This is a story about Shaheen and Sahil who were best friends since childhood. Sahil secretly was in love with shaheen and wanted to tell her about her feelings. One day, when shaheen comes to sahil’s house, he decides to tell her. It’s about the converstation that they have then.

 

I was waiting for Shaheen and it had been quite a long time. Over the years, it had been her habit. She would never show up on time. But I had become used to it. We had been best friends since childhood. She was my neighbour. We literally grew up in each other’s pockets. She would tell me everything about what was going on in her life and I would also do the same. It was pretty natural as we had been together since we were 5 years old. Our friendship was 14 years old now. Somewhere, in my heart, Shaheen had become more than just a friend for me. But I never told her, for the fear of losing the friendship that we had. I had loved her for quite a time now and was wishing to tell her about my feelings as soon as possible. I was thinking about all this when I finally heard my doorbell rang. My parents were out of town, so I went to open the door.

I opened the door and there she was.  With the first glance at her, I could tell that she was drunk. She knew that my parents were not at home and therefore, she had come even when she was drunk.

“Hey Sahil! Before you say anything, I know I’m late and I’m sorry.”

Even as she said this, I couldn’t stop admiring her looks. She was wearing a grey coloured one piece suit ending  a bit above her knees. Her grey dress was shining in the dim evening light. My small session of admiring her was interrupted when she said,

‘Will you please let me in? I’m shivering.’ She pushed me in and came inside.

‘’As if I tell you to wait outside as a punishment, you’ll listen to me!”, I pretended to be serious.

“Of course I won’t! You know me so well”, She giggled and sat on the sofa.

I loved this thing about us. There was no awkwardness in our relationship. Both of our families knew each other and about our friendship. They had seen us grow playing in the streets.

“What made you get so late?” I asked.

“You know how my friends are. They were just not letting me leave”.

“So you forgot that your best friend was waiting for you to spend the evening talking to you like every day?”, I said, still pretending to be serious.

“Awww, I am sorry!”, She said in in a really soft manner with the cutest expression in the world on her face.

I looked at her and couldn’t help smiling.

“You know that’s not fair. You can’t do that. I wanted to remain angry for a little more time.”

“I know. But I can’t help being cute!” she said with the cuteness still on her face.

“Stop boasting your looks and tell me what you wanted to talk about!”, I threw a cushion at her.

Normally, she wouldn’t boast her looks and say things like these. But whenever she would drink, it would bring out the cutest part of her, and I just loved it.

She took the cushion and helped her with it and made herself easy on the sofa.

“You know Sahil, I just love these evening conversation of ours.”

“So do I.” Her statement made me feel a bit special.

“I can’t be myself with any other person but you. Whenever I go out, I find no one to talk to. And every such time, I realise how special you are for me.”

Suddenly, I saw the cheerfulness being replaced by seriousness on her face.

“You okay?  Do you want to talk about something?”, I asked with a sense of concern in my voice.

“Yes, but not now. I’ll tell you at the right time.”

Suddenly, this statement of hers reminded me of my feelings for her. It reminded me of how I was also waiting for the right moment to tell her about my feelings for her. Any other day, I would have been adamant to know what she wanted to talk about, but today, I let it go.

“Okay. You take your time. I am here for you.”

“I know that.” She said with a smile on her face.

“Do you care for some coffee?” I asked her.

“Can I ever say no?” She said bringing back the cheer in her voice.

“Fatso!” I exclaimed.

I would often call her that even when she was in perfect shape, just to see the expression that would develop on her face after I called her this.

“Shut up and prepare some coffee.” She shouted at me.

“okay ma’am!”

Ten minutes later, I came back from the kitchen with two mugs of coffee. But I stopped midway. I was wonderstruck by her beauty. There she was, lying on the sofa. She had helped herself with a blanket and was half asleep. I couldn’t help but notice the innocence on her face. At that moment, she looked like a baby who was resting after a day’s hard work. Her big eyelashes with the kohl she had applied on them were looking even more beautiful today. At this moment, I realised how much I loved her. I wanted to hug her. I wanted to kiss her.

Suddenly, I was struck by the idea that this could be the right moment I had been waiting for. My parents are not at home. We are having a good time. It all makes perfect sense. Suddenly, I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to end the anxiety that I had been having for the last few years. I thought and I decided to do it.

“Shaheen!”, I called out her name.

“yes”, She said without moving an inch and just opening her eyes.

“Your coffee ma’am.”

She took the coffee and put it on the table.

