When the Sun Sets, the Moon Rises: A Second Chance at Love

Previously published in Muse India, this heartwarming short story , explores themes of love, loss, second chances, and the unexpected turns life can take. It beautifully captures the bittersweet emotions of a breakup and the power of reconnection.

When the Sun Sets, the Moon Rises: A Second Chance at Love

Looking at the sunset, he always felt a loneliness that never existed before. A void was created in his life emptying a space that was never full. Sitting there alone became an arduous task for him because it reminded him of the happiness he shared watching this same sunset with someone very special.

“Hey Abhi, are you done yet? We have got work to do,” Bunty said.

“Yeah, I am coming,” Abhi said while getting up from the bench.

“Why do you always look at the sunset?” Bunty asked.

“I’ll tell you someday,” Abhi said.

“I know, the apparent reason because you await the darkness to come,” Bunty said.

“Not really,” Abhi said.

“Anyways, have you forgotten about tomorrow’s submission? Hitler will kill us,” Bunty said.

Hitler was the name given to the very strict Mechanics teacher; even a delay of a second in the submission would mean a straight zero.

The room was filled with smoke and the clicking sound of the keys on the keyboard.

“Bro, I have searched the entire internet, I can't find anything,” Bunty said while taking a drag from the cigarette.

“Yeah, you'll find once you stop blowing the smoke on the screen,” Abhi replied.

“Yeah man, I do see something, you know how weird life is bro. The solution is in front of you most of the times, and you don't even notice it,” Bunty said while waving his hand to push away the smoke.

“Dude, I told you not to get so high, and you were the one who was serious about the project,” Abhi said.

“Bro, you know I get creative only when I smoke,” Bunty said.

“And what has the creativity to do with mechanics?” Abhi said.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

“Open the door!!! I want to get in,” a voice came from outside.

Bunty opened the door just to see Sam holding a gift in one hand and flowers in the other.

“Guys, what took you so long? And why aren't you ready yet?” Sam said.

“And we would be ready for what?” Abhi asked.

“Guys you forgot, its Muskan’s birthday and she invited us,” Sam said with excitement.

“Well technically she invited you, and you are the one who's supposed to get ready,” Abhi said.

“Come on guys, the whole college knows we always stick together, so she knows you guys would be coming with me,” Sam said.

“Bro, she's your girlfriend, so you should spend time with her alone,” Abhi said.

“What’s the fun in that; anyways she has hosted the party at her home, so we anyways aren't going to be alone,” Sam said.

“Even I think we should go; see I am wearing this new t-shirt today, so it would be a good time to show off. You know most of the girls from our class are going to be there,” Bunty said pointing at his t-shirt.

“Hold your horses right there, we aren't going anywhere,” Abhi said.

“Come on bro, is it because Meghna is going to be there?” Sam said sarcastically. 

“Oh yeah, after their break up he always avoids encountering her,” Bunty prompted. 

“This might cause a problem to you cry-baby, not me,” Abhi said.

“Ok then come with us,” Sam said.

“Sure, let's go, only because Sam is afraid to go alone,” Abhi said.

“Yeah, yeah, we know that very well,” both of them said together while nodding their heads.

The door of the house was open, and the sound of loud music could be heard from a mile away. The three entered the house and just when Muskan saw them, she jumped in joy and hugged Sam.

“I am so glad that you guys came; come inside, let's have some mock-tails,” Muskan said while pulling Sam into the house, holding his hand.

Muskan’s Dad was standing right in the corner of the room giving Sam dirty looks all this time; he definitely didn’t like Sam.

Just to look like a well-behaved guy, Sam greeted Muskan's Mom and went to her Dad.

“Namaste uncle,” Sam said putting together all his mannerisms only to be let down by the Dad.

“Oh, namaste beta, how many backlogs did you get this time? I heard your results are out,” Muskan's Dad said while demeaning Sam in front of everyone and laughing.

“Just one uncle,” Sam said with the fake smile he put up after the last joke.

“Oh, you know Muskan topped again, she's very talented you know,” Muskan’s Dad said while inflating his chest by another 15 inches.

Abhi and Bunty couldn't stop laughing at this scene; and suddenly a face came in front of Abhi. Looking extremely ravishing with her hair flowing over her shoulders and her eyes shining brightly as if they were filled with the stars, she just took Abhi’s breath away.

“Hey Abhi, look Meghna; she's looking beautiful, isn't she?” Bunty said.

