Arjun and Rahul boozing together in Hard rock cafe..

Rahul: 'Fucker, I can't believe it took you a week to tell me all this. I think I should take you out for a drink everytime I feel you're bottling up'

Arjun: 'I don't know man, I was confused myself. In fact I am confused, even now'

Rahul: 'Why? I think it's very clear now, you love Tanya, that's why you said no to Shreya for a patch up'

Arjun bottoms up his shot, and replies, 'I wish it's that simple, all I know is that Tanya is in my head, and I couldn't proceed beyond a kiss with Shreya because of her'

Rahul: 'That's called LOVE my friend, you were so in love with Tanya that you couldn't get yourself to sleep with Shreya'

Arjun sighs, and says, 'Let's talk about something else man, enough about my soup stories'

Rahul, with widened eyes, 'Speaking of soup stories.. ' *points to a table across the corner*

Arjun turns behind to see a laughing Tanya sitting with her girl friends. Seeing her made his hearbeat race like it's going to come out of his body any minute. As he stared at her, Tanya catches him looking.

Arjun, turns back to Rahul as he storms up from the chair and says, 'Let's leave'

Rahul: 'But..

Before Rahul completed his sentence, Arjun paces towards the exit, and leaves the bar.

The nextday morning...

Arjun wakes up to a message from Tanya saying,

****
Hi Soupboy,

Can you come over to my place at 5PM ? We need to talk.

PS: If any of your feelings for me are true, you'll agree to this.

****

In Tanya's flat..

Tanya *smiling* : 'I'm so happy you're here, looks like the post script worked'

Arjun: 'Well, to be honest, I would have come irrespective'

Tanya, responds sarcastically, 'Oh really, I know how your ego works. You didn't even wave at me yesterday'

Arjun, pretends to recall and says, 'What yesterday? '

Tanya: 'You're such a terrible actor Arjun'

*Arjun chuckles*

Tanya: 'What? '

Arjun: 'You called me Arjun, I think that's a first'

Tanya smiles as she looks into Arjun's eyes, and says, 'That's exactly why I called you here'

Arjun, baffled, says, 'I didn't get you'

Tanya: 'You were not my first Soupboy, I lied to you. It actually happened with my ex boyfriend. I felt super guilty when I realized you also lied'

'Don't even ask me why I lied to you, I don't have a rational reason, all I know was that I wanted to erase that memory'

Arjun: 'It's okay, you must have thought I'll judge you'

Tanya: 'That's not it, things changed for me since you confessed, till then I never thought I owed you any explanation'

Arjun: 'You still don't, I just love the way you are'

Tanya: 'Love?!'

Arjun sits with one knee on the ground and other knee up, and says, 'I love you Tanya'

Tanya, with a confused and irrriated look on her face, replies, 'Just get up, I don't know how many times you'll do this'

Arjun: 'What?' *getting up from the pose*

Tanya: 'You always tell me what you want me to believe, and not what you want. You're doing that again! '

Arjun replies in an angrier tone, 'What the fuck? What do you mean? I love you, and that's the truth'

Tanya: 'Ok, so what? '

Arjun: 'Are you mad? I'm confessing my feelings, and you're making fun, really? '

Tanya: 'No Arjun, I completely respect your feelings. It's just that I don't know why you're calling that love, hence I'm asking you what do you want'

Arjun: 'I want you to love me, I mean I already think you do, you just have to say it out Lord

Tanya: 'No Arjun, I don't love you, or better, at least I don't know if it's called LOVE '

Arjun: 'I don't understand'

Tanya: 'Okay, let's say I accepted your proposal formally, and say I love you too, what's the next logical step? '

Arjun: 'We get into a relationship, and we let the people around us know about it'

Tanya: 'Good, how's that different from what we've been doing all these days, everyone important in our lives already know about us'

Arjun: 'But, that was no strings attached, without any emotions, and commitments'

Tanya: 'Now we're talking, so are you saying everytime we had sex, it was all lust with no emotions?

Arjun: 'Obviously no'

Tanya: 'Okay, tell me about the commitment bit, I'm assuming you're basically asking for exclusivity'

Arjun: 'I'm not asking for it, but that goes without saying I guess'

Tanya: 'I agree, that's how it should be, commitment should never arise out of compulsion'

'It doesn't stop there Arjun, I have observed that even after people get into a relationship, after a point their insecurities will kick in, and then they resort to marriage as an insurance'

Arjun: 'So, by saying I love you, you think you'll be bound to all these expectations, and you don't want that'

Tanya: 'I'm not saying I don't want it, I'm saying it should always be my choice, and I don't want to make all of those choices right away'

Arjun doesn't reply for a few seconds..

Tanya: 'Feeling insecure already? '

Arjun: 'No, I get what you're saying. I think the society is to be blamed for using the word LOVE so lightly everywhere'

Tanya: 'What do you mean? '

Arjun: 'It was actually Rahul who told me that this is Love, and clearly, from the way I proposed and a lot of what I'm expecting right now, is also inspired from the movies'

Tanya, giggling, says, ' You know what? Rahul spoke to me yesterday itself, that's when he told about your feelings. So yeah, I was expecting you to do this today'

Arjun: 'That bugger... '

Tanya, interrupting Arjun by kissing on his cheek, says, 'I missed you Soupboy'

Arjun responds by kissing Tanya on her lips before she pushes him back

Tanya, sighs and says, 'Arjun, I like you, and I feel super happy around you, in fact I've never met a person who accepts me, the flawed me, as much as you do'

'It's just that I don't want to label whatever we have. For now, it will only bring more insecurities in our minds'

'Yes, it's not just you, even I will have my own insecurities, and I might start projecting them on you. So yeah, though I want you and I like you, I cannot say I LOVE YOU'

Arjun: 'Fuck Love, let's just make love'

*** The End ***

© Curiousme