Love Rekindled {Part One}

It was early evening and the whole of Bandra was spilling out on the Promenade. It had been a warm day, and the heavy clouds above were letting down a slight drizzle. Naina turned her face up to the dark sky, enjoying the sensation of the light rain falling, cooling her.1

'Lovely!' she exclaimed joyfully to her friend Nikhil, who was walking alongside her on the pathway.2

'Yeah, you are,' he said, flashing his pearly whites at her. 'Stunning.'3

'Shut up Nikhil,' she said glad that he wouldn't be able to see her blushing in the dim light. She knew he was just flirting, but couldn't help feeling her heart thumping. She harbored a secret crush on him, and who wouldn't? Nikhil was gorgeous. Trouble was; he knew it. 4

Arrogance was an attribute Naina truly despised in men. But Nikhil's good looks made up for it.5

'You know Naina, of all my girlfriends, I find I like to be around you best.'6

'I'm not your girlfriend,' said Naina, rolling her eyes up to the heavens. Nikhil really annoyed her sometimes, the way he took for granted that any girl would go gaga over him and do whatever he asked of her. 7

'Well I know I haven't asked you out yet formally,' said Nikhil. 'So here goes!' 8

He went down on his knees, took her hand in his and said, 'Naina, Will you marry me?'9

Naina stared at him, dumbstruck. 'Do you usually propose like this?'10

'No,' he chuckled. 'It just struck me.'11

Naina laughed. She then thought about the magnitude of the task set in front of her. Should she say yes? She spent most of her time fantasizing about him, and yet it still seemed unbelievable that he had actually proposed to her. So dreams did come true after all. Her heart was set on saying yes, when a little voice inside her interrupted her fancies, telling her that she should refuse. But she silenced it, after all when would she ever meet someone like Nikhil?12

'So what do you say?' asked Nikhil quietly.13

'Yes,' said Naina instantly, her eyes sparkling.14

'Great,' he said in a soft voice. 'You just made my night.' 15

They walked the whole length of the Promenade together, Nikhil relating how much he loved her and Naina in the seventh heaven of delight.16

It was a week after Nikhil had proposed. They had spent the next few days together, Naina enjoying herself completely. She still disapproved of Nikhil's arrogance but did not make it an issue, not when she was so happy. Her happiness waned a little, when Nikhil stopped talking to her. Everything had been going very well, and she couldn't understand why he didn't call her or anything. She called her best friend Amrita and spoke to her about it. 17

'I don't know what's wrong; he hasn't returned any of my calls for the past three days...'18

'Do you think something happened to him?'19

'I don't know,' replied Naina walking to the front door and picking up the mail with her right hand, cordless in the other.20

'Hey Amrita, there's a letter from him! I'll call you back later, Bye.' Click.21

Naina tore open the envelope and ripped out the letter. Her heart almost stopped as she read its content.22

'Nooo!' she screamed, crushing the letter and sinking down to the floor. Her twin brother Jai came running out of his room. 'Naina! What on earth are you yelling for?' He saw his sister sobbing on the floor behind the dining table. 23

'Naina?' he said uncertainly. 'What happened?' He sat down beside her and she allowed him to pull her into a brotherly hug. 24

'Jai....he sent me a letter breaking off the engagement!' she wept, lifting her head from his shoulder, facing him.25

'What??? That dog!' yelled Jai furiously. 'Oh Naina I'm so sorry,' he said soothingly, genuinely upset to see how heart broken his sister was. He was overcome with rage when he picked up the crushed letter and read it. In it Nikhil had written that he had never had any intention to take their relation seriously and that it was all in good fun. Jai clenched his fists so hard that his fingernails dug deep into his skin.26

'Naina...'27

'Jai, please...I just want to be alone...'28

She ran into her room, closing the door behind her and flung herself on the double bed, crying into a pillow. But her despondent tears soon turned to those of fury. Naina had one attribute that always came in between everything. Her ego.29

It wasn’t her fault she had one. Attractive and intelligent, she was admired by everyone she met. 30

'How could he dump me?' she thought, infuriated. 'Me? ME?'31

Naina sat in her bedroom for a long time, contemplating about herself, her thoughts, her fancies, which now dawned on her as to how ridiculous they were. She was completely honest with herself. She read her whole diary in which recorded all her feelings, and all she dreamt of. Everything he had said was now a horrid barefaced lie. The cold truth was that he had just used her for his own enjoyment, and she had happily fallen for it in readiness.32

