Arhi SS: The Courtship of two doctors: Pt2 on Pg9 (24th Nov) - Page 4

She knew who it was, she knew that hand too well to not recognize it. The warm and rough hand could only belong to one person, her Arnav.

Tentatively looking up to see him, her eyes met his eyes which showed the same sadness of being separated that hers had. One look in his eyes and that was her undoing.

The tears that had stopped flowing a few minutes back had started flowing once again. She looked down, trying to hide her pain from him. This was his dream, her dream, their dream and she was not letting her silly emotions to ruin everything.

She would never make him choose because she knew, if he saw her this broken, he would do anything to make sure they were together.

She could not do this to him. He had worked hard to get this and she was not going to be a barrier between his dream and her.

She wanted to be his pillar of strength for once. It had always been him who had stood by her through thick and thin but this time she wanted to stand by him not against.

Making up her mind, she looked up with a new resolution in her eyes and a smile on her face. Gently asking him to take a seat next to her she spoke,

"I'm so proud of you Arnav. You deserved this."

"Are you okay, Khushi?" he asked, not satisfied with her smile and talks.

"Ofcourse I am Arnav. I am so happy for you. I have seen you working day and night for this." She replied with a small smile stuck on her face.

"Khushi don't hide from me, please? We have always shared everything with each other and when we haven't, our actions have spoken for us. And right now your eyes and lips don't seem to speak the same thing." He said gently.

Khushi knew she was fighting a loosing battle. She could never hide anything from him.

"Arnav, I really am proud of you. Its just that, we have never been separated and what happened 5 minutes ago, its just really hard for me to accept it. It will take time but I am sure we will get through this." She said before hesitantly adding, "Right?"

"Sure we will get through this Khushi. We have been together always and once this internship gets over, we will be back together. I promise."

"Arnav..." she said.

"Yes Khushi?" he urged her to continue.

"You wouldn't forget me, would you?" he looked up in shock.

"What? Forget you? Khushi? Do you even know what you're saying?" he questioned in agitation.

"This internship is going to last for a year. There are no means of communication. How are we going to talk? How will we share our daily doings? You know I cant stay without telling you everything that happens with me everyday." Said a teary eyed Khushi.

"We are going to communicate. If not everyday, I promise, every week."

"How?"

"Letters." Was all he said.

"Letters?"

"Yes letters. Is there something wrong in writing letters?" he asked with a small smile.

"No there isn't. But don't you think a letter will be too small for me to write down all my feelings and routines?"

"Khushi, this is our only choice. You can write to me whenever you want." He said.

"Arnav..." she started just as a sob escaped her mouth.

This was going to be so difficult. How was she going to get through a whole year? She could feel her heart sinking, her whole world spinning, she could not do this.

"Khushi..." came a helpless response, "Please, please, please stop crying. You know I cant see you this way. If you keep crying like this then I will go right now and tell the authority to take back my placement. Do you want me to do that?"

"No." came the instant reply. "No, don't do that. I will feel very guilty if you back out because of me." She finished.

"Then help me through this, stand by me, not against." he said, softly.

As tears flew down her cheeks, he saw her gently nod her head in affirmative.

Holding her hand in such a manner that no one saw, he looked her in the eyes and said "Thank You" before getting up to go back to his dorm.

He turned around once before leaving,

"Khushi, take care of yourself."

And then he left while Khushi could only look on and wait for this 1 year to end.

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