The sunless winter sky looked gray and vacant. While the drizzling dew drops added to the charm as if God himself wanted to make the festival of love more special for his children. Still, ignorant hardworking people were busy doing thrir jobs. The petty shopkeepers trying to sell their stuff, the tea stall owner busy preparing beverage and cars rushing on orders of their owners wanting to return to work before the end of lunch time.
And then there was this girl walking aimlessly on road with heavy steps. Her black eyes fixed on something, or actually nothing. She was dreaming, with her neck long hair swaying in wind brushing against her olive visage. She didn't care to remove them. Little fingers touched her and she woke up suddenly. A small girl, begging infront of her was trying to take the red rose she had in her hand. Udisha shooed her away and started thinking again.
"Why do I care for that flower? Why did I accept it? Am I in love with Jack?" Was she in love with Jack? If ever the answer the was so simple she would have got it two years back. Back then, a rumour was spread in college that Udisha and Jack were in a relationship and it was Jack who cleared things out. If he didn't love her then, why he loved her now? Wasn't the falling in love asobvious as it was potrayed in Bollywood?
Diving back in memories she could feel it wasn't. Why a friendship started for no reason bloomed so much so quickly that Udisha told Jack all those things even her dearest of friends didn't know. Whenever she looked in his deep blue eyes they asked her "Do you trust me" and hers said "I do".
Whenever he wrote something, he gave it to her to read it. That excitement on his face said "I love you". He used to order that vanilla ice-cream he hated just so that she could have the brownie served with it. That fake smile he managed while swallowing the thing daid "I live you". And finally these words came on his lips at their last Valentine in college. Udisha would admit that though he wasn't her dream boy, she still loved Jack. Or else why she preferred sitting with him during lectures? Why she liked his company on her way back home? Why she walked slowly at that time or hired cabs that had places for both of them?
Her mothers phone call woke her up. Udisha realised she was so busy thinking she forgot to make the usual phone call to her Ma when her classes got over. After she hung up the smile on her face had faded. She was in a different world. How could she smile after committing a mistake? How could she fall in love, specially after what happened with her sister?
She was the pride of her father. Her parents trusted her. And now that trust was broken. Will she ever again be able to look up to her Dad? A tear rolled down her cheek and she went in trance. She could see images. Images of all the relatives mocking her parents, looking at her with disrespectful eyes. She closed her eyes in fear and the frightening images disappeared. But she openefmd them to an even more frightening reality. She was at her doorstep. For a moment she thought of throwing away the flower but then she would be lying to her mother, which was impossible for her. She kept the thing in her bag and walked in.
Udisha was welcomed by the older version of herself. The lady in Bengali Saree took the bag from her while she went to the bathroom to change. When she came out she saw her mother sitting on the bed with the rose, she found while looking for her daughter's tiffin. Udisha ran to her, lied down laying her head in her lap and told her everything. She was in tears when she said "Ma you expected me to be more responsible than Didi but.. " she started sobbing.
As her mother heard her sobs, she made her sit and asked "Ki holo?" Wiping her tears she continued "When I said I expect maturity from you, I didn't bann you from falling in love. You have a heart too. Dibya wasn't wrong to fall in love. She was wrong to run away and get married without our consent and that too eith a wrong man". Talking of bad memories made her look tensed.
"You want me to talk to Baba about this?" she said in a sympathising tone. Udisha was perplexed at the reaction, so much that she said "But how could you like Jack? He is not an Indian, doesn't even know about being in a family and.... "
"You are so silly." the lady giggled "You think we don't disapprove of a boy because of his colour or because he is from a broken home. No! What we need is that he should care for you like he did when he dropped you home safely during the riots. We may have met him twice or thrice only but I know he is the right man for you. Infact I was gonna initiate something if he didn't propose you".
Udisha's face glew and she hugged her mother, feeling relieved. She heard in her ears "You are different from Dibya, just by the way you think". She need not abstain from romance anymore. With a understanding family and a caring man she had all the love she wanted. She was the luckiest girl in the world.
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