Rendezvous with 'Her' - Part 2

As I said, my JEE preparations went on, with nothing much to do when it came to Priya. The whole year passed, me being just a friend to Priya. Schools were closed, we had a farewell party where Priya was again with the ‘cool group’. And then, the results were out. I cleared JEE! I was the only one from my school, and that made me even happier. “Priya would love me now. I should meet her”, I thought. But then, there was something which was still not okay. From next day onwards, I joined a gym. I was suggested to exercise in the morning for a period of around 2 hrs, but I added 2hrs in the evening too. Four hours of daily exercise, controlled diet and 30 minutes of jogging daily, if this couldn’t do it, nothing could. For the two idle months I had before joining, I did this regularly, and after two months, when I climbed on the weighing machine, the needle stopped at 90. 108 to 90! People said it was awesome, but I knew I had to lose more. Then there was the joining, and I was here at IIT Kharagpur.

The ugly mess food and the changed lifestyle caused me to lose 10 kgs more, and I was finally ‘not fat’. I mailed Priya and waited for her reply for three days. And then on fourth day, when I was signing in to mail her again, I saw her reply. That was one of the happiest moments ever. I was at IIT, I was in shape, and I was in contact with Priya! This was perfect. She didn’t know about this big change though. For three months, I regularly mailed her. Winter vacations were finally arriving. I mailed Priya telling her that I would come home, and that she should give me her contact number. She did, and I went home.

My parents were shocked to see my physical condition, my mom thought I was ill, and my Dad thought this was relating adaptation and all. But right now all that I wanted was to meet Priya. I was afraid she would refuse to meet, but then why would she give me her number? And so I called, I asked if she would like to meet me. And then I waited for her reply as she thought. “Yeah sure!”, she said. I could not believe this was actually happening. For the first time, things were actually going the way just like I wanted them to go. You might say it wasn’t such a big deal, but to me it was. I had been dreaming of this one moment, and waiting for it to come true for three years. How will she feel when she sees me like this? What will I talk about? Should I tell her how I feel about her? What will I wear? Lots of thoughts crossed my mind.

I bought a pair of blue jeans, and a stylish T-shirt, something I had never tried before. And then there was the day, I was supposed to meet her at “15 A.D.”, a fast-food restaurant, a popular meeting spot. But then she called and plans changed. I was now supposed to go to her house. Everything was fine as far as I got to meet Priya. And there I was outside her house, waiting for her, and then she came out, even more beautiful than before. She said Hi and something else too, but I was lost admiring her. But, to my surprise, Kunal was also there. And as he came out, the smile on my face faded away. Apparently, he lived in her neighborhood, and came there pretty often. But to hell with that, I just didn’t want him there. But he was there, and I could not do anything about it.

“Wow! You’ve changed! Look at you! You look…great!”, and as Priya said these words, all those things that I had done to reach to this state seemed like nothing. I was so happy to see her again, and we talked for hours (Kunal was also there, but I tried to ignore him). We talked about our colleges, life, friends and all. And then she asked if I had a girlfriend. And I said “No” so quickly as if she would ask me out right now. And then that idiot Kunal said, “You have a boyfriend Priya? Right? Whats his name?”, and Priya smiled, nodded her head and said a stupid name which I didn’t even care to hear. She had a boyfriend all the time, right since we met in in class 11^th. I was shocked. I was angry over Kunal for this, he always has to talk nonsense. Although this was clear that Priya having a boyfriend has nothing to do with Kunal, but I still hated that idiot for this. And I gave an empty smile and said, “Who is it? What does he do?” And then she talked for half an hour about him. I wasn’t listening.

I expected that my reactions after that meeting would have been of depression, frustration and repentance. But they were not. I kept smiling for hours after that meeting, and felt normal, in fact better than before. I still don’t know why. My crush on Priya was probably over. But I never thought about it after that meeting, neither did I feel the urge to. It has been more than an year since that happened. Priya and I are still in contact, through mails, once a month. Priya changed my life. She is one of the biggest reasons of how and where I am today, and I am thankful for that. But gratitude is all that exists in me for her, no feelings anymore. I am enjoying my life now. I have awesome friends and a lifestyle which I love and I don’t feel the need for anything more than that. ‘Life goes on’.