It's all bright in the end.

IT’S ALL BRIGHT IN THE END

HARISH KARTHIK

No matter how strong we hold on to the time, it flies easily out of our hands. The moments we cherished, longed for or the particular time we wish to revisit it all will only be in countless and endless memoirs.

Jenifer slowly opens her eyes. She couldn’t move her body. The ECG machine was beeping continuously. The room was so quiet to her. She slowly turned her head and looked around. Jenifer couldn’t recognize where she is, the place was blurry to her.

She waved her hand. Someone grabbed her hand and said, “Hey, don’t try to move your hands. Please, calm down and take some rest.”

“Where is Kamal?” Jenifer asked in a weak tone. “Where is my husband? I need to see him.”

“Oh dear, don’t you recognize me? I am Kamal, your husband Jeni.” Kamal said. He slowly kept her hand on the bed.

“Oh Kamal, Is that you?” Jenifer asked, “How pity of me, I couldn’t even recognize my husband at this age.”

Kamal dragged the stool, placed it near the bed, and said, “What is wrong with age? It’s sweet sixty-plus, my dear.”

“Oh, Kamal stop it. There is nothing sweet with this stupid age. See me, spending weeks in a hospital bed. See yourself taking dozens of medicines in a day.” Jenifer said.

“Those savage replies of yours won’t end at now too, right?” Kamal giggled and he started to cough. Jeni looked at him and said, “Drink some water.”

“Yeah...I will. Nice, you care about me even if you are in a hospital bed.” Kamal slowly walked to the table nearby and had a glass of water. “Romantic...” He came near the bed and sat on the stool.

“Even at this age, you want to feel romantic, Kamal?” Jeni asked.

Kamal giggled and slowly holds her hand. “Of course Jeni, there is no age limit.”

“Do you remember? During college… how romantic was I?” Kamal asked. “Don’t bluff, you idiot. You weren’t romantic at that time.” Jeni said, she adjusted her position and said, “You were so dumb during college. You didn’t even recognize that I was in love with you. Instead you were behind my class mate.”

“You were in love with me?” Kamal shocked “I thought I made you fall for me.”

“Look, how dumb!” Jeni smirked and said, “I made you propose me dumb.”

“So I was taken then? That’s nice.” Kamal smiled. “Oh shut up,” Jenifer replied. “Make me sit,” Jeni said to him.

Kamal slowly lifted her and put the cushions on her back. Jenifer laid back. “Are you good?” Kamal asked her. “Yeah, I am good.” She mumbled in pain.

Kamal sat on the stool and asked “Answer me this? Back in those days, was I romantic or not?”

“Actually you were romantic at the early months of our relationship. Then you started to get rude.”

“Is that real?” Kamal bawled. “Yeah, I won’t blame you fully. At that time you were so worried about your work. How we will settle? How to convince our families for our marriage? I don’t want to start about the time when I am pregnant.” Jenifer said. She slowly wiped her dry wrinkled face.

“What did I do?” Kamal asked. “You forgot Kamal. You were so mad at me that I got pregnant. At the time when I revealed you that I was pregnant, you asked me to abort.”

Kamal mumbled, “I was so tight in finance at that time, Jeni.”

“Yeah, I knew that. But that was our kid, the soul reason for our existence. God, I can’t imagine that pregnancy period. You were so rude on me. I hated you so much at that time.” Jenifer sobbed.

“I am sorry Jeni that I was rude on you at that time,” Kamal mumbled slowly and he kept his face down. Jenifer slowly grabbed his chin; she scratched his gray beard and moved his face upwards.

“Look here, Kamal. It’s okay. You are such a sweet guy; I will accept some rudeness when you are down.” Jenifer said and smiled. Kamal holds her hand. “Thank you.”

“After Musa was born, you were so happy. I still remember your smile when you are holding him. You came near me and said slowly…”

Kamal interrupted her, “Thank you so much. I am so proud of you, Jeni.”

“You remember then?” Jenifer asked. “Yes, how could I forget those days?’ Kamal replied. Jenifer smiled at him and her eyes were blurry.

