When he said, “YOU MAKE STAYING IN LOVE EASY!”

“Good Morning Edward!” I said in a cheerful voice.

“Good Morning Veronica!” He sounded low

“How are you today?” I asked him

“I am good!”

“Uhuh and why not great? Did something happen with Alicia?”

“No, not really!”

“Then? Did something happen with Rose or Margo?”

“You make it sound like I have 3 girlfriends”

“Come on, everyone knows you, Rose and Margo are three musketeers, even Alicia. She, BTW is the coolest person on the Earth. You should be grateful.”

“That I am”

“Then tell me what happened? Something with Harry perhaps?”

“No!”

“Okay then…” saying this I started arranging papers on the table

“Hey Ver…”

“Yes Ed?”

“I…”

“You?” I wasn’t looking at him but was busy arranging papers. When I looked up, he was staring right at me. “Is everything okay? Do you need to talk?”

“I am…” he Sighed

“Whenever you are ready! We have all the time in the world and I am right here,” I smiled at him

“Never mind!” he replied

“Okay now you are scaring me kid, just spit it out,” I said

He retorted, “I am not a kid,” and I rolled my eyes in irritation. After a few seconds of me ignoring him, he said, “Fine. Something is bothering me.”

“Ummm…okay, what is it?”

“You Know Ver, you say that people don’t fall in love with you at first sight. But I guess that’s okay, because while they might not fall in love with you at first sight; eventually they do. And when they do, they stay.”

“First of all — WHAT? And secondly WHY THE HELL ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THAT?”

“Because I want you to know that you make staying in love with you easier. A man would never fall out of love with you. He might say that he has moved on but I don’t think that is possible. And the irony is that is the hardest part of the relationship — STAYING IN LOVE.”

“But why are talking about this Edward?”

“Because I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about it!”

“Come on Ed…”

“You come on Ver…”

“Fine, then tell me if what you are saying is true, then how come I have had two breakups? My first relationship itself should have been successful…”

“Maybe the past version of you wasn’t easy to deal with but the girl who is standing in front of me is certainly someone who makes staying in love easier. After knowing you and after spending time with you, it is impossible to not fall in love with you,” saying this much he smiled.

“Then how come the man I am in love with, hasn’t fallen in love with me?” I said looking directly into his eyes

“That man is a biggest idiot on the planet!” he said

I laughed, “No, not really! He is extremely cute and might I add: DISCERNING. And he has this quality of innocence about him which one doesn’t find often, these days. In fact this quality of his is too rare to find.”

“Where is he? In India?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I am curious.”

“I wish I could tell you…”

“Please…”

“Well I cannot say whether he is in India or not, but what I CAN tell you is he is with someone and looks like he truly is in love with that girl. So, maybe I’ll have my chances with him in next life.”

“Don’t wait up, move on from him. You deserve someone who knows what he has, when he has you!”

“Like Ross and Rachel?” I asked him

“Yes, like Ross and Rachel!”

“If only I were that lucky…”

“He is an unlucky dumb-ass”

“That he is. And I am not going to wait for him, but I am not actively looking for anyone either. If someone will come along the way and court me nicely, I’ll say YES,” I said smiling at him

“I am glad! No man is worth a heartache for women,” he smiled back at me

“Do you realize this is the first time we made a prolonged conversation?”

“I do, and I wonder why didn’t we do it before?” He looked at me

“How should I Know? You never came up to me to talk.”

“Well, I should have, I am sorry. Give me a chance to change that?”

“Apology accepted,” I smiled

“And let us please…please make conversation from now on!”

“Uhuh, and why?”

“Because I like talking to you,” he said smiling

“You do?”

“Yeah, it is easy and flawless and not tiresome,” he said and I laughed. “And on the top of that you are good to look at!”

“What?” I laughed

“You look beautiful ma’am,” he said bowing.

“Thank you kind sir,” I bowed in courtesy too. I continued, “But have you thought that while it is easy to talk to me right now and you feel that the conversation is flawless, it might not always be the case?”

I poured myself a cup of coffee.

“Well, nothing stays same throughout, but as I said you make staying in love with you, extremely easy.”

“Excuse me!” I said widening my eyes

“…in our case…you make staying in friendship easy!” he added

“For a second there, I was like WHAT?”

“No, no, don’t worry, Alicia is perfect for me,” he said and I smiled. I turned around to grab the stirrer from the drawer.

“But you know there will be times when I will disappoint you!” I complained

“Yeah and so will I, but the best part about being friends with you, is we won’t ever give up on each other.”

“You tend to think too highly of me, makes me nervous. Because I do tend to withdraw from people from time to time, no matter how close they are. I need time off of my parents too.”

“Me too. So I wouldn’t complaint about you not being there for me all the time. Even I will remain absent from your life from time to time, but I guess that is okay.”

“Well, I will try to be available for you whenever I can which would be 95% of the time, I promise. And you’ll have my shoulder and my ears.”

“I know…I have seen you with TOM. He is always praising you as to how amazing you are and that you are a perfect best friend material.”

“That’s because he hasn’t seem my ugly side yet. And BTW he talks about me?” I said wiggling my eyebrows and smirking.

“Seriously?”

“What? I like being praised by someone, especially him. I find him cute.”

“You moved on from that guy too easily?”

“No I did not move on, but even I like being desired. Who doesn’t? Plus that guy will forever be in my heart but I have to move him to attic, if I have to make space for someone in living room.”

“Wow your analogies…I have become fan of them.”

“In India we talk like this. For example, if a toxic person leaves our lives, we say, “JHAAD GAYU NE JAGYA THAI” means the three was cut and the space was created…for something better!”

“You Indians are extremely cute.”

“That we are…but we were talking about TOM talking about me, so let’s continue that. What else does he say?”

He just laughed. I continued, “Okay, if you won’t tell me, I won’t become friends with you.”

“Well, you cannot resist me. I can see it in your eyes that I am on my way of becoming your favorite person.”

“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes at him but still smiled

“Don’t worry, you already are my favorite person.”

“Then would you please tell me what he says about me?”

“Someone is excited to know”

“Who knows he might be the potential man for me?”

“I am feeling bad for that crush of yours”

“You don’t need to, he will always be in my heart but I want to get married and have kids, and if it is happening with TOM, I am sure as hell not saying NO. After all I might be in love with someone but I can always try and love TOM — won’t be that hard. Besides he does look like someone who would cuddle with me with clothes on.”

“Cuddle with clothes on — means?”

“I would explain to you if you tell me what TOM says about me.”

“I can’t.”

“Then even I can’t,” I showed him tongue. He showed me tongue too. I started making faces at him and he did the same.

“Tell me what do you mean by cuddle with clothes on?”

“Means sex is good, but we don’t always have to have sex, to be with each other. We would love each other despite that.”

“You mean like a platonic love.”

“Exactly”

“Even I can have that”

“Have you tried that with Alicia?” I asked and he kept quiet. Before I could ask him anything further, everyone arrived and he backed off.

I received the text from him saying

“Lt’s contn dis convo whn v r alone”

I looked at him and blinked and smiled. He smiled back.

I kept my phone in the pocket and sat next to Tom tucking my hair behind my ear. I could see someone staring at me, it made me blush. But when I looked up, for the first time I noticed another pair of eyes staring at me, too. Looks like storm is raging towards us. Who knows how many hearts it has potential of breaking!!!