"You’ll be mine forever?" "Yes, I will. Until the very end"

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.