Only Mine
Chapter 12: The Stars of Destiny

Bright lights twinkled around the grounds, the chatter and ecstatic yells from people loud, the whole area buzzed with excitement and thrill. But two souls stuck high up on a ferris wheel seemed to have no eye for anything except each other. Sameer was somehow enthralled with the smile on Naina’s face and the shine in her eyes, and she seemed to be lost in his gaze without a desire to come back to the real world. But when the ferris wheel started to move again, they both jerked, and looked around, somehow astonished at the tight grip they had on each other’s hand.

Sameer looked down and exclaimed, “look… Nanu’s here.”

She also glanced to where he was pointing and waved. A fleeting thought crossed her mind that this was the second time he had seen Sameer and her holding hands. And she didn’t know why that made her conscious. They reached the bottom and Sameer hopped down as soon as the bar was pulled up, and then extended his hand to her. She started to hold his hand but paused for a bit; because his Nanu was standing right there, just a couple of feet away. “C’mon”, Sameer coaxed, “what are you thinking? Do you want to go for another round?”

She chuckled, “no… once was enough”, and placed her hand in his accepting his help to get down.

Nanu greeted them with a huge smile, “hello… Having fun?”

Sameer nodded, and Naina saw Nanu’s eyes dart towards their linked hands, she tried to pull back. Sameer frowned, “stay still Naina… We have been on enough rides; don’t pull me for another one.”

Naina blushed slightly, wondering how to explain. Nanu grinned, “maybe she wants to go to the game counters. Have you been there?”

“Ah no”, Sameer turned to look at her, “you want to go?”

Helplessly, she nodded, just to make him leave her hand. But to her surprise he just started walking towards the counters, still holding her hand.

“Sameer… Nanu”, she whispered.

He smiled, “Nanu won’t play darts or fire airguns.”

She tried once more, “no… I meant my hand…”

“Stop blabbering”, he stopped in-front of a counter, “and tell me what do you want.”

She stood transfixed for a moment, staring at him and then the game stall, and then slowly asked, “you… you want to win something for me?”

He nodded, “yes! Don’t you want something?”

She countered, “why would you think I do?”

He frowned, “I don’t know… maybe because all girls want a cuddly soft-toy. Can’t you answer one question without speaking in riddles or asking a thousand questions in return?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then smiled, “alright… I want that.”

He looked to where she was pointing, and was surprised, “a tiger? You want a tiger soft-toy? Seriously… I mean girls usually ask for a teddy-bear… but you want a tiger.”

She huffed, “I am not like other girls you keep winning toys for… and yes, I want a tiger… are you going to get it or not?”

He smirked, “stand aside… and I will show you how it’s done.”

She laughed but stepped back and watched him pick up the gun, ask the man how many rounds were needed for the tiger, and then gave him the money. He took careful aim, and popped five balloons in quick succession. When he looked at her, she gave a nod and thumbs-up to show she was impressed. He grinned, gave her the soft toy, and asked, “why tiger?”

She laughed, “forget it… now tell me what do you want?”

He looked on perplexed as she placed ridiculously cute looking tiger aside and picked up the gun, “you know how to aim?”

Her eyebrows arched, “I can fire too… tell me what you want…”

He decided to entertain her, and glanced over the collection of toys, finally noticing a huge pair of brown eyes. Smiling wide he said, “that one… the rabbit.”

She was puzzled, “you want a rabbit? Seriously?”

He nodded, and she shrugged, paying for the rounds and then aimed. He didn’t expect much, but still watched with careful attention as she took aim, and to his amazement there was a popping sound as a balloon burst, and then another… and another… five balloons without a miss, and she squealed as she placed the gun down. He was sure his mouth was hanging open when she handed over the white fluffy rabbit to him.

“Wow”, he breathed, “I… umm… wow… you must be the first girl ever to win a soft-toy for a boy.”

She laughed, and then lightly smacked him on his head, “you see… not all girls need a boy to win something for them.”

