It was a Friday morning in A.M.F.C College. The freshers were creeping in with unassured steps as they graduated to college.
Kiara was late for college, one of those days when nothing was going right. Right from getting off the bed and not finding her favourite Hello Kitty bedroom slippers. “Oh Damn! That’s a bad omen” she thought. She walks into the bathroom to find a near dead toothpaste on the last leg of its journey. She squeezes the last breath out of it and sets it free. A fast forward shower and breakfast is managed in ten minutes before rushing out to get an Auto. No sign of Auto, no family around to drop her....Murphy’s quite fond of me she thought, he likes to experiment all his laws on me, she huffed. Just when she was contemplating the option of a lift from a stranger, a sparkling red Lamborghini comes to a screeching halt, right in front of her. She looks left, looks right but there is no one apart from her. The dark glasses roll down and the handsome hunk inside asks Kiara if she needed a lift. Kiara mentally thanked God for answering her prayer even before she asked, but still mutters a “Thank you. I will manage”. The driver acknowledges with a “Sure” and drives off. Kiara is miffed at the audacity of the driver. He did not even insist that it isn’t a bother and that he can drop her wherever. Suddenly the car rolls back and the hunk peeps out “Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you anywhere?” Kiara jumps at the opportunity, opens the door of the car and softly slips in a “Thank you, if you insist, it will be A.M.F.C College please”. The silence would have been awkward if not for the FM radio playing country rock music. In flat ten minutes the four wheels come to a halt at the front gate. For the first time Kiara looked at him and said “Thank you”. The guy took off his shades, the grey eyes acknowledge her Thanks. He extended his hand, introducing himself as Tanmay. Kiara dodges the introduction avoiding giving away her name. She just says “Thank you Tanmay” and rushes out.
From far she caught a glimpse of her group pacing up and down visibly miffed with her for being late. As they rush up the stairs they see groups of strategically placed seniors sitting as hunters waiting on to bait the unsuspecting freshers. They decide to creep their way through with their heads down when a loud “You freshers” is directed towards them. “Oh damn, we are caught.” said Kiara under her breadth. She knew it was a bad day, her hello kitty slippers, her lucky mascot were missing today. This had to happen.
A tom boyish girl walks over to them and starts off “You juniors! Listen up, every time you see us seniors, lower your gaze, raise your right hand at ninety degrees and say loudly- Hail seniors! Is that understood?” The group meekly nods. Couple of other general instructions on absurd clothing combinations are given to ensure we look like clowns to be spotted from far as collectibles. They start singling out each one for individual dare tasks. “Hey you, the one in red” Kiara nervously tries to hide behind her friend but the friend steps aside and all eyes fall on her. She has no choice but to move forward as expected.
Kiara has been handed over a garland and told to garland the first person who came down from those steps and tell the person that she loves him/her. That is a main entrance, very near the staff room so there is a big possibility that it could be the professors, seniors…anyone. Kiara is using all her cosmic connections to ask Universe to come to help her. Slowly, from the corner of her eyes she tries to get a glimpse of who that is. The grey uniform gives way, it is the college peon. She is mentally getting ready to do the act and imagining the toothy smile of the peon as she expresses her love and garlands him. She wants the earth to open up and take her in that very moment. The steps are becoming harder and faster too. Looks like the peon has got a whiff of the pleasant surprise he is in for at the bottom of the stairs. Kiara can feel the presence very close to her. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, literally throws the garland in front of her and hurriedly says “I love you” all in one breadth. Imagining the thirty-six all out look on his face she opens her eyes. It’s Tanmay!! The guy who just gave her a lift. The amused deep grey eyes smiling at her. She doesn’t know how to face him and runs out. She can hear him call out “It’s ok Kiara”.
It turns out that Tanmay is in the last year of college and is quite a popular figure. He has the looks, the riches and the brain. All this secret Sherlocking was happening because she wanted to know how he knew her name. All this while she had been avoiding coming face to face with him. This hide n seek continued for about two weeks. One Monday afternoon when she was sitting on the stairs of the terrace in the quiet corner of the right wing, she heard the footsteps. Without looking in that direction, she just had an uncanny feeling that it was him. No specific reason to feel so but she just knew. She considered fleeing from the scene but her reflexes were not fast enough. She was staring at the shadow on the ground as the figure stood in front of her. She noticed the stylish brown boots matched up nicely with the acid wash jeans. She looked up. It was indeed him. “I was just leaving” she said with a nervous smile. He said “Don’t you want to know how I know you?” That wasn’t something she was expecting to hear, in her nervousness she blurted “No” and started walking briskly towards the main corridor. Suddenly she feels dizzy has a blackout.
