Zoya then searched for the profile of Bakhtawar and copy pasted the same reply to him too. She had been irritable whole evening, she was finding it very difficult to relax, why was everyone in her family hell bent on destroying her life, or so she thought. She didn’t agree with the whole concept of marriage where the woman had to portray this perfect picture of a sacrificial, submissive, docile demi-Goddess. “I would rather struggle like a devil than thrive like a submissive angel,” she muttered under her breath. Tossing and turning in her bed, soon sleep swept over her.
Shekhar gazed at the ceiling with no thoughts in his mind. He was successful, good-looking, decent and full of love but why did he always fail in love? This question had been haunting him ever since his break-up with Gauri. Gauri and Shekhar were meant to be, same lifestyle, same interests in fact same caste and religion. You have to consider and know about caste and religion of the other person if you wish to take your relationship a step further. He and his girlfriend, I mean ex-girlfriend were perfect match SOCIALLY. However, in reality, they were like chalk and cheese.
Shekhar was emotional, Gauri was materialistic. He liked to hang around with friends, she was a party animal. Shekhar believed in transparency, while for Gauri knowing his dirty little secrets was only a way to get even with him every time she lost her cool, which was quite often. She knew each and every friend, a colleague of his by name while he didn’t even know where she worked before she came to Kolkata and settled down with him right after two weeks of their relationship.
Shekhar contemplated and contemplated hard, tried to decipher where does he actually go wrong in a relationship. Why does all of his relationships fail so miserably? Little did he know that it was his transparency, sincerity, truthfulness and craving for love that made others take him for granted and run all over him. Surely, the mean girls took him for a ride and love fool he was, he pondered over his drawbacks. Shekhar felt alone, miserable and lost.
Zoya woke up with a start due to her phone, it was 4 a.m, an ISD number blinked on her phone. Hesitant she picked up the phone and said, “Hello.”
“Is it Zoya,” asked a full-fledged British accent male voice. “Yes,” she replied and asked, “Who is it?” “I am Farhan,” he continued “I got your number from the marriage portal.” It was then that she realized that this was the other guy calling her, whom she had accidentally and by mistake emailed. She wanted to hang up but there was something about the way he talked that she didn’t feel like disconnecting the call. He was an automobile engineer and loved cars, trucks, crane, bus etc. etc. It was not his love for cars that kept Zoya glued to the call but his interest in music, books, and philosophy. They had so much in common and before she could realize, a new dawn broke in her life welcoming a new entry all the way from London named Farhan.
Zoya was flamboyant, vivacious and very friendly. Farhan was a successful man who wanted to settle down with someone, someone he would love to grow old with. The rude, insolent and bold letter of Zoya sparked some hope in him, he realized a girl who can reject a British citizen for her independence is a real gem. After talking to her, he realized that not only was she very intelligent but there was also this little girl hiding behind that tough exterior who wanted lots of love care and attention. He was more than willing to be her knight in shining armor.
Six months passed by between phone calls, emails, video chats and daily updates. Zoya was finally able to find her perfect man in Farhan. She trusted him, relied on him and cared about. She thought she loved but was still confused because as per her logic, they were involved in virtual romance, she still needed to meet him in person.
Tomorrow was her birthday and she was super excited. Lost in her own thoughts, she moved from one outlet to another doing birthday shopping. She loved to gift herself, after all, she was her most favorite person. She entered Starmark and started looking at different designs of a fountain pen. There it was, a perfect silver colored Franklin Covey resting on a stand, she stretched her hand to pick it and instead her fingers touched someone else’s. Both of them held the pen at the same time, startled she looked up to see who it was. She lost the earth beneath her feet, her knees went weak as she looked into those hazel green eyes. He looked at her and apologized, “I am really sorry, you take it, I was only trying to take a look.” She didn’t say anything, feeling relieved that he didn’t recognize her, she turned away and walked towards the exit, “Excuse me, are you from City College?” Zoya felt all numb when she realized that Shekhar had recognized her. She wanted to leave, go away, vanish from his sight but helplessly she turned back and said, “Yes.”