He swatted her hand away, and indignantly said, “hey! Don’t touch my hair.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she quickly tugged a few locks of his hair making him shriek, and then ran away with the tiger toy clutched tight in her hands. He huffed, adjusting his hair, and thought of scolding her… no one was allowed to touch his hair… But to his own surprise, try as much he couldn’t get angry on her. He sighed, wondering about this new thing happening to him, and thought that maybe it is better to let go as they were anyways going to part soon. The board exams were almost on top of their heads, and they wouldn’t meet after that. The thought caused some strange hitch inside his chest, but he ignored it.

Soon Munna and Pandit came over to look for him, and informed that they were hungry so it was time to look for food. They found Nanu at one of the counters along with Naina, Preeti and Swati, and they were ordering food for everybody. Nanu looked at his grandson curiously, “is that a rabbit?”

Sameer’s face flushed, and he thrust the rabbit in Naina’s hands, “that’s hers.”

She gasped, “liar… mine’s tiger… you wanted a rabbit.”

There was a long minute of silence and then everyone roared with laughter, leaving Sameer red-faced, glaring at Naina. She also laughed, but held the toy rabbit along with the tiger. Somehow Preeti and Swati automatically left a place beside Naina for Sameer to sit, and he sat down without a second thought. He leaned towards her and whispered, “you enjoy putting me in such situations, don’t you? Making me a laughing stock.”

She grinned, “I enjoy when you blush.”

“Boys don’t blush”, he declared.

Someone placed a plate in-front of Naina, as she said, “but you do.”

“I don…”, Sameer’s protest was cut off as Naina stuffed a piece of cucumber in his mouth. “Ummm….”, he huffed indignantly, making Naina grin.

He chewed and swallowed the piece of watery cucumber, and said irritatedly, “I hate salad.”

“It’s good for health”, she smiled, and held up a piece of bread dipped in bhaji. He frowned for a moment but then gave up and caught her hand, accepting the food. She kept feeding him and herself alternately, and they kept talking among themselves, much to the amusement of the assembled group.

“It seems we are not even here”, Nanu observed, watching his grandson laugh over something Naina said.

Preeti sighed, “it is always the same when they are together.”

After dinner, Naina asked, “can we have ice-cream?”

“You already had one today”, Sameer said.

She rolled her eyes, “you mean half… you remember, you ate half of it. Please just one more… we can share this one too.”

He chuckled, “alright, you sit here. I will grab one.” Munna and Pandit also accompanied him, saying they will buy for the whole group.

As soon as the boys were gone, a boy came up to the table and placed his hand on Naina’s shoulder. She looked up and gasped, “bhaiya, what are you doing here?”

Arjun scowled, “have you looked at the time? It’s 9pm. Everyone is freaking out at home.”

Preeti stood up, “but we took permission from Papa for 10pm.”

He glared, “I don’t care. Tauji has asked for you both to return… and I have somehow managed to stop papa from coming along with me. Now, let’s go.”

“But…”, Naina started to object, but was interrupted by her brother, “no buts Naina… I have had enough with you. Come home now else you answer papa and Tauji.”

Nanu had been watching the exchange silently, but as the two girls got up, he immediately asked, “won’t you wait for…”

Naina interrupted, “I can’t sir… please inform hi…uhh…them… I have to leave.”

Nanu nodded understanding that her family didn’t know of her friendship with Sameer. Naina looked once at Swati, nodded slightly, and then she was gone.

The boys came back in five minutes and Sameer looked around, “where’s Naina?”

Nanu sighed, “she had to go… her brother came to take her.”

Silence fell in the whole group. Sameer took a moment to register the information, “what? She… she left… without even meeting me… and what about the ice-cream she wanted?”

“She didn’t want to leave”, Nanu said helpfully, “but she couldn’t stay, else her father would have come… And… since her brother was here she couldn’t wait until you came back. In fact, maybe it is better you three weren’t here… I don’t think her brother would have understood.”

Sameer clenched his fist, “no… he wouldn’t… neither would her Hitler father. But… I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

Nanu looked perplexed at this, but before he could say anything, Swati pushed a piece of paper across the table, and said, “here… this is Naina’s number… call her…”

Sameer took the piece of paper, reading the number he already knew by heart, “why are you giving this to me?”

“Because she asked me to”, Swati said, “just before leaving.”

Nanu asked puzzled, “but she didn’t speak to you.”

