Loves Me, Loves Me Not

‘Why don’t you convey your feelings to Malvika? I think she likes you too,’ Ahana suggested, sipping her coffee.

It was late at night but Varun was still busy with his assignments in the living room. Two days had passed since their crazy road trip and they were again settling into their old routine. Keeping him company were Garima and Ahana who were watching television. Malvika was asleep in her bedroom. He blushed as soon as Ahana asked the question. He had been planning to confess his feelings to Malvika but was waiting for the right time.

‘Tomorrow is a book launch in Mumbai.’ He smiled.

‘So?’ Ahana asked.

‘Oh shit. Are you serious?’ Garima asked.

She understood what he meant. Malvika had told her about a book launch she was eager to attend but, in all probability, she was going to miss it due to her practical exams.

‘What is happening?’ Ahana seemed confused.

‘Malvika loves reading and tomorrow is her favourite author’s book launch in Mumbai. So I am going to attend it just so I can get an autographed copy of the book with a personal message for her from the author that will read, “Malvika, will you be Varun’s girlfriend?”’

‘That’s a brilliant idea. She was really sad about missing the event. This will make her really happy,’ Garima said in excitement.

Ahana loved the idea but what really delighted her was that he wanted to surprise Malvika with another out-and-out romantic gesture. He had dismissed it because he was short of cash but Ahana convinced him to borrow money from her and go ahead with his plans. After all, when you love someone you should not hesitate to express it wholeheartedly. He immediately called the concerned person to confirm the plan. He was scared that his plan would backfire but with Ahana and Garima’s support, he was willing to take the chance. No wonder they were BFFs. Best friends make your problems and fears their own, so you don’t have to face them alone.

You don’t need to do any cardio exercises once your heart starts beating for someone. The best cardio is the way love makes your heart race. The most wonderful love stories are those in which you fall in love with the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time. Before coming to Mumbai, Varun had never expected to fall in love with his roommate.

Varun left for the book launch without informing Malvika about it. She had no idea what was coming her way. As he reached the bookstore, he saw a huge crowd waiting for the author to arrive. For a moment, he was disheartened thinking his plan wouldn’t become reality, seeing the excitement of the fans who were waiting to click pictures and take autographs. Without thinking too much of the consequences, he purchased the book and waited for the author to arrive. The moment the author entered, girls started hooting and cheering for one glimpse of him. This depressed Varun even more. Was Malvika in love with the author? He waited patiently until the event was over and the anchor announced, ‘The stage is open now. Those who want to take autographs can come ahead. But please maintain a single queue to avoid chaos.’

The author took the mike from the anchor and said, ‘Guys, don’t worry. Just come one by one in a queue. I will sign every single book and click photos too.’

As Varun heard this, he started jumping in joy. The girls standing next to him thought that he was another crazy fan. Their giggles hardly mattered to Varun. He stood in the queue patiently and waited for his turn.

‘What’s your name?’ the author asked as soon as Varun handed over the book to him.

‘I want you to write my friend’s name. Malvika. Also, if you can add a message?’ Varun requested.

Before the author could start writing a message of his own, Varun said, ‘I want you to write “Will you be Varun’s girlfriend, Malvika?”’

The author looked up and smiled at Varun.

‘I hope she accepts your proposal. If so, do inform me. Hopefully I’ll get an interesting story to write.’

‘Sure,’ Varun added and left. Who the hell is going to reveal their story to this author? he thought.

Without wasting any more time, he left the place.

Once he returned to Navi Mumbai, he went to the shop where he had ordered some T-shirts. The shop was about to close, but Varun managed to reach just in time. He called Ahana and asked if everything was ready. Ahana replied in the affirmative. He took out his wallet and glanced at the picture of his mother. Thankfully the picture was not in the wallet that was stolen on the road trip.

How desperately he wanted her to be with him but death is beyond anyone’s control. He wiped the tears off his face and hailed a cab home. The book and the T-shirts were carefully hidden in his bag. After having dinner, Garima requested Malvika to join her for a walk.

‘Are you okay?’ Malvika asked.

‘Of course.’

‘Then all of a sudden why do you want to go for a walk?’

Everyone pretended like they didn’t know anything.

‘Something is cooking. Tell me!’

