Chaos filled the air.

As a squadron of Mig-29 fighter jets made a pass by low in the air, a lone soldier tried to pull out his fellow soldier from under the rubble. He was knocked out of balance as a tank fired somewhere close to him and he had to duck and stay out of sight as a patrol vehicle of the enemy passed by. The constant pumping of bullets from thousands of automatic rifles filled the air. He regained his balance, tried to pull out the other soldier again while he kept repeating encouraging words “Stay with me, buddy. Stay with me.” simultaneously trying to radio it to his superiors “Sector 6 – soldier down, need immediate medical attention and back up.  I repeat soldier down – sector 6, requesting medical help and back up.”

He finally freed him from under the rubble and pulled him out of further harm as another chunk of the building came crashing down. As the soldier reached into his first aid kit, the injured soldier coughed and in between taking ragged breath asked “Are they…?” The soldier took out bandages and looked at the injuries. He knew just bandaging wouldn’t do much to help his comrade if help didn’t arrive soon but still started dressing the wounds as he said “They are safe. Now, stay still.” He tried to keep his voice even and clearly failed to do so as he started to break down.

The injured soldier tried to look down but unable to focus he asked “How bad is it?”

The soldier tied the last of the bandages and looked at the injuries; he held up the injured soldier’s hands to another gnarly looking wound on the injured soldier’s torso and said “Not bad. Just apply pressure on that and stay with me. OK?” He put a supplies bag under the injured soldier’s head to tilt up the head and reached into his first-aid kit again. The injured soldier’s eye caught the sight of the engagement ring when it caught the sunlight. As the darkness of pain and blood engulfed him he remembered the coffee he had had with her on that rainy day.

**

He looked around the café as he wiped the water from his eyebrows from the downpour. He found her sitting at their usual place – looking out the window at the rain. As he walked towards her he noticed that she was anxiously twiddling the ring on her finger. As he sat down he said, “I am officially impressed. That is a pretty big rock.”

She looked at him and then at the ring and added “Yeah… Now I know I don’t have to look far when I am in need of money. I can just pawn it.” She winked.

“So much respect for the feelings of your fiancé?” He bowed mockingly and said “Respect.”

She chuckled. At that moment, the Barista brought them the coffee, served and left. “Aztec latte again? You know you are the only one who would order it and you know I hate it.” He said as he looked disgustingly at the coffee.

“It is an acquired taste.” She said as she picked up her coffee.

“Before the general population acquires the taste I am sure they are going to remove it from the menu because – look around, ask around nobody likes it other than you.” He said as he glanced through the menu.

“Don’t generalize your opinion onto the general population.” She pulled the menu out of his hands and placed it on the table.

“Like you generalize your tastes onto me?” he countered as he sat forward in his seat.

“Shut up and drink.” She said and sipped on the coffee.

“Your wish is my command my lady.” He said as he picked up his cup of coffee.

Half way through the cup he noticed her twiddling with her ring again. He put down the coffee on the table with a clink and asked “Mind telling me what’s bothering you?”

She stopped twiddling as she shrugged “His vacation ends and he is needed to report to duty tomorrow.”

“You wish he didn’t have to go.” He said understanding.

“Does that make me selfish?” she asked wondering.

He laughed at that instead of answering. She was offended at that and snarled “What?”

“You too are reporting to duty tomorrow. What made you think you are selfish?” He stated the obvious.

“Well… I am a doctor I am mostly treating the injured soldiers… I don’t fight on the front lines like he does.” She confessed her fear.

“Girl! This is not his first deployment and you have never been afraid before.”

“I don’t know I have a very bad feeling this time.” She rubbed her hands solemnly.

He reached out to her and squeezed her hands firmly. “It is all going to be alright. Trust me.”

She nodded and changed the topic of conversation “So, What is up with you.”

He relaxed back into his seat “Thanks to your engagement that my mother has realized that her son has come to a marriageable age. So…” he said sarcastically.

“So, desperately searching for the girl” She laughed. He shrugged smiling, thinking back to the day she had spoken to him after a very long time of ignoring him.

**

As usual, the board exams were having their fun over the 12th standard students. The anxiety about facing the unknown math questions coupled with the sleepless nights was evident on most of the faces. The boy stood to a side of the corridor reviewing his formulas  from his notes for one last time before the exam started and as he looked up trying to revise a trigonometry formula, he felt the pang of guilt that he had always felt – he was looking at a girl who was frantically searching her bag. It was evident she was on the verge of crying. She went through her bag again and again. The boy hesitated a moment, then made up his mind and walked to her “Hey! Is everything alright?”

She mumbled without looking up “I can’t find my admit-ticket.” and once again rummaged through the books and papers in her bag as tears streaked down her face.

Seeing that she wasn’t actually looking in her anxiety he called out “Hey!” When she looked up at him snapping out of her dread, he added “Calm down and look carefully. You will find it.”

