T is for Thinking Straight: A Short Story

How long? How many hours, how many days more was this turmoil going to last?

I snap out of my reverie when my phone pings with another message. There it was, proof that my dilemma was never going to end, a message from Manav.

Manav always drove me crazy. One day, he will be the sweetest person I had ever seen and the next day, he will be back being the grouchy snob who never failed to irritate me.

We go back a long way- Manav and me. We had joined this company on the same day five years ago. Being on the same daily- grind brought us closer and we gloriously bitched about our common enemies over cups of coffee during weekends.

I do not know when but soon his presence had become an addiction I could not rid of. Each passing day deepened my infatuation. I eagerly awaited to see the smile on his face when we met accidentally or over coffee.

That weekend when I rushed to our usual café with an eager heart racing at an abnormal pace, I had decided to open up about how I really felt.

“Reshmi, I have a surprise for you,” Manav had said immediately after we sat down for coffee. The surprise had turned out to be an arranged marriage that he had agreed to. The photo of the pretty girl on his phone taunted me. I laughed merrily teasing him about his impending marriage even as my heart broke silently into a thousand pieces.

My only solace was that my secret had remained.

Soon after his marriage, a project in New York for which he was selected had relieved me from the pain of beholding him every day.

Three years and a disastrous marriage later, Manav have come back to me again, but at the most inappropriate time.

I am engaged to Kishore, who is heads over heels in love with me. Kishore had made me fall in love with him by his ardent devotion. His parents too made me feel like one of their own.

A week ago, Manav declared that he loved me, had always loved me but had succumbed to parental pressure and agreed to a marriage of their liking. I had confessed to him then about my engagement with Kishore.

Ever since that day, my inbox is flooded with his sob stories, requests and from yesterday threats that he will end his life.

Manav was my first love, but now he has come back to me with an emotional baggage he refuses to dispose. Every now and then, he became moody and started comparing me with Sneha his ex-wife. But first loves were hard to be forgotten.

Do I need this? How am I going to deal with this?

My phone buzzed again with an incoming mail. It was a newsletter that I had subscribed to from a relationship website. It had a quote that gave an answer to my queries.

I knew it was time to think straight.

This story is a part of Blogging from A-Z April Challenge.

 The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge was first held in 2010. The challenge is that we have to post every day of April, except on the four Sundays. April 1st is a theme with letter A, 2nd with letter B and so on till April 30th which will be Z themed. My theme is #Learning Everyday, I post about new random things every day.