We belong together...

Part I - She leaves him gasping for breath....


She took a deep breath as he stopped the car. She looked nervous.

"I..I cant do it...", She murmured as her eyes swelled up.

He slowly ruffled her hair and said, "Hey...you'll be just fine on your own...if not better. I know moving out is a big decision but what are you so scared of ? You always have me right..? "

She gave him an uneasy nod as he reached forward and gently kissed her forehead. He felt her fingers clutching tightly to his shirt, not wanting to let go...


This reminded him of all the previous times when she had been low and needed him to pep her up. There was an alluring aura around her which made him want to rescue and protect her.

They had a history; of loving each other, fighting, breaking up, dating wrong people and eventually falling back to each other, over and over again.
She was a vulnerable young girl, barely out of her teens, who dreamt of fairy tale romances and happy endings. He was a doctor, seven years elder to her; realistic enough to know that such romances only existed in paper back novels.

She was in need of constant love, care, attention and reassurance of his loyalty; which he sadly couldn't deliver. His hectic schedules kept him away for long, leaving him with no time for her.
He knew that he loved her more than he had loved anyone else but was unable to handle the complexities of the relationship. Every time he walked out of her life, he left her devastated and so after three years of running in circles and chasing tails; they had decided to be 'just friends'.


"Thanks for being there...", she spoke feebly as she slowly pulled away from his embrace.

As her eyes met his, he freezed for a moment and then quickly looked away...

They both knew the obvious but were scared of admitting it.
In these three years of trying to date other people and moving on, they both had failed miserably.

He was her first love and no guy could measure up to him. There was a calming way about him and she never felt this at ease with any other guy.

"Cant you stay a little longer ? We could go for a drive or something..."

"No. I must go. Thanks again...", She faintly smiled.

He watched her remove her stilettos, climb the stairs and sneak into her flat through one of the windows. She waved to him once she was up...
She was so young and naive...He smiled to himself.

He had tried dating girls his age, from his profession, but eventually got bored as no one could be her. Unlike other girls, she was never impressed by what he had achieved professionally. She made him feel so alive with her silly talks, chirpy voice and girlish tantrums that he kept rebounding to her. She could be the liveliest person around when she was happy...and the most lost one, when she was sad. She pushed him beyond comfort, making him aware of emotions that he never thought could exist in him.

As he drove back through the deserted roads, flickering traffic lights and neon's, a certain kind of emptiness engulfed him.


He had achieved everything that he had wanted three years back, except her.
How shallow all his materialistic pursuits felt in front of her little childish fantasies and the way her face brightened up when she was excited.

She always made him feel as if he had achieved nothing.

He came from a conservative family, where even watching television was a grave offence...While she was full of life, fun and random, always. Watching her crash, fall, dust off and rise up again made him re-live parts of his youth which he had drowned in books and libraries.

It was 1.30am, yet he had no desire of going back to an empty apartment with no one waiting for him. He pulled over his car and got out to get some fresh air.

He loosened his tie, as he crossed the sidewalks and leaned on the fence
, facing the lake. This was one of his favourite places- a place, so soothing, where he always felt better and calmer...his 'happy place', as she called it....

However, there was something distressing about the eerie silence that surrounded him that night, which made him uncomfortable.

Faded memories of his past flashed across in his mind in bits and pieces...

He remembered his first day at medical school...their first meet and how happy she had made him...his struggling days when she was the only thing that kept him going......how jealous he felt when she talked about other guys...how sad she had looked today...how much he wanted her....how lonely he felt without her...

Flooded by repressed emotions and feelings, which he had safely hidden in the darkest corners on his mind until now...he felt nauseatic and uneasy...

He was known for having the most sturdy hands in his profession; hands which never shook, even at the most critical times in the most delicate surgeries... His juniors would've refused to believe their eyes if they were to see him then; he was unconsciously trembling...

'Your are a man ! Don't cry like a girl ...." his dads words still echoed in his ears....

He was sweating profusely. How weak and helpless she made him feel !

"Sir, are you okay?!"

"Huh?! What?!", he turned around bewildered and saw a watchman staring at him with a disturbed expression.

"Yeah I...I am fine..", he stuttered, as he hastily wiped his tears in disbelief......

She had a way of reaching out to him when they were together and haunting him when she was away. But never until this day, did he find himself so over-whelmed by her thoughts.

Today, she had left him grasping for breath and that was how he knew that things would never be the same again...She was 'the one' and there was no running away from it now.