A familiar sentiment hit me as I entered the street. It had been 14 years since the last time I was here. All the past memories came rushing to me as I entered the complex, the place where I spent the most important years of my childhood, the place where my life changed, the place where I made memories which I didn’t realise then would last for a lifetime, more than anything, the place where I found my true friends and soul mates and the place where I fell in love for the first time.
You never forget your first love, you never forget those butterflies you felt for the first time and you never forget those emotions and feelings that engulfed you. A single note of music or even a faint fragrance can trigger all the emotions back and hit you. That was exactly what I was experiencing as I entered the empty apartment on the sixth floor.
I walked over, stood in the balcony, and looked down. Kids were playing on the swings, some kids running around and laughing and squealing with delight, some ladies were having their mini meeting and chatting away. I smiled at the memory of all of us playing together as kids and running around chasing each other. Every inch of this building was special to me, this was my home.
“Mam, are you sure you want to buy this place?” Riya said “I mean, it is an hour away from office. Moreover this is such a small apartment. We can look for something better than this.”
I smiled at her. I can’t blame her for being concerned, she wasn’t aware of the value of this this apartment for me.
“This is home Riya, I don’t want to take any other place. Call Vivek and finalize this deal. I’ll move in next week”
“But mam, th-”
“Riya. Just do as I say”
“Yes mam” she said and went out to make a call
I stood in the hall, trying to take in everything. It took me 14 years to be able to come back here and 6 years to get this place, and now that I was here, I was running out of patience.
“Ma’am, Vivek will get the papers to office tomorrow. You can move in next week”
“Get in touch with a Movers and Packers company and get everything packed at my place and after the papers are signed tomorrow, get a contractor to give the apartment a facelift”
“Yes Ma’am”
There was a knock on the door “Hi. Are you the new owners of this flat?” I recognised the voice even before I saw the face.
“Not me. But she will be effective tomorrow” Riya responded
I turned around to look at the face attached to the voice and I wasn’t wrong. Gauri. I couldn’t have been wrong about her. She was my confidant, my best friend, my person and I was hers. Whether right or wrong we always stuck together. Always attached to the hip so much so that people thought we were sisters.
“Anika” she took my name
“Oh, you both know each other?”
I smiled as I walked towards her reminiscing our moments together; she stood at her spot and stared at me.
“Hi” I whispered with tears brimming in my eyes.
And then there was a loud noise and I felt a burn as her hand hit my cheek.
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Hi Guys, after being a silent writer for a while, I tried to write an FF earlier, however, that didn’t work out well so I didn’t post it. This is my second attempt to write an FF. Hope you all like it. I would love to read your comments and suggestions 🙂
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