Secret TulipsA Story by Anindita Janhabee Even a single tulip becomes a garden when it is gifted with love... A story about the secrets of Jane and Joseph who loved each other but never got a chance to live their love life... The clock was striking eleven that night when Joseph broke
out of his bed to complete his piece of poetry. He heard a buzz in his phone.
The screen displayed ‘Jane’, his seven months younger best friend. Joseph
answered with ‘Hello!’ There was vast silence on the other side. ‘Jane, are you there?’ asked Joseph. ‘Yeah…’ she replied with a low voice. ‘Is everything alright?’ ‘Yeah, actually I wanted to say you something…’ ‘Carry on…’ ‘Uhh…I don’t think I can say you over the phone. So let’s
talk at school tomorrow.’ ‘Okay, as you wish. We’ll talk tomorrow, bye…’ ‘Bye. Good night.’ Next morning, Mrs. Tennyson opened the door, entering into
Joseph’s room. Joseph was sleeping peacefully. Mrs. Tennyson arranged the whole
room in a proper way, replacing the piece of paper with Joseph’s writing back
onto the table. She then removed the window curtains and sat beside her only 17
year old child, kissing him on his forehead. ‘Get up my son, it’s time for school’, she said. ‘Good morning mom,’ said Joseph in a sleepy voice. ‘It’s already 6 a.m. dear, get ready soon.’ ‘Okay, mom…’ On the way to school, Jane stepped into the bus and sat
besides Joseph. They shared smiles as Joseph, as usual, handed over an orange
tulip to Jane. Jane’s face lit up. ‘You wanted to say something Jane, right?’ asked Joseph. ‘Most probably I had forgotten the stuff’, Jane replied, with
her eyes still on the tulip. ‘That’s fine’, Joseph told smiling. Right during the break, both Joseph and Jane sat together in
the garden with their lunchboxes. The cool breeze was blowing gently, as Jane
took a spoonful of noodles and put into the mouth of Joseph. Joseph was so much
happy that he grew inarticulate. The whole situation had become a relatable
realm of silence. Joseph was curious about Jane as he had already figured out
that there was some secret with Jane which she wasn’t disclosing. Jane, being
calm and innocent by nature always wanted to keep secrets within herself and
her diary so she didn’t reveal that. When Joseph forced her, she inadvertently
told that she had written that in her diary. Joseph was totally surprised as he
didn’t ever know about the secret of Jane’s having a diary. Joseph too kept 2 different secrets from Jane. One of these
secrets was that he loved Jane, beyond her imaginations. But he never tried to
disclose this secret because he was scared of losing Jane. ‘Can I get that diary?’ asked Joseph. ‘Very soon’, replied Jane. ‘And last night I wrote something for you…’ said Joseph being
shy. ‘The poem must be as wonderful as the previous one…’ replied
Jane smiling. They turned towards their classes and finally met after the
school. As usual they sat in the bus, heading towards their respective homes.
Jane’s stop arrived first. She wished Joseph ‘good bye’ as she got down of the
bus. Their eyes were filled with tenderness. Jane was constantly watching
Joseph’s bright eyes through the window of the bus and thinking about the next
orange tulip. The bus moved forward in no time but still Joseph was trying to
be dipped into Jane’s innocent eyes… That night Joseph got a call from Jane. But surprisingly, it
was Jane’s dad on the other side. ‘Hello sir’, answered Joseph being nervous. ‘Joseph’, replied Mr. Williams by sobbing. ‘Is everything alright, sir?’ asked Joseph. ‘Jane…’ Mr. Williams told in a low voice. ‘What has happened to Jane?’ asked Joseph seriously. ‘Jane had faced an accident, Joseph. She is in a critical
condition and is repeating your name a number of times…’ ‘What! Don’t worry sir; I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.’ Joseph took the car’s key from the drawer and drove to Jane.
