“I’ll help her in that,” Ansh voluntarily stood up.
They both headed towards the kitchen and the first thing they did there was a luscious kiss. She kept rewarding Ansh with her kisses for making this happen.
“When did you plan all of this, Anshu?” She asked, with her head on his chest.
“The day you moved here.” He kissed her head.
“What? I thought you didn’t want to see my face then. You were so miffed at me!” Angie said, moving her fingers through his head and finally giving him an opportunity to kiss it.
“Was I? Who told you that?” muzzled Ansh and brushed her lower lip with his tongue before entering her mouth. The kiss lasted for several minutes and luckily, no one came there to interrupt them.
“Angie!”
“Hmm!”
“I need to tell you something.” She didn’t look up, and remained still in his arms.
“Hmm?”
“This wasn’t my idea.”
“What?” She looked up, straight into his eyes.
“M, she took a promise from me. No one – not even Gajju – knows about it. She knew that dad will have to leave his home for you and she said, ‘When that comes up, you’ll have to make this wacky yet amazing thing happen’. I was just simply trying to keep a promise I gave to her.” Angie burst into tears as she heard it; her best friend did this from her deathbed? She was indeed a genius and after this, Angie knew she’ll never be able to find enough words to thank her. Not just Dhruv, she had made her life special too.
Ansh who too was having tears in his eyes, kissed her cheeks.
“I was planning to propose you in a different way after the convocation, but since you left me embarrassed and afraid before the whole campus, I didn’t have any choice left.” He chuckled.
“Oh poor baby! I’m sorry! I…I…didn’t know what to do then. I was so annoyed by your constant ignorance!” She put both her palms on his head and kissed his forehead.
“It’s okay, my love! Alas, this was bound to happen.”
And then, together they remembered their best friend M, who was now among the stars and just like Dhruv, they too were feeling her hand on their heads from the sky.
No one, not even god can write a perfect end for you! Unless he’s dying.
Epilogue
I Dhruv Gajjar, am sitting along with my best friends, Ansh and Angie, who just postponed their honeymoon for me; and the love of my life, Nirali, who pulled me out from a deep sludge and made me realise the value of my life, which I’d completely lost after M. And M, how can I forget that genius? When Ansh first told me about the promise she took from him, I had nothing apart from tears to offer. Angie was right, from her deathbed, she had made our lives special; but what is it that was bothering her?
“What is it Nilu? It’s been fifteen minutes since I finished my narration and you’re just sitting pale?”
“Dhruv, Ansh, Angie, I don’t know what my future will be with you all after this, but I have to tell you something. But before I speak, I want to tell you that you guys mean an entire world to me and like you three, I too was bound to a few promises,” replies Nilu.
What? Promises? From whom?
She grabs her purse and pulls out two envelopes from it. Wait! I’ve seen them somewhere…Oh my…How did she have them? Yes, same sky blue and purple envelopes which M had asked me not to touch.
“How do you have these envelopes?” I snap. Realising that my gaze makes her uncomfortable, I move my eyes away from her.
She holds my hand and says, “It’s better if I read these letters out to you.”
The three of us nodded and she opened the first letter.
Dear Nirali,
First of all, I want to thank you. Inadvertently, since you brought the most special gift in my life, Dhruv Gajjar. Yes, I’m his girlfriend. M*****. I don’t know whether you know it or not but you were his first crush – to be precise, his first love. He always saw a shadow of you inside me. He used to say, the only difference between us is your specs. My intention of writing this mail to you is not to narrate our love story. Actually, I’m not his everlasting love; not anymore. We are not breaking up either. Actually I did, because I don’t want him to know that I’m dying. Yes, what you read is true, I’m dying. I’m in the final stage of Neurofibrosarcoma – a peripheral nerve sheath tumour. The tumour cells are rapidly spreading to every part of my body and eventually they will eat my body and free my soul. Only I know how I’m managing to type this mail to you. But before I die, I want to do something extraordinary for him. Something that no one has ever done for any one, not even in any book or any film and for that, I need your help. I’m following your updates on Facebook for a while and from there I got your email id. If you had and still have feelings for him, then reply to my mail; but only if you are sure about your feelings.
Our eyes are widened like saucers, what in the holy lord’s name was that? A mail from M! It nudged deep inside my heart and perhaps she knows it too. She knew that my reaction to this would be absurd and that’s why she didn’t tell me. But then, how can I be angry at something related to M? I took her hand in mine and kissed it to give her the strength she needed – just the way she has done all my life.
“Go on Nilu. I’m with you and nothing is going to change between us after that,” I said.
She cleared her throat.
“Then I met her, we had a lot in common. It didn’t take long for us to be friends and I bonded with her parents also. Dhruv, I can’t compare myself with her because she loved you with a different passion. We both loved each other, but we had that fear of rejection; she didn’t. I still remember her words:
“Nirali you know it’s not easy for me. I really don’t want to go. If I had a chance to be with him, I would. I don’t want to share his love with you or anyone and I mean it. But I have to do this hard job. I had to end the curse on my family here. I can’t see Dhruv sacrificing all his life looking after me where I’m on a wheelchair, waiting for my death. Even if I undergo surgery and sever off my leg, the cancer will come again. It will not stop coming till I leave my body. I’ve seen my grandfather dying with the same disease and I know how it will retaliate. I know Dhruv, he will give up everything to look after me, and I’m going to die anyway. I’m going to die sooner or later, but I don’t want to leave a depressed and good for nothing boyfriend behind. I’m doing this because he is not going to see a girl ever unless I send one for him. And I choose you. You were his love and he still has feelings for you, I’ve seen that and now I understand why – because of the person you are. I’m not imposing anything on you against your will; take your time, assure your feelings and decide. You don’t have to indulge yourself into anything just because I’m dying. It is going to be your decision.’