Kamal stood from the stool and said, “Actually, when I was broke at that time. You started to work; you took coaching classes for children. You had my back….” He walked to the other side of the bed. “….Like always. I never said this to you.” He slowly sat on the bed near Jenifer. “What?” She said.

“You are the pillar of my life,” Kamal said. Jenifer smiled, “Stop it.” she said. “Yeah, I would say in proud that I have you.”

“Kamal, are you trying to be romantic?” Jenifer asked and slowly holds his hand. “Why shouldn’t I?” Kamal smiled back. He leaned forward and kissed her cheeks.

Both smiled at each other.

A nurse walked inside the room, “Sir, please don’t trouble her. She needs to take a rest.” She said and placed the tray on her table. She looked at the chart.

“There is no trouble, Nurse,” Jenifer said and smiled at Kamal.

“Please, give this medicine at night.” The nurse said, “Please get some rest.”

She went outside the room.

“Am I troubling you, Jeni?” Kamal asked. Jeni slowly lay down, she said, “No Kamal. You aren’t.” Jenifer sighed and murmured, “But you were a great trouble to me when you left me all alone for months. You ran away. And one day you came back as if nothing happened.”

“I don’t want to remember those days,” Kamal said. “I shouldn’t have left you and Musa alone. I was so…Leave it. Whatever reasons I say, it won’t justify what I did back then.”

“You were a good boy, after that,” Jenifer said. “Do you know?” Kamal asked, “Those days were so hard. All I had was a mix tape that you recorded for me, during our college days. I heard that tape like million times.” He said.

“Fly Me to the moon…” Jenifer started to sing. “Yeah…that is the song.”

“Let me play among the stars…” Jenifer sang and smiled.

Kamal started, “Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and mars…” He smiled back at Jenifer.

“In other words…..Hold my hand.” She sang. Kamal holds her hand and sang, “In other words, baby…kiss me….” Jenifer laughed.

“After that, things started to get smoother, I think.” She asked.

“There was no smooth darling. Musa went states for his Masters.” Kamal said. “We had a huge debt. We worked hard and in couple of years, he got married.” Kamal said.

“Yeah, that’s the time we were so happy and healthy, right?” Jenifer asked.

“In a few months after his marriage, I was diagnosed with liver cancer,” Kamal said.

“Oh god, those days were horrible. You lost your body weight and luckily you got cured.” Jenifer said.

“After a few months, your organs started to fail.” Kamal said by pointing to Jenifer “You too lost weight.”

“At first my lungs, then a few days later my kidneys…” Jeni smirked. Kamal said, “Those horrible pain medications, It’s all happened in a year.” He smiled.

“It’s my heart now, within a short span I had cardiac arrest happened two times.” Jenifer said “And it’s my third one. I don’t have the strength for the next one.”

“I don’t have the strength to see you go through another one,” Kamal said.

“Do you know one thing, Kamal? I understood that my body is dying. But I have a true belief that my spirit isn’t. It’s still the same. Nowadays I feel so weak, that is just my strength. But you are making me stronger; our family makes me stronger, Musa, Tara, and the kids making me strong. The path is clear now and I am not afraid about it.”

“Jeni, what are you saying?” He moved near her. Jenifer made him sit near her. She closed her eyes, tears rolled down. She grabbed his hands, “We made it Kamal. We together light our worlds. Whatever happened, we insisted and stayed together. We walked together on rough paths, and nights, and saw bright days with each other. We spent days apart from each other. We lived and loved each other.”

Kamal grabbed her hands. “I love you, Jenifer.”

“Oh Kamal, I know.” She slowly took her hands and closed her eyes. “I feel dizzy. Let me take some rest. Kamal” Jenifer said.

Musa came to the second floor. He slowly walked towards ICU. He saw his father, Kamal, sitting on the chair in the hallway.

He went near him and garbs his shoulder, “Dad, What happened? Why are you sitting outside?”

Kamal looked his son Musa, he wept and said, “She is gone. My Jeni…” tears rolled down “…is gone.” Musa sat near Kamal and started to cry. He leaned on Kamal’s shoulder. “Even though, I made Jeni walk her on a hard path. She never blamed me. She was so grateful for her life. In the end it was all brighter to her.”

Kamal slowly patted his son on his head.