(Message alert)
-" Uh.......oh.........um......"
(one more message alert)
-" Wha.......huh..........."
(incoming call)
-" What? Who? Oh, my phone. Huh! What's the time? One am! Why is she calling me now?"
This was my first reaction when she had called me. I took the call nonetheless.
-" Hello, ______ what's up so late?"
-" Nothing. I just thought of talking to someone."
-" Well, you got the wrong person at the wrong time."
-" Were you sleeping?"
-" Can't say I wasn't. Weren't you?"
-" No, I was just thinking.......about you."
This is when the strings in my crappy brain realized that I was talking to her, this late in the night.
-" I want to ask you something."
-" Go on, you already destroyed my sleep."
I was trying not to act super excited.
-" Can you please come down? If you have no problem, that is".
Thank God my phone didn't slip out of my hands.
-" Alright, but it better be worth my time."
-" I don't know if it will."
-" Just kidding. I'll be down in a minute."
(Line disconnected) I thought to myself, what was going on?
I freshened up, wore my hoodie, slowly opened the main door, and went outside. To my horror, the lifts were off. Meaning I had to go down 10 stories before I could reach the ground floor. And so, I did. When my feet touched the last floor, I was already feeling numb due to the exertion. I looked up and there she was. Sitting on the table of the empty reception desk, dangling her legs. Her face half-covered in by her hoodie. She also looked up and there was a considerable gap between our eyes locking and her lovely smile. She jumped off the table and walked to me.
-" Did I disturb you?"
-" If you don't consider waking up a sleeping person as a disturb, then no."
-" I'm sorry. I was feeling lonely. Felt like having someone beside me." She gave a smile.
-" Well, I'm glad that I was able to qualify for being that someone". She looked at me with her well-known expression.
-" If you don't qualify then who will?"
-" That's quite flatter.........." I stopped mid-speech. She took my hand in her's. In the bone-shatteringly cold night of December, her hand felt warm. Her soft skin against mine felt like silk.
-" let's go for a walk, shall we?" she said.
As I stepped out of the building, the cold air of the night hit me like a sharp knife. But it was a pain worth enduring as long as it meant being with her.
We walked around the three high-rise buildings in our area again and again. We talked for a long time. Her words made me feel like she was sad or upset about something. But I didn't ask in fear of ruining this beautiful night.
There was a small place for sitting beside our Mosque. We went there and sat down. We sat there looking at the empty benches in front of us. Suddenly I felt a weight on my shoulder. It was her. She had kept her head on my shoulder. I pinched myself and ensured that it was not a dream. A few moments later she wrapped her arms around me. Right at that moment, a part of me wanted to lose myself in one of those Indian love songs. But the conscious part of me asked her
-" Is anything wrong?"
-" No, not at all." She was still hugging me." I just felt like hugging a fat boy like my friend here would help me feel better." she started laughing. It was the first time I saw her laugh this entire time.
-" Well, I'm quite proud of my fats. They serve as a multi-purpose tool." She started laughing even more.
-" We should get going. It is already 3 in the morning."
-" Okay, let's go."
I climbed up the 6 floors with her to her house.
Before entering, she said,
-" Close your eyes."
-" Why?"
-" Just do it."
-" Ok." I felt a warm kiss land on my cheek.
-" Wohh.........." I stepped back.
-" I...........I'm sorry." She stepped back.
-" No, it's ok."
-" Hope you will forgive me." She closed the door before I could say anything.
The night could not get any weirder.
The next day, when I went to school, Obonti and Sarah came to ask where she was.
-" Hasn't she come to school yet?"
-" If she had, we wouldn't ask you" Sarah replied.
-" Matter-of-fact, why are you even asking me?"
-" She said she was going to talk to you." Obonti said.
-" She did talk to me last night."
(Message alert)
I took out my phone. It was a message from her.
"Dear Apurbo,
I know what you are thinking. After everything last night, I would have told you. But I took it too far.
I love you and I wish, I told it to you before. But now it is too late.
I can't stay here any longer.
Hope you will forgive me. Goodbye.
______"
I wish I could find her. But after that, I never saw her again. I never even found a clue. Her family is as clueless as I am. It's like she vanished in thin air. And I still don't know what to forgive her for.