Tell Me You Love Me

By Nimmu R

Memories of the heart are deeper than the logics of the mind.
Trisha the girl next door was everything Rishab ever wanted in a girl. But for Trisha, Rishab was her best friend and wanted to keep it that way because love meant losing her freedom. Rishab hopes to make Trisha realize that true love never binds you but sets you free. Will Trisha realize it before it is too late? Will destiny give her a second chance to tell him those magical words that Rishab had waited to hear?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nimmu R
• Release date: Nov 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310822223

Nimmu R

Nimmu loves to tell stories that speak to the depth of your hearts.A request to you readers to please write a review about the story and give me a feed back. I really appreciate it.You can also reach me at [e-mail]

Book preview

Chapter 1

On a bright summer morning, a blue mover’s truck came to a screeching halt besides Rishab’s house.

Rishab, reading the morning newspaper sitting on the patio of his house, looked up hearing all the commotion.

He saw a middle-aged woman wearing a red sari standing near the truck and holding out her hand to someone who was trying to get down.

A girl, wearing a yellow churidhar with pretty pink flowers printed along the borders, got down from the truck with a quick jump ignoring her mother’s held out hands. She had jet-black hair tied up in a pony tail and a wheatish complexion. Rishab estimated her height to be around 5’6; slightly taller than her mother. Although Rishab could only view her back, he had noted her sharp nose and yearned for a complete glimpse of her face. Unfortunately, she walked into the neighboring house with her mother without even turning.

An elderly man got down a bit slowly along with two more men who were probably the movers.

The movers started unloading the things very quickly from the truck and placed it inside their house.

As it was getting late for work, Rishab reluctantly closed his newspaper and went inside the house to take a shower and get ready to head to work.

As he headed inside, his mother who had seen the truck and the family from her kitchen window spoke to Rishab,

‘Rishab, it looks like we have a new neighbor.’

‘Yes mom, I saw the truck when I was in the patio,’ he said taking his towel from the drying cloth rack. He knew his mom would be glad to have company to talk. It had been nearly six months since the house next door had been empty and Mrs. Mina was glad she would have company. She only prayed that they were decent people with whom she could get along with.

He ate the poha that his mother had made and saw another box wrapped inside a plastic cover.

‘That is for the neighbors. After all the travelling I thought, they must be hungry. Wonder where they are from? I will go and meet them after you leave.’ She said all excited to be the welcoming neighbor.

‘You can go even now,’ he said looking up from his plate.

‘No, no, you eat.’ She sat at the chair across from him as she always did and watched him eat.

‘How is it?’ was her usual question.

‘It is good,’ was his usual answer too.

He wasn’t the talkative type like his mother. But he got his looks from her. Her big beautiful brown eyes, a slightly slant smile with a dimple on his cheeks; an etched sharp nose that was just perfectly placed. He got his curly wig-like hair, his height and broad shoulders from his father who had been in the army.

He picked up his laptop and bid bye to his mom and kicked his sleek, red Yamaha bike to life and zoomed away knowing that by evening he will have more information about his new neighbor and their neighbor would know their entire life-history!

The sound of a bike made Trisha turn around. She spotted a young man with curly hair zoom past their house.

She heard the door bell ringing and she opened the door to see a woman in her fifties holding a plastic box and a packet of milk in her hand.

‘Hello! I am Mina. I live next door. I saw that you moved in and thought I would bring some poha for your breakfast. I thought all of you might be hungry after your journey.’ She said smilingly.

Trisha’s mother walked towards the door wiping her hand at the ends of her sari seeing the visitor.

‘Please come in,’ she welcomed her and reprimanded Trisha for not asking the visitor to come inside the house.

‘Hello! I am Suman and this is my daughter, Trisha. She is in twelfth grade. We just moved from Ahmadabad.’

‘Welcome to our neighborhood. I don’t want to take much of your time. I know you are busy. But here is some breakfast. If you want tea, I can make some and bring it over too.’

‘Oh! Thank you very much. I will be getting the gas connection only tomorrow. It would be great if we can get some tea. I will send Trisha along with you if it is not too much of a bother.’

‘That is not a problem at all. I know what it is to move to a new place. My husband was in the army.’ She smiled knowingly.

‘Ah! Then you must have moved around more than me.’

‘Yes, I have had my share and I am done with it for now. Pune has been my home for the past seven years. You carry on with your unpacking and I will send some tea with your daughter in ten minutes.’

‘Thanks again. I will come by leisurely when I get settled in,’ said Suman grateful for the thoughtful gesture.

‘Surely do.’ Mina was glad to get the tidbits of information and was pleased that she could be of help to someone.

Trisha walked to the neighbor’s house and saw that the door was wide open. ‘Aunty...’ she called from the entrance.

‘Please come in, Trisha.’ Mrs. Mina called out to her from the kitchen.

