Read the previous part of the story here: The Second Time – Part 2 (The Past)

“Yes. I do remember the first time we met. How can I forget those cuts on your hand?” Pranav said.

“Do you know why I got those cuts on my hand?”

“You never told me.”

“When I first talked to you, the comfort that I felt was something that I had never ever felt before with anyone else. I saw through you by just talking to you. I saw in you a person whose heart is as pure as a new born baby and who has the mind which has the capability to conquer the world. So, when Anamika told me that it was you who is the reason of all the misunderstandings between us, I did not believe her. It was not you. It was me. But, I couldn’t say what I felt to anyone. How could I? But, I was sure of one thing.  That is, you could never be the reason of anyone’s sorrow, especially the reason of my sorrow. ”

(Pranav felt his whole world has shattered in front of him. He remembered the time when Priya would ask her not to drink enough to do something for which he’ll be ashamed of. He neglected her advice. He neglected that she is the one who had seen him through.)

“Over the course of last 5 years, I did nothing but surrender to you. I did nothing but believed in you. And today, I see all of that being undone. I am not hurt because you cheated me. I am hurt because our ‘love’ lost.”

“I know that I have let you down, Priya.”

“You have let our love down.”

(Even in a situation like this, Priya did not resort to ugly conversations that generally might happen during this period. That was her uniqueness. She is someone who will maintain her calm even during the most trying times. Her heart was crying but her words, soothing. During their earlier days of relationship, when Pranav would ask her how she managed to find courage in the most difficult of situations, she would say, ‘There is a thing about courage. You will find it at the most unexpected places, during the most unexpected times.’)

(Pranav had now realized what a big mistake he had done. It was evident when he mustered all his courage to tell both Priya and Rumita what he’d been up to. Rumita had cursed him of cheating and literally asked him to never see her again. He had never tried as well. Priya, on the other hand, told him why she loved him. Was it love or madness?)

(It was at this time that Priya did something which no one in her situation might think to do.)

“Why do we fall, Pranav?”

“What?”

“As a child, when we’d try to stand up for the first time on our own feet, we generally would suffer a big fall. At that moment, our parents would tell us to try one more time. They would clap, smile, make faces and do everything in their capacity to get us back to trying. As a result, we try once more and we start walking. This is the first lesson we get how to live our lives.”

“I love you, Priya. I am sorry. I cannot take back what all I have done. But, please tell me, how do I make all of this better for you and our love? ”

“Learn your first lesson.”

“Try once more, Pranav. You have taken the fall and now, you need to try and stand up. As for me, I will be there to give you a hand. I will be there to bring you back on your feet. ”

Pranav felt numb. He started crying his heart out and it was almost impossible to console him. He never imagined that his betrayal of Priya would give him a lesson that he desperately needed to learn. He never imagined that a simple act of forgiveness could give him peace.

“I love you, Priya.”

“I know that you love me. Now, will you please wipe off your tears?” 🙂

———————————————————————————–

5 years down the line as Pranav was in Priya’s home sitting in front of her father, Priya said, “Dad, this is Pranav, and I wish to marry him”.

She paused, laughed and said with all her heart, “He is the most courageous person I have even known”

“Courage is not to do what seems right at the moment but to to do what is forgiving. Pranav realized that one act of forgiveness from Priya made him what he could never be;courageous.”

(Most often we take love for granted. But some people amaze us by their unconditional love and support. These people will be there with us when we‘d fall down. These people are different women in our lives; mothers, daughters, girlfriends, or wives. Love them. Just love them.)

Read previous part of the story here: The Second Time – Part 1 The Second Time – Part 1

Pranav is a guy who will befriend with almost everyone easily in the blink of an eye. When he went to college five years before today, within the first few weeks itself, he became best friends with a girl, Anamika, who is supposed to be the college sweetheart. There was something very unique about him that made him very popular among girls; he can make any girl feel comfortable around him. That was his Ultimate Selling Point as a boyfriend.

Priya, on the other hand, is someone who will take it quite slow. She will make her friends only after investing quite a lot of time, energy and trust. Maybe that is why; she has only limited number of friends in her life, unlike Pranav.

It was not long after when Pranav and Anamika started seeing each other that Pranav finally met Priya, Anamika’s best friend. Whenever there used to be fights among the new sweetheart couple, Pranav would call or text her to straighten up things between them. She, like a dedicated friend, will do exactly that. Pranav was awed by her simplicity and her way of tackling big problems. It was something which Pranav found really attractive and unique about her.

