only you.... short story 6 part 1

When did it happen? How did it happen?
I think it was when we met at the wedding. I think I knew we would be together always…It was the most awkward time in my life. I was just 18 and so unsure of myself….
and you…you were so confident…
How many hearts did you break with that smile? You were introduced to me by a friend but you had your group of friends…and left me to eating my dinner with my family.
And then when we met for the second time….We spoke. We had so much in common yet we were so different. You didn’t kno anything about Oscar Wilde or how Tess of the D’urbervilles was such a blean and haunting novel. I was impressed that you had read some of the contemprory works of literature. You did know that I liked Bon Jovi and we discussed classic rock when we went to pick up hot jalebis with ice cream…rather you brought me a plate of jalebis wit ice cream. I always smile when I think about how u walked back, with two plates that did no justice to the amount of food it contained, fighting the random crowds. Hey you were supposed to mail me the links with Bon Jovi’s lyrics…what a way to ask for a woman’s e-mail address….
So Pradeep Nair do u still love me after twenty years of marriage? Did you still love me when our marriage was just five years old? Did you know that I have in me a guilty secret that wud turn our mundane yet stable world upside down…
We barely knew each other for 8 months before you propsed to me. I was 23 and I really liked you…did I ever love you? Yes I did. More than I’d loved anyone. I still do. But would you ever want me back?our wedding took place in a temple in kerala. I was so nervous on the day I changed from Shwetha Menon to Shwetha Nair. But setting up a new home in our flat in Bangalore was more challenging…so was getting used to a routine.
Why did u love me Pradeep? You are a software engineer, I’m a PR manager. You are so stable, caring, patient, romantic only in your deeds and not your gestures. You could always cook a dinner when I’m feeling tired or take my tantrums when I was down, or stressed out …..yet not once except when we were going out did you buy me a bouquet of flowers. But does it matter..i know now it does not. I did my part too. I listened to all what happened at the office every evening. I helped you make decisions. I woke up at three in the morning when u couldn’t sleep the night before your job interview with another company, just to give you a cup of hot milk and cover you in a warm blanket….and sleep on the cramped sofa in your arms..the hug that lasted all night.