The Last Meeting-XI

After a week, he finally talked to her,Sanna took a relaxing breath. He asked her to come for shopping and she agreed instantly. There in the mall was a coffee shop where Sanna and Rihan used to meet in college times, Ali took her to the same place. After reaching, Ali started searching for someone and after five minutes, he smiled and nodded to in the same direction. Then, he gently took her hand and moved towards a table which was preoccupied by a pregnant woman and....Rihan.

They were shocked to see each other,Sanna looked at her husband’s face and try to find out an answer to the question that was continously banging in her mind, what is happening. But it was futile as his face showed no change of expressions. Rihan was looking at Shagufa for an explanation but in return he recieved a warm reassuring smile. Shagufa cleared her throat to say something and break the uncomfortable silence, “hello Sanna and Ali.. he is my husband Rihan and I am Shagufa..please have a seat..” there was silence again so she said again “you must be thinking that why we have brought you two here...Rihan, I read the letter that you wrote for Sanna three years ago,which you never posted, and I posted it to her...look, there was a lot of misunderstanding between you two for a long time, unsolved problems were not only affecting you but us too, she said gesturing towards Ali and herself. "After receiving that letter I was very upset that you didn’t even bother to tell me, such a big part of your life, I tried my level best to make this marriage work but I always knew that there was a problem, and when I came to know all this, I just wanted to fix that problem that was keeping you from loving me the way you should. If you still love him you can leave me whenever you want, both of us are ready for it...but this half happy and half sad life is making everything complicated...look Sanna I really love you and I will respect every decision you make..but unless you untangle the threads of the past...no one can move forward" said Ali, with warmth in his voice. Shagufa looked at Rihan with a smiling face and said “Jaanu, you know how much I hate unfinished stories..please complete this on for me.”

That day Rihan and Sanna talked for hours and realized their mistakes. It was as if someone had removed a boulder from their chests. They also realized, that what they had in their lives was the most precious gift that life could give them...understanding, supporting and  loving life partners. They became best friends and their married lives took a new turn to the road of trust and happiness.What else could they ask from life...the  deal was fairly done.

                                                                                                                           -Niharika Singh

The Last Meeting-X

Three years later,

Shagufa was moving towards the store room, for cleaning the thick layer of dust that had settled on every item, as that room was not even touched for months.

Rihan had been a very caring person all these years, but still, watching two children playing football, brought waves of never forgotten memories. Settling a house just after a storm requires courage and patience which has to be developed to survive. Thankfully the incident at the card gallery was never discussed again.

 It was getting difficult to work with a 6 month pregnant belly but leaving the work of cleaning on Rihan was even more risky, either he will damage goods or himself. Several cartons were kept on the racks first one contained magazines, another contained broken glassware and another at the back of the shelf contained photographs and a letter. While unfolding the letter, she hesitated a little but curiosity overpowered all other feelings and the letter was opened after peeping that nobody was watching.
She was shocked to read that letter, its not that she had no idea about it, but this situation was far more complex than what she had imagined. Khala jaan was calling her from kitcken to prepare the curry,so she kept the letter in her purse and went to the kitchen.

Shagufa was the quietest at the dinner that night, which was pretty bewildering for everybody. That uneasy feeling was making her nauseous, now she understood, what had happened at the card gallery.  After a long thinking process, she came up with a solution. That night she searched for Sanna’s address in the directory and the next day...posted that letter.

The letter reached on the Khan’s address and received by nobody but Mr.Ali Khan. His feelings raced from confusion to tension and finally to eagerness because this truth was left unspoken for three years. He showed the letter to Sanna and asked for an explanation. Sanna took the letter and after reading it her mouth went dry. Tears flooded and so did memories, guilt and anxiousness. She was regretting that why didn’t she listen to his explanation even once but right now a bigger problem was peeping through the window...ALI...she owed him an explanation. After wiping her tears, she told him what she had been avoiding to tell for three years. She told him the whole story, looking at the floor and wiping the tears away from the back of her hand. When she looked up, he was gone. She was so shocked, that she started crying uncontrollably, she could see her three years long marriage was on the verge of crumbling down. He wasn’t talking to her and even after so many pleads, he didnt move.

The Last Meeting-IX

The next evening, he prayed to god and went to Sanna’s house to deliver that letter. All the way, he was thinking of how would she react. He knew she was understanding so there was still hope for a new beginning. It was a chilling February evening and winter flowers had bloomed in every park and house that was visible. All this while his heart thought of all possible reactions that he would receive and also thought of many ways of disclosing the truth of his relationship to Shagufa and his father and his own father..“Oh god!!How many people do i have to answer but no problem, if she is with me then i can do anything” he had thought. One good thing that happens after you lose someone, is that you realize the importance of that person and also the worth of that relationship and if you get a chance to mend the cracks that you have created then that relationship can reach a whole new level of trust, love and understanding, but not everybody is lucky enough to get that second chance. From the rear end of the road Sanna’s house could be seen decorated in orchids and marigold. Rihan was bewildered but didn’t have a clue of what was going on in there. His  pace increased and so did his curiosity, sounds of claps were making him even more nervous and just as he reached her house, he saw Sanna slipping the diamond ring in Ali’s finger. As Rihan saw this happening, time stopped and he remembered Sanna’s 23^rd birthday in which he had gifted a ring which she never took out. That ring was missing today, and so was all his hope. He left her house with the letter in his back pocket and eyes, misty with the heartbreak, surely it was too late.Tears refused to flow that night. He spent all night staring blankly at the ceiling, not even knowing what to think. He regretted all the fights which went unsolved, all the sorry and i love you that went unsaid, dry eyes, opened widely staring at nothing but darkness.