"The greatest gift in love is not time, but the feeling of being chosen by someone, with all their heart—every day, every moment."
Arjun hummed softly as he cooked in the kitchen: "Making you mine was never the question;
I couldn't even stop you from becoming someone else's."
Shreya walked in and asked, "What are you cooking?
Let me help you today. I want to cook too." In truth, she was looking for an excuse to talk to him and to thank him properly.
Arjun smiled faintly. "I don't make my guests cook in my own house. Who knows what you might feed them?
Tell me, what all can you cook?"
"Everything that's made in a normal Indian home," she replied. "You've become quite good in the kitchen yourself."
Arjun stirred the pan and said, "I didn't know much before. Then one day, 'Shreya ji' showed her kindness and sent a young man who dreamed of travelling the world on a tour of the lock-up. After that, I learned everything I needed to survive there."
Shreya's eyes filled with regret. "Please forgive me, Arjun. I made a terrible mistake. If you don't forgive me, I'll keep burning in the fire of guilt."
Arjun looked at her gently. "Go, you're forgiven. But please don't help with the cooking. I'll manage."
The food turned out delicious. Even better was the warmth that filled the room after a long time, everyone sat together, ate, laughed freely, and smiled from the heart. The night slipped away in conversations, and no one noticed the passing hours.
●●●●
Time passed. Distance did not weaken the bond between Kavya and Arjun; instead, it matured their love. They spoke less, but their words now carried deeper meaning. There were no complaints, no pressure of promises, only a silent understanding grew between them.
This turning point was necessary in both their lives. It taught them that love is not just emotion, but also patience, respect, and waiting for the right time. They were no longer the same as before. They had become wiser, stronger in resolve, and truer at heart.
Perhaps this was the greatest gift of their lives to understand each other well without losing themselves.
"A sincere effort is enough to keep a relationship alive."
That day, Kavya's call didn't come. But when she learned that Shreya was alive and was Arjun's childhood friend, a familiar insecurity began to grow inside her again.
"Will you go back to Shreya now?" she asked Arjun.
"No," he replied calmly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm just waiting for the right time. I'm not in a position to make any big decisions yet."
"I'm happy she's alive. She's very strong. She has always made her decisions with wisdom. I hope she continues to do so. She was my childhood friend, but childhood doesn't stay forever."
Kavya whispered, "Nothing is permanent, Arjun. I feel scared… this insecurity never leaves me. Even the thought of living without you terrifies me."
"Do you still meet her?" she asked.
"Yes, we meet sometimes. But it won't happen anymore. She's leaving for Bardhaman tomorrow."
Arjun paused, then said, "Kavya, I want to ask you something. If I complete four years in the Army, I'll get a promotion. They're recommending me. Should I go back?"
"You already know my answer," she said softly. "I'm scared."
"Do you still have feelings for her?" she asked.
"Is this your fear talking, or your concern for me?" Arjun replied."
"Whatever you want to call it." Kavya told him bluntly.
"I know her well," he said. "She will never come between us, nor interfere in our lives."
"Can you give me her phone number?" Kavya asked."Sure, I'll WhatsApp it to you."
"Won't you ask why I want to talk to her?"
"No. If doubt and insecurity live inside you, then you need to do whatever will bring you peace."
●●●●
At the railway station, Shreya sat on a bench. Arjun came and sat down with a thud, close beside her."Sit a little further away," she said.
"Why? Am I pricking you?" he teased.
"Okay, sit at your own risk. Don't take advantage of me."
"When have I ever taken advantage of you?" Arjun laughed. "Since childhood, I've only carried your burden—first your school bag, then your tantrums."
Both sat with puffed cheeks, pretending to be annoyed. Big rats were scurrying around the wheat sacks on the platform. Suddenly, a large rat darted under the bench and bit Shreya hard on her heel.She screamed in pain.
"What happened?" Arjun asked, startled.
"A huge rat or something bit my heel and ran away!"
Arjun burst out laughing. "You bite people, so the rat bit you back. Karma works fast."
But seeing her pain, he bent down and examined her heel. It had swollen quickly.
"There's nothing we can do here. Show it to a doctor once you reach Bardhaman tomorrow. You'll have to bear it for now."Then, in a serious tone, he added, "At least now you know what it feels like to be bitten. I thought only you knew how to hurt others. This time, you got the result of hurting an innocent soul quickly."
Shreya felt deep remorse. "And I also got the result of leaving you that day, being separated from you forever."Silence fell between them. When the train arrived, Shreya tried to lift her trolley bag, but she couldn't put weight on her injured foot.
Arjun immediately picked it up."Don't worry. Your servant is at your service. You used to force me to carry your school bag as a child; now you're limping, and I'm still carrying your luggage."
He helped her to her seat, then stood by the window outside."Call me as soon as you reach. Hire a coolie at the station. And take care of yourself," he said, his eyes turning moist.
Tears filled Shreya's eyes too, but she quietly turned her face away so Arjun wouldn't see them falling. Her childhood love stood before her once again. But she had been living with the pain of losing and finding since childhood. So, she hid the storm raging inside her and faced the moment with quiet courage.
He was slowly disappearing from her sight, while Shreya walked away from him, sobbing silently within. It was hard to tell which pain was greater: the throbbing ache in her injured heel or the sorrow of losing him once again.
But pain is pain. The only difference was that Shreya had learned, since childhood, to bury every hurt deep inside her. So once again, she swallowed her tears and kept walking with a heavy heart.
Even after returning to Bardhaman, Shreya remained in touch with her father, Madhav Das, and Suyash. They spoke from time to time, and occasionally even met.
Leaving behind the bitter chapters of the past, she began working at a physiotherapy center in Bardhaman. Surrounded by the affection and warmth of her adoptive parents, she gradually put her shattered life back together. Now she was living a peaceful and contented life with them.
