A Mistaken Love!

It was on 8th of June, 2004, that I got imprisoned in the world of "Love". I found myself no better than a thief who had stolen ‘Her’ bread, and hidden in the dark and friendly corners of the night.
I was only a little boy studying in tenth standard oblivious to the craziness of Love. My heart went on roaming with no definite or perfect destination. In due course of time, I met glamorous Soelzom, a former school mate. I felt something very unusual after seeing her or I would rather say I got completely carried away by her beautiful and divine figure! “Why only now?” I pondered over as to why I had no feelings for her while our four years of stay in the previous school. And quickly I figured out an answer: “It is all about the ‘right’ time, which without doubt is today!” On that day in the summer sun, the nameless yearnings filled my soul. She was so congenial to me, and subsequently the handful of my heart went to her. I being an innocent boy having little idea that the body is like a bubble, and the mind like the wind having no origin or nature, had gathered all the strength that I needed, and revealed my love to her on the blissful Tuesday afternoon, the 8th of June through my trusted and childhood friend Wangmo.
It was my ever first experience to be entered into that world, and my friends were equally shocked to see me entering. Although majority of my friends were in disfavor of my latest development, Wangmo supposedly the trusted of all friends, showed no restrictions at all, and by then I had already fallen in love with Soelzom. But Soelzom took no initiative in reciprocating to my love note, and she only kept on giving me an angelic and captivating smile. The periodic winks of her just turned to a powerful device making me even crazier day after day. Thereupon, I came to know that the love is such a powerful thing which fills our heart, yet our hearts are incapable of making that power. Her absence would doom and darken all the beauties of life.
When everybody was busy studying for BCSE (Bhutan Certificate of Secondary Education) examinations, I was the only one begging for the love. In the classroom, I would always sit near the windows looking for her. To my helpless friends, I was one hell of a sick and a mad boy struggling for a girl who didn’t even bother to respond a note. Qualifying for college was entirely the least of my concerns, and what it mattered most to me was getting her in my life! Ten odd days passed with neither a word of acceptance nor rejection from her. Though the delayed response indirectly hinted a negative reply, I couldn't take it as granted. Only if I were not so foolish, I would have given it up that day itself, instead I chose to fight yet another losing battle as I sent the second note on the gloomy Friday afternoon, the 18th of June.
Every morning, I would wake up with a renewed hope, and head to the class expecting a note or at least a verbal reply. In fact, I would always look forward for the morning assembly as it provided me a safe refuge from where I could draw her eye contacts, and breathtaking smiles. But day and night, I waited eagerly expecting a reply from her like a poor Buffalo once waited for salt from a smarter Yak who, legend has it, had borrowed the thick fur of Buffalo and gone to Tibet with a promise to return soon, but never turned up. Even Wangmo didn't have anything good or bad to share about, other than comforting me to be patient as she was seen preparing for exams, and that she could not find time to reply. With such speculations, she left me alone like an empty bottle deserted by a drunkard. The only difference was she wasn't a drunkard, but an angel!
Although I was heavily wounded, my pretense of having a normal life without any problems kept my friends out of notice. I still believe that I may not have suffered that much had she told me the truth right away. Instead of telling me the truth, she kept everything muted, but continued showering me with her lovely smile every now and then. To a heartbroken person like me, there existed hardly any words having the required power to console my wounded heart. Out of desperations, numberless chits were sent to her which they only proved themselves no better than the mere wasted papers dumped into a garbage bin.
I couldn't predict or guess whether fortunate or unfortunate the day was when I finally got a piece of paper with a few words neatly scripted on it on the fateful day-the 6th of July. She had sent me a wishing card for the midterm exam as well. “Still then, I love you too,” reads a deep red wishing card bearing a picture of Roses. I couldn’t believe my eyes, as I slid it under my pillow without anybody else’s notice. “‘Still then,’ did she mean to write ‘till then’? Or did she really mean it at all?...? …or…?” debated with a train of thoughts. Although I cursed myself for being too judgmental of the word “Still”, I felt confirmed that she was only for me, as I was for her. I had a tough time concentrating on studies with my mind always flooded by her images. I never missed a chance to glance at her whenever and wherever opportunities came knocking in. How so miracle that I could even recognize her in the darkest of the nights among the hundreds of girls?!

The “ship” which was indeed on a voyage of my life sailing smoothly for a while, however, met with unforeseen strong waves that engulfed the “ship”, and left submerged! Just a week ahead of the trial run examinations, in the hostel room of Nangkor School where I had stationed for studying, there came the closest friend of mine Karma, a jolly and not very tall but a guy packed with humor comes in wearing a caring face. I knew he had got something new to say, and yeah in fact he had got more to say than I had ever anticipated: "Hi Chophel, did you know that Soelzom is a girlfriend of Rigdhen, not yours? They are so crazily in love with each other. I’m sorry, but you better give up the love!!!"

Note: The original story was written in the year 2005, and all names are changed to maintain the confidentiality of the people involved. I tried to maintain the originality with minimal corrections, so bear with the grammatical errors.
Picture credit to Google!
My original story title was "A Virulent Love", but my editor prefered the present one. Thanks editor!