Swati smiled, “she doesn’t need to… we have our own way of communicating.”

“Well”, Nanu sighed, “I guess you can have the whole ice cream now Sameer.”

He glanced at the cup of chocolate chip ice cream, and then pushed it aside, “I don’t feel like it… any of you can have… I will just…” He left the sentence unfinished, as he picked up the stuffed rabbit and wandered off to the exit.

That night neither Sameer could sleep properly, nor Naina. She had waited until 11pm for him to call her, but he hadn’t. On the other hand, Sameer had dialed her number at least five times that night but every time it had either been engaged or someone else had picked up, and he didn’t think he should ask for Naina. He tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and then stood up to stand near the window. Plugging in his headphones, he turned on his Walkman and watched the moon. Few kilometers away Naina turned away from the balcony where she had been standing since almost twenty minutes, and went to bed, hugging the soft tiger toy to herself. Sometime later, Sameer’s eyes fell on the rabbit adorning his bedside table, and feeling incredibly foolish he placed it on bed next to where he slept, and then went to bed himself. He removed the Walkman, and turned to his side, watching the big brown eyes of the rabbit, and he didn’t realize when he fell asleep.

Next morning, Sameer tried calling her once more, and to his joy it was her who picked up, “Hello…”

He immediately replied, “Naina… it’s me…” But just at that moment, Taiji came inside, and Naina pulled the receiver aside, not even hearing his voice. Taiji glared at her, and then came over, disconnected the line, and muttered about how the people in this house were always stuck like leech to the phone. Naina sighed, wondering who had called.

There was no school to go to, since the board exam preparatory leaves started from today, and Naina kept getting this incomplete feeling. Why hadn’t he called? She wished she had his number, and then maybe she could have called. Or… was it… maybe… maybe he didn’t want to call… They were not friends after all, nor were they a couple, all they shared was an unnamed relationship. Maybe this was it… Last evening was all they had… But she didn’t even get to see him one last time… As tears welled up in her eyes, she kept aside the book she was reading and picked up the tiger toy. Maybe it was all for the best. There was nowhere it could have led to. If she was friends with him, her family would know sooner or later and put a stop to it. Sameer was a good boy; not a rich, pampered, spoiled brat that he had thought of him to be. And he was handsome… very handsome. Maybe if they had spent more time with each other she would have started to like him, and that surely wouldn’t have worked out. And of course there wasn’t anything in her that he would like. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and decided to let go… It was for the best.

While Naina kept repeated her ‘it was for the best’ rant in her brain, Sameer kept pacing in his bedroom… something was off… something wasn’t right… Why was he missing her? No… it wasn’t her… it was the equation they shared. The pranks, the mischief, the arguments… that was what he was missing. Hadn’t he himself thought that yesterday was the last of the time he could spend with her? He needed to focus on the exams, and then his future. And certainly Naina wasn’t a part of his future. She didn’t fit anywhere in his plans. She was just there… for some time… like a breath of fresh air, a change that he had needed from his monotonous routine, and it had been good while it had lasted… like ‘jam in bottle’… She had helped him out so often, making him decide to quit smoking, talking to Nanu, thinking clearly about what he wanted from life. Yes… maybe she was meant to be with him for only this much time… like those people who come and help and then leave… And then you only remember them fondly for your whole life. And he was sure he would remember her… But that was all… Also, there was nothing between them. She didn’t want to be called friends, and nothing apart from that could have happened between them. She was such a sorted, organized, calm and family oriented girl… While he was the complete opposite of her – unorganized, chaotic, impulsive, short-tempered. He would never have any place in her life… And he didn’t want to have a place in her life… Yes, he didn’t. Also, if they had stayed in touch maybe it would have created a problem in her family, so… it was good that they had parted.

Munna and Pandit came over to his house to study, and they immediately noticed that their friend wasn’t focusing properly on studies, and they also knew the cause. After few minutes, Munna slowly asked, “didn’t you call her?”

Sameer stiffened, but he knew there was no use of hiding, his agitation was clearly visible. He sighed, “I did… She didn’t pick up last night, and this morning she disconnected after hearing my voice.”

“What?” Pandit exclaimed, “that can’t be true. She gave the number for you to call.”

