Truly Madly Deeply (10 page)

Rahul was unaware of his hand moving up towards her wet eyes and slowly wiping away the solitary tear emerging from her right eye, using his thumb. Seema sighed at his touch, she felt a current tinge her spine and of all things that he could think of, Rahul chose to remember that since the current passed to him as well, human beings must be good conductors of electricity for sure.

Unconsciously, he touched her trembling lips with his index finger, tracing their outline. Evading his gaze, she slowly thrust her fingers in his curls as he reached out to clutch her hand. His freehand moved recklessly on her neck drawing invisible circles of pleasure. She withdrew her hand quickly and turned away. She was halted by an iron grip on her wrist which made her turn again to look into his wanting eyes.

The slight perspiration on her brow made her seem all the way more beautiful and involuntarily, he tilted his head towards his right shoulder and moved in close to her face. He cupped her chin tenderly in his warm hands. Her eyes closed, she raised her chin, assuming all the dignity she could muster. She tilted her head in the opposite direction, staying put, shivering, waiting for his lips to touch hers, and anticipating the feel of young passion. Rahul could sense the entire blood in his body go dry as he just felt the skin of her lips brush his. He realised that was where he wanted to be forever, freezed in this moment, as he barely sensed the hypnotising whiff of her rapid breath.

Seema's chest rose and fell, breaking the last traces of resistance. The blood coursed through their veins like an awakened river and their heartbeats skyrocketed. Rahul saw the heart rending tenderness of her gaze and his heart turned over in response. She radiated a vitality that drew him like a magnet and a sense of urgency drove his actions as he put his hand to her waist and drew her into him with her lips as close as their hearts when with hurried footsteps Jess walked back in, looking at the papers in her hand, announcing her arrival with a “Hey Seemz, I did not find the glue…”

At that precise moment, before Jess could comprehend anything, there was a loud thud and Rahul was down on the floor.

“What the heck are you doing on the floor, Rahul?” Jess asked rushing towards him.

“Are you all right? What happened?” she asked as Rahul cleared his mind and attempted to lasso his wild heart.

“Oh, nothing to worry, I dropped the screwdriver and it rolled under the table. I was just looking for it,” Rahul said sheepishly.

Turning her face away from her friend, Seema wiped the colour of her cheeks and let out a stifled laugh. Looking at her, he found himself turning the darkest shade of red.

***

“Seema, both me and Sapna won't be giving you much of a present this time, so keep your expectations curbed,” Jess said when Rahul was searching the tool box for some nails.

“I don't expect presents anyways,” Seema replied in an undertone.

‘Presents? Expectations? What are they talking about?' Rahul thought and then it suddenly dawned upon him that they were discussing her birthday which was the very next day. A shiver of excitement ran through his body and he decided that he will do something special for her.

He wanted to be the first one to wish her. He faked being
asleep so that his mother would not threaten him of waking up early for school. He remained awake, the blood in his heart rushing and the pulse in his veins hastening. He was not so sure of dialling her number at this time knowing her family's traditionalist attitude.

With trembling hands, he dialled her number and disturbed the serenity of her sleeping household. Her mother shouted at her to answer the phone in her half-asleep state, cursing the caller.

“Hello…” she sounded so appealing to him in her sleep. Her groggy voice sounded cute even though there was a tinge of irritation in it. He promised to donate a coconut to the Hanuman temple the very next day as a show of gratitude.

She had to repeat the ‘Hello' twice before he actually found a voice in his throat. Her voice still froze him in limbo, rendering all thoughts and actions impossible.

“You sound really cute in your sleep,” he said slowly, imagining her in a nightgown, holding the phone close to her ears.

She juggled with the receiver; all traces of sleep had
suddenly disappeared.

“Are you mad? Do you know what time it is?” she said in anger and disbelief as slowly as she could.

“Yeah, it's exactly 12 in the night and it's someone's birthday,” he said coolly.

She saw the old round clock on the wall. She herself had not remembered her birthday as towards the end of the day, she had been busy with her studies after coming back from her tuitions. Her anger slowly evaporated. No person, family or friend had ever wished her at the stroke of midnight. A little tear began to take shape in her eye. His gesture had touched her heart.

“Happy birthday!” Rahul wished in a low tone.

“Th … Thanks!” she stammered in a shaky voice.

“May God give you all the small and huge joys that you could ask or never imagine asking for! Wish you many happy returns of the day,” Rahul said happily.

“That's so sweet of you,” she said in a suffocated whisper.

“Before you demand your gift, let me tell you that I have a small surprise for you which I will hand over to you tomorrow after school, ok?” he said.

“You shouldn't have bothered…”

“Oh, shut up! What to do Seema? We cannot go anywhere as your Hitler of a mom…”

“SEEMA! WHO IS IT? WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?” a voice boomed in the background.

“Talk about the Dev… Hitler… and…” Rahul's voice began when Seema quickly cut in,

“I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks, once again. Good night!”

She quickly released the receiver.

“WHO WAS IT?” Seema's mother asked fiercely.

“Wrong number!” Seema answered ‘but it came at the right time!' she told herself before curling up in bed and smiling in her sleep while cherishing the music in her head.

At the other end, Rahul was preparing himself for a long
night ahead.

***

The next day in school he gave her a nice greeting card in a deserted classroom. The beauty of the card was that it was hand-made by him. He had missed an entire night of sleep and next day's school, locking himself in his room and skipping his mid-day meals to prepare the card for her. He had rushed out to meet her in his school uniform just when the school was about to leave. The cover of the card was her sketch. It was exquisitely detailed and she thought that she was eyeing a mirror.

