***** - This is the story of a love that never heard "I love you."

Have you ever been in love? Not the kind that seems to start out strong and you think this could be the one, only to have it fade out in a few weeks. I am talking about the kind of love where you would do anything for the person and know that they would do anything for you. The kind of love where you can just sit there and never need to say I love you, because you both feel it, and know it’s true. If you ever have then you are one of the lucky ones. If you haven't, the day will come when you do and only then will you truly understand what I am talking about. Now take it a step farther. Have you ever had this love at your fingertips, held it in your arms only to have it lost, and gone forever, with no chance of ever getting it back? I have. Everyone has a story in love, and here is mine. I was about seventeen at the time this happened. I was spending the summer in Delhi, where I would travel every year to visit my family. It was my first week there, and my friend Rohini, took me to a dance party by a lake. That is where I met him. We were waiting in line to get drinks when he showed up. I will never forget the first time I saw him. He was wearing cream-colored slack and a light cream-colored shirt to match, with a set of black shoes. His lightly curled hair was brushed back out of his face and his brown eyes were the deepest I have ever seen. Rohini introduced us, he smiled and I think for the first time ever I found myself speechless and embarrassed. We all joined up with the rest of our friends and had a great rest of the night dancing and singing. The weeks to follow were even better. We were together every single day. I had a summer job while I was there working at a halfway house. On the days that I had to work, he would always stop by just for a few minutes to say hello. One day my friend Rohini(18), Aman (19)( that was his name), Jirka(19), and I went out. We decided to have a full day of nothing but fun starting at nine am. So, right on the dot at 09:00AM, Aman picked us all up and off we went to town. We drove to a town not to far from where we lived called Odyssey. There was this really great tea bar that we were all going to go to. Once we got to the place we realized that there was still two hours before they would open. That was not a problem for us at all. We walked around and looked at all t he stores. Upon finding a toy store I made everyone go in. My friend Rohini, has been my friend since we were little. Our mothers knew each other from school, and both had us around the same time. Rohini always reminded me of a peach, so I was thrilled when I saw there was a big stuffed peach with a smile sitting on one of the shelves. I had to get it, and so I did along with four small containers of bubbles. Everyone thought I was crazy to be buying those. Little did they know that at some point they too would be using them. From the toy store we went to a small café, and had some coffee to help wake us up. We sat on the patio that was on the 5th floor. Being the kind of crazy and spontaneous person I am, I started blowing the bubble off the balcony. It did not take my friends long before they joined in. So there we were four teenagers at 11:00AM blowing bubbles off a building in the middle of downtown. We didn't care, it was great fun and we all laughed about it for hours afterward. A little after noon, we arrived back at the teahouse only to find it in full service. Now this was my first time to one of these places, and I completely fell in love. When you walked in the lights were dim. There was light instrumental music playing and pillows everywhere. The ceiling and walls were covered in tapestries, and the floor was covered with pillows. There was just enough room for a single file walkway. The waiter brought us to our small table and we all sat around. Leaning into the wall was like leaning into heaven, they had padded the whole wall. It was great. Not knowing what to order my friends took the liberty of ordering for me. Here is the shocker; all they served was tea. When they brought it out, it was served in these small coconut shell cups. The cup was full of herbs and steaming water. In the cup was a straw like spoon, which at the bottom had a strainer. You would use the spoon like a straw so you would not drink all the herbs. The tea was really amazing. I have never had anything like it in my life. It was bitter sweet and the smell of herbs was something else. So there we were just the four of us sitting and talking for hours. Some few teas later and many laughs we decided to depart. It was somewhere about 08:00pm by the time we left. If you ask where did the time go, I really can't tell you. Nor did we ever care. We were out to have fun and that is what we were going to do. Once we left the teahouse we drove for about an hour to another town, once we got there we found a small bar/ pool hall that was opened. It was a pretty warm summer night, so Aman and I stayed outside in the town square by a big water fountain while Rohini and Jirka went into the pool hall to play some pool. Aman and I talked, and joked around. Sitting at the water fountain he told me a made up story about a crocodile that lived in there. When I had the bright Idea to pour some of my bubble solution into it my hand slipped and the whole thing spilled into the water fountain. The next thing we know there are bubbles starting for form when the streams of water hit the bubble solution. Laughing, we back away as the bubbles start to multiply. We walk into the pool hall gather our friends and set out back for yet another adventure. We arrive back in our town and hit up a nightclub. This was sometime around midnight. We all ordered sandwiches and coffee to help rebuild our energy. Sitting around a small square table recapping the events of the day, and singing along to the music a few more hours slipped by. It was sometime around 04:00 AM when we left the club.. We decided to drive a short way to the lake where we had all met a few days prior, as the sun was going to be coming up soon. Making great time, we sat on the stonewall surrounding the lake as the sun was coming up. It was the best way to end a perfect day.