“I know”, Sameer looked out of the window, at the evening sun glowing orange, “maybe she changed her mind. Who knows…? I would never know.”

Munna was puzzled, “why are talking as if you won’t ever meet her?”

Sameer turned to look at his friend, “that’s because I won’t… C’mon guys, it’s our board exams, we need to focus on studies, and so does she. And there’s nothing for us to meet again anyways… it’s not like we could keep playing pranks on each other forever.”

Pandit gaped at him for some time, and then asked, “what do you mean? Pranks… I thought you guys were way past that… Don’t you miss her? Sameer… Don’t you… Don’t you love her?”

Sameer dropped the book he was holding, and yelped, “what…??”

His friends looked at each other with matching frowns, and then Munna asked, “uhh… yeah… love. You do love her, right?”

“What have you both been smoking?” Sameer enquired, “or did you start drinking? Love? Have you lost your mind? Why would I love her? I barely know her.”

“It has been two years since you know each other”, Pandit supplied.

Sameer scowled, “pranks, fun, minimal conversations… that’s not knowing each other… to fall in love I need to know everything about that person. I don’t even know what her favorite color is… It’s not love… Heck, it wasn’t even friendship. And she kept reminding me that all the time.” He imitated Naina’s tone, “we are not friends Sameer.”

“But…”, his friends objected. However, Sameer put a stop to it, “drop it guys… it’s not happening. Let’s focus on studying, and it’s just a matter of few days before I forget Naina forever.”

Munna and Pandit tried a couple of more times to make him talk, to make him accept that Naina mattered to him, but he was adamant, and finally they gave up. Outside his room, Nanu moved away as silently as he had arrived, a worried expression on his face. What he had witnessed could not be wrong, then why was Sameer denying it. Had he misinterpreted something? He had thought Sameer and Naina mattered a lot to each other, but then… why would Naina disconnect Sameer’s call? And why did Sameer keep saying that he didn’t know her? And if Naina didn’t matter to him then why did the stuffed rabbit somehow found its place on his bed every night?

Two days later on the other side at Agarwal house, Swati had come over for studying as well, though Taiji didn’t like these group study sessions. However, Swati and Preeti’s main aim was to talk to Naina. Halfway through the evening, when Chachiji had just served them tea in the room, Swati took the opportunity and asked, “are you okay? Did he call?”

Naina sighed, “no he did not… and please don’t talk about him.”

“He must have tried calling Naina”, Preeti suggested, “but you know how Taiji keeps the phone occupied all the time. We should never have taken the same number for two lines.”

“It doesn’t matter”, Naina determinedly said, “it’s over. Let’s just study.”

Swati and Preeti looked at each other, gesturing each other silently, but Naina noticed and queried, “what is it now? Speak up… or you won’t let me study.”

Preeti looked back at the door, and then dropped her voice down to a whisper, “don’t you love him?”

Naina’s eyes widened in shock, she sat frozen for a minute or two and then chuckled, “what… love? Of course not…”

Swati frowned, “why are you laughing?”

Naina smiled, “what else should I do? You both know how different Sameer and I are… in everything… we can barely be friends, forget about love or any kind of relationship. It was a good time, and I enjoyed sparring with him, but that’s all… it was nothing else.”

Her friends watched as she kept the book and walked out to the balcony. Swati sighed, “she is lying, isn’t she?”

Preeti shrugged, “maybe she doesn’t know if it’s love or not… but Sameer matters for sure… she still sleeps with that ridiculous tiger every night.”

Nanu, Munna, Pandit, Swati, Preeti – everyone wanted to do something, to help Sameer and Naina realize their feelings, but there was always a limit to what friends and family could do in relationships. If heart and brain were not convinced to listen to each other, then there was no way any external force could help in any way. Naina never talked about Sameer, she didn’t even take his name by mistake, but sometimes when she was alone her would eyes would turn moist and she would be lost in thinking, trying to figure out things happening in her life. Sameer was no exception, even though he was happy and normal usually, in his room he would sometimes stare at the two trophies from fest, and the toy rabbit as well. One evening when he was on the terrace after a long study session, Nanu joined him up there.

“Hey Nanu”, Sameer greeted with a smile.

