Never Say Goodbye-Part A
It was around three in the morning, the streetlights were shutoff, not a single living being around. You couldn't even hear the crickets anymore. They were shivering, freezing actually. With only each other to hold on too, Angad and Kripa clung to each other as they walked the path back to the hotel. Not a word from either of them, influenced by the silence that surrounded them both, they walked in hush, through the town. Their only source of light was both their cell phones, and Angad's ipod. God Bless Technology.
"We're here! We're here!" cried Kripa as she ran to the hotel building. Kripa had already said her last prayers, and wrote a goodbye text message to her parents on her way to the hotel, she was sure that she wouldn't come back alive. Angad caught up with Kripa as they entered the hotel room. Warm, cozy, and illuminated. Angad moved up in front of his bed and fell face down and hugged the quilt.
"I never thought I'd be this happy to see the hotel where my car got wrecked," he exclaimed finding a comfortable spot on the bed, and wetting it in the process. Kripa followed Angad's lead, and laid down next to him on her back.
"If I wasn't so tired, I'd kill you right now."
"Yeah, right."
Kripa rotated on the bed and made her way to kicking Angad's stomach. "Ouch," said Angad without any feeling. Kripa's kick didn't have much of an effect of Angad's very built body. "You know you had fun," said Angad after a few minutes of intermission. Kripa rolled on the other side and tried to pinch Angad. "I could have died! I was drowning!," she yelled out, but it came out as mere words.
"I saved you, so it's okay," replied Angad with his eye's closed as he drifted to sleep.
"Yeah, after I drank up half the pond!"
"Just…sleep." Angad's tired eye's couldn't hold up any longer, he was falling into deep slumber. Kripa noticed how wet Angad still was, he didn't wash up and put on some warm clothes, he'd catch a cold. And, not that it effected Kripa in anyway, but if Angad caught a cold, who'd take Kripa to California? With all her might and mental strength, Kripa got up and stood on her very weak two feet. She knelt down on the floor next to Angad, and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. "Angad," she whispered.
"Angad."
"Angad?"
"Angad!"
With the last call, Angad jumped up in shock. "What is the matter with you!" he screamed out, cranky, agitated, and extremely tired. Kripa got up and angrily gave out a sigh. Why was she here? Why couldn't she have just married Sunny like her parents wanted? Why, oh why? This was a question, Kripa asked herself many times. At times, she'd be so regretful and at time, so very grateful. The confusion was taking up all the space in her mind.
"Listen! I just woke you up so you wont get a cold, okay! So don't yell at me….please.," yelled back Kripa. It sounded a bit funny to Angad that after the assertive screaming, she'd end the sentence with…please. "What does waking me up, have to do with a cold?" asked Angad still annoyed. Kripa tried not to yell, she tried not to scream, she tried to calm down, but….it didn't work.
"Because you idiot! If you fell asleep with your wet clothes, you'd catch a cold! That's why I woke you up!"
Angad calmed down and looked at the wet bed, and his wet clothes. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she was right. If he went to sleep like this, he'd catch a terrible cold by the morning, something he or Kripa couldn't afford right now.
"Oh", said Angad.
Kripa stayed quiet. She just sat on the soaking wet bed and made a face. Angad walked up to her with his hands in his pockets and shrugged. He clearly didn't know what to say, it wasn't that he was deeply touched by Kripa's concern, or anything of that sort. He just felt that he might have shouted at her a little too much for something that was his own mistake.
"I'll go change then," he said walking to the bathroom with his clothes.
Kripa laid on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. Her thoughts drifted back to where she'd left off. Her purpose of this journey. How would it end? Her parents had called so many times, day and night, one call after another and she hadn't picked up even one. Honestly speaking, at times it would kill her to not pick up, she'd pine to hear her fathers voice, and at times, embarrassed to admit it, she'd not want to pick up, at times she'd completely forget about them. But one thing was clear, she missed them gravely. Kripa often wondered if she did the right thing, every time after much analysis she'd always get one answer, she was wrong. How could it be right to hurt your parents so much, to betray them, to ridicule them. By now everyone must've found out she ran away, by now they all knew. Tears fell down Kripa cheeks as she wondered what condition her mother must be in, restless nights, painful days…all because of her. Why was I so selfish? Why couldn't I have just waited, convinced them more, or even compromised? Kripa's mind was flooded with these questions just as her eye's were flooded with tears.
