Day 11 (14 November 2009)

23 Hours

Khushi had finally said that she loved me! It took me a couple of days to really grasp what had happened. The dream I had dreamt every night for almost 3 years had come true. I cannot describe in words how I felt at that time, hence, I'm not even going to try.

Only a few days had gone by, and I was already dying to meet her. When talking on the phone one morning, she said that she felt like seeing me. I did not have to think twice. I informed at home that I was off to watch a movie with friends and would go to the gym from there. I had bought myself a few hours. I took out my bike and drove all the way from Gurgaon to Pilkhuwa (almost a 100 kilometres). When she was walking out for her daily visit to the temple, the last thing she expected was to find me standing outside the alley, fiddling with my bike. We saw each other, her expressions went from blank to shocked to happy in a split second. She was with her didi, and did not come up to me to talk. We smiled at each other as she walked by. And then, with a smile on my face and joy in my heart, I drove back to Gurgaon.

A couple of days had passed since we saw each other. As a matter or coincidence, both our families were out during that weekend. We had an entire day to talk without any interruption. She called me in the morning and the conversation began. We kept talking about anything and everything we could think of. Before we knew it, it was late afternoon and we both were out of balance.

I sprinted to the local store and got my phone recharged. Afternoon soon turned to evening. The sun had set but our conversation continued, interrupted occassionally by small meals, trips to the washroom and topping up balance in my phone (STD Calls were not as cheap then). After 2 trips to the recharge store, I gave the person some extra money and told him to recharge my phone whenever I called and asked him to, well beyond the closing hours of his shop.

We talked all night. We shared our deepest secrets with a level of comfort we had never experienced before. I confessed to the endless lies I had told her to impress her. Khushi forgave all of them, saying that amid all the lies, she knew that my love was true. She confided in me that she had not found the courage to tell her best friend Himanshi about me yet.

We shared stories about our families and friends, some secret, some funny and some completely bizarre.

To be honest, I don't recall most of the things we talked about that day. But the one thing I could not forget was the feeling I had at that time. The inexplicable happiness of finally having what you craved for.

The sun had risen again, sleep or fatigue did not seem to bother me. The doorbell rang. My family was back from the trip already! I looked at the clock and realised that I had just spent the shortest 23 hours of my life!