Sands Of Time (Part 8)

“It is Rachit.”

She said that and then paused. It was like the time had stopped. The wind stopped blowing. The sun stopped glowing the moon stopped shining. It was the time no being was living it was the time no being was dead. There were only three of them present on the face of the earth. It was like no one ever lived there. Pratima had a look of confidence on her face, Rachit was shocked and happy. Aryan was devastated to his very core. This morning he had everything. He was doing well in business. He was to marry the love of his life. He had everything going perfectly for him in within his whole world had crumbled in front of his eyes. It was the end of the world as he knew it.

But the weird thing was that Aryan didn’t want an explanation for her choice. He knew that if she chose Rachit over him then there must be a possible and a proper reason for it. The reason that he might not be able to fully understand. The reason he didn’t honestly wanted to understand. He knew he had lost her forever. He saw the way she looked at Rachit. That was the moment he realized that they were meant to be together. And no matter what Aryan could not stand Pratima being tensed or sad. And moreover to be a reason for that, that feeling was killing him inside. So he knew he had to let Pratima go. No matter how much he loved her. No matter how much he cared about her. It was after all her own decision and the best Aryan could do was to support her as he always did no matter what the situation or the consequences were. He looked up again and felt that Pratima was trying to say something to he stopped the avalanche of thoughts that was going in his head to listen to what she had to say.

“I know it might not be the right thing to do right now, but it is how it is. If I hadn’t done it before the wedding I would have hated myself for the rest of my life. And moreover it would have been unfair to Aryan as well that his own wife thought about how the life was going to be with someone else.”

“Rachit there can never possibly be any rational or reasonable explanation for what I am doing or what I have done till now except for the fact that he was the guy on the white horse for me. Not you but him. When I closed my eyes and asked god to help me with this all I thought about was the time that we spent together in the forest. How he saved my life. The way he cared about me, the way he looked at me when he first said that he had feelings for me. I am sorry. I really am. But I can’t help it. And I know I should not be asking for this but all I can expect from you is some support because you know it I really need a friend right now. I am sorry Aryan. I still love you and will always do. But I guess I love him more. Maybe it is wrong but I can’t help it and I need you to be with me. Are you with me in this?”

“What can I say… sure I am with you.” Was the best that he had got. He felt as if someone was ripping his heart right out, slicing it and than cutting each piece into smaller pieces. But the best he could do, all he could do was to let her go because if you truly love someone then their happiness becomes a priority. And god knew Aryan wanted to see Pratima happy. What if she didn’t have any feeling left for him. He still loved her and would always do.

EXACTLY 10 YEARS LATER….

Now it had been 10 years since Rachit and Pratima got married. They moved out to Delhi soon after marriage. But about 2 years later, a war started and because Rachit was still on passive duty he was called on. And unfortunately after a few weeks after he re joined active services he was killed in a suicide bombing attack near their base. He left behind a grieving wife and a beautiful little daughter Zenith. She was just about 1 year old when Rachit was killed. Pratima joined a NGO that worked for the upliftment of the wives of the martyrs of the soldiers of the Indian army. Life was hard even for a single mother and she had a child too to support too. Life was never easy for her but now she had a reason to live. She had Zenith. She was her little angel. She was the only part of Rachit she was still left with. She was her world. The little girl adored her mom too. Her big brown eyes that were just like Rachit’s lit up every time she even heard Pratima voice. And as she grew up to be a little lady her beauty kept on growing. She was just like how Pratima used to be. But Pratima was not like what she used to be. Time and work had taken their toll on her. She looked much older than her age. She sometimes even thought of ending her dreadful life of her which according to her never did well for anybody. But then she saw Zenith and she knew she had a reason to live. She lived not for her or anybody else but for her little girl.

One fine day she was just getting ready to leave for her office and drop Zenith off at her school when she received a call. She recognized the number. It was from her home. From Waknaghat. It had been 10 years since she had been there. When she called off the wedding with Aryan she ran out just to save her parents the embarrassment. She was not expecting the call but then a sudden thought struck her mind. Was everything all right?? She prayed to god that everything was fine when she picked that phone. But all her prayers could not have undone that had already happened. Her father had died in his sleep. She went numb as soon as she heard the news. Tears came down her eyes thinking about her father. Zenith came running into the room when she heard her mum crying. She asked her what had happened but Pratima could not say anything. What could she have possibly said? Should she say to her that her grandfather died? The grandfather Zenith never knew she had? The grandfather for all Pratima knew would have loved Zenith more than he had loved anything in his entire life?

She somehow got the courage and told Zenith about her grandfather. Zenith was much mature then her age and she understood everything her mum said to her. She even started crying thinking about she didn’t even had the chance to at least meet him for once. But she knew all about what happened with her mum dad and Aryan and knew her mother did the right thing. She always did the right thing. For her, her mother was the supreme. She could not ever believe that whatever her mother did could even remotely be wrong.

So that day Pratima went to her office and Zenith’s school to get leave of absence and booked the train tickets for Waknaghat. A day later they reached.

Just getting off that train filled Pratima with nostalgia. She remembered everything about the city that she grew in. every road every tree every branch. She felt like she returned home after 10 years. When they came back home her father was cremated. While returning home she saw Aryan. It had been 10 years since she had seen her and he had not changed even a little bit. She tried not to think about him. But when he spotted her he came right over to console her. Pratima thought how happily her father would have died if she had married Aryan and still lived there. She was just getting lost in thoughts and possibilities when Aryan reached towards her.

“Hey are you all right?” he came and asked.

“Yeah I guess.” She replied. She did not understand whether it was that her father had died or the fact that she had seen him after such a long time or both she could not help crying. She started crying and the moment she started crying Aryan went closer to her and hugged her and consoled her. She had felt his shoulder after such a long time that it made her cry even more. Seeing her mother crying Zenith started crying too. When Pratima heard Zenith crying she suddenly stopped and hugged her daughter. Aryan did not know what to do so he suggested that they should go home now. Pratima did not wanted to leave Aryan or Zenith so all of them came home together. While on the way Zenith felt asleep. Pratima was lost in her father’s thought. She suddenly realized that none of them knew that she had a daughter now and the girl with her was the granddaughter of the man who just died.