One of my cell phone vibrates signalling that someone is calling me. I take it out and have a look at the number. “Hello,” I said. The one on the other end was a guy. “Hello, how have you been?” I go on talking with him even though I could not make out who he was because most times my friends call me from different numbers just for fun. I thought this was just another prank calls from my friends.
After talking for five minutes I realised that the person on the other side had really taken me for someone else. I told him that I was not who he thought I was. He then asked my number and realised that it was a wrong number. He however, was polite to say sorry and before hanging up he asked me a question. “It would be all right if I called you again some other day right?” well I don’t mind, I answered.
It was a week and I had forgotten all about the caller, when he called me again. I never asked him his name so neither did he ask mine.
Four months of conversation over the phone and all I knew was that he was in the east while I was in the central part of Bhutan. We gave each other nick names and that was what identified us. We never went into serious conversations. It was always full of jokes and laughter. I always looked forward to talking to him every day but one day he did not call me. It was his turn to call me and was an unusual thing because he never forgot to call me. I felt uneasy so tried calling him but his cell was switched off.
The next day was no different so was the next. Days passed and I had no clue what had happened to him I could not confirm from anyone because I didn’t know any of his friends or family. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months.
It was almost a year and I have moved on with my life. It was during this one year that I met Dorji. He had come to Thimphu recently after some treatments in India. His mother said he had a weak heart. We started seeing each other. The year had almost come to an end when we decided to get married. I always thought I loved him more than he did because he never expressed it. He was reserved and hardly shared anything because of which I also shared too less about my past.
I was soon getting married and I was checking the list of friends on my cell phone to give them the news when I saw the name “Doper,” I had not forgotten him. How could I? Though I had never seen him or knew anything about him I did fall in love with him. I tried calling the number but the number no longer existed.
That night I was not thinking about Dorji, but about Doper.
Just three day for my marriage and one night I got a call from an unknown number. I answered it the person on the other side sounded familiar. Who is it? I asked. It is me your friend Doper, he answered. At first I could not believe what I heard, I had thousands of questions running in my head but before I could ask any he continued. “Hey Sweety, I just called you up to say that I am getting married soon. Don’t ask me why I did not contact you all this time because I will not be able to answer. I want to let you know that circumstances did not favour us though I loved you.”
I loved you too I answered but it was too late he had hanged up. So he is getting married too, I thought and smiled at the kind of fate we had. I tried calling back but was switched off. I gave up the idea then. Soon before I realised I was married and happy with my husband.
I stopped using the number where doper (I had two numbers) called because that number always gave me hopes that he would call again someday. But I did try calling the last number he had called me from but was of no use. My intensions were clean, I just wanted to put a face to the person I once fell for.
I wanted to share my feeling with my husband but somehow I felt he would not want to hear it, because we hardly talked or shared our past. I had to resort to a close friend of mine and told her everything.
My friend listened to everything and suggested that we go to the mobile operator and ask them under whose name the number Doper used was registered.
This had never strike me. My friend said she had contacts there and sure enough a few days later she gave me a call.
She told me that it was registered under someone called Palden in Thimphu, she specifically told me that he spelled his name as Paldeen and it was just a single name. “So finally I know the real name of my friend.” I said to myself.
That evening Dorji came home late. He had brought along some friends for dinner. I started cooking while Dorji and his friends started drinking.
This was the first time I saw Dorji actually sharing his thoughts with someone and then laughing. I was cooking but my concentration was on my husband and his friends because it was a nice feeling to see him enjoy. I heard them talk about their wives, children and suddenly one of my husband’s friends pointed towards him and asked. “How is your married life going on?” Why do you ask? said Dorji instead of answering.
The next statement came as a shock to me. “Because you always loved someone else,” he said. “Shut up Palden,” said the rest. My husband did not bother to answer him again; instead he came to the kitchen.
Now I knew why he always was reserved, it was because he loved someone else. He had always been cold and never shared any of his past with me but that did not matter anymore, we were a couple now.
I served dinner with Dorji’s help and that time he introduced me to karma, Pema and Palden. Palden had something to add to his introduction. “I am Palden with double e but just a single name,” he said.
The moment he said that I dropped a spoon on the floor. Could that be my Doper? I asked myself. I did not realise that I was staring at him for a few seconds before my husband shook me off. “Kesang, better keep your eyes to yourself or I will also have to stare at his wife,” said Dorji.
Paldeen smiled and said that his wife had left for her parental home because she was pregnant. The others started teasing Paldeen because he had just married four months earlier after coming to Thimphu from Trashigang.
Every sign showed that he could be Doper. He was in the east, the registered name of the sim and his name, his marriage. I was so engrossed in trying to figure out if he was the man I knew, when my husband came near me.
He asked me if I heard what he and his friends talked about. I told the truth. I expected for the first time that he would open up but he just said he was sorry and went to bed.
Paldeen was the answer to all my doubts.
After a week I met Paldeen in town. I asked him about my husband and told him that he never opened up. Paldeen felt bad for me and told me that my husband was once in love with a girl whom he had never seen. He was going to propose her when he suddenly got sick and had to be taken outside the country for treatment. After coming back he called her but her number was switched off after which he lost hope and started seeing me. Then he decided to marry me that was when he last tried calling her and she answered.
After that each day for him had been difficult because he had loved her with his true heart. He did not want to betray me so he had stopped using the sim with which he had called her because he did not want her to contact him. Later he did try to contact her once or twice but she had stopped using the number.
It was as though Paldeen was telling me my own love story but Doper’s version. All this time I was with him and did not even know that, I did not say anything to Paldeen. I just thanked him and went home.
After reaching home I saw Dorji waiting for me. He said he wanted to talk to me. It was surprises after surprise. He told me that he had earlier loved someone else but now he truly loved me. That was the greatest feeling for me because the same guy feel in love with me twice and I also fell in love with the same guy twice.
Note: I was trying to write a real story but ended up writing a fictitious one.
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