Tech pvt ltd, a term that most appropriately signifies to you is MORON . Yes u heard the word M O R O N. There is no place for good people left on this earth!! My ma tells me this with so much of certainty every day. First, of all Miss Rashi Saxena, some kind of a queen of some fairy land yet to be discovered, who was the one who fell from stairs? You. Who was the one whose hand got fractured? You. Who is the one who calls for help? You, and still your nagging attitude. It doesn t piss me off, but you know what it shits me off at certain times. Shut up, MORON. Who needs help while solving trigonometry? You. Who eats away all my Tiffin? You, and more so ever who gets details and phone numbers of all the hot chicks of our school and that includes our juniors as well? You. Shut up Rashi! Don t exaggerate stuffs, I am getting late for my cricket practice, catch u later than soon. Whatever weirdo . Go get some air RV and you some rest Rashi. Bbyeee Rv .. Cya Rashi. s life when he was at your age. You really want to

Love Happens Only Once

Love Happens Only Once Chapter 2 This was my sweet, happening or rather Masti filled life. I was elected as senior prefect of my school Saint Catholic Higher Secondary, Kolkata. I and Rashi had been family friends since our childhood and it was not surprising that we both went to the same school, class, tuitions and even shopping mall to buy our stuffs. To me, which I had never told to Rashi on her face, but was the closest and most special person of my life. She was the only girl whom I admired after my ma. No matter, I never had the balls (guts) to express my feelings for her but her unitary simple smile used to make my day. I loved the way she used to care for me and at times even pamper me when I needed someone the most. After all which guy will go to a medical shop and ask for sanitary pads for a girl who didn t have the time to go to buy it on her own as she was busy having dress rehearsals of some weird alien type annual function or rather get together of her family? Yes, I loved her, truly and could almost do anything for her (almost, because anything would sound a bit too filmy). She was the girl of whom I used to dream of, the girl with whom I used to see my future with, the girl who knew each and everything about me ranging from my favorite porn star to my father s extra marital affair which had got blown off when I was in class 7. I used to love the envious expression on her face when I used to ask for phone numbers of the girls from my class. For that covetous face, I wouldn t have mind giving all my stolen imported fags( cigarettes) of my father. My day used to start by her wake up call, end by her good night text. My life revolved around her, I used to do everything and anything to gain her slightest attention, and when guys used to talk about her beauty, or to be raw and precise- her hotness meter and I felt like crushing them with my father s bulldozers used in his construction company. But the only thing, I feared was if god forbid she didn t share the same feelings for me, I didn t want to spoil the serene and a bond stronger than any covalent bond of any carbon atom (see after all I was a science student, irrespective of the fact I used to get 40/100 pretty regularly in my Chemistry paper). The mere fact that I took science for my higher secondary was because of rashi s interest in science. She always wanted to have a tag of an IIt ian attached to her, and I was just happy getting passing marks in my science subject, because I knew even if would manage to crack IIt (Indian Institute of Technology) entrance exam, which was at least not possible in my this or upcoming minimum 5 lives, I had to join my father s construction business and cherish the moments seeing cement getting mixed with sand and all those muddy kind of things and bull dozers bashing the old wretched homes as American fighter Jets destroyed Iraqi tanks .I used to love drawing portraits, landscapes or anything, be it from a small ant to a mammoth, but when in front of Mr Mahendra Pratap senior politicians and Ministers had a tough time, then I guess my worth was less than a penny. Chapter 3 Our class 12 board exam is round the corner plus RV, Its time you get serious with studies and stop fidgeting with your cell phone. C mon Rashi, stop irritating me again, you know what I am 18 now, and viable to vote, that means if I am capable of voting for a candidate to run our government. But still have difficulty differentiating between Rutherford model of atoms and J. Thomson- Rashi said. I replied- Nerd back to her very own business. I wanted to tell her that even book worms would feel embarrass seeing her seriousness towards studies plus her gorgeous face accompanied by two red cheeks as if someone had dropped red cherry syrup on them. As my mouth was about to open, a force deep inside me stopped it. It said don t go that fast, you might meet an accident . After few minutes, Rashi s mom entered with our evening snacks that included my favorite lemonade. I used to love the way aunty cooked. Though my parents main motive was to send me to Rashi s place so that I could study along her, but to the contrary my motive was somewhat different. I just loved auntie s food and imagined her calling me Damadji (son in law) Please try out some more . Ouuuch Rashi, that hurt, after she slapped my back neck with her ruler so antique as if it seemed that even her Great Great grandfather had used it. She shouted- back to studies, your snacks can wait for a while. I 3

