The Chocolate Queen.

For you champa, without you I would have never tried writing Romance.

This is my very first attempt at romance. So please bear with the language and poor writing style.

Ronak Shah.

He felt like they knew each other for eons. But for him it all began in the fall of 2011. He was medium built, heavily tanned skin and long hairs. He was 18. He was a dropper who’s target was to clear Entrance Test. But something else was written in his destiny. It was a chilly morning. He was climbing down the stairs to reach library. That morning changed everything, his entire world.

On that particular morning she was running late for her school. Aanchal, she was short, slender, fair skinned, had silky soft hair and a smile that pierced many hearts. She was about 16 in age. And their path was about get entwine. She gave a smile to Aditya and passed away. But that smile, that sweetest of the smiles did the magic. Aditya fell for Aanchal after being acquainted to each other for 14 years.

Day and night, night and day he would think about that sweet smile Aanchal gave. Months passed without any signs of progress. All he could do was just see her from a distance and feel happy. He would wait for her to leave her house, notice the time and come back daily only to find that it was an exception. He would wait outside her classes for hours at a stretch just to have a glance at her.

It was sharad Purnima. On that day his society organized DJ and Garba. Aanchal loved to dance and play garba. He was sure that she’d be present there. And hell she was present. Aditya’s heart beat was very high. He had the opportunity to see her for hours and that was the case. He watched her dance and laugh and enjoy for three hours nonstop. He was jealous deep beneath, when he saw her giggling with her friends. He wished she was with him. But success was still a long way down the road. Days passed and became months. Now his love for Aanchal was very powerful. He could go to any extent to show his love for her. One day he wrote Aanchal’s name on his arm and other day he wrote her name all over his book, each and every page of the book. He had printouts of her photograph, which he had downloaded from her Facebook page. He kept it with him hidden away from the world. He wrote in different ciphers so that no one else could read it. He usually wrote in Masonic cipher.

Then came the Holi. The festival of colours. He had made his mind not to play Holi this year. But when he saw Aanchal playing and enjoying with colours he couldn’t stop himself and made a run to the ground. He applied colour on Aanchal’s face. This was the first and the last physical contact they ever had. He kept staring at his hands all the day and smiled to himself it was his best day.

But tides turned. His bad luck began. He failed to make it to the Stanford University, his dream, he worked his ass out for it. But deep within he was happy that he could be with Aanchal. Then he got another shock. He was selected for IIT. He never wanted to join that college, but out of pressure from his parents he joined. He was going to be separated from Aanchal. The pain was too high for him to bare. A silver lining appeared. Aanchal was exchanging her number with a common friend. “Hey give me your number too” Aditya blurted. Finally he had her number. His pain soothed a bit.

It was 21^st  July the day he was going to Ahmedabad, to his new college. His train was a late night one. That entire day he kept crying. No tears. His heart cried. He felt unbearable pain in his chest. He thought he would never see her again. Had that been the case his wounds would have healed. But his destiny kept on bringing him close to her. That day he saw her one last time just before leaving the apartment. He was much happier.

He was in college. Everything seemed normal. He started chatting with Aanchal on whatsapp once he got his new cellular phone. Everything seemed normal but his life was empty. There was an atmosphere around him which was similar to the silence before the storm. It was the day when he was 19yrs and 1day old. It was 23^rd august. They were having their regular chat. When suddenly she asked him

“Any girlfriend?”

The girl he was in love asked her do you have any girlfriend. Well that was a shocking thing for him. He was not able to answer so he replied “No. Cos girls don’t like me. :P”

Her reply was “Hehe. Any crush then?”

Ofcourse you he thought in his mind  “Yeah! But its more than a crush.”

 “Oh So tell me her name na!”

“Well I can’t tell!”

“No, you have to!” She was forcing him. And he can’t say no to the girl he loved.

He called her. “So where are you?”

“On my way home! Please tell me the name of that girl”

“It’s you Aanchal. I have crush on you. I have deep feelings for you”

“O.K.! Listen I’m about to reach home so talk to you on chat”

“Alright”

And once again he did a mistake. On chat she denied him said had no feelings for him. He tried to persuade her but all in vein. He was heart broken. At that time he was on the roof of his hostel. He had great urge to jump off the edge. He resisted with one thought, I want to be with Aanchal. He went back to his room was silent that entire day and the next few days too. His friends detected his change in mood. But no one gave a damn, except one.

“Hey asshole whats wrong with you?” Parth asked Aditya who was staring at a picture of Aanchal on his cellphone.

“Huh. What is it?”

“I asked what’s wrong with you? And why the hell are you staring at that picture?”

“There” and Aditya showed his the entire chat.

“Ahh I see now! You are a fool! Atleast you could have asked someone!”

“Well I asked my sister! She said go for it!”

“Ass you could have asked me or someone from our group! Don’t worry the damage is done but 

we can heal the scars”

And the Parth taught Aditya skills to chat with a girl. Aditya quickly mastered all of them. Within months he now flirted with Aanchal in a manner she could never imagine. He nick-named her CHOCOLATE QUEEN. He complimented her in all the manner possible. Even she started enjoying the chat with him. But it was Aditya. His bad luck would follow him to hell. And so it did.

It was Dasherra, a hindi festival, symbolic of victory of good over evil. But it brought sadness to him. He was back to his home town for a small vacation. He had planned lots of things. He texted Aanchal to meet him. She ignored. He texted again, she ingored again. Finally getting sick of it he typed a long message.

