Wilted Petals

Chapter 22: The Cool Down

I don't get why people expect a kiss to be absolutely earth shatteringly flawless. I mean, my kisses with Manish definitely weren't perfect. Hell, the second time we kissed, I couldn't stop blabbering like an idiot. That kiss wasn't objectively perfect.

But was it perfect for me?

Absolutely.

    10 years of weight, regret, and sorrow had been almost obliterated in that singular moment. That moment of knowing that I loved him, and he loved me was just purely sublime.

But at the same time, gratitude completely filled me up from all corners of the body. 10 years ago, I wasn't honest with Manish, and it absolutely ruined me. I didn't make that same mistake twice, and it paid off in the end, in multiple ways.

    "Are you enjoying the $10 that Anwar gave you?" I ask, as Jen starts to giggle. I pull the sheets over me a little bit more and roll over, though with the thought that Manish and I are together, that extra bit of warmth and comfort seems unnecessary.

"I'm definitely enjoying it. But it's more than that. It's the pure satisfaction of seeing you guys finally together. Do you know how annoying it was for me to just not scream, 'JUST KISS AND BE A COUPLE!' at you two?"

I giggle a little bit more, as I can't help but sympathize with her. I felt the exact same way when it came to her and Anwar before they started dating. I almost wanted to lock them in a room and not let them out until one of them confessed their feelings. "Now you know how I felt about you and Anwar. I guess we're even!"

At that moment, Jen and I both just burst into a fit of giggles, as I hear her sit back even further on the couch. "Enough about that. Are you excited for Anwar and I's wedding?"

Immediately, a little spark of excitement ignites in the pits of my stomach. I can already picture it. Me dancing in my heavily embroidered anarkali, shouting with joy over when they say, "I do," and endless amounts of sweets going around to give me instant diabetes. It's all something that I can barely wait for, but alas, I have to for a few more weeks. "Okay, how am I not excited for your wedding? You're evil for making me wait."

Jen snickers again over the line. "Don't worry. Before you know it, it'll be there, and before we both know it, you'll be next!"

I giggle a little bit, but at the same time, we both know that there's still a lot of time. I literally just started dating Manish. There's no way I'm going to marry him that soon. "That's cute, but give it some time. Nobody is asking us to get married that fast, except for the nosy Indian aunties."

Jen again starts to giggle, but then her giggling abruptly stops. "Hey, my mom is calling me, so I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"For sure, later." I hang up the phone, and then flop back on my pillow a little bit to fully absorb what is going on. Somehow, it still hasn't settled in that I'm Manish's girlfriend.

For the past ten years, my mind was enshrouded in a fantasy that one day he would come back and we'd get together finally. But I always had to snap myself out of it. I constantly had to dispel the clouds surrounding my mind and allow the rays of truth to shine upon me.

But now that we're finally together, it feels unreal. Like I'm going to wake up the next minute and get ready for work and resume my normal, boring routine.

As I'm contemplating the pure shock of this, my phone starts to buzz beneath my fingertips again. I immediately pull it out from underneath my sheets, and see that it's my mom calling. A little smile curls at my lips, I answer the call, bracing for her to squeal down half of the house. "Hi, amma," I greet, as I prepare my eardrums to be tortured by her squealing.