‘Nothing. I just wanted some fresh air so I thought of going a walk. This pain is making me mad,’ Garima said, faking a headache to convince Malvika.

Malvika finally agreed. As per the plan, Garima was to return not before an hour. As soon as they left, Varun took out the candles he had bought. Ahana was impressed by Varun’s preparation. Both of them made the necessary arrangements in the living room.

‘All the notes are ready, right?’ Varun asked.

Ahana nodded and handed them to him. In the meanwhile, she lit the candles all around. The stage was set and all Varun had to do now was to speak his heart. He was very nervous about it and the nervousness showed on his face. You know, there are times when you want to ask that simple little question and then you realize you’re afraid of that one simple little answer. Varun too was afraid of that one simple little answer.

‘Dude, the way you have set up everything, if you propose to me right now, I will accept it.’ Ahana laughed just to make him relax.

‘Shut up. Let me message Garima that we are ready.’

He sent Garima a WhatsApp message. Hey, you can come back. Everything is set. Just pray everything goes well. And yes, your T-shirt is in your bedroom. We both have ours on already.

Once the message was delivered, he immediately logged on to Facebook and uploaded a status tagging Malvika. It’s going to be a memorable night for you. Because of you I smile a lot more these days. I think I have found my forever.

He thought at least ten times before clicking ‘Post’.

‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!’ was all he could scream once he posted the status. He refreshed his page almost a hundred times in just a minute just to check if Malvika had commented on it or even liked it. Sometimes we don’t care how many people like our status. The only thing we care about is that the status reaches the one person it is meant for!

Love makes you do silly things. It can make you buy a book even if you are not interested in reading it. Because the happiness of your girl lies in reading that book. It makes you buy candles even when there is no power cut. Some people aren’t just special, they are simply irreplaceable and Malvika was certainly one of those people for Varun. Whenever he was with her, he wished the clock would turn anticlockwise or just stop moving altogether!

Malvika saw the Facebook notification just before she entered the apartment. She had a smile on her face after reading Varun’s status. However, she was unaware of all that he had planned for her. As the door opened, she saw that the lights were dim and there were candles lit beautifully all over. Varun was standing there waiting to see Malvika’s reaction, while she was absolutely speechless. Ahana was in the bedroom and as soon as Garima entered she went inside to change her T-shirt. Varun and Malvika were left alone in the living room. The air was filled with romance. Malvika saw a red velvet ribbon tied from one end of the room to the other. From it hung eleven little notes.

‘Why don’t you read them? They are all for you,’ Varun said, breaking the silence.

Malvika couldn’t believe all of this was actually happening to her. She went closer to the first note attached to the ribbon. It read: You are the only perfect part of my imperfect life.

Reading the first message, she blushed and looked back lovingly at Varun. Then she moved on, reading one note after another.

I will love you until oranges grow on apple trees!

Even in my darkest hours just the thought of you can brighten up my entire world!

You are the secret ingredient to my happiness.

The reason we found each other so late in life was to let us experience what we didn’t want on our way to what we truly want.

You have given me a million reasons to love you since the day we met and every day you give me more!

Since I met you, I have earned a new degree—a ‘Masters in Missing You’. The course has taught me all the different ways and different times to miss you.

I love it when I catch you looking at me, then you smile and look away.

Of all the people in the world . . . it’s only you I can’t stop thinking about!

I didn’t find you, you didn’t find me—we found each other!

Somewhere between crying for a doll and crying for a person you grew up to be a woman. But I will never let you cry for a person and I will make sure you carry your elegant smile always!

Her eyes welled up with tears. She looked up at Varun who smiled innocently, looking at her. Malvika ran to him and hugged him tightly. She tightened the grip as much as she could just to show him that this was not going to end soon. It was going to last until her last breath. One universe, eight planets, seven continents, over three hundred countries, over six billion people, and still they were lucky enough to meet each other! Varun released the grip, looked in her eyes and said, ‘I feel so comfortable with you. Like I can share everything without thinking or manipulating. It’s my first time and I know it’s not yours. But that doesn’t matter to me. I believe we can get along together and though we will fight, every morning it will feel so good to wake up knowing you are mine and I am yours. All I have is this fragile heart of mine and even though it has a few bruises, it still uses all its strength to love you and only you. Maybe I am acting a bit romantic, but I have never felt like this before. I am sorry if I am being a little cheesy, but once in a while it’s fine, I suppose. You know you’re in love when you just look at their Facebook pictures, and smile spontaneously, and just can’t stop. That’s what you do to me. You know how to make me smile and if you give me a chance, I want to make you feel the same way for the rest of your life. You have made me a better person and I want to be a part of your life for a lifetime.’

