"Shhh...Shhh...Meghana. Things will be alright; Chandini will be alright, I assure you." Arjun comforted Meghna, rubbing her back soothingly.
"She had been through so much and I didn't have a clue!" Meghna cried further unable to stop herself, heaving every once in a while to manage her breath.
"Let's get out of here first." He steered her towards his bike. They mounted it and sped away to a cafeteria on the other side of town where they wouldn't be disturbed.
They found a table in a secluded corner and she grabbed a tissue and did her best to wipe her face, but the tears seemed to continue to pour.
They placed their order and waited for it quietly, Arjun placing an arm across her shoulder in show of support.
"Today has been quite an emotional roller coaster ride, right?" he expressed getting only a silent nod in response.
He knew that she wasn't composed enough to talk yet, so he went on, "Imagine our shocking surprise when we went to give her ours; about our impending engagement."
He was still trying to wrap his mind around the new found revelation...Radhika was actually Chandini!!!!!
The same Chandini Meghna couldn't stop talking about; the same Chandini whom she had been searching, for the past two years.
They sat in the same position for what felt like hours, each lost in the way they met six months ago and discussed Chandini and Radhika during the course of their relationship.
Their meeting was purely accidental or fate as many would call it. Arjun went to Varanasi to give his first lecture in BHU in a seminar organised by them.
She was a post grad student in History and was so very fascinated by his lecture that she sought out to meet him to learn more on the topic.
They hit it off on the word GO and conversed on diverse topics in relation to the History of India and the world. The immense knowledge he possessed in his field of expertise didn't make him arrogant. His humility and down-to-earth personality is what attracted him to her.
They didn't realise when they moved on to become friends. They exchanged emails and spoke with each other over phone; and occasionally met each other whenever Arjun was on tour to Varanasi as a guest lecturer.
From friends they soon became good friends; it was during one such meet a few months later that Arjun spoke about his good friend, Radhika; about her being a fellow professor pursuing PhD in Sanskrit and that she volunteered in an organisation for mentally challenged during her spare time. It was evident from his expression that he admired her.
What was unexpected but nice, was that Meghna too opened up regarding her family and her past.
She expressed the reason behind her being wary of men; the way she was jilted by a person whom she trusted and foolishly believed to have loved; the resulting pregnancy and having a baby out of wedlock. Arjun couldn't help but admire her honesty.
Thinking about it retrospectively, it was probably the moment he fell in love with her.
