IT IS LOVE, IS IT?

“Love. A word for which people give a lot of definitions. Some say it is a boon, some say
it is a sin, some say it’s like a passing cloud just enjoy when you see it and forget when
it is gone. Everybody has their own perspective but no universal definition was found so
far as far as I know. This perspective is obviously generated by experience. Even I had
an experience in my life.

I am Hemanth. 26 years old, the right youth they say, but I’ve been progressive than
most of my peers by that time. I own a private firm, which is none of our importance but
the point here is, I am financially more stable than needed. Happy life. It was all going
good. Then suddenly parents started worrying about my marriage. I hear from a lot of
my girl peers how pressured they feel when parents bring up the topic of them getting
married to some stranger. I didn’t want any of the girls that received our proposal to feel
like that.
“ You are really freaking out bro.” Sravan was laughing when I shared my views.
“It is for real! I don’t want the other person to accept me out of pressure!”
“Nobody is like that these days”
“Everybody is like that.”
“Bro you have decent money, decent family, what else does she want?”
“Money isn’t everything”
“Yes it is!”
“You're having a wrong perception about this little brother.”
“I have more experience with women and relationships than you!”
“Are you in a relationship right now?”
“Nope! But..”
“There shouldn’t be any ‘buts’ in mine bro. I hope you get it!”
“Cool! What are you gonna do?”
“I came to you with the same question!” I twisted the ear of my little brother and we
laughed for a while.
“I want her to share the same bond like we do. No pressure. No bounds. I want this
house to be her paradise.”
“For that you should be able to understand women first!”
“How do I do that?”
“Talk to them!”
“Whom?”
“I don’t know..you never had a crush on anyone?”
“Are you sure I wouldn’t tell you if I have?”
“Alright! We need to think!”
We had a pause and an awkward silence for more than fifteen minutes by now! And..”
“Pardon me! Can we please skip the detailing and focus on the main part?” Srikar
interrupted.
“Yeah! Sure.” Hemanth continued.
“We finally chose to go with dating apps and found this woman after ten days. I was
very excited and nervous at the same time. We met at a restaurant not a fancy one but
a decent one. I decided not to disclose my original identity and told her I was an
employee in my company. Her name is Lavanya. It has a good ring to the ear, but it also
rang the bells in my heart. I know it's gross but I mean to say, somewhere I felt she is
the one. We became a lot closer just like they show in movies. I fulfilled her bucket list
which of course had some fancy wishes too. I decided to be the ideal person, so I never
questioned her. One day she told me she was going to her relatives' place to another
state and she’d be back in one week. You know the urge of first love. It doesn’t let you
sit in peace. Post two days I took my car and drove 600 kilometers without telling her.
Thanks to the technology her snapchat showed me her location. I prepared everything
for our engagement. I am going to tell her the truth today. My life was going to be so
good. ‘Your destination has arrived!’ I came back to my senses and found myself in a
drive-in. I called her on her mobile.She wasn’t picking. After three trials I could listen to
her ringtone nearby. I turned back and a couple were making out in a car. I tried not to
look at them but the last minute gaze broke my heart. My call made her phone flash
light on her face. I walked away from there not sensing my body anymore. I ran on the
road until I received a call from her. She was panting on the phone. Her alibi was that
she came down running in an urge to call me. I felt dejected. I didn’t know what to do.
This was very new to me. I just said I love you. That was all I could tell her.

Two days later she was back. I told her that I have a surprise for her. We boarded a
flight to New York and had our candle light dinner. I told her who I was and proposed to
her to marry me. She said yes.” Hemanth stopped to sob!

“So you wanted to marry her despite knowing that she cheated on you?”asked Srikar.
“That’s not how it is. I am not done yet.”
“My Bad! Please continue”
“That night, we slept under the moonlight talking with each other and holding our hands.
It was my best night ever and the next morning Lavanya is no more!”
“How?”
“I poisoned her beverage with a drug”.
“So you must have known while she’s choking to death. What did you do then?”
“She neither choked, nor suffered. I had it made by a person I trust from my company.
He called it the ‘Bliss’. It helps you run all your happy memories in your brain and give
you the most peaceful sleep and then stop your heart. She was still smiling even when
she was no more.”
“Why that way? You could’ve stabbed her or run through with a vehicle if you were so
angry.. Why all that preparation ?”
“I was not angry, sir! I loved her. I loved her so much. I can’t see her suffering. I was just
selfish about her. So I killed her.”
“But, that is life right? A girl comes in, magic happens then it falls apart and you go on
your own. You’re gonna find another girl anyway. Why go this way?”
“That is the reason I am here in cuffs. A person who doesn’t fit the laws abided by
society, he is a criminal.”
“One more question, Why NYC? Why not anywhere in India?”
“She always wanted to visit NYC. Being a person that loves her, it’s my responsibility to
fulfill her dreams. I think even you are on a plan to get your wife something isn’t it?”
“How do you know?”
“It's christmas and you’re here listening to all my shit. Must get you double pay, right?”
“Fortunately Yeah!” Both of them laughed.
“So You know you’re going to face law enforcement consequences on you and you still
did it here?” Srikar asked.
“I know what I did was a mere crime. In India I would’ve been in prison for a while;
headline for a week and then I am a free man. I don’t want anybody to take inspiration
from me. If I get executed here for what I did, Nobody would even dare to repeat this
again. It’s like a little insight or a moral I wanted to give my people”.
“You know you’re gonna be executed?”
“Yes”
“And you’re ready for it?”
“Ofcourse!”
“What about your family? Your business.?”
“ My Parents brought me up so well. My success in business is just because of their
sacrifices. But this love or whatever it is, got a ghost into me. Made me do things which I
was never meant to do. This doesn't belong to them. I don’t wanna defame my family
with the deeds I did. My parents never say no to my decision.”
“But why do you wanna die? Prison, counseling and there are a lot of other options. You
are financially fit to opt for any of it. Why not those?”
“That’s so generous of you Srikar. But I promised Lavanya. If she dies before me, I will
come to her the very next day. I can neither live a life defamed nor live it without her. I
wrote all my company rights to Sravan, informed all of this to my parents and I am a
man with no background now. I am happy to end this here.” Hemanth drank the
beverage offered to him and sat back.
Srikar was speechless but he was signing the legal papers and finishing formalities. He
shook his hand briefly with Hemanth and came out of the room with a pale expression.
Suddenly everybody was running towards the interrogation room but to Srikar it was a
blur as he already knew what had happened.
“Will he suffer?” Srikar asked Mark disguised as a waiter standing over there.
Mark is the chemicals guy that Hemanth mentioned earlier.
“He will not even know” the waiter started crying. “He was a very good man! He made
me incharge of the lab now. But I had to do it with my….” He couldn’t complete it.
“Cool down Man he wanted a peaceful death. That’s all we can do. He’s your employer
after all. You must obey him. Let’s just move on.” Srikar patted him.

One sight, tens of fears, hundreds of questions, thousands of feelings, millions of efforts
and one single mishap and it all ends. IT IS LOVE, IS IT?