The circumstances, however, under which both met for the first time, were not quite ‘ideal’. Anamika was not happy with the growing friendship between both of them. She knew that there is nothing substantial going on that would worry her anyhow, but well, as a girl; she had her own inhibitions.

It was one, not so fine, Friday evening when three of them met at a local hospital. Anamika had called Pranav especially to meet both him and Priya as she wanted to show what Priya had done as a result of the misunderstanding that was building amongst them. When Pranav reached the hospital and saw Priya, he was shocked. On her left hand, between elbow and palm, there were three deep cuts done by the shrill razor blade, at equal distances from each other  (she was always good at art), spurting out the red.

“Why on earth did you do that? “, Pranav asked.

“It is all because of you. “, Anamika said.

“What have I done?”, Pranav replied in absolute disgust.

“She thought that she is the reason of all the differences that were occurring between us. And since you came in our lives, you are the reason she thought all of that”

“What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t understand even a single word you said”

“I do not know. I just know that you are the reason she did all these things and now you are supposed to apologize to her.”

Pranav was constantly looking at Priya’s hand and wondering how can anyone do a thing as silly as this?  When Anamika was busy cursing Pranav for all the things he has done, Priya’s expressions were that of complete denial. It was as if she was trying hard to tell that he was in no way linked to what had happened. Well, she did not say anything.

“I am sorry Priya”, Pravav said.

“It is okay”, she replied, with a smile that will take Pranav’s life away.

After another 15 minutes of chit-chat, Pranav finally decided that it was time for him to take leave. When he was about to go, the nurse came in and asked for Anamika.

“You need to bring these medicines Ma’am.”

“Will you stay here for 5 more minutes before I go downstairs to take her medicine?”

Pranav wanted to say that he would go and bring the medicines himself but he managed to say something totally different.

“Sure. I will make sure Priya is treated with utmost delicacy when you are not here.”

(All three burst out laughing as the footsteps of Anamika going downstairs become less audible. )

“I am sorry again”

“No. It is not your fault.”

“Of course, it’s my fault. Why will you do anything like that, then? ”

“No. It is not your fault. Leave it. I cannot tell you what it is.”

“You have to.”

Over the next few months, Pranav and Priya started talking to each other day in and night. They would text, call and sometimes meet.

“I want to meet you”, Pranav texted.

“Why?”

“I do not know. I just want to.”

“In a city like Kanpur, there is no place where we could go and meet without eyes looking at us. It is better not to take unnecessary risks.”

(Kanpur, the largest city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, is not a place where young boys and girls can meet easily without escaping the ‘letting our culture down’ eyes of the so called conventionalists. In a country like India, where we worship sports like Cricket, to be able to play a sport as traditional and pure as love, you need something better than just cricket balls.)

“Do you have a scooter?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Just bring your scooter anywhere near main market and wait for me there. I will join you there.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just wait and watch.”

“Okay, fine.”

Priya was standing near the old Hanuman* temple in the market. Pranav could not believe how beautiful she looked that day. Dressed in a white salwar suit**, she was glowing like the first ray of light that eliminates darkness. The smile she wore that day could make even time stand still. She was as traditional as nature and as modern as Husain’s muse.

Pranav called up Priya and gave instructions to start her scooter and move alongside him. Both were driving, side by side, on their respective scooters, looking deep in each others’ eyes, completely indifferent to people around them, the traffic around them and the world around them. They were in deep meditation called love. They meditated for almost 15 seconds before the truck honked with all its might. 15 seconds, it was just enough.

After months of denial, both of them finally agreed the feeling of love they had towards one another. By that time, Pranav and Anamika had broken up. The reason for their break-up was not Pranav’s new found attachment for Priya but Anamika herself. Her constant behaviour of cursing Pranav got on to his nerve and he finally called it quits.

Pranav and Priya were completely in love. They will call each other at odd hours and would wake up at night just to see if anyone has messaged “I miss you”. They would talk about things as small as the colour of their hair to as big as getting married. At one moment, they’ll pause in between to think whether they are going too fast but the next moment, they’d listen each other plan the names of their unborn kids.

Love has a way to express all those things which you wish to feel. It also has the way to feel all those things which you wish to express. Pranav and Priya wanted to feel the first touch, the first hug, the first kiss, and the first sex and, they did experience it. How? They felt it by expressing and they expressed it by feeling.

(When they love each other so much, then, why do they find themselves in a situation where they are in now?  What will Priya do now? Will she go away from Pranav or give him another chance? Tune in for the conclusion on 5th December, 2015.)