Love Happens Only Once sometimes wondered why girls were so complicated. There Its fine , especially with extra emphasis on the letter f , meant that nothing was fine. Their it s ok meant, you still were required to pamper them for half a day and the most dangerous one go to hell simply signified that you were required to sit and talk to them till the time your black hair stared turning grey. I mean. Why couldn t girls be like us? If my male friend had a tough day and didn t want to have his dinner, why would I accompany him in his hunger strike and penalize my stomach? It s still difficult to understand that how a single chromosome called the X could cause so much of complications in a person s gene. I guess the name given X chromosome correctly defined their behavior; the world X itself could be defined as anything. That evening I did manage to complete Atoms and molecules, but still failed in telling my feelings to Rashi. It was like a daily affair for me, waking me up with a firm determination that no matter whatever the outcome would be, I l give my love letter to her which I had written 2 years ago, though had edited it number of times in these 2 years, but the first sight of Rashi used to make me fall heel over my knees. I don t know why a person who could steal his father s imported fags and that too from his room, couldn t give a letter to a girl whom he knew from childhood. I had tried out everything, from mountain dew to old monk, but nothing worked. Chapter 4 It was time for our class 12 Board exams, I don t know why people including our teachers felt that it was the biggest exam of school life, and I mean I was just 18, I still didn t have a girl friend and people expected me to give my biggest exam? Then I thought, will my percentage in class 12 ever make any difference, irrespective of the fact if I score 90 percent (I know I was day dreaming, but still..) or a mere 65 percent, I l be ending up in my father s construction business seeing labors toiling hard day and night to construct buildings, which they will never be able to purchase. Sometimes I thought how life can be so harsh on people. A person, who works day and night to construct a mammoth structure, earns just enough to provide his family 2 meals a day and live in shanty little slums, whereas contrary to the fact a wealthy business man, who evades taxes, manipulates his company s accounts and ruthlessly does anything even when it is immoral to attain profit gets to live in lavish apartments. It s strange, isn t it? Now, I guess this much of philosophy was too much for the day. Back to where I was, my board exams, my grand ma had promised me a Caaadaberry, if I managed an aggregate of 60 percent, actually she meant Cadbury. She still thought me to be the same 5 years old, who used to piss in his pants seeing a lizard. Anyways, I loved her very much and just for her, I promised myself of securing 1st div in my exam i.e. at least 60 percent. My board practical exams of physics and chemistry went off pretty smoothly; the guest invigilator was given a V.V.I.P treatment and was made to sit in an air conditioned room, which was about 50 metres away from our practical labs. Our school teachers were at their very best, not only to the guest invigilator but to us as well. They allowed us to cheat or to be put in a more polished form, discuss with our friends, helped us in getting the exact observation and leaking the common questions that our guest invigilator had asked to the students of other sections. Now, it was time for my viva, and I was called in the viva room where a middle aged sir was sitting. His desk had samosas, kachoris and coldrink. It seemed that my school was treating its Damadji (son in law). Anyways, I entered the room by asking his permission and wished him good morning sir. He replied good morning Raghav, how are you doing? I was about to say I am cool, but immediately plugged my unleashed mouth and replied good sir. He said- so tell me Raghav what is the least count of a screw gauge, I knew the answer, I replied its 0.01 sir because this was the most common question asked by our teachers. Good, he replied, now what is the difference between electrostatic and gravitational force? I had mugged up the difference just before entering the lab, all credit to Rashi. I replied by giving even an extra point from Rashi s special notes which I guess made the invigilator get impressed me and said- good reply now you may go. I wanted to jump and hug Rashi as the highest that I had ever got in viva during my school exams was 2/5, whereas now I was pretty sure. It wouldn t be less than 4. As I entered it was Rashi s turn as her roll number was next to mine. She as usual blew the invigilator through her well prepared knowledge and her charming beauty. Our chemistry practical exams went the same way, and I only prayed to God, though I was not so theist kind of person, but to keep the momentum going. 4

