To Love Again !!!

Chapter - 38

"How is she holding up?" Harpreet asked Abhay.

"Pretty good actually," Abhay said as he swirled ice in the glass he held in his left hand.

"How about you?" Harpreet asked with a smile.

Abhay gave him a look that suggested he wasn't happy with him.

"You know I hate these things," Abhay said and raised his right arm to show him the sling, "I find them confining," he muttered.

"Grumpy," Harpreet said and laughed, "they are supposed to be confining dude," he said.

"That is another thing I dislike," Abhay said and screwed his nose, "'dude', come on man," he said with a groan.

"She is different, isn't she?" Harpreet asked.

"What are you talking about now?" Abhay asked as he took a swig off his glass.

"Amrit of course," Harpreet said looking carefully at Abhay. He watched as Abhay thought about his question with a faint smile on his face. It seemed Abhay was hooked.

"She is," Abhay said slowly, "she is very different from anyone I know," he said.

"I am glad," Harpreet said, "sorry we couldn't make it to the wedding," he went on, "but with Jassi's health I just did not want to take another chance," he said and shrugged, "and since your return we haven't been able to meet up either. Though Jassi is sure she is perfect for you," he said.

"Jassi says that for every girl she knows," Abhay said fondly, "you know her. When she had been trying to make me go out with the girls she knew she would always say that to me," he said and smiled.

"Yes," Harpreet said, "but this time she is very sure," he told him.

"How?" Abhay asked surprised, "She has all but met Amrit once, twice counting today and has probably spoken to her over the phone a couple of times maybe," he said.

"I have no clue," Harpreet said with just as much surprise, "there is something different about her and I can say that only on the way she conducted herself yesterday, I guess you can call it a woman's instinct," he said and shrugged.

Abhay kept quiet thinking. Jassi felt the same way his mother did. How or why was a mystery to him. Amrit was a great girl there was a no doubt about it. And he liked her. In the past two weeks as he had slowly gotten to know her better he had been enamored by her. Not to mention the attraction he felt. It was growing by the passing second. Yesterday when he had soothed her anger and hugged her he had felt a strange connection with her. He had felt complete for some reason and he had been wondering about that sensation ever since. They had been a bit awkward after that but since morning things seemed to have been back to normal. Abhay attributed it to even him feeling better. Amrit's pallor and mood had improved too and then Jassi had called to tell them since they couldn't make it for dinner they will come over instead. And so here they were.

"You like her, right," Harpreet asked when Abhay kept quiet and did not answer or comment on what he had said a while ago. He was worried in case his friend had been forced into this and didn't even like his wife.

"Of course I like her," Abhay said irritated at the conclusions Harpreet was drawing, "you think I would have married her otherwise," he said and watched his friend shrug, "what is that supposed to mean?" he asked. "I was not coerced into saying yes," he proclaimed.

"So what is the problem?" Harpreet asked.

"I like her too much I guess," Abhay said broodingly.

"That is good isn't it," Harpreet asked confused as to what was bothering Abhay so much if he liked Amrit.

"Her past," Abhay said, "she hasn't spoken of it yet," he said, "and till that is not out of the way I think it will always stay somewhere between us no matter how close we get otherwise. It would still be there between us like an invisible wall," he told Harpreet.

"She has a past too," Harpreet asked bewildered.

"Yes," Abhay replied taking in a deep breath.

"And you know nothing about it," Harpreet asked with a frown and Abhay nodded negatively, "how about yours? Does she know about you?" he asked.

"Yes," Abhay said, "she knows I am divorced and I know she had a broken engagement but no details," he replied.

"Of course she knows you are divorced what I am asking is does she know more than that," Harpreet asked exasperated with his friend, "about you and Natasha," he asked.

"No," Abhay said reluctantly, "we haven't had any time to talk about it besides what is there to talk about," he said.

"You are kidding right," Harpreet said shaking his head, "how do you expect to proceed in a relationship if you both haven't even discussed the very recent pasts of your lives," he said, "Abhay you need to talk to her. You are telling me about the invisible walls and all but isn't your past going to pose a threat to your future or happiness or both," Harpreet said, "listen to me. Talk to her. Take her out. Open up at least try," he suggested, "maybe that will help her to tell you about why her engagement broke too," he said.

Abhay thought about it. Harpreet was right and he knew too that this was what they should ideally do if they wanted a successful relationship. But to trust again. He was scared he realized. Scared of judgment. Scared of condemnation. Scared of trusting again and then watching it shatter. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Amrit wasn't just anybody. She was different from anybody he knew and that included everyone. She wasn't an easy judge and she wasn't someone who would let things faze her. She took her time, evaluated and then passed judgment. Maybe he should talk to her. Harpreet was right he had to try. Because not trying would be accepting defeat and that was something he had never done in his life.

Only he didn't know Amrit would beat him to it causing him to clam up again.

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