One morning, as they were sitting in front of the sea in the middle of silence, Arjun thought if it would be better if he asked the strange girl her name.
But the last time he had asked a girl her name, he had got too close to her only to get his heart broken by her later. So, the initial decision to his doubt was a 'NO'. Still, there was a struggle in his mind. He had been observing a girl, sitting next to her, talking to her for almost two weeks without knowing her name. That wasn't normal.
"So," he interrupted her tenacious journal-scribbling. She looked up at him enquiringly.
"Do you like to keep your name a secret?" he asked her with an uncertain smile.
She laughed shortly and said, "Well, actually, I have a logic for deciding that we shouldn't tell each other our names."
"And what's that?"
"If we reveal our names to each other, we will become registered in our minds with those names. It will be like another person added to our friends' list or at least acquaintances. Then we can easily search for each other in social networking sites, add each other to our friend circles, chat the whole night away, exchange phone numbers, send and receive messages and calls. And within a week, we will run out of things to say. We will get to know about each other's personal details and if we don't like them, then maybe, it will give rise to new troubles. The relationship will become old and broken as fast as it had started. Then we won't be able to sit here like this, again, with a peace of mind and heart, watching the sea, drinking in this pleasantness and cool atmosphere. We will have an awkwardness between us, 'nothing-more-to-say' situations and another thing to worry about. Phew," she breathed out a lungful. "Is this all needed for us?" she asked at last.
Arjun stared at her in disbelief, open mouthed, wide eyed, thinking how on earth did this sombre girl get such a logic. Though it sounded funny to an extent, it was true to the core. He had an immediate recap that it was the same thing that had happened with his ex-girlfriend.
"That's.... quite some thought," he responded at last.
She smiled widely and warmly. "This way, we will have different place in our minds for each other. Whenever we search or look within our lives for a different kind of relationship, we will find ourselves as the answer. For me, it's better to be unusual rather than usual. We can talk to each other about anything without fearing public disgrace. Even if we say out our secrets, we don't have to worry about it. Because without knowing the name and other details, we cannot speak about them to anyone. It will be like speaking to our own shadows. We can talk whatever we feel like without the fear of being spoken out. Every morning we will get something new to talk about, something new to share. New problems to solve with some free advice from each other." She smiled and winked mischievously.
He couldn't help laughing, and she joined him in the laughter. The air was filled with the joy of a new, crazy idea. Amidst the laughter, Arjun looked at the girl who had such weird ideas, ideas which were fun. At last, he managed, "I never knew hiding identities has so many advantages."
"Ask me, I always know what's best," she said, getting a hold on her laughter.
"It's the best idea I've ever heard," he remarked.
"Thank you." she said cheerfully.
While parting their ways, they gave each other a grinning "Good day" wish.
Arjun couldn't really get the strange girl out of his head. Whenever he remembered her, it would bring a smile to his face. He remembered how they had laughed that morning. It had been so many days since he had laughed so freely and with an open mind. At the same time, somewhere across the city, the same strange girl was also running her thoughts in similar lines.
The next morning as she sat down writing, at her usual place, she found herself waiting for the 'name-not known' guy. He came jogging faster than usual and dropped onto the wall, next to her.
"'Morning Miss. D," he greeted her.
"'Morning Mr. J," she responded.
"Mr. J? What's that?" he asked puzzled.
"What do you mean by Miss. D?" she asked him back.
"Miss. Diary Writer," he replied with a casual shrug.
"Mr. Jogging Champion," she replied in turn.
They laughed at the funny names they had given each other.
"You know, at first I thought you were a serious, fun-hating, sombre girl. But you are so fun," he remarked.
"Haha, people are not always the same like how they look from outside. Even you look like a proud idiot at face, but you are not. Not at all." Though she said it with a smile, there was an undertone of seriousness.
Arjun smiled unnervingly. They spent the morning talking indistinctive, unimportant, comic issues and laughing freely. As they got up to leave, he asked her, "Do you walk back home?"
She showed him a key-chain with a key dangling in her hand and said, "I've got a bicycle."
"Can we at least walk together till we reach that junction. That's where we generally go along different roads."
She considered it for a moment and then said, "Okay, let me get my bicycle first." She turned, went down along the road the other way towards the parking lot, got out a purple bicycle, put her diary and pen in the basket and came towards him, bringing her bicycle with her. They both then walked together towards the junction where they parted ways and went in different directions.
