Only Time: A Short Story

“Who can say where the road goes?
Where the day flows? Only time…”

Strolling along the beautiful tree-lined streets of Defence Colony, Kimmy Sahni was deep in thought. She paid no heed to the pleasant spring morning, or Irish singer Enya’s soulful beats playing on her phone. The reason for her dismal mood was the imminent departure of her boyfriend Aman Singh, whose year-long stint as the head of a WHO project on the Covid-19 virus in India, was coming to an end.

As she crossed the colony’s famous Sukun Park – relatively quiet now that the kids were finally back in school – she recalled their first meeting at this very spot, when he boldly tapped her on the shoulder and introduced himself, all dimples and charm. She hadn’t thought they would fall for each other so quick and so hard. In a matter of weeks, they were inseparable, going from friends to confidantes and eventually lovers. When she bickered with her parents or faced a professional setback, he comforted her; when he battled the emotional and physical turmoil of documenting India’s deadly second wave of Covid-19, her warmth provided succour.

Kimmy’s parents, Brigadier Baljit Singh Sahni and his wife Rosie, had been supportive of the relationship, hoping they would marry. At 35 and 40, the couple was certainly of the right age, but they weren’t ready to take this step yet. Aman had barely recovered from the scars inflicted by a painful divorce, and Kimmy was wary of leaving her ageing parents alone in Delhi. Attempting a long-distance relationship seemed the only possible outcome. But as a die-hard romantic, Kimmy secretly hoped for a miracle that would keep him with her.

Last night, things came to a head when an emotional Kimmy picked an unnecessary fight. As Aman was packing his life in boxes, she berated him for not having returned her call earlier that day, despite knowing he was in a day-long conference. She further needled him by saying he would probably drop her like a hot cake as soon as he left the country. Tired, sad and battling his own emotions, Aman had retaliated with a mean retort, which made the hot-headed Kimmy storm out.

“And who can say if your love grows
As your heart chose? Only time…”

Kimmy had promised herself she wouldn’t cry, but one fat tear found its way down her cheek as she heard these lyrics. Aggressively wiping it away, she made her way to Aman’s flat, deciding to tackle the issue head on.

He opened the door on the first ring. “Kim, I have to tell you something!” he said with palpable excitement. But she cut him off with, “Please let me say something first. I love you, and that is enough for me, whether you’re physically in my presence or not. I’m sorry for what I said. Will you please forgive me?”

Enveloping her in a big hug, Aman smiled, “Kimmy Sahni, I love you with all my heart, and I’m not going anywhere! I’ve been looking for work opportunities in India for months, to stay close to you. But I just hadn’t found anything… Then this morning, I got a call from the UN headquarters – Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and India’s ‘independent position’ of not quite denouncing their action, has them quite worried. They’ve asked me to be part of their on-ground team in India and stay for the foreseeable future. You’re not getting rid of me yet Kim!”

Despite the volatile situation and its possible implications on the world, Kimmy had got her miracle.

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Number of words: 600

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The prompt for this story was ‘Volatile Life’, and it had to be written within the near-impossible word limit of 600 words. As always, I have attempted to weave a story around current events, using my favourite family of characters – the Sahnis.

As it is very difficult to develop backstories and characters in such limited words, I encourage you to read my previous stories where these characters have been fleshed out more:

Seven Decades of Greatness

The Turmoil Within

The Sahnis in Lockdown

I’ll be Dancing with Myself

This story is not meant to promote war or India’s political stance on Russia’s actions in any way. I am absolutely against political aggression of any kind, and will always stand for peace and universal brotherhood. If you liked this little story, do share it with others, who may enjoy it too.

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This post is written for StorytellersBlogHop FEB 2021 by Ujjwal (https://mywordsmywisdom.com) & MeenalSonal (www.auraofthoughts.com).

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This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla, in collaboration with RRE Studios.

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*This is not a sponsored post.

**Copyright in pictures and content belongs to nooranandchawla.com and cannot be republished or repurposed without express permission of the author. As I am a copyright lawyer by profession, infringement of any kind will invite strict legal action.