Serious in Love ✔

BONUS Chapter

The next couple of slides were of our college. A picture of us wearing Ahana's cheesy, friendship bracelet; another of us watching One piece; a group picture of us walking around campus and so on. There was even a photo of us coming out of jail. We laughed at those funny ones. We were filled with nostalgia when the presentation arrived at our stage performances, where I was the magician while Ahana was my assistant. Too many memories were attached to those days. The ones that followed filled me both with bitterness and bliss. Our high and lows in Vancouver and Huntsville were truly the ones that changed the course of our relationship. Ahana mentioned how the ones in Huntsville were her favourite ones.

But then came a picture that topped them all.

A picture of us pulling our cheeks. It was taken on our first official date. The picture must have been Ahana's choice.

"There's a reason number zero, too--" I repeated Ahana's words of confession from the evening she chased me at the bus stop. "I like you. Reason number zero point one, I like you. Reason number zero point two, I like you again..."

"You still remember?"

"How can I forget? You plastered my supposedly breaking heart with those words that day," I said, pretending to be hurt by the chest while she rolled her eyes.

Thus, the picture story elevated into our second year in college. A collage of our dates; another of us working in Pizza Hut, and another where we drank each other's blood in our Halloween costumes. We did some pretty crazy things back then. Then came a series of our most favourite date- Paris. The holy land where we lost our virginity.

"This will always remain one of my best dates till date," Ahana commented while watching the slide of us standing before Eiffel tower. Her hands circled around my arm as she rested her head against it.

"Mine too, babe. Mine too." My lips were almost trembling as I kissed her temple.

The gap between the past and the present lessened as the movie moved to our pictures in India. We were in our early twenties, busy sweating our professional lives. There was a cute picture of us in our office attire. I was just commenting about it when the next picture came to life and for the first time since this presentation, my heart dropped.

It was a our selfie of Hauz khas in Delhi.

"Why?" I asked wanting to know why she chose this picture for this happy movie. Like the good painted memories, I remembered this one as well. Our romance was suffering as a consequence of our busy lives. We were trying to rekindle it by spending a night in Hauz khas but it backfired big time. Our relationship only went downhill from then on, until we decided to put a break in our relationship.

"I want to remind us of our bad times, too. It's kind of why we are still here today," Ahana answered, giving my hand a tight squeeze. I squeezed her hand back, silently approving her statement.

It was almost painful to watch the ones that followed. A picture of me leaving for Boston, our Skype pictures as we video called each other. Okay, maybe not all were filled with dread. That game of finding the color object was surely fun. I remembered how painfully I missed Ahana back then. Though my mood flipped again when we were shown the next picture of us in my apartment. That was the time when I returned home from Boston for a few days.

"What are we doing, Van?" Ahana asked as I led her to walk in my house .

"We are having a date inside this house."

After a few more pictures that carried most dreadful memories behind them, came the ones of our group's reunion in Tripti's hometown. My mood lifted up instantly. The wheat fields, our ticket-less train journey, a nostalgic reunion, our private dance. They were the events that bandaged our broken relationship. Ahana mentioned how she recalled Maitree's words about falling in love the second time. Our time at the wheat field was indeed a soulful time for us.