When ego meets love - Short Love story

She glanced at him with mild irritation. Once again Amit was late for the classes and exams were soon approaching. Both of them were determined to crack the IIT entrance exams as they had envisioned excellent career opportunities leading to a bright future. Furthermore, their families, neighbouring community at Pune were counting on them to perform well. At the young age of 18 they had planned intricately for the future, at 22 to apply for a Master's in Business Administration, at 24 to start a new job, at 25 to hunt for their own house, at 27 to settle down, at 30 to have a child and so on. Only hitch, they had to find someone who believed in their planning.

Amit quickly grabbed a seat beside Aakanksha, he knew she was disturbed. She hated unpunctuality and it triggered buttons within her which made her unapproachable for next few minutes. After the class, they moved towards their regular hangout in the campus and started discussing doubts and probable questions. Both of them were confident of getting into same campus and thus time and time conversed about new teaching professors they would soon interact with.

The exams came, the papers went well and the results were out. Both Amit and Aakanksha got into IIT but in different institutions as Amit's marks were lower than Aakanksha's. Amit requested Aakanksha to enrol in his campus at Guhawati but Aakanksha wasn't comfortable. She had got into the best course on her merit and she wasn't going to trade it for anything. For the first time, there was a rift between the two and everyone around felt it. The day to move to a new city soon approached but Amit did not call Aakanksha even once and that hurt her tremendously. For the sake of years of friendship, Aakanksha went to Amit's house to meet him one last time. Amit opened the door but not once did he invite her in. At the doorstep few formal greetings were exchanged and Aakanksha left with a heavy heart for Chennai.

Once in Chennai with the tremendous study material and activities and new friends Aakanksha soon got highly involved and time flew. Whenever, she went back to Pune, she would enquire about Amit but no news was forthcoming. After a few years, she even stopped asking. Amit on the other hand was determined to outshine Aakanksha and therefore poured his heart and soul in becoming the best and by the end of the course had stood first in college. He went to Pune to show his achievements to Aakansksha but she refused to meet him, their previous interaction still hurt her at times. 

At 22, both applied for the Master's course but Aakanksha went to Harvard and Amit to Oxford.

At 24, both had received their dream job offer and resumed work. Aakanksha had gone into a software company at Silicon Valley and Amit joined a leading bank at London. At 25, both had zeroed down on their homes. Very soon both found love around their workplace and soon settled down. Life had turned out just the way they had planned but something was missing. 

One September morning, Aakansksha boarded a flight to India as her mother was unwell. The flight had a stopover at London. At the Heathrow airport, she was frantically trying to call her parents but could not get through. In frustration, she sat down at a coffee shop hoping to tide over matters when she suddenly felt a presence observing her. She looked up and saw Amit, varying emotions ran across her face, she felt happy, angry and a little cheated. He had no right ignoring her for being so bright. She moved towards him planning to give him a piece of her mind. 

Amit was at the airport to go to Mumbai to close a deal. While he was thinking about ways to approach the crucial work matter over coffee he suddenly saw Aakanksha moving inside the shop, looking disturbed. Seeing her, he felt a jolt of current going through him. She looked so elegant and beautiful, the desire to hold her was paramount. She had been his best friend and his stupid ego had prevented him to see her beyond a competitor. Gosh, he had missed her. 

At the very moment, she looked at him. For few moments, the earth stood still for them, they slowly both moved towards each other, stealthily and with uncertainty. They both wanted to speak but the minute they touched, the eyes communicated their feelings and the tears flowed. The anger, ego just flew by. Finally it felt like coming home. 

Both hugged each other deeply and caught up with news of each other's past and present. It felt like they had never been apart and still the wedding ring on both their fingers spoke another truth. They both realized that what they were feeling was beyond friendship and if given free rein would consume them with passion completely. This feeling was different, they had never felt such a spark with their own spouses ever.

Once again at the Mumbai airport, they parted with tears knowing fully well that there would be no going back if they met the next time. Love had been with them all the time but blind ego had shielded it. Two people who could have been true soulmates will now find love in a place of compromise.