It was raining that evening. She was in her yellow umbrella waiting on the other side of the road, on the sidewalk. “How did it come to this,” she thought as she stared blankly at raindrops falling off the umbrella. “Did I ever love him? Ever? Was I weak to accept him? I knew he loved me but I just couldn’t ….” A chill went down her spine as she thought about it. She thought of herself as a bad person. She couldn’t understand why she accepted his love when she never felt anything. Even the rain couldn’t hide the rolling tears on her cheek. She shook her head to get rid of these thoughts.
She exhaled and said out loud, “It is for the best!” reassuring herself more than anyone.
A Night Before That Evening
His phone rang to a beautiful tune. It was a background score of a movie she loved. He picked up the call. After a few moments of awkward hello’s and how are you’s, she said “Hmm Raghav, I have to return it”
“Aashi, it’s ok really…I mean it was for you…. besides…”
Before he could finish, she said “Please Raghav, you have to understand. this isn’t easy for me; I don’t want it anymore. please…”
Dejected Raghav agreed to take back the Claddagh’s trinity knot necklace. It was a necklace of sterling silver with yellow plating and a silver chain. As Raghav put down the phone, he remembered something and dialed Aashi’s number back again. He convinced her to meet him one more time, maybe for the last time, and hand it to him. He wanted to meet on the road near the coffee shop.
A Couple of Weeks Ago
Raghav had taken her to a 3-star restaurant “the WESTIN”. He had something to celebrate. She was dressed in a beautiful silky blue gown and was wearing her hair down. At the dinner table, Raghav said, “Well I had a word with my parents and they are super happy with you. They really love you; you are a big hit in my family, you know!!”
She was staring blankly. Raghav noticed she wasn’t quite herself today, he asked, “What’s bothering you?”
Without blinking, she stared into his eyes and said “You know, Vansh. He called. He wants me. He wants a life with me”
She drew a big breath, looked away, and said, “Raghu, you know why I never said I love you to you because…” she drifted. She knew what she wanted to say but couldn’t.
“But I really like you and enjoy my time with you …you’re my greatest friend.” She was rehearsing those lines in her mind for a few days now.
Raghav dropped a fork on the floor hearing Aashi. He didn’t know how to react. He just kept quiet.
She wanted to say a few words to reduce Raghu’s pain but her heart wanted to tell the truth first, the whole truth. “Raghu, I have been seeing Vansh for a couple of months now. It was not serious. I used to meet him as a friend. I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure what I felt. But a few days ago he came into my room. Hugged and kissed me. He asked me to “live in” with him” Her face was expressionless.
Raghav felt a knife piercing through his heart. After a long silence, he could only mutter, “You told me, you moved on?”
She shrugged while playing with her fork. “I guess I wasn’t”
A few months ago
She was getting ready for the “Bryan Adams Live” concert. Raghav went through hell to buy tickets for it.
Her phone rang. “Raghu, could you tell me who’s that?”
Raghav took her phone from the purse.
It showed pictures of a guy and the name read Vansh. “Aashi… It’s Vansh.”
“Let it go to voice mail. I’ll check it later” she yelled from the washroom.
“Ok. Aashi,” he said. He thought of asking about him to her later.
As he kept the phone on the table, something rather ‘bright’ caught his eye.
“Why do you have a yellow umbrella?” He asked, looking at the vibrant color excitedly.
On their way back from the concert she explained that she met Vansh in the college and he was her classmate in the Architecture class. She confessed jokingly that while they were in college together, she had a little crush on him.
Six Months Ago
“oh common, Raghav! see it is The Claddagh’s “trinity knot. It is an Irish symbol of love, loyalty, and friendship. A symbol of spiritual growth, eternal life, and undying love. It’s exactly the kind of gift I would love. Is there anything cooler than this?” she asked him as she was eyeing it through a window of the jewelry shop.
Looking at the prize tag he murmured “WOW! Ok if I am getting this for you, you have to tell me who you were waiting for, on that day at the coffee shop?”
“hmm let’s see!”
“I don’t know why can’t you just tell me? I am betting now that day, you weren’t actually waiting for anyone”
They both walked away from the shop with warm smiles on their face. A few weeks later, he gifted the necklace to her.
Raghav, soaking wet, was walking toward the curve from which the coffee shop was just a few steps away.
A Year ago…
Aashi was reading a magazine and waiting for someone in the coffee shop. She had earphones to her ears but her iPod wasn’t even on. She had kept the earphones to avoid strangers coming up and talking to her. She was quite aggravated by the waiting. Raghav was seated directly behind her and had an HR discussion in that coffee shop but his interviewer was late. He wasn’t sure of the time as he had forgotten his watch in a hurry. So he decided to ask the girl behind for the time. She didn’t respond when asked twice for his request.
He asked again, this time a bit loudly. “Excuse me! Can you Please, tell me the time?”
the music isn’t that loud yet why she can’t hear me? He thought to himself. Raghav glanced at her iPod in curiosity, to understand which song she was listening to so intently; only to find that her iPod wasn’t even on.
Raghav immediately got up from his seat and went in front of her table. He tapped on the table gently. As she looked up, he took his right fist and rubbed it on the left side chest in clockwise turns, slowly murmuring words such as “I m sorry”
Raghav thought of her as a deaf person since she didn’t respond back to his sound. He had a cousin who was deaf, so he had picked up bits of sign language. Raghav continued in his sloppy sign language asking her about the time. Already frustrated, Aashi was completely put off, by what was happening in front of her.
She shouted at him. “what are you, retarded or something? Please go away”
Taken by the shock, he still continued in sign language. With slow lip movements, he said, “I just want to know the time?”
“you could simply ask. Please, stop doing all that.”
“WOW! I thought. I thought u were deaf.”
“WHAT!!” Aashi was fuming. She got off her chair and wanted to slap this guy but managed to control herself. Raghav gave the explanation about why he thought she was deaf, with off i-pod, and since she didn’t answer him twice when he called from behind.
“so didn’t you get it? don’t you understand, that maybe I don’t want to talk to you” she was really shouting at him. She continued. “god, you are such an idiot. It’s 3.30 pm, happy now Please leave me alone”
Raghav really wanted to say sorry but wasn’t sure if that would have helped. Without saying anything he slumped in his chair. An hour passed but nobody turned up. Aashi and Raghav were sitting alone at their tables. Aashi realized that she was really mean to this guy whereas it was kind of funny what he was doing.
She got up and sat beside him. “look I am sorry but I am kind of having a bad day”
“My day isn’t great either, I was supposed to meet this HR person for a salary discussion but I guess he isn’t coming now.”
Aashi smiled and offered him her hand “I am Aashi, would you like a coffee?”
Present day
Raghav wore a smile as soon as he saw the yellow umbrella on the other side of the road. Their eyes met. He crossed the road carefully and came close to her. He stayed outside her umbrella. He took his hands off his jeans and put a large smile on his face to greet her. Clouds were thundering. The rain had picked up some speed. She moved her hand in front of him in which she held the trinity knot neckless.
He took it from her hand.
“Raghav, I will be moving in with him so won’t be staying in the city from next week onwards, be in touch” Raghav nodded.
She was about to take off, but she turned and said “And Raghav, you always wanted to know this; the day we met, I was waiting for Vansh at the coffee shop” She looked down, turned without hesitation, and started walking. The Claddagh’s trinity knot slipped from Raghav’s hand and went into a drain with rainwater.
Rain was pouring in. Raghav stood there quietly, watching her leave.