19 Dates

Chapter 29

Dev said nothing but got up & left from there, Rajat only hoped that his words would make difference. Dev and his dad left their house the very next morning & Dev had convinced his dad to stay with him in Mumbai for a few days to which he had agreed. Life had gone back to the routine for him & with so much happening around, Dev had not checked the messages on his phone. Now when he did, he saw that there were a few messages from Kriti, he did not reply to any of them and considered it best to get back to his singlehood.

He did tell Shalini everything about what had happened with his mom & that his dad was home, but then what Rajat had spoken to him he did not discuss it with anyone. In fact Rajat's words had made a deep impression in his heart & everyday he used to think a lot about it. He had to get it out of his system so one day he decided to call Rajat.

Dev, "Hey Rajat, is it possible to meet you this evening?"

Rajat was surprised & readily agreed to meet, "yes of course, but hope all is well?"

Dev, "yeah everything is good, just that I wanted to have a conversation with you regarding all that you had told me the other day."

Rajat, "not a problem. So you want to come home or meet some place outside?"

Dev, "no no definitely not at your place, lets meet at Asilo, it is close by from your office & I am anyways in Lower Parel today."

Rajat, "OK, so any time after 6 p.m. is good for me."

Dev, "fine then, I will see you by around 7:30 p.m."

Rajat, "fine Dev, see you then."

Rajat reached the place right on time & was waiting for Dev, in some time Dev arrived as well. Rajat was very happy to see him.

Rajat, "I am glad that you decided to talk about it."

Dev, "I did Rajat because certain things you said made sense, I don't want to hate her but then the very fact that she chose to walk away from me & my father to be with you pulls me down to hating her, what I am trying to tell you is that my love for her is the source of this hatred I have against her. She was the most important person in my life & then one fine day she decided to leave me alone."

Rajat, "Dev, love can never be root for hatred son. She never left or abandoned you. She did not have the courage to face you and neither were you of that age where you could have understood her decision. She was being torn apart & then we decided to give you the time so that one day she could talk to you & explain things. That never happened because you never let it happen, every time she thought of talking to you, all she saw in your eyes was anger & resentment. It made her weak & took my courage as well to approach you to have this conversation but I never quit praying, I always prayed that one day God would give me an opportunity to talk to you about this & also help you understand her situation."

Dev had tears in his eyes, "Rajat, I want to end this hatred. Help me."

Rajat, "I promise you Dev in everything that you go through I will stand by your side. He got up from his seat & hugged Dev."