LOVE?

by Ahmad Rahman

was falling for John for he was the most fitting guy to the character she had in mind of a perfect guy.

  A week later it was the final date and John had to make a final move to knock Lilly down. John had decided that it was going to be the most romantic date of all. John took Lilly to the Galleria and the leitmotif of the exhibition was Love, so we can easily figure that John had the perfect idea. After the exhibition John took Lilly to lake and then they floated to the middle of the lake in a small boat where John gave Lilly a little present he made himself for Lilly, it was a miniature heart shaped locket. Lilly was so surprised that John made it himself, that she couldn’t say anything so she hugged John as to show her appreciation. Lilly opened the little wooden heart and it had a picture of John kissing Lilly on the cheek. John knew that it was time to kiss her so John leaned in for the kiss and kissed her like the one you see Robert Pattinson doing in the movies. Lilly lost all her control and was completely and undeniably in love with John. John asked her, “So what do you think?”

  Lilly just kept staring deep in his eyes without saying a word.

  “I am guessing that went well enough”, John said with a charming smile.

  John thought it would be nice to tell her about the feelings he had for her since the very first time he saw her.

  “I love you by every and any definition of love, and I have been in love with you since the day I first laid eyes on you.”

  “I know, I love you too but I can’t say that I was since we met”. Lilly chuckled.

  At the end of the date while dropping Lilly off John said, “so I won, we are in a relationship”

  “I guess we are. But hey we can’t tell anyone about this, will it be ok?”

  John was a bit surprised by this remark of Lilly. He paused a little and then said, “Yeah no problem, whatever you want”

  They kissed for a little while in the Chevy and then Lilly went home. At night while rolling round in his bed John kept wondering why Lilly didn’t want their relationship to be public but the joy of having her was much bigger.

  They were in love with each other and they both knew it. In school they acted as friends but after school they were like yin and yang, always together, if not physically then mentally. They spent a lot of time with each other. They were “going too fast” so it was pleasing but risky at the same time.

  Now here is the most noticeable point of the story that they were in love. The first question that pops in my head is, “what is Love?” I have a theory as a comprehensive answer to the question. Word “Love” is just a name or just a mask to cover a fact, to create a fantasy world, to enhance human emotions, to give it a pretty face, to keep people coming back for more, to make it hard to resist, to make it heart breaking to get out of it etc. The fact, which “Love” is covering, is that humans develop habit of other humans when they are spending time together. Love is just the name of developing a habit of other human that is why love is different and should not be confused with “love making”; they are two very separate things. Let’s have a look on an example; a human loves his parents, siblings, friends, wife and children. Who are these people? They are the people with whom he has spent a whole lot of time and has developed a habit of them.

  Here is another example; a young boy sees a pretty faced girl somewhere and the boy finds himself in love with her at the very first sight. He keeps thinking about her a whole week and after that the thoughts of the girl starts to fade away and eventually the boy forgets the girl. Here the boy only had a crush on the girl but as she was not with him and he couldn’t see her everyday so he couldn’t develop a habit of her thus he is not in love and he forgets her by not even trying. But if once you have developed a habit of another person its very hard to leave or forget him/her but it isn’t impossible. Life goes on and you learn how to live without that habit and new people come to fill in the spaces.

  Let me give you another example; in some cases we see that a girl and a boy hate each other at first but after some time they start to love each other, actually they are developing the habit of each other by fighting.

  John had a crush on Lilly but after the science fair and the dates they both were starting to develop habit of each other, thus falling in love with each other.

  We humans are taught and have other humans put this word “Love” in our heads from very early ages of our lives. The stories of grandparents like the one in which the princess requires true love’s first kiss to wake up from a magic spell, the cartoons we watch, the television serials, the movies, the books, the poetry, the songs, they all create a false description and a misunderstanding in our heads about Love. That’s how we learn how to mask the development of habit of other people. That’s how we learn the word “love”.

