It was raining since the morning today . After returning back from the office she quickly tided up her house and got properly dressed up. At 7:00 pm the doorbell rang . As she opened up the door damp aroma of the rain and a man entered the house with a bouquet of roses in his hands.
"Hello Shubhash , come in"
" here pretty roses for a pretty lady"
" haha , thank you " she said blushing.
She came to know that Shubash got a new job in the same city a month ago when they bumped into each other in a bus returning back from office. Since then they were in constant touch with each other . In the initial stages of their acquittance she had made it clear that she wanted to restrict to just to friendship to which he replied that it was ok with him and he considered her as a friend and wanted to just one. With each meeting their closeness grew .they kept on talking for hours and every day it was turning out to be harder for to resist from the fact that she has started liking him.
Dinner had , they sat down to have a cup of coffee and chit chat.With the melody of the pouring rain and steaming hot coffee cups their conversation carried on from their office work, colleges to mutual friends and then random here and there.
" have you been to Lonavala ? its a beautiful place" asked Shubhash
" ah yes , I visited that place when we were young . I still remember it was so much fun ! " she replied with child like excitement. " you know most of our child hood was spent traveling. I have been to Rajasthan , Utrakhand and even Nepal !! In fact we were planning to send you and di there for your honeymoon"
and suddenly there was an awkward silence and then out burst of memories .
Preeti's elder sister Kajal had killed her self for a reason
unknown just a few days before her marriage with Subhash , Leaving
behind her diary with a few blank pages in it and lots of memories
behind for her.
That day brought havoc to her life. It was just not that she had lost her guide, friend and protector i.e. her sister that day also, she was asked to marry her sisters fiance which she obviously refused. How could she marry subhash and how could her and his parents even think about it after all this ?
It is said if you can understand your parents you can understand the world and she hadn't solved the mystery yet.
Since then her life revolved around the two 'whys' .
first, that
why did her sister commit suicide ? and second that
why did she did not want to marry Subhash if she didn't love any one else and thought him to be a nice guy? She had no reasons for both . All she could say was that her was her sisters fiance , that didn't convince her orthodox parents.
Because she didn't have any answers she said she needed time think about it .
Latter she got a job offer in an other city which she ready accepted to escape the q's and buts of her parents .Since then her life was just a tune of monotony between her office, her flat and the two questions , with an occasional change in the note.
"Hey are you alright ? Preeti ?" asked Subhash" lost some where?"
"Oh yes I am fine , nah ! " said she reviving back to present.
"You know she would have been a wonderful writer " trying to ease up the moment." I loved one of her lines written in her diary "
" Really ? tell me ?"
" It was...' Life is just like a few blank pages..' "
Before she could finish off ,there was a thunder roar and then the lights went off .
They lit the whole room with candles.
"Candles " she whispered and she then rushed off to another room with a candle in hand .
" what happened ?? I wanted to tell you something " shouted Subhash.
" oh wait for some time " she said , shutting the door of the room.
She quickly searched her sister's diary and stared feeling the blank pages in it. Yes , she knew her sister would leave some message behind and started hovering the pages over the flame.
It was an old magic trick they used to send their secrete messages in their child hood , by writing with a white wax on a blank white sheet , and then hovering it over the flame to make the writing visible.
Finally she would know. Her heart beat was racing .
and then she saw the hidden words.
" Subhash loves Preeti. I have no reason to live"
An eternal silence started blanketing her, and then thoughts came running out.
Suddenly every thing made sense that was an coincidence earlier , every distorted piece of the puzzle now took its place revealing the picture clearly to her.
Shubhash first broke up with her sister , then took a job up here to be with her. Probably their meeting wasn't a coincidence too , but all a part of the plan !
A drop of tear flew down her cheek when she heard a knock.
She slowly opened the door and saw Subhash bent down on his knees with a ring in his hands
And then utter the ominous words " will you marry me?"
This time she had all the answers to her 'whys'.....
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
how true were Kajal' words:
" life is a just like few blank pages .
A lot can happen over it"...
