Love Cherished

The sound of phone caught Naina at the middle of her dream. She lifted her phone from the side table and looked at it with great difficulty in opening her eyes. An unknown number was flashing on the screen.  It was raining heavily outside. Howling, literally. She wondered who could be remembering her at this wee hour.

“Hello” She said groggily.

“Naina” The connection was not good. Some cluttering and hissing sound was disturbing the line.

“Naina, it’s Aryan.”

Her heart kicked into double time and her lethargy gone astray.

“Hello Naina, can you hear me?”

“Aryan!”

“Yeah, how’re you?”

“Good. And you?”

“It’s good to hear you again after such a long time.” Aryan avoided her question. “Are you coming for Diya’s wedding?” He darted an instant and unexpected question.

“Er… I...I'm not sure.” Naina trembled. A lump was formed in her throat which nearly blocked her vocal chord.

“I hoped to see you ag....”

“Hello. Hello.” The phone disconnected making Naina restless. She called back but she could not connect. Every time she tried the call was out of coverage area.

She could not comprehend the gist of Aryan’s call. Chill of night was giving her goose bumps. Or was it something else? She stretched the coverlet up to her chin and closed her eyes but slumber refused to claim her. She lifted the wedding card of Diya resting on the table. Frankly, a hope of meeting him again popped in her heart as she received this card.

Her mind traveled three years back, in her college days when she first met Aryan. He was the cousin of Diya, her best friend. She always observed something special in his eyes every time her eyes met them. Many a times, she noticed him staring at her from any corner of the college. Crossed leg, arms folded and leaning at the wall. Whenever she looked at him, he always drifted his glance immediately. She remembered how he dragged his friend when he was about to collide with her once. a cute smile appeared on her face.

He never tried to talk to her candidly, even if he was with Diya. Always greeted her with a faint and fake smile. She felt herself mesmerized by his tall, handsome and manly figure.

Many a times, Naina wanted to talk to him but his neutral behavior and her feminine vanity prevented her. They passed the whole two years in looking at each other.  Perhaps both understood the untold feelings but could not express and thus nothing burgeoned between them. She could clearly remember the painful expression in Aryan’s eyes on the last day of the college, but he uttered a simple bye and she reciprocated.

It is true that all these three years she missed him like hell. Always cherished the untold feelings. Those eyes which carried so many unfathomable expressions but never tried to contact him. Again her hurt pride and feminine vanity. “If he felt something about her, can’t he contact her while Contacting was easy through Diya?” she thought quite often but shrugged always like she did not care. But she did, though she hated to accept it.

But what happened to him today? Why? Are the feelings were there yet? Her heart was racing faster with a new hope. A hope to see him again or... something more than that...

Prompt@: Carry on tuesday

Also submitted to Sunday Scribblings &
                                   Thursday Tales