Success in love is… Part 26

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5  Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11,Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25

I went back to the television and sat there watching whatever that was running in it. Well, I was just seeing in that direction with thoughts fixed somewhere else. I went to the bed room and lied next to her. After I wrapped myself in the three bed sheets, I turned to see her sleeping. She was beautiful as always and I was there admiring her all over again. A few minutes passed in bliss and she moved in sleep and hugged me. I laid back with her face in my shoulder and hand around me. I was going back to times we had spent together and ordeal she faced to reach here. I fell asleep with her breath blowing over my heart and making it lighter than it had already become.

I woke up with the sun, as soon it rose to shine through my window pane. Sunrise seemed to be a remote thing happening underground all these days. I got up to see a clean half of the bed next to mine. Of course she should have woken up early. I found my way to the kitchen to stop my gastric juices from eating my stomach. I came back to the hall and switched on the TV with a hand full of eatables. As a few songs got over along with the eatables, I realized she is not home. ‘Should have left to work.’ I thought and continued the songs and snacks.

The lab seemed to be filled with activity when I entered it. Before I could complete the Brainstorming, the intern stepped out of the Animal cell culture cabin and smiled, “Is this the time you come to lab?” 
She had transformed my lab into a place that looks as it should.
“I am actually early today. The lab has had a few changes since you left.” I said.
“Ya. I can see that. But, not anymore. Now sit down here and check out the photos from yesterday’s treat.”
So we started going through the photos that we took last night in her mobile. She stopped with the a photo in which I was looking at my love and zoomed it.
“What’s this?
“What?”
“You guys. Both of you have wet eye lids.”
“What?” I looked at it again and I could see that. That was the time when we came back from the argument in the Café terrace.
“Too much light I guess. I live underground these days.” I smiled.
“Hmmm” she turned to see me, smiled and nodded. “Nocturnal to the core. But since I am back you can take proper sleep.” She pretended as if she had bought my lie and I pretended as if I trusted her buying that. Sometimes we know more than we need to.
“Hope so.” I said putting an end to the pretences.

I made myself busy with the research and she kept herself engaged in the various outcomes in our research that she had missed. After a couple of hours she dragged me to the cafeteria and as we sat for lunch, asked “So how was last night?” and smiled.
I had a smile spreading within the inner portions of the tight lipped mouth. “We slept.”
“Ya. Ya. What else will people do at night?” She said in a tone that demanded my smile to break its barriers.
I threw a tissue paper on her and said, “Shall we go back to the lab?”
She held my hand and said, “Ok ok no more questions. Just say your plans for New Year.”
“Haven’t planned for anything. The campus will have a party right.”
“Another party with these nerds?”
“Ya. With us nerds.”

“Just don’t have any plans. You are anyway bad in that. We will plan. By the way where is the girl you slept with last night?”
She smiled and made signs for apology as I gave a look which meant anger, shock or both.
“She left before I woke up. Should be busy with work.”
“God! You are pathetic than a one night stand.” She said, stood up and continued, “I will call her. Now go back and do some work.” She smiled and ran away after that, making me revisit to my heart assessing if I am careless about the relationship or careful about her privacy.

I went back to the lab and was making sure of the temperatures in the Incubators, when she came in with a confused look.
“What happened last night?”
Again the same question I thought and turned to see a confused look.
“What?”
“She is on the way to Erode. Doesn’t tell me the reason why she is going.”
“No. Her dad was ill. But she spoke with him and he is alright now. But why did she go?” I was revising all that happened yesterday.
“She asked me not to tell you. May be I shouldn’t have. Sorry.”
“Hey don’t worry. May be she was in a hurry. I will talk to her.” I said and she turned to go back.
“Wait! She asked you not to tell me?”
“Yes”
“Fine. I will wait for her to call me.”
“Hope everything is fine.”
“Yes. It will be.”

I called her dad to make sure everything is fine. He spoke as if he doesn’t know about her travel and I didn’t reveal it either. The rest of the day went with my focus on my phone which never brought any message from my love. I was worried. I figured out that I can’t simply sit here and wait for her call and decided to go to Erode. I got my friend’s car and started to Erode after explaining the various activities going on in the lab to the Intern.

