As I stand in the verandah of my beach house, the fresh air played mischievously with a few locks of my hair. I stared at the horizon. I could feel the salty air fill my lungs with new hopes for the upcoming days, my awaiting future. My eyes ceaselessly kept flashing the pictures from the previous night. Exhaustion engulfed me. My brain was tired. I felt crestfallen. All of it happened in a single second. One moment. In just one moment, my world came crashing down on me.

Was it Real? I still keep asking myself. Overcoming my emotions at this very moment is quite difficult for me. However, I couldn’t take this anymore, so I decided to go out for a night stroll. I went out into the harmonious refuge of nature. I somehow knew that Mother Nature is the only one who could heal me. Time welcomed me with open arms. I walked along the coastline. I saw how the ocean waters surged towards me and then receded.

I just wondered how the ocean was boundless and yet self bound. The Sun had already started waning behind the curtains of the dusky sky. How I love being in the company of my own self. I find myself so contented I wondered. Out of the blue, “Excuse me!” I turned around only to witness a young man with a magnetic and charming personality. “Yes?”, I asked. He held out my scarf towards me and at that moment I realised that I had dropped it by mistake.

I took it rather lukewarmly while he smiled back brightly. “Thank you”, I said. Before I could get myself back to my comforting stroll, “what is your name? Are you new here?”, he implored. “Uhm, people like to call me Naimisha and I own a beach house a few metres away from here”, I answered. “If you don’t mind, may I walk with you”, he asked. “Well not unless you tell me your name and give a valid reason to let you walk with me,” I had begun feeling better.

“With pleasure ma’am, I am Mihir and I am a local here,” he started ,”I am an artist and I love to talk to visually appealing people.” I raised my eyebrows and asked “really?”. “Why are you so amused?”, he asked, “did I say something offensive?” “Oh no,” I didn’t myself know how happy I was. And suddenly, I found myself asking him, “what is that you are carrying in your hand?”, pointing at the book in his hand. I took the book from his hand and started flipping its pages.

The drawings and sketches were mersmerizing. The pictures were a pleasure to look at. The picturesque lady bejewelled and draped in a saree. The next one was the pride of India, the Royal Bengal tiger. All the paintings just as perfect as it can be. Then came a gym boy, dumbell in one hand and the other somewhere around his waist. Then there was this landscape, the beauty of nature, the ice covered snow peaks set the scene for the portrait. The next piece of art was the most alluring of all.

The portrait caught all my attention. It had a girl as its model who was in her mid-twenties, her hair jet black and her body curved perfectly at the right places. She wore a lavender beach dress and donned a yellow scarf. The sea behind provided a perfect background for the portrait. The girl looked innocent and anxious.

The girl was me.

I literally could not believe my eyes. He drew me quite flawlessly, in a way that my eyes could never see me to be. I looked so good, as if nothing wrong could have ever happened with me. “Is this me?”, I asked, gulping down the portrait. “Yup,” said Mihir with some hysteria in his voice. “Can you draw a picture of me in my beach house,” I asked almost impatiently. He nodded and we started towards the beach house.

It took us no time to cover the distance to my house as we chatted along. “I don’t portray people as they are young lady; I portray them as they aspire to be,” spoke Mihir, his lips curling into a sly smile. As I unlocked the door, Mihir scanned the house as if he had seen a place like it for the first time. As we entered, he started setting the things for a mesmerising background and I got myself in better clothes.

Once everything was ready, he asked me to stand against the wall he had put the flowers on and held my right hand, “this will go higher, put your left hand on your waist here….perfect. And the neck shall be held high,” and he slowly backed away. He tilted his head as if to admire my face and said, “I feel something is missing,” a scorn on his face. Then he opened the curtain a little, allowing a streak of moonlight to enter the room and kiss my face as gently as the ocean kisses the shore. “Ah…that’s how I like it,” said the artist.

He began to draw with some gentle strokes in the beginning. After a couple of moments, he lifted his brush and looked at me with sheer admiration. “Mihir?”, I exclaimed, “is it done yet?” “Oh sorry!,” he quickly recollected himself, “I was lost in my imagination.” He started again only to pause himself, admire and then start off again. Half an hour later, I was tired by not moving even a little bit.

I kept watching him as he drew me. My impatience now started welling up in my eyes. One moment more and I would collapse. “Done,” finally said Mihir. I sighed and finally moved up to look at the picture, one step at a time. Each step forward reminded me of the pain in my back and knees that the half an hour gave me.

