I yelled. She yawned. And, my Youth revived.

Hundred times probably I said the same thing to her on phone…my dukhbhari kahani…. Today, she invited me her home to listen to my story again….

“Truth is, my life is nothing like what I thought it would be.” I opened my chapter again….

“Did I tell you how hard I worked – infact, how hard we worked -- to keep it together?” I continued….

Sweta was indifferent. I yelled. She yawned. 

She asked me to stop my story for a while…..I got angry. 

She went to an another room and came back with someone…..I was shocked. My eyes became bulging….Un-believable…..What Raj was doing there? He just entered the room and smiled at me, asked me, “How are you Ronita?”

I stood up….with my blank eyes and lips…..

Raj was a guitarist. We did few programs together. He was adorable, he was good looking. I fell for him… he fell for me too.  We had been going around for two years. 

I was not great in study, but I was popular as a singer. And people used to bring lots of marriage proposals for me as I was beautiful, popular and kind-hearted. My family was a well-established one, people used to refer as ‘aristocratic family’.

My parents started taking interest in all those proposals when I was 24. My marriage got almost fixed with a guy who used to work in the USA. I started discussing all these stuff with my best friend Sweta. Raj and I met at her home couple of times to discuss about our future. Raj was not established, he was still a student as he was just one year senior to me. And he had no one except his mom who was a tailor.

We were helpless.  What to do. I proposed to elope. But, Raj said, that he wanted to approach my parents once, before taking any step...And he did. But, my dad directly refused, without even listening to him fully, so did my mom too.

My parents took a strong step of not allowing me to go out at all, till my marriage. I cried. I cried for many days. One day, Sweta came home. She carried one letter for me from Raj. He had written a detailed plan how we could elope.

Accordingly, action started. Early morning, I started walking in my garden regularly for three days.  My mom used get up early too, but she generally used to take bath immediately. My dad used to get up a bit late. So, when the day came, I was ready with all my certificates and some money. Exactly at 6:30 am, one ambassador car came and stopped in front of our gate. I ran towards it quickly….and yes, Raj was already there. The driver drove like the hero of fast and furious. I was almost sure that probably, no one had seen me……but unfortunately, my dad informed all the police stations so quickly that they caught us on our way.

I had to get married to the guy my parents had chosen and move to USA. Now, I came back with my 5 year old kid as things were not working out properly in between us. At last, we had the divorce.

“You guys talk…..let me make some coffee for you two…..”, I came to my reality with Sweta’s voice.

“I am good, Raj. How are you?” I answered to Raj’s question. 

“I was good…..better now – meeting you after almost ten years…”

“What about your family….Sorry, I never searched you on facebook or any other social media….nor asked any of our common friends…” I told him clearly…

“But, I know almost everything about you. I am established now….have 20 music institutes. I have not married yet….could not erase my first love from my heart and soul. Thought of being an ever-green bachelor…but, if you say 'yes' – I can revive my youth…infact our youth…..”

Raj looked serious; I could see brightness in his face and twinkle in his eyes.