- Part 1
"Aye unguthi tere vaaste..."
Baldev had finally managed to be courageous enough to say that and hold the gift in front of her that he brought to express his feelings for her. Veera, standing in front of him, was taken aback. "Dusra gift aur woh bhi ring?" she wondered and the next moment, she looked worried. "Kahi yeh mainu---" she stopped her thoughts to overpower her mind. Shaking her head, she brushed all her doubts away since she was sure that Baldev would never have such feelings for her.
"Aise ki dekhri hai? Pasand nahi aai ki?" Baldev frowned and was about to put the finger ring in the blue box when Veera prevented him from doing so. "Rukja!"
Instantly Baldev glowed in happiness. "Tainu pasand aai ki?" he was thrilled. "Ab toh tu mere se naaraz nahi hai na?" hopeful, he sounded.
Veera took the ring from his hands and hesitantly, put it in the index finger of her left hand, while Baldev was extremely delighted to see her accepting his gift. "Naaraz nahi hu, mainu pata hai ki tune kuch bhi jaan buchke nahi kia." she smiled in assurance.
Suddenly Baldev felt himself in the top of the world. She had forgiven him and even accepted the ring he had gifted her. Did it mean that they were now lovers? As if boyfriend and girlfriend in modern style? Baldev thought and inwardly danced in his mind. Grinning, he waved farewell to her and quickly left in excitement.
"Aaj kal isko hua ki hai? Ajeeb behave kar raha hai." Veera thought in her mind and walked back to her home.
**
Later in the evening, Baldev was passing by Veera's house. He froze his steps, walked back and looked at her window, wondering if he was going to be lucky enough to get a glimpse of her. But she was not there, even after he waited for more than an hour. Sadly he was going back but stopped again, seeing Veera and Gunjan walking back home.
"Veera, aye unguthi kisne di tainu? Bada pyaara hai.. Dikha mainu." Gunjan held Veera's hand and started trying to take the ring off, while Veera formally smiled and stood quiet since she had to respect her sister-in-law no matter whether she liked to do so or not.
Baldev, peeping from a corner, was furious to see her letting Gunjan trying to take the ring off. Something pinched his heart - something too hurtful to bear. Unable to hold himself back anymore, he walked to them.
"Baldeva, tu itthe?" Veera curiously questioned.
Baldev, without uttering a word, grabbed her wrist coldly and took off the ring from her finger in a harsh way, unintentionally causing its sharp end to scratch her skin.
"Aah!" whined Veera in pain.
Baldev stared at her in shock. He unknowingly had hurt her. He actually did. But how could he do so? He glanced at her finger that was bleeding. His heart ached and eyes were moist. Something did happen to him immediately. What the hell was wrong with him? She just had a tiny scratch and nothing else. Why was he so panicking about it?
"Aaahh! Jis jagah pe thodi der pehele chot lagi thi, wahi pe phir se laga. Aahh!" Veera covered her cut and rushed inside her house. Gunjan followed her, but Baldev was standing still for sometime.
"Usse sirf ek kharoch aai toh mainu inna dard kis vaaste hua? Woh toh shayad mainu koi pyaar-vyaar bhi nahi karti, aye janne de baad bura kyun lag raha hai?" These were the two questions that kept bothering him from then. He walked away like a lost, confused soul.
**
Baldev kept thinking about the ring incident all night. He seemed to suffer from insomnia since few days anyways. He felt that something was not right, in fact there was a huge emptiness in his life. But what was that? Veera? But he thought that she loved him and he was responding to it? Of course he was not the one falling for her first, and he was sure of that. Lots of unanswered questions that crept in his brains and playing with it in the worst way. Annoyed, he adjusted himself in a sitting position on his bed. It was 5am in the morning. His eyes were drowsy, but didn't shut off, and with every second passing, his frustration of not getting any answers to his questions was increasing. Soon his phone rang. "Inni subha kaun phone kar raha hai?" He wondered confusedly and picked it up.
"Praaji, siyaapa ho gaya, jaldi se itthe aa jaiye. Ranvi de ghar..." Jaggi pleaded.
"Ki hoya? Inna dara hua kis vaaste lag raha hai?" Baldev questioned, baffled and really tensed.
