Love Never Ends - Episode 8

When Riya reached Mumbai, her family had come to receive her at the airport. She was feeling light and fresh. Here Deep was waiting to listen from her. Once seated in the car, Riya messaged him ''Reached safely. Will connect soon."Deep to hide his excitement just replied with an emoticon.

Two days passed and Riya resumed her work. She had met Geet and narrated series of incidents. Geet felt that it was a time to begin new friendships and it need not mean getting involved emotionally. Riya was not sure how appropriate it was to connect to him but then she felt it would help her to have a different perspective in life. He was smart, intelligent, and looked sensible. He was disconnected from her past and was far away from her. That gave her a sense of comfort.

Deep was clearly attracted to Riya. He had no idea about what was going across her mind. The way she had reacted the other evening had spoken a lot about her hurt mind. He wanted to comfort her, understand her more. The small conversations had made him realize that she had a good EQ with IQ. Over the years he had met many women but she was different. She was independent and emotional. She was innocent and sweet but she had a sharpness in her behavior.

A series of messages started between the two. Initially, it was a good morning and good night message which then extended to discussions about happenings during the day. Both were fond of reading and both were conscious about fitness a lot. They discussed their readings, their experiences, their perspectives over a range of subjects. They discussed their work, their life at the workplace. They both loved running in the morning and set targets for each other. They even planned to participate in a marathon sometime together. From the discussions, Deep could make out that Riya was extremely emotional and she had a world of her own. Very few people had a place in her inner circle.

It was September end, more than a month since they had started conversing. Deep had to travel to the US for his conference. It was almost two weeks then, they could not connect. Riya clearly missed talking to him. Deep was busy but at the back of his mind, he too was missing Riya. He messaged her some pictures with colleagues at the conference and a small clip of his address which Riya watched again and again. She was not able to understand what was happening. She got a little alarmed. Was she getting attached to him? Why was she missing him? What if he too stopped talking to her someday?

Deep tried to connect to her multiple times after the conference was over but Riya would not pick up the call or reply to any of his messages. He was worried and confused by her behavior. Finally one afternoon she picked up his call. He was deeply concerned and worried. Listening to him Riya could not control her tears. She wanted to share so much with him. They decided to have a video call and finally, Riya shared all that she had accumulated over the years. Her experience with Akhil, her pain, her fears, her inhibitions, her complexities. And then the fear to lose her friendship with Deep. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and Deep's heart rushed to her. He wanted to be there and caress her.

Deep then explained to Riya that connections are made with love and not with fear. She needs to forgive Akhil if she really loved him in the past. Unless she forgives him she would never be able to move on and overcome her fear. She needs to get over Akhil and his larger-than-life image. Akhil was a lesson of the past. She needs to close that chapter properly before opening a new one. She has a beautiful life and she would meet so many genuine people who truly love her. But she needs to have an open mind to meet and accept them. People come and go in life. We need to live in present and see life with positivity and not pain. Enjoy and create memories with people who are around and with us in present. People leave but beautiful moments stay with us. What Deep was saying was making sense to Riya. Forgiveness was the key to her pain. She had to let go of the fear of losing emotional connection. Deep assured Riya was stronger than she imagined herself to be. Riya was happy to have found a confidante and guide in him.