K: Kohl

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"No, I'd like my eyes to be bare please." I push away the hands of the make up artist who is holding the jet black kohl pencil in her hands.

"But madam, without this you will look really pale. You are the bride today, all eyes will be on you. You will look more beautiful with this." She tries to make her point.

"Its fine. I don't need it." I look away.

"But......" She looks helpless.

"I said no. Now come do my hair." I yell at her.

She drops the pencil back into her box and hurriedly gathers the comb and the styling serum and walks behind me to adjust my hair.

I look at the mirror. I look beautiful. I had flawless skin and the makeup looked very good on it. The blush was of the perfect color and my red lips were done up beautifully. The amount of gloss was adequate and it shone under the light. But my eyes gave away my plight. It looked sad and empty. I couldn't help but go back to that day six years ago.

"What do you like so much about her?" I ask Kunal.

"I don't like her, I love her." Came the curt reply.

It hurts, when the man you love says he is in love with someone else. It pierced me in every possible way and yet I wanted an answer to the question. Especially when Tia never bothered to acknowledge his feelings.

"You know she doesn't feel the same, right?" I look at Kunal with love laden eyes almost pleading him to love me instead.

"Yes, but it doesn't matter. I love her and that is enough for me to survive." He stares at her from a distance as I'm seated at his cubicle. Tia was his best friend, but Kunal was in love with her. And I was his colleague who sat next to him everyday just so that he realized how much I loved him.

"But what is it about her that you love so much?" I had to know.

"Her eyes. They are so expressive and bright. I like the way they stand out on her face. And the way she wears kohl to accentuate it. I wish I could be that kohl you know. So close to those pretty eyes and an important part of her. She is beautiful, yes. But she is more beautiful on the inside. Her soul is the prettiest and I can see that in her eyes. I have never meant a more wonderful person in my life before. Someday, I hope that I get to see love for me in her kohl rimmed eyes." I could see true love in his eyes. But they were not for me.

And since that day I have always hated kohl and the mention of it. Every time I see someone wearing it, I see her face and how she had the only man that I loved. And she let go off him. And he is still waiting for her. I waited for him too, for five long years, but he couldn't look beyond her eyes. Today as I marry a man I do not love, I still hate everything that has to do with kohl.

Linking to the A to Z Challenge.