6. HAND IN HAND

Patting my back, “Dude! you are going well.” said Kartik, with a big smile on his face. His compliments meant a lot for me. It widened my chest and encouraged me to go far beyond my limit. He advised me to tell Nisha to leave using our school bus for transportation and continue with the public bus. I followed him and told her the same. A few days later, we started going together on a public bus. 

It was fun and memorable. We used to sit at the last seat, with a hand in hand and making love. Smoothness of her soft hands melted my heart. I lost in the aroma of her body. Whenever I got a chance, I held her back and made her feel shy. Her hot curved belly was blowing my mind to kiss her hard. She too held me and kissed my cheeks, with a face reddened with fear. A heat which her body radiated ignited me. It delighted me to have her in my life, and I expressed my gratitude every time by kissing her hand. I used to get off at a stop before hers. It became our daily routine. I convinced my mom, seniors had to stay even after the school gets over. It was tough, but I convinced her. I used to lie to my mom to stay with Nisha. By this, we made lots of memories in our school life, which made our school life the golden period.

August 2013.

With making love and enjoying our school life, we passed twelve and entered college. I took an evening college, studying B. Com Honors in Accountancy. In day time, I was busy in my dance classes. Kartik too done the same from a different college, far away from us. Nisha continued in a day college with B.A., admitted in a reputed college of our city. 

Our college timing created a distance between us. We couldn’t meet for weeks. Our plans to enjoy our college life were getting devastated. Despite being in the same city, we found a border gap. 

Our passion in love in young age forced us to take action at any cost. So, one day we planned something and came out of our problem. We decided I would enter my college an hour before class started and she too would leave two hours before her college got over and would come straight to my college. It is how we used to meet. Students of day college used to leave at 3 pm and evening classes started from 5 pm. Those two hours in my college were ours. I had a wonderful friendship with seniors, so they never questioned entering before time. College life became joyful too. We met twice a week. 

Third floor was vacant, no student, no staff, only a few love-birds sitting in different rooms, and lost in their world.

 We had our lunch by feeding each other with love and immense care. With a spoon in right hand and a soft handkerchief in left, to wipe if food gets stuck to her face. That was the way her mother used to feed her at home, and she loved it when I did the same at college. I was her mother outside her home. I loved and cared the same way her mother used to do. 

Her mother gave her a nickname and so she demanded a name from me too. It was an enormous challenge for me to give a name. I lacked creativity so, my mind lost in searching a beautiful name. I enjoyed being unique, and I worked a lot to give her a unique name. After thinking a lot, I finally gave her a name, which I mean it. ‘Dilpari’ I said.

At first, my strange name shocked her and she asked the reason behind it. 

“You are like a princess in my life who lives in my heart. So, the name Dilpari.”

 I explained and a beautiful smile spread on her face. Her eyes got wet, and she hugged me. She too gave a name, “Gonu.” I didn’t ask the reason as I knew very well, I was a stupid fellow in her view and the name related something similar to that.

She loved to dance with me in romantic songs. So, one day, I played our favorite song. The song which had already brought us close earlier. ‘Pehli nazar me’ in a slow volume and tapped our toes like Jack and Rose of Titanic. It connected me emotionally, because I fell in love with Nisha at first sight and she had intoxicated me with her alluring eyes.

My left hand was on her belly and her right hand on my shoulder, and with our other hand, holding each other’s hand, grabbing hard with fingers and pretended a couple of ballroom dance. Lost deeply in each other’s eyes and we danced as we were performing in a Hollywood movie. 

With every step, we came closer and closer, and finally, our nose was only at an inch distance. I lifted her and took a round. My strength, which I possessed in my skinny figure impressed her. I landed her from a short world tour in a single round and she was astonished and stood stunned. Her face blushed and eyes full of love. A beautiful smile stretched on her face with her shining lips.

 The air of her rapid breathing gave my body a sensation of passionate romance. Her juicy lips dried my throat to a high level of thirsty. I looked here and there and found no one around us, which gave me confidence to get dirty. A fresh fragrance of her long hair uttered magical words. I went back to grab her and her soft hair made me lost in her world. I moved her hair and kissed her neck. Tip of my tongue kissed all around her neck, left her shivering and brought goosebumps on her body. 

