Bridal gaze

-INTRODUCTION-

Is there anyone in the world, who doesn’t have a short and sweet love story? Mostly are one-sided. My story is one among them. Like many others where their first love is with a girl next door, the same as in my case too. Her name is Nihira, she stays in an apartment next to our building. We moved to Hyderabad because of my father’s transfer from Karnataka. I am not interested to move along with my family to Hyderabad, but I am helpless. But the day, when I first saw her, I am stuck. I am unable to take my eyes over her. I still remember the day when I first saw her, I was sitting in the balcony eating some tasteless Bhelpuri made by my sister. Typically, it’s hard to eat more the 3 spoons what she makes, but I ate the entire plate with no questions asked so that I can stand there, if not otherwise she would sense doubt in my behaviour.

-FALLING IN LOVE-

From that day, my daily routine is to stand in that balcony and waiting for her to come out. I came to know about her name when her mother was calling her while she was walking in the basement of their apartment. I made several attempts to see her daily. After a hectic day at the job, seeing her sitting in her balcony reading a book makes me lighter than air. She accidentally caught me seeing her once or twice, but time god none of her parents came rushing to my house to beat me up. Meanwhile, to make my situation worse “96” movie was released, where I imagined myself in the role of Vijay Sethupati and herself in the place of Trisha. Likewise, in the film, I am not very expressive and my heart pounds at rapid speed when she looks back. Here I am 27 and my parents are looking for a match for me. I am imaging the day where she suddenly appears after my marriage like it happened in the film and then I woke up from my dream. This thing happens to me daily.

-CONFLICT OF INTERESTS-

One day, I along with my friends went to the movie “Raja Rani”. We took our tickets and went inside the mall. We sat in the lobby as the movie had not started yet. My friend pointed towards a group of girls who were laughing and making fun of each other. I was surprised to see Nihira there. I am in a dilemma about whether to go and speak to her. My heart is pushing me a go and meet her, but my brain is not in line with what my heart says. It criticizes me that I am not a Sharukhan, where if I spread my arms, she starts rushing towards me like in movies. It always needs logic than magic. Sometimes Brain sucks. Meanwhile, my mother calls me to remind me of the meeting a girl after this movie. She said that she will share her details.

-INTERMISSION-

We moved inside and the movie started. Nihira and her friends are sitting just sitting two rows in Infront of us. I am staring at her all the time in between the movie. The hero in the movie is the same as me, who never proposed her despite many chances he got. He gets nervous, whenever the heroine was standing in front of him. I feel like I am seeing myself and Nihira on the screen. In the movie, the heroine leaves the village and comes back after 4 years. I am scared what if she moves to any other city. I don’t want to regret later; I made my mind that I should meet her and convey my feelings towards her after the movie. I decided to wait for her outside the Mall. Like in the movie, my story was in the intermission.

By the way, I forgot to say my name. It is “Sukumar”.

–SETTLING DOWN-

Hi, I am Nihira. “Do you think he is the only one interested in me? “, To be frank, I know Sukumar much before he knows me. He writes stories and directs short films; I had watched a few of his short films on YouTube. I love his writings. Later one of my friends said that he moved to Hyderabad from Karnataka. I saw him many times while he was trying to look at me. I would laugh and felt very happy. He is an application developer in a reputed company. I waited for him to come forward and talk to me. You know as girls; we never speak first except in rare cases. Even I waited in the movie break and gave him a chance to speak. But he failed to do so as he does always. Luckily My parents know their family as my father and his father are friends from school days. When my father bought me a wedding proposal, I was tensed and disappointed. But seeing his photo, I can’t explain how happy I am. I am the girl whom he was supposed to meet after the movie. He was busy seeing me instead of the pic send by her mother. I am eagerly waiting to see his face, while he sees my photo. My situation was similar to the heroine in the movie, every time Sukumar comes to me, I can hear his heart and words he wants to say to me. Likewise, In the movie, I am eagerly waiting for the moment where he comes forward and expresses himself.

-THE CLIMAX-

As decided, Sukumar started following her to speak and express himself. Meanwhile, one of his friends call him for bike keys, he looks back and threw the keys at him. By the time he turned back, he cannot see Nihira, His walk slowed down and he searched everywhere for her. He felt everything has ended, tears rolled down his eyes, his heart became so heavy. He started moving towards the exit point slowly where his friends were waiting. Meanwhile, he receives a call from his mother, he rejects the call. He switched his mobile data to ping his mother that he is not interested to meet anyone. By the time the pic which his mother shares are auto-downloaded, he was surprised to see its Nihira. He has no words; he is out of his mind and rushed towards his friends. On the other side of the exit portal, he saw Nihira waiting for him. He rushed towards her and bent on knees and gave a chips packet in his hand and asks “will you marry me?”. All were looking at them, Nihira was speechless and accepts his proposal.

Later they were happily married and sipping tea in the balcony from where Sukumar used to see her, cherishing their memories.

-Disclaimer-

The use of names is purely unintentional and any resemblance to anyone is purely coincidental.

This was my honest attempt to write a love story, hope you guys love it. Do leave your feedback and show your support by sharing with your partners, friends, and family.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Directionless Writings

(By Avinash Reddy)