The Touch of Love

Ved and Anwesha had been dating for a year. She remembered vividly all the lovely times they had spent together. The first time he held her fingers, looked at them and said,”Beautiful nail color”. The first time they just sat next to each other, saying nothing, but looking at each other and smiling occasionally. The first time they walked hand in hand, their fingers intertwined, the first time he put his hand around her shoulders and held her close.

Now things had changed. They couldn’t meet as often as before. Their relationship was still a secret and so they couldn’t risk being seen together always. Their college days were over and both of them were getting busy with their daily schedules. Ved had assignments outside the city and he had to travel to city after city for his job. This not only reduced the time that they spent together, but also the warmth in their relationship.

Once in a while, very rarely they did meet. But half of what they wanted to say was left unsaid. Not because they didn’t want to say it, but how can you say months worth of stories in an hour?

Anwesha began to break down every now and then. She missed him, missed him badly. So did he. But his work kept him busy and somehow he drowned his feelings in his work. She messaged him her feelings. She said she missed him on a daily basis. She knew it wasn’t his fault, yet she couldn’t help but get angry with him.

They hoped things would get better. Another year passed, but things just remained the same. This brought more rift in their relationship. By now, Ved had retaliated a couple of times for Anwesha’s messages. And it was becoming a never ending fight.

Finally, he called her up. She had set a different ringtone for his number. The moment she heard it, she was delighted and ran to her room. She stopped before picking up the call. She was still angry with him for not finding time for her. Yet, she wanted to talk to him like those good old days. She picked up the call.

“Hello”, she said dully

“Hi doll!”, he sounded his same old self.

“Hm?”

“Looks like my doll is still angry. Listen, before you say anything, let us meet. Today. My place. I’ll come and pick you.”

She was at a loss for words, “Eh? Umm Okay.”

*****

 It took around an hour for her to pick the right dress. She thought of wearing the salwar. But he loved it when she wore salwar. No, thaty would look too desperate. The pink dress? No, that was too showy. That would look desperate too. Finally, she picked up an old tee shirt and her jeans. That would look casual. Perfect!

She hadn’t spoken a word since he had gone to pick her up. On the way he said, “I thought you’ll wear the green salwar.”

She didn’t reply.

They reached his house. He went to get a glass of water for her. She was sitting on the couch in his house. The same couch they had sat and watched cricket two years back. He came in with water. She took it from him and sipped, without looking at him.

“Anwesha”

“Hm?”, she looked up.

“I’m sorry.”

She looked away. He told her the stories of how he kept going to cities after cities and how his boss kept giving him more assignments. He told her how much he missed her. she felt sorry for him. Yet, she didn’t feel like talking to him. Finally, he sat next to her and looked at her. She was looking down and from the corner of her eyes she could see him. He was looking down at her fingers.

He slowly extended his hands, took her palms in his and kissed. She looked up at him and suddenly she could hold it no more. She burst into tears and they hugged. Slowly, he whispered in her ears.

“Normally, you would have worn the green salwar, because you knew I loved it. Or you would have worn the pink dress because, you love it and I can’t take my eyes off you. But today, you purposely wore this tee to show that you did not care anymore. Guess what my love? You cared enough to wear that nail polish I love.”

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. They hugged again. They hugged for all the hugs they couldn’t have. He held her as she cried, wiping her tears every time her eyes filled. And said, “No matter what you wear, no matter how hard you try to hide your feelings, I know you love me & trust me. I love you.”

Every relationship needs just a smile, a memory, a few words from the heart or sometimes just a touch to bring back the love. 🙂

This post is a part of Indiblogger’s Happy hours contest #BringBackTheTouch in connection with http://www.pblskin.com/