“She was not only your best friend, guys; she became my best friend too. You know Dhruv, we used to play a game, that who knows you better? And she was quite annoyed when I used to defeat her every time – because I’ve seen you growing up, my love. Of course I know you better than her, but if not more than me, I know she loved you the way I do.”
She looks up to catch me smiling. I’m feeling loved, by the praises I have just got from the two girls I fell in love with – despite being the nerd I was and still am.
“She never told this to anyone else; she was always cheerful and we felt like she was enjoying her death,” said Angie in tears. But wait, is she being jealous?
“I know she said that she could share her pain, possessiveness and fears only with me. She had to be strong in front of you all and her parents; she feared you all would break down. Our meetings used to last for hours where I would just sit and listen and try to absorb some wisdom from her. When Dhruv introduced me to you all, I was quite exhilarated because I already knew each one of you by her words, especially you Angie. She told me everything about how you and Ansh were making out upstairs – in the name of study – and how hard it was for Dhruv and her to restrain themselves.” She
answers and I see Angie blushing with her wet eyes. Ansh wraps his arms around her, allowing her to cry.
“Her mom and dad?” I ask.
“I met them yesterday, they’re missing you.”
“I miss them too.”
“Don’t be disheartened, my love! They are being looked after – and that too, without breaking your promise.” She’s right, through my better half they are, and will be looked after and I’m not breaking my promise. Take that, M!
She blinks her twinkled eyes and tightens her grip on my hand and I realise that I’m holding it for very long.
“Anything more?” I ask.
“Just one thing…” She says, tears the second sky blue envelope and pulls out a paper and hands it to me.
“This is for you, and she strictly told me not to read it before you.”
But before I start reading, Ansh stops me.
“Gajju, you are allowed to see her pictures only once, right?”
“Yes, why?”
“If you are fine with it, I think on the projectors upstairs, we should relive all those moments, for one last time.”
“You have those pictures with you right now?” He nods.
Righteously so, I too want to see her now. Ansh and Angie have a beyond perfect end of their love story, my book is about to finish and I’ve fallen in love again – all that because of her. We need and deserve to see her, I wanted to save it for later but there will be no other moment like this. I may end up with a dusted image of her in my later life but she’ll always live and be remembered in our memories. Yes, we will spend the night in the excursion of our memories.
“Okay buddy, now, may I?” I ask; somehow I don’t know why I’m nervous.
I open the letter and yes, I feel amused by seeing her handwriting – for one last time.
Hey Mithu!
Surprised? No, stunned right? If you are reading this that means I’ve succeeded in my mission. You and Nirali are together. See, as I promised I sent a girl for you. What did you say? Don’t make the promises you can’t keep. See, I kept my promise. You must be wondering, when did I write this letter? After taking promises from you? No, long before that; and don’t pressurize your mind on thinking how I know you’d say it, it takes a genius like me to know it (wink). You may have outsmarted me so many times, but you will never be able to beat me after this. So, by outsmarting you for the last time, I win. Ya ya you can smile, grin, smirk, use each word of your choice, but you can’t change the fact that I’m smarter – from where you are reading this – let’s say I was. Hey mithu! don’t cry… stop I was just kidding my love! Okay I give up – let them out, once and for all.
By the way, how are Ansh and Angie? I’m sure you succeeded in reconciling them and I know you all are stumped by the end I planned for them. Ansh did it right? Say my “hi” to them and don’t forget to gift them that silk scarf as a honeymoon gift from my side.
So, tell me, are you going to miss me? Yes, you are. I bet you all are; but I’m not going to miss you guys. I know I’m lying, but let me think what I’m going to miss the most. Yes, I got it, our romantic walk on Galway, Ireland. Remember? Just like you, I’ve dreamed of it so many times. I’m going to miss that the most. Didn’t I tell you to stop crying? Oh c’mon Mithu, shedding tears won’t bring me back! You have me right there. Yes, look inside your girl’s eyes, you’ll see me there. Now what you are going to do is that you’ll take us to Ireland, take a walk just as we discussed, and don’t you dare to make out there; that you promised me. I can’t share my moments with anyone else, not even with Nirali. Yes, I can share you with her – by having no other choice – but not our memories…they are mine, forever. And don’t worry, I did not die virgin in my dreams (wink again). So, it’s time to say goodbye then.
Goodbye, my love! Kisses and hugs, over and… Dead (Oops, sorry baby just kidding! don’t get angry now! huh…)
P.S: I’ll always be with you – and you know that.
Coming soon by the same author
Everything We Had
Mausami Hansraj idolizes the characters in Keeping the Promises. She is the most loved Radio Jock of the city and a strong-headed person, hard to win. Her friends know it would take an equally strong-headed person to win her heart and respect.
Anmol Sahni, probably the richest man of the city and a fan of Mausami’s voice, is not all that fortunate. Even with all the money and riches, there is little he can do about the inherited disease of the nerve cells that is slowly taking life out of him.
Oblivious of the fact that his condition is worsening faster than he anticipated, he allows himself to fall in love with Mausami. But both of them are realists, and part their ways as Anmol decides to die in solitude.
She gives in to his promise; she decides to honour her word despite all the devastation it is bound to cause. But as every coin has two sides, every philosphy has two ways, every wisdom has two different impacts, promises also have two sides. She accidently stumbles upon the very people she idolizes from Keeping the Promises, only to realize that their life is nothing like she has hoped all along.
Mysterious events with their presence in her life lead her to hate the people she idolized once. She decides to show the world that life is too surprising for a person to anticipate one’s fate.
Thus, she tells her story, and in the loving memory of her everlasting love, she names it, ‘EVERYTHING WE HAD’.
Keeping the Promises Page 17