THE ADMIRER

"Hi," said Ravi.

"Hello," said Vasanta.

Vasanta was returning home from work and had just entered her colony. Her building was the last one in a row of some 10 buildings and Ravi had greeted her near the first one.

"Sorry, but do I know you?" she asked the stranger who was smartly dressed.

He stopped walking for a second as if lightening had stuck him. But, she had continued walking. Realizing that the stranger was no longer walking with her, she turned and saw him still. Concerned, she walked back to him and asked, "Hey, what happened?"

"Really? After three long years, you still don't know me?" he questioned.

"Come again?"

"Damn! This is definitely not how I expected this conversation to go," Ravi said.

"Am I missing something? Who are you?" she wondered aloud.

"You mean to say in these past three years you have never seen me waiting for you in the colony?"

"No," she said flatly, then continued, "Wait! Have you been stalking me since the time I moved in here?"

"Yes," he said. Then realising what she had implied corrected himself, "No, of course not. Stalking is a crime. I have just been an admirer, from far off".

Vasanta started walking in the opposite direction to her home. A few seconds later, when she realized this, direction she was facing, she turned. While crossing Ravi, who was wondering what she was up to, she quietly said, "Walk with me".

They had walked a few steps again, when she stopped and faced him.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I love you," he confessed.

"What? Are you crazy or something? And why take three years to tell me this?" she had so many questions running through her mind.

"I stay in the first building. At least, I was staying. I am shifting houses and thought it was now or never," he said.

"What do you want?"

"I have known you for the longest time now. But would like to have real conversations with you".

"And you are shifting, you said?"

"To the colony next lane. But I promise to meet you everyday at the gate," he said.

"Don't you have any work?" she asked.

"The studio across the street -  Ravi's, well that belongs to me. But that's all trivial. You are my priority," said Ravi.

"This is screwed up on so many levels. No. You will have to stop doing all this," said the girl.

Ravi felt like he had been hit by lightning a second time. Before he could react, Vasanta snatched his mobile from his hand and keyed in something. Giving it back to him, she said, "Don't come here again till we get to know each other better. Call me".

She walked away after saying this. When she turned to have a look at Ravi, she saw him doing a weird victory dance.