She came to him as a puppy weather beaten , drenched like a rug , uninvited unannounced . The morning was yet to stretch into a day , the air was still fresh , the grey between the dusk and dawn holding promises of a new start , the milkman was yet to come and kumar was still clutching on to his warm cozy ruffled sheets refusing to wake up and let go . He stared outside to the residue of the nights deluge left on his window pane . The tiny water rivulets seeking their own different paths etching stories as they dissipated

The knock on the door was low , thud !! thud !! sequencing with his heartbeat . Kumar listened intently and wondered about the many prospects a rain soaked morning can bring onto his door step .Then he heard it again and finally had to leave his morning nest . Aasmi was standing next to the door. Her white kurta bore onslaughts of a tiresome and gritty journey . She clutched onto her trolley bag and if any one would not have noticed her knocking , it would seem she was on her way out and not in .Kumar stared with his sleepy eyes realizing the moment , sketching the mind picture of how she never failed to look like a lost stray dog . Few minutes have passed and they hadn't spoken a word . Finally he rubbed his eyes , stretched himself , opened the door completely and muttered a casual out of place "good morning " . She smiled and thanked him for making it look casual .

Days passed , neither he asked , nor she answered .They lived as if they had never parted .She had always been a quite person and this time around she seemed to be aware of her boundaries more .His worried of maintaining a household was taken care of , the one thing that he thanked her for . He again felt like a guest in his own house . He missed his known territory of rumpled clothes , unwashed utensils and book piles .He wondered if she has just come to clean his mess , her own mess .

He asked himself how he needed her, in which form and shape . The last time she left he had tried to find the meaning of her presence . When she is around the necessity of being with her metamorphoses into different beings all at the same time . The need assumes the shape of the vessel it fits in . She becomes a mother , a child , a companion , a laughter and a tear . He fails to put his finger on one particular circle that encompasses all of them or none at all .

The way her things lay around the house , the way she could mingle in his surroundings without disturbing the harmony was an intoxicating feeling . As if her presence adds to the resonance of his being , Her towel in the bathroom , her smell in his room , her heels by his boots all added to a feeling of completeness . Kumar wondered how can completeness rise from completeness , how could he never feel incomplete without her yet she seemed to be the last clue of the puzzle .

He had never asked her to leave but each time she left , he realized her staying one moment longer could have disturbed the harmony , the balance . There was no name to their relationship , it had no necessity being named , no urge to be framed , published and acknowledged . They lived like interwoven shoe strings , meeting departing and meeting again . The promise to depart as sweet as the promise to meet . There was no room for habituation , no room for taking each other for granted , no story to draw a conclusion and no expectations to keep , yet they were all they had .The passion to be together never faded away and reality with its harshness never took away the charm of those few days . She filled him softly unannounced , uninvited and unabated