Do I Dare Tell a Love Story - A Love Story From IIFT Delhi

The party provided a perfect excuse for people to start a conversation with each other for the first time. I decided to go with the flow too. She couldn’t remember what happened yesterday and I made it sound like it was just another inconsequential encounter that happens at the start of great friendships. This was how it started for her. We used to talk about anything and everything, laugh, play, tease. The hours in a day didn’t seem enough. Everyday brought something new and something beautiful. Every day she would get ready, put love in her eyes and smile on her lips and come to class. We would stand at the top of the world and sometimes a secret smile would touch her lips when she looked at the stars in the night or sometimes when it rained and little raindrops touched her face. It was a secret she shared with no one. She was made by the sounds and lights of the city and each day looked forward to the peace and serenity the night brought. She never went out looking for love but love always found her, at very inconvenient times, in very inconvenient ways.

But every day the same questions kept going round and round in my head ‘Where is the Anna I saw on that party?’, ‘When will I see her again?’, ‘What is it that she is not telling me?’. Then opened a small window and I got to see that vulnerability again. It was a cold night and we were walking down the small road connecting Sanjay Van and old hostel. We were talking about some books we had both read and finally started discussing a book which coincidently turned out to be one of her favorites. The tone of the discussion became more and more intense as we went further into it. In the end, the brightest thing that night was her eyes and all I wanted was to hear her talk so passionately about her dreams and desires. Eventually she read the look in my eyes and realized that the book was no longer on my mind. I pulled her close and hugged her, loose enough to make sure she knew she can turn around and run away if she liked but tight enough to let her know that I wanted her to stay. She stayed frozen for a second then look into my eyes. She was scared, not of me, not of the small campus where nothing remained secret for long; she was scared of the ghosts that stood surrounding us. She told me her story – how she had been hurt before, how she lost her ability to trust and how sometimes she felt that she was dead inside. She had crawled into a deep shell and I knew how hard it would be to bring her out. But I had made up my mind that no matter how hard it took to make her trust me, I would keep trying.

Thus began a long journey after a long wait. It has been 4 months since that night. I no longer have to wait to see all the colors of her emotions. I know about everything that brings a smile to her face and everything that makes her cry. I am the anchored buoy that keeps her from drowning whenever she feels overwhelmed by her ghosts. But some things haven’t changed. Even now every day brings something new and something beautiful. Even now each day, she gets ready, puts love in her eyes and a smile on her lips and comes to class. But I don’t ask myself those questions anymore. There is a whole lifetime to tell old stories and make new ones, for we all know that the best love stories are those which don’t have an ending.

This article has been authored by Deepti Singh Chauhan, MBA-IB (2015-17) student from IIFT Delhi!