"Listen, I think the shower is a little messed up," declared Angad as he walked out of the bathroom, still drying his hair with a towel. He wore a fitted black t-shirt with his customary gray sweats. Kripa jumped up and wiped away her tears. She made way to her bag to get her clothes out, but her real motive was to hide her swollen face from Angad. Angad however wasn't fooled at all, he'd heard the cries from the bathroom and seen the tears while walking in. Still, he decided to play dumb. Kripa walked into the bathroom, and Angad watched her from the reflection on the mirror.
Angad sat on the sofa and opened up his latest reading; April 1865. Although the book was very interesting, and on the best sellers list, Angad wasn't paying any attention to it. He was simply staring at the words, only to convince himself he was reading. Angad couldn't help but think about Kripa It was no doubt that he liked her, but every time he would try to get close to her…like while they were talking in the room earlier, or in the ice cream shop, and even his attempt at the pond, every time he'd sense fear from Kripa's side. Was she afraid of me? Or was it something else? Angad wondered. These questions would lead to bigger question, like why she ran away, where was she going…would he ever see her again? With no luck at reading Angad decided to put the book down for now. He looked around the room, trying to think about something else when his eye's fell upon Kripa's bag. Not the bag really, more like the book in the bag. With much care and diligence Angad pulled the book out. The Secret. Angad couldn't help but let out a small laugh, he wasn't shocked at all that Kripa read these cheesy romance novels, but he still found it funny…he hoped her personal library contained some more books that were more…, he just couldn't pin point a word, but he hoped the books weren't romance novels. In pure reflex, Angad put the book away the minute he heard the door creak. Like a mouse caught stealing cheese, Angad ran to his bed and flopped on it. HE WAS THERE THE ENTIRE TIME.
"What were you doing?" asked Kripa.
"Huh?"
"I asked, what were you doing? I heard you running."
Angad made a face, and turned his back to Kripa. "I don't know what your talking about."
Kripa rolled her eye's and just let the topic slide. "Whatever." Angad turned back to face Kripa as she put away her clothes. She seemed so upset, so hurt. A side he'd never seen as of now. Or maybe he did and just ignored it. He so badly wanted to know why she ran away, he wanted her to share her feeling with her. Then again, he wished she didn't, because that would he'd have to do the same, and that was something he wasn't very good at. Something he didn't want to do. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.
Kripa turned around and looked at Angad annoyed. "What?"
Angad got up and walked to Kripa. He knelt down before her and looked sorry. "I said I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…yelled at you. I really didn't mean to, it's just I was tired and wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."
Kripa smiled and it melted Angad's heart like it always did. "It' okay, I'm cranky when I wake up too," she said still smiling. "Yeah, that you are," agreed Angad with a grin. Kripa popped on the bed Angad was lying down on and made herself comfy. Angad looked at her and then at the other bed that was still wet. "That's my bed," he said pointing at Kripa.
"But the other bed is wet", she replied blankly
"Yes I know, but that one is my bed, I've been sleeping there the entire time."
"But I want the warm one…"
"Yes, but that's my bed."
"Then where do I sleep?"
Angad sighed, unable to hold the argument any longer. Then to Kripa's surprise, Angad crawled up next to her and made space for himself on the same bed. Kripa's initial reaction was to move away, which she did. Then came her verbal reaction. "What!, Do you think your doing?" she asked, first in a loud tone then getting softer towards the end. "I'm going to sleep…in my bed," Angad answered. Kripa gave out a small laugh. "Angad, I'm sleeping here tonight, you sleep on the sofa."
"Why don't you go sleep on the sofa? It's my bed after all," he replied.
"Angad, you're the guy. It's your job to sleep on sofa's, the like a universal rule."
"Well, I wasn't much of a rule person. I mean, at school…really, my teachers hated me," laughed Angad.
" Angad, go to the sofa…please!"
Angad rolled his eye's. The please again, it amused Angad so very much. "Kripa, it's okay. We'll both sleep on the bed. You sleep on your side and I'll sleep on my side, it's easy." Kripa stomped her feet on the bed. "Angad, we cant just sleep on the same bed," she complained. "Sure we can, I mean it's no like we're going to be doing…" Angad was interrupted by a huge "Ewww", from Kripa. After debating for another 10 minutes, Kripa decided to just go sleep on the sofa. Angad happily consented and warmed up his bed all for himself. After losing his interest in sleeping, Angad decided to fiddle with things around him. The closest was Kripa's ipod.
