He caught just a glimpse of her on his whirlwind work tour and for the first time he did not curse his hectic traveling. Instead he just stood there, dumbfounded, gaping at her like she were something alien altogether. She caught him from the corner of her eye, but probably she was used to the effect she had on people, she just walked on. The usually poised guy, he was left speechless. Mercifully he had the nerves to learn of her name. he couldn't wait to get back home. Once there, he did something he'd never done before... He asked around. God bless technology, he discovered her on one of the million social networking groups mushrooming on cyber space. She came across as an honest, simple lady. He liked that. One fateful evening he mustered up the courage to send her an email. As expected, she didn't respond. He even liked that, but he knew that in order to get her to talk, he would need to persevere..and persevere he did. Finally, applauding his persistence, she relented. What followed was some of the best conversation either of them had ever had or would have in the future...but all behind a thick veil of anonymity. He had managed to learn all about her, but all she knew about him was what he had told her....nothing..well, nothing save for the fact that he could talk and do something no man had ever done before...Listen!!

Their communication was intoxicating...a duel of words yet a source of warmth..something both of them looked forward to each day. Then came the big question of revelation of identity. He panicked..he wanted to make it special..he wanted to meet her for the first time the way he had imagined it would be...an accidental slip on the road, she would be in his arms and he would call out her name!!! But he didnt want to tell her that right away, nor turn down the proposal of meeting up..so he carried on with the anonymous mails.

Meanwhile, in her town, she was facing a dilemma of her own. Contrary to all her rules and notions of prudence, she was falling for a beautiful stranger!! Was it the cloak of anonymity or just the fact that he sounded so genuine, she could talk to him about anything under the sun. On most occasions, man that he was, he even provided her with solutions, but sometimes he was just perfect the way he just sat back, listened to her and did the virtual equivalent of holding her in his arms and just being there. She felt like she'd known him all her life. But something about the equation didn't seem right, why was he so reluctant to meet her? She tried to get him to come out of the dark and tell her everything about himself, she didn't like the idea of relying so heavily on nameless, faceless entity. But he never relented. Slowly, the emails reduced, the compliments ran out, the teasing, the pranks, the innuendos all dried up. They did exchange the odd mail, but she found solace in the arms of someone around her..someone she knew and learnt to love.

He too was extremely fond of her. She came like a whiff of fresh air into his life, cheered him up and showed him a side to life he had almost forgotten struggling under the burden of his numerous responsibilities. She taught him not to take life so seriously, she taught him about flowers, the rains, stupid jokes, dancing, walks, trees, family, friends, a life away from work, a balance, but above all, she taught him to laugh! On his side, he provided her with stability, conversation, companionship, respect and trust, all the things she had wrongly been denied for a long time. Despite their radically different backgrounds and the rightly anticipated fierce opposition from their families, they contemplated marriage!! They dared to believe that it could happen, they hoped against hope that it wold happen, but in the end, it did not!!

They remained friends, or atleast tried to. He drowned himself in his work and she in her make believe utopia. She thought they could still be friends, he knew they couldn't, but for her sake he was willing to try. But every single conversation, every single laugh, the sight of her with other men even old friends who had once hung out with both of them stung his heart!! Each of her attempts to reach out to him and assure him that everything was all right further pushed him into his own cocoon. Finally, he dealt with it in the only way he knew, by shutting himself out of her life completely. He stopped taking her phone calls, stopped returning them, found an excuse to avoid any plans of meeting up and shut her out completely.

But the truth remained that he still couldn't sleep at night...her face, her laughter, the way her eyes twinkled, haunted him all through the night. He knew what he had to do.....

Meanwhile, a few thousand miles away, another man dreamt of her. He knew that in his quest for perfection he had alienated her. He regretted it every single waking moment, but his pride came in the way of acknowledging it to her. they still did exchange the odd mail, but he had a feeling that he had almost lost her. He knew what he had to do....

She sat at her computer, rereading her emails over the past year with the beautiful stranger. then she took a long look at the photographs of the one she had spent the past year or so with but who had now walked out on her like everyone else. She knew what she had to do....

The next morning was a beautiful day. Cloudy, breezy with the sweet promise of rain. Just the way she liked it. He remembered their conversation about the rich smell of the rain falling on the parched earth as he sat at the airport waiting to catch a flight to her city. He was finally going to meet her..it might not have been the way he had planned, but it would still be perfect. Lost in his dreams, he reached out for his morning cuppa and the newspaper. That's when he saw it!

In her city, he awakened to the sound of rain falling outside his window. He took a deep breath and after a long long time, he felt alive. He picked up his phone and searched for the florist, whose services he hadn't availed of in a while. He remembered that he favourite flowers were carnations, he remembered that dinner at their restaurant where he had the manager bring in a bouquet of a hundred pink and yellow carnations. He smiled to himself as he recollected the look on her face and the surge of hapiness in his heart when she hugged him. He then reached out for the newspaper. That's when he saw it.

There she was, smiling, laughing, the epitome of joy frozen forever in the obituaries!!!!!