“Get well soon, Okay?” Raj looked deep into her eyes. “Hmmm…” she nodded. His eyes did not stop admiring the messed up beauty that Nisha was at that moment until he reached the exit door. Her half done hair bun, her oily face, her lazy posture, nothing was close to being perfect; yet he found her to be the most perfect creation of God. Perhaps, that is what you call love; you look for perfections even in the most imperfect things of your partner. By the time Raj left the hospital his heart was already heavy. The November sun had set in the horizon by that time. Nisha’s tears were still flashing in front of his eyes, and somehow they made their way into his eyes too. Yes, before he could think of anything his eyes were wet already. Although it was dark already, he lowered his tinted helmet glass so as no one could see his tears. He straightaway drove to the banks of Hugli. He leaned over the concrete boundary facing the calm river. Hours passed by in a flash. His eyes were still moist, actually swollen by now. He checked the time. It was fifteen minutes past nine already. He checked the notifications on his phone, there was no missed call, not even a ‘thank you' message. He went back home convincing and at the same time cursing himself for expecting a call or a message from someone who could hardly talk. “She must be in pain, that's why she didn't call me.” He said to himself and headed for home. Next day too he was by her bed as soon as the clock struck 4:15 PM. Her Mom was there too. Both of them exchanged a formal smile. “How is she now?” Raj asked her Mom. “Better than yesterday.” She replied. “And what did the doctors diagnose?” Raj asked again. “Food poisoning.”She said. Nisha was always careless with her food habits, but little did Raj know that it would lead her to the hospital some day. Raj took a glance at Nisha with a “I told you to be careful while eating” look. There was a wicked smile on his face. His eyes were doing everything to pull her legs right there. Frustrated, she turned her back towards him and like always she was the one to call the last shots. Moments later some of her friends arrived. The customary questions like “How are you?” and “What happened to you?” were followed by a long chat session between them. It was not too late before reality dawned upon Raj. He was no longer the one with whom Nisha would talk for hours. He was no longer the no. 1 priority in her life. She had long back declared him as the biggest mistake of her life. He had seen his gruesome transformation from being everything to be nothing in her life. He stood there unmoved, watching her act like he did not even exist there. Her conscious ways to avoid any eye contact were taking a toll on his already broken heart. He wanted to scream out loud and clear, “Look at me, talk to me too, I am also here and I was here yesterday when none of your friends were here. If you can’t talk then at least don’t ignore my presence like this.” But all he could manage was to stand mute. Third day was no different for him. He was consciously made to feel out of place and was, therefore, left out. On the fourth day he decided that it was better to not visit the hospital at all. But there was another corner in his heart that was convincing him to go there as he was at least getting to see Nisha. “No, I won’t go. I can’t go there and feel left out every single day. It hurts.” He said to himself and started his bike. Love drives you crazy, but that day it seemed love was driving his bike. Unknowingly, 10 minutes later, he found himself in the hospital premises. He could not make out what had just happened. Once he was there, he did not stop himself from going upstairs. Her mother was once again there before him. Nisha seemed to be in a much better condition than what she was four days back. “The doctor has decided to discharge her today itself.” Her mother announced as soon as Raj came closer to her bed. “Wow! Isn't that a great news? Why is your face looking like stale bread bun?” Raj asked as Nisha was strangely not looking happy. “She is scared of the pain that would be inflected upon her when the nurses would pull out the needle from her hand.” Her mother said with a gentle smile. Raj too could not control his laughter once he heard that. “Stop laughing, it’s not happening to you, that’s why you are laughing.” Nisha said with anger and helplessness in her eyes. She knew well that there was no way for her to avoid that ‘little’ pain, and more she realised it, more she started to cry like a two year old baby. Raj was enjoying this sight until the nurses arrived there with the anti-septics and other stuffs in a tray. Raj looked into Nisha’s eyes and no matter how much he tried, a smile surfaced on his face. He covered her eyes from behind. “Now you won’t feel anything.” She gripped his hand as firmly as she could. That was a pristine moment for Raj. He had not felt her touch for so long. But before he could seep in the moment the nurses did their work. A drop of her tears landed on his palms in the whole act. That was it. The moment to say ‘good-bye’ was near. Raj was finding it difficult to speak. His voice was choking. He stood there stifled. Moments later, her father arrived after completing all the paper work to get her discharged. Nisha handed over Raj’s phone back without looking at him. He escorted them out of the hospital after booking a cab. The steps towards the hospital’s exit gate were the heaviest that Raj took. It was a short distance that took him the longest to cover. Some things are planned by the almighty himself. His visit to the hospital that day was also one such instance. None of her friends came to visit her that day to make him feel left out. He realised how beautiful God’s plans could be. Had he not gone to the hospital that day he would not have felt her hands on his. After the bitterness that had prevailed between them for months, it was the sweetest thing that he could have asked for. “If it has to end, there can’t be a better ending to my story, to our story, to Raj and Nisha’s story.” He whispered to himself. The cab arrived. She was the first to get in, thereby ensuring that he does not get to shake hands with her or caress her hairs for one last time. Her Mom and Dad followed. He was somehow able to sneaked his head into the cab through the window. “Take care of yourself.” He said and waved her good-bye. His eyes were wet by now. He kept looking at the cab until it got out of his sight. Just as he turned around, an auto passed by with an old Bollywood song playing - “Shayad fir is janam me… Mulakat ho na ho….”