She wakes up to a quarter dozen family members hovering around her from all sides. She wonders if she is dying and everyone’s there to bid her a good bye. Just then she remembers the afternoon’s brief encounter with the man. She looks around thankfully he isn’t here. As she wonders about how she landed up on her own bed, the drowsiness of the medicines engulf her.
The next morning at the breakfast table there is an unusual enthusiasm amongst family members. There is something mysterious in the air and she is an outsider to this conspiracy. Whenever she attempts to talk to family, all dodge the question and divert the topic to how she is feeling now.
Dressed in her white plazos and top teamed with a pink scarf Kiara is ready for some guests who are supposed to join them for breakfast today. The sound of a car in the driveway gets everyone excited but no one budges from their seat. It seems like a conspiracy that everyone is coaxing her to open the door. With a perplexed look she moves towards the door.
It’s Tanmay with a few others, at her doorstep. Kiara is plagued with the “this can’t be true” syndrome. “Is this guy following me? This cannot be true. What did I do? Has he brought his family here to tell my parents how I abashedly proposed to him, rather garlanded him in front of the whole college” A whole barrage of thoughts flood her. She pinched herself just to be sure that this wasn’t a dream.
What happened in the next hour was nothing lesser than a fairy tale. Kiara is told that many years back, Sachdevas were old neighbours. When Kiara was very young, Sachdevas moved to London. It was five years back that Tanmay came back to live with his granny. He spotted Kiara during her junior college days and had an eye for her. From their family to hers the connections were made. That is exactly how he knew who she was. The chance lift on the first day of college and the garlanding ceremony were destiny’s plans thereafter.
So this was a one sided love affair until this moment. Now the families wanted to give the two the necessary push to see if this could be a relationship for keeps. It was too much of a shock to Kiara. Amidst all the revelry Kiara stood there a little awkward not knowing whether to join in or to question it. Suddenly, she felt a hand dragging her towards the balcony. A hand blocked her mouth as Kiara attempted to say something. In the balcony with a closed door behind them it is just him and her.
Tanmay starts with an honest “Sorry! I did not want to shock you like this but you did not give me a chance to speak in college. Yesterday I wanted to speak with you but you fainted. I carried you back home. Considering the families knew how I felt for you, things got a little out of proportion and here we are today. Although, I can’t change what has happened. I promise you that going forward things will happen the way you want.” “I need some time, this is too overwhelming. I don’t even know you”, Kiara responds. Tanmay holds his hand out and says “Hi! I am Tanmay.” This time Kiara does not shy off but extends her hand out with a smile “Hi! I am Kiara”. That was the start of their three year friendship.
It might have been love at first sight for Tanmay but for Kiara it was a warm friendship that blossomed over the years. Tanmay was careful not to let too much emotion out and make her feel awkward but his loving caring ways did melt her heart. She did not realise when the friendship bloomed to love.
Kiara had been feeling uneasy for days now. It had been a few weeks, Tanmay had been behaving strangely. He made excuses each time Kiara proposed to meet. He kept saying he is busy on a project. One day when she wanted to surprise him and landed in his office unannounced, he wasn’t there. Kiara’s friends started poisoning her mind that he is rich n super successful, he might have found another love interest and now wants to wash his hands off Kiara. She tried to keep a sane head and reassured herself that Tanmay isn’t like that. She has known him for three years. Not once has he given her any reasons to doubt him then why would he do anything like that now. “This is going out of hand, I need to have this sorted” she affirms to herself and calls him. His phone is switched off. She leaves a message that she has something urgent and important to discuss and she will wait for him at 7pm at the Café Deli near her home.
Kiara sipped coffee as she waited and minutes turn to hours. She can’t fathom what’s wrong. The least she expects is that her man is upfront and tells her whatever it is. She is losing patience and finally when the café is about to shut down, she is forced to leave. No sign of Tanmay, not one message. She was pacing up and down the whole night concocting the weirdest, shameless scenarios of what could be happening. Kiara is not very proud of herself when it comes to managing anger. She is capable of going on a raging rampage when enraged.