"Are you serious!"
Kripa jumped up at that and stared shocked at Angad. "What's the matter?" she asked. Angad began laughing and showed Kripa her ipod. "You have…Avril Lavigne in your ipod!" he exclaimed laughing. Kripa confused at what was so funny, wanted Angad to elaborate. "Why is that funny?" she asked, getting tired of Angad.
Nothing…it's just odd. You have Chris Brown, Anberlin, R. Kelly, Simple Plan, Avril and some lady named Beathany all on the same top list. Oh, and Justin Timberlake, I must add."
"Why is that funny?" asked Kripa still confused and very annoyed. "No reason, I just never saw such a diverse list of songs before," he said with a grin.
"Why, what do you listen too?" asked Kripa with a lot of curiosity. Angad scrolled down Kripa's ipod, and laughed a little more. It really ticked Kripa off and embarrassed her a bit too. "You have some good songs, like It Ends Tonight is good, but I mean…what exactly do you listen too?" asked Angad.
"I listen to music…isn't that the point of an ipod?"
"Well, it's for video's now, and conversations too really, but I mean…what do you like; rock, hip hop, pop, blues…what is your genre, cause your ipod is like the united nations of music right here."
"I listen to it all, I listen to whatever my ears like, don't rally care about who sang it and stuff," explained Kripa getting back to her comfortable position. Is that something strange, she thought to herself, feeling a bit self conscious.
"A musical nomad," said Angad putting the ipod down and resting his head on the pillow. Kripa turned her back at Angad and closed her eye's. But she couldn't help end the conversation. "Musical racist."
"What?" asked Angad as he decided to humor Kripa.
"I said, your a musical racist."
"Kripa, racism is for races…it cant be used for music."
Kripa took a deep breath and thought for a second. She squinted her eye's and folded her hands and exhaled. "Well, then you're a…genre-ist," she said with full confidence that Angad what started laughing again. Angad didn't laugh, but he did smile. It wasn't a mocking smile, but one made when someone was awed by another. Angad loved the innocence that was in Kripa's tone, and the childlike way in which she answered. Something seen very rarely by Angad. "That's not a word," said Angad still smiling, and loving the conversation. Kripa on the other hand wanted to end it, she was very tired, and although she really did love talking about absolutely nothing with Angad, she wanted to sleep.
"When I become a rich famous person, I'll buy Oxford, and put it in their dictionary. Now go to sleep," she concluded.
"Good Night," said Angad feeling quite sleepy himself.
"Don't let the bed bugs bite," added Kripa right before drifting into sleep.
It was late, very late. Angad woke up for some water and realized it was freezing cold in the room. He quickly turned off the air condition and found himself shaking and grinding his teeth. Even in the dark, he could see Kripa. He knew she must have been cold, she didn't even have a blanket. Angad slowly walked up to her and gently touched her cheeks, they were ice cold. After a minute of inner debate, Angad picked Kripa up in his arms and took her to the bed. Kripa automatically curled in his arms and rested her head on his chest. Angad didn't know if Kripa heard it or not, but his heart was beating fast enough to win the Olympics. Steadily, he put her down on the bed, it killed him to let her go, even more when he realized how tightly she held on to his shirt. He wanted to badly to stay with her, sleep by her side and just hear her breathe all night. She looked so beautiful in the moonlight, her skin looked so velvety and the way her hair fell on her cheeks added so much grace to her beauty. She was so beautiful, Angad could just sit there, on the floor and watch her all night, like she were some exotic creature that had just descended from the heavens. What was funny about that was that Angad didn't believe in heaven. Angad slightly laughed when he realized that he didn't even notice the bump on her nose anymore. She was so ordinary and yet so exquisite.
After admiring Kripa for another few minutes, Angad made his way to the couch. He sat, sleepy on the couch for a few minutes and then cursed himself for moving Kripa in the first place when he realized how uncomfortable the couch was. A selfish part of him wanted to move Kripa back to the couch, but he didn't. Instead he went to the wet bed and checked if it was still wet. Happy to realized that it had dried, Angad slid into it and fell fast asleep, only to dream about the bed next to him with heavens angel lying on it.
To Be continued….
This is only the first part okay, the whole thing is too long to write at once, but if I make this into a separate part then well, you guys know how I don't like the number 19? Well I don't like 21 either. LOL.
Please, please, and please comment!!!!!! ( this part is 6 pages long, okay...please comment)
Karishma*****
Vanshaj
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