My Beauty and Our Beast!

My IELTS batch was taking lessons on essay writing. I walked in and said, “Go to page number 64, question number three -- how do you define happiness?" The air was pregnant with unasked questions. I understood, cleared my throat and said, “Happiness lies in doing what you like. Just think about what you like, frame an essay and bring it back tomorrow, ok?” The class was dismissed. I took a long walk back home, thinking about what I said. “Happiness lies in doing what you like…”

My phone buzzed. It was him. I pressed the handset against my ears...I could feel him smiling. “Arrived,” he said, his tone laced with unmistakable happiness. “Cool,” I said, furiously hunting for better words. He hung up, but I clinged on to the phone, grinning, gulping a golf-ball-like lump down my throat. “Arrived,” I said. “Arrived,” I said, a little louder, repeating the word like a record, louder each time.

I insisted on tagging along to bring ‘him’ home. “Paro...” he said. “Please don’t make me say no again and again...there are practical constraints,” he added. “Fine, come to office by 8,” he said, trying to accommodate my whims.

As we inched towards our first bike, his dream bike, my mind slipped into a flashback. I could see him, looking admiringly at Royal Enfields that cruised past us authoritatively. The sound, the sight, they would freeze him, his eyes tracing the beast till it disappeared from his sight. His face would brighten up and then drop in an instant. “Someday…” I would whisper every single time. Someday, indeed.

That someday was here. His moment was here. He looked at it lovingly, gliding his hands over its shimmery body. His dream was right in front of his eyes, and so was mine. His dream was the shining Thunderbird; mine, his twinkling happy eyes. “Arrived,” I said, this time calmer, with the lump gone. The Thunderbird was not my source of happiness; my source was him, his face that suddenly looked younger, sans the worry lines, his lips that broke into a warm curve. He was in his happy place, I was in mine too. The reasons were different, but the happiness, the same.

Our first bike was home. He was happy and so was I. He looked lovingly at his beast, I looked lovingly at mine. My mind went back to my IELTS class early that morning. “Happiness lies in doing what you like…” I corrected myself. Happiness does not always lie in doing what we like. Sometimes, a very big chunk of our happiness lies in seeing the ones we love doing what they like. His dream came true and made me happy. I was living his dream. There is one big dream tucked away safely in one little corner of my heart. Someday, I will tick that one off too. Yes, someday. For now, my beauty and our beast -- they keep me happy!