Her life was like a steady ship sailing on calm waters. Until the day she met him, a guy who had fallen from the sky. Dhruv. A year prior to her search for MS. An encounter which happened on the train journey from Goa to New Delhi.
There was no better place than the train's roof to witness the bustling crowd and immerse in the intriguing lives of strangers.
Most of the crowd was rushing towards the train. Some were busy fighting their way inside with luggage heavier than themselves. A handful of men were hoping to gain seats opposite to a crowd of glamour. A group of sweet little kids were protecting the luggage as per the command of their mother. Little girl among them was holding a short and thin tree branch as a weapon, which she used to warn anyone who dared to come near them or even pass them. Cute! Manya chuckled.
On the other side; cops scolded a group of drunkards involved in a competition to balance alcohol cans on their heads and dropping the cans on an old man—lost in the flavours of ice cream that the children close to him were enjoying. Now yelling at the idiots for compensation.
Dark, thick clouds had stretched across the sky, making it hard for the sunlight to peek through. Moist gusts whipped around her, caused her to grip her jacket tighter. But they were nothing against the aroma of grass and mud. She took a deep, satisfying inhale, savouring the natural scent.
"Manya!" Raisha said. "Come down already, you are scaring me." A girl who was always concerned for her. Not out of friendship, but for being at the peak of popularity because of Manya's sports interests.
"Come up here! You can see all the hot guys from here clearly!" Manya said.
Raisha was excited about proceeding, but her love for her clothes always exceeded the desire for men. "Rain can be here any minute. I'll head inside. Capture the hot ones for me!" She went back inside.
"Why's there's no option to ride on the roof? It would be amazing," Manya said.
While breathing in the addictive fragrance of nature, a few cold and refreshing raindrops fell on her hand. She gazed towards the sky. "Could have waited for a few minutes, but no, how can you have fun without teasing me, huh, Krishna?" Few leaves brushed past her. "Fine—going inside."
***
Standing up, she took in the surreal view of the state. Sunlight danced through a gentle sprinkle of rain. Giving grown-ups another stress to manage and a breath of profound happiness to kids. Just as she was about to lean in to climb down, her ears caught the piercing sound of a guard whistle. She tracked the noise and spotted a group of station guards chasing a man.
They blocked the man on the overpass. Man's eyes darted around, searching for an escape—and fell on Manya. A shiver ran down her spine.
The world was eager to reduce the gap between them—took her closer with each passing second. A smile on his lips raced her heart. Her arms were caught in a battle between longing for contact and quivering with nervousness. As he leaped from the overpass—a wide grin crept her face—eyes glistened with excitement. All she wanted was to touch him, to embrace him for eternity.
Raising her arm forward—voices of nearby vendors broke her trance, and a man wearing white sneakers, black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red backpack fell on her.
"Hi," he said.
His face was just inches from hers. Their rapid breaths merged. His eyes, full of rage and mockery. He taunted the guards, who remained on the overpass. They were all speaking with urgency through the radio device.
"You know that they'll arrest you at the next station," she said.
The comforting warmth of his body embraced hers. His eyes, a striking shade of light brown, seemed to penetrate her very soul, urging her to release herself from the limitations of her own mind. Kiss him.
"Yes, if only those mortals could capture me," he said.
"Mortals?" she said.
"Those guards can't catch me."
"I caught you," she smirked. Heat rises in her cheeks. It was an unfamiliar experience for her to feel vulnerable around a guy whose lips were making it hard to remain sane. The train's moving? Before she could utter, his smile entranced her attention.
"This isn't an arrest. It's a blessing," he said.
Her heartbeat echoed in her ears, while she experienced the sensation of his heartbeat beneath her hand, pressed against his chest. He approached, and every part of her being welcomed his advances. Their hearts were beating in perfect harmony. Time seemed to slow down, enabling her to savour this moment to the fullest. Her eyes closed, surrendering to the flood of emotions he was expressing. In an instant, their lips met, sending a rush of warmth and happiness through her body.
Her arms resisted any distance between them. Their kiss deepened, each movement of their lips and tongues an intricate dance of passion. A moment she wished would last forever.
She glimpsed at blue wings attached to his back—ignored it as a hallucination of her desire to fall in love with an angel. Just like in the movie she had watched.
Their time, which seemed like seconds, ended when they reached the next station, leading to laughter as they had been on the roof supporting each other with passionate oxygen for almost thirty minutes.
"Dhruv," he said.
She had been kissing him all this time without even knowing his name. "Manya."
While he helped her down from the roof—guards confronted him and were ready to impose a significant fine and a year behind bars. But Manya's connection with a girl born with two golden spoons saved him from that situation.
"Hi, I am Raisha." She extended her arm to Dhruv. Her eyes inspecting her fresh interest, dripping in rainwater. He accepted her handshake, but couldn't take his eyes off Manya.
***
The group bombarded Manya with a flood of questions and gave her a playful scolding for her careless mistake. It was surprising for them to witness her half-dry state after encountering such harsh rain.
"If not for a curve path, you could have died," a guy said.
"Oh, forget about it. Who is this, Dhruv? How does he look? Is he tall?" A girl said.
In Manya's lies, he was a guy—she fell on while climbing down from the roof.
"Let me tell," Raisha said, all eager. "Imagine a poster model from the gym in wet clothes."
The girls let out deafening screams. "And you fell on him. Lucky!"
"Then what are you doing here?" A girl said to Raisha.
Raisha dropped a hint about her boyfriend, who had headphones on and was busy surfing the internet. "But don't worry, night has just started." Laughter filled the room.
There was a sudden pause in Raisha's boyfriend's expression. She felt sorry for him because he loved a girl who was only interested in his academic and social attributes.
As per her plan, Raisha and the girls began playing truth or dare. While Raisha was resting against her boyfriend's chest, she winked at the girl sitting across from her. Sooner, Raisha received a dare to ask Dhruv his number.
Without a second thought, Raisha leaped out of the cabin, unaware of how her actions would leave a disheartening impression on her boyfriend. To prevent conflict with Raisha, Manya acted alongside the girls and did not give him any hope of sympathy. However, Raisha's boyfriend sulked once more, no longer interested in any conversation.
Raisha returned a few minutes later, with tears close to genuine, and gathered all the care she could get. Her tears always brought happiness to Manya, but had to hide it with sympathetic hugs.
Once she finished crying and satisfying her need for attention. Raisha shared her experience with Dhruv. How he was mean to her because she entered his cabin without permission—he didn't have a sense of respect for a woman.
A smile crept both Manya's and Raisha's boyfriend lips.
"But you know what I saw before all this?" Raisha smirked. "I saw him topless!" they screamed. "He was changing when I entered!"
Whenever I try to act friendly, she does this! Manya wanted to reveal her encounter on the roof but stopped.