Mirror Never Lies

Part II

Shweta enters her stateroom and is upset seeing the state of the room. Raghu’s clothes including underwear and socks were lying on the bed; open laptop and camera were lying on the floor along with the cables. Hopping through the maze of the cables, she reaches her bag and pulls out her night dress and she changes her dress. She walks towards the balcony of the room and sets out her swimming costume on the chair to dry. Then holding the wooden railings of the balcony, she leant forward to watch the beautiful night. The light westerly ocean breeze kissing her face sprinkled salty droplets on her face and lips. The ocean was quiet and the Grand Princess was slowly cruising along. The sky was clear and filled with shimmering stars. The majestic full moon was slowly ambling across the sky. The otherwise placid sea was getting disturbed by the occasional gusty breeze creating rippling waves across the ocean. Cutting the ocean, the mighty Grand Princess was moving forward, creating wave forms in the ocean. It was difficult to determine which one is more powerful – the ocean or the Grand Princess.

Shweta closes her eyes to sink in the beautiful scene of the night. Her mind remembers a similar night at the ocean, back in Mumbai, as Raghu and she sauntered along the promenade of Nariman Point. The sky was clear and the full moon was shining brightly. Myriad stars illuminated the sky. Both were walking quietly and listening to the sound of the waves. Suddenly, Raghu stopped and kneeling down, he held Shweta’s hand in his hand and recited his poem.

In presence of this full moon and galaxy of stars
In presence of this mighty ocean o my dear
All anxiously waiting for this moment of ours
Having walked alone so far yet so near
Why not walk this journey together
Make our memoir happy forever
Kneeling down on this white sand
Holding your hand my white dove
I ask you for your beautiful hand
I ask you for your eternal love

Shweta was shocked but she expected the proposal. It was just that she didn’t expect it to come so soon. From the demeanor of Raghu, she knew that he loved her. She also was attracted to him. She held his hands and helped him stand up and they hugged each other.

A sudden cold gust shivered Shweta. She opened her eyes. Tear droplets ran down her cheeks as she looked far into the ocean to find that lost innocent love, just a couple of years into her marriage. She moved into the room, closing the balcony door. The messy room angered her. She moved all the cables to a side and then picked up the clothes from the bed and threw them on the floor. She went to the bathroom. The sink was filled with traces of his facial hair. This irritated her further. She took the hair dryer and dried her hair and then tied the hair into a pony tail and returned to the room.

She went to the bed and slept with tears still dripping down her cheeks. Her eyes met the sleep soon and she slept, not sure for how long. Suddenly, she felt ticklish and her eyes opened. Raghu was cuddling her from behind.

“Let me sleep” Shweta said kicking Raghu with her elbow. Raghu continued to cuddle. She gets upset and kicks him again with his elbow. He tucks his chin into her shoulder and whispers in her ear, “Let’s do it”.

Turning herself, Shweta sat up in the bed. She glared at Raghu. Raghu was giving her a mischievous stare lying on the bed.

“I am tired Raghu. I just did 10 laps. You were just sitting in the theatre and watching a stupid play.” Shweta said, her voice rising as she spoke. Then glancing at the messy room, she said,

“If you are not feeling sleepy, clean the room. See the mess you have made. The sink is filthy with your hair. Why can’t you just clean it after you are done?”

“But we are on a holiday. This is not our house.”

“You are saying as if you clean the house. Why can’t you keep the room neat, clean and uncluttered? It should at least look like humans are staying here.” She said in a raucous voice and looking angrily at him. Then, she stood up from the bed and went to have a glass of water.

Raghu turned in the bed and slept with his hands crossed around his head and stared at the ceiling.

“If you can’t sleep, clean the room and prepare our dresses for tomorrow’s formal dinner.” Shweta said in a stern voice and continued, “Let me sleep.” She went to the bed and slept on her side without looking at Raghu.

Raghu slept on the bed for a while and then woke up. He picked up the clothes and rolled them into the hamper. He closed the laptop and kept the camera in the camera bag and rolled up the cables. Then he took out his dress from the bag and went to the ironing table to iron them.

He glanced at Shweta who was sleeping comfortably. Her face still innocent as she looked the first time he saw her during Holi. Although both were studying in the same school, Raghu had not noticed her or even glanced properly at her. But on that Holi day in the ninth grade, she looked different, a young woman. His mind drifted in the memory of those days.

