My alarm went off at 7.45 am like every normal Monday. But today I could turn it off and drift back into sleep; I was at Aditi’s after all.
Or I could get coffee. Coffee. Yes.
Aditi and me took our cups and were just gazing at the sea from her balcony when Shreyas joined us with his tea. The only sounds that we could hear were the noisy waves that lashed against the not-so rocky shore and the occasional honking of some vehicles. By now even Pooja and Rahul were up and had joined us.
If only my stomach understood how calm my mind was then. But no, I have to feel hungry! Shreyas offers to help me in making breakfast which is pretty unexpected. He can’t even boil milk, leave alone cooking. And he had this weird smirk on his face and a noticeable edginess in his eyes which I passed off as my delusions owing to my steadily increasing hunger.
I was whisking the eggs for the five of us when Shreyas pulls out that little red box ,opens it and pushes it towards me. I kept looking at the content of the red box and was still whisking the eggs. Only to look up at Shreyas (after he calls out my name) and realize that he has eggs on his T-shirt due to my clumsiness. I think I was smiling and that’s when he asked “What do you think?”. My head was reeling from fragments of 14 years of memories with this person and all I could come up with was “I think it is definitely Yes material!”.
Aditi and I always found the church in our primary school extremely peaceful and beautiful. We both spent whatever remaining time we had left of our recesses reading the Bibles placed there. We used to exchange books, cookies and fancy stationery too. Till our families moved to different cities.
15 years later, we still find churches peaceful and exchange books, cookies and fancy stationery every now and then.
Aditi now is a promising Tax Auditor working with a reputed firm from 3 years. When she is not poring over her books, she loves to paint and is a wonderful baker.
When Aditi had called me at 2.30 am around October last year my life was running at some crazy speed. I met Aditi a few days later; she mentioned about Shreyas and a seemingly silly obsession she was dealing with then. I had met Shreyas around 4-5 times since then and I really liked him. Just like she had promised. Almost a year later it seems like nothing has changed. Life has slowed down but has become crazier with my parents’ increasing interest about my marriage.
And then it hit me. What were the chances that I would find a guy like Shreyas? Like ever. Shreyas was a wonderful person (with few evident flaws of course!) and here he was taking the stairs and asking me to join him. With a beautiful ring in his pocket, wonderful promises in his mind and all the love in his heart. For the lady he loved.
I hope Aditi takes the right decision.
I think I must have spent too much time thinking because when I reached upstairs Shreyas was already yapping. I quickly grabbed Rahul and Pooja who were reading the paper and stood by the door.
“But as we’re sitting here, right now, amongst our closest people in this sun – drenched verandah, pouring our third cup of morning coffee in our pajamas, I have to get my feelings out.”
Out of habit, Aditi scanned the place anxiously. When her eyes found mine, I could not help but smile apprehensively. I would be there for Aditi obviously with our favorite ice cream tubs. Because I was unsure what was going to follow. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see others in the room equally edgy as me.
Shreyas placed his coffee on the table and sat exactly opposite to my friend. He held Aditi’s hand and after exactly 8 second he said, “Aditi, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on. When we lock eyes, I feel a jolt go straight down my spine and it is overwhelming as hell! There might be many ways to be happy and live a good life, but all I need is you! My life will never be complete without you beside me to share it. And I promise to love and respect you till my last breath.
Aditi Ram, Will you marry me?”
And then the tearworks would not stop for next 30 minutes. I couldn’t have been happier for Aditi. She has been through crazy time and she of all people deserved a guy who loved her to bits! And I knew Shreyas did.
So while this guy I met recently was busy getting his shit together (as a guise to avoid further responsibilities I feel) at least Shreyas has managed to get the priorities in his life sorted.
The Unbuzzed Musings 