Love Happens Only Once Chapter 5 And our board result was out, and going against everybody s expectation including mine, I managed to get an aggregate of 88 percent. It took my ma 5 hours to recover from this shock. My dad cancelled all his appointments and flew back from Mumbai. My grand ma s expression reflected as her last wish in her life was fulfilled and above all, I was still scratching my head that how on earth I could manage 88, I mean 88 percent!!!! It was impossible, I mean, how? A student who used to hardly pass in his school exams that too with grace marks got 88 percent. It seemed like the world was under my feet. My second thought, how much did Rashi get? I pressed her door bell and dashed inside her room. I could see her round blue pupil eyed filled with water. I managed to see few drops of tear that had gushed down her eyes to her cheeks, seeing me enter her room without knocking which I never used to, she wiped it off at the very first instance and seeing her my glowing face turned dim. I sat beside her and asked her what happened? She turned her head away, I then insisted her with even more vigor. She suddenly turned her face, which was filled with those cylindrical drops and her pink cheeks, seeing her at the very first instant, I just wanted to cuddle her and kiss her, and she was looking so cute, though this wasn t an appropriate moment to say it. She replied- I scored 94.2. , listening to this I stood up, rather my legs in the response to stimuli automatically stood up. I in a very perturbed voice asked her then, what is the problem ? She replied the city highest is 94.8 . Hearing this it felt like our law should pardon us for at least 1 murder. I mean, look at this girl, who got 94.2 and was crying because she couldn t get the highest in city and look at me, a person with 88 percent was happier than Neil Arm Strong, when he first landed his feet on moon. This proved once again that women are insane. The extra X chromosome that they have in their body makes them do such weird things. I mean, how can someone be sad after getting marks like her? Anyways, after a lot of consoling and persuasion I managed to get back a smile back on her face and while I was leaving, she hugged me whispering in my ears THANK YOU. I preferred I LOVE YOU, but for the instance, THANK YOU seemed just as equal. That night and for the coming two days I didn t take a bath, I wanted her fragrance to be in my body as long as possible, but after two days my odor took over it and I was ordered by the high commandant of my house, Mr. Mahendra Pratap Verma to take a shower. Chapter- 6 After the results of our board exam, within two weeks it was time for the results of the various engineering entrance exam that Rashi had sit for. I wasn t allowed to sit for any engineering exam, not because my family didn t have confidence on me regarding me managing to clear any engineering entrance exam, but for the sake my father wanted me to do B.Com and join his construction business as quickly as possible, he had even said a big NO, for M.B.A.,his justification was that he didn t want to waste any more money on my education because after all his construction firm was my destination. I sometimes had wonder that what would have his reaction been if I would have told him about my passion for painting and I wanted to make a career on it. I guess I would have been sent to a mental asylum or my father would have disowned me, anyways Rashi as expected got through the toughest Engineering entrance exam, IIT, and chose IIT kharagpur as her college as it was close to Kolkata. She managed to get her desired branch which was ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING. I sometimes wonder why girls were so Homely and always looked for opportunities of staying close to their home? To the contrary we men, if given an opportunity wouldn t have mind of going to a different planet and visiting our home once in a year. In spite of this our gender index of the country was 933/1000, that meant for every 1000 boys there were only 933 girls, and still people were indulging in female feticides and killing of infant girls. I even wondered if this was the reason of the number of GAYS rising in our country. I with my sparkling percentage (yes, I was boasting) easily managed to get through BHAWANIPUR COLLEGE which was also known as BHAGGU, in this college attendance wasn t compulsory. The students were only required to sit for exams and attend classes according to their whims.

