Sketchstory No. 13 - 'Those Mesmerising Eyes' by Anuradha Bhattacharya

It was a dark rainy night in the month of June 2018. A man of about sixty was sitting in an armchair in front of the door that lead to the balcony. He had an album in his hand and was going through each picture very lovingly as it was the only possession he had with him that moment.

Suddenly the phone rang, which shook him out of his present stance. Simultaneously a photograph blew out of the album and fell right at his feet. The man picked up the phone, his eyes never leaving the photograph and read what was written on it, “The lady with those mesmerising eyes.”

There was silence on the other end but the man could feel her presence. He uttered, “My Lady Love, what a dramatic or should I say romantic way to register your presence and that too on this stormy night?What a coincidence, I was looking at you only, my Lady Love!”

A husky soft female voice at the other end answered with a smile, “Do you remember the sketch in your hand, which you had gifted to me on our wedding night?...Strange isn’t it? Newly weds occasionally exchange rings but my husband gifted me a sketch of his beloved”.

“So what?” the man replied, “you always wanted something exciting, you wanted to tie the sacred knot in the rainy season so we did, and do you remember how it rained heavily for the next three days? Even nature had given you your best gift- the rain.”

The Lady Love said, “I wonder why this sketch was named ‘The Mesmerising Eyes’. Why not something else? Why? Was I not a beauty otherwise?”

The man replied, “No my Love, you were very beautiful altogether but what attracted me most were those beautiful eyes of yours veiled by the thick and long eyelashes. The messy curls of your hair never looked untidy to me; rather made you look more glamorous.” The man sighed and continued to stare at the photograph. He poured water in his glass, took two three gulps and continued to speak, ”You know? Whenever I looked into those eyes, it made me wonder what is it....emotions? What are you trying to hide? Pain of rejection, unhappiness, fear of distrust, love? I could see so many of them in a flash. It formed a picture with so much of depth. There was a sweet essence that was clearly seen in your eyes...” The man took a sip of water and got lost in his thoughts. Suddenly the silence was broken by the words of his Lady Love.

“You are exaggerating”, she said and then gave a laugh and continued, “but I must say you were a really a good observer. Yes, I admit I used to hide my pain... pain of rejection due to the same simplicity for which you accepted me. Remember you used to get fascinated not only by my messy, curly ,long hair but also with my oily hair when it was woven into braids. Men found me uninteresting, boring, unsophisticated and God knows what but thanks to my mother who always believed that a girl’s beauty should be revealed only to her husband first, I am so grateful to God that I found my true love in you.”

The man continued to listen to her quietly, wondering at the same time why she had not spoken about her feelings before. He could sense the pain in her words and wanted to hug her tight and reassure her that she was the most beautiful girl he had seen. Controlling his tears he replied, “If you have loved me so much, then why did you leave me behind? Did it never cross your mind that I would be alone here, with no one to give me company? Do you for a fraction of a second ever realise how desperately I wait for this long distance call from you?”

“I know dear,” continued the lady, ”but now your time has not come to reunite with me. You still have some responsibilities towards our daughter, the most beautiful gift of our life. I promise I will come then and take you with me. Till then let me travel alone. I have miles and miles to go, but my love, our sweet memories will never make me feel alone.“

The tears continued to roll down the cheeks of the man as the phone went dead in his hand. His eyes never left the photograph....very lovingly he touched the lustrous black hair of his lady love and remembered how he loved to bring those curls with his fingers on to her soft lilac, shivering lips, and how beautiful she looked when her face turned passionately red.

Suddenly he felt as if someone was pushing him hard. As if someone was trying to ask him something....the voice was very familiar to him. He tries to open his eyes but is unable to do so; but the voice is so familiar he can’t let it go. He struggles hard to get hold of the hand that is pushing him and with a jerk he pulls himself out of that black hole in which he felt he was stuck.

“Wake up dear”, the voice spoke again, ”what has happened, why are you crying? Here take, have a glass of water. You are totally drenched in sweat.”

With an effort the man looks towards the face and finds the same mesmerising eyes, now looking towards him with concern. He hugs his Lady Love tight and thanks God that she is here, she is real. And what he had seen a while ago was nothing but a dream. A bad dream!

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