Her free flowing tresses and her searching eyes were captivated by a similar image on paper. Her long eyelashes beneath whose shadows he so desired to lie, had been sketched to perfection. He had painted her as she was, as he knew her, as he saw her. She let her hands roam the beauty of his artwork, finding no words capable of praising him.

“It… It's beautiful… Rahul, I can't say…” she stuttered.

He just smiled at her, basking in her unsaid praise and pulled out a rose from his bag. He handed it out to her.

“To the most beautiful creation on the planet,” he presented, hoping he sounded the same as his reflection while he had practiced.

She blushed and accepted the rose. Two dimples appeared on either side of her cheeks as if loving fingers had squeezed them. She slowly opened the hand-made card.

Rahul had written a couplet for her.

“The skies bend, the time stops, the lanes move and the
fires dance,

It can mean only one thing that I am with you.

You are enigmatic yet so beautiful that I have lost my sense,

You are as immaculate as the unadulterated morning dew

And your beauty leaves me in a mystified trance.

I do not foresee what you and I will be

But I promise to be with you till the rocks keep meeting the sea.”

She folded the card back to as it was; a tear fell from her eye onto the cover.

“Hey! no crying It's your special day, ok?” Rahul coaxed while patting her back softly.

Seema continued to cry, her precious pearls falling on his neck as she leaned forward to meet his embrace.

“I seem to have lost something very important,” Rahul said ignoring her sobs and gently pulling away from her hold. He started searching for something frantically under his pockets and looking underneath the classroom desks.

“What?” she asked in between her sobs.

“Bloody, it was the most important thing to me. Now where
will I find it?” Rahul said to none in particular and increasing
his desperation.

“What is it? I can also help in looking for it,” Seema said wiping her eyes.

“Your smile!” he said, grinning at her.

And she found it impossible not to return his disarming smile and before long her smile deepened into laughter.

“There ...found it!” he exclaimed.

“You're mad!” She hit him playfully on the arm.

“It's the best birthday I've ever had,” she said.

“I'll make it even better with this,” Rahul pulled out a large box of chocolates from his bag. He had tied a wrapped package on top of it.

“Rahul… don't…” Seema said as the tears threatened to return.

“Shut up and take it,” he ordered.

She accepted it, slowly untying the two gifts which were united
as one.

“Now stop crying… You know Seema, I hate tears re,” he said imitating Rajesh Khanna.

She tried to suppress a giggle but her gentle peals of laughter echoed across the classroom.

He traced her smile with his fingers. She looked down avoiding his burning eyes which could hold her still anywhere.

“Don't keep the package waiting… open it!” Rahul advised, tickling her ear lovingly.

“Hmmm… it is better I open it here. At home, I don't think I'll get a chance to even look at it,” Seema complained.

“Go ahead!” Rahul encouraged.

She unwrapped the package carefully but did not throw away the wrapping. She almost screamed on seeing the contents of
the package.

“Wow, Rahul… you know he's my favourite!” she said delightedly looking at the limited edition Shahrukh Khan's famous tracks audio CD she was holding in her hand. It had an autograph of the super star and seeing that she almost jumped out in delight.

“Yes, I know,” Rahul nodded.

“You are fantastic,” she said, unable to contain her joy. For a moment, he thought she would jump in his arms and smother him with kisses but he knew her better than that.

“Yes, I know,” Rahul teased and she stuck out her tongue at him.

He pulled her cheeks delicately and even then she faked
an ‘Ouch!'

She propped herself up and kissed him on the cheek before he could say another cheesy line. His skin burnt at the contact of her moist lips and for a moment everything seemed to go blank. Her voice, soft and sensual, sent a ripple of awareness through him, thawing away the stony state of his brain.

“Thanks Rahul, Thanks for everything,” she said while the second bell rang, heralding the arrival of the primary section.

“Thanks doesn't suit you… from you no sorries, no…” he began.

“Yeah, Yeah! Thanks and pleases!” she completed.

He merely nodded.

“Keep all those filmy lines to yourself, just be yourself. I like you that way!” she said in her boldest display of words ever and ran away laughing before he could come out of the elated feeling that her acknowledgement of the fact that she liked him, had caused.

Her melodious laughter, sounded like the distant tinkering of soft bells and he stored the sound in her temple—his heart.

***

Since then there had not been a single day when the ghostly bells had not rung in his ears, making him fold himself with terrible regrets in the torment of her absence and trace the burning imprint of the past as her name repeated in the black stillness of his mind. Rarely, he rung the bells himself when he became tired of his loneliness but mostly the winds of his heart were true to their duty. They were as turbulent as his life but rang the bells of his past, on time. They always did, without fail.

If that was not love, then what was it? He failed to find an answer to it before finally agreeing with his inner self that it was just another presentable affectation that had misguided his sentiments,
just like the source from where those feelings stemmed from, just like every other thing in his past that had left him devastated and still desiring.

***

THE EGO THAT SPARKED THE FIRE

Trying to read an old novel while being seated, supporting his back on the bed induced a soporific feeling and Rahul shut his eyes momentarily. Somewhere in that brief slumber, he saw her laughing and crying simultaneously, pleading with him to
come back.

“Oh Seema, I've missed you so much,” he said opening his arms for her.