LITTLE WAYS DOWN THE ROAD- PART 5

        LITTLE WAYS DOWN THE ROAD- PART-5 

    "Surprised bro?" Abhinav asked cheerfully.

    Helplessly, Arjun nodded. He realized that they had followed him throughout his jog. He understood that he could no longer hide the truth. That would make everything really complicated.

    "Who is she?" Nihita asked.

    "My best friend," Arjun replied.

    "And her name?" Chaitra asked.

    Arjiun sighed, shook his head and said, "Don't know."

    "What do you mean 'don't know'?" Abhinav was confused.

    "I don't know her name," Arjun confessed. "Not only her name, I don't know any of her details." He looked slightly irksome.

    "Now, this is some news," Chaitra murmured. 

    The three of his cousins dragged him to the lawn and made him sit in between them. "So, boss, tell us everything from the start," Nihita demanded.

    He recounted to them everything that had happened between him and Miss. D; how he had thought her to be a strange girl, how she had given the idea of hiding their identities, how she had inspired him with her ideology, how she had made him take life changing decision, how she had shown him what real life meant. How she had totally changed him.

    "If I am stable, happy, successful and content today, then it is because of her. I don't want to disturb her space by trying to know who she is. So I didn't," he concluded.

    "I can't believe this," Abhinav exclaimed. "You both are so natural together and still don't know who is who? I mean what kind of relation is that?"

    Arjun smiled benevolently to himself and said, "It's a strange relation."

    "I don't understand this," Nihita started. "Look, you like her. It is so evident from your words. Then why are you still being a stranger to her?"

    "We are not strangers Nihi," Arjun said. "Just because we didn't tell each other who we are, it doesn't make us strangers."

    "Really? How, may I ask?" Chaitra asked seriously.

    "Look, I know it kind of sounds weird, I mean my relationship with her- identities unknown, no details known. But I like it that way," Arjun was certain. He sighed and continued with his whole heart in his words, "When I am with her, I don't have to be this sophisticated businessman I am now. I don't have to behave like how others want me to. I get a chance to be what I am. I get to be the real person I am, get to live like how I want. I can just be Mr. J, a good guy who likes to jog and pour out his heart to the sea. I solve all my problems when I am there. No matter how bad the situation is, I get a solution to my troubles. I am happy, satisfied and content when I am with her. She makes me realize who I am, she makes me know what I want. She cares about me like no one does and knows things about me which no one does. She showed me to myself in a completely new light, gave the inspiration to be successful." He became  serious at the end. "She makes me feel like no one does. I don't care if it is one hour or what so ever time I spend with her. I just want to be with her always. I want to hear her talk, I want to sit with her and make discussions about life, nature or anything. I know what she is for real and she knows me, what I am for true. And I would love to stay this way forever. And if it takes that I should be silent, then I will be. I won't ask her her name or anything else or tell her about me until she wants me to. I will respect her space and wish."

    By the time he had completed, all three of his cousins stared at him with open mouths, wide-eyed, surprised by his sudden but truthful outburst.

    "Oh my God!!! You are in love with her," Nihita said at last, breaking the silence that had ensued.

    Arjun looked at her in confusion and said, "No! I just like her."

    "No, you idiot, you seriously love her," Abhinav spoke up. "It is so evident in what you said till now."

    "Come on brother. Accept your feelings for her. You can't keep them hidden in yourself like this," Chaitra said.

    Arjun remained silent for a while, analyzing everything. Of course he knew it that he loved Miss. D, more than anyone else. He had known it all along and remembered every moment where he had felt his feelings for her light a bulb in his mind that he was madly in love with her. But he had never wanted to accept it. And he knew the reason for it.

    "Dude, you should accept it," Abhinav tried to make him own up.

    Arjun closed his eyes for a moment, opened them and said, "Okay. I do love her... I love her really."

    "Woo-hoo," the three of his cousins chorused in excitement and went for high-fives.

