THIS SIDE THAT SIDE

Valentine's day Special: Promise

"Why do you wanna know?" I asked curiously.

"Isn't it obvious? I wanna know about your world Sunaina. About my Sunaina's world." The words "my Sunaina" coming out of his mouth seemed like an enchanted dream. It didn't feel like he was possesive towards me but it felt as if he just wanted to give me a home. I smiled at him shoveling his hair a bit.

"Okay. I will tell." He smiled back at me and we both sat on a chair kept in the rooftop. I looked at the thousand stars that were showering their blessings among us. I looked at Arjun and he looked at me with puppy like eyes. I was lost in them when he called out to me again. "So...start now maybe?"

"Uh yeah." I held on to the creases of my dress tightly. To be honest, I wasn't ready for this kind of conversation but looking at Arjun, I just can't say no.

"I belong to a very very normal family. You can say a middle class family." I started and I saw him nodding affirmatively. "So... I did my schooling from a prestigious school, I loved to read and sometimes I write too. When I was young, I wanted to write a book but now look at me. I am stuck in a book." I laughed saying this and Arjun joined me in as well. I started telling him stories of my childhood. How I used to stay alone in my house locked by my parents because they all had to go out for work, how I used to lose my friends and then I always ended up crying. I told him about my lovely college days, I told him about my first break up, my first kiss. I told him how I used to cry when my best friend left me due to some issues between us. He heard it all. He laughed at my funny moments and wiped when tears started falling down my cheeks. At times, he hugged me from behind soothing me and giving me warmth. In my every breath and with my every word, I could see him breathing closer to me. As I spoke to him more and more, I gently felt the distance between us getting shorter and shorter.

"So that's all about me." I looked at him and found him still staring at me intently. "What's wrong?" I asked him confused.

"I am just sad." He sighed like a lost kid.

"Hey! Why! What happened? Did I say something wrong?"

"Wish I met you earlier. I wouldn't have let you get any kind of pain at all." Everytime he said something, my heart felt as if it would burst into a thousand pieces. I looked at him teasingly and said, "But you were there with me for the past three years maybe."

"How?"

"The book! I used to carry the book everytime. Infact, everytime I went to a boring place, I used to open the story book and just get lost in you."

"Me? Wasn't the book about my brother and Mansi?"

"Well..." I hesitated to speak a little. "I actually read the book more to read more about you. So basically the chapters that described more about you, I read them." He had a wide grin on his face. "So that's how you know everything about me."

"Yeah..." I nodded. "I know how much you loved to paint, but gave up on that because you had to make your parents prove your worth. I even remember how you used to get so many proposals back in college and Mansi used to tease you all the time."

"Were you jealous?" He smirked.

"I won't lie actually. I was whenever I used to read how popular you were among the girls. But then..." I lowered my head in embarrassment.

"I used to imagine myself dancing with you in prom. In romantic songs. And you used to pull me closer to your arms." On hearing this, Arjun held my hands tightly in his hands again and pulled me towards him. "Is it like this that I used to pull you?" He whispered in my ears again.

"Mhmm." I responded slowly.

"What else did I do?" He whispered slowly again. This time, his breathe made my earlobes warmer. "There...there was this new song before I came in this world, 'Mera Yaar'." He smiled and allowed me to continue.