A love like this

After fifteen odd minutes of silence, he spoke. For the very first time, I wasn't really sure if it was his voice. He had a deep hypnotizing tone to the way he made every word sound new. He looked up and I knew why. His voice, his dreams were clearly drowning in the tears that now fogged his eyes. I had never seen him cry. Maybe this is why I couldn't take it. For a second I almost considered running off. I almost did turn when I saw something. He was holding onto something. As he held it out, my heart sank. It was his wedding invite.

"Celestyna"

Her name rang in my ears as a piercing memory of the time he first told me about her. It killed me then. It killed me now. And it would have killed me had he walked down the altar with her today.

So, who am I again? I am Cyan's ex-girlfriend. That prefixed 'ex' never bothered so much until today. Wonder why. He spoke of her as an eternal dream, a bloody never-ending symphony and a mesmerizing connection between his todays and tomorrows. OK. You can scratch that 'bloody' up there. I can't take it, still. With love oozing out the ring of it, his pupils dilating and, if I must add, skies showering sparkles, he called her 'Nini'. Sometimes adding the clichéd 'baby' but that made it a hell lot cuter. Damn you Cyan. Why not me?

Uh oh. I said that out loud. Aw shucks.

Under the wedding invite was a diary. His diary. The way Cyan was standing, almost as if he would crash any second, made me want to hug him. Hug the daylights out of him but something about his eyes, the way he never looked away today made me realize I couldn't. "Read it", he said and let the moment linger for a pulse or two and went on towards the half-open door. Before closing it on me, he added, "Whole of it" and he was gone.

And I opened the diary...

What followed was a story of him and her through these years. In pictures.

"We micky-minnie (She drew 'em)"

"We happy"

"We pretentiously crazy"

"We click"

"We love"

.

.

.

I could go on and on up there because it was a 'Celestyna-Cyan'-athon.

And I started to go...

"Oh... cool bicycle!"

"Damn that's a pretty skirt"

"WOW... proposal"

Err WHAT?

Did I go WOW on the proposal? What else can you expect? Only Cyan can bring out the magical in the monotonous. Proposal on the swing. Simply brilliant.

They had captured each of their 6 years, 3 months and 17 days (a total of 2300 days) together, including this morning's picture where he surprised her as he turned up at her door with a water-gun spraying color all over her. It is captioned: Wedding morning surprise, adding in cursive, "She colors my life as the sun colors everything."

I almost "Aww"-ed at it.

The next page finally gave way to the tears I had been holding all these years, hating her, loving him, ditching him, hurting him and hating her all the more. In a neat cursive, what I had in my hands were his wedding vows. He penned them last night, I guess.

Nini,

Counting days sounded a bit too girlish so I casually googled it but that 2300 staring me in face was the second best wowza moment of the day as of yet. The first being some three minutes ago when I saw you walk down that alter with Pa.

There are three things I always wanted to do and since for the first time I have been given the opportunity to speak first, I might as well go ahead and do those.

Undersigned 'Cyan' with that 'dashing' C as he always made.

I blinked. Tears and more tears. Was I still wishing it was me? HELL NO. When you see someone you love loving someone, you hate that other person. But when you know that love is as real as this, as innocently woven bit by bit as this, you fall for it. You love the fact that such picture perfect stories do exist. And you know the best part? This hope. This immense hope I am filled with right now that somewhere out there I will find this, this ever-so-amazing soul-enlightening man who will weave a story, my story with me, each day of forever.

And so I walked up to the door only to see him waiting. Cyan has always been this crazy best friend of mine. That 'ex' part made it a little awry but what the heck, he still cares enough to know if I am happy with this or not.

I did what I was meaning to do since I saw him today. Hugged the daylights out of him and in his ear whispered "I love this love and I would love to see the three things. She's beautiful for she's yours. Go ahead." He lifted me up and smiled. And in that moment I knew, Cyan and Celestyna were meant to be. As for him and me, I smiled. For smiles is what he has always been.

Rough patch- DELETE.

And so I walked beside him. Whaaaat? Bros walk their bros till the very end no?

She, the Greek goddess or fairy, clad in a silver white dress with her bracelet tingling, her eyes sparkling, enchanting the ceremony walked in with her father. Cyan's eyes were Disneyland, I tell you. I could see fireworks!

And he said his vows.

Taking from where we left off:

"There are three things I always wanted to do and since for the first time I have been given the opportunity to speak first, I might as well go ahead and do those."

This was a beautiful scene.

One, he sang (Cyan’s voice is a mix of Clay Aiken and David Cook. That enticing) a few lines going...

"...Cos when I look at my life

How the pieces fall into place

It just wouldn't rhyme without you

When I see how my path

Seem to end up before your face

The state of my heart

The place where we are

Was written in the stars..."

Two, there were bubbles all around. Courtesy: Friends.

And three...

He took her hand and twirled her around. She smiled, he smiled and the world to them was a blur. He knelt down and a faint song began which, as Cyan is, he sang along.

"Tell me can you feel my heart beat

Tell me as I kneel down at your feet

I knew there would come a time

When these two hearts would entwine

Just put your hand in mine

Forever

For so long I have been an island

Where no one could ever reach these shores

We've got a whole lifetime to share

And I'll always be there, darling this I swear

So please believe me

For these words I say are true

And don't deny me

A lifetime loving you

And if you ask will I be true

Do I give my all to you

Then I will say I do"...

And they kissed.

This is one moment I clicked and added it on the last page of his diary captioning:

The Beginning.

P.S.

Cyan and Celestyna,

Thank you for making me believe in love again. For instilling in me this concrete belief that even in today's times where it has gotten down to just meeting, eating and mating, there still are people, not too far away in a fanfic, that I can look up to and say 'You see this, this adorable pair, I love them.' Cyan, having known you all these years, it was a little hard to digest that the guy the whole school was after was taken the first day of college. Maybe that was the moment I knew you are gone for good. Little did I know it isn't just good but this beautiful- Celestyna. You spellbinding little princess. I, of all people in the world having read over 300 novels till date including the super clichéd Nicholas Sparks couldn't imagine a bride this ethereally beautiful walking down the aisle. You know what's the most remarkable thing I witnessed today at your wedding? When Cyan went down for his Grand 'I do', those little specks of tears jingling in your eyes accompanied with a smile. That moment was precious. Thank you for having me around all this time. Now before my Mr. Awesome gets lost, I should better find him. Or better, get drunk and party. Let him find me!

Love and Kisses,

Esmeralda.

© 2013 Neha Choudhry

Disclaimer: The pictures used have been taken from Google Images, Tumblr blogs and Pinterest. The song lyrics used are Written in the Stars and I do by Westlife.