Fiction

Julie – Part 2

by Cécile Rischmann

My heart is beating, keeps on repeating, I’m waiting for you

 

Liar, you had the opportunity of a lifetime with me. I came to turn a wrong right—maybe I was ten years too late. But the way you acted when you saw me on the dais, the questions you asked as you sat beside your bride, waiting eagerly for my answers, I thought you were going to tie the thali around my neck!

Is this revenge?

“Julie! Stop, for heaven’s sake, you’re frightening me,” Berna cried from behind, trying to catch up with her friend. Around them, invitees arrived in throngs, rushing towards the temple to participate in the marriage. Little did they know what a drama they had missed.

Berna caught Julie’s hand as they trudged back home on foot, dodging cyclists, cycle rickshaws, and pedestrians. The borrowed tape recorder was still in Berna’s hand. They should never have come to Gautam’s wedding. She should never have encouraged Julie with ideas that Gautam still loved her and was marrying a girl of his parent’s choice because he couldn’t have Julie. It was Berna’s stupid idea that she and Julie should go and stop the marriage.

“Don’t blame yourself, Berna. You went by his past love for me. I, too, got carried away. I deserved everything I got.”

My heart encloses a plot of roses 

And when shall be then, our next meeting  

Julie wiped her eyes as she listened to the song that had once been their favourite one. Gautam used to pass messages through this song. But, of course, she had been sixteen then and Gautam twenty-three. He had changed a lot since then. The Gautam she knew would have never hurt her intentionally.

“Come to the side. It looks like the wedding party is  coming back home.”

Julie leapt back, horrified that she would see Gautam again, this time a married man. Would he have any regrets not having seized the opportunity to be with Julie?

“Why is the Gulab band playing our song?” Her voice trembled on a hysterical note as her hands rose to cover her ears. “Is he rubbing it in? Reminding me of what I lost?”

“Oh Julie, you should not have come back. You were better off not knowing.”

The groom sat stiff-back on his horse, the crown of jasmine strings permitting him a partial view of the people gathered on the Jhan Jhan Khan road.  He used to haunt this road to get a glimpse of his beloved Julie. His heart refused to forgive him. It longed for Julie. But Gautam had waited and waited AND WAITED. She had never replied to any of his letters, nor did she try to contact him.  He would have never agreed to a loveless marriage if Julie had stood up to her parents.

He moved the garland strips aside as he spotted his Julie with her best friend Berna beside the sidewalk, next to the hole-in-the-wall sweet shop where they had bought Goli-sodas and were squatted on the platform. Her tearful gaze was following the procession as if she wished it was their marriage.

Cause love, you know 

That time is fleeting, time is fleeting, time is fleeting

He should not have requested that they play this particular song as it was their song. But he needed to come out of his foolish love for a sixteen-year-old girl, who was now twenty-six. Moreover, his new bride Padma had a few panic moments when she had seen Julie on the dais. So did he—but his feelings were more of a shock than panic! He never thought Julie would return, leave alone on his wedding day!

He had never gone back to her place after her father had refused his offer of marriage.  His invitation, he had sent by post. Who would have expected that Julie would turn up after ten years of absence? She had ignored all his letters over the years but came in person to claim him when she received his marriage invitation!

But why hadn’t he tied the thali around Julie’s neck? Wasn’t that what he had longed to do?

YES! He couldn’t deny that. When she had closed her eyes and smiled so sweetly with such contentment… It was a snap decision, governed by the mind. He couldn’t embarrass his parents, his bride (the daughter of his father’s business partner). He would have been jeopardizing years of hard work, and his parents would have never forgiven him.

Berna nudged Julie in the ribs, and Julie looked at her only to find her friend’s eyes focused on the man sitting on the horse. Julie had been ignoring his perusal, telling herself that he had made his choice. But she still longed to lock eyes with him one last time before he carried his new bride across the threshold, the same threshold where he used to sit and to wipe his car while playing “Julie, I love you,” on his tape recorder and watch Julie as she wiped her hair on the balcony.

“Don’t even consider it, Julie,” Berna said through clenched teeth. “The man embarrassed you in front of so many people. You plucked the courage to confess after so many years that you love him. What did he do? He made you feel like he was excited you came back, asked you so many pointed questions that gave you hope, and then married her.”

