Love blooms at Parijatha

LOVE BLOOMS AT PARIJATHA

by

MURALI MURTHY

"We are probably not meant to be together. I would have loved to make this work, but I think I have tried enough. Not sure if It's worth trying any harder to keep us together."

"Please Priya, don't say that. You know how much I love you and how much I need you. You can't give up on us. We can make it work, you know how good we are together."

"I am sorry Avi, I can't lose again, I don't have any more strength left in me to lose one more time."

Priya in her blue jeans, pink floral top, grabs the black stole lying on the sofa, wraps it around and walks away, dragging her trollied luggage bag.
Teary eyed and dejected Avinash sits on the Sofa with his hands on his head.

The Beginning

A dashing, sauve, sophisticated, charming Avinash in his late 30s having well groomed beard, is very particular about his looks and is always well dressed. Avinash with a toned body, hits the Gym thrice a week located within the plush Apartment Complex he lives in. One can observe an elegant looking glass nameplate "Parijatha" right next to his Flat entrance.

Savithri goes around the Apartment and shares with the women folk "Madam, you should see Avinash sir's house...it is so well kept, so elegantly furnished. Minimalist furnishing, white sofa, white bed-sheets, satin silk window and door screens. He keeps the house so clean, I hardly have any work at his house. All I have to do is just wash the utensils, and mop a bit. His wife will be lucky as he does all the work and that too so cleanly, he doesn't even need a maid"

Women drool over Avinash, they all run to their balconies to see him walk out of the building in style, wearing a black sunglass, blue denim jeans, white T Shirt and a Slim fit jacket, as he walks into his Black XUV and drives out with a smile, greeting everyone around.

Avinash is a freelance architect and an interior designer - a popular & successful one.

Avinash is hired to design the layout of a niche event, for an international Food festival by Taj Hotel.
He is introduced to Priya, who is a Food blogger and a photographer. Priya is hired to write articles on the Event. As Avinash is a true professional and wants to do his best, he requests the organizers to let him work with Priya to understand the Hotel industry and the Food industry, to better design and plan the Event.
Both spend time at the hotel discussing the Event, and do their best to ensure the Event goes flawless.
End of the Event, the Hotel Management laud the meticulously planned and tastefully designed event by Avinash, and the beautiful photographs and impressive articles written by Priya.

Avinash feels happy and good each time he is around Priya.
Avinash starts to feel distracted, Priya is always in his thoughts, he starts to smile more often, his urge to be with her, see her keeps making him restless.

He knows he is being silly and kiddish, but he can't stop himself following her, just to catch a glimpse of her, without her noticing him.
As his restlessness grows, he hatches a plan to bump into her "accidentally". As he now knows her daily schedule, he walks in to a Coffee Shop where Priya meets her friends every Saturday. He walks past her table "Hey, Priya!"

"Hey Avinash..."

"With friends?"

"Yes...come on, join us"

"Nah, that's ok, I was just here to meet someone and happened to see you. But, if if iff you are free some other time, we can catch up"

"Sure, would love to"

"Same place, tomorrow?"

"Great...c ya Avinash"

A blushing Avinash starts to walk out of the shop and Priya waves at him with a Big smile "Avinash....good to see you again man". Avinash cant stop smiling and blushing and waves her back and makes his way out. While Priya gets back to her table, all her friends jump up their seat and exclaim "Priya!!! Who is that!!?? He is so handsome...Whatsup???"

"He is just from work...met him couple of times...now close your mouth and stop staring at him"

Avinash and Priya meet next day same place.
Avinash in his usual style, walks in with a bright smile. Taking off his Black shades, with White Lilly flower bouquet in another hand, he walks up to Priya and greets her "You look gorgeous"
A smiling Priya and in a naughty tone "Thanks, what's all this? Is this supposed to be a Date or something?"
"Well, lets see how this meet goes...we will decide if it was a date, by the end of it!" a calm and composed Avinash pulls the chair and makes Priya comfortably seated.

"Impressive...are you always a gentlemen, being nice with mannerisms with every woman? Or you are trying to impress me?"

