Monday 10 April 2017

7 Stages of love- Aqeedat(Short Story)

"The burritos were awesome. Who recommended the place to you?"
"Was just checking for good restaurants serving Mexican food in my app and found this place. Its quite new actually."
"We have never been to this part of the city, anyways. And if you ask me, a long drive is always more than welcome. The food was the cherry on the top.", she giggled as he smiled and continued driving.
"So, where to, next? In fact", she fetched out her mobile from her purse, "Let me see if there are some good movies playing nearby."
"Actually", he hesitated a bit, "I am feeling a bit tired, so lets go home and rest."
"Come on Atharva, we dont get many long weekends like this when we can go out and enjoy. Otherwise its always long hours for both of us and we are tired like shit on weekends to even think of going out."
"I am actually tired, last weekend was heavy in office."
"You always do this, Atharva. It was heavy for me as well. And thats why I was looking forward to this long weekend."
"Why do you always have to argue when I am saying I am not feeling like it? What if you would be feeling tired and I would be pushing you like this?"
"Ohh! So, I am pushing you now! Great! We dont talk on regular days as we both are busy in our work and when we get a day to talk you want to go back and sleep."
"Why do you have this habit of always calling any random issue as a serious life problem? I just need some rest and is it too much to ask?"
"Fine", she interjected him.
"No, listen!", he tried to speak.
"Stop the car!", she said.
"Whats wrong?"
"Stop the car now!", she said as he halted the car on the side of the road. He looked at her with frustration.
"You want to go and take rest. Fine. We will go home. But I need five minutes alone.", she said and before he could speak, she opened the door and took an unknown road near some shops. She folded her hands as she walked shaking her head furiously. As she reached the end of the road, she saw a clean shaven man sitting near a closed shop smiling and waving at everyone. He was sitting on the floor of the pavement. As he turned towards her and smiled, she looked away from him. She noticed a watchmaker working next to her. She moved towards the watchmaker as she saw the man on the pavement again smiling at strangers.
"Whats wrong with that guy?", she asked the watchmaker.
"That one?", asked the watchmaker. "He is mad. he has been doing this since an year."
"Mad? He looks fine to me.", she said and after a few seconds of dilemma in her mind, started to walk towards the man. As she reached the man, he gave her his biggest smile.
"Its a beautiful day!, he said and smiled as he stood up watching her come over to him.
"Yes, beautiful. Who are you? And what are you doing here?"
"Me? I am waiting for my girlfriend. We meet here on a daily basis.".
"Your girlfriend? Whats her name?"
"Sanjeeda. She would be coming in a few minutes.  She is a bit late today, maybe because of her sick mother as she may have to undergo some tests."
"What happened to her mother?"
"She has a hole in her heart. Doctors discovered it pretty late, so chances are critical, she told me."
"She told you? Havent you met her mother?"
"Never got a chance, its been only three months since I met my girlfriend anyways. She met me here in this market itself."
"Really? What was she doing here?"
"She was here for some medicines for her mother, as it was during that time itself that she came to know about her condition. My girlfriend is not that well to do, so she was worried. I helped her buy medicines that day as well."
"De often takes money from you?"
"Yeah the last time we met, I gave her fifty thousand for her mother's operation. I hope that is successful now."
"You gave fifty thousand to a girl you met only three months ago because she told her mother was ill? You have her number?"
"I have it but whenever I dial it someone else picks the call. But not to worry, she must be coming in a few minutes.", he smiled
She nodded her head in disbelief, "You buy those roses daily for her?"
"Whenever we fought. The last time we met, we fought as well, so I bought these roses for her."
"What did you fight about?", she asked, smiling.
"Normal little things. Which every couple fights about. I would ask her to travel across the town, and she would get tired very early in the day. I always have to cancel my plans. Even when I bring my car, she would get tired and make excuses not to come. I want to spend time with her, talk with her, and she makes these excuses. So, I got pretty angry on her last time. These roses are for the same.", he said as she shook her head.
"Well, I am getting late. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, when my girlfriend comes, I will tell her about you.", he smiled as she came back to the watchmaker.
"Poor soul.", she said to the watchmaker. "The girl fooled him for fifty thousand with a fake story of her mother's illness, and he waits for her for nothing. Why cant anyone trace the girl and bust her fake story?"
"The girl is dead, Maam", said the watchmaker calmly as she looked at him surprised. He was still busy in his work. "The girl had a hole in her heart. She needed fifty thousand for her surgery which he arranged but Doctors could not save her. He couldn't bear the shock that his love died, and in his mind he made up a story that it was her mother who had the ailment and not her."
She couldnt say anything as she looked back at the man on the pavement who smiled back at her. She walked back the entire road wiping the little drops of tear forming in her eyes. As she sat in the car, her husband looked at her.
"Listen, lets go to the movie. Its a long weekend and we can take rest tomorrow. Search for...", he couldnt complete as she hugged him.
"Lets go back home. Take some rest.", she said.

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