‘You forget, Rishi is gone baby’, comes the reply from the driver’s seat…Ritwik, who’s driving the car finds it really funny that she doesn’t recall leaving Rishi in the airport this morning…’Hmmmm, well, I remember, just that slips out of my mind’, she gets little red to explain why she just called Ritwik Rishi and thus hides her disappointment that her best friend is not in the city anymore…And, surprisingly enough, this is the first time it occurs to her mind…
She leaves her back to the seat…And thinks of all those times she’s going to miss Rishi…Rishi being her best friend, and also that person who knew her exactly the way she is, makes it always easy for her to lean on him every time she needs someone…And, for the last 3 years, he has been carrying his responsibility of being her best friend so well that she never had to worry about being alone…After her 5 years long relationship with her boyfriend was over, Rishi was the friend she looked up to for taking her frustration out.. He was there when she needed to lean on his shoulders cursing her boyfriend, he was there when she needed to make a 3 am phone call cribbing how sleep refuses to arrive in her eyes, he was there when she needed to go on a long drive on the highway to avoid the suffocation in her room, he was there when she needed to eat at 2 am in the morning for skipping her dinner while busying herself crying, he was there when she fell sick of not eating for weeks together…Yes, he was always there…Always there, making her avoid those tears, making her smile with those little funny tales, making her find a way to see the lights ahead, and making her walk on the rough and dark tunnel she was on that time…Almost every evening he had taken her out on long drives because he knew that was one thing that could make her feel better…Almost every morning he had picked her up to college because he knew otherwise she would miss classes…Almost every moment spent with her he clicked a million pictures of hers because he knew that was one thing that made her happy like never before… Yes, almost every day he had made sure that she went home with a smile on her face… And, during all those times, she didn’t know how, but she started developing a dependence on him, and that continued…
Things kept going…They passed out with their masters’ degree to their credit…She took up a job in a different city, and he stayed back in the old…But they remained friends…In fact that was the time, their friendship became even stronger…They could call each other their best friend…And, suddenly she knew, he was one friend she would treasure for life…He was always there without her asking for him…During all her problems, during all her happinesses, during all her running tears, during all her shining smiles…yes, he was always there…Even during when he was fighting to save his own relationship with his long time girlfriend, he was with her supporting her…And, also then, when he himself was standing alone, yet he never let her feel alone…And, without her knowing she felt, he would be there always…
A month back, she came back to the city where she studied and in a true meaning, grew up…He was the one who managed to convince her to come back here, because he knew this was the place that actually could make her happy, although she refused to agree to that…But, she agreed to him on coming back here and one fine day she packed her bag and baggage and came back…And, in a true way, she was happy…Everything that made sense in her life was here…The city had so much to offer and thereby to make her happy that she was overwhelmed with the unexpected happiness that she was experiencing here…She had all her friends around her, she had her kid brother accompanying her, she had her favourite food stalls here, she had her favourite chilly breeze continuously blowing here, she had her favourite coffee shops here, yes everything she adored had all their glorious presence here…And, with Rishi by her side to protect and support her, life turned into a complete fairytale…
Then, one day Rishi tells her about his decision to move out of the country…He tells her that he wants to go abroad for a while to figure out what he exactly wants from life…Well, she gets really happy for him…She always knew that he always wished to go around the world, and due to various commitments he was not able to…But, now since finally he’s leaving, she gets truly happy…He tells her that they would always stay best friends and she trusts him…His words makes her feel even happier and she knows all their lives, they going to be friends to die for…She tells him, she would come to see him off…He tells her not to come, but her arrogance makes he agree to her coming to the airport…And finally today early morning she comes with all of them to the airport, has all the fun together before he gets his boarding pass and then waits for him to check in for immigration…
Everything was just so perfect, till that moment…Then comes the time, when he checks in and waves his hands and disappears on the staircases…All of a sudden, something triggers in her heart and her heart skips a beat…Suddenly she realizes, she is feeling restless and her soul is getting soaked in some unknown pain…She realizes, she is longing to see his face and since she can’t, it’s making her feel helpless…She tries her best to get a glimpse of his face, but there is no way she can…She tries his phone, he picks up and whispers that he’s in immigration check and would call her back once it’s over…Her heart skips even faster…His friend, who came along with them tells her that it’s time they move out of the airport…This friend gets some hints of her sadness, so he holds her palm and makes her walk along with him…They reach the parking lot…
She sits at the back seat, and drowns in her own thoughts…And that’s when she looks out of the window, and gets amused with the beauty of the morning…And, that’s when she excitedly calls for Rishi asking his opinion on the beautiful morning…And, that’s also when she gets her reality check that Rishi is not with her anymore…And, when she realizes, Rishi is gone her eyes suddenly turns moist…The bright sunny gorgeous morning fails to draw her attention anymore…Her tears start falling down slowly…She realizes, she is missing him…Missing him like she had never ever imagined she would…All she can think now is about him sitting next to her comforting her when she needed him the most…And, suddenly her heart weeps…It weeps like a child, screaming for its mother…It feels helpless like a caged kitten…It soaks in a sea of emotions that she can’t help saving it from…And, she’s left perplexed, what’s wrong with her…
And, then she realizes, probably, all this time, she overlooked what her heart kept feeling…Probably she didn’t have a way to see that she was starting to feel for the guy whom she thought to be her friends…Probably she failed to see that her emotions were running deeper than she was assuming to be…Probably she wasn’t able to understand that in those carefree moments she had started taking him as someone, more than a friend…Yes, probably she was blind to many a things happening around her, around him, and around them…But, today, as she has let him go to a place he wished to, she realizes, truly her heart wants him close her…So close that, his breathes would be on hers, his arms would be around her and she would know that, that is what she was missing all these times, when he was there but she had failed to understand…
She sighs…The car was running faster now…Into the city…Away from him…But, she knows, the more the distance between them increases, the more she is moving closer to him…closer to his heart…And, a smile appears on her lips…A smile, that brightens her face, more than the sunrays can brighten the morning…
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