The Masked Re-union
“I wish you were here.”
Dheeya thinks to herself as she walks down the street that leads to the place she lives, but doesn’t call ‘home’ anymore. Since the day they got separated, she has been living alone in the flat in Mumbai they once shared.
A new virus has been spreading at an alarming rate and claiming lives all over the world. Various cities are under lock-down. There is panic and stress all over the city and people are isolating themselves from the world and calling it ‘self quarantine’. The ones who are still travelling are using masks to cover up their faces and prevent the virus transmission through this contaminated air.
On her way back from office, she is lost in her stream of thoughts and rambles incoherently.
“I know it’s been years since you left. ‘Your’ dreams were more important than ‘ours’. The dream castles that we had built for ourselves seemed petty in front of the dreams you weaved for yourself. Did any of it make sense back then? I wonder what I meant to you, or did I even mean anything at all?”
She stopped herself from thinking along this line. “Not anymore after all these years.”
“But I really wish you were here. Amidst the entire crisis that has enshrouded us on a world-wide scale; you should be here, with your family and not living alone in a distant land. You cannot even take care of yourself when you have flu.”
Her trail of thoughts is disrupted by a strange feeling. That feeling when the winds tell you that the love of your life is somewhere around you. Something that has only been shown in the movies. She immediately realizes that he is coming.
She couldn't help but look around, as if searching for something that was lost. Something that was never hers in the first place. And yes, she was correct. Aarush, with his perfectly chiseled Greek body, fair skin, deep eyes and a grim silence on his face, was coming towards her from the other side of the street. She sees him but he couldn't see her face hidden behind the mask. His dark ocean blue eyes held a secret not known to her yet. She freezes, lost in him like the old times. The chilly air pierces through her chest making her sick and glad at the same time. Something in his eyes suggested that maybe; just maybe he has recognized her, maybe he wanted to say something.
“But, is there really anything to talk about? Do we have any relationship? I think not.” Dheeya moves ahead.
This time when she saw him, she didn't get butterflies in her stomach nor was she tensed. Instead she was happy to see him back in town after years and safe. Though his boyish charm was lost, she was happy that his sad eyes didn't look that sad anymore. She was happy that she could look into them, move ahead and finally move on.
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