PART 7

Neha suddenly saw a ray of hope at the other end of the dark alley. She told her father that she wished to do something to keep herself busy and positive. The idea of starting her dream business; that of greetings cards dawned on her and thus came into being, ‘Neha’s card gallery’; a business that she had all the time dreamt of launching. In all this, a couple of years rolled by again but she never heard from Abhinav until one fine day…the day was a Sunday and all the news channels where hyping on the incident of a young Indian who recently climbed the Mount Everest. The media was covering his speeches and there were plenty of shutterbugs hovering all over him. Neha who was engrossed in a book got startled on hearing a familiar voice. She looked up and caught sight of Abhinav on the TV Screen. He was that successful Everest climber and now a star. He was holding the country’s flag in one hand and in the other he was holding a photo; that of his beloved whom he claimed to have missed all these years during the rigorous mountaineering training period. He was telling all that to the media while Neha’s eyes overflowed with tears of joy as she discovered that the photo he held in his hand was that of Neha and none other. Soon afterwards she received a call from Abhinav. This time it was he who proposed love to her. ‘I am sorry Neha that I kept you waiting for years; I had a goal to fulfill and wished to&