Nanu patted his back, “tired of studying?”

Sameer chuckled, “no… am good. Just needed a break.”

Nanu wanted to ask about Naina, but didn’t, instead he asked about future, “so… you had mentioned earlier that you had no problem in joining the family business but you needed some time to figure how you wanted to go about it, and your plan…”

Sameer nodded, recalling how Naina had made him see a path that had always been obscured with haze for him. Nanu gently enquired, “thought of anything yet?”

To be honest, Sameer hadn’t… All his time had been occupied in studying and trying to forget Naina which was proving to be more difficult than expected. But he thought now, and the path she had shown him overlapped with his dreams, and he blurted, “Mumbai.”

Nanu was puzzled, “huh?”

Sameer smiled, the whole path suddenly clear to him, and he excitedly turned to his grandfather, “Nanu… see… if I work in Ahmedabad, no matter where I go, as soon as I say my name people will know I am related to you. And even though I understand that not everybody will respect me just because I am your grandson, but there is still a probability that people would not be as strict with me as needed… I want to learn and grow like a normal boy. And that only happen if I am away from here…”

“You want to go away?” Nanu asked shocked.

Sameer held his hand, “not forever Nanu… I will never leave you. I am just saying… can I do my college in Mumbai? I will use the three years to work part-time, and learn what I need to… and then after graduation, I will be back here, join office with you, learn everything about our business… maybe by then, I would be deserving just like you.”

Nanu didn’t reply, he just kept looking at his grandson’s face which just turned down a notch from the high level of excitement it was reflecting earlier. Sameer looked up at the sky, “I know it will be hard to stay away, I never wanted to do that again… I don’t even know if I would be able to stay in a hostel again… but I need to do this… I need to find myself, prove myself… If I am away in Mumbai, I will be away from your popular shadow and also away from…”

“Naina”, Nanu whispered making Sameer jerk. His grandson didn’t reply, but sometimes silence was the best answer. Nanu smiled a bit, relief settling in his heart. He had been worried that he had misinterpreted his grandson’s interest, but he had been right… Sameer was pretending to be normal, but he hadn’t forgotten Naina at all… Maybe his quest to prove himself was colliding with the latent need to be with Naina. After all, Sameer was just eighteen, a very young age to fully understand what he wanted in life. Something somewhere was stopping Sameer and Naina from coming together now, but that didn’t mean they were not meant to be. In fact he was pretty sure now that there would be no other girl in Sameer’s life apart from Naina. And if destiny wanted Sameer to be in Mumbai, then so be it… Nanu placed a hand on Sameer’s shoulder, to make him turn to him, and smiled, “I think that’s a great idea. Why don’t you start applying after exams? And about the hostel thing… I guess we can find a solution to that.”

Sameer exhaled in relief and hugged his grandfather, thinking that now he would have the time he needed, to prove himself and to forget whatever he shared with Naina.

The exams went by as quickly as sand trickling in an hourglass, and soon the students breathed in respite. Farewells were held in schools on different days, and people reminisced the time they had spent there. Students started applying in colleges, and the Agarwal house reverberated with arguments every day. The topic in discussion being whether Naina should study in Ahmedabad or go to Mumbai. Chachaji felt that Mumbai would give her opportunities, while Tauji and her father argued that it was no use to spend so much money on a girl’s education. Somehow the situation made Naina apply in colleges in both the cities, just so that she didn’t miss out on a chance to study, and also because Chachaji believed that if she got a scholarship then everyone would agree to send her to Mumbai. Naina was unclear on what to do, but she guessed being away from this regular mayhem would be a good thing for her, otherwise there was no telling when someone would decide to stop her education altogether.

Just before the day the board results were going to be declared, she decided to escape the arguments at home, and go to her school one last time. On the farewell day she hadn’t been able to be alone, to visit the places she really wanted to. As she entered the gates, she was flooded with memories of her time with Swati and Preeti, and of course more recent memories of Sameer too. She remembered how he had caught her hand to stop her from hitting him; she visited the sports room, recalling how he had eaten the sweet curd from her hands; the water taps brought the memory of how he had gifted her chocolate giving their equation the name of unnamed relationship. When she went inside the classroom, the recollection of his rubber snake prank made her laugh. She sat down on her bench, her fingers automatically tracing the ‘NS’ mark on the desk, and the immediate next moment, her eyes welled up. There was no one around; no need to be strong anymore, or pretend to be unaffected. She just placed her head on her folded arms on the desk and kept sobbing.