I didn’t know how fast I drove but I reached the old couple’s tea shop in the outskirts of Krishnagiri. They haven’t seen me for long and sat with me for a discussion. From their eager eyes I couldn’t stop myself from saying what happened. The said all that happened in short and they smiled. “You two will make a great couple.” She said and went in to bring tea for us.
“So you are going to see her.” The old man asked me.
“Yes.”
“I won’t do it if I were you.” He said, looked at me for a moment and continued, “Women need their time alone too. Just like us. From what you told us, she is very strong and has gone to see her Dad. Let her come back to you and explain. She will have her story. You can play angry and there can be romance. Don’t spoil all that by going there. Moreover don’t spoil her time at her home with her parents.”
“Hey don’t spoil the child. He can’t stay away from her.” The old woman came out with tea.
“No. He is right. She should have her personal life too. Her decisions have always been correct. She would have called me if she needs me.” I said.
They had a small argument within themselves if I should go to Erode or not. I smiled as I watched them argue and they stopped midway seeing my smile.

I reached the campus by 3AM. I didn’t get any sleep with my mind centered on her travel and more towards the denial of information. I was devising all possible reasons for her denial but nothing seem to fit in. But heart that I have, always said she is right. With a battle between mind and heart, there is no clear victory. That day went like hell with me reaching lab before anyone. Well, I get up late only when I sleep. Now that I didn’t sleep, I was early. I made sure no one finds out my thought and involved myself in research as much as possible. Avoiding coffee and lunch breaks helped me escape the Intern’s gazes. Whenever she tried to talk I diverted the topic and involved the discussion in our experiments.

But it was clear that she knew about my state of mind. She did most of the work while I did some easy stuff that I had put off for long. She left the lab at 10pm after I promised her that I will be normal tomorrow and everything is fine. I reached my room by 2AM, started browsing through the long list of photos we had taken. Some made me smile; some made me laugh; some loaded moisture under the tired eyes. Before I realized the early morning rays flowed in through the window edge much like a single golden strand from heaven.

I didn’t want to be early today and scare the Intern. So I tried to sleep, in vain, against my lucid dreams, which again were centered on her reasons for sudden negligence. I had become a self-induced Insomniac. When I reached lab by 11, The New Year’s Eve had all its color in the Campus as everyone was busy in decorations and arrangements. The lab looked different as well.
“I have planned everything and all our work will be over by 8PM.” The intern was saying as she made all arrangements for today’s experiments.
“Great”. I said and went to check my children in the Incubator. Well if we all are God’s children, the bacteria that I cultured should be mine. I smiled at the thought as the rational mind that I have, kicked itself.

The intern kept herself busy with the schedule that she had made and I focused in the research mechanically. Heart, obviously was wandering few hundred miles away in search of answers. The same easy experiments demanded greater concentrations, thanks to the sleepless night. Soon the clock struck Eight and the intern was pulling me to come out of our lab. We went to the Celebrations lawn which was abuzz with activity. We joined the fellow lab mates in final decorations needed for the party. The party started by 10pm with all Professors joining us and soon the DJ, Dance and Drinks started to fill the party. I moved from one group to another and involved myself in the chatter and avoided the intern whom I feared, would drag me to the Dance floor any moment.

The sparking lights, the Colors and the loud music were making my Insomnia show its rough side. I sat in a table with an unpredictable pain in forehead and the Extraocular muscles. I closed my eyes and the moisture inside spread out making my vision unclear.

The table had a lot of glasses: empty, half filled or full based on the time the holder went to dance. I searched for water and drank it from the packed drinking water can. I turned to the crowd where one person got my attention. She was moving towards me and I shook my head and sprinkled some water on my face to see clearly. I smiled at her as soon as I realized that she resembles my love and stood up.

Just then I received a tight slap from a very familiar person standing next to me making me stumble and sit back on the chair. The person who resembled my love took hurried steps towards me.

