My life was miserable. I was all alone, no girl-friend, lot of work to be taken care of within a short deadline, thoughts of Preeti constantly hitting my mind and no clue as to what to do about her.
Meanwhile, Preeti got her first cell phone. Surprisingly she sms’ed me her number with a warning note of not to call her, unless it is very much important. The reason being, in those days, incoming calls were also heavily charged, almost 6-7 rs/min.
I asked, what if I wanted to talk to her about something which is not so important?, and she replied I can give her a miss call from my cell, and she’ll call back.
Over a period of time, we developed some pattern. One ring was meant for just a Hi, two rings were for I just thought about you, three rings were meant for, need to talk to you, although not that much urgent.
This helped me tremendously. Although we rarely talked , with a cell phone aside, Preeti was just a miss call away from me. Initially from both of us it was a one ring call. But one day, I replied with two rings, and two days later Preeti gave me a two ring call.
“Does that mean anything?”, I casually thought.
One day, while I was sipping coffee in our pantry room, I got a call from Preeti. She was breathing heavily.
“What happened? You okay?”, I was worried
“Yes, sort of”, she replied
“Why? What happened?” I was eagerly wanted to know what could have disturbed Preeti
“Nothing, just had a fight with Neha”, Preeti said
“Neha? About what?” “About YOU!”, she said after waiting for a second
“Look, I am confused; can you tell me what happened exactly?”
There was silence on the phone for some time. I felt she is covering the mouthpiece to clear her throat, or at worst control her voice, and then she said
“I was showing my cell phone to her, and she saw those tones of miss-calls and couple of sms’ of yours in my cell.
She asked me, since when this is going on?
I said THIS means what?
She said, since when we are calling and sms’ing each other.
I told her, it’s been a while.
She was furious, that I haven’t told her.
Tell me Tarun, why should I? After all, Tarun is not a property of Neha.
Neha is nobody to you. Right Tarun?”
After a brief moment, I said, “Correct. Neha is my past”. I wished if I could say .. and you are my future.
“Then let’s clear it up-front. Let’s meet on Saturday, you me and Neha. Alright?”
I said alright.
Saturday morning, we meet at the usual café. We had decided to meet at 11.30, although I asked Preeti to be there by 10.30 or so, so that we could discuss what we were going to talk.
Preeti was looking exceptionally well today. She was wearing a off-white color Capri with pale white color squares on it and a florescent green color shirt. She also had a multi-color stroll wrapped around her neck.
I saw her first time in casual wear.
I thought, “What if I have a girl-friend like this? Half of my colleagues and friends will die just because of jealousy”
Before I could say anything, she ordered two caffeine for us.
“See Tarun, whatever relationship you and Neha had was clearly a past. You already said, she is nobody to you now, and I am sure, it should be the same case with her.
Now I don’t expect Neha to anticipate me telling every time I meet you, or we call each other. Who is she to still claim her rights on you?”
The coffee boy stopped half-way. He thought Preeti and I are having fights.
I smiled and asked him to bring the coffees.
“Ok.. cool down, let’s see what she has to say and then I will take care of it”, I said
“See Tarun, she is creating a big problem for me now.”, Preeti said
“What problem?”, I asked
“She already have planted a seed about you. We were good friends, but whatever she said that day, I am worried…”
I clearly noticed the We were good friends and that pleased me a lot.
I was about to say something, but then Neha came in.
She paused at the gate, looked at US, hatred in her eyes.
“Hey Tarun, hie Preeti”, she said
We both said Hi in reply, trying to sound as casual and friendly as possible.
She looked at our half empty coffee cups. “You have been here for long time?”
Nobody said anything.
“Have you ordered anything for me Preeti?”
Preeti shook her head.
“Of course!, why would you?”, she moved her hands in air and called the coffee-boy to order something.
Preeti looked at me for that sarcastic statement. I looked back at her.
“So how is your life Tarun?”, that sarcastic tone continued
I said, it is fine.
“Better than before?”, Neha asked again.
I nodded.
“How is Preeti?”, Neha asked me
“You asking me?”, I said
“Yes”, Neha said in reply
“Ask her, why me?”, I said
“I thought you might be knowing it”, Neha
“Look Neha, there is some misunderstanding.”, I said
“Really? Care to explain me?”, Neha asked
I was about to say something, but Preeti put her hand on mine. That touch, that feeling, that warmth was heaven. I felt so good.
“Why would he explain anything to you?”, Preeti asked Neha
“Are you his attorney?”, Neha asked Preeti
“No, I am his friend. And your questions are taunting US”, Preeti said
“Well, Preeti, you might be forgetting, Me and Tarun were together for 2 years. We were boy-friend and girl-friend. I hope you remember.”, Neha said
“Exactly Neha that is what my point is. You were. You are married now, and whatever relationship you and Tarun had, is over. It is a history now.”
Neha was thinking what to say, but she couldn’t think of any.
“And now that Tarun is out of the relationship, I don’t think so you should be bothered with whom he talk, with whom he is friendly and other stuff.”
“We loved each other for two years..”, Neha was trying to make her point, when Preeti interrupted her.
“NO. I think you both had a big misunderstanding”
Neha was shocked, so was I.
“What do you mean NO? We did loved each other, right Tarun?”, Neha asked.
“No Neha, it was not love. I am sure of it. If you guys had really loved each other, you could have got married then.”
“Oh come-on, at least thousand times I told you what the problem was. Neither my parents, nor his parents could have allowed us to get married. Both of them were against the inter-cast marriage.” Neha laughed while saying this.
“Yes Neha you told me alright. But love cannot be suppressed by any human or supernatural power on earth. Love never dies, its immortal. You could have found thousand ways than to sadly separate apart.
When a woman wants to have something, she gets it by any means.
I don’t think so you loved each other”, Preeti was pouring her heart out.
