[Mukhra]

Chapter 28---The Finale

Few Years Later...

Rohit sat next to Sabika’s grave. He seemed happy about something. His face had a permanent smile on it.
“Hey, jaan. I need your opinion. Well, you see…I kind of…am in love with Diya. So…I wanted to know what you thought about it,” he asked Sabika. Rohit closed his eyes, and waited. A few moments later, his face lit up. He nodded, and grinned to himself. He talked to Sabika until he heard someone coming behind him.
“Oh…there you are!” Diya said. She looked flushed from walking in the cold. Rohit looked at her, and turned back to Sabika.
“See! What did I tell you? She follows me around everywhere. I swear she has this weird obsession over me,” Rohit joked. Diya punched his arm lightly. Rohit gave her a hug, but broke away abruptly. He turned back to Sabika’s grave, kissed the gravestone, and turned back towards Diya.
“Diya…we have to talk,” Rohit looked serious. Diya’s face started to look fearful. She reluctantly nodded.
“I have now seen you for the first time
Many years after you became a friend of mine
I have started to dearly love you
And would like to say this without further ado
You are the most beautiful to me
I love you beautiful smile
I know you are worthwhile
Now…I want to ask you something
Because I want to be your everything
Will you give me the honor of marrying you?
Will you marry me?” Rohit waited for an answer. Diya just stared at him. She wanted to shout, yell, do anything, to tell everyone that her love, Rohit, has asked her to marry her.
“I…” and she put her arms around Rohit, kissing him. Rohit was surprised, but then, he too melted into the passionate kiss, his hands in Diya’s hair, and at the small of her back. When they broke apart, Rohit took out a box from his jacket pocket. He opened it, and took out a ring. He slipped the ring onto Diya’s finger. The ring was a diamond, with small sapphires surrounding it.
“It’s perfect. Looks like it was made just for you,” Rohit said, admiring the ring in Diya’s beautiful hands. He hugged her. Then, he turned to look at Sabika’s grave.
“I love you. Without you, I don’t think I would have been able to do this. Thanks, jaan. I just wish you would be here. You would make the occasion look even more special,” Rohit put his head on the grave, and hid his face. Diya put a hand on his shoulder, comforting him. After a while, they left, arm in arm.
***
A few months later, Sameer graduated from medical school as top of the class. He was an official brain surgeon. His happiness could be seen from his eyes, which were constantly twinkling.
As the years went by, Sameer worked continuously, trying to find a better cure for brain tumor, while at the same time, dealing with his patients. But, he always found time to go to Sabika’s grave every weekend. He would always be there, for hours, talking to her. Plus, every night, before he went to sleep, he would think about her, and talk as if she was really there.
Finally, fifteen years later, Sameer found a cure. He mixed many elements together, including oxygen and nitrogen, to get a mixture that would make it easier to control the tumor. The medicine was so effective, that most of the patients would usually make a full recovery. Those who didn’t make a full recovery still lived for many years instead of for just a few months.
With the cure found, Sameer thought that his time in the world was over. He had done what he had needed. Perhaps, he had fulfilled his purpose. He waited everyday for any reward that would let him be with Sabika, but no, the reward didn’t come for years.
In his later fifties, Sameer got in a car accident. His external body looked fine, but there had been an excessive amount of internal bleeding, causing all the organ systems to stop working efficiently. The accident had such a strong effect on his body; he only had a few hours to live. Rohit, Diya, and their daughter, Neha, visited him on his deathbed.
“Ro-Ro-Rohit…come…here,” Sameer struggled for breath. Rohit hurriedly went to his side, tears flowing freely down his face. Another important person in his life was going to leave him soon. Why was this happening to him? First, he lost Sabika, the true love of his life, and then, Sameer, a person whom he had first disliked, but had become very close friends with. The only person left, and he prayed she would stay, was Diya, his love, his wife, and his best friend. The one who was always there for him, even when others weren’t.
“Sameer, you’re going to be all right. These doctors don’t know what they are talking about. All doctors are mental cases,” Rohit said, crying through his words.
“You…idiot…I…I am a doctor too,” Sameer said, a small smile on his face. Rohit looked at him sheepishly, the childish quality still visible in the old man.
“I know…and you were always a mental case. I almost went nuts when I was your roommate,” Rohit smiled. Sameer tried to look angry, but it took too much energy. He needed all the oxygen that was available.
“I need you to take Sabika’s picture from under my pillow, and lay it beside me,” Sameer took a deep breath. As the clocked ticked by, his face started to lose its color, turning to a yellow. Rohit did as he was told. With the picture beside him, Sameer’s smile became bigger.
“Diya, will you do me a favor?” he asked. Diya nodded, her eyes red.
“When I die, don’t cremate me. Instead, bury me with Sabika. That’s my last and only wish,” Sameer said. He closed his eyes, and opened them, tears running down his face.
“I…we will,” Diya took Sameer’s hand.
“Take care of my Neha, ok? I don’t want to hear that you are not taking care of my beautiful neice,” Sameer gestured to twenty-year-old Neha. She ran to her favorite uncle’s side, and gave him a hug.
“Sam…do you have to go?” she asked him, calling her uncle with his childhood name.
“Yes,” Sameer’s voice said.
“Can’t you stay for a little more? Just try to,” his neice said. Sameer looked arund the room. In the corner he saw a white light. Squinting at it, he tried to figure out what it was. The light grew bigger and bigger, until it transformed into a person…Sabika.