Dark Secrets

14

For a moment , Yuvansh couldn't tell if he was dreaming or awake.

"Ranisa? he asked, bewildered. His voice over the phone was sharp and clear.

"How are you? I heard that you're a man now?" she asked giggling softly.

"Can you give me two minutes please?" Yuvansh asked.

"Sure , let me call you back," she hung up.

Yuvansh carried the phone into his bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. This was it ! The moment he had waited for all this time ! He had prayed to hear her voice, see her once again; he had died a thousand deaths thinking about her....it had been 1474 days since he had last seen her. He had so much to share but didn't know where to start. Should he tell her how much he missed her every day., every hour? That she wasn't just an infatuation? Unbeknownst to himself, he was weeping with joy.

The phone rang again, and the same number flashed on the screen. Yuvansh wiped his eyes and accepted the call as he strolled into the balcony. 

"Thakur sahab, all good?"

"Yes, Ranisa, all good." Now I'm used to living in your absence.

"How are you? How did you get my number?"

"Why ? You can get to my friend, but I can't discover your number?"

She sounded tipsy.

"Is that Old Monk speaking?" Yvansh taunted.

"Napa Valley wine. I'm a wine person now. You see it's important in life to change preferences."

"I haven't changed mine yet, Ranisa," he replied.

"I'm glad to know that. By the way, why that weird request to Yashvi?"

Because I love you, Ranisa, he thought and said aloud, "Why? Did you think it was weird?"

"You're young. There's so much to experience and learn. Why are you still stuck in a rut?" she asked. They both knew what she was talking about. Neither of them was direct.

"Tell me something, Ranisa. Why does the world consider me stuck if  I'm faithful to one person? Just because I don't remain in her everyday radar? Just because I can't see or hear whenever I want to? Can't that one person have a certain universe in her that I may take a lifetime to explore? Why can't I experience the world through her? Why can't my journey be one that tries to understand why our journey couldn't be?"

"You'll never stop being so damn mature, will you, Thakur sahab?"

"Are you asking me to let go of the one thing that defines me?"

"Defines you?" she chuckled.

"How's life there?" He steered the discussion.

A second later she said, "Pretty good!"

Yuvansh knew the answer was in the pause and not in the words she chose to answer his question. 

"How are uncle, aunty? And that friend of yours........ Dimpy, right?" she asked.

"All are good. I'm in Delhi. Studying English Literature at St. Stephen, want to be a writer " he replied.

"So happy and proud of you. I look forward to the time when I will see a handsome  best-selling writer gift me the first signed copy of his novel", she said laughing.

"I am waiting for that moment as well!" our meeting, he thought.

The way Yuvansh said it, Shreshtha knew that there was a lot more to decipher than was apparent on the surface of his cryptic sentence.