MARAASIM

a postcode,

a country.

And yet sometimes home cannot be explained by a street number; sometimes it's a face, a voice, a laugh more honest and familiar than any truth you have ever known. We're taught that in its most literal sense, home is where we live and grow.

But one day, in the silence that follows nostalgic stories and subsequent laughter, you realise that you never did more living or growing than when you had certain people by your side.

"So the rumours were true huhh. Mr. Rudy the great is back in town!" said a female voice from behind.

And suddenly, she was my home.

"Saumya! O My God! Is that you? How are you? How's everyone else? I have missed you so much." He fired so many questions at her while engulfing her in a hug.

"Will you let me breath. I am great as always. Everyone else is fine. You tell me. How have you been?"

"So many things have changed here. Let's take a walk and we can talk while you show me around. What say? "

"Perfect"

And the rest of the evening was spend in talking about random things, catching up on each other's life, teasing, telling tales, refreshing the old memories and creating new ones.

Her beauty was astonishing. Rudra thought. Not in just her looks; no, that was too evident. It was her passion for everything she put herself into. Her thoughts on educating the people in village and developing villages instead of moving to other places. It was the crinkle in her brow when she was concerned or the way she smiled when everything came together. Her laugh was so infectious that it was absolutely exhilarating just being around her. All of these small things added up to make her so irresistible.

While on the way back, they came across a huge mansion.

"Saumya, whose mansion is this?"

"Oh it's the 'Pratap Manor'. Currently owned by the Pratap siblings. They mostly live in the city but sometimes come here for holidays. Right now the younger one Bhavya is here. You must remember her, don't you? If I remember correctly, you guys were in the same batch. "

"Bhavya, ofcourse I remember her. She was my...ummm...."

"....childhood crush. Now don't give me that look. We used to share everything with each other then."

_________________________________

As days flew by, Rudra had gotten close to both Bhavya and Saumya. Bhavya, his childhood crush was also the owner of Desire and her brother owned Aspire, where Rudra wanted to work. Desire and Aspire both worked together for majority of their projects. He used to meet her to know more about both the companies and the industry in general. First as classmates, then work, Bhavya and Rudra soon become quite close to each other.

While he also harboured feelings for Saumya, his childhood best friend/love, they were too young to differentiate then but now, it was different. He was more and more confused.

He didn't think he could ever choose between the two. A part of his heart stayed with the one and the second part with another. Saumya's love was sweet taste of sugar on the tongue, while Bhavya's love was wild and passionate. Saumya's love was like sitting next to a bonfire in the middle of winter and Bhavya's was sunshine and beaches. One was the moon while other was the sun. The sun has to die every night to let the moon breath. But the moon loses its shine without the sun. One was water- calm, clear and soothing the other was fire- sparkling and radiant. But the water could drown you and fire could burn you. Bhavya was a hurricane, a windstorm but Saumya was that drizzle of rain where you just sit with a hot coffee in hand, reading a book or listening to music.