Chapter 16
Zara sa baat karney ka saleeqa sikh lo tum b..,
Idhar tum lab hilatey ho udhar dill tutt jata hai...!!!!!
Raghu's POV
As she moved inside I huffed and moved under the shower. I was feeling lighter that at last that mad girl got back her thing. "Sidhe sidhe nahin lee sakti thi... itna akar kyun rahi thi..." I mumbled with a bit irritation. But still I didn't understand one thing, why she was crying at that moment?!
Whenever she looked towards me I saw that eternal pain in her eyes. why?!
I stood under the shower closing my eyes trying to calm down my wobbled head. I never ever thought that I would be that much affected by any random girl. The day I met her in Kashmir I didn't remember a single day where I didn't remind her even for a minute. He used to roam in my thought whenever I was alone, especially at night time before going to bed I used to think a lot about her. What's so special about her? What particular thing made her different than other girls I encountered? Might be her emerging strong persona which was really so rare in girls and still there was a childish innocence in her which always reflected whenever she smiled or may be something else which I couldn't understand? Keeping my hand over the wall, still closing my eyes I thought harder but didn't find my answers. Everything was so puzzling about her specially her weird behavior towards mine. her each and every posture conveyed disgust to mine but not just disgust... the thing most shook me was... that deep sorrow flickered through her eyes. Those big brown hazels seemed like wanted to cry badly and shove away it's all tears which was burning inside but like she was not allowing herself to cry. She was hiding something from the whole world and pretending to be normal but she was not actually. Something was bothering her very deeply. My doubt got hundred percent clear when she hid her tears in front of saroj aunty.
I sighed again. Why couldn't I stop myself from thinking about antara. she didn't want me to be near him, she didn't like me for some reasons, might be cause I appeared to be a goon in front of her or was it something more problematic than that?! My hands ran down my wet hairs in confusion and restlessness. Putting off the shower when I came out I heard I heard a footstep approaching. Buntiya appeared and told me, "Bhai woo ajji nee kaha aap koo jaldi aneke liye... woo bahut der se ready hoo kar baithe hain...". I was a bit confused. "ready hoo kar baithey hain?!! kyun?!!" I asked buntiya. "arey raghubhai aap bhool gaye... aaj ajji koo lee jana tha unke woo ayurvedic massage center mein... har mahine too lee jate hain aap.." buntiya remembered. Shit!! I forgot. What's happening to me?! why was I forgetting things randomly?!! "Tu ajji koo bol apun atta hain..." I told him. Buntiya left and I hurried up. Weeping myself quickly as I went to pick up my shirt I heard an irritating loud voice from the neighbor's house.
"Rhea!! Agar tune 5 min mein bathroom se nahin nikli naa too mujhse bura koi nahin hoga!!!!"
"Arey di!!... rukoo naa... nikal rahi hoon..."
A small smile pricked on my lips. I wanted it or not, she would invoke on my thought in every possible way. She would always be able to remember me about her presence near me. I was trying to shove her away from my thoughts but it was getting harder time to time.
Besides, my small resting place in balcony seemed so quite before but now, the chirpy voice of two girls always reached there. I was really irritated with noise but those two voice didn't seemed irritating at all. Rather than it filled up the silence of the place.
Antara's pov...
"Rhea hurry up please!!" I said rushing towards the door with my things. "arey di... at least let me put my shocks..." rhea said arranging her blue skirt of school uniform and her two long pyres of hair. "antara... rhea... tum log ready hoo gaye?!!" mummy rushed with our tiffin. We quickly took them and taking blessing of god we rushed outside, mummy also came with us. Soon we were standing on the pavement at the outside of our house searching for autos.
"It's nothing here mummy.." I said worriedly at the streets of basti. Not a single vehicle was inside there. "Pata nahin... aaj kya huya... har roj too auto mil jata hain yahan se... antara ek kaam kar... tu rhea ke sath basti se bahar main road pe chala jaa... wahan pee sayad mil jayegi..." mumy said.