“Shouldn't you be busy looking at other girls of the college?” Abhi said, being the possessive guy, he was.

“Well I was just saying, anyways I’ve got to grab a drink,” Bunty said while winking at Abhi as he saw Meghna coming towards him.

“Hey Abhi, how are you?” Meghna said while adjusting her hair.

“I am good, how are you?" Abhi said while stammering.

“Come on Abhi, you don't have to feel so awkward. So what if we broke up, we’re still friends right?” Meghna said.

“I' m not feeling awkward,” Abhi said, hating the phrase “we're still friends.”

Cake cutting time!!! Someone screamed from the crowd.

“Let's go,” Meghna said.

Abhi and Meghna were standing on either side of Muskan facing each other, Abhi couldn’t take his eyes off Meghna.

“Make a wish and blow the candles!!!” Meghna said.

Losing his consciousness in Meghna’s eyes, Abhi followed her instructions just like a genie followed the master's command and blew the candles before Muskan could.

“DUDE!!!” Sam screamed.

“It's ok, at least someone's wish would come true,” said Muskan’s Mom.

“Sorry Muskan,” Abhi said innocently.

“It's ok Abhi, I know why you did this; you should keep your eyes in control that's how you won't lose hold of the surroundings,” Muskan said laughingly.

“Here birthday boy,” Meghna said while feeding Abhi a big piece of cake.

“Oh, shit!!!” Meghna said.

“Yeah you did feed me a lot, but it's ok,” Abhi said while trying to gulp the cake.

“Not that stupid, I must rush back to the hostel; I forgot to submit the project,” Meghna said in a hurry.

“I'll come with you,” said Abhi.

The campus was full of lush green trees; walking on the road to the hostel was a romantic experience for Abhi, as the rustle of the leaves made him feel like the trees were welcoming them. And the cold breeze brought with it a redolence of love.

“Are you done with your project?” Meghna asked.

“Kind of,” Abhi said shrugging off his shoulders.

“Check it for plagiarism, you don't want to be caught again,” Meghna said winking at Abhi.

“That happened just once,” Abhi said.

“Yeah once in all the subjects,” Meghna said and the both laughed.

“Do you still watch the sunset?” Meghna asked.

“Yeah, each day...,” Abhi paused and then said, “But alone nowadays,” looking at Meghna.

“Hey, by the way, what did you wish for?” Meghna asked.

“You,” Abhi said being lost in love.

“What?” Meghna said looking at Abhi.

“I mean you guess,” Abhi said.

“Ok, got it,” Meghna said while blushing.

The girl’s hostel had come.

“So, I have to go now,” Meghna said reluctantly, not wanting to part away.

“Yeah, tell me if you need any help with the project; I anyways have to submit next week, so I can help you out,” Abhi said.

“Oh yeah, there’s one thing if you can do, please give this pen drive to Sony. You know her, right?” Meghna asked.

“Maybe I do,” Abhi said.

“The one who plays the guitar, you'll find her in the administrative building. My internet is not working, so you'll have to give it to her; she’ll submit it,” said Meghna.

“Sure, I'll give it,” Abhi affirmed.     

Reaching near the administrative building Abhi could hear the soothing sound of the guitar. But his relaxing feeling suddenly turned into confusion when he saw three girls seated on the stairs in front of the building playing guitar. And to add to the puzzlement, Abhi forgot the name of the girl he was supposed to give the pen drive to.

“Damn, this is what happens when you focus more on the eyes rather than the words,” Abhi said to himself.

“I was supposed to give this pen drive…” A perplexed Abhi said trying not to sound stupid as Meghna would know about it.

“Yeah give it to me,” the girl with the emo look said.

Feeling proud about his smartness, Abhi didn’t ask anything after that and gave her the pen drive; only to realize later-on that one of the girls had earphones plugged in and didn’t pay attention to what was happening.

Walking towards the exit gate, Abhi was blissful at how great their meeting was today and suddenly the phone rang; it was Meghna.

“Hello,” said Abhi in his most masculine voice as he was feeling like a superhero who saved the damsel in distress.

“Hey Abhi, I just wanted to ask, did you find her?” Meghna asked.

“Yeah, I gave the pen drive to her,” Abhi said.

“But I just received a call from her that you didn't meet,” Meghna said.

“Wasn't it the girl with an emo look?” Abhi questioned.