 

Thanks PS. Love from all of you and God's blessings some weird thoughts do come to mind.
Thanks for the Good luck. I am sure I will need loads of it.

 

Lata thanks for your comments. Experimenting something different, hope you like it.

 

Thanks Usha. Hope you will like the story as it unfolds.

 

Hey Neha, thanks for your feedback. Yep this story is different and will get interesting.

 

Part III

Raghu came out of his apartment building to play Holi. A lot of people were playing Holi --children, kids, young students and elders. Soon, Raghu was covered with colors by his friends and he joined them in playing Holi. As he went to apply color to a friend, his eyes spotted a beautiful girl in white Punjabi playing Holi with her friends. Her white dress was colored with different colors and there were traces of colors on her face and her hair. He gawped at her and moved towards her. She was busy playing Holi with other girls. As she wiped off her face with her hands to brush off the color, every muscle of Ajay’s body just froze before a grin crept onto his face. His initial obvious attraction to her got soon squashed as he recognized her. She was Shweta. His mind went into a tailspin. When did she grow up? Wow! She is so beautiful.

Shweta was into the sports especially swimming. She was preparing to participate for the state championship. She was the apple of every boy’s eye in the class or more precisely the school. Raghu stopped and turned back to join his friends. Raghu was wheatish in complexion and a bit stout. He was not into sports but was into books. He just loved reading books. No wonder he was number one in ranking, a valedictorian, in the class and a favorite student of the teachers.

From that day onwards, Raghu didn’t miss a chance to glance at Shweta in the school. Sometimes he even followed her. But talking to her was even beyond his dreams.

But fate had its own plan. One day, Shweta came up to him for some math issue. He explained to her in detail and from then on, it became more regular. The two went onto college and as fate planned it, both landed up in a small city with Shweta in engineering college and Raghu in medical college. Being the only two students from the school to land up in the small city, their friendship grew with Raghu helping her in mathematics, although many times it required him to self-study it and many times they just studied together.

Even during vacations, they continued to meet and go out for movies and in malls. Shweta was attracted towards him. She felt that he was more matured than what his face showed. He had dark eyes that always had an answer for her and he was always there whenever she needed him. She loved his romantic poems and the sudden surprises that he came up with. Under his remarkable academic records and serious demeanor, there was a mischievous child hidden and she just loved spending time with him.

Raghu always carried this secret crush on her but he always felt scared of informing her. On their last walk at Nariman point before leaving for US for their master’s program, Raghu dared to express himself and to his surprise, Shweta accepted his proposal. The proposal was the easiest part as Raghu latter realized. Her parents were against the marriage. Yet, she fought with them and ended up marrying Raghu without the consent of her parents.

Continuing his ironing, Raghu looked at Shweta, still sleeping as a child, holding her hands up against her face. Raghu kept thinking what happened over the years. Why there is a drift? Shweta who fought with her own parents for him is now moving away from him. Getting his and her clothes ready, he returned to his computer to check the messages and write reports of his patients. As a radiologists, most of the times, he had to break the bad news about tumors and every time he got the MRI images, he prayed that there was no tumor, yet God was not kind to him most of the time and this was the only part of his job that he hated.

Next morning, Shweta woke up and got ready. Raghu was still sleeping. Shweta tried to wake him up, “Raghu there is a meeting for the halt at the Catalina Island. Wake up”.

“Let me sleep. I was working late at night. Why don’t you go and get the information?” was the reply from Raghu.

“Ok. I will go but you get ready in the meantime.” Saying Shweta left to attend the meeting.

At the meeting, Shweta and Ajay were sitting in adjacent aisles and both acknowledged each other’s presence with a nod of their eyes. The captain told about the activities at the island including – Scuba diving, Snorkeling, bike riding at water front, shopping at local markets, etc.

As the meeting concluded and people started walking, Ajay came up to Shweta and said,

“I am sure you will be planning to Scuba dive.”

“No. Never. I am too scared for that. Also, one needs to certify for that.” Shweta said, although in her mind, she wanted to do Scuba diving.

“Not for exploring Scuba. You will be fine. I can help you. But I must say, you need to explore Scuba. You will like it.”

“Let’s see”. Shweta replied and they parted.

 

Thanks Neha. That was on the spur of the moment. I wasn't sure if people will like it. Thanks for your reply.

 

Thanks Deepu. I am sure you will like it as the story unfolds.