At a distance of a few minutes, Sameer strolled around in his own school, his memories also overpowered by Naina. How was it possible? He had been in this school for so many years and it was only recently that he met Naina, yet how can every corner of his school hold some memory of her? The sports room where she had come running to despite being hurt just to feed his sweet curd for luck, the classroom where she had placed the fart toy as prank, her laughter as she chattered with Mansi seemed to ring around the corridor. The recollections threatened to overpower him, crumble him under some unknown weight, and his thudding heart was unbearable… So, he escaped. Jumping on his bike, he began to drive back home, trying to think of anything except her, but somehow her face kept flashing in-front of his eyes. Trying to get a hold of his sanity, he closed his eyes, but that was certainly a wrong decision as the immediate next moment, he heard a scream and a thud…

Frightened, he opened his eyes, and saw a girl fallen on the road, and her cycle was nearby… He started to get down from his bike, but froze on spot on recognizing the cycle. Naina… It was her cycle… which meant…the girl… it was Naina… Oh my God… He had hit her.

Her sharp retort broke his trance, “can’t you see you idi…” She trailed off in shock, “Sameer…”

He kept looking down at her, apparently at loss of words. She was dressed in a pink salwar kameez, with a hand-woven multicolored sleeveless jacket and a sheer dupatta. And he again had the fleeting thought of pink is so her color. Naina shifted her eyes away from him, sighing, as she thought he must have decided to be a statue instead of talking to her. She tried to get up, but a sharp pain in her foot made her yelp and sit back on the road.

“Shit”, he cursed and quickly disembarked from his bike. He leaned down, and extended his hand to her, “I am so sorry Naina… I was lost in thoughts and not paying attention.”

“That much was evident”, she murmured, hesitating for a moment before placing her hand in his. He helped her stand up, and take support of the bike and then leaned down to take a look at her foot. She pulled her leg back, “what are you doing? Stop it… I am alright.”

“But your foot…”, he started arguing.

She interrupted, “there’s no need to show concern… forget it.”

He frowned and stood up, “what’s wrong? Why are you all frustrated?”

She stared at him, unable to believe that he could be so normal. It was as if they had not shared anything, everything was casual, and just… normal… The treacherous tears started to well up again, but she blinked them back, “nothing’s wrong. Thanks for stopping to help me, and not being an ass.”

He smiled, “well… you would be happy to know that the ass is leaving Ahmedabad… so you don’t need to worry anymore.”

She was shocked, “you… you are leaving? Why? Where are you going?”

“So many questions”, he replied, “why are you asking? Are you going to miss me?”

She swallowed, failing to understand his behavior, “I was just… curious… I should leave now, else I will be late.”

His smile dimmed, and he looked down at her foot, “do you need to see a doctor? Can you pedal?”

She gingerly kept her foot down, “I am okay.”

He nodded and straightened her cycle, checking it for damages, but thankfully there was nothing serious than a fallen chain which he quickly repaired. She thanked him again, avoiding looking in his eyes, and tried to pedal slowly. A little away she heard the roar of his bike, and to her enormous surprise he fell in line with her, driving slowly to match her pace. She started to say there was no need, but when she looked at him, he was staring straight ahead and so she didn’t say anything. It didn’t make any sense. He was behaving as if she was a stranger; everything was odd except that initial apology and curse, that was like the Sameer she knew. But after that… his smile, his words… nothing made sense. And why was he leaving Ahmedabad? Had he figured out his plan? She had so much to ask but she kept her mouth shut, fearing she would give away something she didn’t intend to, like how she had been crying just a while ago thinking about him. No… she wasn’t weak… she had decided to let go and forget, and she would do that. It certainly seemed like Sameer had already forgotten her, or maybe he had never remembered her.

It wasn’t long before they reached her society and she stopped. Taking a deep breath she turned to look at him, “that’s as far as I think you can come. Thank you for helping me today… And… I am not sure, but maybe I will also be leaving from here.”