It read “Hey hi… you know na ki m shifting tomorrow! Cos of this wont be able to meet you after Thursday evening! N you know that I wanna meet you n make you CHOCOLATE QUEEN! Pls do spare sometime for me! After Thursday cos in diwali you wont be here and I will come again in December! And that time also you wont be here! So pls try to come and meet me.” Some part was true but majority was a big fat lie. And hence he committed a mistake yet again.

She did reply and the decided to meet at a mall in the locality. He reached before time bought some chocolates for here. Some biggies. She reached at about 4.34. he was happy to see her. But the shock was yet to come. When he reached closer to her, he saw something in her eyes something horrible. Something which tore him apart. Shattered his heart. Yet ignoring the feelings he talked to her for a good 10 mins . Gifted her with just one chocolate out of many he bought for her. She wouldn’t take more. He tried his level best to make her take more. In those ten minutes he noticed something which words couldn’t describe. Her eyes had hatred for him. It screamed “What a loser you are, Aditya.”  They said farewell to each other.

Aanchal left first. Aditya waited her to go out of the mall. The chocolates which he had bought went into thrash. He fell on his knees like rain. He was heartbroken yet again. He went back to his home with those eyes in his mind. Day passed quickly. Those eyes haunted him. He asked parth for help. He suggested to wait. He waited, waited for many days for a text from Aanchal. But it never came. Finally, he messaged her. Still no reply. Yet again he tried. This time she replied for once but dint reply again. Days passed like this. Finally Aditya decided not to go back to her life. He decided to stay away from her. He decided not to message her, call her or do anything that might haunt him his entire life.

Aditya made a promise to himself. Next time they meet he would have fulfilled all his dreams other than Aanchal. To buy an Audi R8. He promised himself that he’ll work his ass out so that he could buy his Audi R8. He promised himself next time she’ll not have to come to her. Next time she will be in his Audi R8 sitting right next to him.

Five years passed. Aditya achieved the unachievable. Aditya was in Germany.  He became the chief designer of Audi within a short span of time. He designed with his heart. His cars were a massive hit amongst genX and genY. He owned a design firm called Aanchal Automotive Designs. He had fulfilled all his dreams but one. Audi R8.

It was a boring summer day. He decided that it was time. He booked a ticket for Mumbai. He was going to finish the war with his bad luck once and for all. He reached chatrapati shivaji airport, at 12.30 pm. First thing he did was to take a cab to nearest Audi Showroom. He bought his dream car. Audi R8. A beautiful white beast with a powerful v10 engine. It was a spyder version of the car. He loved it very much. He hugged his car immediately. People were stunned at his childish behavior. He took the keys. Got into his purchase raced it a little bit, shifted the gears and vroomed out of the showroom. Five years down the timeline and Indian roads were now heaven for car drivers. They were flat, leveled and without potholes. “Oh my my. India has changed a lot. No wonder why my cars are successful here.” Aditya thought to himself as he fired the v10 engine to its maximum. And then he hit the brakes. He was staring at a jewelry shop. He got of the Audi R8 walked towards the window of the shop. His eyes were fixed on a ring. One of the most beautiful rings he had ever seen. Most beautiful sapphire he had ever seen. “Sapphire” His mind cried, “That’s her birth stone plus its blue that’s her favorite color.”  He walked in and bought the ring.

Next he went to the place where they lived. The place where it all began. He walked up the stairs. “The memory of you will make sure my past lingers on.” His mind sang. His pasted rushed back. That smile of Aanchal, those cute expressions which she had on her face, those dance steps she did it all flooded back to him.

“Hey aunt” Aditya said which his newly acquired expressionless accent “how are you?”

This was the woman who lived opposite to Aanchal.

“Nothing. Just following daily routine.”

“Ohh how boring! So tell me auntieji where did they shift?” he pointed towards the house which 

Aanchal once owned!

“Oh they! They moved out to Andheri. Want their address?”

“Yeah”

“There you go” She wrote the address on a small piece of paper and handed it to him.

“Oh. So they now own a bunglow!” he exclaimed “By the way saw my new ride?” as he pointed towards the Audi R8 parked at his back.

“Great progress son”

“Thank you”

He went back to his Audi and ignited the engine and vroomed to his destination. His mind was filled with the memories both sweet and sad from his past. Most of them were about Aanchal, the girl of his dreams. He kept looking at the sapphire ring he had purchased. The stone was held by metal carved into olive leaves. The band was made of pure platinum. It was carved with the phrase “Aanchal, the CHOCOLATE QUEEN”. He drived at a constant pace. It took him twenty minutes to reach the given address. He got off the car. But decided against it. “Flowers. How can I forget about it” he thought. He quickly bought the largest of the bouquets available. He got off the car with the ring in his pocket and flower in his hand. “Finally. I’ll win the war” he thought as he walked towards the bungalow.

It was the last in the row of many bungalows.  As he walked he could see it clearly. It was decorated with lights and garlands of flowers. It looked beautiful just like Aanchal. He continued walking. The music was now audible. He continued. He reached the bungalow. It was flooded with many people. People where traditional Indian dress. People with turbans. His heart was pounding faster.

He went inside. It looked like reception ceremony after a marriage. People had gathered around a young couple standing in centre and greeting them. Aditya pushed his one hand in the pocket which contained the sapphire ring and pressed it hard. Hoping for something. He made his way through the crowd. What he saw removed his soul from his body. His already shattered heart broke even more. His eyes tired of crying cried once again. He made his way back through the crowd to the gate and finally to his beloved Audi. He drove back to his house.

What he did was unexpected of Aditya. No he dint commit suicide. He shattered his dreams. He hammered his Audi. He torched it. He won many battles but he finally lost the war. The girl he loved was now with someone else. He cried his eyes out. He kept on staring at the ring that he bought for Aanchal. He kept on staring…