Love letter

Some stories are never told. There are so many tales of love that are not known to the public. We move around every day, passing so many people. All of them have a story, but we are so caught up in our lives that we don't really find out the story of the person who maybe is sitting next to us on the ride back home.

It was another day for me, coming back from an exhausting day at work. My plans for the rest of the day was to order in something, get in something comfortable and watch some romantic movie for three hours before falling asleep and then waking up the next day to repeat the same routine as every other day.

That day it had rained and knowing metros, it would be messy and disgusting. I was not really in a mood to handle any kind of nonsense, so I grabbed the first window seat I could find, put on my earphones and started looking out of the window. My stop was the last in the line.

Somewhere in the middle, an old aged woman came and sat beside me, playing with her grandson. She got down on the next stoppage where a crowd like no other barged in.

Everybody was in a rush. I couldn't help but smile to myself. I could guarantee that none of these people would reach their destinations on time.

A man, close to his early thirties, came and sat down beside me. While doing so, he managed to pull out one of the earphones that.

"I...am so sorry!" he immediately held back the white earpiece to me, smiling apologetically.

I rarely saw polite men like him, especially being polite to women. So I smiled warmly, assuring him it was all right.

"I really did not mean to do that," he said, gesturing towards the crowd. "It's just, huh, the crowd..."

I smiled gently at him. "I understand. The rain was kind of unexpected."

He grinned and nodded. I smiled again, before pushing in the earphones and changing to soothing music.

Somewhere between there and my stop, the man walked off and I did not even pay attention. I would have probably forgotten about that encounter, remembering it fondly, years later as one man behaved well to me.

When my stop came, I began stuffing my earphones in my bag and stood up. It was then that my eyes fell on the black wallet that was almost hidden by me.

Looking around, I realized, it could not belong to any present person on the metro. There was a woman who was closest to me, typing away on her phone. A man stood a few steps away, talking to someone, smiling.

I picked up the wallet and opened it, only to find a driving license with the face of the old man on it. The name, well, it started with 'R'.

Sighing, I pocketed the wallet, reminding myself to hand it over to the police later or maybe finding the phone number somewhere.

I reached home, changed and ordered another Chinese takeout, before taking out the purse and trying to find some kind of contact information of 'R'. There were credit cards, debit cards, the driving license, pan card, 700 in cash some change a photograph. None which could lead me to him. I mentally made a note to later Google him up. Maybe that would help.

It was when I was setting down the wallet that it almost slipped from my hand and an old piece of paper fell out. Thinking it to be some kind of information, I opened it.

I think that was what prompted me to write this down today.

It was an old piece of paper, yellowed and rough around the edges. There were traces of tear over the letter, making blotches at places.

It read:

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Dear 'R',

I honestly do not know what has prompted me to write this to you today. It has been so long. I guess I was just remembering you.

My wedding date has been fixed. It is on 26th of the next month. I must send you the invitation, but I think we both know you will hate it. And even if you don't, you will never come to the wedding.

I miss you, 'R', I miss you so much. I know, after college, we had promised each other we will never see each other again. Never write to each other again. But I just cannot forget you.

I tried, my beloved, I tried. So hard. I burnt all the letters and notes we had exchanged during the classes, I donated all the gifts you had given me. But I can't really abandon my heart now, can I? My foolish heart-I gave it to you and you returned it to me. You returned to me saying we must erase everything that shows we were together. But you were unable to erase the mark you had left over it.

No, I am not getting cold feet. I truly love the person I am supposed to be marrying. But it's not you. I know when I see the future, that it won't be you beside me. It won't be you when we will move in the new house. It won't be you when I have a child. It won't be you with whom I will be attending those parent teacher's meetings.

It won't be you.

I shouldn't be writing this. I shouldn't be thinking about you. But I just can't forget.

Remember the first time we had met? I almost kicked you and you almost spit on me. Looking back, that was hilarious.

Do you remember the time we had gone to walk near India Gate? It was freaking one a.m. and you were cursing all the way. But you never stopped me. I believed and I still believe you lack the artistic sense of the world. But that doesn't stop you from coming with me or listen to me babble.

I wish I could bring that all back. Maybe create a time machine. You always wanted to create one, I remember.

I want to go back and tell you that I love you.

I never really said that to you, did I?

I have been in love with you since the moment you stepped in to save me from those bloody bullies. I have loved since that day in winter when you had brought me that blanket that you needed and we ended up sharing it because you were shivering. I have loved you through all those times we spent together or apart.

It hurts me that we cannot be together. I wish...I wish things were different. I wish I had been braver to tell you how I felt when you told me how you fell. I wish I had been braver so that I could tell my parents. I wish...I wish we could be together now and that I wasn't pouring my heart in this letter.

By the time this will reach you, I...I will probably be married.

I just want to tell you, 'R', I love you and I always have.

And I miss you.

Manish

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I didn't know this man. I didn't know who he was. But there was a life, much more complicated than mine. But he wasn't sulking. He talked to me, a total stranger, with a smile.

Sometimes we meet people whose stories deserved to be told but are never told.

Unknowingly, I discovered one such story.