Love actually part 2....

LOVE ACTUALLY…PART 2…
Please read part 1 before proceeding with part 2 …though it doesn’t make much of a difference yet still.
Forgive me wrong paragraphing, cant help, am typing on a mobile, plz bear with it.
…contd.
Zara looked at the smiling faces around her, and felt anguish at her life. She was to meet Nihal, but he hadn ’t
turned up yet, and if their horrid relationship was of any relevance then he wouldn ’t come at all.
Their relationship which was not even a year old was on the verge of its end, the romance had died a slow
death long back and Zara trying to salvage somehow their long lost love was doing so all alone and mostly in vain.
On the eve of Valentine day, she was hoping to rekindle their love when she received a SMS.
‘ Sry, kudnt kum 2day, m buzy, u tc. ‘
She stared at the screen for a long time. How could he? How can someone be so rude? No sorry, no explanations, not even a call? And she had been waiting like a fool for him for an hour. How could she let him make a fool out of her? How could he? These questions bombarded her mind. Her sitting
there and occupying a seat at the Austin Bakery made no sense to her. She felt like running away to a
secluded place and crying her out. She decided to end the relationship. She was only in second year at the college, she was too young to shoulder a relationship all by herself, there was a limit to everything.
‘Ma’am, you want another coffee’ A waiter who had been standing there for past two minutes unnoticed, asked her. She looked up at him, and tried to smile but couldn ’t. the tears building up in her eyes gave her away. She looked away.
‘No, thanks just bring the bill’ .
‘OK, ma’am’.
He left. She felt relieved.
‘Oh my God, I just can’t believe my eyes. Is it really you?’
‘Please, I’m not in a good mood.’ She said this without looking up. She felt irritated.
He sat down, without asking her.
‘Zara.’
She looked up. She couldn’t recognize him at once, nor did she put any pressure on her already taxed brain.
She stared at him blankly.
‘Zara, remember me? Long time yaar. ‘ He smiled.
‘Sorry, I don’t remember you.’
‘I thought so, but you are Zara, right.’
She nodded her head.
‘Aha, I knew it the moment I saw you. ‘
She was still giving him a blank look.
‘OK, so you don’t remember me, it’s natural. It’s expected actually. Remember Sushma Aunty, Rashmi
Aunt ’s best friend. ‘, he said excitedly but she couldn’t remember the details. The fog and mist that had made a home in her memory few moments back seemed to wither away reluctantly and slowly.
She narrowed her eyes. She never forgot people ’s face, name or number.
‘OK, now that’s embarrassing. ‘ He looked away. A young girl was sitting along with her boyfriend. He turned to her.
‘Excuse me‘, the girl turned to face him.
‘Do you mind if you could give me your lipstick.’
Her mind started ringing bells. The girl smiled and obliged. He smiled and held it up to her.
‘Now do you remember?’ Zara smiled. She remembered a kid with three lipsticks on his face, the
boy smiling out of his agony.
‘Amitosh.’ She smiled. He laughed.
‘You remember it, this is embarrassing.’
She laughed remembering that kid.
‘You’ve changed so much, I never..’


She didn’t remember much of what happened next. Everything happened so fast, everything was as if in a blur. She didn’t remember the bomb blast; she just recalled a deafening boom and fire. Her memory was muffled, after that. Cries of agony, of anguish, of dying people. She remembered  someone picking her up, remembered clinging to someone as if her life depended on him, and remembered the shouts and the
screams on the road. She had her eyes closed, tight shut, and all the time while people kept crying around her, someone shouting for help, then being shoved into a car, someone holding her hand the whole time, saying something to her, all the while holding her tightly to his chest. She found peace there, she blacked out in his arms.
She opened her eyes. An old ceiling fan was rotating with cries of pain. She looked around, it was almost pitch black. She recalled what all had happened. The horrors of past few hours started haunting her. Slowly she absorbed the magnitude of what happened in the evening. Tears rolled down her cheeks, many must have died, many injured. Flashes of memory came rushing back to her.
 She was sitting at Austin Bakery with Amitosh, when the explosion took place. But where was Amitosh?
She almost jumped up in the bed, when she felt someone ’s hand entwined in hers. His right hand which was all bandaged till elbow, was holding her hand, he was sleeping calmly. She thought of unclasping her hand,
but thought better. Her pieces of memory which were all like jigsaw puzzle till then slowly fell into places
on their own. She slowly crept back to her old position. She turned right to face him. She felt better with her
hands in his. She removed his hairs off his face. He was sleeping so peacefully. She smiled. She slept peacefully that night.





…to be continued….