part 4:
Vikrant's POV on the meeting sarita:
"My meeting with her the previous night had been so dream-like and unexpected that I started the day feeling as if it were all in my imagination. And yes, I am aware of the irony there.
I was so happy she saw me. When I saw her swinging on that garden bench looking so lost, I knew that if she was ever going to see me, that was going to be the time. I felt it in the air. I knew she needed to see me and I had prepared myself for the fact that one day she would, but I hadn't prepared myself for the shiver that ran up my spine when our eyes first locked together. It was odd because I'd been looking at Sarita for the past four days and I was used to her face, knew it inside out, could see it clearly even when I shut my eyes but isn't it strange how different people can look when you actually look them in the eyes? They suddenly appear to be someone else. If you ask me, it's true what they say about eyes being the windows to your soul.
I had never felt that way before, but I put it down to not having been in the position before. I had never had a friendship with someone of Sarita's age and I supposed it was nerves. It was all a new experience for me but one I was immediately willing to take on".
"Hello, Abhay," Vikrant heard Sarita say, stepping into the hall. "Is your dad here?"
"No," Abhay replied, "he's at work. Me and Abhi are playing in the garden."
Sarita down the hall, "Oh, he's at work is he?" Sarita said, standing at the top of the garden with her hands on her hips, looking down at Vikrant.
"Yeah, he is," Abhay said, confused, and ran off to play with Abhi.
There was something so endearing about the sight of Sarita looking so bossy that it made Vikrant smile.
"Heyy, i need you advice. I m arranging a playroom in my new hotel for children, but..." she trailed off," But i dont know what children want". She said as she walked towards vikrant. Vikrant seeing her coming dropped the roses in his hand and said "It will come easily to you, Sarita. You were a child once, what did you want?"
Her brown eyes darkened and she looked away. "It's different now. Children don't want what I wanted then. Times have changed."
"Not that much, they haven't. Children always want the same things, because they all need the same basic things."
"Like what?"
"Well, why don't you tell me what you wanted and I'll let you know if they're the same things?"
Sarita laughed lightly. "Do you always play games, Vikrant?" "Always." He smiled. "Tell me."
She studied Vikrant's eyes, battling with herself about whether to speak or not, and after a few moments, she spoke. "When I was a child, my mother and I would sit down at the kitchen table every Saturday night with our crayons and fancy paper and we'd write out a full plan of what we were going to do the next day." Her eyes shone with the fondness of remembering. "Every Saturday night I got so excited about how we were going to spend the next day, I'd pin the schedule up on the wall of my bedroom and force myself to go to sleep so that morning would come".
"What was there in that list??"
"They were a collection of hopelessly impossible dreams. My mother promised me we would lie on our backs in the field at night, catch as many falling stars as we could, and then make all the wishes our hearts desired. We talked about getting wet in the rain, having dinner with the moonlight-"
"Anyway" her voice became serious again and she cleared her throat" "that's irrelevant. It's got nothing to do with the hotel; I don't even know why I brought it up."
She was embarrassed. Sarita had never said all that aloud, ever in her life, and so they let the long silence sit between us as she worked it all out in her head. As they walked towards the door, Vikrant thanked her," Thankyou for coming to my place to discuss the matter with me". and gave him a rose. there hands touched which made vikrant think to himself," Sliding my hands from her, Made me feel giving her a little piece of my heart".
Monday morning it was. working day for sarita meaning that again she needed coffee to start her day. She walked to a nearby cafe. on her way, she found Vikrant, and invited him for a coffee with him. they both entered the coffee shop, chatting and for a change even sarita was smiling wholeheartedly enjoying his company. Waiters who saw sarita entering considered sarita to be mad, because according to them she was talking to herself. Sarita ordered to coffees, which the waiter brought despite of his confusion.
"So Vikrant you know, Vikrant, that imaginary friend of Abhi went. He left us. All alone. It was devastating, as you can imagine. I was told that they could stay around for as long as three months." She made a face. "Thank god he left, I had the date marked off on the calendar and everything," she said, her face still red. "Actually, funnily enough, he left when you arrived. I think you scared him off . . . Vikrant." She laughed, but vikrant's blank face caused her to stop and sigh. "Vikrant, why am I the only one talking?"
"Because I'm listening."
"Well, I'm finished now so you can say something," she snapped.
He laughed. She always got mad when she felt stupid. "Well, I have a theory."
"Go on." She laughed.
"Well, who's to say that Vikrant disappeared?"
She looked horrified. "No one says he disappeared, because he never appeared in the first place."
"He did to Abhi."
"Abhi made him up."
"Maybe he didn't."
"Well, I didn't see him."
"You see me."
"What have you got to do with Abhi's invisible friend?"
"Maybe I am Abhi's friend, only I don't like being called invisible".
"Well, I can see you."
"Exactly, so I don't know why people insist on saying invisible. If someone can see me, then surely that's visible. Think about it, have Vikrant, Abhi's friend, and I ever been in the same room at the same time?"
"Well, he could be here right now for all we know, eating olives or something." She laughed. Then she realized that he was no longer smiling. "What are you talking about, Vikrant?"
"It's very simple, Sarita. You said that I disappeared when I arrived."
"Yes."
"Don't you think that means that I'm Vikrant and you just suddenly started seeing me?"
She looked angrily. "No, because you are a real person with a real life and you have a wife and a child and you""
"I'm not married."
"Ex-wife then, it's not the point."
"I was never married to her."
"Well far be it from me to judge."
"No, I mean Abhay isn't my son." His voice sounded more forceful than he intended. Children understand things so much better. Adults always make things so complicated.Sarita's face softened and she reached out to put her hand on Vikrant's. Her hands were delicate, with baby-soft skin and long slender fingers.
"Vikrant," she spoke gently, "we have something in common, we both are alone". She smiled. "But I think it's great that you still want to see Abhay." "No, no, you don't understand, I'm nothing to Abhay. He doesnt see me like you do, he doesnt even know me, that's what I'm trying to tell you, I'm invisible to them. I'm invisible to
everybody else but you and Abhay"
Sarita's eyes filled with tears and her grip tightened. "I understand." Her voice shook. She placed her other hand on mine and clung on to it tightly. She struggled with herthoughts; she wanted to say something but couldn't. Her brown eyes searched Vikrant's eyes and after a moment's silence, looking as though she had found what she was looking for, her face finally softened. "vikrant, you have no idea how similar you and I are and it's such a relief to hear you talking like this because I sometimes feel invisible to everybody too, you know?"
Her voice sounded lonely. "I feel like nobody knows me, that nobody sees me how I really am . . . except you."
Vikrant couldnt help feeling so disappointed that she'd completely misunderstood him which was odd, because his friendships aren't supposed to be about him, or what He wants. And it had never been about him before.
But as He lay down alone that night and processed all the information of the day, He realized that for the first time in his life, Sarita was the only friend who had completely understood him after all. For once He didn't feel that He was living in a different world from everyone else, but that in fact there was a person, a person He liked and respected, who had a piece of his heart, who felt the same way. That night, he pledged to make sarita's life better.
Edited by --Nisha-- - 11 years ago
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