You're My Home | Complete ✔

Chapter 17

Armaan put down the phone after he was done with the call and turned towards Samara to find her looking at him with an unsettling confusion on her face.

"You're.....leaving?"

"No, I'm just going to Karachi next week to sign some papers for the company. I'll be back the week after."

"But that means you will be leaving.....eventually." Her voice started to break.

Armaan stood there in silence as he watched a lone drop of tear form at the corner of her eyes. It broke his heart, seeing her so miserable. He didn't want to see her cry. It would make this decision a lot harder for him. He was about to reach out his arms to console her, but he stopped when he saw her smile. A smile that was adulterated with little drops of tears flowing down her cheeks.

"I am so, so happy for you Armaan."

He was taken aback a little, but his expressions remained unchanged as he listened to Samara with undivided attention.

"You have got so much potential. You have the talent, the capability. I want to see your career flourish." She paused momentarily to gather up the courage. "Do not, even for a second, feel guilty about giving priority to your ambitions. I'm sorry I jumped the gun that night. I didn't want to hurt you. Trust me, I am genuinely very happy. You should go. Live your dream."

He stared at her in shock. It took him moment before he could respond to her revelation.

"And what about you? What about us?"

"NY Pres offered me a fellowship in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery. It's a job opportunity most surgeons would kill to grab. I wanted to work at the best hospital in New York and now I am going to do that. I am living my dream. You don't worry about me." She stopped abruptly. Her words seemed harsh, even to her own ears. But it was necessary.

"You didn't answer my full question. What about us? That's it? We go our own separate way? That is how our relationship will end?"

Samara persistently tried to blink back her tears. "Things don't always go how we want them to Armaan. Perhaps this is what is written in our destiny. Maybe we weren't ever supposed to work out."

"Are you implying that it was......a mistake?"

"NO! Our relationship was not a mistake. It was unusual, unexpected. It could be a lot of things, but it definitely wasn't a mistake."

Her throat was closing up. She took a deep breath and continued.

"Armaan, you and I, we were real. We were......magic. You were the best thing that happened to me in a long, long time. You came into my life, a crazy, way-too-frank, charming man who swept me off my feet. Everything about you was so perfect, that I almost couldn't believe my luck. We became friends, we fell in love, we got engaged and now...."

Armaan noticed her fidgeting with her ring as she spoke to him.

"Every moment I spent with you, I will cherish it forever. I will pray, I will always pray, that wherever you are, whoever you are with, you get all the happiness in the world. I will be happy knowing that you are happy. And I want you to feel the same."

There was still a smile on her face, as if she tried to mask her emotions behind it. She couldn't of course. No one could understand her pain better than him. They were on the same boat, sailing through a sea of agony.

Samara walked past him towards the terrace door. She stopped a short distance away to wipe away the residual tears on her cheek. After a few steps forward she stopped when she heard Armaan.

"Remember when I told you I can wait for you my entire life? I meant it. Every single word of it. I will wait. Until the situation is favorable, until we both have accomplished our dreams and found a solution to which we can both agree upon. Till then, I want you to be the same bright, smiling doctor who I fell for two years ago. I don't want you to hold any bitterness in your heart. You deserve a lot more than that. Life may not be taking us where we wanted right now, but that won't ever change the way I feel about you. I love you and I will always love you."

He watched her walk away, without even looking back once. He let her go.

*******

That night was going to prove to be heavy for both of them. Armaan sat on the edge of the bed in his room, staring blankly at the bright screen of his laptop. His mind kept going back to her words over and over again. 'I will be happy knowing you're happy.'

A not-so-distant memory played in his mind. He fondly reminisced the day when Samara said yes. He was absolutely ecstatic, so much that he didn't care about the fact that there were people all around, he hugged her anyways. New York City and the Brooklyn bridge weren't new to such things. It had always witnessed the love of couples, young or old, and it was famous for that. Overflowing happiness gushed on their faces. That day, was going to be etched in their memories, forever. But neither Armaan nor Samara had known back then that someday they'd have to look back at it with grief and repentance. It wasn't the first relationship for either of them. Both had been through break-ups before. But their relationship was much more special and important to them than any other they had in the past. And this time, the pain of heart break was truly unforgiving.

Armaan inhaled sharply in efforts to clear his mind from the clouds of memory. He put his finger on the touch pad of his laptop and drifted the cursor towards the end of the form.

Confirm ticket?

Before he could go ahead with his choice, there was a knock. He got up and opened the door.

"Were you busy? I hope I didn't disturb you. Just wanted to talk to you before I leave."

"Sure."He opened the door wider and stepped aside to let his mother in.

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