Silent Song of the Heart!

Sitting under a chestnut tree she was lost in her own reverie; the coffee and the sandwiches lay there untouched on the smooth picnic cloth. It was a calm afternoon as the sun was subtle and the winds too blew almost quietly whispering amidst the deep hills. Some rabbits were busy playing hide and seek in the green lush bushes whilst the squirrels were busy gathering their nuts.

 It was not after sometime that her spell broke and she felt a familiar presence. Lifting her eyelids she stared at the most beautiful pair of dark brown eyes that were gleaming and equally gazing at her and lips that had a smile playing on them.

She was stupefied for a moment and fluttered her eyelashes when it dawned on her that she was not dreaming but he was here in reality. No pleasantries were exchanged as he made himself comfortable across her, pouring some coffee fending himself. He didn’t know if it was just a habit or on purpose that she always carried an extra cup of coffee or even meals with her, though he was rarely able to join her. Yet he liked this fact about her and it allured him all the more.        

Her cheeks had a tinge of red that glowed with her creamy skin, her big almond shaped hazel eyes peered in his and her petal like lips adorned a smile gracing his presence. Unlike other days today she wore a yellow summer dress, the one he liked and her hair were French braided and set on one side of her shoulder leaving the other bare.  

Silence was their ally at this present moment and they were comfortable with it though on certain days it irked her but bemused him seeing her usual calm self seething in anger. He waited patiently for her to break the hush that echoed. He was ideating her possible reaction when she suddenly spoke.

“It’s been long, isn’t it Nathan that we met like this?” she asked in a placid voice laced with sarcasm. He was neither shocked at her question nor her choice of tone but it did puzzle him.

“Almost six months to be precise”, he replied and fell silent. They had known the other since mid school yet it was a strange kind of relation between them neither were they friends nor lovers. It was not a matter of acknowledgement but escapism not from each other but oneself. It was rather weird that even now they studied in the same university but their paths hardly collided. She was training to be a psychologist whereas he was pursuing sailing. They were oddly different yet similar. 

“I missed you, Kate”, he spoke coming out of his thoughts. She was taken by surprise not by his words but with the intensity and depth of them. She knew what he meant nonetheless she replied, “You miss only those you forget, did you forget me?” throwing a question back at him before continuing “I didn’t miss you Nathan, I remembered you every waking second of my life.” The words took time to sink in and when they did he realized how vulnerable and attached they were to the other. Time, distance and even silence couldn’t separate them. That misunderstandings did rise but not at the cost of their relationship; it was not just friendship or mere romance that strengthened their bond but true companionship.

It was then that he spoke, “How can I forget? Can one forget to breathe and live!” her eyes grew moist for a moment as she interlaced her fingers with his resting her head on his heart.

Then all faded but the symphony of the serene heartbeats. 

-Fatima