A blushing Avinash with a soft laugh opens the Menu asks Priya "What will you have?"

"What are you having?"

"I will have a Ethiopian coffee"

"Ok, I will also have the same"

"So, you stay with your family?"

"Nope, I am from Mangalore, and parents live there...I stay alone here in Bangalore"

"Ok, so single is it?"

"Yep, single"

Avinash's phone rings and he excuses himself and takes couple of steps away from the table and speaks on the phone.
A tense looking Avinash comes back and sits looking worried "What happened? All Ok?"

"Something important has come up...I need to send a Plan to my client urgently...the details are in my Laptop at home"

"So, you have to go now?"

"Yes, I am sorry, I am such a jerk...I called out for this meet and this has come"

"Oh...so you are going to leave me alone and go? What do I do now, I had cancelled my all other plans" Priya in a sarcastically sad tone.

"I am sorry, I am extremely sorry...hey, if you don't mind, you can come along to my place, I will quickly send the mail and we can head out to some other place"

"Okay, sounds good to me"

"Sure?"

"Yep, let's go"

Parijatha - The abode

Avinash opens door for Priya while she gets in his car, and they reach Avinash's apartment, he opens the door for Priya and helps her out.

"Parijatha...nice.."

Avinash smiles as he opens the door "Thanks, welcome to my humble Abode"

"So, this is where Mr. Avinash lives, nice."

As Priya starts rolling her eyes all around with a surprised look on her face "Wow, this is some home...beautiful, never seen such a elegant home..."

"Thanks, please make yourself comfortable, have a seat, I will get my Laptop"

"No wonder you are a great designer and architect, suits your personality as well...it's so clean, who else stay here?"

"No one, I stay alone...I am from basically from Hubli, but dad moved to Mumbai and settled there, so I am practically a Mumbaikar"

"Cool, married?"

Avinash while typing on his Laptop, looks up and responds with a straight face "Nope"

"Hmm...interesting, why so? You are successful, smart and bloody handsome..and old enough to be married?"

"Haha...Thank you and yes, I am old enough, to be precise, I am 39...parents have given me the choice"

"And you haven't found anyone yet?? I am sure many women will be behind you, and wooing this charming Man"

"Super...I am done with my work...I am sorry for disturbing the plans and wasting your time. My apologies if I made you uncomfortable asking you to come along"

"Don't worry, if I was uncomfortable, I wouldn't have agreed to join you."

"Thanks, shall we head out? It's already 7.30, Maybe we could head to a restaurant for Dinner if you are ok?"

"Nope, I like it here...this wind, the balcony, your home..it's all so pleasant in here. We can stay here and probably order for food home?"

"I am cool with that, I will Swiggy some Pizzas"

"Alright, will you have coffee, tea, juice?"

"Coffee should be good"

Avinash prepares two piping hot filter coffees, served in traditional copper cups...Priya smiles at him. "What?"

"Nothing....so you were telling why you aren't married yet?"

"No specific reason, I was into 3 relations but things didn't work out...each of them wanted something else in life and our frequencies didn't match, so I guess the search is still on"

"Hey, what's with Parijatha?"

"I like Parijatha flower, I love it's fragrance. And it's my favourite colour as well - White! And there is one more reason...My mom is Parimala and dad's name is Jagannath. They even today fondly call each other Pari and Jath."

"Aah...ok. your looks, image and the way you present yourself doesn't show this side of yours"

"Thanks. How come such a beautiful, attractive woman still single?"

"Well, I have been married once, things didn't go as planned and had to walk out of the marriage"

"Oh, am sorry"

"Don't be...it was my choice to walk out"

"Okay, hope it was not very unpleasant and troubled marriage"

"Many say I made a mistake by walking out of the marriage, and if I tell you the reason, even you might judge me"

"No, not at all. Share it only if you are comfortable"

"It was all hunky dory in the beginning...I had no interest in the marriage itself in the first place, still parents pushed me into it. But after couple of years, I thought the magnet had lost it's power, we were trying way too hard to be together...which I didn't want to"

"Hmm....any kids?"

