Keeping the Promises Read online

  “I’m far from even predicting that, but I promise.”

  M, that’s what we used to call her.

  That night, I had to sleep in the guest room with Ansh as my blue-eyed girl asked Angie to stay with her. I saw Ansh lying by my side; his eyes were strongly testifying that he had cried a lot in the washroom. I did not have any consoling words to offer, though I knew I had to say something. But there was one thing which was still abrupt – why was he angry with Angie? This was for her father. He should have supported her instead.

  “Ansh? Why are you angry, man? I mean at first, you were the one who supported Angie in this, right?” I finally gathered the courage to ask.

  “I know Gajju! I’m not angry that she is leaving me. Do you know who she is getting engaged to?”

  “To whom?”

  “Vishal Shah.”

  “What? This is insane!” I almost screamed.

  “Yes, it is. Now that you understand me, good night buddy.”

  “Good night Ansh!” I said.

  ‘I’ll not let this happen.’ I decided.

  I’m still weeping, still remembering what I just read about me. These certainly are the tears of joy. Now I know, what I meant to him in the past. But, it was in the past; now we do not share the same equation. Now he already has a girlfriend, very far but he is still committed to her and I know it. There was a time when I used to turn his anger and sadness into joy with a swish. The magic is gone, not because I’ve lost my touch, but because the pain he’s having inside is unendurable. Those who know him keep saying that he has to move on, life keeps going, but they are not the ones who have lost their loved one, he is. I’ve read so many stories about people losing their loved ones but none of them really gave me peace. Their narration is excellent, they direct the story well, but what I find surprising is that it was not as hard for them to move on as it is for Dhruv. I guess because they don’t have to keep those bloody promises that he is trying to cope up with. He is driving me home, I’m sitting quietly, happy and at the same time, in tears.

  After few a days, he is ready with the next part. We are sitting at Cafe Piano, as usual, and he starts reading.

  5 February

  It was the fifth day – the fifth day of February. My heartbeats were rapidly growing as I saw Valentine’s Day coming near. I really did not want to have the most painful Valentine’s Day of my life. It’s not that we didn’t give a try to start her therapies again, but she just didn’t want to. She wanted to die in peace and took a word from us that no matter how bad it became, no one would call a doctor. We were left helpless – spellbound too.

  I woke up and went to our room where M and Angie were still asleep. I sat beside her, took her head and kissed her lips, so passionately that Angie could not stop herself from gasping when she woke up and saw us like that. Without saying a word, she went out. I handed M an envelope.

  It read,

  I could not tell you if I loved you the moment I saw you for the first time,

  Perhaps it was second, third or may be the fourth, but it doesn’t matter because they all were wonderful,

  Those moments are mine,

  Your love is mine,

  You are mine,

  You cannot take that away from me.

  A gentle smile followed by a passionate morning kiss was all I needed. Who cared if Angie was bothered by our kiss or not? Because they have shared countless shameless kisses in our presence, so it was our time to show them the skill they lacked – you know what I mean.

  “Good morning lovebirds!” Said Angie with a generous smile as she came back. I bet there was some jealousy behind that smile.

  “Morning dear!” M replied, parting our lips which I mingled in no time. Our morning kiss used to last till either of us would have a problem in breathing. That day was no exception; M gave up first and demanded her breakfast. Rightly so, she was getting more demanding with every day and I was compelled to fulfill each one of her demands. That breakfast too went without much conversation, courtesy Ansh and Angie. Even though mom and dad had done everything to restrain visitors and relatives from coming, there were few unwanted guests who kept coming. I believe they used to come so that they could know who this person was, who is calling M’s parents “mom-dad” and was getting treated as their own son. Since we were busy with Ansh and Angie, it wasn’t hard for mom-dad to get rid of those guests. That afternoon, I was smiling like a child while I was writing. Everyone sensed what was coming and everyone was swift in having his or her dinner soups. As she was having only soups at dinner, we too were having it so that she didn’t have to feel different, but we knew that it wasn’t working at all.

  My love M, Ansh and Angie were more excited than me! They were all waiting for me to tell how our love story commenced.

  And hence, I started reading.

  Dhruv woke up and followed the ritual of texting M first; he texted her saying good morning. M on the other end was already awake and was staring at her phone, waiting for his message. It would not be appropriate to say that she was awake because she didn’t really get a sleep. She was in love with a highly irresponsible gym freak who was exactly the opposite of her. She was a mature girl who was meant to take right decisions and she was yet to figure out what had made her fall in love with Dhruv. Apart from his perfectly sculpted physique, the only thing that could make her fall in love with him could be his straightforward nature. Dhruv too was well aware of the fact that apart from these two things, he was good for nothing, but M somehow had a strong belief that Dhruv had much more inside him than he believed he had. Dhruv considered it nothing but optimism nourished by love. They both knew they were in love with each other, but were taking their time to ensure their feelings before committing anything. Instead of being a curse like it was for Ansh and Angie, this wait was bestowing them with wonderful moments – moments that they were going to cherish for the rest of their lives. They could easily flirt with each other anytime they wanted to and they were sure of getting great replies.