"Okk mummy!!... chal rhea.." I said looking towards rhea. "Antara tu samhal legi naa iss sey... paucha degi naa thik thak iske school mein.. aur tu khud bhi chali jayegi naa?!! Yaa fir main unhe kahoon ki..." Before mummy's worry could reach high, I immediately stopped her. "Mummy.. mummy relax... maine kaal dekha tha... rhea kaa school mere office jane kee road mein hii parta hain...main aram se utar doongi ussey... aur maine bhi mama jii ke sath kaal pura rasta pahechan liya tha... please aap unhe pareshan mat kijiye.. office mein busy hongey naa..." I assured her. But still mummy looked so tensed. I indicated towards rjea with my eyes. she understood and both of us hugged mummy tightly from other side placing a quick peek in her round broad chick. Mummy's eyes widened. "Kyun mom.. ab aap ki tension kuch kam huyi kii nahin... dekho jadoo ki jhappi bhi de di hum logon nee.." rhea said. "Badmash!!... kya kya karte raete hoo..." mummy said with a bit loud embarrassed voice. "Chal rhea!!.." I took rhea's hand in mine and we both moved towards the road. "Samhal ke jana..." mummy said from behind. We waved towards mummy and was about to leave when another voice reached us.
"Oye nachhari!!!" someone called from behind and rhea quickly stopped and moved back. Me too looked back and saw a jeep approaching towards us. I saw an elderly women waving hand from the back seat of jeep. I remembered her, rhea's grumpy. "Grumpy!!!!..." rhea jumped and waved her hand. An automatic smile crept on my eyes too till I noticed the man at driving seat.
As soon as I faced raghu's stern face, my smile faded all of a sudden. He was rotating the steering wheel in his hand directly looking towards mine. His expression was calm and unreadable but I noticed some light flickers in his orbs. I sighed!! Just how many times I had to confront him every day? My destiny was really playing a cruel joke with me. I snapped my eyes from him before I lose control again. I didn't want to break out again. I had to face him so many times and how could I would be able to win over them if I continued to break like that. Cornel uncle always used to say that before defeating your enemy you always needed to learn to face your enemy. If possible, keep your enemy even closer than your friends so that you could keep tab on each and every move of opponent.
I was not at all good at pretending. I was always straight forward. I believed to fight my own battles face to face, but face to face battle was not a great idea when you are fighting with such kind of two faced people. They just knew the rule of back stabbing.
I composed myself with a deep breath and continued to look straightly towards him. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt like before. I was feeling stronger rather than weak and my determination was all set. Our eyes continued to look at each other trying to read our minds but I guess no one could detect. His eyes were really unreadable sometimes as if then. Stern, and calm his gaze was and I ever remembered that I saw someone' throwing such deep gaze on mine. that deep gaze really shook me at a moment. But somehow I composed myself. As he parked their jeep near me, I slowly removed my gaze from him. That old lady was grinning toward us and we smiled back. mummy also reached near us. "arey ajji kaisi hoo aap?!!" mummy asked. "main too humesha hii mast raheti hoon saroj.. tu bata... teri yee nachari aur radha rani dono ek sath kidhar chali?!" she asked chirpily. "ajji aap bhi naa... Yee radha rani nahin meri bhanji hain antara... do din pahele hii ayi hain basti hmare sath rahene.." mummy smiled towards me. "jaanti hoon re... joo dhamaka entry usne liya hain na basti mein.. har kissi koo iske barein mein pata hain..." she said aand we all laughed a bit. "waisey yee larki... agar main tere koo radha rani bulaoo too tere koo problem hain kya?!!" she asked with a frown. I smiled to her liveliness. Seriously, it was so rare in that age. She remembered me about aliya's nani who used to be that kind of fun loving and lively. "hmm!!.." I kept my finger on my chin and pretending to thought. "Waisey... naam too bura nahin hain... kya kahete hoo mummy... court mein jaa ke registry kar loon?!!" I asked throwing naughty glance towards mummy. "Antara!!!.." mummy almost pat her forehead me and rhea giggled again. I looked towards that chirpy smiling face at car's back seat and smiled widely, "Aaap koo joo man kare usssi naam se humein bulaiyen... bas pyar se bulaiyega too humein har naam manzoor hain!!..." I said. "waah ree saroj... larki too solid hain.." ajji said smiling towards saroj.
I didn't know why my eyes moved towards raghu at that moment, probably I was feeling his gaze over mine which made me look towards him. Keeping his left hand stretched on the top of cushion seat and his other hand's finger was rested over his knees. His eyes were straightly pointed towards mine. his eyes were slightly wide and lips were a bit parted. As soon as I looked towards him, he took a really deep breath and slowly looked forward ignoring my gaze. I frowned as I found his gaze really odd. The way he was observing me... it was so weird and also somehow so unreadable and deep.
Sometimes his kinds of gazes were really disturbing. It made me confuse.