"Nope, Rajesh wanted kids, but I was not ready yet..basically Rajesh was a good guy, but that was not enough to sustain the relation. He blamed me and accused me of having trust issues, commitment issues for not planning a baby and also to walk out of the marriage"

The door bell rang and the delivery boy had the Pizza boxes delivered. Both sat in the Balcony and had their Pizzas.

"Thanks for the Pizza Party, I guess I will make a move.."

"No problem...thanks for the company. Let me drop you home"

"No, don't sweat, I will book an Ola"

"No, I insist, I will drop you home"

The moment

It was a typical Bangalore weather - cool, slight drizzle as they both sat with an awkward silence through out the drive. While Avinash had a smirk on his face, Priya constantly kept gazing the rain through the window, while playing with her pendant and leaning her head on the window glass. Avinash wasn't playing any music in his car. All they could hear was the rain drops, water splashes and the sound of the windshield wiper going up and down.

The only conversation they had during the entire 45 minutes drive was Priya giving directions to her home.
After reaching the place, Avinash quickly comes out and takes out his jacket and opens door for Priya. As Priya gets out of the car, he covers Priya's head with his jacket and both rush towards Priya's house.
Both are drenched and starts to laugh out loud as Priya takes out the house keys from her purse.

"Alright then, bye, thanks again for your time"

"No...Thank you for giving me this wonderful time, I really had a good time, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening"

"Pleasure is mine. I am really sorry for..." Priya surprises Avinash by planting a strong kiss on his mouth. Avinash with his eyes wide open is taken aback, surprised and blushing as red as a tomato.

"Bye, go now"

"I don't want to go now...Priya.."

"Avinash, you need to go now...go..." She pushes him in the rain.

"So, does it qualify to be a Date then?"

"I guess so, atleast it ended like one....bye" Priya walks in and shuts door with a naughty smile.

Avinash's emotions were out of control, he was in cloud 9. He happily walks back to his car and completely soaked, starts driving back. He kept smiling, blushing and laughing all through. He didn't know how to control himself, his thoughts were going wild. All the confused emotions he had piled up over the last couple of weeks starts to play in front of him.

Next day evening, Priya gets a call from Avinash "Hello there"

"Hey Priya"

"Whatsup?"

"Can we meet Priya?"

"Okay...when?"

"Now?"

"like...Now now?"

"Yes, can you please come out?"

"Out where? Don't tell me you are here near my office!"

"I am"

"Oh...give me 15 minutes, will wrap up and come down...wait at the Lounge"

As Priya hurriedly climbs down the stairs, Avinash stands and watches in awe, as Priya walks out swaying, setting her hairs, on a white Chudidhar and Orange dupatta "What??"

"Can I take you out? Need to talk to you"

Priya holds his hand and drags him to a Cafe right next to her office building...Avinash just continues to keep staring at Priya, as she walks in the front leading him along.
As they both sat at the Cafe "Whats all this? Aah?"

"You tell me Priya. Whats happening with us?"

"Whats 'us' now? What are you thinking?"

"What am I thinking?? What happened yesterday?"

"What happened yesterday was just a great time together, and that's it"

"That's it!? Priya, I couldn't sleep yesterday night...I was only thinking about you"

"Avinash calm down, tell me clearly What's going on"

"Priya, something happened yesterday...and it was magical"

"It was just good, well spent evening Avinash...if you are referring to that Kiss, it just happened, don't read much into it"

"Priya, it was not just a kiss...I could feel it, we had a moment...the drive to your place, the goodbye kiss all were so intimate and beautiful"

"Yes, it was intimate...but momentary, call it a recoil. It was just an expression of my happiness for the time we had"

"No, it wasn't just that, don't underplay what happened between us"

"Stop calling 'us', there's no 'us' here. Look Avinash, I am ofcourse attracted to you. You are very handsome, desirable. Your mannerisms, the way you treat women, your personality all are so magnetic, and you know women are attracted to you, so am I. But that doesn't mean you..."

"Can you stop doing that!"

"Stop what?"

