Love above Honour

It was a cold evening of December. Sun was setting behind the rapidly moving trees. Windows of the Haryana Roadways bus were clattering as the bus was moving fast. The window next to Natasha was opening again and again. She was trying to close it every time it slid open to let the chilly wind enter and ruffle her curly hair. It was disturbing her from typing quick messages on her mobile. Finally she left it open and concentrated on her mobile. A smile was affixed on her lips as she was typing quickly amid the whirrs of her mobile phone. Her cheeks were turning red with a mix of blush, reflection of the hues of the setting sun and the chill of the cold breeze. She snuggled in her dark purple cardigan and propped her red muffler around her neck and face. There were only a few people in the bus and she was alone on her seat. Dim yellow lights at the roof of the bus flickered on. A woman, in her fifties and sitting on her side seat, was glancing at her through the corners of her eyes and giving her a vile look. But Natasha was oblivious to everything around her. She wanted to converse as much as possible before alighting at her stop. After all she was chatting with Shantanu, the boy of her dreams, who had come to her life like a fresh energy after she was exhausted of appearing in numerous selection tests. After meeting him she had joined her new job and life had become more meaningful to her. Just before her stop, she got up, passed a smile to the woman and stood in the doorway. She was the only one to get down at the deserted stop of her small village in south Haryana. She quickly typed a few messages folllowed by various kind of emojis, to say good bye to him and kept her phone in her brown handbag. The way to her home waslit only by the light bulbs in front the homes on both the sides. But she somehow felt that it was brighter than usual. She looked at the moon and a smile again passed across her lips. She reached her home straight into the kitchen where her mother was preparing dinner for the three of them;Natasha and her parents. She perched her handbag on the kitchen slab slightly over her head and dig into the halwa bowl her mother had kept for her. "Go and wash your hands, at least" her mother nudged her. "Heart should be clean Ma, what's there in cleaning he hands"said Natasha absent mindedly. "Whats so special today? You look different and talking of heart! Have you got extra cash somewhere in your bank today?" sixth sense of a mother was speaking this time. "Money comes and goes Ma . It's your love which is making me happier by the day" she hugged her mother from behind. "I cannot love for your entire life. We got a call from your mamaji today. He was asking about our decision on that boy, the lecturer." Her mother said with an animated anger in her tone. "And, what did you and Papa say to mamaji?" She asked turning her mother's face towards her. "What can we say until we ask our independent working daughter about her decision."her mother remarked sarcastically. "I have told you na I am not going anywhere leaving you both alone. Bhaiya is already living so far away for his job. Didi hardly visits you after her kids are born."she stomped off to her room carrying her handbag. "You cannot avoid the question forever. Come quickly for the dinner, we will speak about it."her mother started preparing the dishes for their dinner. Over the dinner her parents are and spoke about her marriage, future groom, guests, venue, menu, jewellery and all the things a marriage possibly can involve before finally ending up arguing over something trivial. All this while she was twirling her food and her mind was lost in the thoughts of her blooming love for Shantanu. She could feel her phone vibrating in her pyjama pocket and she could read the messages without even looking at her phone. "He must be asking about my dinner. He must be waiting for my reply. He must be sending his new ad campaign to me for approval." She was thinking to herself. Her father senses her dilemma and asked her,"do you have something to say, Tashu?"he had called her by the name he used to call her when she was a little child. She looked down at her plate and worked her spoon on nothing specific. "Tell me beta." He said to her and added looking at her mother, "can you bring milk for all of us" She had never hesitated in sharing anything with her father. She had told him when she had smacked the hard of a boy stalking her when she was in senior secondary school. She had told him about her arguments with her manager at the bank. She had also told him about her crush for the tall handsome boy in his office. But, this time, she was not able to look up at him and her hands were trembling. She thought about the respect her father had in the entire society, about what had happened to the girl who and eloped with her boyfriend, about her brother and sister. Everything was flashing in front of her eyes. Every scene was interspersed with the images of Shantanu. "Do our want to talk about it now or next week when Monu is coming home for his year end vacation" her father moved his chair closer to hers and kept his hand on her shoulder. "After bhaiya comes." She said without batting an eyelid. She knew she was buying time for herself. Without talking much thereafter they retired to their rooms. She could not sleep that night. She went to the day she had met Shantanu, son of the owner of her coaching institute. He had come for the annual celebration of the institute which she was anchoring. Sitting in the he was standing out in his peach colour suit. His dark blue shirt glistened in the bright lights. His stubble and swept back hair complemented his strong jawline. He was standing out with his tall and handsome personality. She had instantly liked him and he was too impressed with her anchoring. Later they had met during the dinner and numbers were exchanged. They had never met after that. But there was not a day when they did not speak and chat. They had grown so close to each other that the distance between them did not matter at all. They would chat about every small thing in their life. Her lunch breaks were mostly spent on video call with him. Their days started with each other and their last wishes for good night were reserved for each other. He would share every assignment, of the advertising agency he owned, with her and would take her opinion. They didn't even express their urge to meet each other. He had spoken to his parents and they had agreed. She was not sure of speaking to her parents. One week passed soon and her brother was home. Her bonding with him was of a friend rather than a sibling. One night after dinner they went on the terrace and she told him everything. He was listening patiently and a playful smile would often cross his lips. She was not able to understand and neither did she ask. She had poured her heart out in front of him. When she was done he took out his phone, scrolled through the contact list and dialled a number. He handed the phone over to her. She could not believe her ears when she heard Shantanu's voice on the other side. Her eyes were wide open, a tear had welled up at the corner of her eye. She hugged her brother. He had given her the best gift of her life. When she asked him he explained how Shantanu had travelled all the way from Delhi to Bengaluru to meet him and how he had conveyed everything to him. He told that he had already spoken to their parents. She could not be happier and could not wait to meet Shantanu.