THE CHALLENGE.

Reminiscence of Old Love.

One day, I got a call from my college friend to join them on a weekend. I was elated as I am meeting my friend after a long time, and in few weeks, the festive season of Diwali will commence. It was good time for a get together after a long time, and then after few weeks the Diwali holidays began, but still there were few days left for the festival. On a weekend in a sunny day, I got ready to meet my buddy after a long haul of time, my friend, Sanjay was staying at the outskirts of the city, so it will be a four hours journey to his place. I caught a taxi in the morning to reach his house at the earliest, meanwhile Jagdeesh and Amit will catch me up at Sanjay's house later, the cool breeze of the morning were blowing on my face, as the window was open, and during Diwali the climate gets warmer, so to soak in the cool wind was refreshing for me. After a while the taxi-driver stopped near the house, it paid him fare and tips as a Diwali Bonus, the driver was happy and thanked me with a gleam on his wrinkled face.

I acknowledge it, and got down from the taxi, and the vehicle moved away from the sight, shrinking in size. I am meeting Sanjay after a long time, so it will be a jolly time for us; the house was made up of red bricks, and it had lofty roofs coloured in brunette. The house was surrounded by white picket fence. I opened the pale gate, which made shrilling sounds from its hinges, the house was large, and didn't have storey, it had a beautiful garden, which had hedges and rose bushes, I walked on the raw road through the corner of the garden at the left, the garden had a large pale swing in the midst. I reached the porch and rang the bell, as the door opened, I saw a familiar face which is tad altered, Sanjay was lanky, but he had a good physique, and the hair's above forehead were grey, his face grew wrinkled, however, he seemed energetic, he gave me a warm welcome, and we sat on the large sofa, the hall was huge and beautiful, we cracked the conversation, reminiscing our yesteryears, and after half an hour Amit and Jagdeesh joined us.

He was happy to see them too, Sanjay informs that there are more friends to come, by that time we cherished our old memories, laughing and cracking jokes. Later that afternoon, few friends joined us, they were Rahul, and my first love Ms. Kelly, with an unknown man, who was tall and had a fair skin, I guess he is Kelly's husband, and he looked better than me. Our eyes met for the first time quiet after long years, Amit and Jagdeesh looked at me, as they knew about Kelly and me, rest no one in the house knows about our past relation except for her. Sanjay welcomed them, and they threw themselves on the elegant sofa adjacent to us, Kelly and Rahul were happy to see us, however, she was stealing glances from me. Kelly was dressed in sapphire sleeveless gown, and she looked the same as many years ago, she was slender, and has a wavy chestnut hairs, slithering beyond her shoulders, her cheeks still grew dimple while she smiled, displaying her pearly arranged teeth, and she had really dolled up for the event. The event will be an amiss for me, as I never expected Kelly to visit; perhaps I have to deal with it. Fair Enough!!!

She introduced her husband, Mr. Singhal to us; he is a Chartered Accountant and a business man too, we were glad to meet him. Sanjay smiles, and utters, "Buddy, I would like you to handle my tax related matters from now, as sometimes it becomes very complicated to handle." Mr. Singhal replies, "Of course, I will help you in it..." Kelly chimes in, "Don't worry, Sanjay, my hubby would definitely help you." And they laughed, after a while we had our lunch, I strolled in the garden, while everyone was chatting around, I slipped in the reminiscence of the yesteryear.

Ten years ago, during our college days, Kelly and I deeply fell in love with each other, Kelly was peppy in nature, however, I was stiff and reticent, but the opposites always attracts, so it was the same for Kelly and I. In my college days, I use to do small jobs to finance my needs, and support my family, as I belong to a middle-class family, however, Kelly belonged to an affluent family, but still she had a heart of gold. When I use to get my salary, I use to take her on a long drive, she didn't like me squandering money on her, and she too contributed towards our long drive, we use to go to hotels, shopping and movies.

After completing my graduation, I began searching for job, and at last I got the job, as I had some obligation, I assured Kelly that I will marry her in due course, however, due to the constant stress from her parents, she got married, and our ways parted. Jagdeesh gently patted on my shoulder, and my reminiscence was broken, "Hey Buddy!! Thinking of Kelly still?" I was sitting on the swing; I looked over the shoulder, while Jagdeesh was behind me, and I got up and swung towards him, and replied, "Yes Buddy, I was slipped in time for a while." Amit comes behind Jagdeesh, and utters, "I didn't know about Kelly visiting the party, it was a total surprise, I think we must go now, I understand you are sad." I replied, "No worries, we will stay here and enjoy."