'No wonder I fell into his trap,' she reflected, biting her lower lip. 'I bet he found me really easy prey.' She punched the pillow resentfully. 33

Not that she was going to take all the blame. From that moment on she vowed to herself never to trust another man, and to break hearts, just like hers was broken.34

She spent the rest of the day in her bedroom in solitude. She lay on her bed, her eyes red, her heart bitter, her head aching terribly and was finally overcome by sleep.35

It was two months after the incident. Naina ambling in the college campus; was not talking to anybody.36

'Hey, Naina!' came a guy's voice behind her. Naina rolled her eyes and kept walking.37

'Hey, wait up!' he called.38

It was Satish. Naina didn't really know him; and didn't really care to. He finally caught up with her and walked alongside her.39

'Nice day huh?' he said sheepishly.40

'You think so?' she said in a dangerous voice.41

'Uh...yeah,' he said nervously.42

'God help me,' she thought. 43

'Uhh....N-Naina,' stammered Satish. 'I was just wondering....would you be my g-g-girlfriend?'44

Naina came to a sharp stop and turned to him. 'What?' she snapped45

'I said....'46

'I heard what you said you imbecile!' She circled around his fat figure, looking him up from his greasy hair, gelled in quite a strange style, his thick glasses down to his Reeboks, coated with mud because of the continuous rain. 47

'Do you honestly think I'm going to go out with someone as fashion challenged as you?' she said icily and walked off. A lot of her classmates had collected around them. The onlookers were shocked on hearing Naina's frosty reply, Amrita among them.48

'Oh God, how rude!'49

'A polite no would have done!'50

'She's so awful! What attitude!'51

'Okay, Satish may not be the ideal guy, but he does have feelings!'52

'She used to be so nice....now I can't bear to talk to her.'53

'Yeah, when I see her coming, I just turn around and walk the other way.'54

Amrita heard all this but made no comment. She looked at Satish, who looked so hurt and miserable; it went straight to her heart. He was not good looking, but was helpful and sweet, basically a nice person. She went over to him and apologized on her friend's behalf.55

Later that day, Naina and Amrita attended a college dance. Naina was sitting in a corner, bored, Amrita giving her company. Just then, Rahul the college stud, came up to them.56

'Hey Naina.....Want to dance?' asked Rahul, flashing a dimpled smile at her.57

'First learn how to,' said Naina coldly, walking away.58

'Naina!' said Amrita crossly, following her. 'Can't you behave? You could have just said no!'59

'He would have insisted then,' said Naina rolling her eyes. 'And come on, who'd blame him?' 60

'Oh shut up!' said Amrita, irate. 'You're such an ego maniac!'61

'Whatever. This dance sucks. I'm going home.' 62

'Thanks for informing me. I'll ask someone to hold an umbrella over you until you catch a rickshaw,' said Amrita sarcastically.63

'Thanks that would be great.' Saying this Naina grabbed her purse and left. Amrita thought how strange it were that no matter how mad she got at Naina for showing so much attitude, they still remained best friends. Weird.64

Two years passed, and Naina remained her cold stony self. She distanced herself from everyone, speaking only with her beloved twin, and Amrita.65

'Don't you feel sad that college is over?' said Amrita gloomily.66

'Frankly, no. Just relieved.'67

The girls were sitting in Naina's bedroom, a few days after their graduation. There was a knock on the door.68

'Come in!' 69

The door opened and Jai came in.70

'Just wanted to tell you girls that there's going to be a fete at our college in a couple of days. Want to come?'71

Amrita at once acquiesced enthusiastically, but Naina yawned.72

'Oh come on Naina,' said Jai sitting down beside her. 'It'll be fun!'73

'It'll be boring,' corrected Naina. 'Enjoy yourselves.74

'Naina please come,' coaxed Jai.' You hardly leave the house nowadays, after college got over.'75

'No.'76

'For me?' pleaded Jai, grinning at Amrita. 'You've had your way long enough, it's time you listened to me.'77

'Oh, all right!'78

Jai, Amrita and Naina were back at their college to check out the fete. Amrita had discovered a hair braiding stall tucked away in a corner of the campus and had excitedly got some parts of her hair braided. She looked very cute, two thin plaits on each side framing her innocent face, with the rest of her hair left loose.79