  Lilly was as pleasant as ever so it was natural that other boys at school must like her too. She was extremely polite and well mannered. Jim, a classmate of Lilly also started to like her very much. Jim along with the rest of the school saw John and Lilly as best friends so Jim thought that the key to her heart could be earned with a little help from John. Jim one day told John about him liking Lilly. John became outraged, his eyes went narrow and he was grinding his teeth but John held back because of Lilly. He said nothing to Jim and left. After school John was still angry, he texted Lilly to meet him at the coffee shop.

  “What’s up?” Lilly asked with a smile.

  “I have something to discuss with you” John said seriously.

  “Is everything alright”

  “I want to know why you don’t anyone to find out about our relationship”

  “Hey what is on your mind today?”

  “You didn’t answer my question”

  “I just don’t want to make my personal relations public”

  “Why” John asked.

  “Why are you asking this?” Lilly became worried.

  “Jim Lockwood told me today that he likes you and wanted me to help him as your best friend in getting you” John said grinding his teeth.

  “Jim Lockwood? Really?” Lilly was surprised.

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “I beg your pardon? I am your boyfriend!”

  “Hey it is he who likes me not me, I love you”

  “But it would have been easier if he knew that we are together” John.

  “I don’t want to disclose it. Please! For me?” Lilly making that irresistible face.

  “Alright” John dropped the weapon.

  The next few days were mostly uneventful and things between John and Lilly were slowing down. As more days passed Lilly was spending more and more time with Jim at school. She was getting closer to Jim. John tried to see it positively but his possessiveness was claimed. John went to Lilly’s to tell her about his feelings.

  “Oh hey John, come on in”

  “Let’s take walk”

  “Ok wait a sec”. Lilly grabbed her coat and they walked to the park quietly, although Lilly tried to break the ice but John nodded to her questions. By the facial expressions of John, Lilly understood that something was bothering him. After sitting on a bench John finally spoke.

  “So how are you really?”

  “Why are you asking this John? Don’t you already know?”

  “No I don’t think so” John said seriously in her eyes.

  “John is there something bothering you?”

  “I think you know”

  “How would I know?”

  “The same way you know where to find Lockwood”

  “Oh, so that’s what its all about”

  “Tell me why you don’t want to disclose our relationship? Tell me honestly this time!”

  “You are just so insecure. I can’t believe it” Lilly said astonishingly.

  “There is a difference between insecurity and possessiveness”

  “You already know that Jim is only a good friend”

  “But you can’t be too close to him knowing that he likes you”

>   “He is a good friend and how many times do I have to tell you that I love you not Jim Lockwood not anyone else”

  Lilly kissed John, the kiss was so powerful and emotional that John’s heart melted in a micro second by Lilly’s kiss and her love confession. Once again Lilly put John out of his misery.

  About two weeks later Jim asked Lilly out, not knowing about her relationship. Lilly didn’t want to go on a date with him but she didn’t want to break his heart either so she went with Jim. The date was even more romantic and convincing than any of the dates she had with John. Lilly was now really in a fix, she was very much moved by Jim’s feelings for her. This was a decisive event in the “Love story” of John and Lilly. Jim was now much more important than just a friend. It took three dates for Jim to make Lilly fell something about him. At the end of the third date Jim finally told Lilly about his feelings for her.

  “Lilly I’ve been meaning to tell you this before but I was afraid that you may not like it”

  “Don’t be ridiculous”

  “I really like you”

  “Awe! I like you too”

  “No, I mean I love you! I am in love with you since the day I first saw you”

  Lilly acted like she was surprised but actually she knew it. She had known it since John told her about Jim’s interest in her. “Wow, that’s…. that’s intense Jim. Are you one hundred percent sure about this? ”

  “I know what I feel for you”

  “Its not like I don’t like you or something. Its just that Love is a very intense and sacred feeling”

  “I am not saying that you should be in love with