Was It Love?

She had enough from life. Struggle, heartaches, betrayals, defeats and what not. Life never gave her what she wanted. Now she was left only with her mom and her younger sister in her family. Relatives are never the ones you can trust. Her father left her with the legacy of her education and experiences of life.

18 years old Aksa was much older than her age. She was born with an inborn talent of accepting life as it comes with courage and determination. Started working immediately after the death of her father as a company executive. Her professional life was very tough as her boss was a man with no heart and empathy for any of his employees. Her mom always was worried about the education of her younger sister and the expenses of home. Her professional and family life was leading her to more of disheartening situations and imagining each and every day as a challenge. After office she started taking tuition also to get some more money.

The days passed on and Aksa often talked to herself about how life changed disastrously after the death of her father. Her childhood went in pain as her parents were never in good terms with each other. They both were of opposite temperaments and their differences lead to clashes in their opinions about everything. Due to her family conditions she was never able to score excellent in her school. College life got ruined because of the sudden demise of her father.

In the office she was considered as a hard worker and never cared for the working hours. She only desired to give her best in whatever she did. With the help of one of her friend she got this job and she did not want to lose it at any cost. She had a colleague named Rahul who had special attraction towards her and looked for the chance to talk to her or sit with her for completing any official work. Aksa could easily identify his intentions but always kept a distance from him as her life had already served a lot in her plate. Another reason why Aksa was not interested was that Rahul was already married with a kid. He was a good looking man who might have lost interest in his wife but Aksa never wanted to entertain him.

Rahul always tried to convince her that he had never seen any girl in his life like her. He praised her for her looks, appreciated her hard working attitude and told her how appealing her beautiful eyes were. It was the first time in Aksa's life that a guy was praising her so much. She was flattered but very cautious that how can a married man flirt at his work place without the knowledge of his wife. His wife might have trusted him. Rahul understood that Aksa was kind of giving importance to him. He started telling her the stories like, his wife is a very rude lady, she does not even cook food for him. She is of the type of lady who is busy in throwing money in shopping, Kitty parties and what not. Aksa unknowingly started developing a sympathy for him. He sometimes even tried to hold her hand saying that they both can be very good friends.

One evening after having her dinner Aksa sat quietly talking to herself that she should not fall for Rahul as there will be no future with him, then suddenly her phone rang and it was Rahul's call. She picked up the phone and answered. Rahul sounded like he was drunk. "Why did you call me? Is something urgent?" asked Aksa.

"I love you Aksa. I cannot think of anything else but you. When I close my eyes I see your face" said Rahul.

Average looking Aksa skipped her heart beat. She could not believe a guy saying her so.

"Are you insane? Are you drunk? Don't you know you are married, you have a daughter. You have to take care of her" replied Aksa. In one corner of her heart, she wanted to hear all this from Rahul but she knew the consequences would be heart breaking.

"I know Aksa I am married but that lady has never loved me. Because of my daughter I will never leave her but I want to spend my life loving you. The feelings you understand she has never understood. The way you care is incomparable" said Rahul.

The caring attitude she showed as a friend made Rahul believe that she was the best. Aksa was quite, unable to answer.

"Please say something Aksa I can't live without you. I will die if you don't hold my hand. I want a promise from you that about us you will never tell to anybody and you will never blackmail me to tell everything to my wife. I want to live my life laughing and enjoying with you" said Rahul.

Aksa could not understand what was happening. Her mind went blank and she could not understand what she wanted in life. Life was already being rude to her. She had nobody to share herself. everybody around her wanted her to be the strongest one with all her desires sacrificed.

"I like you Rahul. I like the way you look at me. The way you praise me. But I need time to think. Please give me some time. You want a relationship with no name, a secret emotional bonding, which is not easy" said Aksa.

"I want your answer tomorrow" saying this Rahul disconnected the phone.

Aksa couldn't sleep whole night. she had so many things going on in her mind. She did not want to get married anyways. So this was the exact relationship which would help her to get everything without any compulsions. She had to take care of her responsibilities also.

Next day she avoided Rahul by pretending to be busy. Rahul tried his best to come closer to her and talk but everytime one or the person from office was around. Aksa was asked by her boss to bring a file from the store room. Rahul followed her there and stood on her way with a look which made Aksa weak. He looked into her eyes and said "Tell me that you love me if you really want to save my life from ruining" Aksa stood frozen, words did not come out of her mouth. Rahul held her hand tight in his hand and dragged her towards him and said "Don't you want this?"

"Yes, I like you, I want to love you but I am scared of this world who will blame me for coming in between you and your wife" Aksa said with tears in her life.

"You are not coming in between us. I will never let that happen. I want you as my friend, my love, my motivation, what do we get after making these relations of husband and wife. Both stand with the flag of expectations and when these expectations are not fulfilled they fight with each other like animals. Our love will have no name but we will be happy and enjoying our lives" with these words Rahul convinced Aksa. She stepped in front and Rahul hugged her. Aksa was first time hugging a stranger who was going to change her life.

It was not first time for Rahul but for Aksa each and everything life was showering was totally new. First time a boy proposed her, touched her, hugged her, everything twisted in her stomach and made her smile. Each day in office they both pretended that they were only colleagues but Rahul never left a single opportunity of touching her when people were not around. Aksa took his every gesture as an expression of love. Rahul started giving instructions to her that what she should do and what not. He was authoritative and possessive. He did not let Aksa meet her friends, go outings with her cousins or sister. He wanted her life to revolve around him. He made her get physically involved with him even when she did not want to. She started feeling suffocated, but she had gone too far in love. She spent nights thinking that what if people come to know about her love, she would be considered as a 'Keep' of a married man. Everyone will tell her that it was her fault to get involved with a man after knowing his reality. She tried many times to talk to Rahul but every time he talked only about going somewhere alone with her and satisfying himself. As days passed on Aksa started hating herself. She had become the toy in the hands of Rahul.

Slowly she lost her appetite, ignored her friends and became extra sensitive. She did not know whom to share or tell what she had done with herself. Her age was growing and her mom got worried for her marriage. She always ignored this topic as she knew that the person she loved was never going to marry her and she did not believe in the word 'marriage'. The continuous ignorance of Rahul for her feelings was making her stronger day by day that he was a self-obsessed person who only had the desire to enjoy his life. He actually never loved her.

Aksa waited very long in a hope that her feeling would be valued and then she decided to leave the city and join the job somewhere else. She started the job hunt, got the job and within two days she took her family with her to Mumbai. She left no footprints behind which would help Rahul trace her, But often she sat near the window of her house and thought "Was it Love"?