LUCKY STARS - WRITE OVER THE WEEKEND 1

          She smiled as she recalled the events that took place a few moments ago. The day which started with a sad note had now become a memorable one. It was the day she had married Nihal, the day she cherished the most, even more than her own birthday, for she didn't think she could have got a better husband than him. Nihal was everything she had ever dreamt of. A slight blush colored her cheek as she smiled inspite of herself.

         Nihal was on a business trip to New Delhi. Doing overtime at office, the chores at home, shopping, reading.. Aaliya was doing everything she could to keep herself busy but there didn't go a single waking second that she didn't think of Nihal. It had been almost 10 months now. Aaliya was heart broken. And today was worse as it was their day! She had never been this desperate. She decided to spend the day as she would have spent it, if Nihal was there. She dressed in blue, for she knew Nihal loved that color on her. She even wore that ear ring he had gifted her, his very first gift. She baked a cake too! But then she started missing him even more. "If only Nihal was here", she sighed.

         That's when Nihal had surprised her by paying a visit out of the blue! "You are looking beautiful dear" she turned around and was shocked. Aaliya couldn't believe her eyes. She had to pinch herself to make sure that it was all real and not a hallucination that her desperate mind was creating. "Nihal!" cried Aaliya as tears of joy started filling her eyes. She wiped it away frantically as she didn't want tears to cloud her vision of Nihal, her Nihal. And now he was here, with her, smiling lovingly at her.

          The day went perfect. There was celebration, cake, music, dance and most importantly Love. Aaliya had never been this happy in the last ten months. She wished she could pause time at this very moment. But it seldom happens as we wish and Nihal said exactly the thing of which she was afraid of. "I have to go", he hung his head as he said those words for he couldn't bear to see the hurt in her eyes. Before she could protest, he continued, "I promise I will be back in Bangalore very soon and we could be together again"

        Aaliya held on to that line as she bid goodbye to him. She knew he would keep his words. And till then she would hold on to this day dearly. She watched as Nihal left in a hurry to catch his flight. She smiled as she walked inside. She was already missing Nihal. She sat there for a long time recalling how they had first met, how they had fallen in love and how they had broken the odds together.

        She didn't know how long she sat there like that. She finally turned on the TV as she couldn't bear the silence anymore. She made herself busy with the chores. The cake was still lying on the table, unfinished. She started removing the ear ring, all the while smiling. No matter how many gifts she had received, this still was the one that she held close to her. Simple, yet so precious! Smiling, lost in thoughts, that's when she received the shock of her life. "The fight from Bangalore to New Delhi crashed and all the passengers died" announced the news reader as pictures of the crash were displayed.

         Aaliya felt like someone had hit the life out of her. The ear ring fell on the table. Tears started flowing endlessly as she tried to get a grip. She felt like the ground beneath her was shaken. Her legs gave away and she fell on the ground, crying hard. She couldn't believe it was just an hour ago she had thought that the day couldn't have got any better. Now everything was over. Her Nihal was no more.

          The phone started ringing continuously where it lay on the table. Aaliya didn't have it in her to get up and answer the phone. She was so lost in her grief. She wished whoever was calling, would stop trying. After three or four attempts they did stop. Aaliya sat there with tear stricken face watching as they showed the footage on the TV. She wished she could turn it off but she couldn't even get up. The blow was too much.

           The doorbell was ringing but Aaliya was numb. She didn't answer. "Aaliya!" shouted the voice. That broke her train of thoughts. The voice sounded familiar. She longed to hear it one more time. "Aaliya! Open the door for God's sake! It's me Nihal" shouted the voice. She couldn't believe her ears. She ran towards the door. It was indeed Nihal. Aaliya couldn't believe her eyes. The day itself was filled with surprises for Aaliya. "But Nihal, you were going to catch the flight for Delhi" she asked still shocked of all this. "I missed it Aaliya. That damn driver was drunk. Forget about reaching the airport, I am glad I could make it out of the cab alive" replied a frustrated Nihal walking inside, completely oblivious to all that had happened. "Why didn't you answer your phone Aaliya? I was worried" said Nihal picking up the phone from the table.

      

          Later when they picked up the celebrations from where they had left off, Aaliya closed her eyes and said a sincere thanks to the almighty and to the driver who prevented Nihal from reaching the airport on time.

PS: This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Thanks Team BlogAdda

Until the next post,

Keep Smiling :)

Love,

Swathi :)