"Playing with your hairs, setting your hairs ... it's so bloody distracting, I lose my mind everytime you do that. Feels like grabbing you and kissing you"

"Avinash..I don't know what to say...didn't expect this from a strong, confident, matured Man like you, you are acting like a infatuated teenager"

"Priya, I am feeling strange...I am emotional and lost. I am only thinking of you all the time, I want to be with you, talk to you, touch you, feel you, see you...I don't know. And all these are not happening only since yesterday, it's since the first day I saw you, 2 months ago. Even after Taj event, I secretly kept seeing you everyday"

"Seriously, daily??"

"Yes, whenever I felt like seeing you, I used to follow you in stealth mode...infact when we met 'accidentally' at the Cafe yesterday, was also staged as I knew you are going to be there"

"Avinash, though I am touched with your emotions and equally attracted to you, this can't happen..I am sorry" a weeping Priya picks her purse and barges out.

The Love Blooms

A week passed by, and they both didn't call or message each other, though both were still disturbed and emotional.
Next Sunday Priya hears the knock on the door, and finds no one in front of the door. She only finds the White Lilly flower bouquet at the doorstep, with a note that read "Care for a piping hot filter Coffee at Parijatha? Your drive and the chauffeur are waiting outside for you"
Priya giggles and gets inside the house to quickly change her dress, gets ready and comes out to see Avinash standing besides his car holding the door open. She smiles, gives a small tap on his cheeks and sits in the car. They both reach Parijatha and sit at their favourite spot - balcony, sipping on the Coffee.

"So, what now? Still in the same mode?"

"I am in Love with you Priya, and you know it."

"Yes, I saw love in your eyes for me...but what I have on you is only attraction. You know my story, you know my past, I don't know what you found in me that made you fall in love. And more over we just met 2 times."

"If you could only see yourself through my eyes, you would know how special you are and how lovely you are"

"Wow, I am sure you will make me fall in love with you by saying such nice things"

"I am not just saying, I mean it. I love you, I need you...Priya....will you...will you marry me?"

Priya spills the Coffee cup on the floor, gets up in shock, angry and upset "Avinash...stop it, just stop there...you are crossing the line" and starts crying loudly. Avinash comes closer to her, holds and hugs her tight and caresses her head. Priya calms down after couple of minutes of crying and gathers herself "Avi, I really like you. I must be very lucky to find a guy like you. But I am not right for you, I already had a past. You can find much younger, attractive girl for yourself....though I am almost the same age as you, there is a difference. Don't waste your time and life with me. I am bad for you."

"Priya, I understand ..probably I rushed in a little way too early. But the fact is I am madly, truly, deeply in love with you."

On hearing this Priya melts and gives herself to Avinash. He picks her up in his arms, carries her to the bedroom. Both make intense, passionate love...
Tucking to her tightly on the bed, Avinash goes "Priya, I know you are uncomfortable to get into marriage, atleast not now, I respect that and will leave it for you to decide. But, you know there is a strong connect between us and we are great with each other. Why don't you move in with me?"

"You mean, Live In?"

"Yes...we both can spend time together, know each other better and then later we will see where this is headed towards"

"Okay, what will happen after we start to live together?

"I don't know, but all I know is I will find new reasons to love you, new things to love you for, and find out why I love you so much"

A happy and emotional Priya says "Ok, so Live In it is...haha"

"Oh yeah..."

"So, is this all about intimacy?"

"Yes, intimacy, passion, love, romance, you, me, us...that's what it's going to be...I am excited"

"I am scared you will hypnotize me with all such sweet, nice talks"

"Hey, did you call me Avi back there?"

"Yes, I will call you Avi...I like it that way"

"I like it too....what do I call you?"

"Call me Priya.."

Priya moves in to Parijatha, they both are happy, in love.

Reality Bites

It's been 3 months now, they like each other's company, and Avinash really feels good about this. They find that they are compatible in lot of areas, though cleanliness and keeping house in order is becoming the irritating point between them.
Yet, they both feel they are becoming best friends, having amazing conversations each day, cuddling and sharing intimate and romantic moments.