Success in love is… Part 25

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5  Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11,Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24

I held her hand and she turned to see me. The eyes that were hiding the tears smiled and a micro nod conveyed she is fine. She extended her free hand to the intern who looked at us with guilt. She continued before I could ask anything:

“Yes! I love you. But that doesn’t mean I want to marry or live with you. You gave me the much needed hope, when I said about my past love to you. The burnt I had in my heart which I didn’t want to visit and heal, vanished all of a sudden when I saw your eyes glow up in appreciation after hearing me say I didn’t pursue the relationship. I haven’t seen anyone who had such a reaction; it was either sympathy or anger. You are someone whom I won’t be remembering as a friend but as someone who had made it to my heart like my Mom and Dad.”
She gave a pause and wiped off her tears. “I started living without any regret in heart. Life became pleasant after a long time.”
Her dad kept his hand on her shoulder and wipe off the remaining wetness from her face. He looked worried.

She came forward and caught the drop which fell off my love’s chin and they smiled forcing a few more fall. They hugged each other and she said, “I was worried when you said you love him. Seeing your tears, I thought I have made another person feel bad.”
“Another person feel bad! What? You have made everyone feel great when they finally understood you.” The Intern spoke like she had known her for ages.
“And these tears did not come because of him but because I realized my Dad is the same person who would find all my worries before I tell them to him. I have been longing for his love all these days as he doesn’t show them unless necessary.”
“Love you Dad. Thanks for showing me that you are the same person.”
He smiled and she hugged him. He kissed her forehead and turned to see us and smiled.

My Roommate came exactly when we were back to normal and the intern introduced him to her Dad and started reciting few funny moments we shared in lab. The whole atmosphere of the cafeteria changed once again and the air was filled with happiness.
My love who was watching us and walked to the Balcony. After a few minutes, I went near and hugged her from behind. Her tears spread equally on our chins. I made her turn and she wiped them off from our faces.
“I want to marry you” I said with wetness spreading inside my eyes.
“Why are you asking this now?” she asked with the stress on the last word.
“I want the whole world to know that you are my everything and I belong here” I said and pointed to her.
“Is marriage necessary for that?” she was not meeting my eyes.
“No. But something inside me tells that we should tie the knot soon. So that I can kiss you whenever I want and you can hit me as you wish.”
“As if they don’t happen now.”
“Oh! Come on dear. Why are you doing this?” I kept my hands on her shoulder and searched for mischief in her eyes. But they showed something else, they showed pain.

But I couldn’t understand what was bothering her. I lifted her face and asked her with a tear rolling down, “Don’t you want to marry me soon?”
“Of Course I do. I wake up every day in hopes that you would say this to me. But why today? Do you think I am hurt from what she said? Are you doing this out of guilt?” she asked with new tears flowing faster than the older ones.
“No dear. I was certainly worried when she said about love but I also knew you are mature enough to handle this. In fact I already had spoke to your dad two days back and said marriage in 2-3 months is fine for me. I can’t say No to him this time.” I spoke in a hurry to put her tear glands to rest, “You were very busy the past two days, so I couldn’t tell this to you.”

“You spoke to my dad? And accepted?” She asked in suspicion and surprise.
“Yes. I had called him to know a few places around Coimbatore for a friend and we spoke. May be the tone he spoke with and the fact that he was hospitalized, made me accept it. But I have been feeling great since I said Yes.” I said and suddenly realized that I should not have said what I said.
“Hospitalized?!!! Why? What happened to him?” she asked holding my collars with her eyes searching deep into mine.
“He had High BP and was admitted to make a few checks. He is fine now.”
“BP! You didn’t ask anything else.” I could see her get worried and kept my hand on her shoulder.

She pushed it down and made a call on her cell and went to the other end of the Balcony. She became restless as the calls went unattended. I went near her, “He is alright dear. I spoke to him and he himself said he is fine.”
“Of course. He will say only that. I can’t imagine why you didn’t tell me. I know it will take time for you guys to get close for what he did to us but I didn’t expect you to be this careless.”
“It’s not like that dear. He is alright.” I said with half the confidence I had went I said that first.
Just then she received a call and went a few feet away. Instant drops fell down without forming channels on her chin. She shouted, cried, plead on the phone while I watched in anticipation that everything is normal. Your confidence shatters when your loved one is in tears. You try to pin the sun and moon together to make things normal again. But here I can’t do anything. I visualized the call I had with her dad. He certainly sounded weak but also confident and her mom who spoke next discussed things about marriage and didn’t say anything about him. But looking at my love’s tears I couldn’t be sure. My patience was reaching its threshold when she finally kept the call. For a moment she wiped off the tears and looked at me. I took a step and she took two. She came near grabbed my shirt, pulled me close and said

