My world shattered in a single moment. Outside my window, the vibrant colors of Basel drained away, replaced by a dull, suffocating gray. I didn’t pack a suitcase; I simply threw a few essentials into a bag, my hands shaking so violently I could barely pull the zipper shut. Every breath felt like I was inhaling shards of glass. A deep, hollow gloom settled into my bones. I had no idea what would happen next or how I would survive. First Saurav’s father, then my sister, and now… I quickly pushed the thought away. I couldn't,wouldn't, think that about Saurav.
The flight back to India was the longest journey of my life. I spent hours staring at the clouds, thinking of my husband. He belonged in the sky, but not like this. Tears threatened to spill, but I wiped them away fiercely. I couldn't break down. Nothing had happened to him. He was okay. I knew he was okay.
When I finally arrived, Abhiraj was waiting. His face told me everything I didn't want to know, everything I wasn't ready to face. His eyes were bloodshot, and his shoulders slumped as if he were carrying the weight of the world. He looked like he hadn't slept in days.
"Where is he? Is he at the hospital?" I whispered the moment I reached him. Abhiraj didn't answer. He silently took my bagand led me toward a dark SUV. "We aren't going to the hospital, Kavya. We’ve been summoned to the Air Force station."
We took a flight he had already booked and reached Assam. The drive to the base was silent and terrifying. When we arrived, the heavy iron gates swung open, and the sight of officers in uniform made my heart race. Abhiraj led me into a sterile, quiet briefing room. Maps were spread across a large table, and an officer with graying hair stood waiting for us.
"Mrs. Kavya Chauhan?" he asked softly. I could only nod.
"I am Group Captain Sharma. Please, sit down."
"I don't want to sit," I said, my voice trembling. "Just tell me where my husband is. What happened to him?"
The Captain sighed, his eyes fixed on the map. "Three weeks ago, Saurav was on a high-altitude training mission over the dense forests of Assam. His jet suffered a catastrophic technical failure, and communication was lost instantly."
"Three weeks?" I gasped, clutching the edge of the table for support. "Why am I only finding out now?"
"It was a classified mission, and the search area is incredibly difficult terrain," he explained. "We sent out rescue teams immediately. They located the crash site ten days ago."
He reached into a drawer and pulled out a small plastic bag. Inside was a charred flight suit patch with the nameSAURAVstitched onto it, and a metal watch with a cracked dial.
"The jet hit the mountainside at a very high speed," the Captain continued. "The wreckage is scattered across a deep ravine. We found the shattered remains of the aircraft, but..." He hesitated, glancing at Abhiraj before looking back at me. "We have combed the entire area. There is no sign of a body."
"Then he's alive," I said, a spark of hope igniting in my chest. "If there’s no body, he must have ejected! He’s out there waiting for help!"
The Captain’s expression didn't change; it remained painfully professional. "The ejection seat was found within the wreckage, still partially attached. The fire was intense. In these cases, sometimes... there is nothing left to find. We are continuing the search for another week, but officially, he is being listed as Missing in Action."
I stared at the watch in the bag. The hands were frozen at the exact second the jet had gone down. I wasn't allowed to go to the site; it was too dangerous, too remote, and too painful to see. I was stuck here, in a cold office, looking at a broken watch instead of my husband’s face.
Abhiraj placed a hand on my shoulder, but I pulled away. A strange, hollow coldness was spreading through me. Saurav wasn't dead, but he wasn't here. He was lost in a forest thousands of miles away, and I was trapped in a reality where I didn't know whether to mourn him or keep waiting.
"He’s coming back," I whispered to the empty room, clutching the cold plastic bag against my heart. "Saurav always finds his way home."
___________
Chapter 46
KAVYA
The following seven days were a blur of gray skies and whispered apologies. I stayed in a small guest house near the base, waking every morning with the same desperate prayer on my lips. I didn’t care about the classified reports or the technical jargon the officers used; I only cared about one thing: the search.
But the news never changed.
"The terrain is too unforgiving, Mrs. Chauhan," Group Captain Sharma told me on the final day. His voice was kind, but it carried the weight of a death sentence. "We have expanded the perimeter twice. We found more fragments of the fuselage, but... nothing else. Given the impact and the fire, the committee has decided to cease active recovery operations."
"Cease?" The word tasted like poison on my tongue. "You’re just going to leave him there?"
"He will be honored as a hero," he said softly.
They spoke about him in the past tense. To them, Saurav was a file to be closed, a name for a memorial plaque. But to me, he was the man who squeezed my hand when I was nervous, the man whose laughter filled every corner of my soul. My heart didn't feel the emptiness of death; it felt the agonizing pull of a thread that hadn't been broken yet.
"He isn't dead," I whispered, my voice cracking. "You don't know him. He’s a survivor."
Abhiraj eventually forced me to leave. I was a ghost of myself, my eyes swollen from crying until no more tears would come. I had prayed until my knees ached, begging for a miracle, but the only response I received was the cold, hard reality of official documents.
I received a call from Avni and her husband, Aryan, a Major in the Army. Aryan tried to explain the logistics to me, but I heard nothing. They had my ears, but they didn't have my mind or heart; those were wandering somewhere near the crash site, searching for my husband.