“No Abhi, whom did you give it to?” Sony nowhere looks like an emo; didn’t you ask her the name?” Meghna said.

“Well there were three girls, and I did ask whether they were supposed to be given a pen drive,” Abhi said just when he remembered only two of them saw him.

“Holy shit!!! The one with the earphones,” Abhi said in excitement.

“What,” Meghna asked.

“Nothing, I'll go back and find the pen drive,” Abhi said while rushing back to the administrative building.

With the kind of luck Abhi had that day he didn't find any girl sitting on the steps, but there were two guys.

“Hey, did you see any girl playing guitar? She was sitting over here,” Abhi asked.

“We just got here, and no one was here before us,” one of the guys said.

“You sure, you didn't see a girl with emo hairstyle with a guitar?” a very confused Abhi asked.

“Oh, you must be talking about Viky, she must be in the music room; she spends most of her time there,” the other guy said.

Abhi rushed through the staircase to reach the music room on the second floor where he finally saw Viky.

“Hey, the pen drive I gave you a while ago, I need it back,” Abhi said.

“Yeah, here you go, the composition is in it,” Viky handed over the pen drive to Abhi.

“What composition? Actually, I had mistakenly given it to you; I was supposed to give it to someone else,” Abhi said while sweating.

“Weren't you sent by Ron to take the new composition?” Viky asked.

“No,” Abhi said.

“Oops, I just formatted it to make some space for our composition,” Viky said.

“What!!!” Abhi almost screamed, and everyone in the room was looking at him.

“What am I going to do now? Meghna will kill me,” Abhi said to himself.

The phone rang again; it was Meghna.

“Did you find it?” Meghna asked.

“Yeah but there’s a problem,” a very scared Abhi said, because the only person he feared was Meghna.

“What happened now?” Meghna asked.

“The data accidentally got erased,” Abhi said.

“What!!!” Meghna reacted almost the same way Abhi did; they indeed were similar in many ways.

“Abhi how could you, now what will I do? Wait a sec; maybe I had mailed it to Sony last night, I’ll ask her,” Meghna said.

After five minutes Abhi’s phone rang again.

“Does she have it?” Abhi asked.

“No, she says I didn't mail her; maybe I forgot to, I'll fail now. Shahane mam doesn’t allow even a second of delay,” Meghna said while trying to hold her tears.

“Meghna, please don’t cry. I’ll figure something out,” Abhi said feeling very guilty.

Meghna cut the call and Abhi went to his favourite spot; where now instead of the sun the moon was shining brightly. 

“Maybe she won’t ever talk to me after this,” Abhi thought.

Abhi took out the phone to check the mails Meghna and he used to exchange. Suddenly he saw a new mail from Meghna; it was the mail containing the project file. Abhi jumped with excitement and called Meghna.

“Meghna I found it?” Abhi said in excitement.

“Really, the file?” Meghna asked.

“Yeah, I'll forward it to Sony; tell me the e-mail id.”

“Oh, Abhi I love you so much…,” Meghna said and paused for a second. “I mean thanks a lot, I’ll send you the id."

After mailing the file, Abhi sat on the bench completely relaxed. After sometime he heard a voice.

“I thought you only watch sunsets?” A voice came from behind.

Abhi turned around to find Meghna standing there.

Meghna came and sat beside him.

“So, you mailed me? I thought you never wanted to talk to me after we separated,” Abhi said.

“Well, I always thought of mailing you. I wrote a mail each night but never sent it; and last night instead of mailing Sony I sent the mail to you,” Meghna said.

“You know why I always come here to watch the sunset?” Abhi asked.

“Yeah, why? You never told me?” Meghna asked with curiosity.

“Not because the setting sun gives out the last ray of light but because even after the sun sets it brings forward another beautiful aspect of life, the night. Night is not always about darkness and sadness; sometimes it's also about the full moon shining bright and your dear one sitting right beside you enjoying it,” Abhi said looking into the eyes of Meghna.

“No doubt I love you so much,” Meghna said.

“Hey, by the way, I have something for you,” Abhi said taking out his phone.

“For me, what is it?” Meghna asked anxiously.

“I have this song made only for you; no one has ever heard it,” said Abhi.

“Oh, really and where did you get it from?” Meghna asked.

“Leave that, just listen,” Abhi said silencing Meghna.

Meghna rested her head on Abhi’s shoulder holding his hand. And they enjoyed the moonlight listening to the beautiful composition of Viky…