Amay woke up with temple-bells buzzing his head. He snoozed his phone-alarm and visualised the dream he saw last night. It all happened in front of his eyes but that alarm woke him up to the reality at 6 am and killed the pleasure that love-hormone created in his dream.
His mornings were busy as he had to follow the clicking of the wall clock. His office bus would come at 7 and would not wait for anybody. He was a manufacturing engineer in an automobile company. He shivered as the first mug of cold water splashed on his body and amidst those morning goosebumps he imagined her lovely, beautiful and lively face. She wore a bright-coloured kurti and jeans. Her long and dark brown hairs were open and she worn a black hairband in her left hand wrist like a bracelet. She had striking brown and black eyes neither entirely black nor brown, and was smiling and laughing with him. He had proposed her in his dream. He dreamt about them getting married and living together like a happy couple in love. He so wanted to make it true but didn't know how.She was not even her friend. He became nervous in front of her and couldn't speak a word. He didn't know how to approach and propose her. She worked in the same office on a different floor, and he could see her only during lunchtime. He made sure that he saw her daily and tried to create situations so that he would get a chance to interact but unfortunately couldn't utter anything at the right time.
Apeksha knew that Amay liked her and followed her like an ant follows sugar. She was introvert by nature, had one casual relationship in the past and at that time was not eager to get into another one. She liked Amay as a good fella but she didn't know him and wanted to talk with him. She could see desperation and nervousness both at once on his face, but she wanted him to make a move and talk.
He, these days, could not concentrate on his work and her thoughts lingered all day in his mind. In reality, he was afraid of rejection or insult that could probably follow if she rejected his proposal. He didn't want to be a laughing stock in office and didn't want to be the center of attraction. He, like her, was also an introvert and had this habit of making his own assumptions in his mind and never tried to speak out and find the truth. Unaware of this, he continued to act weird in office and at home.
She lived with her friends in the hostel. She didn't have many close friends, and she would spend her free time reading Indian love stories and would do painting . She wanted to be loved and pampered, and most of her time went in dreaming and thinking about all those lovey-dovey characters from a novel. Amay had been successful in finding a little place in her thoughts. She wanted to know if he liked her and if yes then what made her so special in his life. She, in particular, was not a fan of herself except that she was very good at work. Her education, her achievements and her life had been pretty normal. She would express herself through her paintings. Her happiness, sadness, excitement, amazement were all visible in her paintings. Some of her very close friends had seen them.
He wanted to make sure that he truly loved her, and only then he wanted to make another move. He looked out for her friends in the company and followed her facebook profile like a detective although the profile was locked but he could guess with some details that she liked to do paintings,watch Netflix and Hindi romantic movies.
He, in his free time, had thought a lot about her and took months to decide to make the next move. None of his friends was aware of his feelings as he never shared them that easily with anybody. He could not get her face out of his mind and would think day and night about her. He therefore made a decision that he had to find a way to propose her. He would also make sure that none of his friends should come to know at least now.
The other day she received a ping on her office chat account, " Hi, are you there, I am from manufacturing and had some queries regarding your last improvement project where you decreased the quality rejection rate by 10% "She was busy in office validating quality reports of the car, but his name caught her attention. She quickly verified if this was the same Amay who followed her and was happy to finally have some dialog with him. " Yeah, please tell me the queries", she replied to first see whether this is really a query or an excuse that he made to talk with her. Amay got excited as he saw the reply. He knew already that she was a quality engineer. He therefore contacted her to initiate a conversation and then he would come to know if she was even interested to talk with him." I wanted to know the process you implemented to reduce oversize defects for the bearing of the crankcase, I am having an issue in the other model and thought I could learn from your improvements"Apeksha for a moment forgot their unsaid personal connect and replied in a professional tone. She became happy that he liked her improvements, "I can share the documents with you and if you would like I can also explain to you what I did". Amay, in reality, didn't need any document from her but he was ecstatic as it seemed to be an opportunity to meet with his dream girl " Yeah, that's a nice idea, maybe I will go through your documents first and then we can arrange to meet and discuss if that sounds ok to you"She smiled because he finally took a step to meet and know her, "Ok let me know you will receive the documents in two minutes"
Amay was happy that she was ok to talk with him even if it was for a professional work. He now only had to be opportunistic and share his feelings with her.
