A beautiful woman in a pink sari (a woman's traditional dress in India) was standing near a bus-stop, waiting for the bus to come. The pink hue of the sari was glistening as the sun rays cascaded upon it. She was extremely fair and lively; every man was staring at her magnificent beauty. She was literally like an angel who came down from heaven.

An expression that she held on her face described the purity of her heart as well. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a pseudo-lover came and went on his knees, holding a red rose for her. "Hey, beautiful girl! Please marry me. It's love at first sight." His voice dripped in hope.

Eyes wide open, that lady stood motionless. It took her a while to get the drift of what just happened. She looked at her surrounding with an embarrassed gesture reigning all over her face. "Excuse me, mister! You're a crazy person and mistaken. This is no love. We hardly know each other for that," she rebuked, and her eyebrows raised along with her shoulders. She didn't want to create any scene.

Pseudo lover, however, was very stubborn. He started begging and pleading fervently and went on to threaten her that he shall drown himself and die. Fake tears flowed from his eyes just like a little kid, which made that gentle lady more embarrassed, she became considerate for a second and decided to teach him a lesson for life. To deal with the situation, she used diplomacy. "Relax! Get a hold of yourself. Okay! Okay! Come after a week, and if you still want to marry me this fervently, I shall agree."

Both corners of his lips lifted, a witty smile stretched across his face. Pseudo lover became as happy as a child, who got his favorite toy. He joyfully accepted this condition and went away from the scene.

A little later, that beautiful girl went to her home and drank several laxatives and fasted intensely to the extent of becoming a mere skeleton. As a result of the purgatives, the so-called beautiful girl became lean and thin, her complexion turned blackish, and her beautiful eyes sank into the sockets of her skull.

After a week, the lover went to her home and knocked on their door. Someone pulled the door open; a hideous, shrunk woman was at the door. Pseudo lover thought, she must be his bride's grandmother. But he got thunderstruck when she spoke to him. "Hey lover boy, it's me—your would-be wife. Come, let's get married," she said with an evident exertion.

The latter got the biggest shock of his life to know that beautiful girl he had seen in the bus-stop—just a week ago—now became hideous. He straight away prepared to make a move from there with a so-called broken heart. But then the girl caught hold of his arm and said: "I have stored all the ingredients of beauty in little containers, which attracted you towards me. Please have a look at those."

Pseudo lover grave expression extended into a grin, he thought this must be some prank. The girl took him to her bedroom and pointed her hand towards the containers.

Overcome with curiosity, he, within the blink of an eye, pulled it open altogether. There were a total of five containers filled with: urine, stool, bile, mucus, and pus. As the stink of those wastes seeped into his nose, he puked by seeing such repugnant ingredients. He questioned himself, "Are these ingredients of beauty?" Putting the finger on his bottom lip.

The girl became quiet; she comprehended that pseudo-lover must've got a profound lesson of his life. "Now tell me? Whom do you love? Me or these ingredients which had made me beautiful?" Her facial expression was glorious.

*********

Sid slowly opened his eyes from the dreaming state and realized it was just a dream. He rubbed the sleep off his eyes, and a thought popped up in his mind. His attraction towards Nehali. Is it lust or love?

A little later, he took a shower and then came into the hall. As soon as he dropped on the sofa, his cell phone rang. Nehali has called him on the phone. "Hey, Sid, I really want to meet you. Can we meet up for half an hour?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll be there." A smile graced Sid's lips.

Should I ask her to be my girl? He thought, combing his hair in the mirror. He selected the best of his clothes to wear as if he was going to have a date with Nehali.

While walking on the way, he stumbled across a flower bouquet and couldn't beat down his desire to buy a bunch of peonies, roses, and iris. He paid the money and moved forward. She'll love this, he thought.

As he reached the meeting place—from a distance—he caught sight of Nehali, who was standing alone. She was wearing a white top and black short-sleeve shrug; tight dark blue jeans made her curves visible. Apart from it, she held anxiety on her face; this really plastered lines of stress on Sid's forehead.

As he came closer to her, she formed a sweet smile on her face, and he, too, did the same. Sid breathed in and presented her with that bunch of flowers. "Peonies, iris, and roses for you." He smiled.

Nehali felt a spasm of emotions by this sweet gesture; she quickly placed a kiss on his cheek. The boy was not prepared for this; his fingers traveled to his cheeks. "Let's go somewhere and enjoy this Sunday."

"I'm extremely sorry, Sid. Actually, I came here to tell you something very, very important. I should've told you about it before."

Sid noticed distress in her voice, which somewhat perplexed him.

"I don't know how you'll react." Her eyes lightened up, but it was not out of hope, but wetness.

