Hope

A Lost Love

Since Rahul had never been around a woman, he never really knew what love felt like. He didn't feel the emotions like a regular teenager or an adult who has fallen in love or has a crush on someone. His parents never taught him about the principles of dating or liking a girl, or how to evaluate self emotions while looking at an attractive woman. 

Love was something he had only experienced via movies or TV Shows, but he was sure that it did not existed in real life and can you really blame him? Just look how fucked up his parents turned out, both the times. He only had a sense of responsibility as a brother, who had to live for the safety and welfare of his sisters so while he was engrossed with his meaningless training, and baseless life schedule, a girl suddenly entered his life out of nowhere.

Grandfather received a proposal through a family friend who were interested in Rahul as a prospective groom for their daughter. He acknowledged the proposal and a meeting was set up. Rahul had no interest in the idea of marriage but he had to listen to his father because of obvious reasons so he fixed his look, put on new clothes and went to meet the girl and her family with his parents. 

The meeting was set up in a historical monument for a casual day out so that the girl and Rahul could spend some time getting to know each other while their parents spoke with each other elsewhere. The first glance upon the girl was enough for Rahul to skip a heartbeat or two. His head was immediately flooded with emotional and romantic feelings towards the girl he had just met. She was tall, fair, her long black hair ran until her waist and she had the most enchanting smile Rahul had ever seen in his life. He thought to himself, was this even okay? Does the girl really wants to marry an average looking guy like him? He hadn't accomplished anything huge in his life, his family was in shambles, would he really be able to provide for her?

They had very little conversation where they just asked each other about their academic qualifications, their general interests etc., and that really appals me because how can you decide based on such little piece of information that you can spend your whole life with them? 90s was sure a wild era! 

But as all these emotions were running across his mind, my grandmother could saw how enchanted Rahul was after meeting the girl, and decided to sabotage the prospective proposal. After coming back from the meeting, she yelled at her husband that he wants to bring a beautiful girl in the house so that she can become his eye candy. She accused him that he was the one who liked the girl and it had nothing to do with Rahul's marriage. Naturally, it turned out to be a huge fight between the two, they threw dishes at each other, and hurled abuses as well. And the proposal was rejected where grandmother told the girl's parents that Rahul was a good-for-nothing boy who has a very meagre salary and won't be able to provide a comfortable life for her. She also did not fail to mention about all the things that Rahul had done in the past, and emphasised upon the fact that he has been to jail.

Now after listening to all of this, which parent in their right mind would want to marry their daughter to a guy like Rahul?

Rahul's heart was broken again and he killed what little emotions had escaped from his tightly shut heart and forgot how to love, forgot how to be in love. He made sure that this never happens again because then step-gran would make sure that his relationship fails, and he wasn't meant to live a happy life. He only existed to provide a comfortable life for her own three sisters, and serve as a servant in the house, forced to do his father and stepmother's bidding.

What could have been a start of a beautiful relationship between two people, resulted in a painful memory and a damaged heart. 

But step gran had only started, and Avika's happiness was next.