PART 3
He searched her everywhere but couldnt find her.. He passed a park in his car.. He frowned and reversed his car to the park.. It was the park he and kalpi often come to play with sammy, pakhi and maya during childhood..He saw her white Audi parked there at the entrance.. He stopped his car immediately and unbuckled his seat belt before rushing towards the car.. He looked through the window but to his surprise she was not inside the car..He was hell worried and placed his hand on his forehead.. When he looked around, his eyes fell on her fragile body sitting on the bench.. The same bench he and her used to sit and talk while their friends, sammy, pakhi and maya play with the swings there.. She was doing nothing but sitting there staring at an empty face.. Raghav sighed in relief seeing her safe and sound.. He quickly took steps towards her and stopped in front of her.. Feeling someone's presence she raised her eyelashes and see him.. Her eyes flashed surprise ness seeing him..
K: " ra..raghav..", she muttered softly not knowing whether he is there for real or she is dreaming..
R: " u know what is the time now?", he asked with anger flashing on his face..
K: " 3.00am..", she said calmly looking at her wrist watch...
Raghav gritted his teeth in anger.. He inhaled and exhaled to calm himself..
R: " u know, diya di is worried about u.. Why ur phone is switched off?"
Kalpi frowned and looked at her phone..
K: " battery dead..", she said showing him the phone..
R: " u should have gone home.. What r u doing here? Its not safe for a girl to be here alone at this time.. What if something happens to u? Do u understand what am i trying to tell u?", he asked irritated seeing her sitting there unaffected..
K: " why does it matters to u if something happens to me? We are not even in friendly terms?", she asked calmly..
Raghav closed his as he also doesnt know why it affects him.. He took his phone from his pocket and dialled diya di's number..
R: " hello, diya di.. I found her.. Dont worry she is safe.. Haan i will drop her home.. Haan ok.."
R: "talk to diya di. Tell her that u r fine..", he said forwarded his phone which she accepted it without protesting..
K: " hello.."
D: " kalpi, where are u? Why u r not home yet? U r ok nah?", she started crying..
Kalpi closed her eyes..
K: " di stopped crying.. Im ok.. I will be home soon..Bye..", she said frustratedly and cut the call before giving back the phone to raghav..
Raghav shook his head seeing how she talks to diya di..
R: " come let me drop u home..."
K: " i can go by myself.. I have my car here.."
R: " its ok.. U lock the car here and ask ur driver to take it from here tomorrow.. Now come let me drop u home.."
But, kalpi sat there unaffected..
R: " oh come on.. Can u pls stop being stubborn at least now? Tonight is my wedding but im standing here begging u to go home.. So, can u pls stop being problematic for others?", he said angrily..
K: " i told u nah raghav.. I can go myself.. And as for troubling u, im sorry.. I didnt ask u to be my saviour or take care of me.. So, pls... U.. U better go as its ur wedding..I want to stay here for some time.. And i will go home after that..", she said in matching anger..
Raghav sighed and sat beside her with a huff.. Kalpi looked at him through the corner of her eyes and sat there quietly..
*silence persists*
K: " this park has a lots of memories nah?", she asked softly..
R: " hmmm...", he said a small smile forming on his face..
The five of them used to play every evening after school.. They usually play hide and seek.. Sammy will be the one who always be the person who searches the other four.. Raghav and kalpi used to hide together while maya and pakhi together.. But these two, kalpi and raghav used to forget that they are in the game.. They usually go somewhere in the park and eat ice cream forgetting the other trio.. They will be back after a long time to gain the angry glares from the other trio especially sammy.. He used to scold raghav that he always being partial to kalpi.. Kalpi used to tease sammy that she comes first to raghav.. Kalpi and sammy are like tom and jerry but they were very good friends.. ( but now, he hates her for hurting raghav..)
K: " ur.. Ur would be is pretty..", she said all of a sudden..
Raghav looked at her while her eyes still staring in front..
R: " yes she is.. In fact, she is a very kind hearted girl as well.."
K:" does she know about..(after a short pause).. Us?"
R: " yeah.. She knew that we were in relationship..", he said as calm as he can to show that she is no more important to him..
K: " she didnt feel bad when I attended the engagement right?"
R: " why she would be hurt? She is not insecure like others.. She is a mature girl unlike others.. She knows how to differentiate between right and wrong..", he indirectly described kalpi's flaws..
K: " u dont have to use the word ' others' when u r talking about me raghav.. U can straight way say she is not like me.. An emotional fool, immature thinking girl and doesnt know how to compromise.. Thats what u always describe me nah?", she asked while a single tear slipped from her eyes and she wiped it quickly..
Raghav noticed that..
R: " pls dont start crying..", he said frustrated..
K: " can u pls stop giving instructions on what should and shouldn't i do? U always do that nah?"
Raghav turned his face to other side..
R: " because u always do that nah? U dont care about others except ur damn self..", he gritted his teeth in anger..
K: " and what u know is to rate others..", she snapped back..
R: " look.. I am not here to fight with u.. And it doesnt carry any importance in my life.. U just have been problem in my life... Why did u come to my engagement today?", he poured his hatred in words..
K: " fine.. I dont know why i came there.. And now im very well clear that my presence was not much.. No.. Not at all welcomed there.. Hmm.. Even sammy asked me why did i came there..", she said giving a sarcastic smile..