The other side of his mind constantly forced him to give some time to build the friendship. He could then share his feelings. It seemed logical to him but he was sure that he could not be her friend and he didn't want to be friend-zoned.
"But why would she accept my proposal at the first meeting?"
This question engaged his mind for nights but his desperation won over the logical side of his brain and he decided to propose her.
Apeksha was a little happy that he wanted to talk with her even if with an excuse for some professional work. With this, she could be sure if it was her wrong notion that he liked her or had some truth in it. She found herself relaxed and happy and started to paint with no specific thought in mind. She started to paint dawn with warm sunlight, blue and white sky, and the sun looked so far yet its sunlight was spreading happiness everywhere. There was greenery and a very magnanimous castle. She continued to paint for hours and never realized that she got so immersed in it and skipped her dinner.
She never expected that her painting would give her an epiphany and would help her to take a decision for her life. The painting had several elements and each of them had an independent soul and a meaning but it gave a different and a holistic understanding when viewed together. She created a castle that emanated and reflected happiness from every corner. The life around the castle bloomed with love and happiness. Love, hope and optimism were visible till infinity, and she saw herself outside the castle facing the sun and waiting for that happiness to hug her. That feeling amazed her. She took it as a signal from her conscious that she desperately wanted love in her life.
"Is it because of Amay?"
She questioned herself but ignored it as she hardly knew him. How can she fell in love with somebody just like that but her heart didn't want to ignore the message from her painting. She with confused and rambling thoughts went office the next day. They had earlier planned to discuss her project after lunch.
Akhil was exuberant since morning. He eagerly waited for their discussion. They planned a meeting in one of the office meeting rooms. He made sure that nobody would get a clue of his intentions. They both were there before time.
"Hi Apeksha", he uttered the moment he saw her."Hi Amay" she smiled and went directly inside the meeting room." You had your lunch," asked Amay to start the conversation."Yeah, you didn't have" she was confused as it was already well past lunchtime."Yeah, I have too, just asked," He thought of a fool of himself to ask a silly question."Yeah tell me have you gone through my reports" asked Apeksha to break the momentary pause and move the conversation ahead. She thought she could have responded earlier in a better way."Yeah, I have gone through and I was wondering which tool should I select to achieve the accuracy of 20 microns for the diameter," Amay asked brisking his hair and tried not to have direct eye contact with her. But he was unable to control and was checking her then and now.Teesha did notice but didn't react, "Actually we used reamer, and it would work but important for you to have a good tool material as the tool should not be worn out that easily""Yeah, that's a good suggestion, I think I will consider that " Amay had already implemented the solution but he had to bluff it. He halted that discussion and enquired " Where do you live"She told her the location, they exchanged the phone numbers but Amay did not propose her and didn't say anything that could have triggered further meeting. He cursed himself later that at least he could have complimented her.
He knew he would go mad if it continued in this way. He was browsing randomly on the internet and read poetry somewhere. It triggered an idea to him to write poetry and express his feelings. He thought it might be easy in that way and he could express much more than what spoken words could express. He spent the entire night thinking about her and finished the poetry. He slept at 6 am and skipped office the next day.
Apeksha searched him during lunch but was unhappy to not find him. She was ok with their meeting and now she was thinking to meet him again. She thought at least she could make one move now and then see where their friendship would go.
" Hi Apeksha, this is Amay" he went to her place in the evening and called her. "Hey, Hi, how are you," Apeksha asked with a surprising tone. She did not expect his call as there was no specific reason now."Hey, I wanted to talk with you, and I am downstairs at your place, can your come for a while" said Amay and eagerly waited for his response.She got baffled but agreed to come down.They saw each other, and he bent down, when she came close enough, on his knees and gave a decorated card with poetry to her.
When I first saw you I was awestruck by your simplicity andOverwhelmed by your natural beauty,I questioned myselfHow can one be so simple yet so elegant So silent yet so expressive.
I don't know who are youBut I feel likeI know you since ages,I don't know what you thinkBut I believe I can understand you I know you paint your emotionsAnd I wish to read them happily.
You know that I like you,Your striking eyes speak a lotYour demeanour talk volumes,I don't know what you thinkBut you can test my love for youI promiseI will be the one always for you.
She smiled, read it with amazement and was very very happy but didn't show it to him. She then said"Ok"Akhil got baffled " Ok? what, please tell me"
