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The Meeting Place
The Meeting Place
“So, any kind of feeling for her in any corner of your heart, now?” I
was asked.
We were good friends back then, as we are now. It all started when I
met her for the first time that evening...
It was raining that evening. I was waiting for her to arrive and it had
been more than two to three hours of waiting. My excitement was
diminishing with time, so I put the gift aside and was lying on one of
the benches, in a few minutes.
“I am so sorry! The train went late and… You shouldn’t have been
waiting for such long hours…” I looked at her carefully as she came
closer.
“Are you alright?” she enquired tucking her hair behind an ear. That
was when I noticed how her hair blew in the breeze and wisps of
black gently stroked her face.
I was not alright and it was her damn fault. But when a young girl
asks a guy if he is all right, he can never admit he is not.
“And why all this gifting stuff?” she said, bringing me back to reality.
“Gifts mean nothing, Rick. It is the feelings and the moments that
count. No need to spend money on such futile gifts,” she said. I
appreciated the way she said it, despite of make me feel cut into
pieces.
What followed was a sheepish grin on her face when she opened the
gift to find a Teddy-On-Spring key ring and a Cadbury chocolate.
“And thanks for the key ring as well. I’ll keep it safe” she said.
“What is it beta? Why are you taking so long when the train is about
to depart and your Papa is asking for you? I told him that you might
have been using the washroom. Now come along before it turns out to
be pretty awkward,” said her mother. Every guy has a fear of
meeting his girl’s parents. Apparently there’s a scientific term for it-
soceraphobia.
Her mother looked at me. She paused for a second before saying
hello.
“Rick what?” she said. Indians have to know your last name to place
you.
I walked them to the compartment door where her mother left her
and moved inside towards her father, to check if he had started
searching them out, after warning her daughter to join them in,
quickly.
The train whistled and started to move slowly. I waved at her. She
waved back at me. I couldn’t do anything but look away or else she
would have noticed the tears welled up in my eyes. I shook my head
and smiled. The train had taken pace, making her face become blurry,
and soon, she faded.
She’s the only one that knows me, and I can’t live without her.
Guess I was wrong, the more you love people, the weaker you are. It
was time that I developed enough strength to make every possible
way for living fine, in this large and ruthless world.
There are things some people can never understand. There’s no point
telling them.