The colours of love

I love you

"Can I kick him out of your house, please?" My bestfriend asked.

"My, my Swetcha! Why would you want to do that?"

She sighed. "I am confused, Manu. I don't want to feel this way."

"What way?" Something is wrong. It was not funny anymore.

"I don't like how I am feeling about Siddanth. It all feels very... I don't know. I just don't want to feel this. I won't feel all this if I push him away."

"You are not making sense, Itcha."

"How did you know that you love Dev?"

"What? Why..."

"Please .."

I sighed.

"Dev and I, ours was not a normal love story. Nothing in our relationship is normal. So, I don't know if we fall into the regular 'rainbow and sunset' kind of love story. With Dev, I felt safe, protected and confident. Like I knew that I could fly and if I feel tired and want to rest he is there for me to lean on. If I fall down, he is there to catch. I felt free. Like I did not need anyone if he was there with me. He is my friend, guide, parent, lover and partner. Like he completed me. He taught me love. He taught me what it feels like to be loved, and he taught how it feels to love. "
I sighed dreamily.
"Why do you ask?" I asked Swetcha.

"You know what I feel?"
I waited for her to continue.

"For the first time in past three years i have not missed my mother. I don't miss her anymore, Manu. I see her in him. I fell ill, and he cared for me. I know it's just sympathy from his side but... " she sniffed. "I can't help but compare him to my mother. He took care of me. That's so not him. He is lazy, in the few months of have known him, he hates working. His room is always messy. But since I fell ill, he has done everything to help me. He cleans the house, he waters the plants, he even cooks. You know the omelette he made had egg shells in them." She laughed. " But the thought is what matters right? Since then we have gotten along well. He still irritates me with his English but he pampers me. Like I am a baby. It's been so long, Manu. I miss being so carefree, like I was, when I was a kid. When I did not know about the monsters these world had. Now I feel like, I don't have to be bothered by those monsters. I have him, no?"

There was a pregnant pause before she spoke again. "I think I am falling in love with him."

"And I don't know why that is a bad thing." I said.

"Because he is rich."

We both sighed.

"Swetcha... not every rich person is bad. Look at me..."

"Exactly! Look at you. Your father. Kiran. That bastard! And me? My father?" She sighed.

"Think of it as your happy ending. I got lucky, you may get too."

"That is exactly what I am saying. You met a middle class guy who happens to be prince charming, you got lucky. I don't know if I can depend on luck."

"Don't be so pessimistic. Aren't you like this sappy romantic person? You should be happy that one of the stories you read actually became true in your life."

"I don't read them because I believe they will come true. I read them because they help me escape reality."

I sighed. True, our fathers ruined us for other men. Rich, proud and arrogant fathers who did not give us a chance to prove that we are worth loving.

"Fine. Don't believe in the fairy tales or those romantic stories you read. But believe one thing, Itcha. Believe that love strikes in a very unexpected way and by unexpected person. What you should know is, to recognise and accept it. I am no consultant for love problems but, if your entire existence rejects the feeling and you still can't throw it away, then you feel for that person real strong. And act on those feelings, because you haven't taken any risks in terms of love, Itcha."