Difference

"Nothing comes from nothing....
Nothing ever could...........
So somewhere in my youth or childhood.I must have done something good"..and when the note dropped, so did a lone tear from Karn's eye and he looked lovingly at Alisha, who was sitting beside him in the couch but sleeping and snoring lightly.
He sighed and took her up to the bedroom and put her to sleep. This is what he liked most about Alisha, her honesty,she did not pretend, she was not exaggerated, she was who she was. Karn met Alisha when he was in college. She was intelligent and beautiful, but she never had many friends. She seemed aloof, but Karn was ready to gamble, and he decided to approach her one day with the proposition of going out with her. She declined but said that she genuinely wanted to be friends with him. Karn was amazed, at how easily she gave into his persuasion. And soon enough he got to know why she did so.
Alisha was an addict, not a hardcore drug addict but she found pleasure in the luxury of oblivion that her pack of glue permitted her entry to. She had a tough childhood, her parents weren't divorced but fought with each other all the time. She hoped someday that her family would make her happy but she was deceived and as she grew up she knew that her prayers had fallen to deaf ears. She was cynical, she remained depressed most of the time, and flared up at the slightest mishaps. but Karn loved her nevertheless. He believed there was a reason why they were brought together, and that it was his duty to reform this wonderful woman whom he was fortunate to have met with. He knew that opposites attracted, and even though they weren't opposites exactly, she was his better half.. "If I am the shooting star, that awes people, then she is the trail that I leave behind that charms people, we contemplate each other, we fulfil each other , our existence is as meaningless as that of a lonely leaf in a tree in autumn, if we aren't with each other." he thought staring at the calm face of Alisha's eyes closed, lips parted as if smiling in her sleep. He was ready for this day and it had to be now or never. It was afternoon when they were watching the movie and evening when she woke up.
'Ow! Shit!".She cursed loudly as she hit her toenail against the door.She reached out for the refrigerator to take out ice.
"Here let me do it"..Karn intervened and made her sit on the sofa. "Why the f***, was the door open?, you know I get hurt there, I told you so many times..to close it before you leave , you knew it was dark..." Karn didn't even wink but just smiled coyly. Alisha grumbled some more. She could never understand why Karn remained happy all the time. She never was. She was as achieved as he was, only that she had an addiction. Not that it was going to kill her . And she had reasons to remain angry. When nothing went right with her..why would she be happy? .She was jealous of Karn. When her life was a sombre path without joy, why was Karn's a cheerful one?..but he made her happy. Probably that's the reason why she didn't go away as she had planned to do , to teach him what it felt to be sad. She had learnt to see the glass as half full, even though she didn't really understand why she would say so, when it was clearly almost empty and could not quench the thirst of anybody.
"Why are you smiling like that?".She asked in a clipped voice.
"Just like that,"
"Oh ok."
'' Uhm. I had to ask you something"..Karn was nervous.
"What?"..
"How long have we been together?"..
" I don't know...why?"..Alisha felt a sudden fear, perhaps it was the end of her happiness and her selfishness after all. Perhaps he had understood that he was not going to be happy with her..that probably it was going nowhere.
Karn seemed to be in a dilemma . As if unable to understand what to say. Alisha braced herself for the worst, like she always did and wished she could close her eyes so that she didn't have to witness another devastating moment of her life.
Finally it seemed Karn gathered up the courage that was lacking , cleared his voice..and opened his mouth..to say something
"Will you marry me?".
There was a silence as neither of them knew what to say. Karn wished with all his heart that she would see the glass as half full. .
"Yes".
That's the most optimistic that Alisha had ever been in her entire life..but somehow she knew , that it was going to pay off. That she was going to be happy.