Trisha walked in apprehensively into Mrs. Mina’s house. She entered a small living room colored in a deep orange. There was a brightly colored sofa on one side facing the TV. A dining table was placed behind the sofa so that it could be closer to the kitchen. There were potted plants in the corners of the room. The house looked cozy and neat. One of the walls held many family photos. Out of curiosity Trisha walked towards them to take a quick peek.

Then she noticed the picture of a middle-aged man with a plastic garland around it.

Just then Mrs. Mina walked into the living room and spoke, ‘That is Rishab’s father. He is no more. He died two years back.’

‘Oh! I am sorry.’ She said quickly with a bit of embarrassment at being caught for prying around the family pictures.

Mrs. Mina nodded in acknowledgement and came near the wall and pointed to a baby’s picture. ‘This is Rishab. He was very chubby as a kid. All the grandmothers in the neighborhood used to carry him to their house to play with him. He was everyone’s favorite when we lived in Gujarat.’

Then she pointed to another picture of a chubby toddler with curly hair and said,

‘This picture was taken when he went to school for the first time. Isn’t he adorable? He was such a chatterbox and used to keep asking me endless questions. But not anymore, he hardly talks.’ She sighed.

Trisha kept nodding her head and wondered whether Rishab was a school-going kid and said,

‘He looks very cute in this too, Aunty.’ She pointed to another photo on the wall.

‘Ah! That was when we were in Chennai. He was in fourth grade then. He was tall for his age. He had to dress up as Lord Krishna for a school play as he was just like Krishna with his curly hair. His cheeks used to be beet red when he came home because people at school couldn’t resist pinching his chubby cheeks as he was so adorable.’

Trisha couldn’t hide her smile. She could see that Mrs. Mina was indeed very proud of her son.

‘And this…’she pointed to another picture.

At the exact same moment, she heard a voice boom from the door,

‘Mom…what are you doing?’

His throat went dry on seeing her. She was wearing the same dress from the morning when he had caught a glimpse of her. But she looked as fresh as a flower after the monsoon rain. Her smile seemed to go from one ear to another. Her eyes were dark brown and radiant and filled with curiosity as she looked at him. Her jet-black straight hair fell in waves when she had turned around hearing his voice. All the features seemed so perfectly placed on her face that she looked stunning. Rishab couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Mrs. Mina’s voice brought him crashing back to reality.

‘Rishab, what happened? Did you forget something?’ she asked looking towards him.

He shook his head and he sat down to remove his shoes.

‘Trisha, this is Rishab. Rishab, this is Trisha — our neighbor. She is doing her twelfth. They have moved from Ahmedabad.’

‘Hi’ they both said to each other and he walked towards the staircase not wanting to show his embarrassment over his mother’s narration of his history.

‘Mom, can you please stop boring people with your old stories?’ he yelled from the top of the stairs on his way to his room.

‘Trisha wanted to know whose pictures these were.’ She said desolately while quickly diverting her eyes from Trisha’s. She felt offended by her son’s remark in front of her new neighbor.

‘Aunty, I think my mom will be waiting for the tea. Is it ready?’ asked Trisha, wanting to ease her awkwardness. She felt annoyed at her son for embarrassing his mother before someone he had just met.

‘Oh! I am sorry Trisha. It is true; I can talk a whole day about all my old stories. That is all I have now you see, old stories.’ She said trying to smile and handed over the jug of tea with three cups on a tray.

‘Thank you, aunty. I will come another day to hear all about your old stories.’ She gave her a quick hug and turned to walk towards her home carrying the tray from Mrs. Mina.

‘You are welcome any time, Trisha. I am alone the whole day here.’ She said taking an immediate liking to this girl.

‘I have a feeling that we are going to be around each other for a long, long time aunty. So I will surely drop by soon.’ She said smiling.

‘Tell mom not to bother about lunch. I am anyways going to cook for us. I will make some extra food,’ said Mrs. Mina.

Trisha smiled at her and decided that she liked her already.

Chapter 2

‘What happened, Rishab?’ his mom asked him as he walked down the stairs.

‘Nothing. I just skidded and fell down. So I had to change my pants.’ He said tying his shoe laces in a hurry.

‘What? You fell down?’ She came near him quickly in a panic.

‘Mom, it is nothing. I am fine. I didn’t get hurt,’ he replied curtly.

‘Are you sure?’ she said patting him on his shoulders and trying to make sure he was okay.

‘I am fine,’ he replied irritated by her pampering.

‘I got to go. It is late already.’ He said tersely, picking up his laptop in a hurry again.

He revved up his bike and this time Trisha stood by the window to get a better look at him.

‘He sure does look cute!’ she thought to herself.

‘Gosh, an angry man too.’ She added smiling to herself.

‘Trisha, are you ready?’ her father’s voice made the smile, that had blossomed on her face at the sight of Rishab, fade.

‘Coming,’ she replied and got her file folders and handbag to go to school.

Her father had already visited the school before their arrival in Pune and had completed all the formalities for the admission. But today she had to go with her father to collect uniforms and books for the new school year.

Trisha was glad that the school didn’t open until a week later and she would have the time to settle into her new place.

