4 SHORT LOVE STORIES

Cousins

He had just stormed into her life and disrupted everything in it; leaving her completely alone, vulnerable and powerless in the way. He was beautiful; she remembering telling this to her cousin that night. She was talking about his new guy in her dance class. She blushed and giggled which was a relief to hear since the aura around Sejal had been really gloomy, these past few months. Actually past few years had been rough on her.

Sejal was unnaturally thin, actually underweight because of the thyroid imbalance issue which ran in the family. Even when puberty hit, her bust and butt didn't get the memo. To top that off, she'd kept her hair short for the majority of her teenage life. And it didn't help her self esteem that even at the prime age of 17; she had been repeatedly mistaken for a young boy! Years of cruel teasing, insulting name-calling by a bunch of unkind classmates had pushed her into the dark spot of clinical depression and the last few months, after going through a brutal rejection from a crush had been especially bad.

Living in a joint family setup and being just a few months apart in age, Sejal and Shruti shared a special bond by the normal cousins' standards. They were best friends, class mates and as time will tell, even rivals. Shruti, well, she was a complex creature in her own right but this isn't her story.

And the guy Sejal was blushing and giggling about is Manav. Handsome, insecure, filthy rich and freshly dumped – a deadly combination; and Manav was the deadliest of them all.

Destiny was playing a sick joke, placing these two, complicated, almost broken personalities together. There was an almost instantaneous connection which Sejal had felt and for the first time in her life, she mustered enough courage to initiate a conversation with the 'hot' guy.

Manav, who usually kept away from girls, after the last bitter encounter, opened up to this bony, non-threatening girl. In his own arrogance, he felt assured that a girl like her wouldn't be foolish enough to fall for a guy like him. He was just too out of her league. Well, he was completely wrong. The heart wants what it wants and Sejal's heart-mind-body wanted him!

So conversations grew into a dance partnership and that blossomed into a friendship. Things were looking up for Sejal. After a long time, she was getting what she desired. And sooner than later, February was here, she had planned to take a plunge at confessing to Manav before Valentine's Day. What's the worst that could happen? She had thought. He'll say 'no', and she'll mask it as a joke, they'll laugh out it and in a week's time, everything will be back to square one.

We she did laugh about that particular day for many years to come. As right before she could confession her feelings, Manav asked her, Shruti's phone number, eagerly inquiring about Shruti's Valentine's plans. 

She still remembered that Shruti had borrowed her favorite black dress for their very first date. Well, things had gone well between those two. Things usually turnout well for Shruti; Sejal thought to herself, laughing bitterly.

From that day on wards, she would always laugh on her own.

The End