Love Happens Only Once I still remember the date was 16th June 2005, it was the last day before Rashi was about to leave for Kharagpur. I still had the letter which I had tried to give Rashi for the past 2 years, my each attempt had turned futile but this time I was determined that I would be giving my love letter to her no matter whatever happened after it. The night before Rashi s departure, I tried innumerable times in front of mirror on how would I give my letter to her, and what will I tell her before she reads it. Though, I had to take help of two bottles of beer to gain some confidence. The time had come, kharagpur is about 200 kilometers away from Kolkata and it takes less than 150 minutes to reach there by train. The scene in Howrah station was as usual noisy and this time it was more, as many nerds who along with their typical Bengali parents were present. It seemed seeing the parent s faces that it was the last time they were seeing their kids. Most of the nerds were carrying trunks and bags full of snacks. I wondered if even half of it would have been given to the needy population of KALAHANDI, at least 3/4th of the population wouldn t be deprived of hunger. The train was scheduled to leave at 9:30 am, and according to my watch it was 9: 20. Rashi after taking blessings from her parents and my parents was sitting on her seat. I went inside her bogey, and sat beside her, she didn t say anything as she was trying to hide her tears, I in a very consoling tone, as I was about to hand her the letter and say those 3+2=5 letters magical words i.e. I love you very much, my eyes suddenly got interlocked with her and I don t know what happened to me, I felt numb and it appeared that my mouth has lost its potency to speak, everything seemed to come to standstill. I still haven t been able to figure out what had happened to me, and the next thing I heard was the hoot of the train signaling its departure, all I could say her was take care of yourself Rashi and don t worry whenever you will need a friend, I will always be there for you we both shook hands and I came down the train. I told myself another attempt went unaccomplished . Damn it Chapter- 7 The initial few days were very tough, every minute without her, every evening without her was like walking on hot charcoal (I know I am exaggerating it too much, but still ). My ma always used to tell me that a person realizes someone s importance when that person is not with him. I guess, the same was happening to me. I was missing her smile, I was missing the way she used to disarrange my spiked hairs, her comfort, and her care and moreover the understanding I had with her. We used to talk via phone, texts, mails and even video conferencing, but I would have preferred spending just 5 minutes with her in personal above those long telephonic conversations of ours. But as my grand ma said, time heals everything; we both slowly started adjusting into our new lives. She got busy with her assignments and projects and I joined my father s office. I used to go to my college once in every two weeks. The amount of time that we both spent talking to each other slowly started going down and there was even a time when we both used to only exchange 3-5 texts a day that included good morning, good night and had a tiring day. The last text generally her side. After all she was studying in one of the premium engineering colleges of India, it wasn t a joke, but sometimes I wished it would have been better that she wouldn t have been so good and serious in her studies and would have done B.com with me in BHAGGU, the very next moment my inner conscience kicked me and realized how selfish was I portraying myself to be. But I still missed my closest friend. I tried watching long hours of porn videos, but it too didn t help except making me more pervert. Chapter 8 The date was 4th March 2004 .It had been over 4 months now Rashi and I had met each other. As the days had passed even I had got involved in my father s business and seeing my interest towards work, my father had made me the assistant super visor of his new project which was being built in giant 10 acre lands, only for the big guns . I received text from Rashi when I was at the construction site which stated Hey RV, guess what, I am coming to Kolkata this weekend for 2 weeks, catch you soon, Mr. Builder Man :p .! my eyes couldn t believe what it had read, I mean , my Rashi, my love was coming back, I felt as if I was standing in the top of the world, but the very next moment realized that I was standing in a pit 6

