Chapter 99 - Parting Ways.

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The original title of this chapter was - 

CHAPTER 99 - (It's almost a freaking century of chapters and now I have freaking forgotten how to freaking name the chapters of my own freaking book!)

But Wattpad is one unaccomodating walnut so the title was Chapter 99 - (Title - Help Needed)

But then yours truly wrote the end of the chapter and I realized what the title should be!

Also, See- I have not been to a train station in Paris ~yet~ so there's stuff in it that might just be my imagination (Imma gonna wing it - ~life motto~) WAI THO ? CUZ YOLO!

SAHIL'S POV

I had known about Ragi's annoyance whenever I tried to pay for her, but seeing her break down like that, explaining to me the reason why she feels so, made me start looking at her in a different light. 

At first I always felt like - 'Lemme pay for this' and 'Lemme pay for that.' I always felt like I could try to make her life easier, I could try to make her feel less worried about money and other things, but after our discussion in the kitchen yesterday, I realized that - 

Ragi doesn't need my help. 

She doesn't need anyone's "help".

She is fine on her own. Absolutely fine. 

She doesn't need a hero in her story. 

She is her own hero. 

She doesn't 'need' me.

Or anyone!

She is the Queen and the Commander-in-Chief of her own army and I do not need to tell her how to fight a war. 

She freaking knows it so well because she has done it a thousand times over. 

What I can do is - support her. Be by her side. Just simply be there for her. And that is definitely what I think she wants from me. Or for anyone in her life!

That's it!

And that helped me shift my focus from trying to make her life easier to trying to make myself more available to her. 

The weekend that we spent was more emotionally relaxing and stress-free for both of us. We both knew what we expected from each other, and so when the time would come to pay for the ferry ride, or the food, there wasn't the 'I will pay', 'No, I will pay' argument between us. It was more natural now. I would pay for the lunch, Ragi would pay for the dinner. I would pay for the ferry ride towards the other island, Ragi would pay for it on the way back. 

It was becoming easier, living as two. 

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The day soon came by when we had to say goodbye to the beautiful island of Corsica.

For the first time, I felt bittersweet leaving a vacation home, firstly because it had been so, so many years since I (and also Ragi) took an actual vacation and secondly, I had a really good time here with Ragi. I would not imagine saying this, but I have some wonderful memories of this place and I would like to return here for sure, with Ragi nonetheless. 

I was standing by the door, our bags in the car I had rented to take to the airport, waiting for Ragi.

Ragi smiled at me, and then turned towards the house, taking in the living room, the kitchen , the room upstairs, and then she bowed down a little, to the living space and said, "Thank you house, for taking care of us, for giving us such beautiful memories. Arigato Gozaimasu."

          

Arigato Gozaimasu - Ragi had been asking me to teach her words in the languages I knew, and I taught her Arigato Gozaimasu - Thank you very much in Japanese. 

She then turned around and came towards me, smiling. 

"You said 'Thank you' to the house?" I asked surprised.

"Yes, I did. We should thank the house, na? It was the roof on our heads for so many days, it gave us so much love. We should always thank the house we live in." 

And then she hopped, skipped and jumped out of the house.

Ragi has this thing, you know - she will say the most profound of things to you, and then she will simply hop, skip and jump or waltz away, like it was nothing, like it was just something random she just said, while you stand there thinking about how you never thought about something like that you whole damn life, how you have lived your life till that point without that kind of thought or knowledge.

I looked at the living space, and then after a thought or two, bowed down a little, and said, "Th-Thank you."

I then locked the house and went towards the car. Ragi looked back at the house and gave it one big flying kiss and then off we went away. 

We stopped in between to give the AirBnB keys to the person who owned it, and then we left for the airport. 

We had a flight to catch that would take us to Paris, and then from there, it was the Eurail. 

Deciding to travel over the weekday instead of the weekend also helped us beat the usual traffic at the airport. 

Soon after we took off from Corsica, the beautiful islands of Corsica ended and the blue waters greeted our sight. And then, it was the plains of France that welcomed us. Soon we were at the airport in Paris from where we took a taxi to the train station. 

Even the train station in France looked like a museum. Especially to Ragi who was waiting and doing a full 360 degrees turn-around to take in the sight of the train station. 

"It's SO PREEEETTY!!!!" She would exclaim everytime I would laugh at her childlike reaction. 

And then we went in, and it felt like every other train station we had been to. It was crowded, with people rushing to either get their tickets or to catch their trains. 

Soon we found the platform where our train was going to depart from, and as luck would have it, our train was already there!

After clearing the immigration processes and putting our suitcases in the luggage compartment, we got on the train, ready for our trip to London. 

Our compartment wasn't very full. Ragi sat on the window seat while I sat down next to her. And once the journey started, watching the scenery from the window was a peaceful as you could imagine. Our ears would pop when we would go down in a tunnel, but apart from that it was a wonderful journey, one that I probably might not have taken had Ragi not asked me to. 

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The 2 and a half hour train journey ended sooner than we expected, and once again we got off on a train station - this time in London. 

"Greg will be somewhere here..." I heard Ragi mumble as we got off. 

"RAGINI!" We heard someone shout from the back. 

And soon enough we saw a tall human making his way towards us, almost running. As soon as he was close enough, Greg engulfed Ragi into a big hug and lifted her off the ground and twirled her around. Their hug lasted for a good 1 minute. 

I just read the whole storyy like the whole 99 chapters+your extra author notes which were really awesome and I need to tell you this that you are amazing..so freaking amazing.I like the way you portray ragini and the way sahil loves ragini and how everyone as in all her friends and family care for her and how she is the most amazing person.It feels as if ragini is real...as if she is living right beside..as if all this is happening right in front of me and you know what I just can't help but smile at the kind of the relationship ragini shares with everyone,with naomi,with sahil,with greg,with her mother,with everyone and go like Awww..her passion for cooking,her enthusiasm inspires me and I don't know what to say more..I am just so so so in love with this book.You know I am a hindi reader but I still read the english meaning that you give of hindi slangs like yaar or jaan..I don't know why I just love doing so..you know there's so much to say and I really can't figure out what all to say..get me?..I just....just get it that I really love this book and I love you for giving me this book anddd I want to say Thankyou for writing ragini..ekdum vaddaaa vala thankyou..and now I am going to wait for your next update..hope it comes out soon❤The comment is kinda a mess like one thing leading to another which is totally unrelated but I really can't help it there is too much to express..❤

5y ago

Super update and I'm sooooooo excitedddddddd for the 100th chapter. Update sooonnnnnn. 😘❤️

5y ago

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