Love Can Happen Twice

Love Can Happen Twice

“Phew...and this brings us to the end of all the ceremonies…we have nothing better to do before ‘bidai’.” Said Dhruv breathing a sigh of relief, after panditji announced the bride and groom, official husband and wife. The announcement came at around 1:30 midnight after the completion of marathon ceremonies of jaymaal, saptpadi and kanyadaan.

“So what do we do now?” quizzed Roshni, “actually let’s do nothing. Better grab some sleep, really tired.” She answered her own question.

“Good idea” echoed everyone, as they made their way to the room allotted to their team.

It was Krissh’s brother’s wedding and he had got his friends Dhruv, Roshni and Aarohi to assist him with the wedding planning. As they all wanted to make a career out of event management, they had all agreed to help him and the girls had even managed to convince their parents for a night stay at Krissh’s place. Though this part did involve a bit of coaxing and convincing, Krissh however managed it…their parents could trust him with their girls.

After two continuous weeks of hard work, nonstop fun and less than 6 hour sleep per day, the team finally felt it was within their rights to enjoy their share of rest. They had been all working relentlessly, and sleep was well deserved. Next assignment, the bidai, was almost 12 hours away.

The room allotted to Krissh and his friends was pretty decent and modest. With a row of four mattresses, dressed with a simple bedsheet and cooled by nothing but two old somehow working fans, the words best describe the décor. The only saving grace to the room was two large windows which provided it with enough light and ventilation for survival. Krissh had insisted that the girls occupy a separate, better and more sophisticated room, but they found no problem in sharing this particular room with the guys. The girls had made their choice, he was helpless in front of them.

As they entered the room, no one uttered a word, not even a goodnight. No jokes cracked, no laughs exchanged. Fatigue had finally taken its toll on them. Everyone mimicked the other by removing their footwear and tossing it to a lone side of the room. That was the last thing they did before shutting down their system and dozing off to sleep. Dhruv crash-landed on the 1^st mattress, while Krissh occupied the one next to him. The third mattress was the territory of Aarohi and the final one was taken by Roshni.

Everyone slept. Except one. Krissh.

He always had difficulties in sleeping. No matter how tired he would be, sleep would always elude him. Sleeping on his left, facing Aarohi, he was having a tough time sleeping even tonight. But tonight, it was not due to his insomnia. He was busy reading a poem. A beautiful poem at that! The poem kept him awake.

The poem was his best friend and had helped him come out of very recent heartbreak he suffered. The cute talks and innocent thoughts of the poem had helped him fill in the void and had made him survive. The poem had helped him a lot to atleast try to get over her previous relationship. The poem had a lovely strand of hair falling on her face, which the poem very aesthetically brushed aside in a swift motion with eyes closed. The calm on the face of the poem, and a cute smile on face of the same kept him engaged. Such was his involvement that he could have kept on reading the poem throughout the night had the poem not spoken.

“Hey, you still up?” said Aarohi, the poem, in a slightly dazed voice gently opening her eyes.

 “Yeah, not yet sleepy.” Answered Krissh looking into her eyes with a smile.

She smiled back, and both looked into each other’s eyes. What followed were some moments of golden silence. The kind of silence where one says nothing and still the silence doesn’t hurt.

“Aarohi, do you have any idea how cute you look when you sleep?” Krissh complimented her breaking the silence. Was he trying to flirt with her? Probably not, in spite of being a champion flirt, he always had a tough time flirting with two types of girls, the ones who scared him, and the one he would fall in love with. So, to which category did Aarohi belong? It sure wasn’t the former. For the time being, it can be safely said, it was a genuine compliment.

“Really? Thanks,” she said, of course with her cheeks turning a light pink, leaving no clue that she blushed, 

“No one ever told me.”

“Hmm…that’s because probably no guy ever got a chance to sleep with you.” He said with a wink, though sounding thoughtful. Nothing in the world can prevent him for flirting with a pretty girl. It is almost like response to stimuli for him!!!

Her eyes went wide in amazement as she tried to soak in the statement and make sense out of it. And when she did, pat came the reply, “Oh, very well said. That was aptly put. But you see, I haven’t yet slept with you. You’ve just been plain lucky to have pounced upon an opportunity to sleep next to me.” A naughty wink soon followed. It was a stupid and downright ridiculous discussion, but they both seemed to enjoy it. Each other’s company is what they would always seek.

“Ok, you’ve a valid point, but you see, since we are sharing this room, and are supposed to sleep in the same, there’s nothing wrong in saying that technically we’re sleeping with each other.” He countered.

