This is the third and concluding part of the story. If you have not yet read previous parts, please click on the links below before reading this part
Part 3: And it rained again!
Sushma boarded the train. Arijit and Sushma kept looking at each other through the window railings. Sushma slowly raised her hand out of the window and handed over a piece of paper to Arijit on which she had written: "I love you Arijit, May God make all your wishes come true". As the train was leaving, it had already started raining. Arijit stood there watching the train leave and at the same time also trying to catch one last glimpse of Sushma's beautiful face. It had been an hour since the sight of the train had disappeared in that heavy rain. Arijit was still standing there soaking in rain and looking in the direction the train left.
All along her way back home, Sushma was thinking how she would tell her parents about Arijit and convince them. Thinking about him, she did not realize that 5 hours had gone by and she had reached her destination. Sushma got out of the train to see her parents waiting to greet her. She smiled, although it was not the same heartfelt smile that would adorn her face usually. Her dad kept all her luggage in the car and they started driving back home. On her way back, she received a text from Arijit. "Have you reached home safely? Let me know." Sushma did not reply to that message. She needed some time to think. She needed time to think about what had happened in her life recently. She knew her Dad very well and that it would be one of the most difficult things for her to convince him. After all her dad had lost his daughter 3 years back because of this thing called "Love".
Vidya. That was her elder sister's name. She left this world just 3 years ago. Vidya was madly in love with Arjun, whom she had met during her college days. They both had promised each other to be together for entire life. But maybe, promises are meant to be broken. And Arjun did the same. After being together for almost 5 years and when Vidya asked him about marriage, Arjun declined and left her alone. Vidya was heartbroken. She tried to get away from her sorrows, but the worst of her feelings took over her and she decided to leave everything behind.
For the next 3 months after college was over, Arijit used to message Sushma regularly. But Sushma did not reply. She had not yet told her parents about him. Every time Sushma thought about a way to convince her dad, she would remember Vidya's face and her mind would just go blank. She knew her dad has not yet forgotten what happened and would never accept her relationship with Arijit. By now, Arijit had also slowly started losing hopes that Sushma would reply. He had started believing that she would never come back in his life. Every night he would try to sleep, but probably, sleep had become his enemy and he had made friendship with all the memories which would continuously replay in his mind. A girl who loved him so much had left him without giving him a reason. He knew she left because of her dad, a decision which was not convincing enough for him. After all, Sushma also never said anything about Vidya to him. Months after not hearing anything from Sushma, Arijit started getting busy with his office work. Without caring about his health, food, friends and time, he would continuously immerse himself into more and more work, just to keep himself busy. He was scared that if he would leave his mind idle for even for a minute, Sushma's thoughts would take over him.
Few more months passed by. Sushma used to regularly visit Arijit's social profile and spend time reading stories on his website. Those were the only things that had kept her connected to him so far. But today she felt different. Sushma had stopped receiving messages from Arijit. When she checked his website, the last post was about one month old. There were no updates on his social profile either.
4 Years Later:
Sushma had started working in a multinational company by now. Today on her way to the office, she was thinking about what her parents told her a few days back. They wanted her to get married now. They were worried and knew that if a girl's age crosses a limit, it would be difficult for them to find her a nice life partner. Her parents would bring a proposal every other week and every time Sushma ignored the topic replying "I'll think about it".
