The Leaves of November | Complete✔

Chapter 7

*Flashbacks are in bold*

Their cupboard was usually organized, Geeta being the neat freak she was. When Shayan opened it, it reminded him of her. Everything in the house did. The inanimate objects were all a remnant of the woman who had affectionately put them in their rightful place. It brought a smile to his face, when he heard her voice ringing in his ears.

'Shayan please put back the shirts on the right drawer. Don't leave the wet towel on the bed. When will you ever close the lid of the lotion?'

Even in his imagination, her reprimands made him laugh.

Looking through the cupboard for some old medical files, he found a pile of old sheets of paper. They were folded and tied together with a string. Intrigued by its appearance, he pulled open the knot and unfolded one of the paper. What he saw was a very familiar hand writing. His own.

They were the letters he had sent her throughout their year of courtship. Almost eleven years later, she had still kept them safely. That was how his Geetu was. An overwhelming surge of emotion took over Shayan as he went through the letters. The memories always came in waves, today he was drowning in it.

January 1995

It was the week of their wedding. Shayan had come back from New York the week before. Preparations were in full swing. Despite both Geeta and Shayan insisting on a simple affair, none of their families were buying it. Simplicity was a very non-Bengali way of doing things, and they were not going to settle for that. It was the first wedding in both families, needless to say they had more events planned than there were days in the week. Thank fully, after a lot of persistent requests from Shayan, they had scratched off a few things from the list. They were to have a pompous, fully traditional Bengali wedding, completed with all the rituals and ceremonies. The families were more excited than the bride and groom themselves, and it clearly showed. But the road to this blissful day wasn't exactly that easy.

While convincing Shayan's parents and Brinda wasn't that tough, the real challenge they faced was in the form of Naveen Thakur. Geeta's father was extremely protective of her since childhood. He wasn't the kind of man who would blindly trust anybody with his daughter. This was a very big matter for him, getting to know she wished to marry a boy who lived thousands of miles away. For the man who did not let his daughter go out of his sight for even a day, it came as a big blow.

The day Shayan had gone to meet him, asking for his daughter's hand in marriage, he had gone alone. It was just days before his flight and it had taken hours for him to work up the nerves to cross the road and meet the father of the girl he loved. For a split second he even doubted the chance of him coming back alive. He was a peace-loving person, always calm and composed. Nevertheless, he would fight for his love if the situation called for it, but he silently prayed that never happens.

Naveen had a very stern manner of asking questions, but they were all legitimate in relation to his concern for Geeta. Shayan answered them patiently, without much hesitation which even took him by surprise. He could never tell where he had found that courage. Perhaps the girl sitting right across him, beside her father who was constantly giving him the boost of confidence in silence was the reason. Brinda was elated ever since she learnt about their relationship. She put her best foot forward in trying to convince her brother. So did Geeta. The nonchalance in Naveen's stance had intimidated Shayan to a point he had given up hopes. However, eventually he agreed. The rest as they say, was history.