“Take care of yourself.” Raj could hardly control his tears as he said these words to Nisha. All that he wanted was to freeze the time. The turn of events in the last few months had brought them to a point where Nisha wanted to get rid of him in whatever way possible. Four days back when Raj got the news of Nisha being admitted into a hospital, he could not hold himself back. His heart began to tremble. He tried to call Nisha. But, bad-luck did not leave him even in those dire circumstances. It was only a couple of days back that Reliance Communications had suddenly decided that all its users should be at the receiver’s end for its own wrong doings. She happened to be one of those loyal Reliance customers. Anyways, after trying out all the options at his disposal and failing at all of them, he decided to pay a visit to the hospital itself. It’s not that he had too many other options left to try out. The visiting hours of the hospital was from 4 to 6 in the evening. He postponed all his work and drove to the hospital. By the time he reached there it was already 4:15 PM. He was cursing himself for not being on time. Nevertheless, he quickly looked around only to find Nisha lying on bed no. 4. One look at her face and he was soon convinced that she was in deep pain. He went closer and placed his palm on her cheeks. His touch alerted her. Probably, she could still feel the love in that touch, at least he believed so. “How are you?” he asked, caressing her hairs. “I am not okay!” she said in a crumbling voice. “Please call Papa…” she said in the same breath as tears made way through her eyes. “Yeah! Okay! I am calling him, but just don’t cry. Hold on, everything will be fine.” He took out his phone and dialed her father’s number. His eyes never stopped gazing her helpless face even for a second. As luck would have it, her father was also a Reliance customer. “Nisha, your father is not reachable through the phone at the moment, should I call your Mom!” “Yes, do anything, but please make me talk to them.” she said in desperation. Once again he took out his phone to dial another number while helplessly looking at Nisha. He wanted to scream out loud how much he loved her and how much he wanted to take all her pain onto himself if he had the option of doing so. He was lost in his thoughts when the phone ringing on the other side brought him back to senses. Without wasting time he placed the phone over her ears in a flash. “Mom, why are you not here?…. I don’t know anything, just send Papa here immediately… No, I have not seen him for last 2–3 hours…. I don’t even have a phone to contact anyone… Send him now.” Saying this she nudged to disconnect the phone. All this while he was looking at her and listening to whatever she was saying with sincerity. She did not open her eyes for the whole conversation, or probably she was not able to open her eyes. Once the phone got disconnected she chose to close her eyes trying to sleep. She was shivering and wailing in pain. The more Raj was trying to hold back himself from crying, the more it was getting difficult for him. He looked around for a chair to sit on but could not find any. At that moment his own comfort was the last thing that could have crossed his mind. He just kneeled down on the floor beside her bed. She held his right hand and kept her head over it. Raj wanted that moment to last forever. Although Nisha was in pain, he was in pain because of her pain, but this pain had brought them closer for the first time in months. That moment was beautiful for him. That moment was as holy and as sacred for him as the Bible, the Quran, the Gita would be for a Christian, a Muslim or a Hindu. He kept looking at her, wondering what wrong did he do to not deserve a place in her life. They used to be the happiest when in company of each other. What would have moved Nisha to a point where she thought of getting rid of the relationship instead of giving it another try, that too when he had tried everything to keep things sorted? The more he had tried to sort things out between the two of them in the past few months, the more they drifted apart. He was puzzled in all these thoughts, arguing and counter arguing within himself, while still trying to seep in the serenity of the moment. All the mis-understandings kept aside, his love for Nisha was still unquestionable. Anyone who knew him, knew this fact for sure. With that love in his eyes he kept staring her with a blank expression; blank because he did not know how to react to the situation. He was obviously depressed as Nisha had to go through so much pain, but some corner of his heart was also happy that he was getting to spend some priceless moments with her. All good things come to an end, so did that moment. Her father arrived. Her father knew Raj as her friend, so he did not question his presence there. His voice was enough to wake her up. She quickly turned around and grasped his shirt. “Papa, please don’t leave me. the nurses here are too arrogant. They don’t listen to my calls unless I call them 10–15 times.” she was crying like a baby and complaining her father of everything that was wrong in the hospital. Both, her father and Raj shared a quiet smile at the innocence in her voice. “All right, all right I will talk to them before I leave. Now stop crying.” her father said. “No, I wont let you go this time. You will be staying here, right by my side.” She tightened her grip on him and started crying again. For the remaining time both of them tried hard to stop her from crying. She was looking like a doll at that moment, trying hard to convince her father to stay back in the hospital that probably she too knew was not possible. Just as the clock struck 6 the bell rang. It was time for them to leave. But she was nowhere close to being convinced. The sound of the bell only worsened the situation. Raj realised he had a spare phone with him which he used only for Internet. He could surely manage a few days without it, speacially if it was for Nisha. “Heyy, heyy!! Listen here.” he said turning her head towards him - “Take this, this phone will be with you all the time. It has got unlimited calling and internet facilities, so just call your Papa or me whenever you feel like calling.” He knew that she would never call him, but still there was some hope alive in him. He took out the phone from his pocket and placed it beside her pillow. “We will leave now.” her father said. “Get well soon, Okay?” Raj looked deep into her eyes. “Hmmm…” she nodded.