At the office, lost in her memories and blankly looking at her computer screen, Sushma heard the voice of Meera - her office colleague calling her name. Meera had a bright red card with shining embroidery design in her hand. Meera jokingly said "Sushma, my marriage is fixed with that idiot Sameer. You have to definitely be there, OK!", and handed over the invitation card to her. Meera was looking very happy and Sushma could not stop but notice the amazing glow Meera had on her face. This was the same glow she wanted to be on her own face but now had no options but to wait for miracles to happen. Meera and Sameer loved each other and were together for last 6 years and now they were going to change their relationship in a love marriage. This was exactly same kind of marriage Sushma had wished for. All these years, she had not received any message from Arijit, neither did she hear anything about him. In a hope that she would meet Arijit, she even went to her college reunion. But Arijit was not there. She tried to ask her friends, but no one knew where he was. By now, she had started cursing herself. Why she did not reply to him. Why she did not take even little efforts to convince her parents. She wanted Arijit to contact her back, send a message to which she can reply and change everything back to how it was. After realizing her mistakes, she had started feeling guilty every day. As each day passed by her feelings of sorrow and guilt had started turning into anger against her own self. She just wanted to take revenge from herself. Standing at this intersection of her life where she cannot go back in past and neither ignore that her parents are getting older day by day, she decided of marrying anyone and move on, just to take revenge of her past. That is why when her parents told about a proposal yesterday, without thinking or asking anything, she agreed to meet the boy the very next day. But she had no idea, that the past from which she had now decided to escape, the same past was going to show up in front of her tomorrow.
That night, as always, Sushma was trying to sleep and by the time she slept it was almost time for the sun to rise. "Wake up, Sushma, Wake up!", her mom shouted trying to wake her up. It was almost 10 am and she had to meet the boy in another hour. Sushma did not have any desire to put any makeup or make herself look pretty. Sitting in her room, she was remembering Arijit's face which she had seen many years back. By then she saw her mom walk inside her room with a smile on her face. "Boy seems very nice. We like him, he would be the perfect life partner for you Sushma" mom said with a smile. She held Sushma's hand and started guiding her out of her room. As soon as she stepped outside her room, Sushma was stunned after what she saw. The person in front of whom she was standing, was no other than Arijit. "Arijit !!", those were the only words she was able to say. A thousand emotions ran through her heart. All these years being distant from each other, they were now just a few steps away. Sushma was overwhelmed with joy. She ran towards him and gave him a hug. She held him tight and did nothing but just happily cried with her head on his shoulders. She did not want to leave him as she wanted to convince her heart that now he would never go away. Arijit got closer to her ears and the first words he said were "I told you at the railway station - This is not the last time we meet."
Sushma's parents had also agreed for their marriage. After all, they had found a perfect life partner for Sushma who had all the qualities they wanted. But more than that there was no better feeling for them than to see how happy their daughter was when she was with Arijit. Arijit and Sushma got married within next few months.
Standing on my balcony, thinking about all these memories, I suddenly felt someone's hand on my shoulders. It was Sushma's hand. I was getting late for office and Sushma was trying to call me and remind about it. Lost in memories. I didn't hear her voice until she brought me back into reality with her touch. With a naughty smile, Sushma said - "Kiske khwabon mein khoye hue ho, Mr. Arijit Kumar!"
I am sorry. Throughout this entire time, I forgot to tell you my name. I am Arijit Kumar. After Sushma left me, I never forgot her and never started loving her any less than how much I did when we first met. Yes, at some point in time, I had lost some hope, but not all. I always kept that piece of paper with me, on which she had written: "I love you Arijit, May God make all your wishes come true". And my eternal and only wish that was closest to my heart was to spend my entire life with her. I never knew about Sushma's sister, I never exactly knew the reason why she left me. But I knew that I need to go back and be more successful and better person than I would have ever thought of being. Become so capable that I can go and ask Sushma from her parents and they would never find a reason to reject me as her life partner. And here we are in each others' arms with the same feeling of trust, friendship, and love that we shared years back when we had first met. For past 10 years, our life has definitely changed. We have kids now, 2 cute ones - Rahul and Kajal. We spend more time loving and taking care of our kids and get less time to spend with each other. But whenever we do get time and hold hands, look into each others' eyes - there is no other feeling in this world better than that. I am glad we still share the same feeling of love we had when we first met.
As we stood there looking into each others' eyes, the sky had turned darker and clouds had taken over it. And so, it rained again!! Today it's the same rain, same two people, but now our journey is not destined away from each other but towards the same destination. This time the rains did not carry a feeling of sadness but they felt like tears of joy celebrating our lifelong togetherness and love.
The End.
