"In a moment of childhood innocence, SHE found herself unwittingly tied to HIM by a simple promise. As the years passed, she harboured a silent love for him, keeping it secret and buried deep within her heart. A life filled with longing and unanswer...
The morning fresh breeze was swaying fairly while the sun was not harsh as it was at midday. The greenery of the city park was flourishing with the birds chirruping. People, as usual, were jogging, walking, running, and performing exercises. Meanwhile, two young ladies were sitting on one of the benches, conversing with each other.
"Tell me, please." A beautiful girl in her mid-twenties urged her best-friend to tell the secret that she has been hiding for so many years.
"No, Aishwarya. You won't understand and also you can't help me." Her ever-gorgeous best friend, almost of the same age group replied to her.
"If you won't tell me Prisha then how will I be able to help you? Promise I won't tell your secret to anyone."
"Pinky promise?" Prisha reconfirmed as now one facet of her heart wants to spit out everything and the other one wants to keep it as it is.
"Pinky promise... Now tell me." Aishwarya pinched her throat and keenly fixed her sights and ears on her buddy, Prisha.
"I don't know where to start. Maybe you won't believe it or maybe you will make fun of me by naming it my naive or silly act. But trust me, what I am going to tell you is the very truth on which I'm still alive, I took everything seriously that happened in the past..." Prisha hesitatingly began to speak while stealing glances from Aishwarya.
"It's okay. I trust you." Aish kept her palm over her friend's and pressed it lightly to assure her that she believed in what she was going to say or confess.
Prisha blinked twice, looked over their hands, and sighed deeply, "Ummm, Okay. Aish, you know when I was in the KG grade. We were three friends- me, Neha and R...Ryan. We used to sit together on alternate days. Like me and Neha, Ryan and Neha, and of course me and Ryan. You are understanding, right?"
"Yeah, I am." Aishwarya nodded and encouraged her to tell more.
Prisha glued her gaze to the ground and again began to speak, all the time searching for the accurate words, "One day, out of the blue, Ryan promised me that he will marry me when we grow up and also he would never leave me.
That time I took it so lightly as I didn't know much about these things. In those days, children were not advanced like today's children. So I first complained to my class teacher that Ryan is saying that he will marry me in the future, and in response, she just chuckled. And when I got back home, the very same thing I told my mother, she too just laughed.
Days passed slowly, and time flew away. We were one grade up. At that time I used to sit with my friends, and Ryan used to sit with his friends at the desk which was behind mine. Anytime, he used to untie my white ribbon from my braids and I used to whine.
One day, my friend and I were monitoring the class but nobody was paying attention to us, they continued to holler and make silly voices. Then I saw Ryan had kept his head down on the desk. I asked him what the matter was so he answered that he was having a severe headache. Listening to this, I don't know what churned up inside me but I forgot everything and yelled at the whole class, uttering, 'Can't you all keep quiet. Because of you all, Ryan is having a headache.' Literally that time, the same class went silent who wasn't giving attention to me a while ago.
These are some things about which I wonder a lot back in those days and now too.
The time when we reached the first standard. We used to sit in different rows because boys and girls have separate lines to sit. Till that time, Ryan and I hardly talked to each other. Also, this didn't bother me a little as it didn't catch my sole attention.
At the last of our first class, Ryan took a long break due to some personal reasons which I didn't notice on the earlier note but one day my class teacher, another one, entered the class merrily and told me, only to me, that Ryan will join us soon after returning from a long break. Then only I realised that he was on break but what I didn't get is why my teacher told this news only to me. This is still a mystery for me.
In the second standard, I knew there was something, some unknown connection between him and me. That time too I didn't forget his KG's innocent promise. As time passed gradually, I used to sing songs for him inaudibly while staring at him.
In the third standard, our new class teacher made us settle roll number wise and then I completely skipped singing and gaping at Ryan. But there was a day when my two friends were writing the names of the students on the last page of the notebook who were talking continuously while they were monitoring.
My attention was caught up when I heard Ryan's voice. He was requesting my friends to cut his name from the list but they didn't. Soon I heard him saying, 'It's okay that you have written my name over there but why have you written Prisha's name, even when she's all quiet.'
This made me feel pretty bad that my friends intentionally wrote my name when I wasn't at fault but at the same time, I felt fortunate too that Ryan spoke up for me. After his continuous request, they cut my name from the list. This made me pleased from the inside.
And when we reached the fourth standard, we used to talk very less, just some gratitude from his side because my grandfather used to come to my school to take me along so most of the time he helped him to discard his bicycle from the stand and next day Ryan used to come to my desk and says, 'Thank you Prisha, your grandpa helped me a lot.' and in reply, I used to say, 'Mention not or you're welcome.' He used to smile and go back to his desk.
When we were in the fifth standard, I didn't figure him out for many days so I decided to ask his friends about his whereabouts then I came to know that he left the school. Our school was up to the 5th standard only and there he withdrew himself a year ago.
I was sad that time but not much due to our lack of communication. My mother also asked me about Ryan and I told her that he left the school. This made my mother a little bit sad too. And then she inquired, 'Don't you know about his new school.' and I just nodded my head in negotiation.
A few more years passed, but my will to see him, to talk to him, to meet him increased every passing day. Till the time I grew older, I realised that he is my love and now it's very difficult for me to live without him.
Still, I miss him and try to find him but unluckily, till now I didn't locate him. Moreover, I just knew his name only, no location, no address, no friends and family details, just nothing.
You know Aish, it's been so hard for me to live without him for so many years. I have waited for him for a long time but now every day I pray to God to keep him safe and sound. And if possible in this life, then please do make him meet me once so I could at least confess my love towards him and die peacefully.
This is my secret, one you wanted to know." Her big-black eyes were welled up with tears and her voice was choking as she finished her last sentence.
************** DO VOTE AND COMMENT!! 🖤🤍🖤
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
