‘But why the boarding passes? What if I hadn’t found them?’
‘I wanted the universe to tell me if we deserved to be together or not. I wanted you to follow me to the ends of the earth and, most importantly, I wanted you to be sure of us getting back together,’ Zoya smiled. ‘You’re special to me, Kabeer. I wanted to give us another chance.’
‘Why? I didn’t support you when you were in my country, proposing to me in front of the whole world. You were ready to be an Indian and I insulted you instead.’
‘Yes and I slapped you. I have forgiven you for what you did, and I hope you can forgive me too. You did stand up for me in the strangest of ways, Kabeer. You’ve been my biggest and constant support from the time I met you. You have risked your life and based on a hint of a possibility, you followed me into the nation in which you were once attacked.’
‘Haters don’t belong to any specific nation. They’re everywhere. But the Pakistanis have always loved me and the Indians have always loved you, Zoya,’ said Kabeer. ‘We’re horribly flawed people, Zoya, and love is all about loving the best and accepting the worst. We are what we are and we’ll be what we allow ourselves to be. We need to trust each other. Do you believe we could be the same people we once were?’ Kabeer asked and Zoya embraced him and laid her head on his chest.
‘We’ll be better than that.’ After a pause, she raised her head, ‘So, what happens now?’
Kabeer laughed. ‘Firstly, we’ll have a romantic dinner tonight, make up for all the time we lost and promise to love each other forever. Be it Pakistan or India, we’ll always be together, but we’ll make our own world far away from all this hatred. I’ll be your Pakistan when you need me to be and you’ll be my India when I need you. We’ll not be a different world for each other but be the best world for each other. This time, forever. I love you and I can’t live without you.’ Kabeer kissed her forehead. Yashwant was sitting in the bright sunshine on the patio watching his younger self playing with Amaan in the backyard. He chuckled deeply as the memories flashed by. It felt like yesterday to him.
‘I’m back, Amaan,’ he murmured, ‘and I feel you’re still here.’
My friend stepped on to the grass where we once played together and I felt alive again. He came into the backyard and there we were, frolicking together. He sat down on the porch where we had often sat together maligning our schoolteachers. I felt he touched my soul and embraced me.
Humans are a strange species, carrying their petty grudges forever and missing out on so much of love.
Now that I have met my dear friend again, I am at peace and can finally bid a happy goodbye to this world.
Acknowledgements
Love Knows No LoC, just like my other novels, couldn’t have been written without the support of some people and it’s important that I acknowledge all of them.
It’s always difficult to acknowledge people, and a lot has changed in a year, but I am glad that there are certain relationships and people that haven’t changed a bit.
Like always, I will begin by thanking my grandfather, Sohan Lal Vageria, for his unconditional love and blessings; my granny, Vibhuti Bandi, for always being so caring and cute. My parents, Dilip Vageria and Vandana Vageria, for being the loveliest couple ever and for their faith, undying support and encouragement. My elder brother, Ankit Vageria, for consistently believing in me and helping me with everything. You’re the mastermind I always wished to be. Most importantly, for being the most important part of this story. This book would have been impossible without you, brother! My sister-in-law, Donika Vageria, for her unwavering faith in me; and to the world’s cutest kid ever, my niece, Maahi Vageria, for still believing that her Chachu is a superman and can bring stars for her whenever she needs them. She has only grown cuter in the last one year. I can go on and on about her; she’ll be more than proud to read this when she grows up as a beautiful young woman some day.
No thank you is enough for Swapnil Kothari sir, for being with me through every phase of my life and guiding me on what’s right and wrong, both personally and professionally.
Some of the names without whom I consider my life incomplete and bland are: Aditi Solanki, for being the first person ever to praise my writing and making me believe that I can write and that people will read my books; Piyush, Rohit, Saloni, Novoneel and Romil, for being my best ever buddies and being there for me in the ups and downs of life and supporting me in the best possible way.
I am amazingly fortunate to have some lovely people in my life—Manoj, Abhishek, Saurabh, Pradeep, Himanshu, Shikha, Namita, Vinay, Pramod, Pratik, Ulhas, Vankush, Ujjwal and Deep—who make my world better and more interesting.
Heartfelt thanks to some special people who have been fun company always: Saurabh sir, Naveen, Susmita, Sharanya, Sumit, Smita, Kunal, Meenu and Karan.
I would now like to thank my publisher for their extraordinary kindness and belief in my work. Thanks for being so supportive, Penguin Random House India, especially my editors, Gurveen and Indrani, who worked equally hard on this book.
I would like to thank Arup Bose, Jayant da and Stuti for working with me on three beautiful books.
Thanks to all my readers for believing in me. I love all your comments, reviews, emails and messages and I try my best to reply to each one of you. Thanks for making me work hard. Y’all have a big hand in making me what I am today. Keep giving me love and I shall keep writing many more stories.
And the most special thank you to the cutest girl who’s my forever love, Pooja. More than anything else, she keeps me close to my dreams.
And lastly, to myself, for being able to complete this wonderful new book, Love Knows No LoC.
THE BEGINNING
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This collection published 2019
Copyright © Arpit Vageria 2019
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Jacket images © Parag Chitale
This digital edition published in 2019.
e-ISBN: 978-9-353-05540-0
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Love Knows No LoC Page 14
