Their hands brushed. He glanced
at her, but she didn’t seem to notice. His heart skipped a beat in that
miniscule of a second. The jostling street felt empty, as if it was just the
two of them on a long walk to nowhere. Like the bright light that blinds out
everything else.
Just when he was still indulging
in her, she held his hand and started chattering. Just about nothing in
particular, and not even looking towards him. It was like the most natural
thing to do for her. Hold his hand and walk. He was lost in her, so enchanted
by the moment that the very existence of time seized.
He intertwined his fingers with
hers and just closed his palms tighter to feel her more. She still didn’t seem
to notice.
The flowers on the way,
they danced at your name,
they love you they said,
wish even I could say the same…
Conversation seemed to just flow.
Having no start and no end, just as he wished it would never end. The moment
would go on for eternity and more and she would just be there holding his hand.
She spoke about random things,
trying her best to veil the excitement, the anxiety, in her. He had come all
the way just for her, and she wanted to take away from this moment all that she
could and live a lifetime with him in it. She couldn’t make herself look into
his eyes, for she knew they would betray the reality. They, her eyes, would
speak her heart out. She knew, he had a way of reading them. He could just look
into her eyes and know if she was happy or sad, if she her heart was distant or
at peace. She would ask him how he could tell, he just shrugged. For him, her
eyes were the keys to her inner self.
She liked the way he held her
hand, it was firm yet gentle. The way he looked at her when she spoke, she
noticed it from the corner of her eyes. She revered in the thought that today,
he was all hers and there was no one or nothing that could steal him from her.
If only she knew, he was hers
from the moment she fought with him the last time they had parted. A good bye
made remorseful by the fight. A fight with no reason but stemming only due to
the fact that it was the last time they would be seeing each other for a long
time. A fight, for not wanting to say that goodbye. It was that fight after all,
or rather the goodbye, which had made him come back. Just for a few hours if
not for a lifetime. To bid that final goodbye with a smile. And see her enough
to remember her by, for till tomorrow. A tomorrow that even he knew, deep
inside of him, would never come.
Silence endured,
Pain that love bestowed…
“Well, this may be the last time we are meeting.” He said, looking
away from her.
“Why? Won’t you come back?” She nudged
him to look at her, searching in his eyes, searching for an assurity that even
if he never came back, he did want to.
“Whatever for? The last time I
went, I didn’t come for 4yrs, and then too, I came back for a reason. This
time, I don’t have any. I don’t think I would be coming anytime soon. There is
nothing for me here. And as it is, you
would be getting married in a couple of years, what’s the point of me coming?” She
noticed the smile fading off from his face, which was rare. She could hardly
remember a time when he wasn’t smiling.
“You wont even come for my
wedding?”
“What has your wedding in store
for me? Why would I come? What will even do at your wedding?”
“Why does anyone attend a
wedding?”
“Some come for the food and some
for socialising. I wouldn’t be knowing anyone except you, what will I do?”
He didn’t tell her that he
couldn’t possibly make himself see her with someone else. Neither did she tell
him that she didn’t want to be with someone else. Unspoken words poured out
from their eyes, yet each shrouded them with doubt.
She sat on the edge of a footwalk
gazing into the distant horizon. He sat a little behind her so as to see her
without being seen. She felt his eyes upon her, yet didn’t have the heart to
look into his and ask for answers.
She knew, it wouldn’t matter.
Some things are never meant to be. Him coming today was his way of telling her
that it mattered that he saw her one more time. Just once more, for forever.
They talked about everything but
themselves.
Pain in your eyes,
you hid with words disguised,
A love long denied…
The sun had set, and it was time
for him to leave. She asked him to stay for the night and go in the morning. He
denied knowing fully well that if he didn’t walk away today, he would never be
able to. He held her in his arms but she walked away from his embrace.
He didn’t pursue and let her go,
for what never begun could never end.
- Eon Heath
p.s. - Nothing.
Image - Google.