Anjali Heights- Mumbai

'Now tell me, what were you saying?' asked the boy rapidly climbing the stairs with nervous energy. His attention towards the girl, who was ardently trying to catch up with him from behind, was undisturbed though. They were climbing the stairs of Anjali Heights; a five storey apartment. By the time they reached the third floor, both of them were soaking wet.

'Just like a rever has different names as it traverses different territories,' the girl said climbing the stairs.The boy was ahead of her but she was breathing harder than him.'Our love too shall have different names as our traverses different births. But the essence, the nature,the taste of love shall remain the same,' she continued.

They continued to climb the stairs.

It was around midnight.No moon, no stars. Only black clouds.There was heavy rain, though, with an interlude of lightening and thunder. There was no one on the streets. Everyone everywhere seemed to be fast asleep. And just when everything seemed like a prelude to an impending doom, the old door of the terrace of Anjali Heights opened with a creaking sound. The sound lingered in the airs for some time.

The girl, dressed in a blue top and cropped trousers, and the boy, wearing a white T-shirt tucked beneath a pair of black jeans, peeped out from the half-open door. The sound of heavy rain hits their ears. They slowly stepped out on the wet terrace.

The moment they stepped out in the open, the rhythmic beating of the raindrops on the floor muted all the other sounds. The sky seemed to relentlessly kiss the earth-just the way lovers kiss when they meet each other after a long time or for the last time. Does the sky and earth, the girl wondered, gossip about spring, summer, and the winter through raindrops?

The girl and the boy, grasping each other's hands more firmly as the rains drenched them, stood still. For the world, perhaps, it would have been just another abrupt shower that year, but for them it was the first rain of confession in eras that was drenching them. There are certain relationships which don't necessarily start when two people meet. Even their first meeting has the vibe of an unexplained continuation. The girl and the boy were in one such relationship even from the time they were not in a relationship.

Standing under the rain, together, they finally understood how much they loved each other. It wasn't that they didn't realize it before, but the journey from a 'gut feeling' to a 'concrete knowing' happened at that instant. They kept looking into each other's eyes. The rain by the. had polished off their appearances, transforming them from stones into glistening diamonds that emanated an alluring desires for the other. Desire gives love it's wings-they understood.

The boy took her to the edge of the terrace. He stood up on the cemented barricade that fenced the terrace, and then pulled up the girl beside him. She was visibly scared. The boy feigned his fear better. They were standing on the edge facing each other. The girl didn't let go of his hand even for a second. They stood so close to each other that they could feel their breaths on each other's skin. Their breaths, by caressing their skin, soon ga e birth to a feeling in them whose wail drew their heart's attention. The latter asked the feeling what it was seeking. A kiss; the feeling told the heart. The latter was instantly alert because a kiss was the heart's only way to share it's deepest secret with the soul. Should the kiss happen, the heart will have to bare open all its secrets, in all its nudity.

The boy brought his hand to the girl's inquisitive face and tucked a strand of her wet hair behind her ear. He then culled her face gently with both his hands. For her, it was like a faint dream within the tiny capsule of reality. For him it was a certain reality inside an uncertain drop of dream.

A few raindrops trickled down her forehead. The boy interrupted one raindrop with the tip of his tongue. When a promise and a prayer come together, a commitment is created. She was the promise, he was the prayer, and the unprecedented feeling their kids triggered within them was the commitment.

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