She slept peacefully that night, and Akshat couldn’t sleep as he was busy the entire night planning how to find Sarang…

Next Morning…

He left Smriti’s room before sunrise, as no one can know that he was with her the whole night. He bathed, and around 8 O’clock, he knocked at her room. ‘ Just coming’ she said. ‘ Good Morning’ she said as she opened the door. She had a smile on her face. ‘Good Morning’ Akshat replied. He was happy and surprised seeing the smile on her face. She always had that calm face in every happy and sad moments, but today she was differently happy, he couldn’t understand but he kept quiet. ‘ let’s get some breakfast, I am very hungry’ she said making a hungry face, she looked cute. He just looked at her and said , ‘ Ok’. He couldn’t understand what suddenly changed in her, but he was happy with her change. ‘ she must be excited to find Sarang’ he said to himself.

After the breakfast, she came to him and said, ‘ So where are we heading today?’ he looked at her surprisingly and said, ‘ wherever you say’ in a clueless tone. She frowned at him and said, ‘ How am I suppose to know, where to find him? I already did the best I could do, and you yourself offered to help’ she said complaining. ‘ Oh! About that, I thought….’ he went silent. ‘ What did you thought?’she asked him punching in his stomach. ‘ ouch! That hurts Smriti’ he said ‘ I thought nothing sort of your interest, so chill’ he added. She smiled and said let’s go then.

They kept on searching the whole day for Sarang. They searched on every street of Calcutta, every area of the city, inquired with people, Akshat used every influence of his Father to find out every kid every person born on March 20, till date, but at the end of the day it was for nothing, they couldn’t find anything. The whole day passed. They tried very best to find him. ‘ I guess, I failed this time too’ she said sitting on the side pavement of the road. ‘ We will find him, you please stick to the positivity, I really admire your positive nature’ he said trying to console her. She looked at him, and then looked away. ‘ what?’ he asked. ‘ Ah! Nothing’ she replied. ‘ Please Smriti! Tell me’ he said. ‘ Nothing! I was just being little selfish, but it’s ok now, let’s head home’ she said trying to avoid his question. He couldn’t understand what just she said. But he respected her silence reply to his question…

They were walking through the streets and it was all silent again. But this time she broke the silence. ‘ Thank you’ she said. ‘ You are welcome, but you are thanking me for what?’ he asked. ‘ For helping me out’ she replied. ‘ Hey! That’s so generous of you, but practically if you see I didn’t helped you out at all’ he said trying to act cool. She smiled but said nothing. She was tired, searching for Sarang the whole day, and the passing of souls, she was crushed into fatigue badly, but yet there was a peace on her face, he could only think of her and nothing.

After the dinner, he came to her room, to check on her. He knocked on her door, ‘ hey! Can I come in’ he asked. ‘ yes! Please’ she replied. ‘ So how you doing? Must be tired’ he asked trying to adjust the awkwardness of the room. ‘ No! Actually I am not tired, I am a little mess of weird feelings right now’ she said. ‘ what weird feelings?’ he said sitting on the couch in her room. ‘ hey! Come here! Sit next to me’ she said. He was little nervous, though last night he took her in his arms, yet he was nervous sitting beside her, but he came to her, and sat next to her, and adjusting himself , he asked ‘ so what weird feelings you were talking about?’ She kept quiet for a while and said, ‘ I don’t understand the things, the feelings am having inside me, I just can’t explain them’ she said. ‘ I understand it happens, you are just overthinking, you are just worried about not finding Sarang’ he said trying to calm her. ‘ yeah! I think so’ she said. ‘ NO IT’S NOT ABOUT SARANG, IT’S ABOUT YOU AKSHAT, THESE WEIRD FEELINGS ARE ABOUT YOU, AND THE PROBLEM IS I CAN’T EXPLAIN, I AM NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT ARE THEY’ she thought to herself. There was complete silence in the room. ‘ So I must leave, you should rest’ he said leaving, but he was held aback. ‘ Can you stay here for a while’ she said holding his hand trying to stop him. He felt her hands through his soul, he froze in that particular place. ‘ Please!’ she said still holding his hands. He sat quietly, his hands were still in her hands. ‘ Ok’ he said….