Malvika was blushing continuously. The best feeling in the world is knowing that you have a special place in the heart of someone special. Everything else just doesn’t matter! Varun presented her with the book by her favourite author that he had had autographed especially for her. Malvika saw the personalized message and said, ‘I never thought I would be so lucky.’

‘To have the signed book or to have me in your life?’ Varun smiled and told her to turn around. There they were—Ahana and Garima standing with their T-shirts on. Varun switched off all the lights in the room and came and stood next to Garima. The text on their T-shirts glowed.

Ahana had ‘Will you’ written on her T-shirt, Garima had ‘be my’ and Varun had ‘girlfriend?’ on his.

‘So will you be my girlfriend?’ Varun asked.

Malvika just nodded and gave him a tight hug. When you find a special someone who means everything to you, you hold on to them and cherish every moment you have with them!

‘Let’s move then. We hardly have ten minutes left,’ Varun said, looking at his watch.

‘What for?’ Malvika asked in surprise.

‘Wait and watch,’ Garima said.

They locked the door and moved towards the terrace. Malvika was confused about what was happening but at the same time she was excited. Once they reached the terrace, everyone kept distracting her one way or the other so that she wouldn’t look towards the sky.

‘What exactly is it about Malvika that’s so desirable?’ Ahana asked Varun to keep Malvika engaged in conversation.

‘It’s everything about her. She is irresistible,’ Varun replied.

‘That’s it?’ Malvika asked.

‘Everything about you is special. I can tell you one thing for sure. In future, no matter how different our opinions might be, I will still stand by you and love you, more than any man has ever loved you.’

The next second Varun held Malvika’s hand and stood behind her, lifting her chin up so she would look towards the sky. The surprise was waiting for her! Varun had hired a skywriter! A skilled pilot in a plane was flying through the sky, the white smoke from his aircraft forming letters.

As she looked up, she could see the words ‘I love you, Malvika’ in the sky.

Once the words were formed the plane emitted more smoke in the shape of a heart around the words. Everyone started cheering and screaming Varun’s and Malvika’s names. Varun was content that everything had gone as the plan. For a moment he looked towards Ahana to thank her and she looked back and smiled. Malvika couldn’t stop her tears as not even for a second had she thought something so grand was coming her way. The moment was priceless for her—larger than life. Sometimes, a lifetime spent with someone may be meaningless. But a moment spent with someone who really loves you is more than life itself.

Varun went closer to her and held her firmly by her waist.

‘Until I met you, I thought the concept of having a person who lights up your entire life and makes every day seem brighter was just something that existed in movies. But now I know that you’re the one I’ve been looking for all my life. When we first met I was afraid of letting you in, and I’m sure that you felt that too. I guess that deep down I was worried that I couldn’t be everything you needed and were looking for. But little by little I see how you accept my flaws, and how patient you are with me. Whenever I talk to you, I feel like the luckiest guy in the whole wide world. There’s nothing that I need to hide from you, nothing I can’t tell you; there are no uncomfortable silences, no secrets and no judgements passed. While I’m opening myself up, I’ll let you in on a little secret—you’re the reason I strive to be a better person. I love you, Malvika.’

After his monologue, they kissed! The kiss seemed to last an eternity. Malvika slowly opened her eyes and parted her lips.

‘There was something about you that attracted me from the very first day. Even though you were not really the social type, you told me everything about you—your home, family, your feelings. When you cried out your grief and sorrow to me, I felt so close to you. I wanted to engulf you in my arms and make you feel safe and secure. I felt extremely happy and proud to give you this support and comfort. And somewhere along the way, I opened my heart to you without even realizing so. Anything that made me happy or sad, I couldn’t wait to share it with you. We both don’t know how or when we slowly developed these feelings for each other. But know that it gives me great pride to show the world how madly I am in love with you.’

The best feeling in the world is not loving someone but to be loved by that same person. We all have that one person with whom we argue and fight, but we still cannot resist talking to them. Malvika and Varun were one such couple!