#StoryTellersBlogHop: Fragrances of Emotions!!!

She:

She sat there on an empty chair in the garden. The place was swooping with people. She looked around. Most of them were couples. Lovers, friends, family…These people could be any of these… she thought. Her gaze travelled around the garden and then beyond to the beautiful shores. People were hovering in the waves, out of their busy lives, to have a good time with their loved ones. They are not here…but somewhere else.! Her mind told herself with a wide smile. She sat there for around an hour, watching the sun coming down. Her mind went back to the time she came with her friends to watch the sunrise, only to realize it was the wrong shore. They were on the opposite side of the happening. She smiled again, thinking about the mind’s blunders and those happy moments which have gone past. The memories always leave us wanting more. Memories always try to do things that we never thought of, just like her, sitting at the shore, waiting for the person to come. A month ago, she wouldn’t have come here for this. She would never have thought she would see him.

He:

The tyre of the motorbike screeched a little as it came to a halt. He looked for the origin of the sound. The tyre is wearing out..he noticed. He parked the bike on one of the slots. He had to go two rounds of the beach road to find a space. The beach was crowded that day and all he could do was wait for anyone to take their bike and leave. It took another fifteen minutes. He came up to the side walk and looked at the setting sun. The crimson colour has been spreading across the sky and it was making it more…approachable. The crowd was so huge that it became difficult to walk. As he walked to the garden which was at the end of the path, it felt like swimming in the opposite direction of a heavy current. People barged into him at some point. But being lived in one of the busiest cities in the country, this was nothing new. He swam ahead, past Gandhi’s statue and to the botanical garden gate. He slowed as he reached the gate. His head recalled the past few days. A month ago, he came here to the same place and he met her. After a long gap of 2 years, things just took off. He came to a halt to recall that day. He sat in a side chair and looked at his hand. He could feel the fragrance of her hair, which slowly came to rest on his shoulder that day. The warm touch as she held his hand. They sat on the shore that day for eternity. But everything started to swirl around his head like a hurricane. His hands came up and rested on his head. What should I do? His thoughts reverberated along with the waves. 

She:

It was almost dark and the beach was raving with people. She felt comfortable staying under his closed hands. His hand stretched over her shoulder for a warm, single embrace. Her head automatically leaned onto his shoulder. She glanced at his face. His eyes were fixed on the waves. The eyes always tell a different story with different emotions. The thoughts started to struggle out of her head. She remembered the first time they contacted each other. It was a random chat and even after that nothing had happened between them. They just thought they were having some nice random thoughts conveyed to each other at random times. Then, when life’s struggle increased, both got dependent on each other. Chats became late-night calls. Thoughts become words and she felt the intimacy rise above their casual relationship. But everything had a boiling and melting point. It is not that she got bored over time with him but she felt more detached from people, including him, in the later phase of her life. Their distance increased and the man she once wished to be her everything moved away from her life because of the way she started to behave with people. Detachment won her over and lost her many. 

But life proved to be more surprising than the people in her life. Even though their distance increased, she was amazed at how casually he took this phase. For him, the silence between them was nothing but a normal thing. She was surprised once she understood he never judged her, unlike many others. Also, when she asked him to come to the beach, she never thought he will come. Usually, excuses were the ones which distanced them. But today, the excitement of sitting with him felt like a breezy surprise to her. Hence, she decided not to leave his hand…not today at the least. 

He:

He noticed her hair slowly caressing his cheek. The waves brimmed with fresh noise which he was enjoying. This time he felt like it was complete. The surroundings vanished and his hand could feel her’s. It felt like an eternity as they sat there on that shore. They watched the sun hiding beneath the ocean and soon, the street vendors started to lighten up their small shops to attract the people there. But they just sat there. He remembered the days they used to call. They never committed to one another during any of these 5 years of knowing each other. But they were in contact for almost the entire timeline. But in the last 2 years, things have turned in a different direction. He moved to the south of the state and the texts dried up. Both of them, as he thought, moved on with their respective life. 

When she called him to ask whether he would come that day, he too was not sure. The work made him sit throughout the whole day and changed his habits altogether. Maybe this would be a refreshing time, he thought. After all, she was calling him after a long gap. He knew he had moved on to a new life, but on that day, this might be the time to open up a new chapter. He felt happy sitting there beside her, all silent, watching the waves shimmering on the shore. This is where we part ways, he thought. He knew her mind would be saying the same thing. A small smile erupted on his face. He could see the same on her too.

She:

She looked at her watch. The sun had set and the crowd, which came to see the grand festival of lights, started to increase. The festival started and the sound of the ocean diminished under the sound of the humans. Suddenly, she sat up and started walking to the edge of the garden from where the ocean gets nearer. The water was making its way to the shore but the noise was weaker. Instead of complaining, the sea kept coming ashore. We, humans, have to learn it from the sea, she listened as her mind muttered. She wanted to keep the last days with him as it is. She decided not to meet him that day. She does not want to make any new memories as the last one was perfect. The perfect goodbye to a perfect alliance. It’s hard to get someone like him and she was happy everything fell into the right place. He was moving ahead with a new life. It would be different for him and she was happy for him too. She walked away from the sea and headed towards the exit. “There are no different endings to a story, there is only one. In our case, it ended that day”, she thought as she walked ahead and vanished into the crowd.

He:

The crowd rushed into the garden gate as the sun went down. He was sitting in the side chair thinking about all the events that had conspired around his life to be here, at this moment. A year ago, he met her fiance which changed his life entirely and within the next three months, their life will come to a turning point. He has been waiting for this moment for the past year. Last time on this beach, while they were sitting on the shore, they knew that would be the goodbye. But both of them decided to come back to the same place today without any plans. After a while, he sat up from the chair and started walking back. Now he could walk faster as he was moving in the direction of the others. His mind told that she would understand why he didn’t show up. She would know the reason and also the fact that there is no tomorrow for this old life. He came to his bike and got on it, kicked it ON and went away. Life is like that. You get only one chance and sometimes, you have to understand that loving is letting go, especially for those who deserve a second chance.

This story is written for StorytellersBlogHop Season 3 hosted by MeenalSonal (https://Auraofthoughts.com) and Ujjwal Mishra (https://mywordsmywisdom.com)

This story is a work of fiction and purely out of writer’s imagination. Any identification of a person/places/situations are not intentional.