First of all, thank you sooo much for loving this story! I hope I dont let down your expectations😆
Before you begin, I want to say...Aisha comes into this part to do a little role and I know it is kind of out of the blue, but since it is a short story mainly focused on Arakshi, I couldn't really mention her before.
Chapter 7 - The First Rain
Sakshi
It feels like I am walking into a dream. Only dreams feel as unreal as this. I do not know how to describe the feeling. Perhaps, my words wouldn't do justice to the beauty of the garden I stand in right now. He stands on my side, carefully scrutinizing my reaction.
How do I even begin to describe the garden? There are trees, but they aren't green. The trees glow in the dark, from the little lights that hang down from it. They sway gently in the breeze, and the garden blinks in the flickering light. I get closer to a tree and brush my hands over the lights. I close my eyes and feel the soft paper under my hand. It feels familiar.
I open my eyes again and gaze at the warm light, surrounded by a cage of paper.
It's a paper lantern.
And there isn't just one. Every tree has several paper lanterns hanging down from them. They all emit one colour. The colour that makes my heart leap. It does something to me as I stand there by the tree, looking into the soft glow of the paper lantern.
I feel him approaching me and the light. The air has changed around us. Our bond doesn't seem so casual anymore. Maybe it is the light.
He gently touches my fingers which rest upon the paper lantern and I feel a warm glow, just like the light, spreading through me. I feel different, all of a sudden. I look into his eyes, which reflect the colour of the lantern. His face glows in its light, mysterious and intriguing. It makes me want to reach out and trace the shadows on his face.
His voice is soft when he speaks, "It is red. The colour of love."
The breeze blows through the garden again and I hear the faint rustling of the trees. Light plays across his face as he looks into my eyes. I do not hear anything, I do not see anything. I only feel. I feel his fingers against mine as they linger on the lantern. I feel his love as his fingers touch mine. I see the love he feels for me reflected in his eyes. It isn't just the colour. It is his feelings for me. They run too deep, too strong. Stronger than the colour. Stronger than every feeling in this world.
***
Arjun
Perhaps, she reads it in my eyes. She doesn't need to speak. I don't think we need words anymore. Our eyes speak for themselves. I can read her eyes just as well as she can read mine. And I see love. Strong, overpowering and selfless love. I have seen it since she began trusting me. Since I became a part of her. Since I became her vision. Love is all about feeling it. I feel her and she feels me. We always have. And that is all that matters.
She smiles faintly, her eyes gazing at me questioningly now. As if to ask, how can I love her so much? She doesn't understand. I can't help it.
"Don't look at me like that, Arjun."
"Like what?"
She blushes and lowers her gaze. A lock of hair falls into her eyes and my hand reaches out unknowingly to push it away from her face. I hear her sharp intake of breath as my finger brushes across her cheek. She closes her eyes as my fingers linger on her face a little longer than they should. I feel myself getting closer to her, closing the distance between us. My fingers slip into her hair and rest against her bare neck. I close my eyes and rest my forehead against hers. I feel her warm breath against my face, her eyes blinking so close to mine and my nose touching hers.
We stay there listening to the leaves whispering in the dark, the lanterns conversing with each other around us. The time stands still for us. It is just us. I can feel her and she can feel me.
We never say how much we love each other. I don't think we need to.
***
Sakshi
"Why don't you just say it, Sakshi?"
"It is not the same, Aisha! I will never be able to say what I want to. He means too much to me. I want to do something special."
"Well this isn't easy."
"I know." I bite my lip as I play with the pen in my hand.
"But you still want to do it because you love him."
I bite my lip again and look up at my friend. "Yes." I say, meekly.
"Ok, how about I write it for you?" She asks.
"No. That isn't what I want." I sulk away from her and walk towards my balcony.
I have been taking writing lessons from Aisha since the past couple of days. Aisha, my friend and Arjun's colleague. Needless to say, the lessons aren't going very well. It isn't easy to learn to write in a few days.
She approaches me and rests a hand upon my shoulder.
"You can do anything, Sakshi. You'll get through this. Besides, I think you are doing pretty well."
"Yeah, right. I cannot even spell his name properly. Why does he have such a long name anyway?" I glance at the sky which is turning into a dark shade of grey. My heart leaps at the thought of rain. It hasn't rained since I gained my sight. I have been eagerly waiting for this moment. I wonder where he is. He promised to be with me for my first rainfall.
Aisha laughs and says, "Well, you don't have to write his whole name."
"It shouldn't be too hard right? I mean, I can speak. I can say what I want. I just need to write it down. And I don't know how each word is written!" I groan and bury my head in my hands.
"This is really important to you, isn't it?" She asks.
