“Do you remember the first time we came here? ” asked Suraj looking at the vast landscapes. He had a birds-eye view of the city from where they were standing. It was an old deserted water tank which had been a favorite spot for all the youngsters in that area. The structure was old and rusty, the tank itself was cylindrical which had shades of pale white, grey & black. The Pale white color given to the tank had eroded with time showcasing its naked black color. The remaining part was most of the paint converting into flakes that were almost on the verge of the leaving the wall surface like the others.there were some vertical asymmetrical green lines formed by dry fungi that thrived when the tank was fully functional. The entire scenario resembled like an old poor woman, full of wrinkles, counting her last few days in a destitute condition. Even the iron stairs that lead to the top had rusted so badly that it looked like the stairs were made of wet sand and it would crumble in case anyone steps on it. But people forget all this once they reach the top of the building as it feels like you are floating over the city. You could see every detail from the top. You could see the impatience of people driving cars, honking on the road, you could see huge skyscrapers competing with each other .. while you could also see huts and small houses made of tins, woods, stones, plastics …. that rattled every time a strong wind blew. You could also see some of the last remaining green pastures that comprised of huge trees swinging carelessly.
Suraj and Nisha used to visit this place often and had always been one of their favorite places.
“Yes, It was after you had proposed me,” Said Nisha who had a twinkle in her eyes as the day flashed in front of her. She could even feel those emotions of happiness, excitement, fear all mixed up like a strong cocktail that she experienced that day. She wrapped her hands around Suraj’s arm with her head resting on his shoulders.
“Time flies so fast ” Exhaled Suraj wrapping his hand around Nisha’s Waist.
“Mom and Dad must be busy planning the wedding, ” Said Nisha with a smile. She was around 5 and a half feet tall, fair with dark brown hair. She was wearing a full sleeve Tshirt that was mostly black and had horizontal stripes of white, red, purple.
“Yes. They are very happy ” exhaled Suraj who was around 6 feet tall, fair with a full-grown beard that outlined his jaw beautifully. He always kept his hair short as they were thick and unmanageable.
“You will look so good in the sherwani.. have you thought of the color ? ” asked Nisha while gazing into Suraj's eyes.
” Not decided yet. Have you selected your lehenga? ” Suraj answered her with a counter question.
“Mom has suggested some. Need to finalize yet.”
” Sometimes I can't help but wonder why do we need such extravagant weddings. Just look at the wedding attire. It is going to be worn just once, yet we spend in lakhs for it. Same goes for other things. I don't want to sound like a miser but this looks like an unnecessary waste of resources.”, said Suraj.
“You are absolutely right Sir ! ” said Nisha while literally saluting Suraj while having a mischevious smile on her face. That cracked Suraj up and put his arm around her neck playfully chocking her.
“Everyone will be having so much fun in the wedding. Especially Akshay .. whose sole mission would be to gobble up as much food as he can and drink till his lever dilutes ” said Suraj and laughed. Nisha followed the suit
“And Kanika will try and wear the most skimpy looking dress and try to catch hold of the hottest looking guy in the wedding, ” said Nisha.
“You girls are truly jealous of each other, ” said Suraj while rubbing his forehead with his hand and laughing at Nisha’s sentence.
“Hey, Mister! why the hell should I be jealous of her, ” said Nisha pointing her finger to Suraj with a frown on her face.
“Ok .. Calm down ” Said Suraj with both his hand in the air showing he has surrendered, to which Nisha accepted her victory with a royal nod.
“It will hurt a lot during the wedding day when the society will finally make me marry someone I don't love, ” said Suraj with a tone that had the cold sadness. Suddenly the playful atmosphere became grim.
“Don't say that!” said Nisha with tears lining up against one another and rolling down her cheeks, making it red. Her upper lip started to quiver and she immediately buried her face on Suraj’s arms. Suraj shirt was getting wet with the tears and he could feel the uncomfortable warmth of it. He immediately pushed her back only to hug her properly
“I was pretending so hard to forget the reality, and here you suddenly made me realize that we are parting ways and getting married to strangers selected by our parents”
“We did all we could, didn’t we ? ” said Nisha while continuing to cry, "but our parents are not agreeing. We tried convincing them for so long but everything failed.”
“If only they could feel the way we do about each other.” Said Suraj in a disappointing tone while rolling his palm on Nisha’s back slowly to console her. He was trying very hard not give in to the emotion and cry as that would just make her cry even more.
“Do you think this ache I feel in my heart will mellow down in time. Do you think we could gather these broken pieces of heart and give it to the stranger who would happen to be our life partner ?” asked Nisha, her voice was breaking up due to the overwhelming sadness and she could feel her throat going dry.
“I don't know Nishu. Maybe we will get used to this pain and heaviness. I think those strangers who will become our life partners will be more unfortunate than us. I pity them. Because we at least have memories we have created in these 7 years to cherish. For me, that will be my reservoir which will help me swallow the bitterness of the future that lies ahead” Said Suraj with a monotonous blank tone. Then he somehow became normal and pulled Nisha out of his arms and lifted her face with his hand to look directly into her eyes.
“Nishu, I don’t want our beautiful relation to end in sorrow and tears. Let's forget all this for now and love each other like there is no tomorrow. I want to feel the true love, intensity, passion for one last time. I want to create the most prolific memories today which should last us for a lifetime. Let's live today, let's love today.”
Before Suraj could complete the sentence Nisha kissed him while grabbing him by his waist. Suraj responded similarly tightly hugging her. Teardrops were flowing from both of their eyes that reflected the orange light of sunset making it look like pink diamonds.