The girl who made my life heaven and hell like

Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

I cursed myself for making Pia wait for hours. I got down immediately and walked towards her, mind buzzing with questions and heart filled with guilt.

'Pia, were you waiting for me?', I asked , praying childishly for her to tell no. I wanted to save myself from the guilt at least.

But, rather than answering me, she took a small box, wrapped in gift wrappers and smiled at me. "Belated birthday, Varun sir"

She waited so long to give me this? I did not know what to respond. I was astounded by her sincerity, and I sheepishly took the gift from her.

"Thanks a lot, Pia. But, why did you have to wait so long for this? Couldn’t you have given tomorrow? Or, couldn’t you have given me a call?"

"I thought you might be busy. So I did not want to hustle you, by calling. I know you would be taking this route, so I waited here", she replied, without the innocent smile fading from her face.  

Nobody has ever done this to me, not even Kiran. This girl, who doesn’t even know me, had given too much thought for my privacy. It was at that moment, I developed a deep gratitude towards her. We both then took the bus together, my usually quite journey filled with her sweet babblings. I opened the gift, the minute I was alone in my room. It was a ceramic sculpture of a lonely boy under a tree. I , for some reason, related it to the real me. I saw a note inside the box, scrawled in her handwriting 'This is how I find you most of the times. Keep smiling', with her trademark smiley at the end of the note. I folded the note safely inside my safe and placed the doll on my computer desk, wondering how much more has this girl analyzed me.

"Once again, alone?", Pia spoke from my back, breaking me off from reverie.

I smiled at her and she insisted she joined me for lunch. I was not comfortable being alone with her and let another cheap story spiral around me. She seemed to feel my discomfort and took her leave, patting gently on my shoulder.

I sought comfort from missing Kiran, by drowning in my project work. I spent most of my time in college at the lab, and Pia made it a point to greet me with a cheer whenever she saw me, that lifted my spirits high, for unknown reasons. Before I could rest, there was too much to work on - campus interviews, project reviews, and worst of all, final exams. I got placed in Tata Consultacy Services, shortly called TCS, and Kiran and Vijay were placed in Wipro. My project was a huge success. Pia slowly began to refill the emptiness in my life, 'Varun sir' changed to 'Varun', and I did not want to lose another friend this time, because of my foolishness. My college life came to an end, sooner than I thought. It was not a happy ending, but it was not a terrible one either.

I was not to taste the sweetness of the corporate culture for another 3 months, which meant I had ample time for myself and my parents. Mom, dad and I went on a 3 weeks All-India pilgrim trip, the week after my college life closed. Pia too had her exams done and had gone for a weeklong trip with her friends, to their native places. I wanted to buy something for Pia. Without dragging my parents' attention, I bought a pearl bracelet, on the last day of our trip.

I called her that night from train, after mom and dad had fallen asleep. I stood near the entrance of the compartment, wind blowing on my face, waiting for her to lift the call.

"Heyyyyyyy", she greeted me with so much cheer, that I felt her presence near me. I saw her standing in front of me, smiling her dimpled-cheek smile, hair swept beautifully over her face by wind, holding my hands. I stood there, swept by the most beautiful imagination I ever had, for how long, god only knows.

"Varun, are you on line?", I was awoken from my imagination by her voice. I could hear the sound of her gentle breathing, through phone.

"Hmmm, ya am on line. Why, were you saying something I should have responded to?"

"That shows you did not listen to what I was saying. Were you sleeping, standing at the entrance? Better get back to your seat, before you fall down", she spoke with fake anger.

"What were you saying?" I asked her, laughing.

It took my quite a trial of persuasions before she finally budged. "I told I missed you and I hate to go to college, with you not being there"

"Oh, come on sweetie, you have only two more years to enjoy. Don’t you develop an instant dislike and ruin your days"

"I know, but, my eyes are so much used to picking you wherever you were. I cannot imagine the lab sessions without you, corridors without your trails, cafeterias where I don’t get to see the lonely figure anymore." I felt tears welling up in her eyes.

I was emotionally weak too then. I failed to catch the first leaf that began to fall, which laid a trail to take our relationship to what I did not count on.

Before I could stop myslef, I said the words. "Pia, I miss you more than you could think. I so much wish you were here", and told her the picture I painted in imagination, few minutes back.