Around 11 PM

After a minute of silence she said, ‘ can I ask you something?’ ‘ yeah! sure’ he replied. ‘ is it wrong to be little selfish?’ she asked. ‘ That depends on the reason of being selfish’ he said. ‘ So….’ she couldn’t complete her sentence, a soul passed through her, and she fainted. Akshat felt her hands leaving his. Before she could drop on the floor, Akshat held her in his arms, and waited for her to regain her consciousness. He held her in his arms, as if she will leave him forever, if he let her go. He sticked her to his chest, and only he knew that how terrified he was. Everytime, she fainted, he would be more terrified than the last time. And this time she was unconscious little longer. He broke down. He panicked. He covered her with the blanket, she was still in his arms, he was not ready to leave her. ‘ Please! Please! Don’t leave me, please come back, he said holding her little tighter. He wanted to cry, but he couldn’t, he was terrified as hell, deep down he began thinking that she left him. And then he felt her hands. On his back, hugging him. ‘ I am not leaving you’ she said in breaking voice. He looked at her face, she was back to consciousness. He kept her on the pillow, and gave her some water. ‘ You need to sleep, right now’ he said in a bossy tone. She smiled at him. ‘ why are you smiling?’ he said frowning at her. ‘ I am just thinking, how time has changed, 6 days ago you hated me so much, and now look at you, you care for me as if….’ she didn’t complete her sentence. And looked away from him. There was a intesity between them. ‘ look at me Smriti’ he said. ‘ I am sorry, I crossed my line’ she said not looking at him. ‘ No you didn’t, just look at me, and finish your sentence’ he said. She turned to him slowly and said ‘… You care for me as if….’ she went silent. ‘ I love you’ he said looking into her eyes. She felt it. She felt every word he said. But said nothing and looked at him like if she would blink her eyes even for a second he would disappear in the thin air. They were so close, they could feel each other. She could hear his heart beating. Everything froze for the moment. And then she said, ‘ but I don’t….’ she was about to complete her sentence when he interrupted her, ‘ I know you don’t love me, you love Sarang, and that’s completely ok with me Smriti, because no matter whom you love, no matter where you go, no matter what I am only gonna love you, and yeah! I want you to stay with me forever, I want to be by your side to hold you everytime you faint when a soul passes through you, I want to walk the streets of Calcutta with you every evening, I want to hold you in my hands, but hey! These are my desires for you, and you are not responsible for them, these are purely my feelings. He said. And dragged her little closer to him, and added further, ‘ Now you sleep, we will find him’ he said and slept with her in his arms. And she thought to herself ‘ BUT I DON’T WANT YOU TO LOVE ME, BECAUSE IF YOU WILL LOVE ME, I WON’T BE ABLE TO STOP MYSELF FROM LOVING YOU’.

Next Morning…

After breakfast, he was ready to go on the search of Sarang, but she was not. ‘ Hey! Let’s go! We still have one day to find him’ Akshat said. ‘ But I don’t want to find him, not anymore’ Smriti replied. Akshat went all shocked, all she did in last 48 years was finding Sarang, and today all of sudden it all vanished. ‘ But why?’ he asked. ‘ because I don’t want to hold on to false hope, cause if I don’t find him, I will be broken again, so I will wait for next 16 years, and I will find him one day, and that day is not today’. She lied to him, she lied to herself. But Akshat bought her lie. ‘ So what do you wanna do?’ he asked her. ‘ Take me to the most peaceful place you know’ she said. ‘ But I don’t have any peaceful place’ he said. ‘ Ok, come with me then’ she said and they both went to her room. She sat on the floor, and asked him to sit in front of her, she took his hand in hers and said, ‘ Akshat! Close your eyes and open your soul to Me, and let me in’. Akshat closed his eyes, and after a while, they both were in the most beautiful and peaceful place. It was all nature, they walked beside each other, birds, water, trees, cold breeze, they sat on a bench. ‘ How did you? This is my…’ before he could complete his sentence, she said, ‘ This is your peaceful place, we are in your soul Akshat’ she said holding his hand. ‘ Is this real?’ he asked. ‘ Oh yes! It is very real, I am in your soul right now, and our bodies out there, are unconscious’ she replied. ‘ Wow! This is beautiful’ he said. They sat there silently, the whole day, embracing each other presence. And after a while, a sudden wave rushed through them and it all started to fade away, he felt Smriti’s hand slipping out of his hand, he tried to tighten his grip, but all failed, it was like someone was trying to snatch her away from him. And then she vanished into thin air, and his soul came back to his body. He came back, but there were no traces of Smriti. She was gone. He felt numb. He felt a piece of his soul was taken away from him, but he also felt Smriti in him. He cried. He mourned. He went silent for weeks. And one day he felt something was trying to reach him. In the beginning, he rejected the voice, but eventually he couldn’t fight it. And then he closed his eyes, and allowed that voice within him. And as the voice ran through his veins, he felt unconscious. And his soul reached to that exact place where last time Smriti took him. He began to go deeper in his thoughts, and then he saw her in the water. ‘ Smriti’ he said touching the waves of the water, ‘ Hi! Akshat I knew this day would come, I saw through your soul the very first day, you are the most amazing person I have ever known, I don’t know about myself, but I want you to be the person you always wanted to be. And I am sorry, that I entered in your personal space, but you allowed me,’ she Said, ‘ and before you question ‘when?’ I must tell you, the day you opened up your feelings for me the first time, when you kissed my forehead I was asleep but you were awake, and unknowingly you allowed my soul into yours, and because you were awake, your soul couldn’t escape your body, and that very night I wandered in your soul, and I found that, what a pure soul you were, being in your soul made me feel like I was much more than what I am right now. And if this makes you feel any better, I would like to confess something, Akshat I love you! That weird and mixed feelings, that was all you, the night I slept in your arms was my peaceful night’. Akshat cried, he was happy to know that she loved him, but upset that she never confessed it to him in person, he wanted to hold her in his hands in that very moment, he felt pain within him. ‘ listen to me, I am sorry that I couldn’t say it to you, I wanted to but I thought I was being selfish, but I needed to say it sometime, so I am saying it now, and Akshat you are never gonna be alone, I will always be there for you, I am leaving a piece of me in you, forever, it will live with you forever, and I promise, when you die, I will be the one who will lead you to heaven, just don’t do anything stupid, and live your life Akshat, cause I want you to, now open your eyes Akshat, open your eyes…..’ and he slowly he opened his eyes. He was back to consciousness. He went to the window, looked at the sky, and said, ‘ I love you Smriti, and thank you for loving me, and I promise to live my life, the way you want me to but I am never gonna fall in love again, it was you and always will be you, and I will desperately wait for the day, when you come to take me’, he said and closed his eyes tears roll down his cheeks.

