rajveer naina - fated

chapter 20

It has been a year since Shalini has last seen her, and she had doubted whether Naina would turn up at all.

But here she is, dressed in a formal outfit, and with a smile on her face…even if it doesn't quite reach her eyes.
None of them have seen much of her for the past year as she has mainly been posted at the border…coming back on leave only occasionally.

"I'm so happy you came, Naina."Yudi tells her,"We didn't know if you could make it…Would you be one of our witnesses?"
She nods, and gives him a tight hug, before turning to Shalini and hugging her as well.
The ceremony is brief, and at the end when Naina signs as awitness, Shalini sees her wipe her eyes slightly, as if to stop the tears falling on the page.She turns to them at the end, grasping both of their hands.

"Never forget how lucky you are,"she tells them,"You have the opportunity to be with the one you love…never let that go. I want you to be happy together always."
And Shalini had felt that if for no other reason, they owed it to Naina to live happily ever after./

As Shalini watches Asha sitting by Amiya's bedside, holding her still unconscious friend's hand, she can't help but shake the feeling that yes… this really is their Naina, returned after such a long time.
The same face, the same voice, the same look of desperation in her eyes as she asked Shalini to save a friend…It had cut her like a knife.
Twenty one years… it had been twenty one years since the last time she had seen Naina's face, and that time she had already been dead.

Almost twenty two years since Shalini had seen her alive, and she still couldn't forget her, even for a moment.
Because in many ways, Naina had been the one who had made Shalini's life what it was today. Naina… because everything began and ended with Naina.Everything had begun and ended with Naina for Rajveer…He had lived for her, and he had died for her.

Shalini hadn't needed to be there at the time to know that his last thoughts, his last words, would have only been about her.And Naina… In her slow, incredibly painful non-death she had affected all of their lives, taught them what love truly was.

Love which didn't ask anything, didn't require anythingof the other person, love which never faltered or questioned. She had continued loving him even when there was no hope of ever being with him, had never even considered loving anyone else.It was that love… that Shalini had never been able to forget.

After Captain Rajveer's death, all of their lives had changed,they had realised how short life could be, and how unreliable.
It was two and a half years later that Shalini and Yudi had finally gotten married in a simple court ceremony, surrounded by their friends.
His parents hadn't approved.
Hers hadn't either.
At the time it had been enough that they loved each other, understood each other, they had thought that they could take on the world, overcome all obstacles.But it hadn't been that easy.Shalini was older than him… his senior officer too. She knewthat there must have been comments, hurtful ones that Yudi would've had to deal with.

For awhile it was fine, both of them ignored the people who questioned their relationship, but eventually the cracks began to appear. Even if he wasn't worried about what people said, she worried about him worrying. Small fights turned into big ones, silences grew longer, and finally it had looked as if their marriage wouldn't last at all.And then… Naina had died.

They had realised exactly how stupid and ungrateful they were both being. When they had this chance… a chance that Naina would've given anything for, how could they think about wasting it, about letting the views of others separate them?
They had cried in each others arms the night that Naina died, and promised each other that from that time on, they would ensure that no misunderstandings came between them.
Eventually they had adopted their two daughters, Tara and Roshni, and Shalini had to admit, that yes, her life had been happy.
But she had never forgotten Naina, or Rajveer, or the tragedy of their love for each other.And now there was this girl, with her haunting too wise eyes, and her spirit and determination, and the wounds were made fresh as memories started flooding back.