I bite my lip again and look up at her. "Yes. I want to tell him how much he means to me. I want to tell him how much I love him. He showed me the world. If it hadn't been for him, I would have been buried in darkness forever. I would have been living a colourless life. He made me feel the colours, like no one else ever could, Aisha. This is the least I can do."
She hands me the notebook and says, "You have enough determination, Sakshi. I know you can write. It is just the beginning."
I hold the notebook again and glance at my failed attempts at writing. I hear the thunder then and somehow, it instils a hope in me. I try again. The alphabets, the words. Over and over. Until the doorbell rings.
I panic as I realise who is at the door. He isn't supposed to know about my writing lessons.
"Quick! Quick! Hide it somewhere." I rummage in my drawers, trying to look for a suitable hiding place. The doorbell rings again, this time a bit more urgently.
Aisha laughs as I clumsily put the notepad and pens away, shutting my drawer in a hurry.
I hastily smoothen my hair which I have messed up whilst looking for a hiding place.
He stands there, grinning, as I open the door.
"Umm...uh...Arjun...?" I stammer.
"What? I promised you the first rainfall."
The thunder rumbles outside again and I smile. He remembered.
"Oh, hi Aisha." He waves at Aisha, who I now hear approaching us.
"Hi. I was just about to leave. Right, Sakshi?" She says. I can feel her teasing eyes burning into my back and I blush.
"Well, we are leaving too!" He says.
He doesn't wait for my reply, but admits himself inside my flat and reaches for my house keys.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
He looks at me as if I were the dumbest person in this world.
"Well. You aren't going to spend your first rainfall in the flat do you?"
"So, then...?"
"You ask too many questions." He tugs at my hand.
"But, wait. Aisha?"
"It's ok, Sakshi. I was leaving anyway." Aisha comes closer to me and whispers in my ear, "He only has eyes for you. I don't think he cares about anyone else when you are around."
I blush as she winks at me and disappears out of my flat and into the lift.
***
Arjun
"You really shouldn't be driving this fast." She says.
"Stupid traffic." I slam on the steering wheel.
There is a sudden flash of lightening, followed by the distant rumbling of thunder. My eyes instantly fall upon her excited face as she notices the brief spark of light that illuminates the city. I am hoping that we won't be late. It isn't a very special place. But it is the best place to be in during the rain. Or at least, I think so.
"Was that..."
"Lightening." I finish her sentence. I see her jumping with excitement and I feel a sudden urge to reach out and touch her face. The cars start moving and I move my gaze back to the road. I have to get there in time.
In a few minutes, I see the first raindrop falling on the windscreen. It is followed by a few drops on my window pane and hers. I see her touching a raindrop through the glass pane, her fingers tracing the little drop as it slides down the glass.
Few more drops start falling down. She giggles by my side as her fingers fail to follow every drop down the pane.
"It's raining." She beams at me. Happiness is emanating from her face. Her eyes look like the glistening raindrops that fall against the window pane behind her.
I nod and say, "Yes. It is."
Sakshi
I roll down my window pane and extend my hand outside. The first few drops touch my palm and that familiar cool sensation spreads through me. The feeling that always makes me happy. The drops keep falling and gradually my dry palm is covered with tiny little drops that bear no colour. I touch them with my finger as they roll down into the centre of my palm.
I am so busy playing with the raindrops that I don't realise when he pulls the car to a stop.
"Come on." He says with a smile. "This is just the beginning."
I follow him up the steps of the building and we come out on an open terrace. It is raining heavily now and the drops fall down quicker, harder, blurring out everything around us. I hear the familiar pattering of rain against the cemented floor of the terrace. He walks out into the rain and it soaks him wet in just over a few minutes. I stand there at the doorway of the terrace looking up at the grey sky above us.
There is a flash of lightening again in the distance. I marvel at the thin band of light that flashes from the sky into the city, for a brief second. And then I hear the roar of thunder that always follows.
I see him making his way towards me, his shirt completely drenched and sticking to his skin. He runs his fingers through his wet hair as he strides towards me, a teasing smile on his face.
I cannot take my eyes off him even though I want to see the city in the rain, just behind him.
As soon as he reaches me, his wet fingers touch my arm and give it a gentle tug.
"Come." He says.
I do not notice the rain as he pulls me towards the edge of the terrace. I just look into his eyes as I feel the rain around us. I feel the rain in my hair, my clothes and on my skin. It is one of those moments that carves out its own space in my heart. The sound of the rain, its coolness on my skin and at the same time, his warm fingers that entwine with mine.
