I slowly opened the door and alighted. The thick trail of dust behind me slowly settled down and the lucid water of the lake, ahead of us, reflected the lights from the adjacent office complexes.

A loud thud robbed me of this engrossment. A dark silhouette reminiscing The Yeti, plodded towards me with those heavy steps.

He placed the bottles infront of me and both of us sat down, close to the lake. I was still staring at the lake when a series of ripples disturbed the quiescent waters just like how my halcyon days were disturbed by her.

Tears blotted my shirt when he petted my back, commiserating with me. The ripples dissipated slowly and tranquility reined over.
“She’s dumped you for no good reason. Why are you still pondering over the past? Don’t you have a life of your own? Forget her, man….” he said in a soft tone. I nodded my head in meek acquiescence.

“This is for my best friend,” he said, “cheers…” and the clatter of the bottles brought me back to this living world.

I lifted the bottle and started to gulp down the beer.

“No… no, you can’t do a bottoms up,” he held my shoulders as I tried to devour my agony. I wheezed for a while and then I started to pour out my heart to him. I couldn’t bear this anymore. And he knew it very well.

Four years ago, she was my best friend. She was there for me in all walks of life.

“What do you do when your best friend proposes you?” I asked him. “Jaan, I will accept right away,” he said as he tried to embrace me.

“Nonsensical gay fella… I’m talkin about opposite sex,” I forgot smiling.

“abbey thu chup, I said don’t think about her. Forget it for a while,” he said.

She proposed to me. There would be a quintillionth guy who would refuse.

“She’s crossed my path, en passant,
She’s not a dream to be forgotten!
She’s an impression on my life, begotten
She’s broken up, making me dishearten!”

“It feels like my heart’s being crunched from deep within. It feels like my blood is getting drained away and I am rendered lifeless. It feels like, if I cry more, blood would spurt from my eyes,” I bemoaned.

“Huh!!” he sighed.

“I know, you wouldn’t be able to fathom the cavernous pain in my heart, cos’ you were never in love”

“She was very faithful, right? Why did she dump you?” he catechized.

Let’s break up. I don’t want to harbor anymore thoughts of marriage in you.

Those were the exact words which she spoke. Her last few words that still keep ringing in my ears. And she lashed them out at me without any rue or regret.

“You must have done something really bad,” I was back to this world when my musings were disturbed by a splash sound. I looked at the lake and saw ripples propagating on the surface of the lake.

Her last words disturbed me like how this stone disturbed the placidity of the still waters.

I tried to explain.

“Who doesn’t make mistakes? They say to err is human… Love is all about forgiving those mistakes and forgetting those faults but not breaking hearts.”

“Look at this stuff,” I showed him.

“What’s all this garbage?” he curiously looked at it.

“Mind you,” I snapped at him, “chocolate foils, empty cool drink cups, some broken trinkets, and some papers with something scribbled on them…” I continued.

“What does all this prove?” I asked with a melancholic tone.

“It proves that you have been watching too many of those Bollywood movies, of late,” he winked at me.

I laughed for a while. “It’s good to see you laugh,” he said. I became nostalgic and started to cry, again, like a kid.

“Fine, I scolded her. But there was a reason. I just asked her to reach home early. I’ve never said anything beyond,” I tried to justify my previous actions.

“She can’t see the underlying love, man. Just forget her and move on with your life,” he said as he picked up a stone and flung it far into the lake.

“Look at that…” he said, “those ripples. The disturbance due to the stone may be there for a while. She’s like that stone. She’s disturbed you. But it’s a matter of time, that the agitation subjugates and serenity rules. It’s just a matter of time that will heal your broken heart. Let things happen the way they are supposed to. You will be fine.”

I have dreamt of a beautiful future and now I see those dreams tumbling down like a pack of dominoes. A broken heart is something too painful to live with and more particularly, if it involves a breaking up of a relationship that is more than five years, five long years.

I haven’t been talking to her since a long time. May be she thinks I have forgotten her. I am just giving her some space and time so that she would come back to me. The biggest hurdle that prevents me from thinking about her is ‘hope’. Hope that, she might come back. Or perhaps not.

And then I convince myself that she’s never gonna come back. Else she wouldn’t have left me. I know what I have lost and I repent for all those things I have done to her. May be from her perspective, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have scolded her, instead of sympathizing.

I am sorry. I am so sorry. Please come back.

“Move man, it’s getting late,” a voice disturbed me.

I picked up a stone and flung it into the lake. I looked at the ripples. They slowly became less noticeable. And finally it’s all calm again. Probably, it’s a matter of time. Time will heal.

But… but… the stone that created these ripples will still continue to lie at the abysmal depths of the lake... my heart. I will still love her. Love her forever.