R: " u should have known that earlier..", he snapped back..
K: " fine.. I was wrong and I said sorry..", she said irritated..
Raghav gave a sarcastic laugh..
R: " for the first time u accepted that u were wrong and some more u said sorry.."
K: " but it is not first time u point at others about their mistakes..", she countered back..
R: " look.. Dont start again what we have been doing this for more than 10 years.. I want to end everything.. So, pls.."
Kalpi wiped her tears with the back of her palm and kept silent..
R: " look its 4am.. Let me drop u home..", saying he stand up..
He turned to see her still sitting there like statue.. He rolled his eyes..
R: " at least for once listen to me.. Come..", kalpi looked at him hurt and stood up before following him to his car..
The whole ride to kalpi's house was silent till raghav's phone rang..
R: " hello.. What is it sammy?", he asked uninterested..
S: " raghav.. Where are u? U know what time is it?"
R: " i will be back in half an hour.."
S: " u found her?", he asked looking at vikram singhania..
R: " hmmm...", he said looking at kalpi who was looking outside the window..
S: " raghav, she..."
R: " we will talk after i come back..", saying so he cut the call..
Soon his car entered the premise of kalpi's house.. He stopped the car in front of the main gate.. She was about to open the car and go, and thats when he gripped her by wrist.. She looked back at him.. Her face was red and puffy due to crying.. He leaned forward and wiped the traces of tears on her face.. Their faces are inches close.
R: " im sorry if i hurt u with my words earlier.. Im sorry for everything.. ", he said softly and their breaths intermingled each others..
They were pulled nearer to each other unknowingly.. Both closed their eyes feeling the proximity.. Their lips comes closer.. But before they could share the kiss, ragahv squeezed his eyes tightly before distancing himself from her in a swift motion.. He held the steering wheel tightly for loosing control.. Kalpi opened her eyes and looked at him before lowering her eyes.. Diya came there running.. Seeing her running towards them, both of them came out of the car.. Diya came and hugged kalpi tightly..
D: " kalpi.. Are u out of mind? U know how much worried i am? I couldn't even sleep the whole night worrying about u.. Dad and tarun ( diya's husband) also not here.. You freaked me out.", she said crying..
K: " im not dead di!! Im still alive!! And if u hurt urselves worrying about me in this condition ( she was 7 months pregnant), then others will put even that blame on me..", she said looking at raghav for which he rolled his eyes..
Kalpi walked inside her house without giving heed to the duo who were standing at the entrance..they looked at her retreating form...
D: " raghav, thanks a lot for searching for her.. Im really very sorry for disturbing u on your wedding day.."
R: " no, its ok diya di.. U dont have to say sorry for that.. Her car is at the park..."
D: " its ok.. Prem will be here later in the morning.. I will ask him to take the car.."
R: " so, she is going to US with prem? How is he?"
D: " yeah.. She is going to US tomorrow... Prem is fine.. Actually, uncle and aunty want kalpi to stay with them at US as i will be going to canada after a week and kalpi will be alone here as u know.. Dad.. He is always traveling for his business.. So, its better if she stays with uncle, aunty and prem..", raghav just nodded his head..
( prem is kalpi and diya's cousin brother.. Same age of ragna..)
R: " so...hmmm.. I take ur leave..bye.. Take care..", diya just nodded her head while he drove back to the hotel..
Raghav parked his car and went to his room exhausted.. When he opened the room door, he found his father with sammy.. She looked down and entered the room..
R: " papa.. U r still awake?", he asked..
V: " i should ask u the question raghav.. U r the groom.."
R: " papa.. Its just that.."
V: " i know.. Sammy told me.. Is she alright?", he asked..
Raghav nodded in yes..
S: " actually where she was? Y she didnt go home?"
Raghav looked at his father and then at sammy..
R: " woh.. She.. She was sitting in the park.. The park we all used to play after school..", he said softly..
S: " park? Then why u took so long to come back?"
Raghav bowed his head and closed his eyes..
R: " she wanna sit there for a while.."
S:" and u obeyed her..", he said giving a knowing look..
R: " no sammy.. She didnt ask me to stay there with her.. She said she will sit there for a while and leave.. But.."
S: " but ur heart didnt let u to leave her alone there.."
Raghav clenched his jaw and looked at sammy before looking back at his father.
R: " papa, u tell me.. How can i let her alone at that time? A lot of things happening nowadays in mumbai.. She is a girl.. What if something happens to her.. Thats y i..", he tried reasoning..
V: " I understand raghav... Ok leave this topic.. Go to sleep.. If not u will look tired during ur wedding..", raghav nodded his head wordlessly..
Vikram opened the door but stopped and looked back at raghav..
V: " raghav," he called making both raghav and sammy look at him..
V: " u still have time..", he said giving a small smile..
Raghav looked on..
S: " uncle, what are u saying?", he asked unbelievably..
Vikram sighed..
V: " he knows what im saying..", he said while his eyes on raghav..
He left the room.. Raghav looked at the closed door and without uttering a single word he went and lie on the bed to sleep.. Sammy looked confused but he too went to sleep...
Uff... Done.. But the story is not done yet.. Still two chapters left... Already wrote them but thought to update it later..lol.. Till then, dont forget to hit the like button and leave ur precious comments..