Monday, August 8, 2016

The Smell of Rain


She walked into the store to escape the drizzling outside. She was not dressed for the rain. She felt a sudden pang of worry as she wiped off the water from her neatly waxed hands using the tissue paper from her . She was wearing the wristband in dull gold that Kevin had gifted her. Kevin had always surprised her with gifts. Though she liked all his gifts, she had a personal affinity towards this piece of jewellery - The wristband. She had chosen to wear this almost to all special occasions. She never knew why, but she just felt very calm wearing it.

The rain was pouring now. With a worried look, her eyes browsed through the store. It was a toy store and it was colourful. She started walking through the store looking at the toys. It felt good to get distracted from worries for some time. Walking through she saw a child dressed in a yellow and blue trousers holding a man's hand and looking at her with an awestruck expression. The little boy was cute. She smiled and winked at him. He stared at her with his wide eyes without blinking. She remembered she was overdressed for a place like this and she wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. But it was still raining.

The girl in the city radio had predicted heavy rain but when she had started from home it was not even cloudy. She was surprised how quickly nature had changed her mood. The blocked roads had forced her to get down a little distance before her destination and walk. But then the rain. The worry pang was back. The boy was still staring at her. His father who was looking through some toys noticed that his son was distracted. Turning around he saw her smiling at the boy. With an embarrassed smile, he tried to pull the boy away, but the boy would not move. His father was now a bit irritated as he had noticed that she was surprised at his behaviour. He apologised, and forcefully pulled him away. Walking away the boy was still staring at her.

She remembered how Kevin had stared at her with the same look the first day they met at a friends' place. She had gone to the party on her friend Riya's insistence. There was music, dance, booze and food. Though she liked all these, on that day she was not in a mood to party. But from the moment she met Kevin, her mood had changed. A friend's friend, he turned out to be more than just a party friend with his witty talks and caring nature. He was the one who had readily agreed to drop her home as her friend Riya was too drunk to drive and she herself could not drive. Well till now she had not learned the art of driving. She remembered, how even after befriending her with his endearing personality, Kevin had continued to stare at her all through the evening and all through their relationship for the next four years. He said he loved to stare at her, well he hated when she used the word stare, he called it admiring. He admired her till the last moment of their relationship when she bid her last goodbye to him breaking their relationship forever.

She was the one who had ended their relationship. He was the perfect lover any girl could dream of. He had respected her for what she was and had helped her carve her character as a strong independent woman. He loved her with no conditions or qualms. He let her be what she wanted to be. But she knew he loved her dearly. He cared for her safety even when encouraging her to travel a lot. They were in love which was full of respect for each other. But it had to come to an end.

Mark was the perfect choice for her life. Kevin was the love of her life. When she told Kevin about Marc, whom her parents had found for her, he knew she was stuck between her love for him and her parents. Her parents would never accept him. He was just a budding photographer with no great means to live and no family to support. She was the princess of her well-off father and he would never want to see her spend the rest of her life with a vagabond like him. All through their relationship, he had struggled to build a successful career but he had failed. He was still struggling after four years. What was the point in bringing a pampered girl into his life against her parent's will and put her through all the struggle? He convinced her to get married to Marc. A family friend with a successful business career, Marc was the perfect man for her life. Kevin was indeed a man of his word and had never tried to contact her after the last day they met and bid goodbye. Last she had heard about him he was married and happily lived with his wife.

She walked to the billing counter to pay for the doll she had selected. The rain had stopped by then. She saw the small boy being carried out of the store by his father. He looked back at her, waved his hand in a goodbye with a smile. She smiled back at him. As she hurried out of the store to meet her client, she could not help but think about her daughter who would be waiting impatiently for her to return home. The traffic had by then dispersed and the roads were clear. Even after building a successful business on her own she had never managed to learn to drive a car. Well she had learnt never to feel guilty about anything, thanks to Kevin. She felt relaxed that Marc would be coming to pick her up after her meeting as she did not want to get wet again in case it rained. She checked her watch, there was no need to worry anymore.

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