She took a moment, exhaled to calm down and again went through her stuff. She looked up; anxiousness clouding her face again “Oh god! I have lost it. They will not let me take the exam.” She slid down on the floor and started to cry silently. He looked around at some of other students staring at her. He sat down beside her and firmly placing a hand on hers said “Hey! There is no chance you would have lost it just like that. Think. Where did you put it?” When she looked at him blankly he added “Did you sit in the quadrangle early today to study. Maybe you might have left it there? Do you want to go and check there?”

She shook her head “No, I didn’t come early in the school bus; my dad dropped me off 10 minutes ago…” She trailed and stood up immediately exclaiming “Oh god!” He followed suit confused while she continued “What do I do now? I forgot the admit-ticket at home on the coffee table.” She pushed her hair roughly out of her face “I am going to fail this year.” She continued “They won’t let me take the exam without it.” She started to wriggle her hands “I am going to fail.”

The boy knew how important it was to have the admit-ticket for the exam but he realized that she remembered where she had forgotten it. He took a deep breath and shouted “Hey!” She stopped wriggling her hands and still crying shouted “What?”

“Do you have a phone at home?” He asked.

“What do you mean?” She asked frowning.

“Well, there’s a phone in principal’s office.” He said pointing in the direction of the Principal’s office and added “I am sure he will let you call home if we requested and we still have 15 minutes left for the exam so, one of your parents can probably bring it to you before that?” he offered. As realization dawned on her she nodded her head.

But luckily for them, it didn’t come to that. As they were walking towards the Principal’s office the girl’s mother was escorted in by one of the school’s security guards with the girl’s admit – ticket and the exam went on without further event after that.

After the exam as they were collecting their book bags outside the classroom, she walked up to him and tapped on his shoulder. He turned to look at her and said “Hey! How was your exam?”

“It was good, how about you?” she asked

He shrugged, smiling “Well, let’s just say I don’t have to take it next year.”

She laughed in surprise and asked “You know that our whole career will probably depend on the percentage of these marks right?”

He shrugged again “Well when you put it that way… I have to say – I will give you the explanation I will probably give my parents – I will make it up with Physics and Chemistry exams.”

She laughed and as they walked towards the school exit she said “Thank you, for you know…” she tilted her head “Earlier”

“So, is everything forgiven?” He asked expectantly.

She thought about it for a moment and nodded. As she walked away to her parent’s car she shouted “But you are still a coward until you prove otherwise.”

He was taken aback for a moment but smiled shaking his head as he unlocked his bicycle from the bicycle stand thinking back to the day it all started.

**

He didn’t remember their age the first time they met. But he remembered that he was still in his navy blue short pants and white shirt and she was in her navy blue skirt, white shirt and pigtails with red ribbons. Whenever he tried to think about how he first met her all he remembered was dirt all over her white shirt, sitting on a kid at least twice her size. The kid was crying and desperately trying to cover his face with his hands trying to avoid her blows. She was hitting him while her pink colored water bottle dangled by the strap on her left shoulder vigorously and she was shouting “will you hurt him again? Say you won’t hurt him!” and when the crying boy had mumbled something she stood up dusting the adamant dirt off of her shirt and skirt and had patted on his back looking warningly at the kid on the ground and had said “don’t worry, he won’t hurt you hereafter.”

He didn’t remember why or how the fight had started but he vaguely remembered that she had tried to get a bully off of his back. He on his ungrateful part had given her up at the first sight of stern-faced Principal the next day in his office when the bully had brought in his parents to complain. He remembered that as soon as they walked out of the principal’s office, she had called him a coward and had vowed never to talk to him again in her life and had walked away in the other direction of the corridor for her detention.

After that whenever he saw her in the school he felt a pang of guilt that would eat him away. As time passed he had forgotten the incident – at least consciously but the guilt stayed and true to her word she didn’t talk to him until the day of their 12th standard board exams.

**

As he regained consciousness, he heard the constant beeping of machinery – he didn’t like, he didn’t like the smell of the place and he definitely wasn’t comfortable with the bed, the only comfort was that a warm hand-held his wrist. He slowly opened his eyes to see her taking his pulse. She looked at him awake and greeted with a smile “Hey! Welcome back to the land of the living!”

Still not completely awake he asked “How long?”

“Couple of weeks” she replied.

He was sure he was forgetting to ask something and it came to him “How is he?”

She smiled “He is safe” she paused before adding “he told me what you did.”

“What did I do now?” He asked trying to remember.

“That you saved his life.” She answered solemnly.

“So does that mean I am redeemed of being a coward all those years ago?” He asked remembering.

She nodded with a smile as a single tear escaped from her eyes. She left to make rounds of the ward and while leaving added “Oh! By the way, congratulations Captain Coward, you are now officially promoted to Major Idiot.”

He smiled to himself as he fell into the arms of comfortable sleep once again.

**The end**