No matter where you are in your life, you may regret choosing the wrong love.
You may repent of some bitter deeds you committed in the past.
What is it like if life luckily gave us a second chance? Can those issues be resolved at least then for a better life?
For instance, what about love in middle age?!?!
"Shut up, Aashitha!", Dr.Alok roared as Aashitha bulged her eyes and closed her fist. Nisha, clinging to Alok, continued soaking his shirt. Alok tightened Nisha in his arms as he walked her along towards the stage. Aashitha shrugged, heading towards the wooden desk. She pressed the rightmost arrow button on the laptop only to reiterate the presentation.
"An illicit relationship", said the first slide. Alok's eyes reddened. He frowned at the smiling Aashitha. Nisha lifted her head up; tears continued rolling down her cheeks as Aashitha repeatedly played the title slide for the next couple of seconds. Aashitha extended both her hands wide open in the front. She declared, "Whatever it is, our colleague, Nisha, is in an illicit relationship. That's all I wanted to bring to the board's notice." She frowned at Nisha, completing, "I am not scared of Nisha anymore. She is bad..."
"What do you mean by illicit? Who is in an illicit relationship here?", Alok interrupted her. He caught Nisha's hand. He took his hand along with hers to beat his chest. He turned to face her. He arrested his light brown-ish gentle eyes into hers. "I love you!", he confessed, to the peak of his volume that the chandelier hanging from the roof and at the center of the hall, oscillated, for the entire next second. Nisha smiled as her eyes pumped more and more drops of saline water droplets.
Her eyes were only upon her Alok saar who looked around, clarifying, "I love her very much yet less than her who has been loving me for the past twenty-eight years despite my rejection. Nisha is not only my beloved but also..."Tears accumulated in his eyes as he completed, "My only family. I found no purpose to survive until I met her recently and decided to reveal my feelings." He turned away to wipe his tears. He pointed at Aashitha, "So, you, better don't bitch about my blood for it has a big hand in keeping me alive."
While Aashitha inclined her hand and shrank her eyes, he showed his palm gesturing for her to pause. He spoke out, "Wait, I'm not yet done." Nisha tilted her head and smiled at him. He went on, "I know what you wanna know now. Why did Nisha scratch Payal's faces everywhere and burnt her look-alike dolls? Am I right?" Aashitha nodded.
Alok reasoned, "Yes, Nisha hates Payal to the core. It's not because she is a psycho! Instead, it's because she loves me beyond the core. Payal ruined my life. She separated me from my mom, dad, bhai, bhabhi, niece, and lastly, my dear son." He sighed. He raised his voice and uttered, in a single breath," She made me an orphan through her wicked words. She caused frustration in me that I abandoned my little son to make him an orphan too. She filled my heart with fake hopes of love. I, a nincompoop, believed her blindly and left my caring family behind just for her, a cunning and self-centered woman."
"How irresponsible of me! I regret losing my son. Poor fellow! What did he do in the saga? I tried reaching out to the local cops and detectives yet I hardly wonder if he is safe today", said Alok, at which the audience too swallowed their tears. "My life which I lived with materialistic breaths from necessity's point of view, I started breathing naturally only after meeting Nisha. It was after Payal and I separated that I began realizing my love for Nisha. But, it was already too late. Neither did I have her landline nor her address for mobiles didn't exist, back during the 90s. I lived with a hope of finding her sometime in this lifetime."
The managing director, the spectacled elderly gentleman, in the very first row, frowned at the girl on the stage. He scolded her," You are fired."
"Sir, but...", Ashitha tried to manage, shaking her head along.
"You mustn't interfere in a speaker or colleague's delicate personal matters such as the one you just presented. It's up to them! However, Alok and Nisha are a symbol of true love. How could you call such a boding-one in a lakh illicit?" He pointed at her, concluding, "That's why you must have investigated in and out before uttering even a single word. But, you shot many arrows at the two. See how broken they are! If at all it was illicit, why should we care about one's personal affairs at the office? Did you think this was an ordinary business meeting? It's not Nisha but it's you who has crossed all the limits to defame our company in an international tech summit inviting listeners throughout the globe."
"To date, I had only read about true love in novels or seen true lovers hoping for love for years at the movies. We feel happy for you, Dr.Alok and Nisha", the Master's student from the last row complimented followed by great rounds of applauses emerging from each corner of the hall. The central chandelier again oscillated, this time, more enthusiastically, like the simple pendulum of the Physics experiment. Alok blushed at Nisha whose eyeballs rolled hither and thither, looking away from him.
