“Come on, one time I promise” David said.

“Okay, but only one kiss” was the reply of her girlfriend Jilly.

They have been together since eighth standard and have shared some beautiful memories together, be it failing in exam or bunking a class, they have all experienced it together. One fine day when David was sitting in an open lawn beside the college with Jilly thinking about settling down, having a normal job of nine to five and coming back home every evening to her. They had planned a perfect life for themselves. But there was something else decided by the fate. Suddenly David gets a call from her mother Suzi that his father who was a military lieutenant had suffered a severe heart attack and was currently being transferred to the hospital, so he needs to be present at the location. David never had a decent relationship with his dad, they both rarely talked to each other, rarely hugged, there was no prevalence of love between the two but he respected his father very much. He quickly put aside all the ideas/topics in his mind and headed out towards the hospital.

He reached a little late and missed his father being transferred to the operation theatre. After waiting for almost an hour and a half the doctors came out with a sigh on their face. He instantly knew something was wrong, his mother started crying at the corner, everything looked like to have loosen life. He felt very lonely that moment. The doctors told that the condition was very critical and his father may not see the sunshine of the next morning. He sat in the room on a bench just beside the bed on which his father laid wrapped in pipes with blood and essential liquids flowing in the body, there were many thoughts in his mind that he would have liked to convey to his dad including his life with Jilly but all of them seemed to fade away.

At 2 am his father became conscious and called out for his son. He had just one line to say “Join the Army and take care of mother”. These were the last words herd from the fathers’ mouth before he again went to unconsciousness, only this time not to wake up. Few days later he decided to join the Military and fulfil his fathers’ last wish. Bidding goodbye to everyone he went ahead to the military training boot camp focused on becoming a good soldier. Thoughts like his life without Jilly and their ideas of a perfect life would often take over him, but he had no other option except to let them go. What should he do? Follow his dreams or follow his dad’s dream?

He trained for almost a year and would return home during breaks but would never meet his girlfriend as he thought meeting her would again put him out of focus and he will start imagining the same stuff that he overcame again. She understood David’s feeling and never went to his house to meet him, she would see him from a distance and weep but never had the courage to go and have a conversation.

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