First Ishq

Chapter 10 [Four Months Later... ]

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| Author's POV |

Four months had passed since the last time he saw her.

Months changed, seasons transitioned but his love, though one-sided, didn't waver even a tiny bit. The season of fall and the festival of Dusshera – or you may say Durga Puja – were going to arrive soon but there had been no sight of her arrival.

To go on loving someone whom you met just a few times; to wait for them even though no promises of their return were made, even though your heart tears into shreds as each day passes by; it is almost an impossible dare. Almost.

It is different when you both are in love and have made promises to continue doing so even though you are physically away from each other.

And... it is different when the person you love and keep waiting for, does not even know you. They don't know that you love them, that you have been waiting for them even though there is clearly no sign that they will return. It is different... when that person doesn't even know they have to 'return'.

Ansh knows it all... all these circumstances yet he refuses to give up on his one-sided crush, that's slowly crushing him and his poor heart. So, who are we to judge him for doing the bare minimum for his love?

But... everything was okay until one day, he fell sick.

He had high fever that made his head spin and stomach churn. Yes, whenever Ansh got fever, the package came along with stomach ache. He couldn't go to Kishor's house for days.

A week had passed by and the whole week, Ansh couldn't... or didn't visit Kishor. He had already recovered by the fourth day of the week, except he didn't wish to go to his Kishor's house anymore.

No. His love didn't flicker, not even a tiny bit. Just that, he refused to continue with his desperate visits. He refused to be disheartened time and again.

'Thank god, I got this stupid fever after my exams' , he thought to himself as he lied down on his bed scrolling randomly through the Instagram app.

His heart felt weirdly lighter after he stopped with his visits. The thought that she might have visited or will visit after he had stopped going there haunted him slightly but the truth that she hadn't visited in any of the four months stomped on all his fantasies.

But no. He wasn't going to stop loving her, not when his mind refuses to stop replaying even the smallest and briefest of their encounters and not when his heart refuses to stop pacing at even the slightest thought of her.

A knock on the door made him come back to earth.

"Ansh, Kishor milne aaya hai (Ansh, Kishor has come to visit you)", his mother spoke from the other side of the door. He was a little shocked and sat up on his bed abruptly.

Kishor wasn't the type to visit without informing beforehand. He asked her to let him in. But the actual shockwave hit him only when the door opened.

She was here. SHE. WAS. HERE.

He was dumbfounded. He thought he was dreaming or maybe he has just gone mad. But no, she actually was present there, talking to his mother standing by the staircase.

His eyes almost popped out as he looked her through the half open door of his room.

He corrected his posture and closed his half open mouth after Kishor entered his room.

"Why did you come here?" he asked looking at him in utter shock.

"Just... my cousin..." he said and glanced over at her before looking at Ansh again, "wanted to go for Durga Puja shopping. Your house was on the way so I thought of seeing whether you are still alive."