Love is as love does

It was a rainy day intercepted by thunder. Far above the clouds , he could see the sun .The hint of sunlight and the rain together made for a wonderful afternoon. He was all alone in the house. Today on account of a bad headache , he had taken half day off. Something was bothering him but he couldn't really understand what it really was that was making him this uneasy . He checked the date on his newly bought VAIO laptop. There was nothing special about the day. It was a usual Thursday like any other Thursday of the week. The kids were away at school . The oldest one was on a college trip to Malta.
Over time he had made himself believe that he was a happy man. 'Happily married' to a lovely girl ,was a father at the age of 28 , made pots of money , built a huge house in the most posh locality of Delhi ,his parents doted on him ,his younger sister looked upto him , he was a hero to his children - in other words he had everything one would have wished for in life...well almost.
But that headache was getting on his nerves. He knew he was restless and not knowing what it was that was playing in some corner of his mind was even more annoying. He sat down to watch tv with a glass of red wine.

'Tv is full of shit loads of crap these day', he told himself that . Maybe music would be a better idea . He walked upto to his cd rack and started looking through the cds. Old music from his good old days is what he was looking for .

Suddenly he saw a cd which said 'Best of the 90s-Only for you' He couldn't believe it ! How the hell was that cd still with him !!! All he could remember was leaving it in his parents house . Maybe his younger sister brought it here. Clueless about how it got here , he decided to listen to it anyway. After all he was all by himself today.
Track 1 - Everything I do , I do it for you played . He smiled .
This was the song hé used to sing for her each time they would fight. It was always he who had to make up for the fights.
Track 2-Tears in Heaven . He remembered how he had dedicated this song to her in their college festival.
Track 3-November Rain. This was the song , they'd always sing together riding together on his bike.
Track 4- Killing me Softly. As soon as this song started playing , he could visualise her face , her tears -the ones she cried when he was leaving for America to study.

This was too much . He had to throw that cd right out of the window. He was a man of principles. How the hell could he think of another woman now. A woman he had not seen for the last 15 odd years ! He gasped and gulped down the entire glass of wine .
This was unbelievable ! He wanted to know where she was now. Was she alive ? Was she married ? Who did she marry? Did she have children ? A feeling of jealousy ran through him . 'What the hell ís all this!' , he shouted at himself .

Desperate to hear her , he looked up his old phone book. Dialled some numbers , emailed a few common friends from college . He wasn't sure if they would even remember him after all these years !

And then a miracle happened , a common friend promptly emailed him with her number . This was HER mobile number .
His hands were shaking .He knew he had to hear her voice . Back then , he used to wake up with her phone call and not sleep at night without hearing her voice .
Sweat trickled down his forehead . Gathering all the courage , he dialled the number .
'Change the World'(Eric Clapton) played . Despite all the nervousness , that song made him smile. And then a man answered .

' Is this Shelly's number?', he asked.

'Yes, may I know who is on the line?'

'My name is Sameer...mmm...an old friend from college'

'Sameer..Sameer...Sameer Kumar?'

'No. Sameer Sharma.'

' Oh my God.Sam, is that you ?Sam the genius...is that really you?'

'Yes.But who is this?'

'Sam! This is Raghav. Dude, remember the 3 muskeeters?'

'Raghav...oh my god.Man , where have you been?I tried calling you so many times
after I moved back to India'

'Oh yes , Sam I had a bit of a rough patch.Lost my parents 5 years back.And then
just wanted some time on my own. But now I have bounced back to life and we are
both so happy'

'Both?'

Sameer suddenly remembered that he had called Shelly. Where was she ?

' Yes.I met Shelly 5 years back.She was a big support when I had lost my parents.We decided to get married. We have a 3 year old son'

'Oh. Congratulations.Why didn't you ever tell me?'

'Dude , I wanted to. But we had not heard from you for so many years.Shelly wanted to speak to you before we got married. All her emails kept bouncing back.'

'Shelly...shelly wanted to speak to me before your marriage? You mean she wanted to invite me?'

'Well dude , she didn't marry anyone all those years after your marriage.She couldn't get over you.And then I met her.It did take me a while to convince her.We are both very happy now'

'Well...I am happy for you.'

'Shelly will be so happy to hear from you.Let me call her.Hang on .'

Sameer was speechless.

Without saying bye , he just hung up . He sat on his chair with his eyes closed and heard the sound of the rain.All he could think of was Shelly and how much she used to love getting wet in the rain. She was his lifeline at one point.He realized how she had continued to live with him in his heart all these years, how he had never really forgotten her.

He thought about this moment .He thought about the enormous power that lies in every moment to determine the past, present and future, the then, now and later ... makes one realise how important it is to value each moment, to live it up without looking back in regret or guilt ... to cherish it, as every moment lives only once ... and maybe afterall, we cannot connect all those dots ...

The doorbell rang.His wife was back from work.