It was not our first time, but it was something different. My gentle touch gave her a hot sensation to kiss me back passionately. She turned back and started tasting my lips. She nibbled my lower lips and pulled with her teeth. It gave a severe pain for a while, which I always embraced and craved to get. A love bit, which pierced my heart. Her chocolate lipstick took my breath away. It lasted for a few minutes in that classroom and forever in my eyes. Every time we met in college, we made love and danced and enjoyed our life at fullest. She loved cooking food for me. Every time we met, we had something new to eat. I licked my fingers until my upper layer of my skin went to my stomach. She used to cook deliciously. 

One day I told her, “Even if I have millions of reasons to leave you, I will marry you only for eating delicious food” and we laughed.

Those golden days of our lives are still running in my eyes. It seems someone has played an old classic movie in theatre. 

One of her college friends had given her a storybook to read, which she handed me with little thinking. She knew I enjoyed reading books, so she asked me to read the story. It was a wonderful love story, beautifully scripted in around 180 pages. I completed it in two days and narrated the entire story to Nisha. 

I mesmerized her with the beautiful story of love. The prosperity of those love birds delighted Nisha with immense pleasure. She compared that with ours and was glad to know how lucky we were being together and getting a lot of love.

 Overwhelmed with the ending, she dreamt, what if someone writes a book about our love story? The nation will get to know about our true and immense love. I knew that story was a fiction. But I didn’t tell her. I didn’t want to disrupt her smile, so I accepted her words. 

I asked in a negative sense, “But who will write our story?”

When I said those words, her innocent smile, which was stretched long across her face squeezed down. Her bright face became dull and her juicy lips dried. I could not bear the pain of my sweetheart in such a condition. I found myself guilty for asking it. The reality hit her hard, and she became silent. Her head went down in grief. To bring back her smile on her face and joy in her life, I confronted her.

“Don’t worry! If no one writes our love story, I will write our story and will dedicate it to you.”

In a jiffy, her face brightened with a long smile and her voice became sweet. Her shoulder, which was falling of depression, went high with passion and back straightened with confidence. With a beautiful smile and curiosity in her eyes, she enquired.

“And what will you write?”

I smiled back, pulled her close and kissed her forehead. Every time I kissed her forehead, she became ten times more innocent. Her smile became more healing and her eyes became clear. My hands were still busy in grabbing both her chin when I answered politely.

“Our Journey.” 

How we met. How we went far away. How destiny brought us back together and how we will live forever being a happily married couple.” 

Her eyes released the ocean of love she always carried in her eyes. Her eyelashes tried a lot to stop, but the love in my answer was strong enough to break all those barriers. Drops of tears from her deep ocean felt down and her lips joined together to smile and asked.

“Promise?”

I smiled with glory and said.

“Promise.”

She jumped on me and hugged me hard as they will record our story in Guinness World Records. 

I enjoyed her enormous hug in a second. It warmed me from deep inside. We stuck for a while and embraced each other with love. I didn’t know that promise will get fulfilled in this way. I never expected, I will write something like this. I never imagined even in my dreams about my journey, which will become so tough to write.

It was our final exam of the first year. I prepared well and scored the second-highest marks in our college, and she too passed with good numbers. Kartik too passed his Accountancy Honors with good marks. All three of us decided to have a get together, and celebrate our results. 

After a few days, we met near our school, and enjoyed lunch beside the river bank where Nisha and I patched up. Kartik opened a bottle of chilled beer and he boozed. Nisha didn’t taste a single drop and I swallowed my first sip of beer of my life. It tasted worst and pungent. His stomach consumed the leftovers.

 Things never remain same. Kartik had a master plan in his mind, which he shared with us. A part-time business which he had newly started and approached us. We decided to work together. It was a turning point of my life. I still regret why I told yes to Kartik. No doubt his offer was good, but within it was hidden a seed of hell. Someone has wrapped in it the worst part of my life with beauty of money.