I WILL BE THERE(AR) part 13(inst.) pg 109 06/06 - Page 18

PART 3

It's a nice and beautiful morning. The weather is calm and the morning breeze has a little sting of cold. Riddima has taken to jogging. Today she is going to join Sanjeevani as the resident Gynecologist. It always was her dream and aim to comeback and work in India and for that she has turned down many lucrative offers in USA. Being really efficient and dedicated doctor she has built her won name there. Her friends there and her family all wanted to make her stay there but being the determined and stubborn girl she is, she made it to where she wants to be. And today she is going to be her first step towards her aim. She is happy as well as a bit of nervous. Not that she anyway doubts her capability but she is kind of apprehensive about coping with the new working style. She was going towards the sea and the strong wind is making her agitated nerves somewhat calm. She came in front of the sea and decided to take some rest. Locating a rock near she sat on it facing the sea, enjoying the view. She recalls the past week after she came back to India. It was all fun and amazing. The void that was created in her heart being away from her family for so long is now seems to be filled but she still doesn't have enough of it. That day after coming back to her home she met with her father Shasank and sister Anjali at evening. They had surprised her with cakes and lots of gifts and after that they all gone out for a family dinner that night. A smile appears on her face thinking about that day. She is enjoying all the caring and pampering that is going on for her. Why not? After all she is the apple of their eyes and the princess of the family. She had been traveling the whole city from last two days taking in the feeling of being home. Her face adorned with a huge and mischivious smile remembering her and Anjali's chatting and gossiping about their life and latest crushes till the wee hours of morning. How had she missed all these!! Her sister is always been the best buddy of her and even after being so long away from home and having so many friends the relation still remains the same.

But then there is also something that does not fall under the category of her merry experience of being at home and she can certainly point out the two most definite reasons. The smile of her face disappears thinking of those two reasons. One of them being those gray- blue eyes, which without any concrete reason, had engraved in her mind from the time she has set her eyes on them. And the other one being that damn Armaan Mallik. Going to the first reason she finds herself thinking about those magnificent eyes once more and the pain that was hidden in them. So intense and penetrating. She was not been able to stop herself from thinking about them more and more. Her curiosity to know what caused that much intense emotion in those eyes is very much overwhelming and weird for herself also. She was never affected by anything like this before and to her amazement she doesn't even pin point the motivation behind her curiosity. For a starter she doesn't even know that guy and WHY does she even care anyway? But then something is there that could not let her forget those eyes. Something, that even made her dream about them every night after that incident. What is happening? She shakes her head to shrug off the image of those eyes as they again appeares before her.

She tries to concentrate on the second reason of her discomfort and her jaw clenches as the name of the problem comes to her mind. . Armaan Mallik. That name somehow makes her irritated to no ends. She has thought that she has closed the chapter named Armaan Mallik after talking to her mom. But how wrong she was been? That name seems to chase her every now and then. She finds it really annoying that everyone in her family is fascinated with him. His name came at every three words out of ten that they talked. Armaan is this, Armaan is that. .disgusting. It is as if he has casted some spell on them. And the last straw of her patience had broken when even her dad said that Armaan is a nice guy and he was definitely been blocked by some work that is why he was not able to pick her up . She even remember her dad's exact words " Beta. . tum usse galat samajh rahi ho. . .he is a really nice boy. . .jarur koi kam main phas gaya hoga . .U will surely like him when u met him. . ." and she fumed at the way her dad supported him over her. She was never used to this. She is the princess of her dad. She somehow felt that the Armaan guy was taking her place. Though that is a juvenile thought but she can not help feeling jealous as well as hell angry on that Armaan . She found that the guy had already managed to get on her nerves even before she has met him and she prayed to god that she doesn't have to look at his face. But she doesn't have that much luck as she found out that he leaves the same locality just two or three house down the lane and more over that he works at Sanjeevani with them. How she is going to tolerate him?

The alarm on her mobile started off startling her and indicating the end of her reverie and making her realize that she have to go back if she doesn't want to get late on her first day at work. Sighing she stepped down of the rock and started to move towards the direction of her house. She has hardly taken some steps when she finds something collides with her running in with a great speed. She lost her balance at the impact of the sudden force and falls on the sand. She doesn't know what happens all of a sudden but then comes out of her dazed state when she hears some muffed sounds of sobs. She looks in front only to find out a small boy of age in between six to seven was lying on the sand. She understood that she had collided with that boy. She notices that the boy has cut his arm by falling down and she at once becomes alarmed. She gets up and makes the boy stand up also. He was crying and she tries to console him. " Hey beta. .jyada jor se lagi? Don't worry. . sab thik ho jayega. .See. .I am a doctor . .main tumhari pain bilkul thik kar dungi. . ok?. . don't cry . ."