‘Have you taken everything?’ asked her father not looking at her face.

‘Yes.’ She answered quickly and walked towards her mom and gave her a hug.

‘All the best,’ her mom said patting her back.

‘Mom, I am just going to get my books today. You don’t start unpacking everything. I will come and help you.’

‘Okay. Okay. Go your father is waiting.’ She said smiling and beaming with pride at her daughter’s concern.

Trisha arrived at her new school with trepidation. The school had a big campus and it was a girl’s only school. There were already many people waiting in a queue to collect the books and uniforms. She saw that many of the students were excited to see each other and they squealed with delight and it was noisy with all the chattering. She wondered how she would fit into her new surroundings in twelfth grade. The principal had said that even though they never considered new admission during twelfth, her excellent grades in eleventh had made them make an exemption.

Trisha felt nervous about joining a new school and making new friends. Nevertheless, she didn’t have a choice.

Hopefully Pune would give her mom and herself the new beginning that they so yearned for.

Chapter 3

By evening Trisha’s house looked livable. All the furniture was put in place and the unpacked boxes were hidden in one room. It was dinner time and Trisha and her mom had decided to take a walk to a nearby restaurant to pack some dinner and bring it home to eat.

But just as they were about to step out, Mrs. Mina came and knocked again.

‘Hi, just wanted to ask you about your plan for dinner? I am making rotis for us; I thought I can invite your family, too.’

‘Oh! Thanks Mina. We were just heading out to the restaurant, maybe some other day. You have already cooked enough for us for today.’

‘No. It is not a bother. I love to cook for others. I am alone and bored the whole day. So I don’t mind doing it. You don’t need to go out at this hour. Please come home.’ She insisted so much that Trisha’s mom couldn’t refuse.

Suman was truly glad that she had a delightful and caring neighbor. As both women went next door to make rotis, Trisha sat down in her patio looking through her books that she had got that afternoon.

She hated evenings because of her father’s drinking habits and wished that at least on their first day in a new town, he would forget to drink. But just as the clock struck seven, she heard the tinkling of his glass and bottles. She heard him switch on the TV in the living room to start his evening routine and her stomach churned. She prayed that he would not go overboard in a new neighborhood so that they could live with a little dignity for the next few days.

‘Where is your mother?’ Trisha’s father yelled from the living room.

‘She has gone next door to bring some food for us for the night,’ she replied without looking at him.

‘Doesn’t she have any shame? Going to the neighbor’s house again? Didn’t I ask you to get food from the restaurant?’

‘Mrs. Mina insisted a lot,’ she explained gritting her teeth.

‘Shameless woman,’ commented her father.

Trisha sighed and thought it would be better to go to Rishab’s house where her mom was helping her new friend to make rotis.

Just as she was closing the gate, Rishab’s bike came to a halt near the house.

‘Hi,’ she said and opened the gate for him to park his bike inside.

‘Hi,’ he said surprised to see his neighbor at his house at this time of the evening.

She was wearing a pink track pant with an oversized T-shirt which had the picture of two bears hugging each other. Her shoulder-length hair was left loose. Even in those simple track pants, she looked ravishing and he felt embarrassed at his desire to keep looking at her.

‘Where do you work?’ her question made him stop and turn towards her.

‘In Kharadi.’ He told the name of his company.

‘Do you like your job?’

‘I have to.’ He shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her. He took his laptop bag and slung it over his shoulder.

‘You indeed look cute when you smile. Just the way your mom described you this morning. Just like Krishna.’ She came near him and pinched his cheeks and ran into the house before he had a chance to react.

‘Ouch,’ he yelped in shock at her audacity to pinch him when they hardly knew each other.

He entered into the house rubbing his cheek.

As soon as his mother heard him, she came out from the kitchen.

‘Rishab, are you okay?’ she asked looking at his perplexed face which was beet red.

He just nodded his head and headed upstairs. He looked at Trisha who was chuckling with her hand over her mouth. He headed upstairs not knowing how to react to this girl who seemed overtly friendly.

‘Rishab, Trisha’s mom is here. Can you come down for a minute?’

He walked down reluctantly and Trisha’s mom came out of the kitchen with a big smile on her face.

‘Hello,’ she said.

He brought his hands together to say, ‘Namaste.’

‘As they are getting their gas connection only tomorrow, I asked them to eat dinner with us, Rishab. Will you come down after you wash up?’

‘Okay.’ He nodded. But inwardly he was berating his mom for being the ever-welcoming neighbor.

‘It has hardly been seven hours and they are practically living in our house!’ he mumbled to himself.

As he didn’t want to disappoint his mom, he changed into his house clothes and walked down unwillingly to hear Mrs. Suman talking to his mom.

‘I think Trisha and I will go home and eat with Trisha’s dad.’ She said softly.

‘Shall I ask Rishab to invite Trisha’s father? It would be nice for him to get to know him, too.’ Mrs. Mina said eagerly.

Trisha barged in before his mom could respond. ‘No aunty, he doesn’t like to