You could do little but watch me walk away
I knew how badly you wanted me to stay
I didn't.
MISTAKES...
She shed pieces of her heart every single time trying to prove her innocence. He didn't believe her. She always hoped that someone would just come along, gather all the pieces and show them to him but that didn't happen and with every passing day her heart broke further.. kept breaking...
She stood at the airport and looked at him with pleading eyes but he turned his back on her and walked away. She watched him leave and mingle with the crowd. She watched him till she could see him no more.
He looked at her from a distance, a lonely defeated figure standing out in the crowd. He watched as the world rushed by, sometimes giving her a push, sometimes a knock. His clenched fist did nothing to stay firm on his need to remain indifferent and he found himself walking towards her wanting nothing but to shield her from the world. She saw him and her eyes lit up and she smiled through tears. He walked towards her till she was leaning against a metal railing and put his arms around her, shielding her from every push.. from every knock. He could feel her breath against his neck. Her eyes were lowered and he could see a tiniest almost invisible mole near her eye that he hadn't noticed before. Then her lashes lifted and she looked at him with eyes that held so much love that wasn't real no matter how much he wanted it to be
"Arnavji give me ten minutes. I have called someone who can prove my innocence." She said her eyes pleading, a faint tremor evident in her voice. He nodded in agreement.
He saw the emotion in her eyes, saw the sparkle of truth and his heart believed, even though his head didn't . He continued to study her face, his heart battling with so much. He waited till the last tick of the minute hand of his wrist watch told him it was time. He waited for something that never came and then he knew no one would come. Disappointment filled his heart and it took everything not to breakdown and cry. Her eyes always sent messages making him dream and then crushed all his dreams. He shouldn't have believed those eyes again. He should have known.
He regretted the tiniest moment when he allowed himself to think of the paradise his life would be if she was innocent. He turned to go but she held his hand, her fingers wrapped in his. They whispered silent words of love that it almost hurt to pull away. He looked down at their entwined hands and then back at her tear stricken face and angrily tried pulling his hand away from hers.
She tried to hold on as if even a slightest touch would convey him the message of her undying love. Her fingers struggled to grasp his as he continued to pull his hand away. Her fingertips grazed against his skin for one last time like a caress and then the contact broke and he walked away without looking back.
She pressed her hands against the glass doors, willing him to turn, willing him to believe. Unfulfilled dreams and incomplete wishes hung in the air. They drifted in the vacuum between them like wind whispering the happy ending they never had...
___________________________
He pushed the stretcher along the hospital corridor towards the operation theatre, holding on to her blood smeared hand. His heart raced with fear and anguish and fresh tears rolled down his cheeks. She had done so much to prove her innocence and finally proved it by taking the bullet that was meant for him. He had hurt her so much and yet she had only loved him. He had spent so long punishing her for something that she hadn't done and now when he believed her, it was too late.
Too late to tell her that she was the rose that added beauty to his garden, that she was the music that brought so many feelings. She was the kiss whose memories left a bitter sweet ache. She was the god he didn't believe in. She was the hope that got him through the darkest days. She was the tear that now rolled on his cheeks.
As the doors of the operation theatre opened, the doctor put his hand on his shoulder telling him that he had to let go. He looked down at her hand that was closed in his, his fingers begging her to hold on, to fight for her life, to fight for their lives. He was almost scared to pull away thinking if he touched her, kept touching her, she would never leave.
He tried to hold on as if even a slightest touch would convey the extent to which he needed her. His fingers struggled to clasp hers as she was pulled away. He tried to grasp her fingers, to feel her soft touch that always felt like a brief kiss but he was left grasping air.
He fell on his knees staring at his empty hand that had held hers seconds ago feeling the touch that stayed long after it was gone.
He pressed his hands against the glass doors watching her helplessly as she fought for life. His undying love hung in the air. It drifted in the vacuum between them like the wind whispering the happy ending they never had...
Kumkum Bhagya
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