**
"VEERA!" Ranvi screamed at the top of his lungs and looked around the entire house that was burning fiercely with heavy fire. "VEERAAA!" he ran upstairs to check.
Ratan, Chaijee and the entire Pind people were gathered outside the house. "Kaafi din se bijli di samasyaa thi, agar main waqt pe theek karwaati toh aaj aye short circuit na hota." Ratan guiltily confessed and cried her heart out. "Koi mere bachcho nu bachaao." she pleaded in a high voice and was struggling to free herself from the women who were preventing her to go inside.
Baldev came there running and was horrified to see the house burning. He stared at Ratan who were yelling and requesting people to save her kids. He saw Gunjan and Chaijee standing beside her, and the bitter realization dawned upon him. "Ranvi aur Veera andar hai!" His eyes widened, dumbstruck and without wasting a second, he ran inside, kicking the front door and opening it.
"VEERA!" Baldev screamed and ran around. He rushed upstairs and was shocked to see Ranvi lying on the floor, unconscious. "Ranvi! Oye Ranvi.. Uth!" Baldev went to him and shook him but he was not responding. Afterwards he held Ranvi by his arms and shoulders and made him stand up. Dragging him, he walked to the front entrance and took him out.
"Ranvi puttar! Ranvi tu theek hai... Ranvi..." Ratan patted his cheeks, but he was not waking up. In a moment, when she looked around, she was flabbergasted. "Baldev, Veera nu dekha? Woh bhi andar hai." she informed him, scared.
Baldev remembered suddenly that Veera was yet not safe. Running back inside with all his energy before anyone could stop him, he looked around. "VEEERA!" He ran upstairs and finally saw her in her bedroom.
"VEERA!" He broadened his eyes in shock and ran to her. "Veera!" he patted her cheeks and shook her to make her conscious, but she seemed lifeless at that moment. He noticed the burns on the left side of her body and felt as if his world was shattered instantly. Tears rolled down his cheeks to see her in that state. "Veera!" He tried waking her up again and at the end, she opened her eyes. "Aaahhh!" she moaned in an extreme pain.
"Kuch nahi hoga tainu. Main hu itthe. Main tainu kuch nahi hone dunga." Baldev said in a breath, still frightened and panicked but was trying to be strong because he had to save her life or else he would die. This was exactly what he was feeling. He would die if god forbade, something happened to her. Brushing away all his bad thoughts, he helped her stand up and quickly began to find a way to exit.
Veera, in the meantime, was astonished to see him so tensed for her, and first of all, she was wondering why he came inside to save her life.
"Kuch nahi hoga tainu! Mere rehte tainu ek kharoch tak nahi aaegi." Baldev kept murmuring these words and was rushing outside, taking her with him by holding her waist with one hand and shoulder with the other.
"Baldev, Veerji, Beeji, Chaiji---" Veera said in a low, quiet voice as she was too exhausted and too much in pain. "Sab theek hai, tere Veerji aur Beeji bhi. Tu baahar chal jaldi." Baldev assured her.
When they was about a feet away from the front door, Baldev saw that it was burning and could fall anytime. "Veera nu sahi salamat bahar le jaana hai mainu." He repeated these words in his mind to motivate his strength and walked hurriedly, but the next moment, he saw the door was almost ready to fall. "Veera, tu jaa!" he insisted her in fear.
"Tu bhi aaega, Baldev!" Veera requested him in a whispering tone, concernedly. He rolled his teary eyes as she was not listening to him even in this condition. "Veera, tu jaa pehele. Tu theek rahegi toh main bhi theek hi rahunga. Teri zindagi mere vaaste pehele maaine rakhta hai. Jaa tu!" he said in a worried tone with so much of affection and tenderness.
They were just about to get out and Baldev thought that it would not be a problem for both of them to escape the fire, but as soon as they were exiting, he saw the door was falling on them. Immediately he pushed her outside, causing her to bump with Ranvi who was now conscious. On other side, the burning door fell hard on him. "VEERAAA!" he screamed in shock.
"Tu theek rahegi toh main bhi theek hi rahunga." his words echoed in Veera's mind and a lone tear fell from her right eye as darkness appeared before her and she fainted. Everyone was shocked.
**
That's all fr today! A second part will be up as soon as all you guys comment, and in detail :P Thanks fr all the love once again :)
Arjun
