Ayesha & Maanav

“How are you?”, He asked her.
“Good, How are you doing?”, she said.
“Fine.”
This was their first meeting after their engagement.
Her parents had found him on one of the matrimony sites.
Though she didn’t want to meet him at first but yielded to her parents constant emotional blackmails.
Now here they were, each wearing an engagement ring.
They were in a cafe close to her place.
He was looking at the table, at the walls except at her.
He has been shy, but she found it a bit unusual.
He was quiet. So, she asked, “What would you like to have?”
“Umm…nothing.”
“Have something.” , she said.
“Any coffee will do”, he replied.
He had asked her to meet her here.
And now he was quiet.
She said, “You said you wanted to talk about something.”
He kept quiet.
“Maanav?”
“I messed up Ayesha.”, he blurted.
She got confused.”What happened?”
“I don’t know what to say, Ayesha. It’s been keeping me restless.”
It was an effort for him to speak.
“Everything fine at home?”,she said getting concerned.
“Yeah…everybody is so happy.”
“And you are not?”,she asked, trying to figure what’s happening.
He was staring at the table.
“Are you not happy, Maanav?”
He didn’t reply.
“Say something Maanav. What happened?!!!”
“I fell in love with a girl. I…I don’t know…it…it just happened…I don’t know when. I am really sorry.”
She was staring at him. Too stunned to say anything.
“Ayesha, I am sorry.”
They stayed silent.
“Ayesha?”,he said softly. Breaking the heavy silence.
She was quiet.
This didn’t make any sense to her. They texted and called each other at regular intervals. Nothing romantic. Just regular chit- chat. But their conversations were effortless. They had their laughs too. And she had felt something between them.
“Ayesha?”, he asked more softly this time, sounding concerned.
“What, Maanav?”,she snapped.
He couldn’t say anything.
“My parents have been so happy.”, she said.
“Planning for marriage daily.”
“I…I am really sorry.”,he said.
More silence.
“I just….I just wanted to be honest with you.”, he said sincerely.
A tear rolled down her eyes.
“Hey please, please don’t cry, it’s you, it’s you, it’s you”, he said hurriedly.
“Yeah, it’s you. Why you didn’t think that you are the one?”
She felt a sense of relief and anger at the same time.
He looked straight into her eyes and said: “It’s you & will always be you”.
She believed him.
“Next time you do something like this Maanav, I’ll kill you!”
“umm..ok”, he said slowly.
“What ok!”, she shot back.
She wanted to punch him in the face.
And then hug him tightly.
He moved and sat next to her.
Silence between them
Then they embraced each other.
People glanced, but who cares, let the world be damned.
“This better be the last one”, she said sternly.
“yes, ma’am”
“I was thinking of taking our relationship to the next level.”
She rolled her eyes.
“We just had our first PDA”, he chuckled.
“You improvised I guess”
He grinned
“Hey, I am sorry”, he said softly.
“Buy me a diamond ring then”, she said with a teasing smile.
“What! , not that sorry even.”
“I love you”, she said it for the first time.
“Yeah, Likewise”
“What!!!, Who replies likewise to I love you. You are such an idiot Maanav”
“I guess, I am in love Ayesha”.
You can also read Kritika & Ashish, Prakhar & Sudhi and Nisha & Suraj.