This continued for a few days. They could never keep a track of time when they were together. They would joke, laugh, remain silent when she wrote her diary, walk away together towards the junction. Sometimes he would bring along a newspaper and they would discuss various issues published in it.
"Why do you write diary early in the morning? One generally writes it before sleeping in the night, right?" he once asked her.
She chuckled and said, "It is not a rule that you should write a diary before sleep. A journal is something in which you can pour your thoughts and feelings in whenever you feel like it. Secrets and thoughts you can't tell anyone except yourself always find place in diaries. When I am alone," she paused uncertainly for a moment and then continued, "I just get to realize how I really feel, what I really want. All the dampened ideas in my mind, everything resurface. And that's what I feel like writing."
"But with me here, are you able to write without any, you know, any disturbance?" he asked doubtfully.
"Your presence is different," she said truthfully. "It makes me laugh and I can still sit here freely. I don't have to hide what I am writing because you are not the one who peeks in and reads others' diaries. Mostly, I don't have to think about serious situations like I did before."
He smiled. Both looked at the sea for a while and then resorted back to their usual fun.
As days passed, slowly Arjun started telling her things he had never shared with anyone. He told her about his broken relationship. "I mean, she didn't even think twice about it. No second chances, nothing. There was a time when I used to think, "Why did that happen?"" He was grim.
She looked at him with concern and thought for a moment. "Look, some girls don't have the patience to do the same thing a second time. Besides, they have their own reasons which they can't tell you. Who knows, maybe that second chance might have made things worse." She paused for a while and said, "Mr.J, remember one thing. Never think, "Why didn't it happen that way?" Because nothing is predictable. Whatever happens, has it's own reasons for happening a certain way. We can't stop it. That's what destiny is. If we go on thinking about it, we can't live in the present. Every moment will be a misery. Think it this way, hadn't you both broken up, you wouldn't have come here searching for a different happiness. You wouldn't have realized what you want or who you really are. Anyways, be happy for whatever happens. If you have no malice in your heart, then finally, it will only be the good things that would happen to you."
She said with a chuckle, "Live in present, enjoy it. Figure out your future and just head out for what you really want. Be unstoppable and unquestionable, positive and radiant." There was an energy in her words.
He grinned and said, "You do know more about what to do. How do you get such correct ideas?"
"That's an inbuilt character." she winked mischievously.
A few days later, Arjun was again at the steps of solemnness.
"What happened this time?" Miss. D asked quite cheerfully.
Arjun blew out a lungful and said, "My dad's angry with me. He wants me to take his place in business now. But I don't want to. I need to figure out what I want. If now I make a mistake in dad's business, then everything will go boom."
"Come on Mr. J, you are doing the same mistake again."
Arjun looked at her, puzzled.
"The longer we think, the more confused we will be. Even after an year, you will be at the same, sticky spot, unable to decide what you really want to do. Just go for the first thing that strikes your mind. And now, don't think about making a mistake. No one can rise without any errors. It's absurd. If life goes on as it is planned, flat, without any bends or bumps, then it will be boring. Take risks, make mistakes, learn from them, do things no one has ever done. Be different. Remember what I said, be unstoppable and unquestionable. One more thing," she became serious. "When we don't know what to do for ourselves, then it is better to try and follow others' suggestions. You never know what you might end up liking as your job. Who knows, you might actually shine in business. There's no harm in trying. If you can make your father proud of you in the process, the happiness in his face would be priceless. You can never get anything like that. If you don't find any happiness or anything worthy in that line of work, then you can quit. You will not have any regrets that way, since you would have given your best shot before quitting."
Arjun bent his head down, analysing the truth of what she said, the inspiration she was giving him.
"Sir," someone called from behind.
Both of them turned back to see a man in a driver's suit, looking expectantly at Arjun.
Arjun looked surprised. "That's my driver," he said to Miss. D and then asked his driver, "What are you doing here?"
"Sir, your father came home from Delhi a while back. he has been trying to reach you for some time now, but I guess you left your phone at home. He got worried and asked me to check upon you, if you were here. He wants to meet you right now."
"Now?" Arjun asked. "I will come home in a while. Just wait."
"I believe your father's heading out for some urgent work. He asked me to specifically bring you home if I see you." The man looked a little unsure if rushing Arjun like that was really needed.
Arjun nodded with a sigh and turned to Miss. D. Before he could say anything, she whispered, "Just head out and be unstoppable."
He took her hand in his and with a grinning face, looking grateful, said, "I will. Thank you."
He got up and almost raced back to his car. Going off, he waved at her.