On a Sunday afternoon, when both of them are cuddling on the Sofa, watching TV, Avinash asks Priya "Priya, I am addicted to you, as I feel super happy with you around. My entire being lights up seeing you with me all the time, I can't wait to get back home to be in your arms, to be with you."

"Same here Avi. I like your company, I like this. I like this sexual attraction we have for each other, this is beautiful and love the way you take care of me"

"As we celebrate 3 Months of our journey together, I intend to be with you like this forever. I want to be in a long-term, permanent emotionally fulfilling relationship"

A visibly upset Priya "Avi, please don't start again"

"I know you wouldn't want to talk about this. But I want you as my Wife. I want to get old with you"

"Avi, I can understand your feelings and wants. But I have tread that path already and this is all I can be for you, this is all I can give for you. Please don't expect more from me"

"Why don't you want to marry me? You know how beautiful we are together, you know how I feel about you"

"Enough Avi" Priya gets up, walks in to the room and shuts the door.

Avinash goes out to meet his friends in the noon when he comes back in the evening, he is aghast and horrified to see Priya dressed up with a luggage bag next to her.."We are probably not meant to be together. I would have loved to make this work, but I think I have tried enough. Not sure if It's worth trying any harder to keep us together."

"Please Priya, don't say that. You know how much I love you and how much I need you. You can't give up on us. We can make it work, you know how good we are together."

"I am sorry Avi, I can't lose again, I don't have any more strength left in me to lose one more time."

Priya in her blue jeans, pink floral top, grabs the black stole lying on the sofa, wraps it around and walks away, dragging her trollied luggage bag.
Teary eyed and dejected Avinash sits on the Sofa with his hands on his head.

Still unable to digest that Priya is going away, Avinash gathers himself together and runs down as Priya sobbing and trying to book a Cab. He grabs her phone and begs her to come back home "Please Priya, just come home, let's talk...it need not end like this. We are much more matured and love each other enough to handle this in a better way" he drags the luggage bag in one hand, and holds her hand in the other and take her back home.

"Avi, I am not the one for you. I can never be your Wife, I have given whatever I had for you"

"What troubles you Priya? We are emotionally, physically, intellectually compatible. Marriage is the next logical step in our relation, am I expecting too much?"

"I have already been there, and I have failed once. I can't do this again, let this be the way it is now"

"How long? How long do you want us to be in Live In relation, with absolutely no clarity on future, this can't be temporary, I love you way too much to call it temporary"

"Things will fade Avi, we will start fighting, we will stop loving each other"

"No, why should it be like that. I am not Rajesh, and every relation will not be same. We are more grounded and resilient, to withstand any fights and conflicts"

"Avi, everything looks rosy in this honeymoon period of relation, trust me, it will not be same forever"

"As a couple, we will find ways to keep ourselves together, don't worry, we can do it together, just be with me and nurture 'us'. Let's continue to be the way we are...now forget what happened today and let's get back to normalcy"

Priya hesitantly agrees and stays back. But that was an obvious crack on the wall. Avinash soon realizes Priya Indeed has Commitment issues, whenever he talks about long term relationship and marriage, Priya gets irritated and tends to walk away from the situation.

As such episodes of Priya walking away repeats, Avinash convinces everytime her to stay back in his home and in his life, but only after promising Priya that he will not talk about marriage again.
He tries to explain Priya that she has Commitment Issues, which is a problem that makes her Panic, can be addressed with some help and working together. As Priya continues to find it hard to commit, Avinash can't take this temporary love any longer. When the 4th time Priya walks out of Parijatha, Avinash tells Priya "I let you go Priya. All I saw was beautiful life ahead of us together, and I bloody well know we will be good together. I would have made it work, but not by force, not if you don't want it. I would like to help you allay your fears of committing to a relation, but for it to happen, both need to meet mid-way. Thank you for making me a man, thank you for showering so much Love, thank you for teaching me how to love a woman. You were my first woman, first love, you will always be special to me"

Priya plants a kiss on Avinash's cheeks "No body has ever, can never love me the way you have loved me. You can't help me, I have my own mind blocks which can never be changed, my fear will probably never go away. You deserve much better, someone who values your love. Stay blessed!"