She can barely wait for the sun to be up. Hurriedly she pulls out her car and drives to Tanmay’s determined to confront him and get the truth out. She is convinced that there is something he is hiding. As she is driving, she notices a car driving out of his place. She has seen this car before she is trying hard to remember where. Her face falls when she realises it is his secretary’s car. This is the last nail in the coffin. She barges into the house and finds Tanmay in a happy chirpy mood humming “You’re beautiful….”. This is it! She is convinced that it’s a breach of trust and Tanmay is two timing her. She blasts him for all that’s been happening past few days. The fact that he has been avoiding her so blatantly, for the fact that he did not come last night inspite of the fact that she said it was urgent and important and now that she saw her secretary’s car driving off at this unearthly hour from his house. She throws the ring which was lovingly given by him.
Tanmay tries to calm her down by saying that she got it all wrong and he didn’t do anything wrong but those words didn’t help. When she continued with all the allegations, Tanmay just stood there not saying a word. When she had nothing more to say, he just replied “If this is how much you trust me then I have nothing more to say”.
It seemed as if her world had come shattering down, she locked herself in the room and cried her heart out. She sobbed her way to sleep in the corner of the balcony where it all started.
It was the first thought that came to her as she woke up. He was gone. And, soon, this bedroom, the house in whose eastern corner it sat, and the tiny garden outside with its gnarled old red hibiscus and the half-grown mango tree they had planted together, all those would be gone as well. It was the strangest feeling ever.
Hours later, the beep of a message startled her in the stoic silence of the afternoon “I’m leaving” that’s all it said. Kiara got even more irritated thinking that he doesn’t even want to make up by saying sorry and try to salvage the situation and ask for forgiveness.
In the evening, a huge bouquet of white orchids is delivered with a note:
“Once a little princess made a wish
She wanted to be married on a special day
When the prince asked when
She said it should be something like 10.10.10
In a faraway land with tranquil turquoise waters
and sugary white-sand beaches dotted with palm and pine trees.
…..Your wish is my command my lady
In exactly 36 hours it will be 10.10.10
* The ticket to Cayman Islands and your wedding finery is with Sasha, my secretary. All these days when I was ignoring you…..I was planning this for us. Sasha was only helping me keep this secret from you.
Why did she have to say those harsh words….she is drowned in remorse. Trust was a big thing for him. Mistrusting his loyalty and intentions was sacrilege. She knew she had messed it up big time and had only thirty six hours to make it up to him. She had too much on hand, she needed help. She called Sasha to come home right away. An emergency family meeting is called and Kiara announces she is getting married in thirty six hours. After the brief round of shrieks n screams of excitement everyone gets busy doing what needs to be done. Kiara just doesn’t know what to do to make it up to Tanmay. She just decides to send a cryptic message “I’m leaving too….see you”
After a round of rushed preparations and an eighteen hour long flight the whole clan is in Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. The impeccable arrangements by Sasha impress all but Sasha had strict instructions not to give out too much information. They are swiftly moved from the airport to the beach resort with the instruction to be ready by 5.30pm.
Kiara is looking ethereal in her wedding finery. Everything around her is picture perfect but she is feeling miserable inside, not knowing how she will be able to face Tanmay, thinking of all the harsh things she said to him….. Suddenly as the evening sun is in its full glory, Kiara hears his voice…
“Once a little princess made a wish
She wanted to be married on a special day
When the prince asked when
She said it should be something like 10.10.10
In a faraway land with tranquil turquoise waters
and sugary white-sand beaches dotted with palm and pine trees.
…..Your wish is my command my lady
It is 10.10.10 today. Will you marry me??”
Kiara turns to face him with teary apologetic eyes….just as she opened her mouth to apologize, he put his hand on her mouth and gestured her to stop “Let bygones be bygones….with the wedding vows let us just promise each other that we will trust our bond more than anything else in this world. When in doubt, we will simply share our doubts, feelings, anxiety and fears rather than assuming and creating a one sided story in our head. This is OUR story let us create it together”.
With a beautiful promise of trust, the two became one.