The boy grabbed her by the shoulders. "What's wrong? Is everything fine?"

"Sid!" Nehali sighed, freeing herself, "I think we got close to each other a lot lately, but I never told you about this, I already have a boyfriend. I don't want to keep you in darkness."

"Boyfriend?" Sid repeated. As this word hit his ears, he felt a ripple of shock shot through his heart.

"I'm sure you must be thinking, 'Damn, this girl is pretty slutty, yesterday she was almost ready to make out with me, but now all of a sudden she's got a boyfriend?' Of course, you can call me a bitch if you want."

A grave look plastered Sid's face. He felt words ran out of his mouth. "I—I don't know what to say. You know, all that intimacy we were having lately. I thought you are singl—" He turned his face toward the opposite direction. "—I'm feeling like an idiot now. I misread you. I'm sorry."

At this point, Nehali felt tears would roll down her eyes, but surprisingly except a dry throat, she did maintain her stern look. "We all are idiots, Sid. Life spares no chance to makes us look like an idiot."

A smile touched Sid's life. Philosophy, huh? At last, so he did influence her somewhat. The boy was having a tug of war of emotions within him. A ripple of sadness was filling his heart because he felt so stupid, but there was self-pity as well. He wanted to have her in his life. In fact, he thought she was into him, but someone else already was in her life. The boy assumed she was smitten with him. Yes, indeed it is true, life often makes us look like an idiot.

"You know," he made an intense eye-contact with her. "I may not be the smartest guy, but definitely, I can say your hiding something from me. Your words don't match your feelings."

Nehali's mouth hung ajar in awe; his words penetrated to the barrier of emotions that she never allowed anyone to enter. When she was a kid, the only male role model was her grandfather. His words still work like a balm on her emotional wounds. Never show your vulnerabilities to others; they will either don't understand them or judge you.

After a brief moment of pause, which almost felt like an eternity, she threw up hands in exasperation. "I—I don't know." Her eyes dampened with tears. "I'm sorry I should've told you that I have a boyfriend."

"Sure," was the only response by Sid, there was a part in him, which wanted to blast her. But he also found himself equally guilty. He stuck out his hand. "I really wish you the best of luck in your relationship."

The first stream of tears rolled down Nehali's eyes. Despite the words she said and things she did to him, the boy was nice to her. Perhaps, this emotional comfort, or should we understanding she always yearned for in her life. Instead of the handshake, she wrapped her arms around herself, but it was actually to him she wanted to hug.

"I hope we can still be friends. Don't you forget about me, Sid, because I won't forget about you," she spoke these words without emotions and turned around to walk away, her arms were still wrapped around. Now that he couldn't see her tears freely flowed down her eyes.

Sid stood there for almost a minute, not petrified or something, but there was constipation of emotions inside him. He wanted to cry but couldn't. He wanted to be angry, but couldn't. He wanted to answers but couldn't get them. Except for watching her go, he couldn't do a thing.

The boy also turned around to walk away. His hand reached to take off earphones from his Jean's pocket and listen to this song, Don't You Forget About Me Baby by Enrique Iglesias. A relatable song would surely help in this case, right?

*****

Nehali trudged in her home and heaved a sigh of stress. While removing her heels, she took the support of the wall, and then placed her quilted shoulder bag on a study desk. Her head was thudding, and the pain made her feel like to tie a rope tightly around it. Sid's sad face flashed before her mind, and tears oozed out of her eyes. I'm incredibly sorry; please forgive me if you can.

She was so absorbed in self-loathing that she didn't notice her little sister, who peeped into her bag to search for something. Actually, Nehali always brings her chocolate, and she was hoping for it today as well. "Sis! You didn't bring chocolates for me?"

"No, sweetie, I'll buy it for you next time. Now go to play in the garden."

Meanwhile, Nehali's WhatsApp pinged. She checked it and caught a glimpse of a text message; it was her would-be boyfriend Sammer's text message. He has texted: "So are we together now?" she bit her lower lip in anxiety, and a stream of tears rolled off her eyes: "Yes, we are." She clicked on the send button and threw her phone on the ground.

"Mom! You don't have to worry about any financial instability as on now," she screamed at the top of her lungs and covered her face with a napkin and began to shed tears. Nothing could stop her from letting her tears flow from my eyes like crazy now.

****

They say love is just a game
They say time can heal the pain Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose And I guess I'm just a fool
I keep holding on to you
I told you once you were the one
You know that I die for you
Oh, though it hurts to see you go
Oh, this time you should know
I won't try to stop you

Don't you forget about me baby
Don't you forget about me now
Someday you'll turn around and ask me, why did I let you go