As for remarriage, she remained steadfast in her decision even today. After everything she had endured in life, even her adoptive parents did not want to pressure her into marrying again. Their greatest wish now was simply that their daughter should spend the rest of her life with dignity, peace, and a smile.
●●●●
The three streams of the river had begun flowing towards their own destinations. Whether they would meet again in the ocean or drift apart forever, even the river did not know.
Only time would tell who would receive waiting and who would receive happiness. Arjun had understood one truth deeply: sometimes you have to go far from someone to come closer to yourself.
"Loneliness is not a punishment, but needing someone to fill your emptiness is not love." He chose himself. He gave rest to the wild horses of his mind and embraced free writing for a living, while also preparing seriously for government job exams.
"Beauty is cursed, yet most people remain unaware of the way to refine it."
Shreya thought to herself: My life, like my beauty, has been cursed. Whenever dark clouds of trouble gathered over me, you appeared like rain-bearing clouds and poured down, clearing the sky once again for me. But in that process, you kept coming closer and closer— so close that you became like my shadow. Yet one day, even a shadow begins to leave.
You kept giving me shade, while I gave you nothing but scorching sun. I became darkness in your life, brought you pain, and left. You trembled and wept, but never once complained.When things go wrong, we curse even God. But when everything turns right, we forget to thank Him quietly. In truth, the fault is not God's, it lies in our incomplete patience and in those hopes that shatter before they can bloom.
When you gave me shelter in your home, I left you without any support. Still, you never complained. I was like the earth, taking endlessly from you. You were the sky, pouring your share of happiness into my lap. When God brought us together in childhood, I did not listen to you. Time and circumstances pulled us apart, and doubt filled my heart toward you.When life gave us another chance, I repaid your goodness by sending you to prison.
Our third meeting also left behind no sweet memories. The same hands that had held me firmly in childhood and saved me from drowning in the river—those hands that gave me new life—I sank my teeth into them with all my strength and hurt you.
"Two people truly made for each other always receive positive signs. Yet every time we met, only separation followed."Whenever we came close, life pushed us apart. Perhaps the promise we made to each other was not meant for this lifetime. That is why, even when so near, we remained so far.
It is not necessary to find answers to every question. Some questions feel better when left incomplete. Whoever has left perhaps reached their true destination. Whoever stayed behind is your real peace.
Sometimes saying goodbye is also a part of love, because love is not always proved by staying together, it is sometimes proved by letting go beautifully.
Your absence empties me. Every moment, I feel your lack. Life without you feels deserted and incomplete. Your memories still strum the strings of my heart and sometimes force me to cry over my own condition. But these days, I have become a little proud. Until the other person shows their feelings, I will hide mine too.
I know you have given Kavya the promise of marriage and are now in a committed relationship with her—one you do not wish to break. There is no need to break it for an incomplete desire. In this birth too, we could not come together. We will have to keep this unfulfilled longing alive and unsatisfied across many lifetimes, so that in some future life we may finally unite.
I too want to remain silent and watch you move forward, because I now understand clearly that happiness does not stand with us. Whenever we came together, some obstacle always appeared. Whether you are near or far, just exist. Your existence is necessary for me to live."Life kept playing hide-and-seek with me, and I with my heart—yet neither of us lost."
The moments I spent with you have now turned into memories. Every memory is filled with your smile and laughter. I still remember clearly how, no matter how sad or wilted my face was, you would make me laugh with your gestures and actions.Without you, life had no destination, no goal, not even any meaning.Your absence has broken me, but your memories have given me the strength to live.
I want to cherish the moments I spent with you and try to live on the support of those memories. Your love and the times we shared were the most beautiful moments of my life.
I wonder where God keeps all the unheard prayers. How does He repay all those tears that never reached His feet?
What does He do with those half-lived lives?
Does He leave them cursed, wandering as living corpses in the dense darkness of restlessness?
Does the stopping of those breaths bring Him peace?
Or are they destined to wander birth after birth, carrying this unfulfilled desire for each other?
"This is the bond of souls—from which there is no liberation. They cannot live together, nor can they go far apart. They simply keep wandering, completing each other, birth after birth, for the betterment of the soul."It is a bond of souls—a bond whose chains are invisible, yet whose grip is the deepest. Asking for liberation from it is itself an illusion, because when the soul has willingly accepted a bond, one cannot run from it. They cannot stay together, yet they cannot stay apart.
"Nearness brings pain, distance brings emptiness, and between these two extremes, their existence keeps swinging."
They wander from one birth to another. Bodies change, time changes, names and identities fade, but memories are not completely destroyed. They take the form of forgotten seeds buried deep in the subconscious, which quietly carries those experiences from one life to the next.
In some unknown sadness, in some unspoken attraction, in some causeless pain or sense of belonging—those old memories awaken in new forms.Love is liberation in itself. It frees, breaks boundaries, and melts the ego. It should have no place for ownership, expectation, or possession. Yet love creates a strange paradox. Even while being free, it wants to bind. Not to imprison, but to remain forever.Love yearns for eternity, and that very yearning gives it the form of bondage.
Here, love stops being liberation and becomes something that does not wish to be liberated. It yearns for bondage throughout life, desiring to settle in one soul. It knows perfect union may not be possible, yet it keeps moving toward the impossible. That is its pain, and that is also its beauty.
Perhaps the truth of love lies in this: even while being a path to liberation, it accepts wandering. It tries to bridge the distance of many births, knowing every effort will remain incomplete, yet it never gives up.
Souls live, die, and are born again with this incompleteness—carrying memories turned into forgetfulness, and accepting this endless bondage.
© Copyright Pushpa Chaturvedi
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