"Agla gaana hai Ahemdabad ke Sameer ki taraf se apni jaan ke liye, jinki aankhon ke woh deewane ho chuke hai. Unhone apni mashuga se pucha hai 'Toh?' 

Mere rang mein rangnewali
Pari ho ya pariyon ki rani
Ya ho meri prem kahani

Mere sawalon ka jawab do do na..."

The radio blared the next morning as the scent of boiling ginger set his nostrils alight. If someone would have told him two months ago that instead of sleeping in on a Saturday morning, Sameer Maheshwari would be found at a tea stall in front of a girl's society to see her first glimpse: he would have pronounced that person in need of urgent medical attention. Yet his Naina was the magical nymph who had left him spellbound with her one gaze. And now here he stood trying to coax his blushing darling out onto the balcony by dedicating songs to her on the radio.

"Oye Sugan zara mera gamcha toh dena.Kya baat hai Majnu Saheb aap toh cha gaye Aashiqui ke mamale mein." Kala babu said as he put the milk to boil.

"Arz kiya hai
Hai woh itne haseen ki lakhon ka dil churaya toh hoga zaroor
Magar dil se dil taqrane mein hum bhi kam nahi hai huzoor."
Sameer spoke rather loudly as he saw Naina coming out of her society gates. The redness on her cheeks letting him know that she had heard both the song and his shayari.

Quickly paying Kala Babu, Sameer ran behind Naina, who was presently making his heart do somersaults in a red salwar kameez. She clutched a cloth bag to her heart as he observed her slow her pace, his lips automatically shaping themselves into a smirk. Nakhre bhi dikhayegi lekin ruk kar intezaar bhi karegi. Hayee kha na jau mai tumhe. Tum itni cute kyon ho, Naina?! Sameer thought to himself and then blushed at the implication of what he had just thought. An 18-year-old school boy madly in love was sure to be a desperate soul with raging hormones!

"Dekho tum mujhe aise mat dekho." Naina said as he continued to gaze at her.

"Aise kaise nahi dekhun. Tum toh meri ho toh tumhe aise dekhne ka mera haq banta hai." He whispered, his raspy voice making her blush to her ears.

"Kyon ho na tum meri?" He said again, this time slightly leaning in, the sides of their bodies rubbed together for the slightest of seconds but caused typhoons in both their hearts.

Her blush grew as he continued to look at her. He had never thought he could be so attracted to someone in a specific colour but Naina in red was making him shiver. She looked like a little bride, his little bride. The colour of her suit as scarlet as the blush adorning her cheeks, the fabric hugging her in delicious patterns as the dupatta flowed in the breeze like the ends of her long raven locks (untameable even when tied in a high ponytail). He couldn't help but wonder what she would look like dressed in wedding garbs with mangalsutra and sindoor adorning her, marking her as his forevermore. The image of her in a red lehenga set wildfires inside his core. Dear lord, he sure as hell wouldn't be getting any sleep the rest of his life if she looked that exquisite the day she entered their home. Oye Sameer, you utter moron! Kya soch raha hai? Woh tere saath hi hai! He shouted at himself and then proceeded to chant 'om' five times to calm his chota mulayam.

"Sameer chal rahe ho? Mujhe jaldi se sabzi khareed kar jana hai warna taiji fir o bai o bai karke ghar sar par utha lengi." Naina said as she found he had stopped.
His heart beat with elation at her words. She wanted him to accompany her even if it was for a trivial thing, it mattered to him as it meant she wanted to spend as much time as she could with him. And he realised it was similar to his situation: he craved her presence in the smallest things in life, he constantly missed her in everything he did (even in something as trivial as brushing his teeth in the morning, he would think about what toothpaste she used and what her mouth would taste like). Maybe love had made a fool out of him but she too was in its throes. This simple fact warmed his heart to unbelievable levels, and he held her hand and started to walk forward. Her palm searing his, his fingers against her slender ones: at the end of the day this was what it was all about. Love, life, and togetherness are all about doing things with each other, for each other, that you could do yourself. Forever is about the true bliss of having someone's hand warming your's, to fill the space between your fingers, to have that one touch convey a lifetime of stability and beauty.

"Sameer! Kya kar rahe ho hum bahar hai! Haath chodo mera." Naina said, trying to withdraw her hand. In her small line, he could glimpse their future. Post marriage when she would go out to the market with him and he would keep touching her wherever he could, this is how he was sure she would react. There existed in these small pockets of warmth, dreams so immense they rose like the sun in his core: brightening him up from inside, causing a glow on his face and twinkle in his eyes solely because of and for his queen, Naina.

