eFiction India eFiction India Vol.02 Issue.09 | Page 29

STORIES

28

SHACKLED
    DIVYA ZUTSHI                                   

D

O NOT TRY THIS AT
HOME!

When we become young adults,
we explore things and we explode with
raging hormones. We tend to experiment
and sometimes venture into forbidden territories. So at the cost of repeating myself:
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
I turned eighteen some time ago and as you
can imagine, I was brimming with life. I,
like any other teenager, fell in love. There
is nothing astonishing about falling in love,
now is there?

Divya Zutshi is a freelance training content developer. She is passionate about reading and writes occasionally. She can’t stand grammatical inconsistencies, so she thoroughly
enjoys her job. “Allergic to Love” was
her first story, and she wishes to add
many more to the list.

First, it was just this irresistible desire to be
together. He was my doppelganger, my soul
mate. We felt connected, so connected that
we could not imagine being separated. We
would not go anywhere without each other.
We would go to the market together, to the
school, to the tuition center, we had the
same set of friends, the same class. We had
grown up together and were now beginning
to grow on each other. We used to fight
a lot in the beginning, but now we were
coming of age and becoming sensible, or
was it senseless?
We were so together that we were gradually forgetting everyone else; the outside
world was blurring and we could not see
anything but each other. There was nothing
wrong with our relationship. Let me tell

you at this point that there was nothing
physical between us, at least not yet. So our
bond was platonic and yet quite out of the
ordinary.
So while the rest of the eighteen-year-olds
were kissing each other, hugging each other
all the time, and looking at each other with
lustful hungry eyes, we were sinking into
the depths of our wonderful companionship. We did not want to get physical.
There was no need for us to hold hands or
waists, or touch each other. Also, both of
us believed that there is surreal and magical
beauty in surrendering to our passions
only after marriage. The build up before
the wedding gives a couple that rush and
excitement. It feels naughty and ticklish to
resist the temptation.
Then finally, one day he told me he liked a
girl in our class. I know I should have been
happy for him, but I was not. I threw a fit!
I cried and howled, and ensured that he felt
guilty about liking someone else. Neither
he nor I had ever thought about our relationship as an affair. After all, how could
we? We were not lovers!
Yet, I threw a tantrum, and left him clueless. He stood before me, numb. He did not
know how to react. There were feelings that
were surfacing that shouldn’t have. There
was this uncomfortable silence, of course,
between my sobs, that led him to hug me. I

eFiction India | June 2014