Love just happens... I looked at her and…

It had turned dark but still I could see few last sunrays sneaking around trying to poke in their nose. The birds were chirping loudly and a mild breeze would blow in every few minutes making sure the leaves rustle and make it a perfect dark dusk.

I was sitting on the stone bench in corner of the park where we had just finished playing a fantastic but tiring game of cricket. On my right was Shashi and in front of me stood Ganesh holding the bat as his support. Rest all had walked back to their home but we three were still sticking to the ground making sure we go back home as late as possible avoiding the boring studies. We were engrossed in some deep discussion on topics varying from engineering studies till the local politics. To be short and straight, we were discussing on all those topics on which we could not do anything or we did not want to do anything except discuss, that too, just to pass on time.

Quickly unfolding my hands, I raised my right hand and slapped on the back of my neck. I had missed it, may be by a millisecond. It was then I noticed there were more mosquitoes hanging around merrily. I can bear their bite but the only thing that I can’t bear is when they start singing. Their buzz is one sound that wakes up people from sleep no matter how deep they are in their sleep. I just hated that sound. But they were enjoying, singing and dancing. They had got a buffet option with three useless bodies filled with more than required blood in their fat bodies.

With my second failed try I stood up and walked two steps and then turned back standing beside Ganesh.

“We can’t sit anymore. Let’s go home” Shashi said standing along with me.

“Yes, let’s go home. These mosquitoes; I just hate them” I said

“And what do you think? Other people love them? And breed them in their home as pets?” Ganesh said with a light sarcastic tone.

I dint bother to acknowledge his comment and started walking to the exit of the park. Ganesh followed me trying different shots with the bat and Shashi was walking behind him with his hands in his pockets.

As soon as we walked out of the exit, the pathway towards the main road was illuminated brightly by a street lamp and we thought we could stand there and spend few more minutes chatting. But we just stood, no one started talking.

At last Shashi said, “Why are we standing here?”

“I don’t know” Ganesh said

“I dint say anything” I said when both of them turned to me.

“Then let’s go home. These mosquitoes are not leaving us” Shashi said trying to scratch his chin where a tiny mosquito had just bitten him and flew away.

“How come the mosquitoes aren’t biting you?” I asked Ganesh

“Ask them” he said trying a straight cut from his bat.

I took the bat from him and tried the same straight cut.

“Why do you want to copy my style?” he asked staring at me

“I thought trying the same style would avoid mosquitoes from biting me” I said, grinning at both of them.

“I don’t want to stand here and listen to your PJs” Shashi said turning back towards the main road.

As soon as he turned, he raised his hand and waved a Hi.

Both of us moved a step forward to look who was on the other side of Shashi. I first saw Surabhi walking along with someone. I tried bending a little to my right and sneaking a look at another person but could not. It was then that I realized how fat Shashi was.

“At this time? Walk?” Shashi asked

“Yes. Just a walk. She is my friend, moved in recently. I brought her for a walk to show her our colony” Surabhi said, turning to him and then to us.

I smiled at her as we both walked forward. Ganesh walked to Shashi’s left while I walked to his right. I first noticed a hand wearing a full sleeve Kurti, a dark blue colored sleeve with a black bordered red hem. A silver colored bracelet sneaked out through the sleeve and twinkled at me as I looked at it. My steps slowed sensing it to be a new member of the colony. My eyes, which were faster than my steps, now steeled a look at those fair soft hands.

“You guys were playing till this dark?” Surabhi asked.

“No. We were just having a chat” Ganesh said.

I had moved three steps ahead and was stunned looking at our new member. Her cute face, which was neither thin nor looked fat, brightly shone beneath that street light. The eyes looked like two small pearls placed neatly on a white light cotton cloud, twinkling brighter than the street light. Then she smiled and the little pink lips neatly and slowly curved, just like the last step of a dancer when she rotates and takes a bow bending her body in a perfect curve. The thin eyebrows neatly sketched above her eyes just arched as her eyes twinkled. I could not control but taking a second a look at her just to yell at my heart and tell it how gorgeous she looked. A perfect beauty wearing a modest dark blue full sleeve cotton Kurti; if not for those red hems and a red border below at the end, it was a plain Kurti, one of the most decent ones I had ever had my eyes notice.