The thought made him tighten his hold and pull her towards him. Leaning in he whispered into her ear "acha. Aur agar hum abhi akele mein hote toh kya tum mujhe apna haath pakadne deti?"

"Hato. Hawa aane do." She said as she looked down. The sharp quip of her tongue refused to match the shy redness of her face; her blush existed to haunt him at all times of day and night.

"Theek hai." He said and came still closer, leaning so far in to be able to smell the enticing peppermint on her breath.

"Yyyehh kya kar rahe ho tum Sameer?" She asked, stuttering with the heat of their proximity. He was so thankful for the closed down shops and their eaves that covered them from wandering eyes of the residents. All his life his nanu had told him about the advantages of waking up early and he had only started to learn them as he fell for his stormy angel. Romance and privacy were the biggest advantages of waking up at the break of dawn, and now he swore to every drop of his blood heating up from her closeness that he would wake up early for the rest of their lives.

"Tumne hi toh kaha tha ki hawa aane do aur Sameer hawa ka jhonka hai. Toh ab mai tumhare aur kareeb aaunga, jaan." He whispered, his voice sounding as rough as the shredded satin threads of clothes from long ago. The red hue of her face brightened and darkened at his words. Resembling both the sunrise and the sunset: which she had steadily come to define in his life. He awoke to her thoughts and slept embracing her in his dreams. She was both his morning and his night; she was, after all, his life.

"Jjjaan?"

"Hayye tumhare muh se toh aur bhi acha lagta hai. Ab tum meri zindagi ban gayi ho Naina toh tumhe wahi bulanga na mai. Jaan hi toh ho tum meri." He said, peering into the profound molten black of her midnight gaze, where he had lost his heart to never be found again.

"Sameer please aisa mat bolo. Kyon tum apni zindagi meri peeche barbaad kar rahe ho. Tumhe yaad hai na woh thappad ke nishaan jo mere gaal par the. Socho agar baal kholne par taiji ne mujhe itna mara toh tumhare saath kya kar sakte hai mere gharwale. Bahut purane khayal ke hai taiji aur taiji, woh humare rishte ko nahi apanayenge. Aisa kya hai mujh mein jo tum apne aap ko iss aag mein jala dena chahte ho? Chod do mujhe, tumhe mujhse kahin zyada sundar ladki mil jayegi."She spoke in a soft  sad tone looking down, refusing to meet the fire blazing in his gaze.

White hot rage boiled in his blood, it's residue reaching his bloodshot eyes as the muscle of his jaw tightened. She really thought that his love was this shallow, that he could forget her and find someone else. In all the time he had known her, Naina had made Sameer feel multivalent emotions ranging from tearful sadness to uplifting elation but never had he felt the disappointment she had laced in his veins with her well intentioned words today. "Naina kya samjha hai tumne mujhe?!" He asked, his eyes leaking tears of blood red agony. He moved forward, pinning her body to the wall as the hand that clutched hers tightened its hold while his other hand fisted against the chalky dirty wall, barring her escape route from the side.

"Itne waqt ke baad bhi, mera itna Kuch Karne ke baad bhi tum mere pyaar ke baare mein yahi sochti ho? Kya itna hi jaan payi ho tum mujhe? Haan mai pehli nazar mein hi tumhara deewana hogaya tha, magar sirf tumhari sundarta ko dekh kar nahi tumhari masoomiyat tumhara apnapan tumhari saadgi ne mujhe ghayal kar diya tha. Tumse pehli toh maine kisi ladki ko aankh uthakar bhi nahi dekha tha, darta tha mai pyaar se, awara phirta tha. Meri zindagi ka pehla aur aakhri pyaar sirf tum ho, na koi tumse pehle tha na koi tumhare baad hoga. Kyonki Sameer Maheshwari ka pyaar itna kamzor nahi hai ki kisi aur ladki ki sundarta dekh kar behal jaye. I have only one heart which beats solely for you, my madness is only for you, and my love can only ever be your's. Rahunga toh sirf tumhara bankar ya fir akele tumhare yaadon ke zariye. Mujhe mana Karna hai toh karlo tumhara haq banta hai magar dobara kabhi yeh mat kehna ki mai kisi aur ko dhundo." He dripped every word like deep wounds lose blood: searing, perforated, losing energy with every drop. Before she could respond further, he let go of her and walked away. He was scared his own anger and dejection could break the dam of emotions he had been secretly building in the dark crevices of his being this entire time.

