High School Romance Revisited

EPILOGUE

I had said yes two weeks later. Of course, it made Mahen so desperate that he started visiting me late at night by climbing up to my bedroom. It seemed the love goddess was on his side since he sometimes got caught by my father who like a good teacher escorted him outside, gave him a brief lecture and send him away. Had it been my mother she would have got us married the next day.

"Are you happy Deepa?" Mahen asked. We were taking a walk on our terrace. It was a pleasant morning and before our friends arrived for all the wedding preparations and danced on our heads we stole a little time for ourselves.

"I am! Maybe after a long time," I smiled. True, I did try to be happy but now I know how it felt like to be genuinely happy without trying. "Glad to hear that," Mahen said. Though he looked eager and excited to take our relationship forward I could see a mix of fear and anxiety forming on his face, "What happened?" I asked, a little worried for him, although he didn't give me any such reasons to think that he had doubts after proposing marriage. "Mahen, tell me are you absolutely sure about getting married now?"

"What? Yes, of course, I am sure. It's just that we have lost so much," he said holding my hand, "a constant tension somehow is still there."

"No!" I shook my head and wrapped my hands around his neck. "We might have lost ten years of being together but look at the brighter side. We have gained so much. Falling even strongly in love again, building up the trust, learning that we are not alone and the list goes on." I took a deep breath and pulled him closer, "So Mr. Mahendra Ganguly, stop living in the past and flashing that sad smile. It's time for us to grow old together."

"Yes mam," he grinned and was about to kiss me when our gang decided to appear out of nowhere! "They need to get an award for bad timing!" Mahen complained as we went downstairs to greet them.

"I was thinking of opening a wedding planning business. Weddings seemed to have become my forever companion now!" Rohan yawned looking at the long scroll on which Rai wrote the guest list. I wonder where did she found that thing?

"So it stands at twelve hundred and forty!" Rai re-checked.

"The Fuck! Are you planning to invite half of the school?" Sanjana gasped staring at Mahen.

"Those one thousand names are just unwanted relatives!" he shrugged.

"Just three hundred from my side though," I said in my defence.

"So that means the rest two hundred and forty are friends," Chitra threw a bored look at us.

"Well, half of my office friends are going to be in the photography crew!" I quickly protested as I knew Chitra's look definitely meant why we both had so less number of friends.

"Mahen, are you sure you have noted all the names from your abroad circle?" Koushik asked sipping his coffee.

Mahen frowned, "Let me see." He stretched his hand and Rai handed him the scroll.

"How many foreign girls are there on the list?" Subir enquired which earned him a butt kick from Dhrubo. "You have a girlfriend Subir, behave!"

"Oh, I was asking for you, since I am guessing you will die a virgin!"

"Can you both just shut up and let him concentrate. Weddings are serious matters!" Rohan interrupted.

"I agree and since Deepa is against hiring any professional wedding planners, it's up to us to make her big day memorable! Rohan, you can get so much experience from this to start your own business," Sanjana spoke in a dreamy tone. Looks like she was already at my wedding in her head.