Best friend

The last three weeks has been amazing. I have fallen in love with Ria all over again. Someone has said it right, True love never fades. Even after our breakup and one year of “sabbatical” when I met her, it seemed that nothing has changed ever since. That chemistry came back from nowhere and there was magic.

Ria and me were best friends since first year in college and finally our friendship turned into a relation a couple of years later. But after a relation of almost a year and a lot of fights, we realised how much we missed our best friends. It was a mutual decision to break up and be friends again. And things started to work out exactly how we had planned, although the world seemed to criticize every step we took, but we were too busy to care.

But, after a few months college came to an end and the following month we had to join our respective jobs we secured from the campus drive. She went to Noida and i went to Pune. Our promise of being in contact, seemed to be as true as India winning the FIFA world cup is. 1^st we used to talk daily then it became once a week and then hardly once in a month when we coincidentally saw each other online in Facebook. Promises started to break and new friends started taking place of the older ones.

It was only a year later that I got a surprise from my team leader who said that my desired location has been sanctioned and my transfer request has been granted. Ecstatic, I immediately updated my status saying “Kolkata, city of joy! I am coming home! :)” 

A few hours later I got a notification saying “Ria commented on your status.” I reluctantly checked her comment, and my heart skipped a bit. It said “same pinch :D”

I hardly could suppress my dual excitement of going back to my hometown and also meeting my best friend after almost a year.

A week later

I met her at CCD where we used to go when we were in college. And it was magic. I realised how much had i missed her and she seemed to have turned even more beautiful. The twinkle of her eyes told me how happy she was seeing me, and I was clean bowled over her enhanced beauty. We started meeting almost every weekend and the bond which i thought was long lost seemed to be there all the time. And 3weeks later quite sure that our friendship certainly deserves much more than just our weekends I decided to extend my hand to take the next step of our friendship, again. I never felt as much sure to do anything ever before.

I went to our special CCD 15minutes early and started waiting for her. I decided to tell her all about my feelings. I had shaved twice and applied my favourite deo to impress her (though that hardly mattered after all these years). And finally she arrived. I greeted her with a brief hug and a warm smile. Her eyebrows shot up,

“what’s up boss? Forgot your wallet? Do I have to pay the bill today?” She teased.

“yeah sort of!” I grinned. No, actually I love you i wnted to say.

“Hmm so what was so urgent that you called me with a 2hr notice?”

“There is a very important thing you know!”

“Ohh important se yaad aya, even i have something important to tell you!” She said with a lot of excitement.

“Ladies first!” I said.

“Phir tu hi bol pehle” Ria teased.

“Shut up!” My manhood protested.

“Ok ok. Actually things happened so fast that i didn’t realised it coming” She said, tucking her hair behind her left ear(I adored that gesture of her ever since 1^st year).

“Come to the point honey.” I said, getting a bit impatient.

“Actually,” she said, with that known twinkle in her eyes, “I am in love.”

My heart skipped a bit, this was becoming a cake walk for me. After the sleepless night before about a possible heart break, I was at the verge of getting back my love even without proposing to her, i thought.

“I love Samar!” She said with a huge smile in her eyes. “He proposed to me last night. But I don’t know if it’s the right decision or not?”

Samar was a colleague of her, whom i met a couple of times in the last few weeks. I saw both of them together quite comfortable, but never it struck me that they were in love.

I froze. I was so much in shock that I forgot that I was grinning a moment ago and didn’t bother to stop grinning. 

“Wow! Congrats. I mean you just made my day easy. As I was about to suggest to you the same thing. Samar is the right guy for you.” I said all too fast.

She couldn’t believe what she heard, tears of joy ran down her cheeks. “Really? How did you? I mean....” her voice cracked.

“Calm down!” I said, almost forgetting that it is me who should be comforted.

“I brought a gift for you.” I said, and took out an engagement ring which had 2 initials RS. Ria-Saeed. “Ria-Samar”I said with a grin “your engagement ring!”

She broke down into tears. “I love you Saeed..” her voice trailed off.

“I love you too” I said, meaning every word of it.

Stop lying that ring you made is for you and me not for some one else you liar. I wanted to hear.

“You are my best friend, you are the best thing that has ever happened with me. Thank you.”  She said, instead.

“I know” i smiled.

The next day i requested for a project abroad. The city of joy no more seemed joyous to me.