I sat on the sofa with my back facing her. I knew if I wanted to speak to her about it, I couldn’t face her. I collected all the strength I had and said,

“Shaheen, you listening to me?”

“Yes, I am. I’m not sleeping.”

There is something that I have been willing to tell you for so many days.

“Yes, tell me”, she said in a really low voice.

“I want you to listen to all that I have to say before you say anything.” I said.

Without waiting for a reply, I continued.

“We both have been together since childhood. All the happy memories that I have about childhood are with you. Whenever I think about you, there comes a smile on my face without me even noticing it. Whenever I am with you, I feel special and when I am not with you, I think about being with you. All that I want to say is that I love you. I love everything about you. I love the way you shout at me for no reason. I love the way you look at me and say sorry when I am angry. You’ve become a big part of me. All these days, I was waiting for the right opportunity and today, I don’t know if it’s the right time, but I just want to say, I love you.”

For a few moments, I remained silent and waited for her response. I thought that she got dumbstruck by my little speech. This silence was killing me. I didn’t know what to do. Somehow, I turned around and got surprised. There she was, sleeping on the sofa, unaware of everything that I had said.

For some time, I felt bad because I knew how difficult it was for me to speak all this and that I won’t be able to say all this again. But the expression on her face made me forget all of it.

I went to her and tried to wake her up. She woke up. She was rubbing her eyes when I said,

“Did you listen to any thing or were you asleep all the time?”

She was still rubbing her eyes and she came to a halt. She realised that she hadn’t listened to anything at all.

“I didn’t.” She said hesitatingly.

“It’s alright.” I said smiling.

“Oh My God! It’s already nine. I should go home.  Mom would be worried.”

She stood up and quickly ran out of the door.

“I am sorry I couldn’t listen to what you had to say. In fact, I also came here to tell you something today.” She said on her way out.

I was a bit unhappy that she didn’t listen to all that I said. But, I told myself that maybe it was not the right time.

~~~~—~~~~~

The next day, as usual, I was waiting for the time when she would come to my house. At 11 in the morning, my phone beeped. I had received a text message. It was from Shaheen. I was a little surprised. She never used to text me. I opened the text. It read as follows-

Hey Sahil. I am sorry that I couldn’t listen to what you had to say last night. In fact, I had also come to your house to tell you something. In fact, I had drunk so much because I thought that I needed the booze to speak my heart out. When I said that I’ll tell you at the right moment, I didn’t know which moment I was speaking about. But I cannot wait anymore. I don’t know how to say it and so I’m going to say in the simplest way possible.

“Sahil Arora, I love you. I love you very much. This is what I wanted to say yesterday. I wait for the day to turn into evening so that I can come to your house and spend time with you. I just love you. Please call me when you read the message.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. My heart was skipping beats. I had never felt happier. I didn’t know this feeling before. I couldn’t believe that my life had surprised me in the best and the cutest way possible. I couldn’t believe that Shaheen, the girl that I was dreaming about all these years, the girl who I had loved all my life also loved me. I couldn’t believe that she had also been feeling the same all these years. I didn’t know what to do. I started jumping around. I couldn’t figure out how to express this happiness.

I wanted to call Shaheen and tell her that I loved her too. I wanted o tell her that I shared all the feeling that she had. But I didn’t know how to do it.

I took the phone and called her many a times and disconnected it before I could finally let the call go through the eleventh time. She picked up the phone but didn’t say anything.

“Shaheen?” I said.

“Yes.” She answered.

“Can you come over?” I asked.

She remained silent for a few moments and then agreed.

After I disconnected the call, time seemed to have come to a standstill. No moment seemed to pass away. I couldn’t wait. However, after a bit of time, she came.

I had left the door open to avoid the awkwardness of opening the door.

She came through and sat on the sofa.  I also sat there. For ten minutes, there was pin drop silence. We didn’t know what to do. Then I thought about it. I thought that this was all that I had waited for all these years. She loved me and I loved her. Then what was this awkwardness for? I decided to end it. But still, I didn’t know what to do.

I stood up, held her hands in mine and pulled her up as well. I had her hands in my hand and we both were standing. She was looking down and not at me. I pulled her close and hugged her. After a few moments, she also put her hands around me. I loved this feeling.

“so you love me ma’am?” I grinned and said.

“Shut up you idiot!” She smiled and said.

“I love you too Shaheen.”

She just smiled and gave me a peck on my cheeks.

For ten minutes, we remained silent. It was the happiest moment of my life.

After some time, she asked,

“What was it that you wanted to say last night?”

I just smiled and said, “Nothing! There is no need for it now.”

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