My friends always teased me for being a bookworm. It’s true—my life was all about books and the stories I read in them. No wonder, my idea about life, love and relationship was shaped by what I had read. I dreamt of meeting a ‘knight in shining armour’ and someone ‘tall dark and handsome’.
Then Rahul came to my life. He was the friend, philosopher and guide. The bespectacled and quiet boy. It didn’t take us long to become friends and once we completed our schooling, our joy knew no bound when we learned that we were admitted to the same college and later did our engineering from the same institute. We headed our separate ways when we got jobs in two different cities but we never grew out of touch.
Imagine my surprise, when on one fine day, I found him knocking at my doors unannounced. He traveled over 2,000 kms to wish me on my birthday and propose to me. I was transfixed when he said he had been in love with me for a long time but could not confess his feelings. Seeing me shocked, he regained his composure and told me that he would accept my rejection as well.
“I don’t know, Rahul. I like you but love is a completely different thing. This is not love. This is not how people in love feel,” I replied.