As I finally reached Mihir’s chair, he handed me his book. The portrait that I saw shattered me to pieces. The painting was absurd. It was as if that man wanted to mock me, rob me of my dignity. It hurt to glance at the picture. Every ounce of my body hated the man. How could he do this to me! My soul ached of the disdainful sight.

The picture showcased me, and a man wrapped around my body. There were jewels hanging around and a knife in the man’s hand. I wanted to kill Mihir on the spot. As I turned to face him, I felt a heavy blow on my head, I felt the whole world disappear in front of me and the last thing I saw was Mihir.

My eye lids felt heavy. I couldn’t even muster strength enough to open my eyes or move my body. However, slowly I opened my eyes and saw a dreadful scene in front of me. Four damp and grey walls enveloped me. There was not a single piece of furniture apart from a chair. There was a man sitting on the chair. He was massive and large. He had broad shoulders and a trim waist. He suddenly noticed that I had awoken.

He turned around to face me. The eyes were painfully focused on me. They were familiar. As the man saw me, his face twitched and he came closer, sneering. He took my fearful stare as his magnanimity and looked at me with antipathy. He was so close that there was barely one feet distance between us. He lifted me from my chin and I tried hard to fight. I couldn’t.

“What did you think?,” he sneered, “you thought you could run away from me? You silly girl,” he spat. I pushed myself back so hard that my spine was boring into the cold wall behind. “You could never outsmart me,” he snarled, “I will always find you.”

“Why are you doing all this?”, I cried, “you are the richest mafia boss in the world, you are powerful and you’re so handsome. What do you want from me?” I asked. “A handsome man needs a beautiful maiden”, he said coldly, “and a maiden like you belongs to me,” at this shivers ran down my spine. “Why would I accept you? My parents died because of you”, I was aware of my breaking voice.

“I like smart girls,” he snarled, “the way you figured out that I killed your parents was impressive enough to attract me to a girl like you. All I am asking you to do is marry me. Give me pleasure. That’s all. You will be the richest person on this planet and other poor ladies will envy you.” As he finished saying this, he let go of my chin and got up to his feet.

Suddenly, once again I was standing on the same crossroads of my life. I was alone in this world and this mafia leader was after me. I had to do something really fast. I searched for a weapon in the room. I looked about in all the nook and corners. Footsteps echoed against the cold stone floor to the cell. He was back. He was here.

“So?,” he said with a victorious charm in his smile, “are you ready?” “Ready?,” I asked, “what for?”

“Hurting you pains me, love,” said the mafia with a truthfulness in his voice, “I, Anirban, wants to take you on a walk to your favourite place. Would you please do the honours by joining me?”

I rolled my eyes at this melodramatic moment. “Do I have another option”, I asked wryly. “Not really darling,” he said. He came closer briskly and tied a piece of cloth on my eyes. He then lifted me off the floor and carried me all the way to his car. I felt bashful. I did not know where I was carried to. Nevertheless I had resigned to my fate. I was tired of fighting.

After some time, Anirban gently untied the blindfold off my eyes. We were at the beach, at the spot where I had met Mihir. The sand was more soothing today and the sunset more beautiful.

“Why did you bring me here?,” I asked with a scorn so harsh that would have blasted the man on the spot. “Hey chill,” said Anirban, “please I want to tell you something”. We walked up to the sea and I could smell the salt in the air.

“What is it?”, I asked.

“Hey Naimisha, I have genuinely fallen in love with you. I want you, I need you!,” said Anirban. His eyes were on the brink of tears and his expression pleading. I had seen this man falling apart for the first time in my life. It was as if his soul was craving my presence in his life. I was taken aback.

“How is it that you LOVE me?,” I somehow managed to say.

“I don’t know. I am ready to do anything and everything for you,” Anirban looked so stubborn and hell-bent.

“You know what? I can really love you back,” it was fun to play tricks on him, “you will have to have clean criminal records, quit mafia and offer your service to the country.” I was sure he couldn’t do that.

“Accepted,” he replied unfathomably.

“Well then fine, I am ready to grow old with you as far as you don’t break your promise,” His face was full of happiness and his eyes were tinted with a sparkle.

One month later, Anirban proved his might and joined the army and Mihir was now a sketching artist with the local Police. And me? I was still falling for the man whom I once hated. Love can really make us mad. I have promised Anirban to grow old with him, to walk with him till the end of forever and to love him till the end of eternity.