A Coffee at Dawn

Chapter 33 : In the name of LOVE!

It was eight in the night when I got ready and stepped out of the room. I needed Dhruv's bike and I had asked him in the evening. After all the annoying teases, he agreed to hand over his bike. He was slightly afraid about the idea of the date as I was still not acquainted with the city yet. I sat and googled the entire evening and collected some needful information required to make my princess have a good time. I was confident and all geared up. I remembered those days when I had taken her out on my bike to the Arena. The ride, the unexpected rain, the sunset, our first hug, the first peck on my cheek, all seemed so damp and fresh. We both had come a long way from then. On reaching the basement, I tried calling Aarti just to check on her. The call went unanswered. I left with the bike on trying a couple of times. 

While going on the way, there were a lot of conversations I did with myself, many rehearsals and  as result I was all nervous. The smile that was glued onto my face since yesterday only kept widening. I parked by a local flower vendor and bought a bouquet of her favourite white lilies. Till date, I had tried a lot to understand the  connection between a girl and flowers, to my dismay I had only failed.

I rode to her place in about half an hour and parked the bike outside the gate. There were sky candles of varied shades of orange and yellow lit that cast the light on the beautifully maintained plants I opened the gate and took the pathways as I knew Aarti would kill me if she had realised I had walked over the lawn. I did not want to risk it at all, she would not mind to push our marriage at stake for her newly found love-gardening.

I rang the bell twice to be unattended. I looked around for few seconds to realise that the door was not closed. I barged in shouting out her name, but could not find her anywhere. I went up to check in her room, she was not seen there as well. I left the bouquet on her bed and stepped out of the room with a slight panic triggered in. I ran down again to check in the kitchen and could not find her there as well. I ran up the stairs to find the door to the terrace open, I moved not able to see anything the darkness. I turned the light on and heaved a sigh of relief. There she stood facing the road desolated.

I walked near her and noticed she getting aware of my presence. She did not turn back and had her eyes glued onto the road. I snacked my arms around her waist and rested my chin on her shoulders. She placed her hands on my arms and held them tight. From the aura I could understand that there was a string that was misplaced. 

After few minutes, she decided to turn back and hug, still sticking onto the silence. I rubbed her right arm as she placed it on my chest. With the left hand, she clasped my shirt tight and I understood she was scared. She had her eyes fixed on a mother sitting on a slab at a distance who enjoyed watching her daughter run around with a doll. 

"Do you know the similarity between you and that kid out there?" I asked.  She nodded her head and watched as the kid held the doll tightly as she jumped around. 

"Look at the kid, without any boundaries, without any inhibitions she is enjoying every moment of life. At her age, she probably does not even understand the meaning of those words, so ignorant and so innocent. Look at the doll in her hand, it does have a plastic smile taped onto its face, it does seem to flow with the girl the way she moves around, completely unaware of life yet existing," I stopped. She looked up at me with her eyes filled with tears. 

"The Amyra, the world knows today is that doll. The little girl that slumbers deep down the image of Amyra; Aarti is that sweet little girl who pops and hops enthused and makes sure she is happy and so is the world," I kissed her cheeks as she had a faint smile on her lips. 

"You return to me in any form and I will love you no less than what I ever did.  But to be someone for the sake of the world and to believe, that is happiness is not really worth it. The world already has a lot of battles for you in your name, why do you want to co-exist as another person in the same body? how many battles  does it reduce rather?" I asked and she stood quiet contemplating my thoughts. I gave a little pause and I could see her composing herself back.