Just One Step: Not A Love Story, Its A Life Story.

This is a true story of my friend Aarush Bhatt. At first I wasn't ready to believe, because he's not a LOVE type of guy. But then, after listening to him, after realising the depth of emotions in his eyes, I decided to pen this and to give words to his story. The names of the characters are changed in order to maintain privacy.

Aarush Narrating:
It was the reading vacation of semester 5th and I was back in Gandhinagar. The late evening sessions with Ruchir were started again. We always used to sit by the lake and chat till late. He was a love-buff since we first met. But I changed gradually. Now, I was exactly the opposite of him, carefree, lovefree. I was not bound to limitations. After numerous flings, I was termed as a player. But still somewhere deep down under, I was the same in-the-search-of-love type. The same Aarush which I was, 3 years before. So God decided to test me. He sent Aaisha in my life. A name, which resounds 24x7 in my mind. My heart rejoices just by thinking of her. My eyes smile when she walks to me. I fly.

I still remember, it was 30th October 2010 when my eyes first witnessed the most beautiful sight on earth. My dad was seeing a friend of his that day. He wanted it to be a both-family-gathring but I was not too happy about the idea. I mean, it is just a waste of time for me. What would I do there? I tried to prove my point there, but my words fell on deaf ears and there I was, in her house. After all the primary introductions, I saw a figure walking down the stairs. When it became clear, I was awestruck. She was Aaisha. I was thanking dad in my heart for tagging me here. She was picture perfect. A flawless beauty would be an understatement. She was seraphic. A pair of cryptical, athirst for love eyes, a strand of hair rested on the face, a smile to die for. She was talking to my mom, my dad, everybody, but me. I wanted to talk to her badly, wanted to convey how I was feeling a type of feeling I had never felt before. Her voice was chirpish and timid at the same time. She was smiling in between talks and pulled that strand of hair behind her ear but it came back out everytime. She was mostly looking down and I was mostly looking at her. Actually, staring. Maybe she noticed me, maybe she didn't. I was bewildered. I was eager to know everything about her. Her mischievous innocence was driving me crazy. I was in a whole together different world with her. I was least aware of what everyone was talking about. My eyes were cragfast onto her. When it was time to leave, I didn't want to, my heart didn't want to, but my legs were forced to. I kept thinking about her all the way home. Her thoughts were dominating my mind all of a sudden. It felt like I was suffering from Dissociative Amnesia. I was unable to think anything else, but her. I decided to talk to her.

I tracked her on Facebook and added her. I waited for two days and finally came a notification, Aaisha Malik accepted your friend request. Write on her timeline. The feeling was rhapsodic. My heart was doing cartwheels. I can't express that feeling in its true sense, it is inexpressible. I was feeling like the king of the world. I liked all her pictures!! She looked stunning in all of them but not as beauteous as she was in person. I may sound gawky here for liking all her pictures but then, I was in love. The world came to a halt. My whole time was dedicated to chats with her. We used to chat all the time. First thing in morning was changed from breakfasts to checking FB.
She: Hi :) Good morning. Abhi bhi so rahe ho kya?
Me: bas abhi aankh khuli. Good Morning :))
These chats became a usual routine. I hadn't met Ruchir in few days. He was calling incessantly. I had been ignoring his calls, but when this time he called, I had to pick up.
Ruchir: Kahan hai #&%#%%? Kabse call kar raha hun.(Hindi expletives)
Me: Arre, I was busy yaar. This time the syllabus is too tough. So, was studying.
Ruchir: Okay. Lets meet up this evening. Its been quite a time.
Me: Not a good idea. Let me complete half of the syllabus and then I'll call you.
Ruchir: Fine. Saale tu kab se padhne laga? Anyways, call me when you're done.
Me: okay. And I hanged up. I guess he was aware that I was busy for something else and not studying, but he pretended to be unknown. But I was not worried about that. I was reckoning on how to drop a hint to Aaisha. Until then, we had not exchanged numbers. So I dropped my number on chat. She said, she would think over it (giving her number) and would message me. I readily agreed(I had no other option). Soon, the vacations were over and it was time to return to my college which was situated in a remote area. I always led a cash-strapped life at hostel and this time was no different. Videlicet, no money to activate Facebook on my cellphone. I was screwed. Here, my inquisitiveness of knowing her more was growing exponentially but I was Facebookless. As Facebook was our only communication bridge, I invited a regular-facebook-user friend of mine to my room to study. He used to study and I used to chat on his cellphone. Just before the last exam, we chatted the whole day. I didn't realize how fast the time ticked. Or did I feel the time ticking fast because I wanted to talk more? I don't know what it was, but the last moment, I wished it freezes. But I'm no God. It didn't happen. We had to wind up.

After exams, my friends planned a Mt. Abu trip to celebrate the commencement of exams. Everybody was excited but I was tensed. 1 week, no Facebook, no Aaisha, no bliss. Alas! I had to spend lonely days with friends. I was on my way to railway station in a state of melancholy. Just then, my phone beeped. It was a text message from an unknown number. It said,
Hi, Aaisha here. Have a great trip. Have fun and be safe. :)
I was overjoyed. I read the text again and again. Now I was much relieved. I won't have to spend the week as lonesome. The feeling was ecstatic. I came to know that she didn't give me her number before as she was afraid of her brother. But then, why she gave it to me now? Wasn't she afraid now? Or was she in the same state as I was in? Or did she start trusting me? But the questions didn't matter now. I was on cloud nine.

But, a lot of things were enmeshed in my mind. Sometimes I felt we are more than friends, but sometimes she made me feel that I'm a complete stranger to her. Maybe something was stopping her to accept that there's some spark in our chemistry, or maybe I was thinking too much. She used to get disquieted if I won't message once in a day. Was she too feeling something for me? Was it love? My mind was baffled with sempiternal thoughts. I wanted to give her all the happiness in the world. All I needed was 'Just One Step'.

What happened next? Did Aarush get Aaisha? What was Aaisha thinking? Find in my next post.

To be continued..