(Previously)
Chapter 2
He didn’t get time to check Facebook all evening. Arav had forgotten about the girl. He was planning for a new cover for his YouTube channel. Music was like meditation. He could shut the noises of the outer world as well as of his own mind. A simple chord can speak of so many emotions; music is such a fine language. So delicate and yet so complicated. Not a single word needs to be spoken yet so much can be said through music. Arav was lost in another world. As he was practicing, which he did rarely; his eyes caught a message notification on his phone. He got curious. He remembered about the girl and as he was expecting, she had finally replied. She couldn’t contain her laughter at her own stupidity. He didn’t think she was stupid though. It was an honest mistake. This was not a pop culture movie. So he told her not to be so hard on herself. She seemed awfully sweet and very articulate. A little too articulate! He had to check the dictionary a few times to reply to her! But he couldn’t stop replying nor did he want the conversations to end. The only thing that bothered him was those really long texts. “Boy! she can really write,” a silly smile shined on his face in his own amusement. It took a lot of time to refresh the pages for new messages to come. And she really could write a lot! He was not the type of guy who had the patience for long texts. But he couldn’t end the conversation either. This girl was really different.
“You know! I am a buddhist.”
“Huh?” Arav felt stunned.
“yeah..though Hindu by religion, I am an avid practitioner of the zen culture.”
“And your parents are okay with that? Given how strict they are about everything you said.”
“Yeah..even my father goes there sometimes, the buddhist seminar that is. He was the one who introduced me to it in fact. That is the only thing he allows I guess. It gives me peace.”
“That sounds beautiful.”
“Yeah, helps me with my anger issues.”
“You have anger issues?” Arav felt a little doubtful. So far he had only seen her smile and talk about positivity.
“Yeah.. but it’s a hormonal issue of the teenagers. It will get better with time. Don’t worry.”
“Hmm.. Well whatever keeps you happy. I personally like the ideas of Budhha myself. Maybe you can teach me sometimes.”
Arav was really surprised to find Abha. This girl was something he had never dreamt of. Can a person this unique and beautiful actually exist? She knew more about Kolkata than he ever did. And her excitement about Robi Thakur and Bengali culture really amused him. Even though her profile said, she belonged to Delhi; she couldn’t have seemed more familiar. As he was waiting and refreshing, his mom called him out for dinner. His mind was in his phone though. He came back and refreshed it a few more times. She hadn’t replied to his last message. Well, tomorrow’s another day.
She couldn’t decide what to say! Whatever assumptions she had made about this guy, just flew right out the window. He is not a writer but a singer! Oh! well. At first she thought of ending the conversation on a polite note. But his replies kept getting more and more interesting. She couldn’t help herself but keep replying. Here was a guy who was just as good with words as her. How could he not be a writer? It did not matter to her. She had never spoken to a man like this before, that too online. She was wandering why they had not spoken with each other all these years? She didn’t even know anything remotely about him but here he was, very familiar and friendly. His occasional quirks and whims thrown at her caught her off guard. Do guys actually talk like that? She was taught to stay away from talking to strangers. The internet is filled with perverts and molesters. One can never be too careful these days! Being in Delhi taught her a lot about men too. But this boy seemed really genuine and interested in what she had to say. As if her lost voices found an embodiment. He was different. She could barely hold her excitement as she kept refreshing her message browser. She couldn’t guess his age but she knew he is older than her. Yet before she knew it, there they were, making jokes and discussing about everything and nothing like childhood buddies. It’s hard to believe till the morning this man was a complete stranger to her. She didn’t realize when it was too late and she had to go. She didn’t want to…