“Studies are going on. How are your preparations?” I heard Shashi’s voice when I regained my senses and was back to the normal world.

I bit my tongue thinking if anyone would have noticed my foolishness and even decided not to look at her again and turned a bit towards Shashi supporting the bat to my right.

“Going fine. Still lots to read. How about you Vishal” Surabhi said.

Turning to her quickly, making sure my eyes don’t stop at the new girl, I said “Yet to start”

“I don’t know when you study. You always keep roaming. I wish I could roam like that without any exams fears” Surabhi said clapping her hands slowly in a typical girlish style praying for her wish to come true.

“Ha ha. You can still roam. But the thing is you will have to study whole night” Ganesh said.

It was after a couple of long seconds I realized I was not speaking when Shashi asked me, “Dude, she asked you something”

“What?” I asked looking at everyone with wide open eyes.

They all laughed mildly and I took the opportunity to break my decision and steal another look at the new girl. She was just smiling and guys, what a smile it was. The most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life. The light pink colored lips neatly curved thinning those lips in between the dark dimples. The two dimples that had formed on her cheeks at both the ends of her lips looked like two stars shining far away, lost among themselves, silently, in the bright white sky shone brightly by the street light just like the Sun.  

“He now realized he hasn’t read and lost in that fear” Ganesh said breaking my sweet thoughts.

“Yeah, I was remembering the subjects” I said, finally opening my mouth.

There still was a light humorous cloud on top of us and we still were either smiling or laughing mildly.

It was then, when Surabhi stopped laughing and said, “Fine. I know you three never read but still score good. And upon that never share that secret.”

“No secrets. Nothing.” Ganesh said raising his hand to wave off the mosquito trying to drink his blood from his neck.

“Anyways, meet my friend, our new colony member. She has shifted today to the 6^th street in front of Ganesh’s home” Surabhi said turning at the new girl and tapping on her shoulders.

“Oh, so it’s you. I saw new family shifting into the home. Dint knew who” Ganesh exclaimed.

“This is Ganesh. He lives exactly opposite to your home” Surabhi said looking at her and turned towards Ganesh continuing, “and this is Alpana”

Alpana! What a name it was! I heard bells ringing in my ear echoing the tune of that name. Was I turning mad? Or was I mad earlier and this was normal? The strange feeling made sure I was lost every now and then only to those three people. The mosquitoes still could see me and sting me everywhere they could reach.

I had missed seeing if Ganesh and Alpana shook hands or just waved a Hi. When I was back to world, I saw Shashi waving Hi to Alpana and she smiled back nodding her head.

“Welcome to our colony. You will have like this place and we all will have fun” Shashi said breaking my courage to stare at her smile again.

Surabhi then turned at me and said, “And finally, this is Vishal. You can see him roaming everywhere cracking all sorts of PJs” and smiled widely.

I could hear Ganesh and Shashi grin, murmuring about me but I was too busy smiling stupidly at Alpana waiting for her reaction. Her face was still blank with that simple smile. She was looking at Surabhi while Surabhi was talking and then she slowly turned at me.

I said a meek hi raising my right hand half, only to realize I was holding a bat, and then stupidly smiled at her.

She smiled at me, modestly, and the smile just widened with every passing second and her eyes twinkled again sending in the rays that directly hit my heart. It felt like large waves rose high from her smile, sending in shock waves to my heart, and resting on the two little dimples acting as shores. The moon suddenly went and hid behind a bid dark cloud, realizing there was someone much more beautiful than him. The stars seemed stop their twinkling habit realizing that there two stars much more powerful and beautiful than them.

And… in midst of all this confusion… I looked at her… and… I just forgot blinking…

Vishal…

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