‘The picture’

By the time I woke up, I had put behind everything that she did mention before going to sleep. It was almost afternoon when I got up. I picked my phone to see if there was any text from her side, but there was none. She must be sleeping, I thought and sent her one text saying 'hi', plugged in the phone, and went to freshen up. After spending around half an hour in the bathroom, I came out and went downstairs to have my lunch. My mother also needed some help with her chores. I finished my lunch, helped her to do this and that, and again came back into my room. I once more checked my phone; still, there was no text. Why is she not texting, I thought anxiously, as it was almost one p.m. in the afternoon. I thought to call her but then ignored the idea. I didn’t want to look desperate even though I was feeling restless from inside.

I picked a book to read to pass my time, most importantly, distract my mind from her thoughts, but it was useless. I put the book aside and started fiddling with my phone. Nothing was helping me to divert my attention from her. I sighed and put the phone away in defeat, and collapsed on my bed. I never felt that way before, might be because it was a completely new experience for me. I started imagining her image in my mind but couldn’t get it accurately as it was too soon to do that. I didn’t know when I went to sleep again while thinking of her, but when I roused from sleep, it was almost dark outside. I checked the time; it was showing fifteen minutes past six p.m. That was the thing I always loved the most about winters, the sun goes down, and the dusk reaches quite early. I picked up my phone again, still no text. I got impatient by that time, so I called her, but the call didn’t go through. I tried three-four times, but every time it was getting disconnected after a beep. Negative thoughts started clouding over in my mind. I was getting despicable with each minute that was passing by. I also lost most of my appetite during dinner. I was checking my phone continuously.

I was sitting on my bed with my phone in my hand and staring at it when suddenly it started ringing; it was her call. I almost dropped my phone as soon as it buzzed in my hand. I picked up the phone and showered as many questions as I could in one breath.

“Where were you? Why were you not texting me? Why your number was not reachable? Does something happen to you? Are you okay?”

“Sid, please calm down; I am here. You do not need to worry about me now,” she calmly replied. I took a deep breath and brought myself back to my senses. She was right, she was there, and that was the only thing which was significant at that moment. Still, there were some questions in my mind, but I didn’t feel like repeating those. I did not have any right to reason with her, so I proceeded with our usual conversation. Again, she started asking me all kinds of questions about my day, how I spent it, about my neighborhood, what kind of people they were, and many more, and in return, I didn’t ask anything. She was a bit artful in some way. She was not giving me any chance to ask her anything.

“Is it fine with you if I don’t text you during the day and just call you at night?” she asked. That was a weird question; what could be the reason behind that? Was she having a problem using her phone during the day time? But how could I ask her the reason when we just began talking to each other.

“Okay, no problem,” I simply said. We stayed silent for a few seconds, and then she asked, “Have you ever fallen in love with someone who is not there?”

“What does that mean?”I didn’t understand the question, so I asked her in uncertainty.

“Have you ever fallen in love with a person who is just a part of your imagination, an image created by you, a virtual person?” she tried to explain. I thought for a moment before responding to her.

“Yes, there is always this girl who I do imagine, but I don’t know who she is as she is faceless, or maybe her face resembles many faces blended. I rather know one thing; she is beautiful.”

“How can you be so sure about her beauty when she is faceless?” she asked.

“I know that she is beautiful. Why would I ever fantasize about a girl who is not good looking?” I laughed, but she didn’t.

“Do you want to see me?” she asked unexpectedly. Of course, I wanted to see her. Which guy would deny seeing a girl with whom he is talking on a phone and whom he hasn’t seen yet, I thought.

“Yes, sure,” I answered. After a few seconds, she sent me a picture of her. I was quite excited but faced discontent as soon as I opened it, it was a blurry picture. I could easily assume a girl being in that image, but I couldn’t see her. I told her about it and asked her to send one more. She did, but it was also similar to the one she sent before. I explained to her that there was a problem with the images, but she said those were completely fine on her phone. How could that be possible as I was not having any network issues, but I didn’t argue?

“Can you please send me one last time?” I almost pleaded. She did, and the image was a clear one, but I still couldn’t see her face.