Next day Simran went to meet Raj. She picked him from his workplace in a cab and they went to a nearby mall. They took their seat in a food court and sat after taking their favorite Rava Masala Dosa.
Raj told her everything that happened that night.
"Its my mistake too. I always deleted all the messages if it is not read by you within 10-15 minutes. And I also got busy and forgot to delete that day." She lowered her face.
"When I was talking to you, I met a friend and forgot to put my mobile on charging in the car so it got switched off. Otherwise I would have deleted the messages and call records. Then I sat down to watch FIFA after reaching home. When she switched on the mobile, she saw everything." said Raj.
Both were quiet for sometime.
"Oh, so why did you call me now?" said tearful Simran while looking at his plate. She could not swallow anything.
"I felt that whatever is between us, I owe at least this much to you, to finish it on a good note." replied Raj with a heavy heart.
Simran's eyes were filled with tears but she stopped herself. She could not look at him. She know that this will happen one day. But she was not ready to face it.
"Simmu!" said Raj.
"Hmm..!!"
"See, this had to finish one day. After all, we have our families to look after. We can't leave them, right!"
"I am ready to leave everything." replied Simran.
"Simmu, you know it is not practically possible. I can't leave my children. Why didn't you met me before? We met so late in life." said Raj burdened with melancholic thoughts.
"Promise me that you will always be happy and work hard to get more success in life. I am always proud of you working so hard and doing big things in life. You have to make me proud again. I know you are good at writing. I saw your academic books. And now you will write novels. I will call you again the day when you will publish your own book and you will get famous. Promise me that you will do it."
She nodded in affirmative.
"And you will never forget me. And no one will take my place."
She gave him a smile. "No one can ever take your place."
"Preeti told me that she called you." said Raj
"Yes she did and said so many things to me but I could not reply. I felt guilty for her."
"That day she said that when she called you, you said your husband call me all the time, no need to blame me."
"What?? I never said that. She lied to you. And you believed that????"
"Actually I believed her for few minutes but then I knew you can never say such a thing. So I didn't say anything to her but I believe in you. I told you because you should know. " said Raj looking into her eyes.
"So now, I can't call you anymore?" asked Simran.
"At anytime you feel you need to talk about something, you have any problems, you are feeling low, you call. But we will not talk like before and try not to meet again." said dejected Raj.
"Can I ask you for something? A break up gift."
"Yes yes sure. What can I give you?" he asked smiling.
"I want you to feed me with your hands for one last time. I want to hug you one last time. I want to cry in your arms one last time."
Raj gave her a miserable smile."Okay. One last time. I know you don't want it here."
"No, we will meet tomorrow one last time and I will look for place and get our favorite Chicken Biryani that you always feed me with your hands."
"Okay fine. I will try to get free soon. I have a train at 5 pm. So see some place near the railway station. One last time"
Both kept looking at each other when Raj reminded her that it is too late and she should go home now. Simran kept on holding his hand all the time which she had never done before in public. But this time she felt like a part of her is going away. She always felt complete when she was with him.
She booked the cab. She took Raj along to spend more time with him. He went with her to drop her till her house. But they could not talk. Just sat quietly for 45 minutes journey by holding each other's hands. Both didn't know whether they will get such a moment again in their life.