  After hitting the gym for two hours, Dhruv finally made a call to M through his car system.

  “Hello!”

  “You are one hour late.”

  “Was doing a cardio exercise. So you were waiting for my call that too for an hour and picked it up at the first ring?”

  “May be, or maybe I was playing game on my phone.”

  “Nice escape, tell me what are you doing?”

  “Well, I did cardio for three hours in my dreams which made me really tired so I’m thinking of getting some beauty sleep.”

  “You don’t have lectures today?”

  “I’m taking a day off, for my beauty sleep. What about you?”

  “Just reached home, will make omelettes now.”

  “I want to taste that.”

  “Should I come and bring you here?”

  “Aha, nope, you won’t be eating only omelettes then.”

  “Don’t worry…apart from milk and eggs, I’m a pure vegetarian. Like they say a lacto-ovo-vegetarian. Besides, I don’t have any intention to eat you right now.”

  “I hope you remain true to your words.”

  “I’m a man of my words ma’am. By the way, what about a lunch together?”

  “At what time?”

  “I’ll come to pick you up at twelve. Get ready.”

  Despite the fact that the conversation was had not been unusual or exceptional, M still had the feeling that this should be the day. This should be the end of her sleepless nights; this should be the demise of partial flirt and commencement of their romantic jaunt. This should be the moment of their love. They have waited for long enough – a year was enough to ensure their feelings about each other as neither of them wanted to see anyone else apart from each other. Apart from Ansh, Angie and themselves, the whole SBKS campus could swear on their lives that Dhruv and M were dating. The fantastic four was giving them enough content to gossip about, whether it was doing lunch together or running after each other on the camp
us roads. But they – not much concerned about what people thought and said – were having the time of their lives, which other people were missing by getting persistently envious of them.

  The lunch didn’t quite go as M had hoped it to. She was hoping for some flirting moments, or at best even a proposal, but nothing happened. All Dhruv talked about was either how it was getting hard for him to keep himself interested in medical subjects or it was about Ansh and Angie that how Ansh earned his first kiss and from then they were unstoppable. The only thing that amused M was when he said he sometimes gets envious of his best friend when he catches them kissing in their house. When she reached her room, she was more disappointed than tired, but not after she received a text from Dhruv which read,

  I just want to see you, when you are all alone,

  I just want to catch you if I can,

  I just want to be there when the morning light explodes,

  On your face it radiates, I can’t escape,

  I love you till the end…

  Lines from the favourite movie of a person I love the most.

  Although she wanted this at the first place and she had waited considerably long enough for this moment to arrive, she got dumbfounded for minutes when she read it. After finding herself back, she picked up her cellphone and called Dhruv.

  “Dhruv, this isn’t a joke, right?”

  “Well, it’s up to you what you make out of it.”

  “Don’t you dare to laugh at it Dhruv!”

  “I’m not; and I guess you too have waited for this.”

  “Ya, but I didn’t expect it would come…like this!”

  “What else did you think? I would be kneeling down before you, give you roses or your favourite orchids and say, I love you? C’mon baby that’s too old fashioned for me.”

  “There is a word for that…romantic, huh!”

  “But I prefer more giggling, more sizzling type of romance.”

  “Means?”

  “Now you know the changed equation between us. I’m coming to pick you in two hours. In those two hours, you’ll giggle, your nerves will fly high by thinking about what will happen when I’ll hold your hand, how crazy you’ll go when I’ll hold you in my arms, how queasy you’ll get just before the moment of our first kiss! That’s how my romance works.”

  “I just changed, Dhruv! Need to get ready again. Call me when you reach campus.”

  “See, it’s already working.”

  “Shut up Dhruv! And don’t you dare to touch my lips…Bye.”

  And she hung up. The next two hours went exactly the way Dhruv had predicted them to be. For over fifteen minutes, she stared at the mirror until she made sure that she was looking alluring enough to hold Dhruv’s eyes only to herself. She opened her wardrobe, flipped her dresses until she picked her best black one that would suit perfectly on her dove white skin. Unlike most girls around her, M wouldn’t consider herself fussy in order to select what to wear, but love makes you go crazy and on that day, she couldn’t imagine any other girl to be more annoying than herself. May be Angie, when she goes out on a date with Ansh but then she had enough reasons to haul the blame on love. After putting on her black dress, it was now the time to bless eye liners, blusher and her pink lipstick. She then double checked herself and made sure that her dress wasn’t revealing much other than her legs below the knees, her sleeves and a slight cleavage which was going to be covered by her black jacket soon. The next one hour she spent on two things – how she would handle people around the campus when she would go out like that; and God forbid, if anyone saw her stepping in Dhruv’s car and she cannot come before ten, the whole campus was going to have the gossip consignment for an entire week. Angie, her best friend, how could she escape from her sight? It was nearly impossible to get away like that; after all, she herself picked every equipment to make herself look angelic. The second thing was to stop Dhruv from kissing her. She was ready for the commitment, but a kiss? That was really a big deal for her. Not that she wasn’t ready – being an adolescent, a part of her desperately wanted to feel the sensation of male lip. Knowing how lasciviously pink Dhruv’s lips were, she desired them in all her dreams and they were the first reason of her sleepless nights. Being a good intellectual, she guessed right, that Angie did come across in her way and she, playing a best friend’s role good enough, didn’t ask a thing. But the way she sneered was enough to make M’s nerves fly high. Luckily, only a few people noticed M getting out. But it was not the moment of fear for her; what frightened her was the sound of her heart beats when she stepped into the car. She was trying hard to control her gasps, hoping that Dhruv wouldn’t notice it.

