Let's imagine for a moment that a guy named John is attracted to a woman named Lisa. First real meeting, when they actually get to talk to each other, he asks her out to a movie; she accepts; they have a pretty good time. A few nights later he asks her out to dinner, it works like magic once again. They continue to see each other regularly, and after a while neither one of them is seeing anybody else. Right, we have it in our hands now. The short guide to making a relationship out of a mere attraction. But that is not the point.
One day, when they are getting back home after a joy filled evening that comprised of a wonderful beach outing, romantic dinner et al., Lisa, who is sitting on the front seat of the car that John is driving, turns towards him and asks him "Do you realize that, as of tonight, we've been seeing each other for exactly six months?". And then there is silence in the car. To her, it seems like a very loud silence. She thinks to herself - "I wonder if it bothers him that I said that. May be he is giving a thought to the fact that it all happened in a whisker, totally unnoticed. May be he thinks I am taking a serious stance here and feels I am pushing for something which is not frivolous for once, something that is kind of an obligation that he doesn't want or isn't sure of?".
John is thinking about that day. Six months past.
Lisa is thinking over it too. She begins to feel she doesn't want this kind of a guy or this kind of a relationship may be. Sometimes I wish I had a little more space, so I'd have time to think about whether I really want us to keep going the way we are, moving steadily toward...
John goes back to February when it all started when he was getting his car back from the first free service. Oooh! it's about time the next one is due.
Lisa is confused. The way she perceives things from what she sees on his face is changing. "May be he wants more from this relationship. May be he wants to call it off, but is riding on just to keep it smooth between us. May be he has figured out my reservations in the relationship hitherto."
The car is on its way for its second set of chores in the free service cycle. John and Lisa driven to the beach-way for a cup of coffee.They've found themselves a nice and cozy seat for themselves. They are sitting juxtaposed.
Lisa is thinking: He's angry. And I don't blame him. I'd be angry, too. God, I feel so guilty, putting him through this, but I can't help the way I feel. I'm just not sure.
And John is thinking: The gear box has been such a failure ever after the first service. Is it under warranty? They'll probably say it's only a 90-day warranty. I can't take a huge bill if I have to end up paying for that malfunction.
And Lisa is thinking: Maybe I'm just too idealistic, waiting for a knight to come riding up on his white horse, when I'm sitting right next to a perfectly good person, a person I enjoy being with, a person I truly do care about, a person who seems to truly care about me. A person who is in pain because of my self-centered, schoolgirl romantic fantasy.
There's silence for an annoyingly long while.
And then Lisa shouts "John!!!!!!"
"What???" says John, startled.
"Please don't put yourself through so much pain." says Lisa. "Please don't torture yourself like this. May be I shouldn't have....Oh God, I feel so....argh..."
She breaks down. Uncontrollable tears flowing down her cheeks.
"I'm such a fool," Lisa sobs. "I mean, I know there's no knight. I really know that. It's silly. There's no knight, and there's no horse.".
"There's no horse?" says John.
There is a long pause yet again.
"You really feel that way?", says Lisa, deeply touched.
"What way" says John.
"That way about the long wait filled with inaction???", says Lisa.
"Oh yes, I should've done something about it way back". says John.
Then he drops her home and goes to the station to give his car for service. He reasons with the manager and manages to get the repairs covered under the warranty.
Lisa calls her friend (or may be two of them, one after another) and explains the situation. She explains how John had kept his feelings to himself exactly like she had suspected.
John goes back home and switches on his TV to catch up with the Champions League clash between Man U and Chelsea. There's about 3 minutes to go. So he switches to CNN-IBN and checks out what's turned out with Gaddafi and Libya and the rest of the western world in general. He tunes in to the game right in time and has his pack of pop corn and his cup of iced lemon tea near his couch and leans back for one and a half hours of unadulterated bliss. Yet, a tiny voice from the back of his mind enquires about the confusing discussion that he had with Lisa at the beach today. He will never be able to make sense of what she was talking about. What knight was it? Sigh! Not my cup of tea.
The next morning when John talks to Peter, one mutual friend of his and Lisa's, he asked if Peter knew of any pet horse that Lisa used to keep during her childhood???..
The End...
It will never work out between a girl and a boy. I mean that thing called a relationship. To hell with it. None of them can understand what's going on in the other's mind.!
Men like their bike/car so much that they can't keep them away even for a short while.
Women need reassurance a little more than men.
Men need football a lot more than women.
P.S : This work of fiction is not entirely my own. It's a tailored version of a famous story about an unspoken dialogue between men and women.
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