Love Happens Only Once rather which needed to be filled before sunset. All night I only dreamt of her, I imagined how she must have changed, her smile, her voice, her long silky hairs, gosh! It gave me Goosebumps. The weekend finally arrived and I finally met her at our favorite coffee shop. She looked the same or to be more honest sexier (pardon me for my language, but it was only my emotions that was speaking). She wore a white kurti with bright green churidar, her silver matching bangles and ear rings were looking spectacular. Though she was looking a bit thinner , I guess predominantly because of the mess food, I only gazed at her face keeping my mouth wide open. She was looking stunningly awesome and the only word that came after seeing her was awesomeness redefined. For the first few minutes, I just kept on staring at her, then finally she broke the silence- Hello, Mr. Builder man, how have you been, and stop staring at me as a baby. I replied hey! Nerd... look who is asking, the one who is busy with her studies and project work all day and doesn t even have time to talk to me for ten minutes, is blaming me? YEH BEREHAM DUNIYA.. I ordered my favorite black coffee and when I was about to order her favorite chocolate cake, she stopped me and rather ordered a lemon soda for herself. I wondered what caused animosity between her favorite chocolate cake. Her reply was I am on diet control, you see . I replied women are strange creatures . She replied now don t start again RV, aur Bata did you find any girl in my absence, c mon don t feel shy at least to me . I wonder was this the right time to tell her or to wait for some more days as she was in town for more 13 days. I decided to keep my feelings still in my mind s closet and diverted the topic to my father. Even my father had a very intriguing life, coming from a middle class family, starting a construction business, working hard day and night to make loads and loads of money. It seemed to me the only thing that mattered to him was money and nothing else. He made sure that from my childhood, I got everything and anything before even demanding for it, ranging from laptops, cell phoned to my own bike that was worth 1.9 lakhs, but the main thing he forgot was that a child more than it needed love, affection and time from his father which unluckily I never got. I still remember the face of the rickshaw puller whom I always used to see while going for my chemistry tuition. His small home used to appear on my way, in spite of his poor living condition, I always used to see his two sons smiling and happily playing with him when he used to return from his day s hard work. My grand ma always used to tell me this, I guess because seeing my dad that money may buy you books and beds but it will never be able to buy knowledge and sleep for you. I guess that was the reason my dad used to take sleeping pills before going to sleep. After all what he had done with my innocent, humble, the best woman a man and child can ask for, I would never ever forgive him in my this or next 7 lives. The thing that was still an illusion for me was why didn t my ma didn t file a divorce? I guess more than my father s apology it was my grand ma s plead. My grand ma wouldn t have survived seeing this house break in front of her, no matter after my ma found out that my father was involved in an extra marital relationship with his secretary for about 10 months. The secretary who was involved in a relationship with my father and had slept with him just for the sake of her promotion was made to leave the town and shut her mouth by giving a hell lot of cash. I came to know about this, ironically on my 12th birthday after I returned from school, I saw my dad in my home sitting in the dining room in a grave mood and my ma crying despairingly in the bed room. Even my grand ma had tears in her eyes that day. My ma had caught them red handed in my father s cabin in his office where she had gone to give lunch for him. She saw both of them were busy smooching each other. My father was such a big assole, how could he do this to a woman who kept fast for him every week for his good health, who used to stay awake till he didn t return home, never demanded anything from him and what did she get ? A man who loved fucking his own secretary 8 years younger than him just for the satisfaction of his lust. From that day itself, I only had minimal contact with my dad, I wanted to run away from home taking my ma along me, but surprisingly she was the one who had stopped me. I guess, it was again because of that extra X chromosome that women persisted that made them stay and carry on with a man who had made her life worse than hell. Chapter 9

Love Happens Only Once I still don t how did those 14 days passed by; it was like a jiffy . Though I and Rashi cherished each and every moment of it, but still I wasn t able to accumulate the guts to give her my letter. Rashi was leaving on Sunday, and on Saturday night after having my 2 bottles of beer, I made it firm in my mind that its tomorrow or never, no matter what happens I will tell her what I wanted to, now from the past more than 2 and a half years. The scene in the Howrah station was similar, bustling environment filled with confusion. Rashi after doing her chores of taking blessings from my parents and hers were sitting on her seat. I like before, went to her seat and without looking anywhere gave her the letter; her reply to it was a tight slap on my left cheeks which made sound like of a thunder in my ears, she replied how dare you. RV, I always thought of you to be my best friend and this is what I got, I hate you RV for this and will never ever talk to you. Tiring Tiring Tiring .. my cell phone buzzed and I woke up, I was happy and felt like a dead had again got his life back realizing it was just a dream. I picked up my cell phone and it was Rashi on the other side, she said Moron, I knew you must be sleeping till now as usual, at least you could have come to see me off, I am going, BYE, you go to hell. More than her getting angry I was happy that it was only a dream that I had seen. I guess last night s two bottle of beer had taken a toll on me a bit too much. I texted her hey sorry my princess, I am really sorry, my alarm clock s battery got discharged last night and I didn t notice it. I am really sorry. Please forgive me LLLLL . She replied back next time, be more careful, MORON, BYE, take care J !! I knew my extra sad smiley would work as always. J.. ting..!! Chapter 10 As time passed, Rashi became more and more occupied with her studies and I on the same hand with my father s company s project and all. Whenever I used to call her, her voice used to appear tired; I guess studying in IIT wasn t that easy after all. Rashi couldn t come to Kolkata during her next two vacations as she had to go to Delhi to do some kind of internship or rather get some work experience. But in spite of this we always remained in constant touch though we didn t chat or talk for long hours but I used to always find her text asking me about the day? Or Did I again have a fight with my dad? And most importantly did I take my dinner. To be honest it felt nice, when someone apart from my ma was so concerned about me. The date was 26th April, and my birthday was on 27th April. From the time I knew Rashi, she had always been the first person to wish me on my birthday. Exactly, at 12 my cell phone buzzed, it was Rashi on the other side, I picked up and before I could say anything, she said happy b day, my bestie (she used to call me by this name when she was very happy), wish you all the success in your life more than any other thing, I liked calling her bestie, no matter, there is no word called bestie on dictionary. But who cares, till the time its dealing with Rashi. I replied where is my gift rashi? she replied back stating . this time it s not a gift but it s a news for you , I replied back what s the news all about ? she replied back by stating that she got committed last night to her classmate named Sameer and I was the first one to know about it. She said I still don t know what happened RV, but yes. I fell for this guy and so did he for me. It felt as a road roller had crushed me apart. It felt like I couldn t even explain it to myself, as if someone had snatched life from my soul. I replied that s great news Rashi, congratulation and all the very best in life, I will call you tomorrow, I lied to her that ma was calling me because if I would have talked to her for even 2 more seconds, I would have cried. That night I cried for the first time in my life after my 12th birthday. I asked god in despair that why was that with only me he shoveled all his punishments. Why was my birthday to him such a disappointment? What had I done to make him get so angry against me? That night I cried and kept on crying. On morning I left for my father s project site early and returned late at night. I didn t answer any of my friends or relatives call. Slowly, I started losing my links with Rashi as I thought it wouldn t have mattered in her life now as she had the man with whom she was happy and wanted to spend her entire life with. 8

