Valentine’s Day may be a happy day for most people; but, for me, it doesn’t bring happy memories. One of the worst things happened on this day to me, but, the silver lining is that my partner and I came out of it stronger and better than ever before.
Rishabh and I had been dating since Class XI. It was first love for both of us and while it is rare for school romances to last, we somehow managed to stay together. Through graduation, in different colleges to post-graduation, in different cities, we stuck together and stayed true to each other. I’m not saying everything was perfect; but, even after the fights and misunderstandings, we chose each other over everything. However, after 7 years of being together, I had no idea things would change so much.
After his post-graduation, he came back to Delhi and finally, after two years of a long-distance relationship, we were in the same city again. Both of us had great jobs – ones that took up a lot of our time. So, the amount of time we spent with each other started reducing. As much as I wanted to spend all my free time with him, he was surprisingly, always busy. He would never even introduce me to his colleagues whom he had gotten very close to. Still somehow, after a lot of insistence, he finally introduced me to his work friends at a party. And in that party I was not with Rishabh; but, instead, I was with this extremely pretentious man who behaved in a way that I would never associate with Rishabh – the man I was in love with. He ignored me completely, barely acknowledged the fact that I was there and constantly sucked up to his bosses… and one female colleague in particular.
To say that I was angry would be an understatement. I told him I wanted to leave and his response to that was “You go, baby, can’t you see I’m with my friends? I need to be here for some more time. Call me when you get home.” Not once did he ask me why I was leaving and how I would get home. On the way home, I calmed myself down and told myself that this was a one-off incident. But, it wasn’t. Over time, it kept happening over and over again. He would misbehave with me no matter where we were and talk down to me as if I was stupid. I started to feel disrespected in the relationship and the resentment kept growing. Even though I tried talking to him a few times, he did not see any fault with his behaviour.
My self-respect was screaming for attention and so, I decided to call it quits. Now, we aren’t the type of couple to celebrate Valentine’s Day or anything, and so, I didn’t know he had planned anything for it. We went for a long drive and he stopped in this open area. We stepped out of the car, sitting on its hood talking when he suddenly kneeled down and proposed to me. While it was the sweetest proposal ever, in that moment both my heart and mind – in unison – said ‘no’ and so did I. I couldn’t marry the person he had turned out to be and because I was questioning our relationship constantly, marriage was out of the question. I told him everything I had felt and broke up with him. We drove back in silence and as soon as I reached my bedroom, I broke down crying; absolutely miserable.
There was no contact between us for a few months. Both of us were too egoistic to call each other and our relationship and love felt like a huge waste of time, effort and life. After a while, we bumped into each other at a common friend’s party. Neither of us knew that the other would be there. As soon as I saw him, I wanted to run to him and cry in his arms. But, I couldn’t. I had broken up with him after all. So, I pretended to be happy and danced all night with my friends. The next day he called me and screamed at me for ignoring him. That is when I broke down and started crying. He told me he still loved me and begged me to give him another chance. And because I loved him so much, I did. It’s been a year since then and he was right when he said he’s changed. There is no trace of the condescending Rishabh anymore and this one respects me and holds me in high regard. We haven’t talked about marriage again but I hope the proposal comes soon. Now, I can’t wait to spend my life with him!
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