I concentrated back on mumy and ajji's talk. "Rhea school jaa rahi hain aur antara uski office. Pass mein hi hain uska office, woo murcuis street ke pass... uski office ke raste mein hii rhea ka school parta hain. too maine ussey kahan kii office jate waqt rhea koo uske school mein chor de..." mummy said. "aarey too ek kaam karo naa.. hum log bhi too udhar hii jaa rahe hain.. hum paucha dete hain.." ajji offered. For a moment her proposal left all of us stunned. We stood silently for a second. "arey kya huya?!! mooh min tale par gaye kya tum logo kii..." ajji said. "Arey nahin nahin ajji... aaap kyun pareshani utha rahein hain" mummy said politely trying to avoid the matter. "Arey aaa jaoo tum dono...koi problem nahin hoogi... main bata rahi hoon naa.." the old lady ordered us sweetly and affectionately from the back seat of jeep. "haan antara.. tumlog ajji kee sath chale jaoo... waisey bhi tum aaj thore late ho gaye hoo.. iss waqt auto dhoondne jao ge.. too aur bhi jhanjhat hoo jayegi..." mummy said from side. I was almost in trance of my old jumbled thoughts that I couldn't even react to mummy's offer. "What?!!" I just said in barely audible voice and my eyes immediately snapped towards the driving seat of jeep where he was seating holding the steering wheel. His eyes were fixed at front and I clearly detected the light smirk through the hard faucet of his face. I quickly looked back to ajji, "It's okk... hum manage kar lengey... aap koo taqleef utha nee ki koi zrurat nahin.. main nahin chahti kii..." before I could finish my word ajji rolled her eyes and said, "ee radh rani aur nachari... chal uth..." she said scolding funnily leaving no option for us. Me and rhea looked towards each other with confused eyes and finally moved towards the back seat of jeep.
"Oye!!..." a taunting voice stopped our feet and we snapped back to the direction from where the voice came. Raghu peeped towards us from the front seat and said, "Sare load piche oar gaye naa too gari kee piche ka tower sahid hoo jayega... waisey bhi ajji kee double wait see pahele se hi chilla raha hain.." he mocked. We stood there in confusion. "CHINU!!!..." ajji said in loud voice rolling her eyes. "Arey ajji, gussa kyn hoo raha hain.. sach kahe raha hoon... tujhe too pata hain jeep ke piche ke paiye(wheel) mein problem hain... piche load bar jati hain too bigar jati hain!!... apun too bas yahich kahe raha tha kii dono eksath piche nahin baith sakte... ek koo too samne baithna parega.." He said looking towards our dumb face and I could literally detect the glint in his eyes. I quickly pushed rhea, "Rhea tu jaa naa.." I told her in low voice. "No way di, mujhe uss janglu ke sath nahin baithna.. paka dega mujhe.." rhea said greeting her teeth. "rhea please..." I almost begged her. she stood at my side stubbornly. "Arey chal naa... jis koo anna hain aa jaa..." raghu said in annoyed voice. "nachari tu idhar ajja... Aur antara jaa tuu samne chala jaa..." ajji said. I felt like blood dropped from my face and I stood there numb at the spot. Rhea jumped and ran at the back seat. I still stood there, dumbly not able to decide what to do. Just how long I had to bear that?! Each and every time I was trying to avoid him, to get away from him but as if like someone was pushing me to him. my whole feature started ti get stiffened thinking about that I had to seat beside him for the upcoming half an hour?! How would I manage?!!
I was so much driven into my thoughts that when I heard the sound of horn my heart jumped out badly on my chest. with a deep breath, I hold onto my pounding chest and looked towards the driving seat where raghu was pushing the horn repeatedly keeping his stern face on the road. I tried to move my feet, but they seemed like heavier than stone. It took my all life force to take each and every step towards the front seat of the car. Just some few steps seemed like journey over a stony obstacle filled path.
Raghu's POV...
Slowly, silently with stern face, antara neared to the front seat of our jeep. I was expecting her to throw that angry disgusted look to mine. But she avoided my gaze and her eyes seemed lost. She came inside and took her seat beside mine without giving me a slight glance. Her both hands were feasted together on her lap and her stern face was all focused on the road. I sighed and started the engine. Antara and rhea bid goodbye to saroj aunty. Just for that few second I saw her smiling but at the next moment she was returned back in her sad mask.
