Sharon Raiprakash was the happiest person on earth today. Exactly three months ago she had made her way into Swayam Shikhawat's room, his arms to be precise, and had ended up commiting to a trial relationship. Her heart had been laden with a constant feeling of happiness eversince. It was a feeling that had outshown the pressure of footloose competition and had seen her through most of the torture that the dramatic events in college had inflicted on her. Infact it had surpassed all the emotional experiences she had had in course of her relationship with Swayam, like the triumphant joy she felt when she won over her insecurities and inhibitions, the occasional revelations about him that left her pleasantly surprised at times and freaked out otherwise, the hurt she felt when things didn't go as planned. Yes this feeling had surpassed all of that, both in intensity and longitivity. It was at its peak today and a constant reminder of the fact that they had successfully completed three months together. The only trouble with her happiness was that it had found unique ways to express itself. For the past few months she had been eating and sleeping as if she were royalty and had been shopping in splendour. Now this wasn't wise at all. For all she knew, she was heading towards being obese or bankrupt or perhaps both. She frowned at the thought and looked up from her glass of lemonade to stare across the table, into the pair of chocolate brown eyes that had always perceived her as the epitome of beauty. Beauty, in this regard, meant inner beauty and as long as she had that intact she needn't worry about being obese. Regarding the shopaholic in her, on second thoughts it seemed less to do with her exciting relationship and more to do with being a woman.
Swayam smiled at her and went back to his pasta. They had agreed to meet for breakfast before college so that they were the first ones to see each other that day. Since they had spent the entire night talking to each other over the phone, they were mostly having mute conversations now, allowing their eyes to do most of the talking. Meanwhile they were enjoying the pleasant feeling that drowsiness causes when you are relaxed and at peace with life. All through the night they had laughed, shouted, blushed,teased,agrued and laughed some more on the phone with one another. They were silent now. This didn't seem awkward in any way. They felt completely at ease. May be this was symbolic of what their relationship had achieved over the span of time, the perfect blend of intimacy and space.
Sharon continued with her musings. She thought about how much she had changed in the last three months. This didn't surprise her as she knew she would always change her personality for the person she loved the most. She wasn't always the rich spoilt brat she was earlier known to be. Infact she had been an immensely quiet and well behaved child. But as she grew older her father, Gautam Raiprakash, got really busy with work and business, and she missed him, so much so that she had wrapped herself around everything that could connect her to him. She started taking pride in her name, class and social standing, labelled the rest of the world as a weakling and dazzled her way through high school and college. And all of this only for the comforting thought that she was exploiting all that her father had given her, namely, his name, class and reputation.
She had managed to change again. This time for Swayam. She knew that he hated the change in her and thought that it was 'out of character' but the old sharon never cared a damn about Swayam and so she would never revert to being her again, not for all the treasures in the world. This was something he would never understand and she would never try to explain. He knew that she was falling in love with him with every moment that passed but the peculiarities of her love weren't known to him and she had no intentions of disclosing them. To give him credit, he now consider the topic as an impasse and never expressed his disappointment on how she had changed herself for him. He believed in being honest about his opinions but never with her comfort at sake. She felt a sudden surge of affection towards him and looked up to smile at him again, only to find that he had been staring at her all this while. Infact he had been waiting for her to look up.
"I have something for you ", he mouthed as he rummaged through his jeans' pocket.
" No!! ", she yelled before he could say another word making few heads turn towards their table.This was a rude shock for those few onlookers who were, all this while, welling up thinking that they were witnessing a mute couple in love. Annoyed they went back to their breakfast.
Sharon stared at him in disbelief.
"What had i told you about not gifting me anything? Hadn't i made it specifically clear to you that i will not accept any gift?"
"But whats the harm in it Sharon? Its something i have been planning for a long time and.."
"No", she interupted him, "Don't get me wrong. I love your gifts. They have been most special and precious. They have always been very thoughtful and each of them have touched a chord. And so..
"And so you will not let me gift you anything till you think you can beat me at it." he finished for her.
"Yes.. i mean no.. Look, Swayam you have no idea how your gifts make me feel. Even when i didn't know the identity of my secret admiror they used to take me to seventh heaven. I just want to be able to make you feel the same way before that happens to me again."
Having said all of this in one breath she gulped down the remaining lemonade in her glass not willing to look directly into his earnest eyes.
"Fine", he said after a while, "fine. You can continue being ridiculous. I won't say anything. But what if.." He paused.
"What?"
"What if i ask u for the kind of gift you are talking about?" He gave the impression that he was choosing his words very carefully.
She narrowed her eyes and tried to read his expression. This wasn't in keeping with his humble nature. She never thought he could ask for a gift. He didn't say anything further. He was waiting for her permission.
"Yes of course. Infact that'l be great. I wouldn't have to drive myself crazy over what to get you. Umm what is it that you want?" , she asked, half curious and half anxious regarding what was coming her way.
"Could we tell our friends about us?" His voice was barely louder than a whisper but that could not mitigate the effect it had on her.
Her eyes grew wide in shock. Whatever she had been expecting it was not this. She had comprehended his words just as he had meant her to. Who was he kidding? He didn't care about their friends knowing. But letting people know about them was synonymous to putting an end to the trial period of their relationship. That was what he wanted. And he had the cheek to shroud his wish by simpler words?? As if that could reduce the seriousness of his demand, request or whatever it was!! How dare he drop this bombshell on her on their three month aniversary! She wanted to scream at him and tell him that he had spoilt her special day by freaking her out so bad but all she managed to do was stare at him blankly, not knowing what to say.
He, on the other hand, was avoiding every kind of eye contact. He had spoken at some momentary inspiration. It wasn't his fault really. He had been with Sharon Raiprakash for three long months and acting out of impulse was something he had got from her. He had been reflecting on her words, on how "she could make him feel the same way" but he should have kept his thoughts to himself. He was hoping that she would break the silence but she was still searching for coherent words.
Fortunately for them the restaurant had grown very noisy and cramped by then and it was difficult to carry on with the conversation, especially when the waiters were hovering in a hurry to get rid of them. Though under normal circumstances they would have given them a look of pure loathing, they sighed with relief when the waiter approached them with the bill.
They were to meet in college next. They couldn't enter college together as that would create quite a sensation. He mounted his cycle and she got into her car.
He had to decide on how to tell her that he had no intentions of pressurising her in any way. His cycle ride to college would give him enough time to think of a way out of the mess he had created for himself.
She tried to think of every possible escape route but there weren't any. She had only one route, the one that would take her to college where she had to inform him of her decision. She had no idea what the day, or rather what her own thoughts had in store for her. It was going to be one crazy drive to college but a very important one as she had to decide whether to grant his wish or deny him the one thing that he had ever asked her for.
P.S. hope u enjoyd..:) i'l update in a day or two...! let me know if u like it.. and let me know if u find it lame just the same.. :)
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