The Proposal: Part 4 of 4

The night had been a surprise for both the sisters.

At midnight, as the new year begun, Rahul had asked Zara out. A very shocked Zara had agreed. 

Ashish had intended to ask Naima to be his wife that night. He had prepared a full speech about why she should marry him. It had taken him four days to just get the start right. If he would have known how the moment would actually unfold, he would have put in slightly less effort.

As Ashish and Naima had walked towards a secluded corner on the terrace that night, he revised his speech one last time. As he had gone down on one knee, Naima had gone absolutely still. But before he could actually mutter a word of his well prepared speech, Naima had shrieked with delight and agreed to marry him!

Even today, that memory managed to calm her frayed nerves. 

Though Naima had been quite sceptical about counselling, it had helped. Whenever she felt low or emotional, she thought back to the happy moments in her life. 

Not surprisingly, a lot of them were with Ashish. It was difficult to take him out of the picture. Over time, she had begun fixating on that particular trip to Bangalore. Sometimes it was what followed that trip. First, there was the crazy phase of her wedding preparation. A year later, she was busy making wedding arrangements for her sister.

She had been so happy before that fateful night four years ago. 

Just like it did for every woman, her life had changed when she was expecting her first child. She now knew in hindsight that she had been too preoccupied with being pregnant. After the arrival of her darling son, she had gotten further engrossed. She had forgotten that Ashish still needed her. Maybe that was how she possibly had no idea that Ashish had been under a lot of stress.

Had she known how stressed her husband was, Naima would never have insisted on meeting Zara and Rahul that night. Since no one was in the mood to cook, the men had volunteered to get some food home. She did not understand, in hindsight, how she let the men walk out with her toddler. Her little angel had just started walking and every time someone went towards the door, he got up and hobbled towards it.

The men were at a crossing, waiting for the signal to turn red when Ashish had received a call from work. He had lost a lucrative contract to a competitor firm a few weeks back and the same firm had got the contract for a bigger job this time. In some very subconscious reaction, he must have let go of his little one’s hand during his call and before he had realized, a speeding car had rammed into his son.

After a two hour long struggle, the doctors had declared his son dead. Naima was distraught. She refused to let the doctors take the baby off life support. She just stood by the crib and talked to her little one as if he was sleeping. After a day of this, Naima had been hauled out of there by Ashish.

Ashish refused to leave her side even though she did not acknowledge his presence. Naima had been admitted in the hospital after she collapsed during the funeral. She refused to eat, drink or even meet people. Ashish had kept apologizing but she had not responded to him.

After Naima went home, things got worse. It had never been this silent. They had gone for counselling. He would have really liked Naima to show some emotion - cry, laugh or even hurl some abuses his way. But she had mourned her son by herself completely shutting out her husband.

The doctor suggested having another child but Ashish did not take to the idea. He just did not trust himself anymore. After six months of no response from Naima, he had walked out. He called to check on her but the two never exchanged words. The last call had come around two years ago after which he had moved to America.

She had agreed to start looking at men for a second marriage just so her parents wouldn't worry about her. There had been some heated words between the sisters when she had agreed to a second marriage instead of getting back with Ashish.  

It did not take long for her to realize that everyone just paled in comparison to the man she had married the first time around. She had even started considering how to approach a possible reconciliation but had not been convinced about it till today. 

This advertisement could not just be a coincidence. As loopy as it sounded, Naima took it as a sign. Zara could have easily missed it, but had not. For some reason, she had assumed his whole family had moved to America. At least his younger brother Ashwin was still here. She would get in touch with Ashwin and take it from there.

Four years was a long time to look at every possible mistake and alternative reaction. She should have been there for him. She had done nothing to assuage the guilt he must have felt. They both had lost a child. She had made a couple of mistakes the last time around. She should have handled things differently but now she knew better.

As Naima continued to gaze out of the window, she felt her sister come up and stand behind her. Just one look passed between the sisters and Zara knew Naima had made the decision she had always wanted. They sat together as Naima dialled the number without having to look at it.  

For the first time in many years, Naima felt hopeful. As a familiar voice answered the line at the other end, Naima knew she was going to get Ashish back in her life again. 

The Proposal: Part 3 of 4

'Can I please sit by the window’, Zara inquired.

Seeing that Zara and he had been talking all the way upto their seats, Rahul had assumed that the gentleman in question would move to the aisle. Of course, he did not. Wasn't the universe supposed to conspire to help him achieve his dream?

The energy he had gathered from the time Zara arrived at the airport until the time they entered the airbus, all went pop in one second. Even though Rahul had silently started counting backwards from fifty in order to somehow get a grip on his emotions, he was far from relaxed by the time he was done.

He wondered what Gaurav would have said if he called him right now. Possibly, something glib like patience is the key!  Yes, that sounded wise enough.

As they buckled themselves into their seats, a subtle floral fragrance wafted towards him.

How does this happen to me, Rahul thought to himself as he felt the tightness around his chest melt away into insignificance. She is a whole seat away and the fragrance was making him loopy in the head. Giddy with delight was one way to describe how he felt, but the whiff of her fragrance somehow made him feel a little positively towards getting off at Bangalore.

Naima and Ashish just could not believe what they were seeing.

‘He just is not getting a break today’

‘Do you remember that time when I asked you out? That opportune moment had come after 4 days of having decided that I liked you mister. Each day, I used to be all charged up about asking you out on the way to college and decided it was hopeless on the way back home. I don’t envy Rahul one teeny tiny bit’

‘I know from a dependable source that you had a crush on me since the welcome party. That was a good month away from the day you asked me out’, Ashish replied with a goofy grin.

While Naima and Ashish playfully exchanged notes about their week at work, Rahul had plugged in his ipod and had reached a state of calm by the fourth song in his playlist. He did not notice the glances Zara threw at him whilst the music worked its magic on him.

He looks so peaceful, Zara thought to herself. She was almost certain Rahul was a little taken aback when she asked for the window seat. Looking at him now, she felt fairly certain that he hadn’t felt even a bit weird that she had chosen the window seat.

But she had no other option.

She had a massive crush on Rahul. Worse, Ashish had figured it out. And just to prove him wrong, she had taken up a bet to not sit alongside Rahul on the flight today. There was no point in letting anyone know about her stupid crush. Naima had told her that Rahul was interested in someone. What good what it do? What if Rahul got to know, got uncomfortable and distanced himself?

Zara knew the four of them would pretty much be stuck together for the trip. She hoped there was plenty of booze at Zubin’s. If the twenty minutes at security were anything to go by, she was going to need a major distraction to survive his dimpled smile over the extended duration of the next four days.

Ashish glanced to where Zara was sitting a few rows ahead. As he noticed Zara throw  another glance at Rahul, Ashish giggled to himself. He felt like the devil. Rahul was going to kill him after tonight. Zara was obviously going to say yes, but he just decided to make his buddy sweat a little before that.

If Naima could keep secrets, he would have definitely told her. But she couldn’t keep anything from Zara - the two were thick. He still didn’t know why Zara had kept it from Naima. He had not asked and she had not voluntarily offered any explanation.

Tonight was going to be a night of revelations.

To be continued...