The night (Part III)

(This is the third part of the story. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. As always, comments and criticism are more than welcome.)


Neetu stood there, speechless, numbed, her eyes filled with despair and helplessness. She could not come to terms with the fact that she had come this close to finding love... but had lost. She didn’t know what to do. A ray of light flickered at the end of the platform… a train was entering. Neetu stared blankly at the train as it approached her. The logical next step would have been to get into the train and go back to the same old loveless life. The train stopped in front of her. She took a step towards the door, contemplating whether to get in or not. She again turned back to where he’d stood, with the hope of finding him. Destiny had decided otherwise. There was still no sign of him. She was being a stupid, mushy, crazily romantic teenager hoping for the impossible to happen. Reluctantly, she got in, tears in her eyes; the train was rather empty, but for some reason, she decided not to sit and leaned against the door. The horn blew. She looked up…

There he was, staring right back at her from the platform. The look on his face urged her to get off the train… and the horn blew. What was she to do? Was she dreaming of him or was he really there? What if she took her eyes off him and he disappeared the next moment? What if she stood helplessly in the train looking at him on the platform, while the train moved out, shattering beneath its wheels her hopes of finding love? “Oh my God, the train’s moving,” she realized, and ran to get out of the train. She jumped out of the moving train like it was a matter of life and death, she was about to fall on the platform when he caught her in his arms... The world around them stood still. They looked into each others’ eyes—eyes filled with pain, hurt, anger, guilt… but sparkling with love.

After their collision, he’d tried to walk away… but the look in her eyes when they’d first collided urged him to stay. He had contemplated walking up to her, but decided against it because she didn’t seem to care. He felt as though the entire episode meant much more to him than to her. He had started to climb up the foot-over-bridge, but halfway through, he decided to go back. He had turned and looked down at her, standing on the platform. She was talking to someone on the phone. And then, she turned and seemed to be desperately looking for someone in the crowd. “Maybe she’s looking out for me,” he thought. A lump formed in his throat. He started to climb down the stairs, one by one, and when he was only 4 steps from the ground, he saw her getting into the train that had just arrived. “Oh no,” he said to himself, “I can’t let her go…” He ran… and two breaths later, she had jumped from the train, into his arms…

He held her tight, as though he was there to protect and comfort her, and she rested her head against his chin, tugging at his jacket. He kissed her forehead lightly. The world was watching, but to them, nothing else mattered as they enjoyed the quiet company of each other. Not a word was spoken, not a look was exchanged… love had entwined them in a bond so unique; it was as if both had been destined to find each other. They stood still in each other’s arms… until she heard a familiar voice that shook her and brought her back…

“Neetu…”

Was she imagining things, or was it really the voice of Shashank, her husband?