“For the past two days I have been feeling like I have come a long distance away from my Dad. Now, when she spoke about her Dad being the same, I can’t stop myself from holding the tears. That’s why I came out. He has been there for me all my life but now he is down ill and I stand here few hundred kilometers away from him, unaware of what I should do. You could have told me. Nothing that kept me busy these days would have meant more than his good health.” She said and took her hand from my shirt. She continued in between her sobs, “I don’t know if it’s your fault of not being responsible enough, my mother’s fault of not informing me or my own fault of not calling him frequently, but I feel low inside my heart.”

A few seconds of absolute silence prevailed when she shed the remaining tears and I stood there watching the person for whose happiness I would go to the ends of the world, cry in pain. My roommate’s voice echoed from the café and ordered us to come in. She smiled, wiped of the tears and the sadness from her face and walked in. I stood there not knowing what to do.
I called her dad and it was answered by her Mom.
“What happened to Uncle?” I asked, which was the first time, I had called him so.
“He was travelling in his car and a kid suddenly came before the car from his house. The Driver stopped the car in time but Uncle had become tensed and rushed out see the kid, if he is fine. After making sure the kid is fine, he got into the car. The driver said, uncle’s hands were trembling and he fainted in sometime. Driver took him to the hospital nearby. The doctors said he was having High BP and made him stay there for a day to take tests. He is absolutely fine now.”
“Can I speak with him?” I asked.
“He has gone out without cell phone as usual. Is there anything I can tell him?”
“Nothing. I will call him later.”
“Okay. Take care.”

I walked into the café. The gang had made plans for dinner and the Intern’s dad wanted to take us to Oberoi where he was staying. I stood there unsure if I should go with them? Will she want to be alone? Are we going to Erode? But she joined the intern in making everyone come. I stood there wondering how she had masked everything that’s inside. The Intern’s dad came and put his arm over my shoulder.
“What happened sir? You seem to be lost.”
“Nothing sir” and said with enough masking to convince him that I am normal.
“Thanks for everything. My girl is really happy here. It’s long since I had seen her like this.”
“Please don’t thank me. I haven’t done anything.”
“Sometimes you don’t have to do anything. Just your presence, a missed call, a micro smile makes a huge impact in the person who loves you.” He said seeing his daughter.
“It sure does.” I said looking at my love.
“Life is just about being there for our loved ones when they need us. I realized that because of you. I thought children don’t stay the same loving apple pies when they turn into adults and move away. But they have the same problem as their parents do. We keep an Everest of love covered inside our heart until it dawns on us to shed the snow and let the love see light. After all, every child and parent long for the child’s childhood days. But we forget that the lovely past can just repeat itself if we open up our hearts.”

He said and took a few steps to meet our Professor, who had been refusing the intern’s plea and held his hand asking, “Please come. The family is never complete without the head.” 
Everyone stopped speaking and watched as the Professor took a few seconds to say, “Yes. I will be ready in 15mins.”
The Oberoi was spectacular as it should be and we had nice time. We were the last few people to come out of the restaurant after the usual crowd started getting irritated with our high decibel chats and laughs. I was dropped at my love’s place, as no one was driving back to the Campus.

We entered the home and again I could witness the super clean house with all things kept where they should be. I sat down to watch songs in Television while she changed and came near me. She stood near and watched the song for a moment and went to the bedroom. I went in next and asked, “Are you okay?”
“No, I am not.”
“Sorry. I thought it’s not a big issue.”
“It’s not a big issue.”
“It’s not like that dear. I care about him.”
“I am angry with myself and not with you. Don’t worry. I will be normal when I wake up. Switch off the lights except the night lamp when you come to sleep.”
“Come?” I said within my mouth.
“Yes. It’s a new house. You will catch cold if you don’t sleep on the bed. You can hug me if you still feel colder.”
I smiled when she finished saying all this like she was reading the news headline in the national television.