Love Happens Only Once Chapter 11 After getting my B.com degree, I had manage to persuade my parents to send me to abroad for pursuing M.B.A. Noticing my hard work and diligent commitment towards my projects in the past 1 and a half year, dad gave me a green signal. During the past 1 and a half year, had done nothing but work, because I had managed to figure it out that the only way by which I could keep Rashi out of my mind. The only thing that I did during my past 1 and a half year was work and only work accompanied by study. Whenever Rashi came to Kolkata during her vacations which was only once, I had made an excuse of going to Chennai to look into one of my father s upcoming projects, though it was not necessary for me to go there at that point of time. The sole reason behind me not confronting myself in front of her was I would have succumbed and because of my weakness, I didn t want her relationship with Sameer to distraught as whenever I used to ask her about her relationship, her reply used to be Its going awesome, touch wood I left India on 4th August 2006 for America, there I met few good friends and made myself very busy with my studies, but every night no matter how tired or drunk I was, her memory dint seem to fade away. I had got so depressed and frustrated that I wanted to take my life, people may call me mad, but I guess Rashi was the only girl whom I could ever imagine my life with. Though we used to just talk for few minutes once in every month as i had made her assume that I was very busy with my tight schedule. I had even tried to cut my veins but at the very next moment thought of my ma prevented me from doing it. I couldn t leave her with my evil egoistic father. After all I was pursuing M.B.A only in order to get a decent job, make my ma get divorced with my father and could take care of my mother and her needs after it. To remove Rashi from my mind I tried out everything from, attending strip clubs to even sleeping with a prostitute but nothing worked. I had even tried meditation, but as soon as I used to close my eyes, her face used to erupt once again. Two years passed and it was the time for me to come back to India after attaining my M.B.A degree. Chapter 12 I returned back to India on 22nd September 2008. I was hoping for my Ma to receive me at the airport but it was only Shyam kaka, our family driver who had come to receive me. I wished him and sat inside the car. I didn t notice, but Shyam kaka dropped me at Rashi s house. Before I could utter a word, he told me that Rashi s mom had asked him to do so. As I entered I saw aunty, Rashi s mom. Seeing her, I felt something was wrong, but yet went towards her and touched her feet without asking her anything. Before I could tell her anything she handed me over 2 diaries whose cover was designed with pink sparkles like typical Rashi s books. As I read the first one I found out to be her personal diary which she had maintained since the time we both had become friends. I remember she had told me once about her personal diary but I had thought she was kidding with me as I couldn t believe that at that point in time she could write anything except things relating to her studies. The diary included each and every moment with time, date and place that we both had spent together. It also had some of our pictures that we had clicked together. But I couldn t make any kind of inference after reading it. After the last page there was a letter attached to it which stated:Hey my bestie You know what, I may look like a geek or book worm to you, but you know what I fell for you the first time when I had actually saw you. Every time, we shook hands, it seemed like currents trembled all over my body. Every moment spent with you was like living a dream. I have always seen you as my husband, and loved you 9

