The Catch

The sun had set and the lights were off in my ruggedly handsome room, conventionally provided to all interns of the Indian Army.

"Knowing that someone's wrong for you doesn't change the way you feel.", I sighed.
"Come on, let it go. Smile, you're with me", Naina tried to cheer me up as she hugged me, carefully cradling a bottle of wine.
I couldn't help but notice the wine bottle was the customary green, yet deeper where the red wine sat within. Unlike the bottles in a cellar, it had a shine to it that accentuated the age of the label, time-yellowed with corners that curled.
I was snapped out of my observation by a pink glove that whizzed across the room to poke my eye. Naina glared at me because I had not obliged to the ritual of taking a good photograph of her with the wine bottle, for her Instagram. She noticed that I was overworked and nowhere near recovering from that massive heartbreak. She decided to describe her date last night, how she could have let her fingers stray to the base of his flat stomach, caressing those burnished chocolate ridges like abs. She had deep dimples when she smiled but her eyes were always somewhere else.
As the bottle emptied, our lids got heavier.

I slumped into the bed and Naina declared she was going to binge watch "F.R.I.E.N.D.S" all over again. 
"I thought you said, you wanted to sleep?" Naina teased as she pounced on the remote.
"Suddenly not so much." I winked.
We ended up watching 'Kal Ho Na Ho' and weeping ourselves to sleep.
I removed the corners of my bread while Naina dressed up for her morning news reading. I whistled as she strode past me, trying not to step on my spit-shined DMS Boots. My bubbly journalist friend, enlightened me about the surfacing drug problem as she drank grape juice from my glass. I couldn't help but a joke, "You've changed my, 'let's write greeting cards for a living' to 'let's make crystal meth for a living.'"

Within a month, I was sent on a Temporary Duty to a God-forsaken place...where I received a call from Naina. She had decided to get married to a Captain Vikrant Salaria who was a family friend and who we all knew that he always had a thing for her. 
I shrieked and I wanted to catapult myself into hugging her.
Time flew and when two weeks were left for the wedding, Naina felt jittery about everything from her lehenga to her husband. She even forced me to find a date for her wedding. We drank away our anxiety and sorrows till the doomsday - my bad, her wedding day. 

My beautiful bride, sparkling in red walked towards her groom for the Jai Mala when I noticed Captain Amay Nayyar. The man who shattered my heart and never looked back. How can we be allowed to feel so much for people who don't feel anything for us? My heart skipped a beat. I avoided eye contact with him and kept giving a thumbs up to Naina.
He followed me to the green room.

"Did you ever love me?" I breathed as I turned to face him.
"Not the way you deserved." He shook his head.
That night, tears drenched Naina marking a new beginning and I had finally found closure.
The day I joined back, I came across a grim-faced tall man in uniform. He had distinct cheekbones and an angular jaw, his pale skin made him look devilishly handsome. He paced across the corridor with even strides, his feet gently pounding on the floor. I was seated across the Duty Medical Officer when the same man came in the emergency room with blood spattered on his arms and torso. 
I took him to the Minor Operation theatre, where Flying officer Aman Malik provided me with some shocking insights as he recreated the infiltration of Pakistan by the Indian Airforce aircraft, with the help of instruments kept in the side tray.
"Missiles began to fly with unerring accuracy accompanied by vehement cursing from our seniors," he continued.
With typical bravado, he didn't flinch at all when I examined his wound.
"If you wake up in the morning with a bit of fog in your head, don't panic, it'll just be the pain killers." I smiled.
"Why'd you join the Indian Airforce?" I asked, trying to make small talk while administering an injection of Lignocaine.
"I love places that make you realize how tiny you and your problems are." He replied instantly.
"You're a bit of a close-mouthed, aren't you?" He grinned.
"You know my life isn't that interesting."I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

That evening Mrs Naina Singh Salaria met me at our favourite bar. She was glowing as she announced her honeymoon destination would be Paris, where we had once planned to run away.
I told her about my brief encounter with a potentially amazing person who might've been my crush. Naina eyed me.
"Affairs don't start in bedrooms, they start with conversations." Naina pointed out then she burst into laughter as I had clearly blown my chances of having one.
"I sat down next to him and forgot how to breathe." I slurped my gin tonic.

Aman and I went out only a few times since we were posted on different sides of the country. He made sure to celebrate my birthday or pay surprise visits and he always brought my favourite Nykaa products...He was now a part of my day. I was falling for him. Every time we spoke I wanted to whisper,  "Please don't come closer, unless you plan to stay."
On the cold morning of December third, 
he got down on one knee and said "I want you to stop fighting the battle between what we know and what we feel. I don't want to waste any more of my life without you in it. You're pure joy and sunshine every waking hour. Marry me Maitreyi?"
He took me in his arms. With tear-stained cheeks I looked up, above him, white cumulous clouds wafted across the brilliant blue sky.
In those ten short months of laying bare all the nuances of human emotions, the darkest of thoughts to tears, laughter, fear, courage, I had fallen in love with Aman and most importantly he was there to catch me.