Jaiprakash Maheshwari sat enjoying Kishore Kumar songs in the lounge, deep in thought he sipped his morning tea when the loud bang of the front door brought him to awareness. The only person who made such noises in this household was his angry impulsive grandson, who had curiously been absent since morning.

"Sameer!"

Sameer sighed, making his way to the lounge. He wanted to be alone but how could he ignore his nanu's call? In his small world there were two suns: his nanu and Naina. While one had spent his entire life giving him the strength to get through his struggles the other was now giving him the possibility of a love filled future.

"Ji nanu!" Sameer said, leaning against the door, taking in the fresh glow on his nanu's face. Every night he slept with the fear that another day had gone out of his nanu's life and someday he would once again be confounded to an orphan's life: lonely and sad. Naina had brought with her the hope that he had someone to live his forever with, but seeing her reluctance his heart clobbered with an unprecedented ache of how would he live if both his suns left his corner of the universe.

"Sameer bacche mere paas baitho yahan aakar." Nanaji said patting the space next to him on the sofa. Knowing his nanu had caught onto his despondent mood, Sameer stayed silent and sat next to him. "Ab bata tujhe kya hua hai beta? Kal raat ko toh apne room mein gaane ga rahe the. Aur aaj subah bhi whistle karte hue nikla tha toh abhi itna gussa kyon hai?"

"Kuch nahi nanu bas ke dost se ladai hogayi thi." Sameer spoke, wrenching his fingers. How could he tell his nanu about Naina when she was refusing to accept their love.

"Dost ya khaas dost?" Nanaji said pointedly as he noted the rising scarlet on Sameer's fair buttery cheeks.

"Nahi nanu aisa Kuch bhi nahi...." "Chup ab tu apne nanu se jhoot bolega? Are barkhurdaar hum bhi kabhi jawan the. Hum bhi tumhari tarah tumhari nani ke khayolon mein khoye gaane gate the aur kabhi whistle karte the. Yahi toh pyaar hota hai beta. Ek pal takraar aur dusre pal izhaar. Kabhi ek ka ruthna aur dusre ka manana."

As his nanaji recounted his days of youth, of his struggles to woo his woman, Sameer was swept in the tide of his own story. The searing wound of disappointment and dejection burned fresh in his soul and he wondered if he was forcing his own dreams and wishes onto Naina. Maybe she did like him but he had misread that liking as love. Perhaps her feelings weren't ardent enough to be called love, and he felt guilt crawl into his being. His nanu had always taught him that loving someone came with respecting that person, and the last thing he wanted to do was make Naina uncomfortable. His pampering, his gestures may have been heroic and romantic but they were also imposing.

The one thing he had never been able to do in life was love unconditionally; he was an insecure and abandoned soul. Having lost his father to death and mother to new life, he had encased his heart in a thick unfeeling shell. The only people he had let in had been his nanu and Munna-Pandit who had shed on him the kind of love which made him trust them enough to finally start loving them back. But his love for Naina had been one of a kind, it had sprung upon him like lightening flashes through the sky, quick and thunderous; it had struck his being, jolting sensations in his heart he didn't know were possible. But with all this immense love for her had also come his desperation to have her and his fear of losing her had eaten at him. This was not love, Naina had taught him that love was unconditional. You love for the sake of belonging to someone wholeheartedly and today he felt truly ashamed that he had forced his love onto Naina, even if she had feelings for him it did not discount the overbearing madness that had ceased his soul. He had proved that he was unworthy of being loved by someone as wonderful as Naina.

"Beta kya hogaya tum ro kyon rahe ho?" Nanu said, caressing his hair. Sameer hugged him tightly as he sobbed out the meagre feelings that had spun him into a typhoon of misery. As the grandson sought solace in the old weary arms of his nanu, the radio blared the tragic song of Kishore Kumar, setting the perfect tune for the sordid broken soul.

"mere mehboob qayamat hogi
Aaj rusva teri galliyon mein mohabbat hogi.."

As Sameer resolved to try and love Naina from afar, his darling of storms stood in her friend's kitchen mixing up an eggless batter of sugar, cream,and  cocoa with the special ingredient of intense love. All for the boy who thought she had jilted him, for the broken soul who hours later lay in bed sobbing; for the lover who had convinced himself he was unworthy of her love and hence would never receive it.

Chapter was getting too long so I decided to split into two. Hopefully I will be able to publish the second part tomorrow itself. Sorry for taking a long break, my wrist needed rest and I was slightly discouraged with the low response (2.6k views and not even 500 votes). But then I realised I am doing this as a gift for my close friends so will give updates till her bday is here.