    "So bro... Party!!!" Chaitra exclaimed. 

    "Wait, what's there to party for?" Arjun asked.

    "Why, our brother has done something good in all these years. He is in love with a really cool girl," Nihita said. "God, how much I hated your last girl friend," Chaitra put in.

    "This is not about having a girl friend Chaitra," Arjun said.

    "Then? What is your problem?" Abhinav asked.

    "Look, this should be a secret. I can't tell this to her. So it's not going to be anything like a party at all," Arjun said.

    "What do you mean? You won't tell her that you love her like crazy? Are you not going to propose?" Abhinav asked curiously.

    "No. I am not. Because she is not going to accept any of this. Never. She is gonna say 'No' straight away. I can't risk that," Arjun replied vehemently.

    "Try first, brother. From what you said about her, I am sure that she likes you. She loves you too. She is not going to turn you down," his cousins began together. "Look at the way she spends time with you, how she treats you."

    "Yeah, she treats me like a good friend, alright?"

    "Oh yeah, a special friend. We have seen her and we surely know how she must be feeling about you."

    "Still, what if she doesn't like me proposing to her? What if she goes away? I can't bear that. I will better stay like this forever." Arjun was decisive.

    As Abhinav and Chaitra began complaining again, Nihita raised her hand to stop them and spoke to Arjun, "See brother, Will you stay like this forever? It's not possible at all. In a few months, your dad will marry you off to someone else and the same will happen to that girl. What if she marries and goes off somewhere else? Before that, can you imagine yourself with someone else your whole life? After a few years, even if you both sit there, things will never be the same. You both will be leading two different lives and worlds and you may or may not be in each others' worlds. Will you like that? Are you okay with these things?"

    It was a straight question. But a complicated one. Arjun understood the depth of the question.

    "So its worth trying right?" Abhinav asked.

    "Come on bro, no girl is gonna refuse you. Alright? Just tell her the truth. That's the best choice." Chaitra prodded.

    Arjun took the whole day to decide the correct option. Nihita had correctly pointed out the drawbacks. There was no guarantee at all that he and Miss. D would spend every day of their lives, every morning sitting together at the beach. It was practically impossible. So, it was better to ask her if she would spend her whole life with him. If she said 'No', then he would convince her to stay as the unknown friends as they had been doing all along and forget his proposal. Finally, he made up his mind to propose to her.

    The next morning, he got up, dressed up in white clothes and set out on his jog. It was drizzling slightly.

    "Good morning Mr. J," Miss. D greeted him as he dropped onto the wall next to her.

    "Good morning," he wished and gave an unusual smile.

    "So, whats up?" she asked, continuing with her writing.

    "Well, tough time at home again," Mr. J said, feeling unsure and nervous.

    "What happened?" Miss. D asked with concern. Mr. J smiled at how much she cared for him.

    "Well, everyone of my family, especially my dad, wants me to settle down," he said.

    Diagonally, he saw her hand shiver briefly, out of nervousness.

    He continued, "They want me to get married."

    "So?" she asked, voice faltering. 

    He looked at her nervously and said, "I don't want to spend my life with someone whom I don't know or someone who doesn't know me. I want to be with a person who knows me better than others, who cares about me, who is with me in every obstacle shaded phase of my life. And someone whom I love."

    Miss. D looked at him in disbelief.

    He took her hand slowly into his and said, "I love this one hour I spend with you every morning, I love the relationship we have and I so badly want to spend my entire life sitting with you. I so want to be with you every moment. I never had anyone who has guided me like you did or spoke to me like you did, showed me what life is like you did. I want to spend my whole life with someone like you Miss. D." After a pause, he looked straight into her eyes and said, "I love you."

    Miss. D just stared at him in shock and surprise, unable to say anything, her hands quivering, lips trembling, her face shining wet with the drizzling rain drops...

TO BE CONTINUED...............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!