He was driving really fast just as his heart beat faster. He was much worried
for Jane. When he reached there, everything was over. Jane was lying on her
bed, Mr. Williams was crying. Even though Jane was the foster child of Mr.
Williams, he loved her just like his own daughter. Joseph was stunned. He could
not believe his eyes. His heart was frozen. His legs did not move and his hands
were dropped in agitation. Mr. Williams held Joseph’s hand and cried louder.
Joseph’s heart skipped a bit and he began to shake Jane’s hand. ‘Jane, I know you are kidding. But this is not funny. Jane,
are you listening to me, please get up! Just see, I am here to share my secrets
with you… Jane… please say something…’ said Joseph shivering. Tears fell from his eyes when there was no reaction of Jane.
He was coming to the reality, which had turned his life upside down. ‘Jane, my dear, please see, your best friend has brought so
many orange tulips for you…’ said Mr. Williams as he sat down crying, on the
floor. After two days of Jane’s funeral, Joseph had stopped writing,
eating and sleeping. He just shed tears and read the poems which he had written
for Jane. He regretted that he could not gift her those poems. He regretted
that he could not gift her one more orange tulip. He regretted that he could
not tell her how much he liked her and that he could not share the second
secret that he was writing a novel for her. The novel was all about the friendship of Jane and Joseph
which later, turned into love for Joseph. Joseph was going to complete the
book, the day Jane would accept his love. All of a sudden, Joseph remembered about the diary which Jane
was to give him. He put on his slippers and drove to Jane’s house which was
then only Mr. William’s house. Joseph asked Mr. William about the diary but
even he had no idea about that. They both searched for the diary in Jane’s room
where Jane did not live then. They found a locked drawer and began to search
for the key which was hidden in a wooden box. When Joseph pulled out the
drawer, he found a number of orange tulips covering a white colored diary.
Those tulips were the ones which Joseph used to gift Jane since long. This
filled Joseph’s eyes with tears… Mr. Williams left him alone in the room
thinking that he was interrupting the privacy. Joseph began to read the diary. He was reading with high
concentration and did not even let his eyes get distracted from Jane’s writings.
The diary told about the friendship of Joseph and Jane! Right from the day they
met, till the day of Jane’s accident, everything was penned. Joseph became so
happy that he began to cry, He was just unable to believe all those. Then he
found a page having tulip petals all over and an envelope at the centre. The
envelope had a note. Beloved Joseph It had been so many
months of our friendship and I am blessed to have got a person like you. Every
time your eyes met with mine, my heart filled with tenderness. Every time you
wrote a poem for me, my heart filled with emotions. You have won my heart
through your care, smile and each orange tulip. Fact is that it’s a secret and
I am unable to tell you even when I had tried and failed a number of times… Still,
I had won much more being with you. It’s never enough to thank you … Since a
few days, I have been searching for the answer to a secret and I have got it
just now. It will be unfair if I keep it a secret even from my diary. So with
all my emotions, feelings, truth and simplicity, I say " Joseph, I truly love
you, from the depth of my heart… I don’t know of you feel the same for me but I
promise, one day I will disclose this secret too… With love, Jane… After reading the note, Joseph cried harder for two hours
continuously. After a week, he had finally completed his novel. Joseph named
the novel, “Secret Tulips” as an honor to Jane. He plucked an orange tulip from
his garden and drove to the graveyard along with the novel where Jane’s grave
was situated. Memorizing each little moment he had spent with Jane, Joseph
placed the tulip and the novel upon Jane’s grave and prayed, “May the Secret
tulips bloom for Jane right there in heaven so that she would realize how
unique our friendship is…”
© 2016 Anindita JanhabeeAuthor's Note
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Anindita JanhabeeJeypore, Odisha, IndiaAbout"Writing as a part of my day seems to be the best hobby. And as a part of my life seems to be the perfect partner..." Hello!!! A little about me- Being a 16 yr old, I am currently enjoying th.. more..Writing
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