Those Beautiful eyes

She was thinking of him today, of the little time she had spent with him. It was a long time back, it seemed much longer to her. She was very happy, she was going to meet him today after those long years. She wondered if he was as good looking as he was when they were fifteen. Of course he would be, he would perhaps look better. Men, she thought, looked more handsome as they grew older.

The first thing that attracted her to Raman was his eyes… those beautiful eyes. They were the most beautiful eyes, she had seen in school. Raman was popular in school, excellent in sports, good in making friends and was horrible in studies, but then a man or rather a boy can not be good in everything he does. Talking of friends, he had one friend who was always with him, she did not remember his name, he was not someone whose name one would remember. She called him the leech, and thought of him as a leech.

She would always find some excuse to meet Raman, she gave him subtle hints but she could never tell if he understood. During her tenth standard, her father got transferred and she had to leave school. When she said goodbye to Raman, she felt bad … she had so much to tell to him. She asked for his address, he perhaps realised what was in her heart and perhaps felt the same, she could see it in his eyes, she wished if he would say it, but he did not, perhaps he did not want to say it in front of his friend … that leech if he could leave Raman and her alone for some time.

She did write to him, she had to and she waited for a reply. The reply did come after what she felt was a long time. He had written how much he missed her, she was surprised at how well Raman could write. His choice of words suggested something, she wrote back to confirm what she hoped was true. This time the reply was quicker and that he had a crush on her was pretty evident. The communication between them continued for years, but she could never meet him. She wrote of a lot of things. She turned down love proposals and wrote of them to him, he never said of something of that sort. She thought perhaps he did not like to tell of the girls who sent him love proposals, she hoped he turned them down. She felt Raman was the right man for her, there was nobody else who she could be happy with.

When she completed her graduation, she felt she would give him a surprise by visiting him. He had never moved from his old place, she had been to many places and made new friends, but he was her most special friend and knew her better than all of them. When she rang the bell of his apartment, it was answered by his servant.

She asked “Sahab hai?”

“Sahab abhi aate hi honge? Aap kaun ?”

She replied that she was his friend. He asked her to wait for sahab inside. She did not see Raman’s parents around as she had expected, he had told her they would be going to their native place. She was wondering how he looked now and he saw his photo in a neat frame, it was him with his leech friend, it was possibly taken in their schooldays.

She was surprised when she saw him walk in through the door, it was the leech, he had not changed much, looked as ugly as before, but something about him had changed, what it was she could not tell. He had recognised her too and was as surprised as she was.

“I came to meet Raman, he does not seem to be around, so I was waiting for him.”

“I am sorry.” the leech replied.

What an idiotic response she felt, why does he have to be sorry.

“I have to tell you something, please do not cry.”

She did not know what he was talking about, she did not particularly enjoy being with him, but she surely did not feel like crying.

“What is it? You seem disturbed.”

“I have to say something about Raman, I know this would hurt you, but … Raman … He is dead”

She was shocked, she did not know what to say.

“He died a few days after you left.”

“What? He … He has been writing letters to me. Look” She had brought Raman’s letters and had them in her hands, she could never have given it to the leech, but she did.

“I wrote them.” he replied with his head lowered.

“But this is his address.”

“No, he had given you my address, he thought his parents would not let him receive letters from girls, they did not like those things. He gave my address, he could always get those letters from me. He … He trusted me.”

“And you …”

“I liked him too, as much as you do, and … and I liked you too.”

“What? You …”

“When I received your letter, I wanted to write back about what had happened, but … somehow I could not do it, I opened your letter and read it and …”

“And …”

“And I wrote back what I felt about you, I did always want to tell you the truth, but I just could not know how to do it. Perhaps I never wanted you to know.”

“I will always hate you. You lee… How did it happen? How did he …?”

“He died in an accident. I was there with him when the accident took place. We had taken his Dad’s bike and we were driving it around town. Suddenly a car came speeding towards us, we were on the wrong side of the road. We could not control the bike and collided into the car… ”

She did not know what to say, she was crying softly, it did not matter to her when Raman died, for her he had only died now, just a few minutes ago he was alive in her memories but he was dead now.

“I am sorry for what I have done.”, he had realised she was crying.

She knew he felt sorry and said “It’s alright, but it hurts to know that someone you loved is no more, was never there, but I would be so happy if he was …”

“Something of his is still here with me, I was with him when he died in the hospital, I had lost my eyes in the accident, his parents decided that his eyes …”

She looked into his eyes, the leech’s eyes, she realised why he had looked different the first time she saw him. It was those eyes … those beautiful eyes.