Glow

Raunak happens to glow in the dark. Rather brightly. Its a medical condition and very little is known about it. I won't bore you with the details or the name of the condition as that's not relevant to my story. Just know that Raunak starts glowing as soon as its dark. He glows like a bulb and sometimes he is hard to look at.

So my question is, how is he supposed to find love?

You see Raunak, like any other guy of his age, yearns for romance. He wishes he had someone he could fall for. But the harsh truth is that it is very hard for a glow-stick to find love. And he has tried. All dating customs seem hell bent on sabotaging Raunak's plans. Dates are usually dinner dates. Those don't work well for him. Oh, how he wishes people went to morning dates.

The last time he managed to ask a girl out, they met for lunch. He'd been upfront about his condition and she seemed to be genuinely cool about it. That is until it got dark. Once it did, she started taking pictures of him, as if he was some kind of a freak. He left that date and walked out.

Dating is hard, even for non luminescent people. There's the issue of compatibility, mutual interest, etc. But Raunak just needed someone who wouldn't be weird about his glow. He would only be able to look for the other things once he found someone like that.

And then...he met Joni. Joni was too busy with her own problems to notice anyone else. She was sad and she was tired of life. But she was defiant, so she persevered. And she dated guys, sometimes looking for validation, sometimes for a punching bag and other times, just someone to inflict pain on.

 

Joni met Raunak in the metro. She had been crying and her eyes were swollen. So she was wearing dark glasses at night. That's when she noticed people staring at Raunak. She didn't know why they were staring but felt sorry for him. In her frail mood, she decided to go for shock and awe. She moved towards Raunak and just took his hand in hers, and she just put her arms around his and stood there.

Raunak didn't know what to say. For him, it felt like Joni had put on those glasses so that she could just be next to him and not be blinded. For him, Joni was someone who was making an effort to be close to him. It was something he'd never known.

She just pulled him with her at her stop. She didn't stop walking. They exited the metro together and just kept walking. When they reached her door, she just blew him a kiss and bid him good night. She walked in happy, with no intention to see him again.

But then, Joni looked out of the window after taking her glasses off and saw the glow. She couldn't take her eyes off of Raunak. In that moment, she wanted to call him back, but she didn't.

They went out again a week later. He wasn't great at conversation. He just sat there listening to her ramble. In his mind, Raunak was awestruck. Joni had so much heart that he couldn't understand what to say. The fact, that someone had looked beyond his obvious flaw, had floored him.

For some inexplicable reason, Joni kept feeling like she wanted to meet Raunak, even though most of their dates ended up being very uneventful. Uneventful yet pleasant. You see, Raunak didn't say much but he had kind eyes and Joni couldn't help but feel nice about the way he looked at her. But she had her doubts about him. How could they ever have a normal life with him glowing like that every evening. She had no problems with it, but she knew her folks would never be okay with it.

...

At this point, this story is still incomplete. As a writer, I don't know if Joni would have the courage to stand with Raunak through all the obvious hardships his unique situation will lead to. Would she commit to Raunak? Or would she choose one of the "safer" guys, who are available in dozens for any single girl? This, only time will tell. Let's see how lucky Raunak is in love.