Fleeting Love (A Tale)
It was around four PM when I was gearing up to go for a ride, when I spotted that my Galaxy S7 was glowing. It’s new capacitors were finally working. I was recently trying to fix it. I put on the digitizer and there it was working perfectly fine. But as the screen turned on, suddenly there was silence all around for a moment. Felt a bit dizzy with lights flashing around me. I didn’t thought much, just that it might be an ugly hangover. And just like that phone had died again. I said will try fixing it again later.
I left my room and went outside that is when I saw her waiting outside the hostel. I thought what a coincidence and started going towards my bike. She just came towards me and hugged me. I didn’t knew what to think about it. I didn’t knew what was happening. I figured let’s not get involved with this and started walking away. That’s when I saw him coming from the ground towards hostel. It was me.
My own body, my own flesh in front of me. I stopped and then tried going back to my room. He followed, he was asking questions. I didn’t knew what was happening and I wanted to escape. I locked my room behind me and tried to focus, I might be asleep dreaming.
He opened the door, of course he has a key to his own room. I sat across him and just tried understanding what is happening. He seemed to think that I am from a parallel universe and somehow I have got transferred to this one. In this reality they never broke up, he was there when she needed him the most and now they are just inseparable. He asked me what was I doing before I got here. I told him I was fixing my phone and when it got fixed I think something happened then.
I know what he is going to say next, where is the phone let’s fix it again, and you will be able to go back from where you came from. But honestly I didn’t want to go back. Knowing what I know now. That one hug is worth dying for. “I wanted to become Rick, let me kill this Amit & I will chop up his body and flush, and take over his life in this universe.”
I don’t why I didn’t do that. Anyways I found the phone it had come along with me to this universe. I fixed it. But nothing happened. No lights, no dizzy nothing. Phone turned on and he was standing right besides me. I didn’t knew what to do next.
I was trying to make sense of things, when my phone rang and his phone too. It was Anvesha. She wanted to know when are we leaving for dinner. I told him all about my sob story, and that I want to see that girl. He told me he will tell her about me at dinner and we will all meet someplace together later.
When he came back from dinner he was very happy. He was enthusiastic, he wanted us to work on our AI projects. Explore this parallel universe concept. And all I wanted was for him to go to sleep. I needed to hear her voice for once.
He went out later that night I could see all his chats, like us our phones were clones. I started reading previous chats. I started crying and kept on crying. My roommate came and he saw him crying. He tried talking to me but I just waited for Amit to return. We had another issue at hand we both couldn’t stay together at hostel.
One of us had to leave and obviously It has to be me.
College is about to end. He told me they are planning to live at a rented place from 11th to 17th and he will arrange for me to stay there, We had a lot to figure out. Like will I ever return to my universe, If not where will I get my money my job and every other thing from.
And we met….
It was 9AM, a little sunny, she was in the dress that I had never seen. We talked about how my life was a bit different and How I felt about my Anvesha. I told her the things in a way that reflected the greatest amount of respect and love for her. She took my hands and told me we are here for you.
But what I really wanted to say was “Leave this guy, he might look like me but he is not me. I will love you the most in the world, he doesn’t know what it’s like to to lose you. I will cherish every single second with you forever.”
Stayed silent for a while. We met a couple of times and I could feel that she looked at me with the same grace as she always did.
Amit used to talked to me, we constantly were working on hundred different things at the same time together. It had been a week and I had got another phone. I promised I won’t have tabs on him.
But occasionally I used to read few texts, they were going to a party and he didn’t wanted to go with her. I asked her will she go with me and we did. Towards the end she kissed me and it was just like I had imagined it. The world did stop in that moment.
What’s Next?
They had a heated conversation the other day and she told him about her kissing me. Amit came to meet me. I thought he’d be angry but he wasn’t. He told me that she is not perfect, no one is. Neither is he. But he wants me in his life. And doesn’t wants it to happen again. The next day I took a flight to Patna. And what an surprise Rohit was there. I hadn’t shared that part with him and he didn’t tell me either. But this universe really had a perfect life for me.
I spent every single second with my brother. I took him to places and we shared stories and it was just perfect. One evening she called me. She told me that she felt sorry for me. She loves me more than anything in this world and she is sorry that in my universe she broke up with me.
The same evening I was playing Apex Legends and sipping my coffee when a door appeared in the game. It said home. I went inside and woke up in my universe. Yes that universe was perfect. But so is this one. Love is always fleeting.