The boy looks at her with his big teary eyes and said in a muffling voice. "Promise. ."

She smiles at the boy's cuteness. She said, " Promise. ." ruffling his hair and just when she is about to take him in her arms, a pair of hands snatched him from her hold. She was more than shocked to see the man who is now holding the kid and searching frantically on his body to find if there is any other wound. How can she not recognize him? It's only his eyes that had made her so restless in last few days. She has never imagined seeing him this soon and she feels strangely happy at this unexpected meeting. But who is this little boy? Is he his son? Seems like that and she feels a kind of disappointment deep down her heart thinking of him as married and being father of a boy. But then why does she care if he is? She shrugs off the feeling and comes out off her dazed state hearing that man's concerned voice. .

" Tell me . .aur kahan lagi? Is it paining too much?. .let me see"

and tries to talk to him. " Wo . .actually . .he. ."

He turns to her at once and she stops midway seeing the anger blazing in his eyes. " Can't u bloody use ur eyes? ? Yea fir neend main chal rahi thi?? " He shouts in anger.

She becomes stunned at his rude tone. She fumbles with her words " Wo. .no. .wo main. .wo. ." and she was cut in again by his remark,

" Wo main . .wo WHAT?. .u know something? . .bhagwan ne ankhe di hain dekne ke lia. . But u doesn't seem to know that. .jagte hue sapne dekhne hain to apne ghar main raho. . don't come outside so that people get hurt by u. ." he continues yelling at her.

With his every word her anger rose. How dare he speak to her like that? What does he thinks of himself? She now regrets that she once thought of him as a good man and began to respect him. But he surely doesn't deserve that respect. He is actually a rude and arrogant guy. She yelled "Excuse me. . what the hel ." but she stops seeing him closing on her with red eyes

"Its just ur luck that he is not injured that much. . so better thank God for that. .and keep that mouth shut of urs. ." he seethed dangerously right on her face. She stepped back a little seeing that rage in his eyes. He turns back and disappears taking the boy in his arms.

She stood there motionless taking in what just happened right now. She is red with anger and insult. She never thought she has to face such a day and to thought of it she has a soft corner for him even some moments ago. She now wants to kick herself for that. She doesn't know why she felt tongue tied in front of him in the first place but she promised herself not to repeat that mistake again and give him taste of his own medicine if she ever meets him. Nobody can just walk away insulting Riddhima Gupta. And with that resolve she went out from there..

He placed the little boy on his car seat and took out a first aid kit from his dashboard. He was attending his wounds when the boy speaks out. "Why did u scold that didi?"

He stops doing what he is doing and looks up at him. "Because she has hurt u. . and u know that I can't see u in pain or crying. ."

"But that didi hasn't done anything. .It was my fault. . . I myself collided with her. ." the kid speaks again.

That man gets shocked " WHAT??".

" Yes . .When u buying me ice-cream I saw a little puppy running and I tried to catch it. . .i was running behind it and didn't saw that didi coming and collided with her. . wo didi to mujhe console kar rahi thi. ." the boy narrates the whole event to him and his face became red with embarrassment and shame.

He flinched realizing how and what he had told her. What she must be thinking? " Shit. . why didn't u told me then??. ." he mutteres asking the little boy. .

"Apne tou bolne ka koi chance hi nahi dia. ." The little kid states matter of factly and he knew that is the truth.

Earlier when he came back with the ice cream he doesn't found him in car and looked for him frantically then he noticed him lying on the sand with a lady and crying. He just assumed that it's the fault of that woman. He lost control of his senses and blasted her. He doesn't even give any of them any chance to explain. He shakes his head disapproving his own act. He should hav acted maturely instead of being impulsive. But he can't control himself if he sees him in pain. "So what u think?? . .should I apologize to her??" he asks the kid meekly and when he nods in affirmative he takes him in his arms and comes back to the place where he had saw her. But he was too late as there was no one. He sighed in disappointment and decides to apologize to her the first thing if they meet again.