A Shoulder To Cry On

She stood still as the words echoed in her ears and the phone fell to the floor. The expression on her face was that of utter shock and disbelief, and as he slid his hand into hers, she slumped against his shoulders and a torrent began flowing down her cheeks. She could not believe that the man she had thought immortal; the man who could live through every hardship was gone. He would now just remain as a memory in her mind, in their mind, everyone’s mind.

Rajiv’s hand snaked around and pulled her closer to himself. He remembered the last time they had come up with such a situation, and they hadn’t been together as well then. As she hugged him back and wept hard, their last encounter came back to him.

“Hey Sunidhi, you still up?” said the message at 230 in the night.

“Yeah Rajiv, what happened?”

“Just tell Kavita that I have to go to Bangalore urgently and I shall be leaving now. I have messaged her, but you inform her as well.”

“Oh yeah, okay. Why suddenly though? Any problems?”

“My uncle has expired, so I have to go there.”

“How’s mom? And how are you?”

“I’m fine, but mom’s a bit low. Can you wait for 5 minutes, I have to check the tickets,” Rajiv replied.

“Of course, I’m awake till you tell me to sleep. Message me whenever you can.”

“Thanks Suni, thanks for being there. You sleep now, and message me tomorrow morning when you wake up.”

“Sure Rajiv? You don’t sound all right.”

“I’ll manage, you go.”

“Good night Rajiv, take care. Just call me up if you feel like you want to talk to anyone, I’ll pick up.”

The next few days were a blur as Rajiv raced around the country. As he finally got down, back where he had begun from, in Delhi, he breathed in the air, and fingered the object in his pocket- a wristwatch. Taking it out, he looked at it deeply and closed his eyes, the sadness setting in.

“Rajiv, how are you?”

Rajiv snapped back to his senses on hearing his name being called and saw Sunidhi standing there with a smile splattered on her face.

“Hey Suni! What are you doing here?”

“I thought that maybe I should pick you up and take you home as there won’t be anyone at your place. And after your long journey, you would be tired enough as well.”

“Why are you doing this much for me? This isn’t needed at all,” was all he could mutter.

“Your mom’s trying to call you as well from a long time to tell you this plan, and you haven’t got any battery in that dumb phone of yours. Now stop arguing, and just follow me,” bossed Sunidhi.

Dazed by this sudden development, Rajiv started walking with his bag on his back and the watch safely back in his pocket.

“Why did he go?”

“I told you not to think about it, didn’t I?”

“I’ve been wondering this from some time now.”

“You didn’t cry, hmm?”

“No, I was fine, and I managed to hold myself.”

“You don’t lie well. Not to me at least.”

The silence they shared for the next 2 minutes was awkward and as Sunidhi continued, she slipped her hand slowly into his.

“Just remove it all Rajiv, don’t hold anything inside. You’ll just hurt yourself, and I don’t want that.”

“Why are you doing that much for me?”

“I can’t say that, ‘cause even I don’t know.”

“Kavita said that you do it because we are friends, but no other friend is doing this much for me.”

“Don’t mess around now. Just do what I’m telling you to.”

Opening the car door, Sunidhi deposited Rajiv safely into the confines of the car and got in from the other side.

“I got into the wrong side! I have to drive,” Rajiv protested.

“No, you don’t.”

“Bossy friend you are, I seriously hate you,” smirked Rajiv.

“Maybe I’m doing all this because I hate you too. Cheers.”

The car slowly got through the line which inched forward, and as soon as they got onto the highway, Rajiv began.

Taking her hand which lay on the gear shift, he said, “I loved him so much, and I didn’t get a chance to tell him that as well. I couldn’t do anything for him, ever.”

“You did what you could Rajiv, and there’s no point in repenting now, is there?”

“Hmm…”

Stopping the car, she turned to face him as he laid his head on her shoulder and began shuddering under the force of the flowing emotions.

Slowly extracting herself from his arms, she said slowly to herself, wiping her wet cheeks, “There’s no point in repenting now. I have to be fine. I had told you this then, hadn’t I sweetheart?”

“Yeah.”

“You still remember that?”

“Of course. That was how our friendship developed into what we have now.”

“But I wish I could just bring him back, somehow.”

“I love you Suni, that’s all I have to say to that. And I’ll keep saying it till you get fine.”

“I love you too. Thank you for being there.”

“You still haven’t let me thank you for that day, so I won’t accept it.”

She just succumbed into his arms as the flow down her cheeks went on.