The Conversation - 5

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***

"Hello, Rohan...", Apoorva lifted the call.

"Hey, how are you doing?"

"Yeah, good. How are you?"

"Yeah, I am not bad either."

"How is Abha?"

"Yeah, she is fine."

"Good to hear, Rohan. Tell me, what else?"

What else? This triggered a smile on Rohan's face. He thought that she smiled on the other side too. Whenever one of them asks "What else", it means that the war horn is blown. Both will just keep on passing the question to each other. 

"What else?"

"You tell me, what else"

"No, you tell me"

"No, you"

This will keep on till one of them surrenders. Mostly it is Rohan, or sometimes Apoorva when she got too bored of winning.

So, after many days, the game was back.

"You tell me Apoorva, what else?"

There was a moment of silence. He was waiting for her reply. He decided not to give up that easily.

"Yeah, right, so I am actually going to a music concert..! You won't believe whose concert it is..."

Rohan was shocked. He could not listen to her even though he was hearing. 

Did she forget it? Their signature moment? How dare she could do that? Did she change?

"Hey, are you listening to me?"

"Err.. Yeah.. Yes... Of course, I am." Of course, he wasn't.

"Right. Do you want to tell me anything?"

"Uh.. me? Nope, I just, normally called you. That's it." He wanted to tell about Ridhi. He thought of informing her how she was becoming more special, which was even a surprise for him. He wanted to talk about her wittiness, straightness, and many others.

But he could not proceed. He did not want to do it yet. He might not want to do it anymore. He was still wondering whether a day would come when Apoorva would forget almost everything he stored as precious memories? 

In the middle of these thoughts, he got a message notification. 

"Hey, are you free evening?" It was from Ridhi.

Maybe talking to her would help, Rohan thought. He replied that he would be free, and both fixed the meeting location.

***

"The couple compromises themselves after marriage", said Rohan. He was beginning to shake a bit. He took the glass of water in front of him and took a sip.

"People in a relationship will obviously change, but a good change looks cute. It should be like waking up early to see the sunrise. You are indeed compromising your sleep but you are seeing one of the most beautiful things in the world", replied Ridhi.

It had been more than half an hour. The casual questions by Rohan about Ridhi, like what is her favourite colour, her favourite mischief, her best friends, and crushes gradually turned into love, relations and marriage.

"But, Rohan, why do you seem to be against the marriage system?"

Rohan's face changed. A bit of sadness and a bit of frustration hit him.

"Why do you seem to be supporting the marriage system? Oh, can I tell? Because you seem like you don't know how it feels to love someone and realise that you cannot marry them. Because you may never have loved someone so deeply that they became a part of you. Because you may never know how to prepare yourself for the conflict of respecting the others' decision versus imposing yourself."

Rohan was trying hard to control himself. There was a moment of silence. He was breaking from inside. His frustration is changing into pity. On himself.

"Is it tough to move on?", Ridhi looked concerned at him.

Rohan nodded. He was not able to speak anything.

"It's the fear..", he is struggling to gather words.

"Of..?"

"I used to fear that I would forget her. Like, we both would move on with our own lives. So, what if, one day, I woke up and remembered less about her than the before day? What if it continued every day?

But I realized that forgetting was not the issue. The main problem occurs when we are no longer able to relate to them. When you crack a joke that used to make them laugh, but they will not laugh anymore. When you expect them to give that stupid reply but they will not do that. We see a different them. We gradually become foreign."

Ridhi was silent. Rohan looked at her eyes. 

"I don't know what to reply, Rohan. I just want to say that I understand you, even though I may not know how you feel."

I may not know how you feel. Rohan heard this already. He was in no mood to hear it again.

"Actually, I am sorry, I was just carried away. Thought like I have to be more honest so.."

"so?"

"So that.."

"that?"

"to be a"

"A..?"

"A good human, uh, with a probability of, what do you say it, being able to share the livelih.."

"Common, cut it short, Rohan."

"A good partner.." Rohan looked so awkward that he would give anything to vanish.

Ridhi broke into a laugh. "Well, that was a bit unexpected." 

Rohan let out a faint smile on his lips. "Yeah, I agree."

Ridhi checked the time on her watch. "Oh, It was getting late. I got some work to submit by morning. I have to go, Rohan."

"Oh, is it? I hope I did not disturb your mood, with my talk and all that.."

"Yes, I really have work and that's why I am leaving, and coming to you disturbing my mood, we will talk about it. It's not like this is the last meeting, right?" She smiled.

***

"Yeah sis, I think I messed up a bit."

"What happened bro?"

"We were talking about something and I just went on a serious note. I hope she will not feel bad."

"Oh no, are you alright bro? Wanna come over here?"

"I am okay sis. I just don't want her to stop talking with me."

"Is it? Are you not ready to miss her already? What's happening, bro?" Abha teased.

"Stop it, sis."

"Well, fine. What did she say then? After that serious talk"

"She left saying that she had some work, and also mentioned that it was not the last meeting anyway."

"That is good bro."

"Yeah."

They talked for some more time. Rohan smiled by the end of the call. Abha always has the magic of lifting his mood whenever he is feeling low.

***

While he was stretching himself out on the sofa in the hall, and preparing to sleep, his mobile rang. 

The call was from Apoorva. He startled.

What? He rubbed his eyes and saw it again.

It really was from Apoorva. He lifted it.

"Hey.."

"Hi, Rohan, busy?"

"Nope"

"Great, nothing, I was just thinking about meeting you this week, in your free time.."

"Meet me? Yeah sure, of course, why not?"

"Yeah, you know, I am feeling like we are not catching up enough. You know, we both seem too busy, but we both know we are not that type" Apoorva laughed.

He was surprised.

She was trying to bridge the gap. Did she know that he felt bad last time? How nice of her...

"Ha-ha right though. Sure, that sounds great.."

"Fine, so, tomorrow? evening?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Done!"

Rohan smiled. "So, you tell, what else?"

"No, you tell."

**End of Part 5**

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