“You know, I reckon you’re right. I rest my case.” She concluded and they both shared a hearty laughter.

“Oye morons! What the hell do you think you guys are doing in the dead of the night? Sleep and let sleep!!” Dhruv shot in a semi sleep state. They had disturbed someone’s peace.

“ssshhh!!!” Aarohi said, placing her index finger on her lips. Krissh was quick to imitate the action. And again they had a laugh riot, albeit a silent one this time.

“um…Aarohi, since you’ve agreed to my point, do you mind if I update my FB status to ‘Krissh Ahuja slept with Aarohi Singh’?” he said, sounding utmost honest and innocent.

Smack!! Came a sound.

Aarohi had very well awarded Krissh for his statement.

“Alright, I got my answer.” He chortled, barely managing to control his laughter. Controlling the urge to laugh out loud was now a challenge even for Aarohi. 

 A few moments later Krissh asked, “Aren’t you sleepy yet?”

“No, I’m not. In fact, I want to stay awake for the rest of the night!” she exclaimed.

“And why do you want to perform such a stunt?” Krissh puzzled.

“Because you know, I had always wanted to stay awake at a stretch for 24 hours. 19 hours have already passed, I somehow want to keep sleep away from me for the next 5 hours,” Was her answer, “and I’m sure you’ll help me out with this.”

“Wow! Now that’s a quite a crazy thought, but not unexpected from you. Nonetheless, I’ll help you with this mission dear damsel, hmm…so why don’t I try to scare you? You know, I read somewhere that you tend to not sleep and your brain is the most active when you are scared.” He suggested. He loved scaring her. Not because he expected her to snuggle up to him like others when scared, but for some strange reasons, every time he would try to spook her, rather than getting scared, she would laugh out loud. He loved her laughter.

“Wow! So you’ll narrate me a horror story? So cool!” she exclaimed, making her eyebrows dance with each word she said. She was so expressive while talking; all the punctuations she gave were evident on her face!

“Yeah, kind of…um, suppose you’re sleeping in your room with a teddy next to you and…”

“I know what happens next,” she interrupted excitedly, “I hug the teddy and the teddy hugs me back, isn’t it?”

“Ah…so you’re already aware of this. No problem, I have some other tricks up my sleeve.” He shot confidently, “Now suppose you’re in your washroom, standing right in front of a mirror…”

“I know… I know… I know it again; I’ll stare at my reflection for some time and then I’ll move, but my reflection won’t. It would keep on staring in void with a murderous look and a deathly smile on her face, right?” she interrupted again, with the same excitement.

“Oh, you know this too,” he said, sheepishly, “alright, now is the time for some special effects!!! Ha...Ha...Ha!!” he announced.

“Ok, go ahead!” she said, with a grin. Ah! That smile of hers. It would make him go weak in the knees.

“Hmm…so we’re in this room, everyone is sleeping,” he started his tale in a rough coarse voice, if not his story, then atleast this voice would scare her he hoped, “and then we hear a howling fox…”

“Uh, sorry to cut you down again, but it’s the wolf who howls, not the fox, right?” she again interjected.

“Yeah, right, thank you, so the wolf howls, aawwoooo…and then, the rusty wind blows, wwhhssshhhh, because of the wind, the windows go thud thud thud and…” he said this all making all these stupid noises. He went a step further. Not in scaring her, but making her laugh instead.

“That’s it! I’m not doing this anymore!” he said, faking anger and hopelessness, “this is not fair. I’m making so many attempts to scare and you stupefy me every time!”

This only added to her laughter.

“Stop it Krissh…you’re so funny!! I’m dying laughing!!” she said, laughing with her hands on her stomach, “you’re so cute!” she said, pulling his cheeks.

For once he thanked God giving him chubby cheeks. He blushed a bit. Obviously, with the dark night and his complexion, it was a bit tough to notice that.

“I’m cute? Thanks!” he said sheepishly, “but that’s not the point,” with this he again switched his mood, this time to grumpy, “it’s an unspoken rule, you should get scared when someone tries to scare you.”

“Really? I didn’t know that. Who made this rule by the way?” she querried.

“I.” he confessed.

And they burst out laughing. Someone didn’t find it too funny.

“Tell me one reason why shouldn’t I kill you rascals?” Roshni tried to shout. Tried to shout, because she still sounded drowsy.

“Maybe because we’re your best friends?” Aarohi offered.

“Yeah right, best friends. And that’s why you wouldn’t sleep and let others sleep. Fuck you!” Roshni spurted all her anger.

“Fuck me? Do you promise that sweetheart?” Krissh asked.

