Hello to Hugs in 10 years!

It was a Monday evening; I was going through my social media account. I had received numerous friend requests. Most of them were either from my relatives or friends. But there was one from a stranger with no specific name. It was titled ‘Nature lover’.

I was going to ignore it just like I always did, but then all of a sudden something in me told me not to do so. The inner voice in me and my instincts told me to accept it. Without thinking further, I agreed as over time I had learnt to trust my instincts. Not understanding what else to do next I was about to go offline but suddenly there was a “Hi!” from the ‘Nature lover’ person.

I too replied, thinking it would be a small conversation of introduction only. But the small conversation turned into a 2-hour chat with a stranger. It turned out to be that the stranger was a girl of exactly my age who actually loved nature a lot. She even said that she had a nursery of plants at her home which explained why her profile name was ‘Nature lover’. I tried my best to not give away all my details to her but it was not easy. The maximum I could do was not reveal my name to her.

Every once in a while, or whenever I was free, I would chat with her about all sorts of things. I always felt secure talking to her even though I had never actually seen her or known her name. She reminded me of my best friend Aarna. She had almost all the same qualities as Aarna like loving nature, interacting with new people (which was one of the main reasons why she had sent me a friend request) and painting.

I and Aarna were childhood friends. We had met in a playgroup and created a special bond since then. Throughout our school years, we stayed together and we were even teased by the name ‘the twin besties’ or ‘glued girls’ by our schoolmates. We fought sometimes but the fight didn’t stay long. It was like we could never be separated. Unfortunately, our friendship broke one day when one of Aarna’s friends created a situation of misunderstanding between us. The misunderstanding was so big that I could never really gain back Aarna’s trust. Slowly the gap in us grew and we stopped talking to each other. Then one evening I got to know that Aarna was moving to another town. I wanted to talk to her and hug her but the ego in me wouldn’t let that happen. Finally, when I decided that I should just say goodbye to her, it was too late, she had already boarded her flight. That night I cried a lot and regretted not having cleared out the fight between us.

10 years passed since that incident. Throughout the years I had made many friends but no one could ever replace my twin bestie. But when I started chatting with ‘Nature lover’ I never felt the empty place in my heart that belonged to Aarna.

Over time I got to know the ‘Nature lover’ girl more. Her hobbies, how her day went and all other things. The only three things I didn’t know about her were how she looked, her name and what her actual sound was like. Within me, I had the curiosity to meet her, ask her name, talk to her face to face but the problem was I never dared to ask, thinking that she would mind it and stop talking to me. One fine day, gaining enough courage, I asked her if we could meet someday. Surprisingly she agreed. The venue was decided and the time was set. I couldn’t express my excitement. I got dressed in my best clothes and headed to the “Waffle and Fun Café” where we were supposed to meet.

We were supposed to meet at 5 pm but I got there early so I could be prepared to meet her. I looked into my pocket mirror to see how I looked. Then I gave myself a pep talk as I was pretty nervous. Finally ready to meet her I eagerly waited for her to come. As every girl entered the café, I checked to see if she wore a red dress with a white jacket as ‘Nature lover’ girl had beforehand informed me that she would be wearing those types of clothes so I could recognize her.

Till 5:15 pm I could not find her but then suddenly I saw a figure near the entrance of the. There was a light coming in through the door so I could not make out the face, only the red dress and white jacket could be seen. Quickly I walked towards her.

The sunlight from the side by window flashed on my face so I had to close my eyes. For some time, there was complete silence but suddenly the nature lover girl in front of me asked in a shocked manner, “Lola? Are you the girl I have been chatting with for so many months?” The sound of her voice left me dumbstruck and I was completely astounded. I recognized the voice almost immediately. It was the voice of my twin bestie, my childhood friend – ‘Aarna’, the friend with whom I had fought and hadn’t talked for 10 years. 

Lola Nagle