  Instead of taking her into a lavish restaurant as usual, Dhruv broke his ritual by taking her into his house. M who was now making clear sounds with every breath she took, couldn’t do anything other than sitting pale. As she walked out of the car and followed Dhruv inside, he led her to the dining room. She exhaled audibly. May be she was frightened by the thought of following Dhruv to his bedroom. When she entered the dining room, she saw her favourite purple orchids placed on the table with a steel plate cover at its centre. He then took the cover off to let her see the perfectly shaped, sliced into pieces omelette which had kept its warmth due to the hot-plate facility on the table. After offering her a seat, Dhruv settled down at the opposite side and served her a piece to eat. She cut the slice with the butter-knife, fork and blessed her ravenous mouth.

  “This is the only thing I’m so good at, so couldn’t take any chances. Hope you like it,” Dhruv spoke the first words with a generous smile. M, without looking at him, nodded and fed herself another piece. Dhruv stood up, reached where M was sitting and placed his hand on hers without moving it from its place.

  “Let’s get to the point M! I’m a terrible student who barely manages to pass, a gym freak who spends his productive hours in gym to pump his muscles, an irresponsible guy with whom no girl would want to spend an entire life, and a completely spoiled brat. And this spoiled brat is in love…in love with a girl who is an extraordinary student for starters, a girl who is mature and nearly perfect in taking her decisions, who understands life and its value really well. Basically, a perfect girl whom everyone desires to be with…and this irresponsible spoiled nerd is madly in love with you. Can you come to his life and give him a purpose – a purpose to live and not just breathe.” Dhruv proposed by looking straight into her eyes, giving her a shot of trust, commitment. At first, M couldn’t believe that the moment of truth had arrived; he had finally said it. Not by kneeling down, not by doing any cheesy stuff or funny business, but by looking straight into her eyes, indicating that this was the romance he preferred – by just holding her hand, giving her a shot of faith indicating that he was now ensured and ready for the commitment; that this was not the infatuation driven by lust. This was the desired dream of growing old together. She tilted her head to one side, as a hint of smile was playing on her lips. Her accelerated heartbeats slowed down and she finally uttered some words.

  “Do I have any other choice? I too am madly in love with that crazy, stupid, idiotic nerd, and I will till my last breath.” Just as Dhruv was waiting for the opportunity, he took her in his arms and hugged her. Before she could come out from the sensation of that heavenly hug, Dhruv planted his lips on hers. M, by the time had completely forgotten that she was supposed to stop him. The only thing on her mind was that this was the end of her sleepless nights. She had the first kiss of her life and that too with the person who loved her completely. She had no doubt about her feelings for him because for over a year they had tested their feelings for each other. She was completely carried away in the wind of his love that came as a twister and was now showering its love on her lips, leaving her entire body shivering. After that everlasting smooch, they knew they had to stop themselves, they knew they were not ready to make love from their souls even though their bodies, wandering and floating in lust were demanding it. They parted their lips with heavy hearts and embraced
each other again. Later that night, when M invented the suffix ‘Mithu’ for Dhruv, she knew that he would like this name as much as she liked it for him. Ansh and Angie, who were suspecting this, decided to catch them red handed. So, after Dhruv went to a sleep, Ansh stole his phone and read all his romantic conversation with M, which Dhruv being a lazy lad had forgotten to delete. The next day, before the newly committed couple could confess anything in front of them, Ansh and Angie had enough stock to laugh at them and as always, to make other spectators envious of the fantastic four.

  For the first time that day, I saw Ansh and Angie smiling together. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t hide the affection and care towards each other. I could see their love underneath Angie’s disappointments and Ansh’s anger. They were trying to restrain themselves from looking into each other’s eyes, but were consistently failing.

  “Ansh, Angie, can you please wait outside for some time? It’s our promise time,” M mumbled. Without saying a word, they left the room.

  “So now, what’s the order for me, ma’am?” I sneered.

  “Promise me! You won’t die single. You’ll fall in love again and will give your full commitment to her like you did to me.”

  “I’m already in love baby! Is it possible to love two people at the same time?” I said sternly.

  “I know you would not fall for anyone, but you’ll have to. This is the end of my life, not yours. Please understand Mithu!” A pleading sense was there in her voice.

  For over five minutes, I said nothing. She too didn’t bother me. She knew I was taking my time to think and this wasn’t easy back then. It isn’t easy even now.

  “Only at one condition,”

  “What condition?”

  “You promise me that you’ll send someone for me.”

  “I promise Mithu!”

  “Don’t make the promises you can’t keep, baby! You are not going to keep it,” I said without slurring a word. She too noticed it and frowned.