Infatuation?

“He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, and he loves me not”. Anu kept saying alternately while picking one petal off the beautiful white daisy. She had not realized that she had created a trail behind her as threw the petals on the ground.
She had almost reached her apartment. “Hiya, what you up to”? Her heart almost skipped a beat as she heard his resounding voice. She was standing right in front of him and could not avert the strong gaze of Nirav. She loved his eyes and as she looked into those eyes, it was as if the earth beneath her feet would give away. Damn! She always had this feeling when she saw him. Was it excitement that she fell? Was it joy?

She had not expected to see him. But she had to admit that she was pleasantly startled.
“It is just a stupid game “she blurted out not knowing what to say. How she wished it was true and not just a stupid game.

And Thank You! Now I forgot where it had ended – was it “he loves me” or was it “he loves me not” she thought looking at the half bare daisy in her hand.

He smiled and walked along crossing her to reach his apartment. She had to admit that the smell of his musk drove her crazy. She closed her eyes, back turned towards him, and tried to fill herself with the lingering smell, thankful that he could not see her face.
“By the way,” he turned around, “I have good news ! I am getting married to Priya in a month”. “I will come to your house and give you the formal invitation card”.
“I just had to tell someone” she could hear the excitement in his voice.
.
Her head spun, her knees seemed to give way, and her legs suddenly became weak. She whirled around to turn and face him. He was smiling, still fidgeting with the keys to open the door to his house. The happiness in his face made Anu extremely sad.
How could he do this? How could he marry Priya when all that Anu thought about was Nirav.
“Congratulations! “ She had to force herself to let out the words. She rushed in to her house trampling the daisy that had fallen off her hands.
She threw the books onto the floor and slammed the door and literally collapsed onto her bed.

It was exactly one year back that he had moved in here. It was just before Valentine’s day. Anu’s mom was not very pleased about the fact that a young single guy was moving in next door as a tenant, very worried that they were to have a bachelor as a neighbor

They were still chatting over coffee when Anu had come home from college. She barged into the house as she always did. As she entered she realized and felt his strong presence, his strong personality, the magnetic charm that immediately seemed to draw her close to him.
“Hi , I am Nirav”, he had introduced himself. It was as if she could still feel the strong grip of his hands as she had on the first day. It was as if she had given him her heart that very moment.
After that day, she had not passed a single day not thinking about him. She had always managed to steal a glance at him be it when he was leaving for office or when he was returning home. She had almost aligned her chores according to his timings. On the weekends, she would stand on the balcony and wait for the moment when he would come out to his balcony- either talking on the phone or to water his plants. Her day was made- a single look from him and she would feel as if she was flying on the seventh heaven.
She had turned down so many proposals from many of her mates at college. She was beautiful and hence had no dearth of boys wooing her. She could not get herself to liking any of them. She couldn’t help herself- she could only think of Nirav. No one was anything like him in his looks or personality.

She realized that her pillow was all wet when she heard her mom calling. “Nirav is here, Won’t you come outside to chat for a while. He is here to give his wedding invitation.”
“I have a test tomorrow and I have to prepare for that” she replied back, trying to stabilize her voice as much as she could while gathering the pearls that had strayed all over the floor from her snapped necklace.