Love Happens Only Once but don t know why couldn t gather the courage to tell you this in your face. I even tried this letter to give it you before leaving for Kharagpur Whenever I see your dark colored eyes; it gives me butterflies in my stomach. Every girl dreams of a prince charming with whom she admires of spending her entire life with him, and for me it s you RV It s you. Love you from the bottom of my heart to the limit of your imagination. Yours only and truly Rashi , After reading her letter I was baffled, I couldn t understand why didn t she tell her feelings to me or moreover why did she get into a relationship to a guy whom she didn t love. These were the only questions that were going inside my mind at that point of time. All the answers that I was looking for was in her second diary. Chapter 13 As I brushed through the few pages, I found out a page dated on 2nd April 2006, just after Rashi s first trip to Kolkata when she had returned back to kharagpur. It stated Sometimes god makes us go through such a cruel phase in life, what I had done that he gifted me with BLOOD CANCER, a disease which cannot be cured. What was my fault? What did I do? The only thing I asked from god was to grant me RV as my life partner. What was wrong in that? I would have been a caring, loving and affectionate life partner. Though I couldn t have matched RV s ma. But RV would have stayed happy with me. I always thought of a small house where I, RV along with our two children and his Ma would live happily. I came to know about RV s feelings for me when his Ma had accidently while cleaning his drawer came to know about the letter that he even had written for me. It s strange no, that we both loved each other but still didn t have the guts to reciprocate our feelings for each other. But the time RV s Ma told about the letter that he had written for me when it was too late. There is no guy called Sameer in my class and I can t ever imagine of loving any other guy except my and only my RV. I wanted RV to move on in life, thus had to lie to him. I am sorry RV, I hope you will understand it one day and forgive me. Chapter 14 After reading it, tears were filled in my eyes and I asked Rashi s mother that were she was, she replied saying that Rashi was counting her last few left breathes and she had come back because she could have seen her daughter s life ending in front of her. She had found Rashi s personal diaries in her room last night. I asked aunty about where was Rashi admitted, she replied Apollo Hospital . I rushed to the hospital and saw Rashi lying on the bed with all her relatives encircled by her. As I entered she with her gesture asked them to leave the room, I sat beside her holding her hand, she had grown very thin and it was now, when I realized that, first time when she had come to Kolkata from kharagpur, it wasn t the hostel s food or anything else but her disease that was making her loose strength and thin or the pressure of studies in IIT that made her voice feel tired to me and she hadn t gone to Delhi for internship but to undergo a treatment that could increase few more days of her life. There were tear droplets in my eyes and yes I was crying and so was she, she saw her 2 personal diaries in my right hand and could figure out that I knew everything. Before I could utter a word, she said I will be the mother of your kids surely in our next life and by saying this she took her last breath and left all of us forever. Her emptiness still land will always surround my hollow life. EPILOGUE So Beta, this was my story, and after this I could never get married and the old aged coupled whom we met today were Rashi s parents who got settled in Dehradun few years ago. Today is Rashi s 10th death 10

Love Happens Only Once anniversary. She always wanted to have a home built in hilly areas and I had brought you here lying to you as an adventure trip. Sometimes you know Beta, in life God does make you go through harsh and undeserving turns, but this is called life Beta. I had found you in Jaipur s railway station where I had gone for some work stranded alone on a chair. But you know what you look just like my Rashi used to look and that is why I kept your name Rashi. In life never wait to let your loved ones know the amount of love, care and affection that you have for them, because till the time you realize their importance in life, it may be too late. After all love only happens once in a life time. I love you Dad (tightly hugging me).. and I love you too my princess.

11

Love Happens Only Once

Other work by Shashank Sahay Available on Booksie.com

12

Love Happens Only Once

Other work by Shashank Sahay Available on Booksie.com

Created from Booksie.com

Generated: 2012-12-27 10:56:29

Other work by Shashank Sahay Available on Booksie.com

13