Unspoken

She was sitting beside me at the lunch table on my very first day in this college. You must be thinking, how the hell, this girl, Anoushka, sat beside me for lunch on the very first day? My answer is "Magic".

I am Vishal. I belong to a Mumbai based business family while I am enrolled at a college in Delhi. I am very close to my family and I never miss a chance to go and meet them.

I was working on a college project when my professor told me that I've a chance to go to Mumbai for a year through Student Exchange programme practiced between my own college and a Mumbai based college. My answer was "Cool". My prof knew it was "yes".

And there I went with my packed bags to Mumbai for a year to complete my college project.

I got her glimpses on my admission day. Next day, when I actually joined the college, my eyes searched for her but I didn't get a chance to meet her in the first half of the day. Eight students including her were working on the project on which I took admission.

It was afternoon so our whole group went for lunch and there we both (only vegetarians in the group) sat beside each other. That time I thought being vegetarian really pay nice dividends. I hope you’ve figured out, why she sat beside me the very first day.

Sitting beside her, I felt an aura about her. I got so engaged in talking with her that an hour of lunch time got over in a flick.

Next day, we had a seminar. In the break, I saw her sitting alone on the back benches. I thought, “What a fool I am? I am missing such a great opportunity to know her.” While sitting together we talked about different strokes of Life. We found conference boring so we decided to retire for coffee. A walk followed.

We were discussing about our project when she suddenly asked me, “Vishu, do you have somebody in your life?”

I was bowled by her question and by the nickname “Vishu”. I was not expecting all this in between project discussion. I had to answer. I looked in her eyes and found that they were expecting a “No”. But my answer was different, “Yes, I have. I do have somebody in my Life”.

That very point she drifted her eyes from me. I told her everything about my lifeline – Mili. Then I insisted her not to say anything about Mili to anybody. She promised me.

Now, it was my turn. I asked her the same question. She replied in a straight tone, “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you when we’ll have enough time”.

After reaching home, questions bugged my mind, “What a guy I am? It took me over a year to tell Mili about me and another half an year to tell her that I love her, that too I told her on phone but it took me only two meets to tell Anoushka about me. She is a stranger to me. How can I tell her something so special to me so easily?” But words once spoken never come back.

The biggest surprise occurred next day, when she wished me birthday without any information from my side. I asked her, “How does she know it’s my B’day”. She replied with her usual life taking smile, “It’s my style”.

A month passed. I asked her many times about the person in her life. Every time her answer was the same, “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you when we’ll have enough time”.

She remained a mystery to me until one day. She informed me that she had applied in some foreign universities for post graduate courses. That day only, when we were alone in the lab, she quietly told me that few months back she broke up from her friend and that he was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
That’s all she spoke. I wondered, “So, this was all she had to say. This was her long story; only three-four sentences.”

That day, I became sure of one thing; behind her sweet smiling face, some pains were hiding. I knew if I provoke her a little, she’ll burst out. But I didn’t have courage to handle such a burst. I loved Mili so I told her everything regarding this.

After one month, she told me that she had got final offer from a reputed US University.

Once, while discussing something about relations she asked me if I was happy in my current relation. She bowled me out again. I’d never posted such a question to myself in last ten months of courtship.

“Yeh” didn’t come out from my heart. For sometime I avoided her question. Finally, in place of replying, I asked her, “Does it matter?” She smiled. She smiled on me, I know.

Days turned into months and the time arrived when she left our college, our project.
Only words that came out of me were, “I’ll always miss you, my sweet friend”