Just Yes

I guess I have heard all different versions of love stories that hardly any of them seem to have a surprise ending; something I didn't expect or see coming. Still, if I had to start from the beginning, I would love to go through them all over again, because at any moment in time, all these stories have helped me realize something profound about life. I don't know how many of them are real or have happened and how many of them are webbed by someone’s imaginations.

Out of all these stories, there is one real love story that has always inspired me and has given me joy. I cannot say if it still is a love story because all the events involved are before they got into a relationship, but the journey, as I remember, is lovely.

I had a friend at school; he had a crush on a girl for two years. He didn't do much about it because he always thought that she was out of his league, even though I still pushed him to confess his feelings to her. He didn't have the guts yet. He was okay with not letting his feelings out, and he didn’t care much if he could tell her how he felt. All he wanted to do was look at her, her smile, her eyes, the way she moved, and all those romantic things. But in my eyes, she was perfect for him, and to be honest, I didn't think she was out of his league. I knew that they would make an ideal couple, but I couldn't help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. So I let him be.

But one day all of this changed. It just took one clod to flip his opinion. When he saw there was another guy who was interested in her as he was, he realized that she must be hers. For the first time I saw jealousy and anxiousness in his eyes, just because he knew there are other guys with an equal chance and potential who can approach her and take her away. He couldn't let that happen, so that night he sat and planned how he would confess his feelings. After giving it a good thought, he realized he would have to go slow with this. He didn't want a girlfriend; he wanted a soulmate. He then knew that this wasn’t just a crush. He was falling in love with her.

Next thing I know he has become good friends with her, they always hung out together and primarily had shared smallest details of their lives. After a year of knowing each other, he finally decides to ask her to be his girlfriend. The girl has no idea about his plans, and I guess she hadn't given much thought about being his girlfriend either. When the day arrived, and he finally confessed his feelings to her, she was shocked. She never thought about him in that way, so instead, she didn't say anything to him and just left. He didn't hear a yes or a no from her. I had never seen him this confused and baffled. Next day, after the girl had some time to think, they talked and reached a conclusion that she needed more time, which the guy was happy with because at least she didn't say no to him. As he had let his feelings out, the guy was at peace. He knew he had given his all and there was nothing more he could do, only if to love her more. As for the girl, she was in a dilemma. She knew her feelings for the boy were real and something she truly believed in, but at the same time, she didn't want to lose her best friend. I guess this is what human nature teaches us; we get so comfortable with our present that we don’t want to accept the changes that life brings along. Future can be unpredictable, but we forget that our present was once our future in the past. She decides to go with the flow; she wanted to dodge her feelings in the present and wanted a sign from the universe. But I guess life had different plans for her; destiny decided that time will be her sign from the universe.

As time passed by, they grew closer, and the girl had started to realize he was the one for he—or at least her first love. But she didn't want to be the first to accept her feelings for him, for now six months had passed, and the guy never mentioned about his feelings to her, although he did give her signs about the fact that he is still waiting patiently for her. Now the girl decides to drop some signs instead of just saying yes. She started spending more time with him, gave him attention, started showing affection and care. She thought the guy didn’t notice, but from what I had seen, he was fully aware of her movements. But then again, he was patient, so he decided to give her more time. Now the girl was restless, for she didn’t know how to show him that she was ready. I did mention that destiny had other plans, and that happened when some other girl started showing interest in him. There was another clod in the girl’s life as well, as the other girl thought she could be a potential partner in the guy's life.

Her restlessness turned to possessiveness and a little bit of jealousy. She could not imagine him being with someone else, and now she had to make a subtle yet bold move. She decides to pass on the message to the guy through her friend, but in a way that it only stays between the guy and the girl. The word was ‘yes,' just yes. She knew if the guy had been paying attention he would know what this yes meant. Her friend reached out to the guy, tapped him on his shoulders. He turned with confusion and wary, and the next thing he heard from the friend was ‘yes.' It took him a second or two, and the next thing I see on his face is pure joy and relief. And that's it; this was the start of their relationship or their love story. There was no gesture, no formalities in this story, just a simple ‘yes' and playful methods of destiny and time. I don't know what happened after; I don't know if their relationship survived hardships of life. But I do know that this story inspired me to focus on simple and decent parts of life. It taught me how to find joy in simplest of things even though complications surrounded it. That's their story, unspoken, yet said so much.