Another Half Of Me - Chapter 50

Roshni looked at Sid and Tania wondering why they were looking so worried. Sid kept on looking at the door as if waiting for somebody to arrive but till now nobody had appeared. Sid jumped up as the sound of the calling bell rang in the room. Looking at Tania, he opened the door and Roshni saw Siddha’s family and friends standing outside.

It was Dadaji who came to her first. She was about to stand up but he gestured her to sit down. She looked at Rudy in a questioning manner but he just shook his head.

What is it? Has something happened to Siddha?

She has been listening to the news for the past couple of days. It had been satisfying to finally know that the Manchandas had died in a rat attack. But it had said nothing about Siddha getting hurt. Then what?

Roshni shifted in her seat as Dadaji sat down in front of her and took her hand in his.

“Siddha is leaving.”

She stared at him for some time and then her forehead creased with tension.

Leaving? Where? Why?

“We have tried our best to stop him but he won’t listen. It is only you who can do that. Please, Roshni, go to him once. He will listen to you,” Karan said placing a hand on her shoulder.

Roshni became more and more puzzled with the situation at hand. Why is he leaving? If someone has to leave then it should be she not him. He belonged here, but she belonged nowhere. She tried to gulp down the tears forcing to escape the confines of her eyes as her mind finally registered the fact that her dreams can never be fulfilled.

Rudy sat down at her feet and looked into her eyes.

“Roshni Ma’am, he has suffered a lot. Please don’t let him leave.”

One by one they narrated Siddha’s 5 years without her. She trembled as she heard about his drug abuse. Biting her lip, she pressed her face in her hands as Rudy told her about how Siddha had tried to burn himself.

Somehow, the waiting, the pain and the craving for him doubled when she finally understood the reason why Siddha was leaving. Even though time had healed everything but the scars were still there. And, those were too hard to let go.

Standing up from the chair, she turned towards the mirror and looked at her covered shoulder. She clutched the wood shelf in front and her flexed muscles made the cloth slip. The dark red burn mark stared hard at her face.

He won’t be able to look at you without remembering what had happened. While you had lost your mind, he had lived through every pain and memory. If you had lost your baby then he has also lost his own flesh and blood.  

Dadaji dragged her into his arms as she slipped to the floor with tears streaming down her eyes.

Today, she was not crying for what they had lost but she was crying for Siddha: for how he had suffered in last 5 years.

He cannot leave; she won’t let him do that. She will stop him and then she will go away, forever.

Their paths will never meet again.

****************

Siddha looked at the setting sun and felt a desolate darkness filling his soul. Everybody had tried to stop him but he had not listened. He cannot stay back: not with Roshni being here. If he stayed in the same city then they will eventually meet, which will only cause destruction.

Pressing his temples hard, he tried to release the tension but failed. You will not see her again let alone feel her, his heart said. I know, but this is better than hurting her again. Plus, the scars on my body will only scare her more. They will be a constant reminder of what happened. With me gone, she will forget everything. And then, someday she will love again; will have a world of her own.

Siddha’s hands trembled as he tried to brush away the tears.

He turned and looked at the documents lying on the table. He sat down and picked up the pen to sign the power of attorney papers. Sid would take over the operations of Rajput Constructions from him. After the project at Kasol is completed, he will leave for Bangalore with Rudy, who had protested vehemently when Siddha had asked him to stay here.

Tomorrow afternoon he will be gone.

His eyes filled with tears as he thought about not seeing her again.

They will breathe the same air, walk on the same ground, be under the same sky, but still they will never be together ever.

Theirs paths will never meet again.

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