"Walk with me for the last time till the end of this road," said Jui with tears in her eyes.
"Alright", saying so Mohan caught Jui's hand and they started walking.
"But we'll still be friends, right?" asked Jui.
Mohan just smiled and they kept walking, but both knew it was not going to be the same again. A couple of hours back, both had come to a mutual decision of parting their ways. Though they had tried their best to keep their relationship going, something was just not right.
As they walked, Jui tried to remember all the good times the two have had. They had met at a common friends wedding 2 years back and had come to be known as a couple for the last 1 year. They lunched together, went shopping after office hours, had dinners together, cuddled up while watching movies. They did everything that couples do when they are in love. But when it was time to take the relationship to a next level, fear of commitment took over love. They had to take a drastic step.
"But people would talk," Jui had said.
"Let them! It is our life. We don't owe anyone."
Like most mature people, they agreed. But they also knew that memories could not be erased easily. Some moments live for a lifetime, happy or sad.
They reached the end of the short road. They looked in each others eyes. Jui decided to control her tears. She shook hands with Mohan and looked away from him. She called for an Auto and went off.
On reaching her apartment, Jui threw herself in her bed crying. Her mind was full of thoughts. She pulled out her diary from her tote and browsed through each page of it. There were special notes of right from the day Mohan proposed to her, to even the silliest moments she had spent with him. She started tearing of each page after reading. Tears rolling from her eyes thinking of every special moment in her life for the past year, she lay in her bed.
------------------------------------------
"Hi!"
Jui looked up from her desk. Unknowingly, she got up from her chair, clasping both her hands as if in a prayer mode, damp eyes and a slight smile, she looked at Mohan, who was standing in front of her smiling.
"Hi!" she murmured.
"Surprised?" asked Mohan
"Of course!" Jui replied. Suddenly realising she was at the reception of her office, she wiped off her tears.
"I got to know you work here, so thought of surprising you. And i see that you are surprised."
"Sure. This is like....wow! A pleasant surprise! How are you? Long time! You should have called."
"Then it wouldn't have been a surprise!"
"Unbelievable!"
"Why? Can't I come to see you?"
"But after almost a year, its really......", she paused. "Is this some kind of a joke?" Jui looked around. Everyone was busy working and yes, Mohan was actually in front of her! She had never taken Mohan off her mind. And now he's right here. It was like a prayer come true!
"C'mon Jui! Its really me. Just few days back I got to know you work here. So as I was around, I thought of visiting you."
Jui was very happy to see Mohan. She kept smiling.
"How are you?"
"Fine...fine. You?
"All good. Are you busy?"
"A bit. But you sit, I'll finish off this job, and be right with you."
"OK!" saying so, Mohan sat waiting for Jui.
After a while, he got up and asked, " Its almost lunch time. Is it possible to have lunch together today?"
"Oh yeah! What are your plans for the rest of the day?" replied Jui, almost done with her work.
"Nothing much. Its Friday, so I'll anyway be going home early today. You know it."
"Wait here. I'll be right back," said Jui rushing to a colleague.
After 5-10 minutes she was back to the reception. She picked up her purse and logged out from her computer. "Come, lets go."
"Wow! Never thought you would agree so soon."
"Why? Don't you have money in your pocket?" Mohan was taken aback by Jui's typical sarcastic joke. She hadn't changed a bit, though he had doubts before coming to meet her.
"Hope you've got some, just in case you eat too much and I won't be able to pay!" replied Mohan quickly. "Anyways, that was quick. Can you leave the office during working hours?"
"Oh yeah, I did take permission and I also got the day off."
"Surprising!"
"Are you the only one who own the "surprise" rights?"
Mohan laughed and the two walked down the stairs. Soon they reached a nearby restaurant and made themselves comfortable.
"Long time Mohan. I never thought you would come," said Jui starting the conversation.
"Me too," said Mohan nodding his head.
"You haven't changed at all."
"I don't know that, but I can say the same about you."
Though they had started their meeting with sarcasm and jokes, the atmosphere changed when they sat down at the restaurant table facing each other.
"How are you doing Jui?" asked Mohan after a long pause.
"Doing good. My job keeps me on my toes. Then the traveling, shopping, all in all a little hectic life. But I am happy."
"Nice to hear that."
"How bout you?"
"Oh! Same job, but just a little more work than before."
"Hows everyone in your part of the world?"
"All good."
Just then the waiter comes with their order and there is a pause in their just-started-getting-comfortable conversation.
"Why didn't you stop me from going?" asked Jui as soon as the waiter moved away from their table. Though she tried to show she was calm, she was not.
"That was our decision, right?"
"Then why have you come now Mohan? Why didn't you call me earlier?"
Mohan realised that Jui had many more questions on her mind. But he too had similar questions.
"You could have called."
"After what all happened, I just didn't feel like. But you could have tried."
There was a long pause.
"Have you been thinking about me Jui?" asked Mohan.
"I've always been thinking about "us". Us talking again, us being together again. Why did we part ways? Why couldn't we find some solution to solve the issues we were facing then."
"It does look easy now. But we had taken a mutual decision then."
"So what now?"
"What now?"
"Have you come to meet me as a friend? Are we still friends?"
"I don't know."
"Your coming back to see me has created a wave of confusion in my mind."
"I can understand your feelings. But I wanted to see how you were doing. Do you think it was easy for me to forget you? I did wish to stop you at that time. But we are grown-ups. We can't behave immaturely."
Jui was looking at Mohan with various feelings in her eyes.
"Do you think we can still solve our problems and get back together?" Mohan pushed the envelope a bit further.
"Back together?" asked a confused Jui.
"Yes Jui. I have never stopped thinking about you since the last we walked together."
"But..."
"I'm planning on taking up a new job out of town. We can shift base. New city, new life. Lets start over again." Mohan took Jui's hand in his hand. "Will you give me a second chance Jui?"
Jui's heart started beating fast.
"Will you marry me Jui? Would you come with me?"
The question she had been waiting for had come up at last. Though they were apart physically, their hearts and minds were always together, bound by an unknown knot which could not be untied anyway.
Jui was overwhelmed. She couldn't stop smiling. And now tears rolled down her cheeks. Tears for her long awaited love.
"Yes Mohan..." replied an overjoyed Jui. "I will c..."
Suddenly a baby started crying. The cry was so loud that Jui couldn't complete her sentence. She struggled hard to speak, but in vain. The crying became louder and louder and a Jui tried even hard and suddenly she was back to her senses. Her 6 months old baby was crying next to her.
Jui was woken from dream. She got up from her bed and took her baby in her arms. She rocked her and the baby was again fast asleep.
Jui could not sleep now. She had been woken up from a dream she had always wanted to become true. But that dream remained a dream. Mohan never came back to her.It was more than 4 years now. He didn't even call her after they walked that short road together.
She kept her baby down and walked to the other room. She logged into her Facebook account.
The friend request from Mohan was pending for more than a week now. After a lot of thinking, she opened the request and clicked on the "Ignore" button and she logged out of her account.
After a while, there was knock on the door. Jui opened the door and it was Mihir, her husband of 2 years. He smiled at her and gave her a big hug. She hugged him tight. She had made her correct choice this time. She knew that she was now on lifes never-ending road with Mihir.
THE END.