Gautam unlocked his eyes from the bent head of his beloved Julie, knowing that she would never forgive him.  Padma’s carriage had come to a halt outside his house. Gautam got down and came around and opened the door for her. His eyes, however, stayed on Julie. She had lifted her head and was watching him…them. He swallowed a hard lump as he carried his wife into the house, all the while wishing it was Julie. His parents seemed to release their breath only then.

His poor parents! They had suffered greatly watching their only son struggle through the years trying to get over Julie. When Julie got engaged, they had told him with trepidation, wondering how he would react. But Gautam accepted it and asked them to arrange his marriage with a girl of their choice.

How was Gautam to know that Julie would not marry that man and would come looking for him—on his wedding day? Put on the spot, he hadn’t known what to do.  How could he disgrace his parents and in-laws after everything they had done for him? Maybe the way he handled Julie was all wrong—he did feel guilty about that.

Julie leapt from the pavement and ran across the street to the house where she used to live. As she mounted the stairs, she thought of those times she used to slide down the bannister. Just once, Gautam had caught her in his arms when she came sliding down. She remembered their kiss… the second one.

Gautam had held her against his body and brought her legs around him. His kiss was fierce, and Julie remembered how frightened she had been when his hands moved to the front of her dress. His mouth had been strangely insistent, and his tongue sought some stolen juices from hers. It was then she had breathed that his kiss was like wet chewing gum. Gautam had stopped immediately, her remark probably bringing him to his senses that he was with a sixteen-year-old. His tensed body had slowly relaxed, and his breathing became even. Finally, he placed a tender kiss on her forehead and warned her with a smile that she was tempting him without trying.

Berna was following Julie, wondering why she was visiting her old place right opposite Gautam’s house. One would think that Julie would have learnt her lesson after he had made his choice.

“Why are you doing this to yourself, Julie?” she said, watching Julie staring longingly at Gautam’s house. “He’s a married man now.”

Julie didn’t reply. She couldn’t. Her heart ached for him.

“Why did you ignore his letters?” Berna said.

“What letters?” Julie turned and looked at her with a puzzled frown.

“He wrote several, Julie. Used to ask me every day if you replied.”

Julie cried then. She cried inconsolably. No wonder Gautam hated her so much. She understood now why he hadn’t tied the thali around her neck. But she was beginning to understand something else.

“You didn’t get my letters, did you?” She asked in a hoarse voice.

Berna shook her head, too choked to answer.

“I wrote to him, asking that he take me away. I told him how they were forcing me to marry Carl.”

“I’m so sorry, Julie. I never received them. ”

Gautam came to the window, drawn like a magnet when he noticed a familiar silhouette on the balcony. Why was she doing this now? Couldn’t she go away as she had done those years ago? Why was she wrecking his peace of mind? Hadn’t he suffered enough? He had gone crazy without Julie. Berna knew the finer details. Would she have told Julie that? Was that how Julie had found the courage to climb the dais and declare her love for him?

Oh, when I look at you

The blue of heaven seems to be a deeper blue

And I can say that

God Himself seems to be looking through

 She waved. He waved. Their eyes met, held, and refused to unlock. In a flash, Gautam remembered her soft inexperience when he had kissed her. What was that she said? His kiss was like wet chewing gum. Gautam smiled tenderly.

Looking at Julie through moist eyes, he touched his fingers to his lips. They might not be together physically, but she would always be a part of him. His heart will never love anyone but Julie.

Julie aa..aa..I love you aa..aa..

About the Author:

Cécile Rischmann is an author and a linguist with two novels, novelettes, and ten short stories to her credit. Her stories and poems are widely published in the Indian Periodical, Kitaab, Joao-que Roque Literary journal, StoryMirror, PoetrySoup, Partridge and Amazon. She has won StoryMirror’s Author of the Week and several awards for her stories and poems. More about her work on these sites.

www.cecilerischmann.com

https://www.amazon.com/author/cecilerischmann

https://storymirror.com/profile/qh3t8qt0/cecile-rischmann

3 Comments

  1. Beautifully written! Your writing has a magnetic effect of not only attracting me to it, but keeping me attached till I complete it. Keep going Ceci!! Waiting for more.

  2. A fantastic closure to a tender love story! Author Cecile has given a final twist to the sad yet memorable ending ?

  3. Beautifully written. Love it