This is Perfect...

29

I love travelling. No, I don't like vacations but I certainly like to travel on an automobile. Gauri calls me weird when I say this. Its just that, I love to sit in a moving object and let it take me somewhere. Anywhere. And all the time I travel, I feel like I don't want my destination to arrive. I'm in love with the journey itself.

It was the same when I was returning home. The first 2 or 3 hours, I enjoyed the view from the window especially because it was dark. I love travelling in the dark. Maybe because nobody really appreciates the scenery you get to see at night. It is different from day time. It makes me feel calm.

Later, I fell asleep for a good 8 hours. A sleep without any disturbances. After my sleep, I plugged into my earphones and listened to travel songs or sad music. Few songs reminded me of Rajat, but I was trying to be okay.

The night before I was in such a hurry that I hadn't charged my phone. So, an hour or two later, the battery got exhausted and that left me with staring outside the window. It was a hot, sunny afternoon by that time and there wasn't much traffic.

Finally, I reached home at 5:30 pm. It was almost a 17 hour ride. Maybe Karan wanted me to be with myself for 17 hours and hence took me to the bus station. Whatever the reason, it was a good decision.

As I rung the doorbell of Gauri's apartment, she opened it and looked really surprised. She looked at me from head to toe and asked, "Isn't the wedding supposed to be in the evening?"

I walked inside and told her everything that happened there. I made myself comfortable on her couch and she mirrored my actions by sitting next to me. In between, I met Bruno, who was thrilled on seeing me and sat peacefully on my lap.

Gauri sighed uneasily and said, "I'm sorry, Nik. I had warned you before about this. I had..."

I cut her midway by snapping, "That's the thing I hate about love! I don't get to make a choice. My fucking heart just falls for someone without asking me or without running through the pros and cons. Sometimes, I just hate love."

Gauri placed her hand on my shoulder and she said, "Calm down."

And that made me cry. My monogue about love and her 'calm down'. Gauri scooched closer to me and wrapped her arms around me. I rested my head on her shoulder and whined, "Why am I still single? I want to love someone and be loved."

Gauri patted my back and said, "You will find someone. I'm sure there's someone just like you, who's asking the same question."

I pulled myself from her grasp and said like an idiot, "I need to get out of my slumber and hunt for the one for me."

"What?" Gauri asked. She looked taken aback because to be honest, I was always in my slumber.

I placed Bruno next to me on the couch and got up. I fixed my hair a little bit and asked, "What do you think?"

"Actually I was thinking about Rajat."

I rolled my eyes and asked with  disinterest, "What about him?"

"After the wedding, Meera would stay with him. That means, both of them will live next door, right?"

Oh shit! My fucking Lord! Why hadn't I thought about that? Now I had to see Rajat plus that Meera whenever I would come to visit Gauri.

Curse my already cursed life!

I tried to control my tears by sniffing my nose. Gauri saw that and said immediately, "Hey, Nik. I didn't mean to..."

"I know." I squeaked.

I walked to the main door and informed, "I need some time alone. Could you please take care of Bruno for a while?"