As the listeners sat back and the facilitator took onto the mike, announcing, "We would like to conclude with a vote of thanks. Thanks to every single participant who has made the event happen smoothly. I thank every speaker for sharing..."
Nisha pulled Alok out of the hall. She led him towards the ice cream parlor afar and opposite the hall.
"What happened?", enquired Alok.
"Enough, saar", said Nisha, closing her eyes and displaying her left palm at him. She opened her eyes and wiped the tears on her cheeks. "I don't want anyone's sympathy."
"Medam, what do you mean? What sympathy?...", said Alok. Nisha grabbed his collar, asking, "Didn't you pretend to be loving me inside? Didn't you propose to me just to prove my innocence? No thank you, I can protect myself." He was about to explain that she raised her voice a bit more.
She cried, "Don't you remember those golden olden days of our fifth semester in 1992? They were filled with our happy moments together when we were the class representatives for the DBMS subject. The small talks between us which happened to be an extension of the work stuff, my big problem where you stood like a pillar for me and so on, as we began closely interacting with each other over time..."
"No!", Alok denied, releasing his collar from her.
She shook her head, continuing, "I fell for you eventually. It just so happened naturally that I could hear my heart taking your name instead of the conventional 'Lub-Dub'. My love for you was one such natural process filled with an unexplainable feeling of happiness if you couldn't feel it for me, it's okay! Ignore! I consider myself unlucky for not having been blessed to win my man's love."
She joined her hands, pleading, "But, please, at least for the sake of the fragile feeling, don't fake it. You can fake marks or money but not the heart beckoning one's name. It hurts me here when someone insults the beautiful emotion. You won't understand unless you fall naturally just the way I loved you...it just happens! Remember it happens...one's poor heart gets saturated after a point of sorrows..."She took a deep breath.
"I love you, Alok saar. I have always loved you ever since I learned what love was for you taught me the same. You just won my heart more than two decades ago. But, if I can't, it's okay. Love mustn't be a consequence of anything-force, money, or even sympathy, in your case. Please!", concluded she, turning away from him and wiping her tears. She put her hands in her pockets and began walking away.
"Nisha medam, are you done?", asked Alok, catching her hand. As she turned back at him, he pulled her closer. With her hands on his shoulders, she asked him, "What more do we have to talk? Let me go..."As tears accumulated in his glittering black eyes, he rested her head in his right palm. He leaned forward, closed his eyes, and kissed her forehead. He rested his nose on hers. She closed her eyes. He expressed, "No empathy! No sympathy! I really seriously love you, my Nisha medam."
He wept his heart out along with hers. He continued, "Payal and I indeed separated eighteen years ago. We are no longer together-not even in touch. Would you leave me if I were in a big problem?"
"Except for my own death, I can never leave you, Alok saar. My heart has been longing for your love. I want you, saar. I love you more than anything else in the universe", described Nisha, tightening her arms around his shoulders. "If I leave you, it's no less than leaving my own soul. Why would I voluntarily live as a zombie?", she concluded, weeping bitterly.
He wrapped his arms around her waist. His tears began soaking her cheeks as he shared, "Payal dumped me during my toughest times, for the good, because it was then that my feelings for you concealed deep within the four corners of my heart flew out to join my blood. If you were my wife, you wouldn't have left me when I lost my job and suffered financial crises. You would have always been by my side, dirty or clean times. That's love-true love."
They opened their eyes and blushed at each other. "Medam, don't you dare leave me and go now. You are my only kin. You are the only one I have now." He hugged her tightly. She hugged and massaged his back. "No, saar. But, why did you lie to me that Payal and you still lived together? Do you even know how much her presence with you hurts me?"
"Sorry, medam.I had to, because, I wanted to know if you still loved me. It wouldn't have been possible without the lie...", said he. She released herself from his arms and closed her fists to beat his chest gently. The two chuckled as she asked him, repeatedly, "Why,saar?Why?Was that even a doubt? I have always loved you...Didn't you know? Why?..."
Alok, all of a sudden, caught her hands. She looked hither and thither into his light brown pupils. He caught her hands and brought them closer to his lips. He kissed her. "Medam, we have already wasted forty-eight years of our lives. We met at twenty. I don't know how the past twenty-eight years passed but I can't spare another moment without you. I want to start living now, medam. You know very well who I need for the same. It's you-only you!"
"Saar, I have always been here!", confessed Nisha. The two hugged and blushed with tears of happiness.
Wow! Alok and Nisha's love life finally began during their middle age. When most couples celebrate their silver jubilee, the saga of true love begins in another's life. What a pity! What's Alok and Nisha's romance saga up to?
Dear readers,
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