Roshni said nothing, just gave him a standing ovation of her middle finger and went off to sleep.

 Krissh and Aarohi exchanged some silent giggles.

“You know what, I have never met a guy half as funny as you.” She said, with her trademark style still on.

“Thank you. But tell you what, I’m not funny. In fact it’s you who makes me funny.” He replied.

“Really? Am I a joke book or a clown?”

“None. The fact is that you’re really pretty. And you have a lovely smile and a cute laughter. So whenever I am with you, just to bring your lovely smile, and your cute laughter on your pretty face, I try to be funny.” He said, he sounded genuine.

“Wow! That almost sounded genuine! You’re a champion flirt. Hail IIFT!” she exclaimed.

“I wasn’t flirting this time around Aarohi, I meant every word that I said.” He confessed, looking straight into her eyes. Her brown eyes, sparkling, innocent, and charming. He loved looking into her eyes.

“You make me feel so special!”

“That’s because you’re special. At least to me!”

“You know, you’re way too good.” She said, “I enjoy being with you. I really like your company.”

“I echo the same sentiments Aarohi. You’re one person I always look forward to be with.” He said, “by the way, did you ever notice that you brush aside your strand of hair almost three times a minute? That’s 20 seconds per brushing on an average, technically speaking!”

Her ‘strand of hair’ is her x-factor is what he would always tell her. True, she looked so cute when she would tuck away that strand of hair behind her ear in a swift motion. It was an inimitable act. No girl could do it better than her.

“Wow! I never noticed that. You’re pretty observant!” was her answer.

“Nah, I’m just observant. Pretty toh tum ho…” he said with a wink. Yes, the dude was back to his flirting business.

“Don’t you ever get tired of showering compliments upon me? I do realise that I’m good looking, but not even half as pretty as you describe me.”

“Oh, so you doubt my claims!” he said, “What should I do? What should I do? How about getting an affidavit signed by 100 guys of different age groups and culture saying you’re super pretty? You know, that’ll give an universal confirmation to my claims. What’s your take?”

“Oh stop it dude! Where did this affidavit thing come from? Alright, I accept your statements about my beauty. Happy?

“very!”

“Krissh, you make me blush so much!” she said.

Her blush was visible on her fair skin. Her cheeks turning a light shade of pink; some more compliments and she would’ve resembled a ripened tomato for sure.

“That’s my secret agenda you know. Making you blush is my favourite hobby,” he replied, “but jokes apart; it won’t be an exaggeration if I say that of all the girls I have come across, you’re one of the prettiest. In fact, you’re not just another pretty face; you’re a very beautiful person. And I really love you for that.” He said, and this time, he meant every word he said.

Aarohi didn’t reply to this in words. She simply smiled at him, and slid her hand towards his hand. Their fingers intertwined.

The sun had come up on the horizon. The first rays of the sun broke through the window and christened her face. Her face had a glow of its own as if emanated from within. She seemed no less than an angel. At this moment, all of the world’s Cinderellas, and Snow Whites and all the fairies combined together would have failed to match her beauty.

A gentle breeze gushed in and her strand of hair fell again on her face. Krissh stretched out his other hand and tucked it behind her ear. He let his hand rest there.

“Tell you what Krissh; I’ll never forget these moments we just spent.” Aarohi expressed herself.

“Nor will I,” said he, “I’ll always cherish these moments. In fact, someday I think I’ll write about this.”

“I wish I had control over things. I wish I could stop the sun from rising, or atleast I could delay the morning by a couple of hours. I wish I could go back in time and relive these moments over and over again. Thanks for the wonderful time Krissh.”

“Anything for you Aarohi, and in fact I even owe you thanks, I do not remember when was the last time I laughed so much, when was the last time I had so much fun. I feel glad to have you in my life.”

Krissh poured out his heart gently stroking her hair. His other hand was still clasped in Aarohi’s hand; she was in no mood to let it go.

“Oye! It’s 7 a.m.” announced Dhruv, waking up with a start and then quickly drawing their attention to the time. Krissh and Aarohi immediately drew their hands from their respective places. They stole secret smiling glances as they woke up.

“Get up guys, and get ready. It is breakfast time; we need to make the arrangements.” Aarohi ordered everyone.

Everyone slowly left the room. That day something changed in Krissh, he finally got over his past relationship. He had again found a reason to smile, a reason to be happy. A reason to love, and a reason to be loved. Aarohi, the girl with an admirable strand of hair, alluring eyes, angelic smile, captivating laughter and a beauteous person.

Yes, he was in love.

Love can happen twice.

And this time, he’ll make it work.