His devotion to Her

Prem was waiting eagerly in the Park. It had been six months since he last saw Aarthi. They had been in love for over two years and Aarthi’s sudden trip to US 6 months back had kept them apart for a while. Prem could not wait to see Aarthi.

Aarthi landed up in time and said “Hi Prem” with a smile. They both exchanged pleasantries and comfortably settled themselves in a bench preparing for a long chat. Aarthi said “Prem. There is something important that I wanted to discuss first. Will you forgive me if I upset you?”. Prem said “hey. Don’t be so formal. Go ahead”.

After a brief silence, Aarthi started. “Prem. Three months back, I met this guy called Arun in US. He has a magnetic charm about him and any woman who sees him will find him irresistible. But I thought he wont be interested in me as he could have the best girl in the world if he wanted. It was strange but he actually proposed to me the day I was leaving for India”.

There was total silence between them for a while. Then Prem spoke softly “What did you tell him?”. Aarthi said “I did not tell him anything. I was confused. You know, I like him very much. I find him irresistible. Will you mistake me if I say I fell in love with him?”.

Prem said “no”. Aarthi said “I promised you that I would marry you. But Arun stormed into my heart with his charm and I am very confused now. I actually want to marry Arun now but I know it would be unfair to you. See, I am never the type to switch partners but you would understand my situation if you had seen Arun. He is the best man I have ever seen and…….”. She stopped not knowing how to continue.

Then she added “Prem. I have no intention of breaking my promise to you. It is just that my heart is hit by a storm called Arun. But I don’t want to be unfair to you. I am leaving the most important decision of my life in your hands. You decide if I should marry you or Arun. I would go with your decision”. Tears started appearing in her eyes as she said those words.

Prem was silent for long moments. He was immersed in deep thoughts too. Aarthi wished and prayed that he was not hurting. Prem was a very good man and she would hate herself if he ended up getting hurt.

Finally Prem spoke “Aarthi. Marriage, to me, is a matter of individual choice and I cannot decide what is good for you. So, you should decide who to marry and I wont decide it for you. I understand you feel constrained by the promise you gave me. I know the promise you gave me earlier has made you indecisive now. So I am surrendering your promise back to you, so that you are free to decide what is right for you. In case you decide not to marry me, I wont sulk and take up drinking. In short, I wont become a Devadoss. I would lead my life as a confident individual and so your decision need not be driven by any fear”.

There was brief silence and then Prem asked “have I made myself clear?”. Aarthi said “yes”. After a few minutes they left the park for their respective residences.

Soon after she reached home, she started dialing her US friend Arun’s number. He came on line immediately “Hi. Is that Aarthi?”. Aarthi said “Yup. I did not give my reply when you proposed to me. Now I am giving my answer. My answer is NO. Let me tell you I am saying NO. There is nothing wrong with you, Arun. It is just that I happened to have a gem of a person as my fiancé already”.

Mr.H