Table Of Content

SUDEEP NAGARKAR All Rights Reserved for You PENGUIN BOOKS Contents A Note on the Author Prologue Jazz Relationship Signal Strength: Strong Can I Borrow Your Companionship 24/7? In Search of Vitamin ‘Love’ Out of Coverage Area Dream: Shutting Down Permanently Admit It, You Love Me Love Installed Successfully in Our Lives Farewell Hangover Love > Distance Dear Heart, Please Stay in Your Limits Life’s Rude but I’m a Dude Nobody Saw Her Struggle ‘Forever’ Is a Myth? Not Just a Relationship, It’s a Realationship End of Bachelor Life; Hello, Wife She Completed My Love Story Acknowledgements Follow Penguin Copyright A Note on the Author S udeep Nagarkar has authored seven bestselling novels—Few Things Left Unsaid, That’s the Way We Met, It Started with a Friend Request, Sorry You’re Not My Type, You’re the Password to My Life, You’re Trending in My Dreams and She Swiped Right into My Heart . He is the recipient of the Youth Achievers Award, and has been featured on the Forbes India longlist of the most influential celebrities for three consecutive years. He also writes for television and has given guest lectures in various renowned institutes like the IITs and platforms like TEDx. His books have been translated into various languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Telugu. Connect with Sudeep via: Facebook fan page: /sudeepnagarkar Facebook profile: /nagarkarsudeep Twitter: @sudeep_nagarkar Instagram: @sudeepnagarkar Snapchat: nagarkarsudeep Website: www.sudeepnagarkar.in By the Same Author She Swiped Right into My Heart You’re Trending in My Dreams You’re the Password to My Life Sorry, You’re Not My Type It Started with a Friend Request That’s the Way We Met Few Things Left Unsaid To the love of my life, my wife— Jasmine Sethi Though I am a writer, she is the one who completed my love story! Prologue I t was the month of July, 2015. Everyone was hooked to the popular show Game of Thrones . Those who weren’t watching it were relegated as aliens. The Indian web series TVF Pitchers, created by The Viral Fever, was bringing unusual, innovative content to the small screen, but there was still a section of the population that preferred back-to-back episodes of CID and Savdhaan India on television on a lazy Sunday morning. Prime Minister Modi had launched the Digital India programme to simplify our problems and make the country digitally empowered. But our lives still revolved around the controversial blue ticks on WhatsApp, and whether our friend or foe had ‘read’ our messages or not. However, the problems of the real world trumped those of the digital world by a mile. Real-life problems, like introducing your girlfriend to your parents, still scared the shit out of boys. ‘No, I don’t want to be a part of this plan!’ she exclaimed. ‘Trust me, it’ll work. We can pull it off,’ I pleaded. I knew that we were technically trying to commit suicide by planning to land up at my house without prior intimation and introducing her as my girlfriend to my parents. Would you deem it any less than a suicide attempt? We were at Starbucks with our friend Dipika and her younger sister, Roma, when I decided to call my parents. I didn’t want to give them too many details but thought it best to let them know we were coming. I went outside the restaurant to make the call so that I could talk to them without being disturbed. The call took more than a minute, and when I came inside, I could see the anxiety on my girlfriend’s face. As she flashed me a worried smile, I decided to calm her down by holding her hand. ‘They have asked us to come home in an hour,’ I muttered. ‘But what did you say to them?’ she asked with a raised eyebrow. ‘I said that I wanted to introduce them to a very special person in my life.’ ‘Are you insane? Who on earth does something like this? Fuck, you screwed everything up.’ ‘I didn’t. Believe me,’ I reassured her. I tried to console her, unsure about the outcome of the meeting myself. My head was filled with ifs and buts. At that moment I thought about how much impact she had had on my life. I wasn’t even fully aware of the effect she had on me. After three years of being in a long-distance relationship, we had finally decided to take things to the next level, only to realize that it wasn’t as easy as it had seemed. Eventually, I was overwhelmed with more questions than answers. I thought to myself, Is there a difference between just spending all your time together and being married? Yes, there is , I realized. Once you tie the knot, the whole dynamic of the relationship changes. The degree of love and affection that you share intensifies immensely. Looking at her, I thought, What did I do to deserve her? Gosh, I’m a lucky man! We never bothered with what others thought about us because only we could understand how much we meant to each other. Having a partner who understands you without you having to say anything is the best feeling in the world. This was one of the most critical days of our lives as it would decide what lay ahead for us. It was more critical for her as a girl, since her life would go through a complete transformation if everything went according to plan. Girls who pretend it’s not such a big deal are the ones who are most affected by it. Putting up a strong front is a defence mechanism for them. She too stayed calm in front of us and didn’t let on about the turbulence within her. The four of us drove to my house. Before ringing the doorbell, I hugged her and kissed her forehead to assure her that no matter what the outcome, we would face it together. My mom opened the door and welcomed us in. I tried to read her face to understand what was going on in her head. But I drew a blank. She led us to the drawing room where Dad was sitting, reading the paper. After casual introductions, we sat on the plush sofa. I could gauge the nervousness on her face. She deliberately did not sit next to me, instead choosing a spot at the far end of the sofa, next to Dipika. Although we had come well prepared, all our preparation vanished into thin air. We sat for a while in silence, waiting for someone else to break the ice. ‘Are you already married or what?’ Dad questioned. ‘Dad?’ I had an annoyed look on my face. ‘When you called to tell us about your “special someone”, we thought you were coming home directly after a court marriage. So how did you two meet? What’s your story?’ Holy shit! His response was totally unexpected. We were not at all prepared for this. At that moment, I felt like a student who had prepared all the chapters for his viva except one, only to find the professor asking questions from that very chapter. She kept quiet and looked at me nervously. My father soon slipped from English into his mother tongue Marathi. Being Punjabi, she could barely understand our conversation, and that made her feel even worse, as she didn’t know how to respond or what was expected of her. Everything seemed alien to her—the place, the language, the people. I looked at her to reassure her that I had everything under control. I took a deep breath and narrated our story. ‘We met at a bookstore for the first time. Her friend’s father owned the bookstore. I got her address through a register the bookstore maintained of all its visitors and sent her a love letter via post, not in the least expecting a reply. But she did reply! Gradually, in the process of exchanging letters, our feelings for each other grew. Soon, we met for the first time, and after a couple of such meetings, we realized we were in love.’ As I narrated the story, I could sense from everyone’s reaction that they didn’t believe us at all. I knew I had made a blunder and realized what a pathetic storyteller I was. I wished I could just unsay what had just been said but that was not an option either. All I could do was nervously wait for my parents to respond. ‘Are you sure it’s a true story and not make-believe, fiction, like your books?’ ‘It’s the only story I’ve ever told truthfully,’ I concluded, feigning a smile. A few hours later . . .

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