We stand at the edge of the terrace and look over the city together. The grey clouds that hover over the city, the grey waves with their white crests lashing against the rocks at the Marine drive and the rain that pours over the city. The rain. He was right. It does make things look vague and indistinct. Especially when it is this heavy.
It looks as if a translucent curtain has fallen over the city, all around us. It leaves us in a distinct bubble as the rain falls around us. Just me and him. As if we are the only two real people in the world. Everything else is a memory.
Arjun
I see her walking towards the centre of the terrace where the rain water accumulates into little puddles. And all of a sudden she is jumping around from puddle to puddle, splashing water all over the terrace. I cannot help but smile at her innocence. It reminds me of my childhood. She beckons me to join her as she enjoys the rain. I wonder how she can transform every little moment into something beautiful, magical and worth remembering.
I have seen rain so many times and yet, it feels like my first rainfall.
I lean against the terrace railing for a minute, watching her jump towards the grey sky, trying to reach out for the invisible raindrops as they fall.
"What are you doing?" I say.
"Trying to catch the raindrops before they fall!" She says.
"You can't really do that! They will slip through your fingers."
"There is always a way, Arjun. Only if you believe it."
I suddenly find myself walking towards her.
"So you want to get closer to the raindrops?" I ask and lift her from the ground, trying to get her closer to the sky.
"Arjun!" She shrieks with laughter as I raise her towards the sky.
"How about now?" I laugh.
She looks down at me, her cheeks flushing with excitement, and says, "You don't have to fulfil every wish of mine you know."
I smile back at her and say, "They aren't just your wishes. They are mine too."
And together, we reach out for the raindrops.
It feels like a stolen moment. I suppose, love has the power to transform a little moment into something extraordinary that remains etched in my heart, forever.
***
Sakshi
"What do you think?" I bite my lips in apprehension as Aisha reads through my practice notebook.
"You are ready, Sakshi." She says with a smile.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Do you want me to..."
"No..." I blush. "I only want him to read it."
She smiles at me and I know, she understands. If there is anyone who understands me well after Arjun, it is Aisha.
When she gets up to leave, I hug her and say, "Thanks. If it hadn't been for you..."
She laughs and says, "Come on, Sakshi. What are friends for?"
When we pull back, I ask, "What if there are errors?"
"I don't think he would care." She smiles and I know she is right.
***
I spend hours in front of my desk, listening to my own voice playing on the tape recorder and writing. My voice had become my diary when my world held nothing but darkness and sounds. Ever since he had become my eyes, I had started recording my memories on tapes that lay hidden in my drawer. Somehow, those tapes used to remind me that he was real. That he wasn't an illusion.
Only I knew about the tapes. They were my memories, you see. But now, I don't think they belong to me anymore. They aren't just my memories anymore. I want to tell him everything. There were so many things left unsaid.
My handwriting appears broken on the white piece of paper. Disconnected and childish. But nevertheless, they are alphabets. They do form words. And that is all that matters.
My phone vibrates again and I see Arjun's name flashing on the screen.
I am not going to answer his calls today. I don't have much time. I have too much to write.
I relive my memories through my writing. All those moments we spent together. All those unsaid feelings and thoughts flow out through my fingers and onto the paper. I am slow, but gradually, the diary starts filling up. The blank pieces of paper are filled with words.
I pause for a moment and turn back the pages. A smile appears around my lips as I look at my own handwriting. It feels unreal to write and to be able to read my own words.
My phone vibrates again and this time, I answer it.
I supposed even I can't stay too long without hearing his voice. And it has been over twelve hours.
"Sakshi?" He sounds worried on the phone and I smile.
"What?"
"Are you ok? You haven't been answering my calls all day!"
"I have been busy..." I chuckled to myself, wishing I could see his face right now.
"Busy? So busy you cannot answer my call?"
"I don't have much time...what do you want?"
"Something is wrong with you..." I can hear the confusion in his voice.
"You are becoming too possessive, Arjun. I am hanging up. I have stuff to do."
"What ... Fine." I smile at his irritated voice.
He hangs up and I laugh to myself.
***
"You look like hell."
"I know, Aisha." I yawn.
"You have been up all night? This could have waited, right?"
"No, it couldn't have." I say.
"You are impossible." She smiles.
"I am such an idiot. I haven't even asked you to come in."
"It is fine, Sakshi. Give it to me and go to bed."
I hand her the box which contains my diary of memories.
She hesitates as she takes it and I ask, "What's wrong?"
"I really don't think I should be doing this." She says.
"I want you to. I don't think I can do it myself."
When she leaves with the diary, I close my door and fall straight into my bed. As my eyes close, my mind wanders to him, wondering what he would think of all those words suddenly thrust at him.
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How was it? Dont forget to leave your precious comments😳
Anupamaa
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