The Girl With the Red Scarf | ✔️ [DriKshit]

A Final Goodbye

Exactly A Month Later

RAKSHIT'S POV

I woke up to the sight of a peacefully slumbering Drishti cuddled in my arms.  As the soft morning sunlight fell on her face, her flawless skin glowed radiantly. I smiled to myself. A lot has changed in the past month - a lot between us. I now sleep with her on the bed, somedays we remain on our respective sides and other days - other days we cuddle and sleep, just like last night. But we only sleep together, there is no physical intimacy between us. That kiss - exactly one month and a few hours ago, was the only form of physical affection that we had ever shared, apart from our hugs.

It has also been one month since Drishti started working at the NGO, which meant, that she had received her first salary yesterday. She was so happy that she was practically beaming. We went and bought gifts for everyone with her salary. I also realized yesterday that how different she was from me. No matter what the occasion was - birthdays, anniversaries, parties, marriages, I always handed people gift cards. I find gift cards a very useful method for saving both time and energy. But Drishti - she took time, searched in about a hundred stores and found the perfect gift for each one of the family.

Speaking of gifts, she got a gift for me too. She did not buy it with the other gifts while I was with her, instead, she bought it beforehand while returning from the NGO.

It was a beautiful silver watch with a fine criss cross  pattern on the wrist band. But the watch wasn't what won my heart. Of course, I loved the gift very much but the note upon the gift box was what touched my heart.

Smiling to myself, I remembered the words scribbled upon the small sky blue paper.

"With you, each day, each hour, each minute, each second, each moment is special. I hope that whenever you check the time, this watch reminds you of me, the girl whose life you have made beautiful just by being in it."

As I sat up on the bed, thinking about where our relationship was headed, I was totally unaware of the storm that was about to shatter our lives within the span of a mere few hours.

                                 ~

It had been a hectic day at office and when I finally checked my phone, I found that Drishti had sent me three messages almost two hours back.

At 6 : 15 pm.

It was 8 : 05 currently.

Drishti seldom texted me during work hours. If it was something urgent, she usually called me or dropped in my cabin while returning from the NGO. And if it was something non important, she told me after dinner, when we sat on tbe balcony and shared our day with each other. 

A little anticipated, I opened her messages.

~ 'Hey Rakshit!'
~ 'I have a little work at the NGO so I will be returning late. I have informed Sikhar."
~ "No need of picking me up. I will take a cab."

The messages were perfectly normal - Sona Maa often needed extra help with the cleaning up and other stuff and so Drishti sometimes did overtime for her. But what struck me was the timing of the messages. The first message was sent at 6 : 15 pm. The second message was sent at 6 : 25 and the third one at 6 : 26. It seemed as if after sending the first message, Drishti had pondered whether to send me the second one or not. Or maybe I was just overthinking - maybe the messages were delivered late due to network issues. But why did she tell me not to pick her up? Whenever Drishti worked overtime, it was me who picked her up after leaving from my office. Why would she suddenly want to come home in a cab?

Worried, I called her. The phone kept ringing - no one picked up. I called her again. Then again. And again. But there was no answer. Worried more than ever now, I called Sona Maa. Maybe, just maybe Drishti's phone was on silent -

~ "Hello?"

~ "Sona Maa?"

~ "Rakshit! You called me after such a long time -"

~ "Is Drishti there?"

What I heard next made my insides churn.

~ "Drishti? Why would she be here? She left early today, around five. Said that she was not feeling well. I told her to go home and rest. But why are you asking?"

~ "Are you sure she left?"

~ "Rakshit, are you okay? Of course, I am sure! I watched her leave. Is she feeling better now?"

~ "Sona Maa, can I please call you later?"

~ "Yeah, sure, but -"

I hung up and dialled mom, my fingers shaking. I felt beads of sweat accumulating on my forehead.

~ "Mom?"

~ "Rakshit? Is everything -"

~ "Mom, is Drishti home?"

~ "Drishti? No, I don't think so. She is doing overtime maybe -"

~ "Mom, please check if she's home!"

~ "Rakshit, beta, what's wrong -"

~ "Mom - please check. Please!"

~ "Yeah, yeah, I am checking -"

~ "Fast, please!"

I heard fumbling around, movement, shifting noises. With each passing second, my thoughts grew wilder, scarier. Where did she go?

~ "Rakshit?"

~ "Mom - is she home?"

~ "Beta, I checked the entire house, she is nowhere. But Rakshit -"

She hesitated.

~ "What mom?"

~ "I found a paper on your desk addressed to you. It looks like Drishti's handwriting. Shall I - er - open it?"

My heart sank.

~ "Read it out mom."

I heard the unfolding of paper and then -

~
"Dearest Rakshit,

I don't know where to start, there is so much I want to tell you. But maybe, today is not the right day, not the right time. Speaking of the right time, our time was never right, was it? Not in Bali, never in Mumbai. Maybe, after all, we were not meant to be.
Rakshit, from the very starting, there has been no secrets between us, but I am guilty, I am guilty of keeping one secret from you. Aakash has been texting me again for more than a month now, I don't know how he got my number, but he has been texting me daily. He says that you and Divya are next on his target list. Rakshit, I have been very selfish. So far, I had only thought about my happiness, my security - which is being with you. What I didn't realize was that my selfishness was jeopardizing the lives of the people I love.
Over the past few months, Rakshit, I know that I have broken your heart several times, sometimes knowingly, but most times unknowingly. I don't know what impact I have had in your life, hopefully, not a huge one, but I hope that you forget me and move on. With this final parting, I set you free of all the promises that we made, you are in no way bound to me.
I will not apologise because I know that my sorry will never heal the wounds that I have given you, but it is the least that I can do. I will not ask for your forgiveness because I know that I do not deserve one. You deserve some one far better than me, Rakshit and I know that you will find her someday.

A final goodbye,
From the girl with the red scarf"

I wanted to bang my head on the wall. All of it has happened because of my carelessness - I should have been more patient, more gentle with her. But where could she have gone? There are so many stations - bus stops - aiports - I felt myself going mad. Two hours had already passed - she could be out of town by now...

Where are you Drishti?

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To be continued...