The Incomplete Conversation - My Entry for the Platinum Day of Love Contest

This post has been written for the Platinum Day of Love Contest on indiblogger.in.  Four years and thirteen days had passed since I first him. It was no love-at-first-sight for us. And yet, the time that had passed was clearly etched in my mind. We were both shy at first. But soon, we shared a lot of conversations. And many jokes. Sarcasm was something we both had in common, among a myriad of other things. Somewhere, there were sparks. But nothing definite. Neither he spoke about it, nor I. After a while, I began to think that I had imagined the sparks. One day, seven months after we had met, it was announced, along with a cake and a farewell present, that he was moving abroad. I was sad, but I did not let it show. “Congrats! I am happy for you,” I said with a smile. He smiled back and said he had kept the news under wraps because he had been asked by our manager to do so. As he was emptying his desk locker, I approached him, gathered every last bit of courage I had and said, “I need to talk to you.” He is leaving, I thought. I would probably never see him again. But I could still tell him how I felt. He was shaking his head. “We’ll speak later,” he said politely. He picked up his laptop bag, and he left. I did not know when "later" was. I knew he was going straight to the airport. I decided against calling him on the phone. There was no point seeming desperate. He would call me when he could. Except that he did not. He did not give me one call, or send me one email after reaching there. Plus, he was one of those rare people who did not have a profile on Facebook. I had no idea how he was. But I missed him. Terribly. I waited. Day after day, I waited for the moment when we could continue the conversation where he had abruptly left off. Four years and thirteen days after our first meeting, I stepped into the office cafeteria. I was not looking where I was going, because my eyes were focused on a silly joke that a friend had just shared over WhatsApp. I was vaguely aware of a soft melody that had begun playing on the speakers as I entered, but I paid no attention to it. I still did not look up from my phone when it suddenly began to ring. It was an unknown number. Possibly a bank trying to entice me into getting their credit card issued, I figured. I answered, and a once-familiar voice spoke with a hint of a smile, “If you could please look up, it would be very kind.” I looked up and I was suddenly aware of the melody around me. I saw at the other end of the cafeteria a man with eyes that twinkled with childish mischief each time he smiled; a man who had promised me a conversation long ago. A man I had waited for, without even knowing if I should wait or not. We began walking towards each other. My disbelief had slowed my steps. His steps were surer. As we reached each other, I could think of nothing to say. But he took my hand, and slipped a platinum band onto my ring finger and asked, “You said you wanted to talk to me about something?” I put a finger to his lips and replied, “Shhh… we’ll speak later.” As I closed my eyes and embraced him, oblivious to the cheering crowd around us, I knew, this was our day of love. Copyright Petrichor and Clouds 2013 at petrichorandclouds.blogspot.com Please do not reproduce the material published here.