two juveniles, ezra einar and devdutt padikkal. two worlds. meeting at a middle ground in a quest for love. with it comes a whole barrage of responsibilities and sacrifices to make, friendships made and renewed,
with love cometh fear. fear of makin...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
2019, bangalore.
"so, this is it? are we done? two years worth of a relationship is going down the drain with just two words of yours? this is how you wanna end it?"
"y-yes."
"wow! do i even get an explanation? or am i going to be left in the dark just like the past two months?"
"wait, what the fuck do you mean by left in the dark?"
"come on dev! you and i both know what i'm hinting at. don't pretend as if these past months weren't anything but normal between us.
when did we last go out for dinner, just the both of us? when did you last listen to a song regardless of the beat or the lyrics, only because you wanted to hear what brought such a big smile to my face? when did we last have those midnight conversations on the terrace, hidden from the rest of the world while overlooking the moon shining through the trees? when did you last show me the yearnings of your soul, the raw, vulnerable and beautiful you? you act as if my love was owed to you, but you give me only apathy."
what could he tell after that? no words of comfort could ease the pain of what they were about to do. over the past couple of months he thought that distancing himself from her would work out. maybe that flame between them would burn bright again. amongst never-ending university assignments, online courses, cricket practises and attempting to maintain a social life — their own relationship was in deep waters and now it was too late to bring it back up.
"ezra, you and i both know that we have to break up so that we can build up instead of breaking down. i don't have it in me to watch this relationship fizzle out, not that it already hasn't been, right in front of my eyes. you will be moving to new york for your masters and i will be focusing on cricket full-time. long-distance won't work out for the both of us, we both know it."
both the young souls didn't utter a word after that because somewhere in them they knew it was the truth. carrying on with their relationship would be like giving CPR to a body pronounced dead, despite the staggering efforts being put into reviving it; it would still be futile.
"we are screwed," despite the emotional intensity of the entire situation the both of them had a laugh. a laugh filled with underlying hurt and tears that only their pillows would be witness to later on in the day.
"we are always going to be unfinished business, hain na?" saying that it felt like a puzzle piece falling from her heart, as if it no longer belonged there.
"so, i guess this is good-bye," said dev while a tear managed to leak through his long eyelashes which mirrored the woman he loved so much.
sometimes love makes you do such things. they might be in love, part of a generation for whom all the noun felt scary to say out loud but for these two, it was the straight opposite. that four-letter word makes you do the unfathomable, go through feelings that seemed incapable of feeling at a time, bring you a sense of serenity which can't be put into words — yet it was also this 'love' that makes you unselfish enough to let go of the most prized possessions in your life, the most caring people you've met.
"ira, i don't know when we will see eachother or whether we will see each other ever again. but, please promise me that you'll never lose sight of your dreams. that you'll never give up on your dream of making the sky your home one day. no matter what happens, don't ever let go of your vision. let it drive you," telling this ripped his heart into shreds within but he knew that not telling this to her for one last time will leave him guilty for the days to come.
"dev, you're making this difficult-,"the nickname that slipped through his lips so smoothly make her heartstrings tug — knowing that it was probably the last time she would get to hear it from him.
she was cut of by the man in question himself, "just promise me-"
"p-promise.
you too! don't ever give up on the dream of donning the indian blues one day. don't stop day-dreaming of the indian jersey with your name on the back. don't stop hearing the echoes of the stadium chanting your name as a holy prayer when you think about cricket. promise me."
"promise."
his arm snaked through her waist, coming to lay at the small of her back. her hands finding itself drifting to the nape of his neck. for two people who believed that there wasn't any spark left between them, the hug definitely let off welding sparks.
atleast they had a closure.
if love were a light, theirs would be the brightest star. it would shine as bright as any sun and just as pure and with that assurance they parted ways with the crescent moon being witness to the end of a phase of an epic.