He was surprised, “what? Why? You whole family is here… Where will you go?”

A sarcastic chuckled escaped her, and she asked his own question back to him, “so many questions… Why are you asking? Are you going to miss me?”

He looked down for a moment, as if contemplating, and then slowly said, “maybe yes… you were the only girl who could give me tit for tat… It was good while it lasted Naina… And, I am glad I got a chance to say goodbye.”

Her eyes widened, and lips trembled, her hands suddenly cold. With great difficulty, she managed to say, “Goodbye Sameer… All the best.”

He glanced up at her then, wanting one last look, and found her staring at him. He wished he could know what she was thinking. Averting his eyes away from her, he nodded and revved up his bike, leaving from there. Naina wiped the single tear that escaped as soon as he looked away and walked her cycle till the society, wishing she had not had this closure. Until the time there were no goodbyes there was still a hope of meeting again, of a possibility. But now… everything ended today… they had met as strangers and separated as strangers.

Sameer reached home and punched the wall in frustration. Dammit. Everything was gone… just like that. He had never mattered to her… He had been horrified to see her on the road, afraid that he had hurt her, and had stopped thinking everything except that Naina needed him. But when he had extended his hand to her, she had hesitated… usually she would have implicit trust on him and immediately hold his hand… but today she had hesitated, and that had brought everything crashing back to his head. Immediately he had decided to pretend that she also didn’t matter to him at all. The false smile, the tone everything had successfully fooled her. And he was glad of that… He didn’t want another person like his mother in his life, who would know he cared yet was not bothered. He should have known everything was over when she had disconnected the phone. Yet he had been foolish enough to hold on to memories. He needed to let go now… for forever… He had to forget her. The goodbye was real this time. He picked up the rabbit from his bed and stuffed it inside a cabinet so that he wouldn’t see it.

While Sameer easily blocked the rabbit from his view, Naina held on to the tiger, trying to face the storm that had suddenly started to rage at her home. Preeti was by her side like always, but she was feeling numb as her family berated her for reasons she couldn’t understand. When her father questioned her, she didn’t open her mouth in fear, but the fear wasn’t for herself. The slap that landed on her cheek stung her, but somehow it didn’t overpower the pain in her heart. There were no tears on her face, she didn’t tremble, but the realization of losing everything made her go blank and fall to the ground unconscious. She didn’t know when Chachiji held her, she didn’t know when Chachaji quarreled with the family for her, she didn’t know when the decision was taken to send her away forever to save the family reputation. But when her eyes fluttered open she only saw one face swimming in her vision, yet something stopped her from taking his name, and intrinsic fear made her fingers clench on the soft-toy even more.

Naina was forbidden to leave the house, and it was decided that she would be going to Mumbai whether she got admission or not. Chachiji tried to pacify the girl whom she considered her daughter, and Chachaji kept telling her that he was sure it would turn out to be the best for her. She wasn’t affected somehow by any of it; it seemed she was still unable to believe all that was happening to her. If not for the toy that she always clung to, maybe she would have gone insane, but the stuffed tiger became her solace. Just a day before she had to leave, she begged Preeti to find some opportunity for her to go out for an hour. Preeti wondered about the reason, but didn’t ask, because she knew her sister was in pain, and if she could do anything to relieve it, she would. Preeti talked to her father, and Chachaji made the excuse of getting some medicine for Naina, and took her and Preeti out. When he asked where she wanted to go, Naina stated the name of her school. Chachaji was puzzled, but nevertheless to her there. Just as he was stopping at the school gates, Naina said, “not here… just a little further.”

Chachaji saw the outskirts of the small wood where Naina led him to, and asked, “what’s here?”

Naina said, “I… I just want some time alone. There’s a pond here I used to come over at… Can you give me fifteen minutes please?”