She met one of her old friends from college and was merrily chatting away, enjoying the gala immensely. Naina left Amrita in search of Jai, who was nowhere to be seen. She walked quickly through the milling crowd looking everywhere, slipped on a cola can carelessly thrown and crashed into someone with a 'Whoa!' 80

She was helped onto her feet by the guy she'd accidentally 'bumped' into. Dazed but angry, she looked unto him to let off some steam. It didn't help when she saw how handsome he was. He was smiling apologetically at her, his soft light brown eyes melting her heart. 81

She shook herself hard in disbelief and came back to her senses. 82

"Can't you watch where you're going?' she said roughly dusting her denim bellbottoms at the knees, knowing it was her fault.  83

'Hey it was an accident, no big deal,' he said. 'I apologize anyway.' 84

Fortunately, as she opened her mouth to throw him an insult, Jai and Amrita suddenly intervened.85

'Where were you?' said Naina cantankerously to Jai. 'I've been looking for you everywhere.'86

'Looking everywhere, yet not looking down,' said the fellow Naina had bumped into. She glowered at him.87

'I'm Raj,' he said, holding out his hand. 88

'Do we care?' said Naina, rolling her eyes.89

'Raj?' said Amrita looking at him strangely. 'Raj Sharma?'90

'Yeah,' answered Raj, looking at Amrita in surprise. 'Oh God Amrita!' he exclaimed, recognizing her.91

It turned out that Amrita and Raj were close family friends, much to Naina's annoyance; who had lost touch when Raj left for England to complete his medical studies. 92

They had coffee at Barista, with Raj relating stories about his university days in London, some of which turned out to be funny. Though Naina gave the impression that she couldn't be more bored, she was more than interested against her will. Raj was quite an interesting person.93

Raj and Amrita met regularly, and when they invited Naina she always consented. He became good friends with Jai, but Naina always ostracized Raj when she got the chance. But though she would never acknowledge it, she liked being in his company. He had an inexplicable way of making people feel good about themselves.94

A fortnight later, Jai and Amrita were seated at a restaurant in Bandstand. They had been invited there by Raj. 95

'Where is he?' said Amrita impatiently.96

'I wonder what he wanted to tell us,' said Jai frowning. 'It must be something important else he could have just telephoned.'97

'True,' came Raj's voice behind them. 'But I wanted to tell you this personally.'98

He was clearly excited. Amrita looked at him curiously.99

'What's up?' she inquired, gesticulating him a seat.100

'Well,' he said sitting down. He started fidgeting with his fork, his distracted face breaking into wide smiles.101

'Dude, chill,' said Jai exasperated, waving a hand in front of Raj's face, breaking the latter out of his reverie with a start. 102

'Sorry,' said Raj. 'All right guys. Let's order shall we? Hands up those who want murgh makhani!' 103

In the middle of their lunch, Raj looked at them thoughtfully104

'I'm in love,' he confessed quietly.105

'Congrats,' said Jai brightly. 'Who's the unfortunate girl?'106

'Naina,' said Raj, a dreamy expression on his face.107

Jai accidentally spat out some Thums Up. Amrita looked at Raj, then at Jai.108

'I guess then Raj is the more unfortunate one,' she said chuckling.109

'I've just told you about the love of my life and you're laughing?' said Raj, staring at them indignantly.110

'Sorry Raj,' said Amrita. 'But how come you like her, I mean she treats you like dirt.'111

'Sometimes she does,' said Raj grinning. 'I don't know there's something more to her than her aggressiveness. Sometimes I feel she's completely unsure of herself, which makes me think that all that hostility is just put on, I don't know for what reason. I don't quite know how to explain.'112

'But you do realize that it's utterly impossible that she'll ever accept you,' said Amrita, looking very sorry for him. 113

'Utterly and entirely impossible,' added Jai as an afterthought.114

'Not because there's anything wrong with you,' said Amrita hurriedly.115

'But because, well, Naina went through a bad experience around two years back; that has put her completely against the male species.'116

Together, Jai and Amrita filled him into everything. Comprehension dawned on Raj. He realized that there was a very different girl hiding beneath the façade she'd created, afraid to face the world. But if Jai and Amrita felt that he was going to forget her, they were wrong. He hardly ate anything out of his plate, lost in thought, determined to help Naina unmask her true self.117

{Continued in Part 2......http://www.storywrite.com/Story/762942}118