His eyes looked deeply into hers. A tear slid
down her cheek. He caught her tear and
shook his head lightly. He looked back into her eyes… and pulled her closer to
him. He cupped her face in his hands…and she closed her eyes. She could feel
the warmth and strength of his hands… and she wanted to take this feeling into
her. She breathed in deeply… another tear was on the verge of rolling
down. The heavy silence in the air
between them itself said that this moment was being very difficult for both of
them.
He bent forward a bit and planted a kiss on her
forehead. He wrapped his arms around her… and let her hide in his
embrace. She clutched him with all her strength. As much as she was trying to
keep her heart in check, the more it was getting weak with each passing moment. He
pulled her just an inch closer…and she realized that she won’t be able to let
go. Her restraint broke at that moment…
and so did she. Her tears flowed copiously…wetting his shirt and with it, his heart.
Her hands made an effort to hold onto him even more fiercely… as her heart screamed
out loud that she did not want to be away from him. She knew she did not want
to bear being away. She did not want to think about when they would meet again
after this. She could not let a part of her own soul go away. Her tears seemed
unstoppable… He was trying to keep her from breaking down to pieces, yet he
felt like his insides were being sliced back and forth with a razor sharp knife…He was fighting the icy blades cutting through his heart. The pain was
causing his eyes to water too. Somewhere deep inside, even he wanted to cry out like she was…but then, something in him would not let him do that.
He had to be strong, he had to hold her, he had to sustain this…
He knew that time was passing fast. He had
just some precious moments left with her- before they were to be separated for a time
which neither knew how long. And that thought stung so badly that
he jolted…sending shivers to her too. She looked up at him in his embrace with
moist eyes… He looked into her deep blue eyes and like always, he knew that his
life was meant for them and them alone. He noticed a strand of her hair troubling
her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. She caught his hand up her cheek and
tears rolled down yet again…
He made her sit beside him…and held her close
to his heart. How he wished he could tell her how much she meant to him- She
was his life, the essence of his existence…She was his happiness and his pain.
She was the reason he had vowed to come back…He had changed- just for her. She was his surreal
strength and source of life. That going away from her was causing him untold
pain…but that he could not do anything about it. It was duty calling him… and
none could forsake that call.
As he came out of the reverie of his
thoughts, he realized that he was in her lap. Somewhere between her tears, she
realized that he was breaking down too…and she showered him with all her
affection and care. She was lovingly stroking his head…When he came out of his
reverie, he looked up into those blue oceans again…
That moment stood still. His gaze was intense…so
much so that she became still too. But the gaze was not harsh. It was a
profound silence…in which both of them heard the unspoken words of the
other. They realized that they was meant to be this way. That they
would somehow find the strength in each others’ love to sustain the distance
that was to come between them. That moment told both of them that they were
each others’ forever…
With that, the clock chimed. It was time for
him to go. Those last few moments had calmed both of them…readied them both for
this. She hugged him… and this time, it was not a delicate and distressed
damsel. It was a strong and a poised lady saying goodbye to him. And his
heart relaxed and toughened up looking at the calm look in her eyes. Their steadfast
love was going to take care of them. “You’ll be mine forever?” “Yes, I will. Until
the very end…”
With a last kiss, he left her on the
doorstep- with all the goodness of hope beating alive in her heart.
