~ : : Happy Birthday Jenny : : ~

Dearest Jen,
Wish you a very KaSHappy Birthday!! 🤗

Jenny closes her eyes as the conductor announces that the bus is about to start. But just then she feels a gust of wind sweep past her as someone tumbles into the seat next to her.

She sees him with his eyes shut, taking deep breaths trying to catch his breath.

As the bus begins to move Jen dozes off to sleep.

"Hello, excuse me"

Jenny wakes up to hear a gruff manly voice.

She jerks up as she notices she had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder.

"Sorry about that."

"No worries."

*screech*

"The bus' tire has lost air, and it would be difficult to continue like this. A mechanic will be arriving soon, till then you can stop at the dhaaba across the street."

Feeling drowsy after her little nap Jenny looks for some water to wash her face.

"Bhai saab yahan pani kaha milega, haath muh dhone ke liye?"

"Yahan piche ek chota nadi hai, vahan jaa sakti ho"

As Jenny makes her way back there, she gets lost in the beautiful scenic beauty of the place.

Walking towards the river Jenny splashes the water thoroughly enjoying herself.

Suddenly looking at the watch she realizes the time.

As she runs back, she notices the bus leaving.

"Bus miss hogaya!!"

Jenny turns around hearing a male voice behind her and notices it to be the same person who was sitting on the bus next to her.

"Now how will I tell my parents. I'm stranded in the middle of some jungle."

Seeing Jenny panic, the man comes to her saying "Don't worry, we'll find a phone booth so you can notify them."

Once notifying them Jenny and the stranger sit on the bench waiting.

"Thank you so much, aapne bohut help kiya."

"Mera farz tha. By the way, your name?"

"Jenny"

"Nice name. I'm Maan."

"Thank you Maan. You can go now, you don't have to wait with me."

"Go and leave a women in the jungle alone by herself? What kind of gentleman would I be if I did such things" Maan says chuckling.

Jenny smiles along. "He looks cute smiling" Jenny thinks to herself.

"So you're from Dehli?" Maan asks.

"Yes, going back home after long. So what do you do?"

"I'm an architect actually, so went to see some lands for an upcoming hotel."

"Oh sounds interesting. Architecture interests me too actually, but I'm doing business."

"Nice. What kind of business?"

"Cloth, materials such as leather, wool, cotton."

Both of them look at the moon, high above. Shining it's light all over.

"Want to go for a walk?" Maan asks looking over at Jen.

"Sure."

"So have you ever been in love?" Jen asks giving Maan a sideward glance.

"Nahi. Never got the chance."

"Ohh." Jen wasn't sure if she could ask more about his personal life.

Seeing confusion etched on Jen's face Maan continued "Actually my marriage is fixed. My grandmother fixed it."

"So you never felt the need to find someone you fell in love with, and wait till you find a special person to get married to?"

"Never thought about it actually, dadi ne kaha shaadi karlo, and I agreed."

"That's shocking."

"Acha? Woh kyu?"

"Dekhiye na, you are a handsome man" Jen says winking as Maan "So it comes as a shock that your dadi had to find a girl for you. I would have thought you would have a whole line of girls behind you."

Maan laughs.

"No really. Not joking."

"Actually never found any such person till now. You know in love they say they are the ones we see everywhere, and even if they are near or far our heart always beats for them. We want to do everything in our will and power to see that smile on their face. Their happiness means the world to us. Nothing like that ever happened till now. Par shayad...." Maan looks towards Jen.

Jen looks into his eyes.

Coming out of the eyelock Maan looks back at the moon.
"So are you in love?"

"Nahi meri itni achi kismat kaha. Same problem. Bohut dekhe.. but no one strung the strings of my heart yet."

Both laugh.

"Isn't it weird that we just met a few hours ago, yet we feel like we have known each other for ages." Jen says.

"Hmm."

"Can I ask you a question. Would you mind?"

"No no. Go ahead."

"You're having an arranged marriage.. but what if.. what if someone came into your life, that made you feel complete in every way. That made you feel in love. That shared all your despair, doubled your happiness and was there for you throughout everything. Would you leave your arranged marriage to marry her?"

Maan looks into Jen's eyes and can see the longing for his answer in them.

Looking away Maan replies "Nahi. I wouldn't leave my marriage. Main bas usse ek sundar sapna sochke chod deta. Because if she was indeed the one meant for me, we would have met before.. if she was the one decided for me she would have been the one to come into my life, no one else would have come."

"Won't you feel bad that you might have gotten an opportunity, but you let it go yourself?"

Maan looks at Jen.

"No. I would think I wasn't meant to get her, and when someone isn't mine, then I'm not losing anyone. Am I?"

Jen smiles.

"I really feel lucky to have met a person like you. Someone who knows what they want in life and can't be deterred from it." says Jen.

"No I'm lucky to have met you. Even though it's only once in my lifetime, and it might not happen again.. at least once I got the chance to know how it feels to belong to someone. At least once I got to feel that someone likes me for me, and not the materialistic things around me."

Both share a small eyelock.

"I can't believe we became friends so fast."

"Friendship doesn't happen so fast Maan.."

"Then? What do we call what we have between us?"

"Every relationship doesn't have to have a name.. they just exist" Jenny says looking into Maan's eyes.

Their eyelock is broken by the sound of a horn.

As Jenny looks around she sees her dad pull up in a car.

"Jenny are you alright?"

"Yes dad, I'm perfectly alright. This is Maan, he kept me company throughout the whole time."

"Thank you Maan for taking care of my daughter."

"It was my pleasure sir." He looks into Jenny's eyes "My pleasure.."

"Thank you once again Maan."

"Bye Jenny."

As they both turn around to head off on their own paths, they can't help but look back once more.

Looking at each other they smile each other, conveying through their eyes that they will never forget this meeting. Forever.