Personal Cosmos

PART - V

I was waiting at the airport with my brother for Vicks to show up. I wanted him to see me off with a smile.

It was my last day in India. I'd wanted to wait for the competition results to come out, but unfortunately my parents wanted to see me too bad.

Naturally, I wanted to and yet didn't want to leave. America had friends and everything I'd been waiting for. India had the air of positivity and everything I'd hoped for including Vicks.

We were two hours early. Vicks showed up after ten minutes. He came running and panting and showed me a certificate- a national winner certificate. And on it, was my name.

I couldn't believe it. I mean, do you expect to win a cooking competition with a glass of orange juice? No. But here I was, with the one thing I believed was impossible. I could just stand and stare at the certificate in my hand.

Looking at me, he told my brother that he'd borrow me for a moment. And yet, I could neither move nor take my eyes off the certificate. So, he had to hold my shoulder and lead me to the park bench outside the airport.

He made me sit down and sat beside me. After observing me for a moment, he ruffled my hair and said - "Yo, champion! Here's your cash prize." He took out a white envelope from his jacket pocket and handed it to me. It was a 10,000 rupees cash prize. Again, all I could do was stare.

He took the envelope from my hands and held me by my shoulders, so that I could look at him. But, before he could say a single word, I stood up and ordered him to do the same. He did so without a word. His face says more than his words anyway.

"Can I hug you?"

He answered instantly - "As if you need to a-"

I lunged at him with all of my force. My aim was a one-armed bear hug, but he was too tall, so I ended up being lifted off the ground in his arms.

"I'm so happy!" I shouted.

"You should be!" He shouted right back.

See? This was his speciality. Specialty of godliness. He never smiled alone.

After our short hugging session, he asked me to recite my poem to him and so, I did.

As I had expected, the poem startled him. After all, it was so short. But it was pure emotions.

"Ever since that day, I haven't been able to get this out of my brain." I ended up explaining to him.

"You're so cute." He said ruffling my hair again.

He only made me smile. I was so grateful for his friendship. And so...

"You know Vicks, you are like a God to me. I was like an asteroid wandering around aimlessly and then I ended up getting sucked into a black hole. And then you showed up. You were like... A star. A big bright star that took me out of the black hole. Just with the sheer force of gravity. You made me realize my worth. You made me a planet and gave me an orbit. I know it's too late now. But thank you so much. I really admire you." I had to spill my guts. I was gaining too much weight. In my head.

He ruffled my hair and smiled at me. "That was pretty poetic but you really need some physics lessons."

I pinched his arm to which he replied with an 'Ow!'.

"But you're gonna become a star pretty soon. A bigger brighter star."

"That's impossible." I replied.

He held my shoulders again and looked into my eyes with an intensity I'd never experienced before. "It's not. You probably don't know this but you're special to me. Very special. Go and get that damn plaster off your arm. You just need to uncover the blaze. You can become a star. Trust me."

Holy flippin' squid crossiants! What did he just say?

Gosh! Just leave it to him to flip your entire world upside down- timelessly and effortlessly.

I didn't know how to react, so I attempted another bear hug, to no avail. I was lifted off the ground a second time.

~°~

"Where have you guys been? The flight's due in ten minutes!" My brother shouted at us as we entered the lounge.

"Oh my God! Oh my god! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Let's go!" I started panicking as I ran over to him. I turned around to wave my goodbye at Vicks but he was already beside me. He gave me a swift kiss on the cheek and ran off with a small "See ya!"

And even though it was swift, I couldn't imagine why I was feeling like a 5000-volt live wire underwater.

I didn't know how we'd end up, but I was sure of one thing - we'd meet again. No. More like, we're destined to. Because of gravity. Mine would only get stronger, because I'd promised to become a star. And his... well, nothing could counter his. We'd meet again. In our personal cosmos.