When You Say Nothing At All

It was an unusually long night for Rajat. He was getting up every fifteen minutes to check if he got any message or call from Preeti. It had been more than fifteen hours since he last heard from her. The fact that Rajat and Preeti always stayed so connected only added on to his worries.

Even as he was feeling worried and helpless, Rajat desperately wanted to make ammends for his actions the day before, eventhough it wasn't even his fault entirely. It was just a case of one misunderstanding giving birth to another, leading to a very complex situation.

As he closed his eyes, he visualised the happy times which he had spent with Preeti. With the image of Preeti with a beaming smile in his head, Rajat finally dozed off.

Rajat's sleep was broken by a rather violent ringing of the door bell. The manner in which the door bell was rung indicated something really urgent that too negatively . Rajat quickly got up in one motion and ran towards the door. He pulled open the door and saw that a young boy was standing outside, with a bat in his hand.

"Good Morning Bhaiyya, Can I take my ball from your balcony", the young boy asked.

Rajat was irritated and relieved at the same time. He let the boy in to look for his ball. This is when Rajat realised, that he had majorly overslept. He went to his room and checked his mobile phone. There was a missed call and a message from Preeti.

The message read "Call me when you see this"

Rajat's heart was beating a zillion times faster than the usual. He heard the main door getting shut in the background. The boy must have left with his ball, he thought.

He slowly tapped in Preeti's number, while keeping his fingers of the other hand crossed. The song "When You Say Nothing at All" started playing. This 'Notting Hill' number was Preeti's favorite song. Rajat's ears were craving to hear this caller tune of Preeti but all he could hear since yesterday afternoon was the switched off message. Why was Preeti taking so long to respond? His anxiety was increasing with each passing second. The song was cut short by a sweet voice,

"Hello", Preet said in a hurried manner.

"Preetiii ! Where have you been? Why are you panting?" Rajat enquired worriedly.

"Rajat, Chill! I am panting because I came running to take your call. I was in the other room."

"Ohk." Rajat tried to sound relaxed. "But, where are you?"

"I am home. I came to Meerut yesterday evening. I was pretty homesick I realised"

"Meerut! Ohh Okay.. Why was your phone off all day yesterday..I was so worried. You have no clue what I was going through"

"Rajat, I just needed some time off. Sometimes it really helps"

"So, how do you think it has helped you Preeti?"

"Well, I guess now I am ready to take the most important decision of my life"

"And that will be???" Rajat was getting a little impatient..

"For last two years, there hasn't even been a single day when we didn't talk or meet up. Yesterday was a crazy day. I was mad at myself for letting myself get affected by something as miniscule as that. I shouldn't have walked out of Barista, the way I did. I switched off my phone, because I didn't want to get into any further arguements. I think it really helped me. It made me realise how much I missed you. At night, after I reached Meerut, I decided that the first thing in the morning, I will call you up to tell you, how much I love you and that too much more than ever". Preeti broke into a tear as she said it..

Rajat smiled shyly and with a lump in the throat said "I love you too Preeti. When are you coming back?"..