The date was 17th June 2014. Two major things happened with my love life that day. One, we completed a whopping three years of our relationship. Second, our relationship got a few extra words to precede it. On that day, after a train left the railway station, our story became a long distance relationship.

Her family was relocating to Rajasthan and they were taking away the jewel of my eyes with them.
Okay! It pained me. The fact that she was going away hurt me a lot. And the biggest doubt I had in mind was the uncertainty about the future of us. Would we survive? Amidst the doubt and the pain, I didn't even plan a proper anniversary gift for her. At nine in the morning, I drove to the railway station with just a rose in my hand.

As I parked my car in the station's parking space, I saw her walking inside the platform building. Like always, she looked absolutely amazing. I had the urge to run towards her, hug her and bid her a proper goodbye. But she was with her family and they didn't know anything about us.

'Dad will kill you if he comes to knows about us,' My girl had once warned me. Did I tell you that we are from different communities? She is a Marwari and I am an Assamese. In India, this is a big matter and I am sure her dad would kill me just for this reason.

I stayed inside the car and kept watching her. Feeling helpless, I switched on the hazard lights. The parking space was just in front of the entrance and I hoped she would notice my car. And she did. She turned back and her gaze stopped right at my car. I am sure I saw her lips curving into a smile.

But she went inside with her parents. I came out of my car and ran towards the station. I stopped at the entrance. Something told me that she would come back out and jump on me.

The jump part didn't happened, but she did come out. I was in smiles as she descended the stairs of the station building.

'Hie,' I greeted her.

'Let's go to the car.' She said. 'My parents can see us here,'

We went to the car. I opened the passenger side door for her and she sat down inside. I quickly moved to the other side and sat on the driver's seat. The memory of us going on long drives instantly hit me. We wouldn't be going on drives from now on.

'Where is my gift?' She asked me.

I got the rose from the back seat and handed it over to her. 'Sorry! That's all I could get.' I said.
'The rose is great, I can easily hide this.' She smiled. 'Love you,'

'Love you too,' I managed to say. It was starting to hurt now. I could see her leaving me after a few minutes.

'What's the matter, Shona?'

'Don't go.' I said. 'I can't live without you.'

'Stupid,' The beautiful smile in her face was still there. 'I am just changing my address. I am not leaving you. Listen to .....'

She couldn't complete her sentence as her phone rang up. It was her father and he wanted her to immediately summon near him. She dropped the call and made a face. 'I have to go,' she said. Yeah!
She didn't even complete her last soothing speech.

'I will give you something. Will you keep it safe until we meet again?' She asked.

'Sure,' I replied.

What she did next deleted all my sorrow. She moved her right hand to her chest, made a gesture as if she grabbed something and then she moved her hand towards me and acted as if she dropped something in my shirt pocket.

'That's my heart,' She said. 'Keep it safe.'

I smiled. The pain somehow went missing. This simple gesture from her was a promise that we would survive. That we would stay together forever. That she would always stay mine.

When she saw me smiling she moved her head towards me. I thought she was going to kiss me and therefore I bent nearer to her. She saw what I was doing and playfully slapped me and turned my face, until her lips were near my ears.

'This is not the end. This is a new beginning' She whispered and in blazing fast speed she was out of the car. I stayed inside. Frozen by her love and words.

I saw her walking towards the station. Her hair swayed with the wind. Her duppatta danced with her hair. Mid way, she looked back and waved at me. I waved back. And soon, she was out of my sight and inside the station.

I didn't even cry, like I initially thought I would. I was in fact smiling. She wasn't going away from me, I understood. She was only changing her address. And like she said, it was a new beginning. Not the end. I could look up to the future and see us together until death.

Inseparable

'Everything will be all right,' I told myself as my put the gear in reverse and pulled my car out of the parking lot. 'Love you forever dear,'

P.S - Till date, we are on. We survived.
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This post is a part of Look Up Stories written for Housing.com.
Image sourced from here.