The whole 5 mins of driving there was only silence all around. No one was talking a single bit. as if like someone had sealed all of our mouth. My ajji who was as always so chirpy was thinking something very deeply looking towards the road. I couldn't see nachari's face as she was seating behind my seat and antara as usual seating at the same position like she was petrified. In between all of them I was driving car silently feeling like I had come in some deserted place where no one knew how to even talk.
"Arey itna sannata kyun hain bhai?!!" Ajji finally asked to my relief. "Eee nachari kya huya?! Mooh fulayein kyun baithi hain tu aur teri didi?!" she asked. Antara looked towards ajji twitching her neck. "Waisey tum dono kee tu ti main main kii awaz too mere kamre tak pauch jati hain..." ajji said. Antara quickly bit her tongue. The posture looked so cute and childish on her that it again caused me to twitch my lips in a small smile. "Aap ko sab sunayi deti hain.." she asked with a bit embarrassed voice. "Hmm.." ajji nodded with a smile. "Sorry... hum aap koo dubar pareshan nahin karengey... aab see aap koo koi awaz sunayi nahin degi humare ghar se.. promise." She said with another innocent gesture. "Eee.. nahin ayegi matlab... har roj awaz anni chahiye... samjhe tum dono... agar awaz nahin ayi too main tum dono kee kamre mein ja kar awaz kar ke aungi..." ajji said almost scolding them. they looked towards ajji with bewildered eyes for a moment and then bursts into laughter. "Grumpy you are too good!!.." rhea said pinching ajji's chick. I didn't even notice the road while driving. Cause my eyes were busy in observing a vibrant laughing face at my side. A smile that could even fade the sunlight! Looking at that laugh I could never imagine that she was the same girl who was always found so gloomy and sad, the girl who was crying silently at her room's balcony just some moment ago. I was feeling a strange urge to keep staring her all the time. her smile was truly MAGNETIC!
Suddenly antara's eyes fell on the road and her laugh stopped abruptly. I felt confused but still couldn't move my gaze from her. She snapped back to my face with horrific eyes which made me frown. "Samne Dekho!!!.." she screamed loudly. I looked at front and saw what's coming on the way. I coolly rounded the steering the wheel harshly moved in speed. Just passing at some inches distance from the manhole where our jeep's tower was about to fall I pushed the break and the jeep stooped with a huge sound. I took a breath and composed myself. Huff!! That was a close call. If the jeep's wheel got stuck in the open manhole we would surely gonna meet an worst accident. Ughh!! This corporation peoples. Why they always forgot to cover the open manholes?!
There was a pin drop silence inside the car again when I felt the warm and tender sensation over my left arm. I twitched my head with a frown and found antara trembling badly hugging my left arm tightly with her two hands. her forehead was kept on my shoulder and her open hairs were ruffled around her face. Peeping through those hair locks, I could see her tightly squeezed eyelids and her heavy breaths were brushing on my arm. A sudden chill ran down my fibers. On my whole life I never found myself in such a situation. I never expected that the girl who always showed her disgust towards mine so clearly would seek her security from me. Being in such a close proximity with her while there was not at all a slight distance between us, the feeling was too strange for me, still it felt amazing. She was still unaware of our positions. She squeezed my arms with her cold hands more tightly and I felt my arms brushing slightly on her chest. Unknowingly a deep breath escaped my chest as I could feel her pounding heart on my arms. I never noticed that she was so tender. That tenderness reminded me about flower. A flower of unknown valley where human couldn't reach! "Eee... Antara!!.." I called her softly. Her feature squirmed a bit but she didn't open her eyes. "Akhein khol... dar mat... sab thik hain..." I said in low assuring voice. I saw her slowly opening her trembling lids and her brown hazels peeped under those. She looked confused at first and jerked her head up to meet my eyes. Her eyes widened and an utter shock flashed in them. I remained still at my position while my arm was still imprisoned in her hands. her stunned eyeballs looked deeply inside my eyes giving me another chill in my nerves. I couldn't move my eyes from her, just couldn't!! slowly her face became colorless and fear caught her expression. Her eyes moved down and she noticed my arm in her hold. She jerked up like she got a huge shock. Without saying a single word she shifted away from mine with a heavy jerk like she had got some current. Clutching to the cushion seat of car she looked towards me with horrified and shocked eyes like she had did something forbidden activity which she was never meant to do.
ps: sorry guys... crapiest chapter of my life... don't know how u will gonna get over that🤢... as usual ready for chappals..😭
Edited by ifians - 11 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
