Come Back-continued..
by Saroja Vasanth
(Bangalore, Karnataka, India)
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After five years, she decided to come back to Bangalore, the place where she always wanted to be. There was a conference in Bangalore which she was supposed to attend and she was the chief person in the speech along with some other doctors of different specializations. She never got time to check who else will be there with her.
She arrived in the city a day before the conference, and felt home. The cool breeze washed over her face making her smile and made her feel welcomed. She wanted to call Abhishek very much and see how is he and what is he doing. She wanted to know all, if he got married, have children etc.
When she started working on campaigns, they had kept in touch constantly, but her travel and the long distance separation almost made it impossible and somewhere along the way they were lost to each Other.
As much she wanted to talk to him, she was afraid to learn that he might not be interested in the same way or might not like to talk to her.
Next day, she got ready for the conference and was there in time. The program started and all the remaining doctors started to join her. The inauguration started by introducing all the doctors along with her name and her specialization.
“We regret that our specialist in psychiatry is running a bit late due to an emergency. He will be joining us as soon as possible, so let’s begin with few words from our chief guest Mr. Ramamurthy” announced the presenter.
After a while, the presenter said, “Here is our psychiatrist, please welcome Dr. Abhishek”.
Nisha could not believe her ears, and she immediately turned to look and confirm if she heard it right, oh yes! It was him and she observed, over the years, he hasn't changed much. He looked the same.
Abhishek knew she would be there, the moment he read the conference details and did not wanted to miss it for anything. The last emergency kept him too long and he was afraid that he will not make it. He had waited all these years that someday she might return, but he was afraid that what if she has forgotten him.
Both exchanged smiles along the conference, although, they could not talk, not then on the stage while hundreds of people were waiting to hear about their professional life and what they do, how they do.
After the conference, while she stood alone looking
at all the people and reporters rushing out, he went to her and said,
“I knew it is you when I read your name among the list, who will be talking here today, how are you?”
“I am fine, how have you been, it’s so many years” she asked with a pleasant smile and with a lot many other questions in mind.
He almost held her hand and said “Let’s go, it’s too crowded here”.
They went to a nearby Cafe Day which boasted as “A lot can happen over a cup coffee”. She looked at the catchword and winced to herself thinking once a lot did happen over a cup of coffee and she had said no. Not that she repented all the other things she worked after, but Abhishek’s absence made her life incomplete.
“So tell me all about your work, where all you went, you must be feeling good. I read every article about you. It is really good work what you have done,” said he with a transparent pride in his voice for her.
“Yes, helping all those people was something I wanted to do, but at the same time it was tiresome too. I wanted to come home, and do it from here, on my own, open my own place.”
They spoke for a while, and she felt a kind of hope when he told her that he was not married and waiting for someone special yet, though she felt sad that he never spoke about their past and never once hinted that he is interested in her.
After a while, she got up to leave being sad that probably he has moved on.
He held her hands and stared into her eyes without talking anything. Then he said, “ Nisha, I waited all these years, that someday you will come, you will come back to me and here you are and I' am almost as nervous as then to ask you again, but I am asking and I am telling you, that I love you and cannot live without you. Will you marry me?”
She could not talk, and had only tears in her eyes. She blinked once making those tear drops roll down her cheeks and said “I thought you will never ask, Oh, Yes! I want to marry you and I missed you so much.”
They laughed together in happiness.
They got married and after few months, both together opened their own multi-specialty center, where they worked endlessly to serve and to provide better health care to the people.
The End