In heaven….

Smriti was all quiet, there was not any inquiry regarding Sarang, she couldn’t feel anything Sarang, and she felt guilty for that, she thought that she betrayed him, and because of her selfishness Sarang will suffer again. She was lost in her thoughts all sad, and disheartened when an angel came to her. ‘ You have been called to the court Smriti’ the Angel said. Smriti’ knew what was going to happen, everytime she failed in finding Sarang she was called to the court, and she was banned from Earth for next 16 years. But this time she felt Nothing. She simply went to the court, and was ready to face whatever comes next. ‘ it is worth it… Akshat’ she said to herself. But when she went there, the things were changed. There was no one, the Angels who brought her to the court, were asked to leave by a voice. She couldn’t understand what was going. And then the voice asked. ‘ You failed once again to find Sarang, Smriti, what do you want to say about this’? ‘ I accept my mistake! And I am sorry failed him again, I accept whatever punishment I will be given’. She replied. And then a white light came, she couldn’t see anything, but it was soothing, and then it was gone. ‘ What was that?’ she asked. ‘ It is the holy ray! A part of me, and this is to tell you that, you have made no mistakes smriti.’ she was shocked, and asked, ‘ how did I made no mistakes, I have repeated the mistakes like last three times’. ‘ No! You haven’t! Did you ever thought that why you never found Sarang?’ because you were hung on to him, you were punishing yourself for no reason, you were punished enough for your mistakes in heaven, but you kept punishing yourself for the death of Sarang, you thought that he died because of you, but no! He didn’t die because of you, but he died for you, he died saving your life.’ the voice said. ‘ And what about that curse?’ she asked the voice. ‘ the curse was taken away from him, the day you felt for Akshat, the curse on Sarang was not because you sucide, but because you cursed yourself for his death, and you didn’t let him go, and if you don’t let go someone, how that person is gonna live his/her life’. The voice said. ‘ Then why did you asked me to find him all these years?’ she asked angrily. ‘ Because I wanted you to find yourself, I wanted you to let go that burden you were unnecessarily carrying for last 48 years, and now that you have felt for Akshat, you have let Sarang go, Sarang left you years ago, but you carried him as a guilt for years, Now Sarang will live his life, wherever he is, you have freed him, you have lifted his curse, and now it’s all your choice, if you wanna be the medium or not.’ the voice said. Hearing those words Smriti eyes filled with tears, she cried her heart out, she felt light. ‘ Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much’ she said joining her hands. She cried, her soul cried after years, she was released from her own cage of guilt. She could breathe peaceful. And then she wiped her tears, and was ready to leave, when the voice asked ‘ so What’s your decision about being medium?’, ‘ I am medium, I have always been medium, and I will continue to be one’, she said with the peace on her face, and left.

She continued her work of being passage to the souls for heaven and hell, and with that she always watched over Akshat, she didn’t went to him, because she wanted him to live his life for himself, not for her. And on the other hand he decided to live his life to fullest, so one day he could see her, when the time comes… ‘ LOVE NEVER HAS TIME LIMIT, HE NEVER LOVED ANYONE EVER AGAIN, HE LOVED HER BEYOND THE LIMITS, LOVED HER BEYOND HIS IMAGINATION, HE LOVED HER BEYOND TIME’….

END…

-Madhu