The Well wishers

THE WELL WISHERS

“Can’t we just remain friends?” she shouted.

It was nearly five years back that he had proposed to her and got the reply he had very much expected…..a frank “NO”. But somehow they could not keep away from each other. What followed was regular exchange of greetings every time they met which in turn paved way for transmission of SMS’s between their mobiles and in meantime occasional visits to each other’s place. A year passed and their relation strengthened too albeit it was difficult to name it. While her close friends thought that she was finally in love, she cut short their comments by claiming the relation as just friendship. He too thought that she might have changed her mind and went ahead to propose her a second time and on this occasion expecting a positive response. But he was in for a rude shock when she sternly told him not to raise the topic again saying that she considered him as a good friend and nothing else. What followed then was a clash never seen or heard before. He remained adamant on his feelings for her saying he could not pretend to be just her ‘friend’ , while she insisted that he should remove the ‘love factor’ and toe her line of thought. A week passed by without any conversation between them. But both of them could not prolong their silence and things slowly started to normalize. Still there were occasional sparks between them on whether they were friends or lovers. Years passed, both of them had completed their college education and got good job placements and that too in the same firm. Their relationship grew by leaps and bounds. Not a day passed without their long chats after office hours. Whenever either of them would be absent for work, the other would feel as if the day was not fruitful with a feeling of having missed something. Of late their parents had started their matrimonial searches. So in this context he had met her on one weekend asking her whether she would be his life partner. What started as a minor discussion had turned into a heated argument.

She was visibly upset and stared at him angrily. In contrast he was completely at ease. He took a deep breath and coldly replied in negation. He turned back and walked away leaving her perplexed. It was not the first time they had fought but certainly their tempers were never as high as they were this time. From a distance he rowed his eyes as if to have one last glance of the furious lady. He was sure that their short story had finally ended and in manner he didn’t want it to be. Both went sleepless that night pondering over what really was the relationship between them that had kept them together for such a long time in spite of their differences. It couldn’t be love he thought, for love is selfless and devoid of any expectations. And he in desiring her as his life mate had not followed this definition. It couldn’t be just friendship she thought for she valued him more than herself which was not the case with most of her other friends. Certainly it was something much more than friendship she seemed to agree with herself.

It was Monday morning and her birthday too. Everyone greeted her but her eyes were busy searching for him. She walked towards his cubicle. Her eyes caught the presence of a greeting card on the computer. She took the card and opened it. It was for her and had beautiful messages below which were the words, “Your well wisher” followed by his signature. She smiled with happiness. At last he had managed to describe their relationship in a manner which was acceptable to both of them. She was proud to have him as her well wisher, while walking towards her from some distance he too felt the same.

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