Sabika Thapa-

It’s raining and I can see the water dropping in my window pane. I must get ready for work and I get off my bed yawning. I get ready and finish up my breakfast and I’m off on my way to work. I get to my table at work and it’s the same work and same environment. I’m bored with my monotonous life style. I look around and same face and the same taste of coffee in my table. I think to myself,’ I’m at my late twenties and I don’t have any excitement in my life’. I take a break from work and login to facebook. It’s been quite long since I’ve checked social sites. As soon the page uploads.. Wow! a lot of notification. I check the notification but nothing unusual, It’s games request and page likes and stuffs. Suddenly a friends request comes and I open to see it. I see a guy name Nirnaya. I am a Gemini and I have a restless mind. Lots of thought start to run in my mind. I think to myself ‘ who is this guy?.. Do I know him?.. Shall I confirm the request?.. And suddenly a message pops out from Nirnaya ‘ Hi’. I response to the message saying hello. I stare at the screen thinking ‘ what next’. I check his profile and of course his pictures. His pictures were amazing. A good looking guy with black short hair with fair complexion and little brown eyes to make him look dashing. Then the next message coming from him was, ‘how are you?’ ‘I am fine’ I replied. Same time I tried to see if there is a mutual friend and I see one of my friends from school as mutual friend. I thought maybe he was one the student from school. This way the conversation starts and he was good at talking. I was working but same time I was chatting with Nirnaya. We had a bit formal conversation and I came to know that he wasn’t with me in the school but the mutual friend from my school was just his friend. Day was over and I was back home but a bit excited and curious.

Next day everything was same except for the new friend I had. I logged in again and checked if I had any new message but there wasn’t any new message. A little disappointed feeling came to me but I started to do my daily work. Then a message popped saying ‘ hey’. I pretended if I was busy and did not reply immediately and after couple of minutes I replied ‘hello there’. It was Nirnaya and he told me he was a bit busy this morning. That day the chat started to get a bit informal and we chatted like we were old friends. He told everything about himself that he had just been to Kathmandu a month ago and even I told him not everything but whatever he asked me. My days got a little different. My work seemed interesting and the environment seemed nice and happy. The coffee I drank tasted sweeter and good. I listened to music more time and it was magical feeling. There was frequent message coming with every sip of coffee I drank. We chatted everyday and we laughed on jokes. I went home smiling and everything around me seemed to change. My boring life had changed to something cute and beautiful. I enjoyed every feeling that came to me. I watched his pictures and butterfly flew inside my stomach. After chatting and being friends for couple of months we decided to meet for coffee. I was so excited that I woke up an hour before my usual wake up time. I had to look special today so choosing what to wear almost took an hour. He had told me that I had beautiful eyes looking at my pictures so I tried to put more makeup in my eyes to make it look more beautiful. I straightened my hair and after I was done I looked in the mirror like fifty times. I wanted to look perfect, ‘c’mon it’s a date n I must look perfect’ I thought to myself. We had planned to meet after work so during work we were chatting. I was looking at the watch frequently; more hours passed I started getting nervous. I must say more butterflies in my stomach.

Finally it’s time to go to the café and meet him. I go to the bathroom for my last touch up. Then I was on way to the café. I called him on his cell if he was there already but he said he will be there after ten minutes. I had reached but he wasn’t there so I sat in one of the table. I looked around and the interior was interesting with all antic wooden things. After couple of minutes I looked outside the café through the glass window and there he was coming towards the café. A tall guy wearing denim pant and V neck black tee-shirt. His hair was neatly done and sunglass in his eyes. My heart started beating faster and I felt as if it was going to come out of my chest. I stared at him with wide eyes and with my mouth open like I had seen an alien. When he entered inside I pretended I had not seen him and tried to show that I was checking something in my cell. He came nearer to my table. I was saying to myself ‘Oh gosh! Don’t look’ and I continued watching the photo album in my cell nervously. He came up to me and said’ Hi’. I looked up and smiled and replied ‘ hello! You are here’. I stood up and he gave me a hug. He was a lot taller than me so when he hugged my head reached to his chest and he smelled so nice. He sat opposite to me and said ‘ You look beautiful’ and I said ‘thank you’ smiling. I also told him he looked nice but not showing my excitement. In fact I had thousand butterflies in my stomach that moment. I was sitting calmly. He was talking to me but my mind was thinking how nice he talked and he had those beautiful brown eyes looking right at me and cleaned shaved just like the way I expected. I was smiling as if I understood everything then something stroked my mind. I thought ‘why was I watching album in my cell when he arrived? It was so lame, I should have checked some other application’. Again I drive my mind to his conversation. We drank coffee and talked so much.

Following days we chatted and talked on phone also met for coffee and lunch. We became good friends and we enjoyed each other’s company. After months of meeting and talking an invitation came to my family; a wedding of my cousin. It was wedding season and lots of wedding was going on that month. I told him that for a week I shall not be able to see him and he was ok with it because he said he had a weeding to attend too. So on the wedding day I left with my family wearing a peach colored sari and matching ornaments and make up. At the wedding we met our relatives and cousins and the wedding was going on. Suddenly a lady came up to my mother and said ‘Namaste Bhauju (sister-in-law)’. Her husband and she started talking to my mother and father. I greeted them as well when I was introduced. My mother told me they were my kaka (uncle) and Kaki (aunty). In fact cousin brother of my father. They were saying it had just been few days they had come to the town. Then kaki said their son had come with them for the wedding too and went off to call him. I stood beside my mother looking away at other guest that had come to the wedding. I turned back continuing looking at other people. Then I heard kaki saying ‘this is my son ….’ And before her sentence was completed I turned. There I saw Nirnaya standing next to kaki and then I heard the full sentence; ‘this is my son Nirnaya’. I got shocked and like always with wide eyes and open mouth I stood numb on the ground. He greeted my parents but his eyes focused on me. He looked shocked too. Then kaki continued,’ this is your cousin sister’ pointing at me……..