rajveer naina - fated

chapter 6

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

He sat in yet another hospital room, trying to remember how many times it had been now.

Five.

Almost two a year.In three years he had received the call five times and all fivehe had rushed to her side, sat by the bed, and waited for the moment she would open her eyes.

He wondered when the time would come that he would be called for the last time, whether one day she would never open her eyes at all.

"Tell me something, Naina."He asked her,

"Each time this happens, when you open your eyes and find that you're still alive…are you relieved or disappointed?"Naina's expression was all the answer he needed.

"I managed to keep alive without you And didn't kill myself for the shame of it.

"She quoted to him.At Aalekh's enquiring glance, she smiled sadly."Ghalib."

"Since when did you start reading poetry?"he asked her. It was a stupid question. So he decided to ask an even stupider one."How many more times will I get this call, Naina?"he asked desperately,

"How much longer will this continue for?"Naina's sad smile faltered, and when her eyes met Aalekh's there was a quiet determination in them.For the first time he really understood what the answer was.

As many times as it took./

In the twenty one years since Naina's death there has neverbeen a moment that Aalekh hasn't missed her. In fact he's missed her even longer than that, he's missed her for twenty-five long years, because ever since Captain Rajveer died she was hardly Naina anymore, but only ever a shadow of her former self.

And in the twenty one years since her death, never once have the five of them who remained felt that they were only a group of five.No, rather they were six minus one.And there was never a single minute when they didn't feel her absence, like a great gaping hole in each of their hearts.

The wound that had been caused by Rajveer Sir's death had only been widened by Naina's, and there was nothing that could ever heal it.There had been times, not often, but still… when Aalekh would wake up in the morning and not remember that she was dead.But then he would walk out of his room and see her photo hung in the most prominent position next to Captain Rajveer's and he would remember all over again.

Remember every single moment of her slow death, a death which had taken four long years to finally be complete.Aalekh's first reaction when he had seen them both again was to want to call Neelu up and pour his heart out to her, tell her everything, tell her that they were back.But something stopped him.

Aalekh doesn't doubt for even a second that they really are Captain Rajveer and Naina, there can be no other possibilityno matter how impossible it seemed.But he also knows that neither of them remember anything about their past, that they don't have any clue about who they really are.And the more he thinks about it, the more he thinks that it would be best not to tell them.

How would they react if he was to come out and say it? He doubts that either would believe him, and the last thing he wants is for the tragedy of their past lives to have an effect on their present.So Aalekh prepares to hide the secret deep in his heart, hide it from his best friends, from those who have suffered just as deeply as he has for the past twenty five years.He just hopes that in the end they will forgive him for it./

For an entire day he doesn't even know what her name is.She will always be Naina for him, just as Captain Rajveer cannever be anything but that.But just as Rajveer Sir's name has changed, he knows that Naina's will have too.But how can he find out? How can he ask about her without seeming suspicious?His dilemma is solved when he sees her heading out with Captain Shergill for a patrol. Aalekh has to force himself notto rush, instead he walks slowly to where the lists are, and trying to remain calm, checks them with a rapidly beating heart.