Just Another Love story

(Consolidated the previous two posts with the end of the story)

"Get me an ice cream; Raj.It should have a scoop of vanilla, one butterscotch and chocolate. Also some chocolate sauce .Make sure that it is only over the chocolate scoop part. Make sure the vanilla part is clear." Payel had given her order.
Raj stumbled up to get the order, "Anything for you!!"
"And put a cherry on the vanilla part" her voice trailed him as he went towards the counter.
Raj looked back, perhaps a bit annoyed.
Payel made a cute fish like face and obviously Raj was all smiles again. "Anything for you”, he repeated and turned on to the counter.

"Payel, you completely use him", I said.
"Huh!” That was all Payel replied.
"Have you yet accepted his proposal?” I asked.
"No! Not so easily." She exclaimed.
"Will you ever?" pissed off, I asked.
"Let's see", was her answer. You could never expect a straight answer from that girl. I was so annoyed
"Why are you playing around with him", I asked agitated to no ends.
Payel gave me a "Go to Hell" look. I was about to say something when Raj came back with a lofty ice cream with God knows how many scoops and how many sauces.
We had to close our conversation half way.
Raj placed the ice cream in Payel’s hand and said, “Here for you, happy?”
I looked the other way, didn’t want to see her mocking expression.
I was pretty sure Payel was not the least serious about Raj. She was just having a good time. On the other hand, Raj was completely mad about her. Arrrrgg, I hated that.

Raj, a tall, handsome fellow. We all had had a crush on him at one time or other. He
was our hero, i.e. until he fell for Payel.

Payel, an arrogant snob. That’s how we all know her. She is rude and rough in her dealings. Never really cared who was at the receiving end of her words. Appearance wise a bit on the darker side and lanky as well with the street side fashion quotient. Not the least bit beautiful but though I would like to say otherwise, she was attractive.
Our dislike for her had increased ever since Raj had been blinded by her attraction.

Now about me and Raj, we are buddies now. Cannot deny having had a crush on him earlier, but now we are best buddies. Yet I could never convince him of Payel’s lack of interest in him. It was always like, “You have misunderstood her”. He always wanted me to get closer to Payel, and I wanted her to go off as far as possible from him.
I hated to see Raj, running errands for that despicable girl.

Anyways, the lovebirds had started their love talks. I was almost an alien except for Raj trying to drag me into conversation with them. So I excused my self and left the café .Half way down the road I remembered that I had left my bag in the café. It contained all my pocket money! I ran like mad, hoping that those two were still there and my bag was safe. But when I reached there I found our table empty. They left so early! I was a bit surprised.I expected Payel to utilise my absense even more. Whatever! Thankfully my bag still lay there. I picked it up;something fell to the ground with a thump. It was a colored notebook. I picked it up, Oh! I exclaimed. It was Payel’s diary, personal diary!

Instantly my mind rushed to possibilities of freeing Raj of her obnoxious hold. I turned the pages in random. Great! One page with a title “Raj” in capitals. Muha ha ha ha, I felt like laughing like the villains in movies. I restrained. I wanted to sit down there itself and read the entire stuff. But being cautious was a better alternative. I quietly put the diary in my bag and rushed back. I’ll read it in my leisure.

On my way back I saw Raj running back, Payel closely behind him. I quietly hid behind a bush. Payel all flushed and so worried, that made me really happy. I was happier coz I was sure I’ll get Raj out of her trap and let the world know what a devil she was.

I reached home kinda fast that day, finished my dinner bid everyone good night and went up to my room. I locked it from inside. I didn’t want anyone to disturb me while I was engrossed in the evil girls mind.
I made myself cozy on my bed and took out the red diary from my bag. I opened the cover page, the first page had this written:

“Enter at your own risk”

No wonder, I thought. Definitely the work of the evil girl.

I turned another page, and then a couple of pages. I was so confused.
The pages had things written and then crossed off.
Anyways,I was not interested in all that. I went straight to the page which was titled
“Raj”
It went on as:

“Hey, you know me don’t you. It’s me the handsome guy you hang around with most of the times. Ok Ok, I know you’ll never acknowledge this, but the fact remains, I am handsome.”

(Ahh I knew now, this wasn’t Payel’s diary, but this belonged to Raj. I knew him so well.
This perhaps was what he had written for Payel, to express his love for her. Perhaps he planned to propose her through this diary. I didn't know how to feel,yet I definitely felt odd, perhaps a bit empty somewhere.)

His letter continued..

“Well, I said “enter at your Own risk”, but again, the risk is entirely mine, for if you do not like what I have in mind, then perhaps I stand to lose my greatest pal.”


(Love really makes people blind, else how could he consider Payel’s friendship greater than mine? I was his best friend; he seemed to have forgotten that.)

“I have tried to write to you for quite sometime now, but I have simply been enjoying your irritations for a few misconceptions. I apologize. I could have easily freed you of your ideas, but I couldn’t resist the joy of feeling my importance for you.”

(What is he saying? What misconceptions did Payel have? Curious i went on )

“What misconceptions I am talking about would soon cleared off. But first let me get down to the most important thing I have to say to you. I have tried to say it in different ways as you might have already seen my scribbling in the previous pages, but I think finally I have got the right way.”

"You remember the movie Forest Gump?"

(What! Forest Gump is most important to him! Raj must be completely out of his mind!)

“Forest Gump, the first movie we saw together.”

(I couldn’t believe this. That was our first movie together, not with Payel. I felt so upset. He shared our special moments with someone else, moreover he lied about it! I was really hurt this time. Fine, let me see what else he has shared)


“Reminding you one of dialogues from the movie “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get””

He continued:

“There is a box below, which hides a little treasure for the both of us.If you want to know what you gonna get, just open it.”

There was an envelope glued to the end of the page.

Raj had always innovative ways of expressing his concerns and I knew something great would be in there. But I felt so wretched, he watched Forest Gump with Payel ! I had always believed, those were the little special things we shared, and was locked in between us. I felt perhaps a bit jealous, well not just a bit but hugely jealous. It was like I have finally lost my best pal and perhaps a bit more.

I outlined the borders of the envelope with my finger, not daring to open it , hundreds of thoughts passing my mind. Finally I lifted the lid of the envelope, part of a photograph peeped out of the envelope. With a final sigh I pulled it out.

What i saw there,I was dumbfounded, completely numb. With disbelieving eyes I looked on to the photograph, I was staring at my own face , with Raj at my side. It was a photograph we had taken on our first college fest. I didn’t know what to feel.I just kept staring.

There was a little note at the bottom of the picture which said “Turn Around”.
I turned the picture around, it said,

“You never gonna know what you get , until you open the box.”

And below that in bold were the three words

“I Love You.”

[To all my readers, please let me know how you liked the story. Also you have the option to critisize with valid reasons.
Please also let me know if you find that any part needs change according to you.All kinds of feedback are welcome as i intend to work on the feedback and update my story.
Thanks]