Forever!

"You have memory on this day...", the Facebook notification popped on my mobile while I was going through one of my colleague's mail. Usually, I don't use Facebook much but I don't know what stuck on my mind and I clicked on the notification immediately. "You and Sana Khan became Facebook friends 5 years ago", the screen displayed. Her name was enough to ignite my soft corner for her and bring back the sweet memories that I had spent with her in my college days. It all started during the first year of our MBA in finance.

Hi! She said softly while I was busy studying in the library.

Hello! I replied without looking up at her, still engrossed in the sheet of paper.

If you don't mind, can I take your fifteen minutes? I'm having doubt in some numerical.

I looked up annoyingly.

You topped in the internals, she tried buttering me with a wide smile on her round face.

Needless to say, I was trapped, not in her buttering but in the magic of the fraction of second which her mesmerising almond-shaped eyes and heart hacking smile had done to me. She was shorter than the average Indian girls with dusky complexion.

"Yes, no problem", I replied still trying to figure out the spark of the magical moment.

Thanks! She acknowledged with a broad smile and pulled the chair out, kept her bag on the desk and sat in front of me.

Luckily! I had just revised the same chapter, so it didn't take me much time to clear her doubt.

She was amazed at the way I cleared her doubts easily.

She invited me for a cup of tea. I was also a "chai person", so I agreed happily and we moved to the college canteen.

We exchanged casual conversation about our dreams, passion, hobby, hometown, family etc. We enjoyed our company and luckily, it started raining so we ended up sipping two cups of tea. After that day, we met regularly. We sat together in the classroom, library and canteen. Sometimes, when we were bored with the hostel food, we went outside for dinner too. Steadily, our bond changed from strangers to friends and then to best friends. There were gossips about us inside the college campus and secretly I enjoyed being teased by her name. I had thought to talk about it with her but then decided to take some time to confirm whether my feelings for her was real or not.

Our post-graduation was over, we had got placement in our dream company and we had parted to our separate ways i.e., hometown for the holidays. It was during those days, I realised the change in me. The thoughts of her flashed in my mind a number of times. Even though during that time we chatted and sometimes talked over the phone but suddenly I started realising that I was missing her presence. And by the end of the holiday, my intuition had confirmed that I was in love with her. I decided to confess my love to her before it becomes too late.

I reached Delhi two days before my joining. I was wondering what to gift her! I was wandering here and there, in search of something special for her and suddenly my eyes locked upon a shop. The shop had an amazing collection of wooden posters, engraved with lovely pictures and personalized messages. Immediately I decided to imprint our picture on a poster and searched for our picture in my gallery. Surprisingly! we were so busy enjoying our company that we didn't click many pictures except for the first day when we had gone to the canteen for having tea. I had no option left, so I gave that picture to the staff and got inscribed it in a heart-shaped wooden poster with a message, ''FOREVER!''. We looked cute together.

Next day, we met in a restaurant for dinner. She looked charming that day. The ice blue kurti perfectly completed her black jeans. She was busy enjoying her favourite shahi paneer and I enjoyed watching her. Suddenly she stopped, looked up and asked, ' Why aren't you eating?'

'I need to tell you something', I replied.

She stared at me for a moment and said, 'Actually, I also want to tell you something'.

'Sure, you go first.'

I'm confused, how to tell you, she started.

Go ahead. It's me, you can tell anything.

It all happened during the vacation, she looked nervous.

"Oh my god! Is she feeling same, I could see the spark of love in her eyes."

I have always distanced myself from the topic of marriage, she continued. Actually, I don't like the concept of marriage, I mean how could two people stay together for the whole life. And I had never thought that I would marry somebody.

"Damm! Is she going to propose me for marriage, the thought trickled into my mind. Suddenly I started getting butterflies in my stomach."

Before the vacation, I didn't see it coming but now I must say that I'm in love. Back in my home, I started missing him, his presence. Though we chatted and talked over the phone we felt something different during those days. And it was love. Rishi proposed to me and I couldn't deny him. I talked about it with my parents and luckily he happened to be the son of my mother's friend. Our parents have agreed, next month we have our engagement and most probably we will marry next year.

"Congratulations!" All I could say to her, suppressing all my emotions.

Thanks! Now it's your turn, she asked.

I handed her the gift. She tore the gift wrap happily and took out the wooden poster.

Wow! Aditya, It's amazing! I love you, she responded excitedly and gave me a tight hug.

I love you too, I confessed with a low voice. It is a token of our friendship.

I like it, she smiled.

And after paying the bill, we left the restaurant quickly embarrassed by the way people in the restaurant were looking at us.

It has been around three years since that day. She is happily married and has a girl child. I still feel an ache for not confessing my love to her. But, I'm happy because she is happy. After all, "Isn't love all about seeing your loved ones happy?"