Chachaji nodded and stood back with Preeti, watching Naina walk inside the woods. Her heart beat faster as she approached the pond, but to her utmost relief the place was empty. There was no one. She sat down under the same tree, reminiscing the way he had played the guitar for her. She tried very hard not to cry, but a loud sob tore from her throat. It was painful, so much more painful than she had ever expected… How could her family do this? How could they not understand? What had she done to deserve this? She was not even in a frame of mind to evaluate her own situation; she just knew she was going away… far… forever… The place where she had grown up, the house where she was born, probably she would never come back again.  And Sameer… well he had just been one chapter in her life; that pain was far lesser than the pain caused by her own family.  When the tears stopped, she just closed her eyes, and leaned back on the tree trunk, letting the calmness of the environment wash over her.

Sameer had said this place him peace, he was right, it was indeed peaceful to come here. Sadly, it was her last time here too. Yet she found peace which she hadn’t felt since so many days. She had always been living a steady life and craved for more, thought of a life where she could be free and live her own way. Maybe this was it… the freedom she had wanted had come with some pain. But, now that she thought calmly, this was a better deal. At least her family wasn’t marrying her off to some random person. They were just sending her away. Anyways, a shift to Mumbai had been in consideration for her. It’s just that instead of a cheery farewell, she was now getting a somber one… how did it even matter to her? The part of family that hated her now had always been on the verge of doing that, and the part of her family that loved her was still by her side because they trusted her. She had never been a weakling then why so much tears now? She took a deep breath and decided to take whatever life was offering to her as an opportunity. Glancing at her watch she knew that time was up, and she stood up. As she walked back outside, her hand caught against a thick bush, and she didn’t notice that her delicate bracelet got stuck and dropped on the ground. When she came out of the woods, she smiled at Chachaji and Preeti, and Chachaji was astonished because he could see a visible difference in her. Since so many days Naina had been sad and unresponsive, but today there was a genuine smile on her lips after a long time.

Next day, her train left in the evening, and Chachaji was coming along to drop her. She hadn’t taken much from her home, just clothes, the tiger, a few photographs, and of course her books. Sameer kept feeling uneasy all day not sure what was happening, and by the time it was 4pm he couldn’t stay back anymore. He drove to his favorite spot in search of some peace, but even there it was elusive today. He couldn’t understand the reason of his restlessness. Nothing made sense. He had a fleeting thought of finding out if Naina was alright, but then dismissed it thinking why his uneasiness would have anything to do with her. He spent thirty minutes there, but the weird feeling didn’t leave him, and he stood up thinking that he should go back home. His finger scratched against a thorny bush, and he took out his handkerchief to wipe the drop of blood, dropping his bike keys on the ground in the process.

“Dammit”, he cursed and knelt down to search for the keys. The darkness was coming fast in the woods, he had to crouch down on all fours to look for the keys, and as he brushed his hand beneath a bush his fingers touches his keychain at last. Triumphantly he pulled it out, something glittered and he squinted to look, entangled with the key was a thin golden bracelet. He checked it out, it wasn’t real gold, but it was pretty, so delicate that he feared it would snap even if he held it tight, and it had stars dangling all round its length.

Maybe they were the stars of destiny.

He chuckled at his own thought, and wondered what to do with it. Its owner definitely wasn’t around, and the thing was so pretty he didn’t want to throw it away. Also, strangely enough the uneasiness inside him had lessened a bit since he had found the bracelet. Of course, the bracelet had nothing to do with it, he thought, but still… Debating for another minute he pocketed the golden bracelet, and wished the owner wasn’t sad on losing it.

At that precise moment, far off at the railway station a horn blared loudly and the train started to chug out of the station slowly. Sitting near the window of one of the compartments, Naina waved outside to Preeti and others, and then glanced down at the small band-aid on her wrist. Well, she had lost her lucky bracelet, but maybe the place where she was going would fulfill all her dreams, and maybe her luck would find its way to someone who needed it.

After a gap of three weeks, another train departed at the same time to Mumbai, this time Sameer waving to his Nanu and his friends who waved back at him with broad grins. The train curved around the station and he lost sight of them, he moved back to his seat, secured his bags beneath the berth. He chained the suitcase, smiling wryly as his own inability to leave the stuffed rabbit back in Ahmedabad; instead he had packed it along with his other possessions. He sighed, sitting down, and looked out of the window, wishing Mumbai would bring him luck, yet he didn’t realize that he was carrying all the luck he needed in his pocket.