One Shot: Safe Haven
She had heard the footsteps and closed her eyes as she had turned on her side, away from the door.
She hoped sleep would stop evading her and take her senses over, for she could not deal with having this conversation right now.
Seconds ticked by and she knew the person had entered the bedroom now.
Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she would see a day like this.
This village was her haven. She spent all her childhood summers here, chasing ducks and climbing trees, careless and happy. She looked forward to come back every time.
The city life she had grown up in is a part of her of course, but the silent getaways this village provided every summer made her to not forget her roots.
Things were fairly different six months ago. But then, one early morning, when she and her parents were driving to a temple some good 20 kilometres away, when she was so tired, she had said she would rather sleep, in the backseat, had it happened.
Before she could realize what was happening, a truck hit their car, and the front part of the car was crushed.
Her mother was spot dead, and her father lost his life by the time the ambulance arrived.
She saw her parents die before her eyes, and she was out of the accident with all but a few bruises.
She would never forget the moment she was out of the car and saw the pool of blood. Alone in a highway, early in the morning, looking for help, trying to see if her parents are alive...
Try as she might, she couldn't stop the nightmares that followed her, haunted her the next few days.
Hence, when her grandparents had come to take her away with them so that she would live with them, she hadn't opposed.
Sleeping in the lap of her grandmother, discussing politics with her grandfather, who were trying their damnest to not bring up the loss they have suffered and were trying to be strong for her, it gave her a reason to be strong for them. She had prepared for her exams back from the village and had only gone to the city to give her final exams.
When summer had come, she hoped maybe slowly she would start healing a little. She still needed time, but she got to start to move on. Maybe take an year off and prepare for entrance test for masters. She was still figuring out what to do next, when she was given another surprise by life.
An old friend of her parents visited, and came to offer his condolences. He had smiled kindly at her, and asked her to sit beside him and told various stories from her parents' lives even before they were married. She had always known her parents' was not just an arranged marriage, and that they were friends before that. But listening to the stories now when they were in their early twenties, just like she is now, made it so heartwarming.
She grew fond of the uncle who was settled back in this village, while her parents moved back to the metro city.
He seemed to grow fond of her too, because a couple of weeks later, he had visited again, her grandfather instead and proposed an alliance, that she marry his son.
It was unbelievable. Sure, she still likes the uncle and understood where he was coming from. And maybe if she were in his place, she would have taken pity on the orphaned girl and would want to try helping her out.
But honestly, she didn't want to get marry or get settled. She was, a metro dweller and if the situation was different, she might have already been applying for masters in states. She loved the village, her grandparents and the people here. But she can't just give up on her career and life too. She hoped to pursue her higher studies, get employed and take her grandparents to stay with her to take care of them. Getting married and getting settled over here, it isn't her. She couldn't do it.
And hence she knew it was her grandmother who probably walked in to persuade her to get dressed for the family that has visited them and tired of the thoughts in her head she gave up the pretense of sleeping, and got up, still not facing the person that walked in.
"You know my answer Paati. I don't want to get married. Please tell the uncle and his son, that. And I'm not going to get dressed in any Sari, nor do I want to meet that guy." She ended her tirade once she turned to face the other person, and a surprised gasp escaped her mouth when she had realised it wasn't her grandmother but a young man she had never seen before.
He was tall and fair, with a modest sky blue shirt. He looked not older than twenty five. And it hit her, who he was. He was the prospective groom.
She sat there on the old cot surrounded with mosquito net, the white net fabric quietly fluttering with the wind.
Her dark hair a little ruffled, but falling in waves till her waist. In a white silk kurta pajama, sitting hugging her knees, she looked younger than he had expected.
They both were rooted to their spots, looking at each other, as it dawned on him, she wasn't expecting him to be in her room. His parents were in the living room, and he was asked to go speak to her, if he wishes to.
His sister, who was a self proclaimed free thinker had said she would escort him to the prospective bride's room, and be there with him so that everybody would be comfortable, and not feel weird. However, without listening to him, she slipped to the balcony telling him to have a private conversation with her, and even told him that he owe her for the entire setting.
He wondered belatedly, if he could excuse himself out of this situation and go back but where would he find his sister. And he couldn't go to the living room alone while he has to still answer where his sister was, since she's supposed to be with him. God, what a mess.
She was the first to recover. There was mortification on her face, which thankfully she masked with a polite attempt at a smile.
"I'm sorry" she said and mumbled something like "The chair..."
He had looked at the chair next to her bed, pulled it over to sit.
Somewhere at a distant, an old song blazed of a romance between a city dweller and village belle, and they both sat awkwardly, not meeting eyes.
Minutes passed, and the old creaking fan and the distant song was the only thing they both could hear. This close, she observed he was handsome, with broad shoulders, tall stature, but a set of eyes that were kind and warm.
"I..." He hesitated clearing his throat. "I'm sorry for intruding your personal space. My sister got us into a kind of soup and i can't go back to the living room until she's back. But I promise, i won't stay a minute more than necessary"
The guilt in her eyes were quite visible. She got pretty expressive eyes, he observed. And her face showed how much of mortification she felt at the moment.
"Don't apologize" she said, her hand raising as if to stop him "I am sorry for my earlier comments. It's just that I wasn't expecting you"
"It's fine" he said not knowing what else to say. "Anybody might have reacted the same way if they were you" he said.
She was silent for a beat. "Will you?" She asked after a while.
He gave it a thought. "Maybe yes"
For the first time ever since he had seen her, she gave him a small smile "I'm not sure if you mean it, but thanks for saying it anyway"
He gave her a small smile in return.
"I owe you an explanation in addition to the apology. I don't know you enough to reject you. I am just not ready for this, any of this" she said heaving a sigh, and closing her face with her palms.
If it was difficult to open up, it was hellish to do that in front of a stranger.
"I'm twenty one. Some of my friends started preparing for masters, some would start their jobs in a couple of months. And here I'm, supposed to meet a prospective guy to Wed. I'm just not there yet"
"Why didn't you tell them?" He asked. She observed it was not an accusation. He genuinely was asking.
She had no answer to that.
"I can't get myself to make things awkward between your dad and my grandparents. It's a small village. They have to see each other every other day. I can't make things difficult for them"
"Silence never did anyone any good. Sure, they will feel bad like for a week, or a month but they won't force you to marry against your wishes."
She looked back at him, taking her face which was initially buried in her palms.
"You're ok with that?" She asked.
"I will tell myself, it was nothing personal and that had I projected all my charm on you, you'd probably had changed your mind"
There was a beat of silence and when he was wondering if he could have done without the joke, she laughed.
And he had felt a smile crack on his lips too. She was, the most beautiful when she laughed, with her nose scrunching up cutely, her face lifted up to the sky.
When her laughter died and became a small smile on her face, she had looked at him with that mirthful eyes, and smiled truly for the first time in months.
"Thank you" she said heartfelt.
He passed her a nod in acknowledgement.
It's when she had realised in a silent moment, they were conversing in english all along. To be truthful, she hadn't expected him to be such well versed with english or be such an efficient communicator. It was a stereotype on her part, to have assumed he was not that well educated knowing he is taking care of his family business in a small village. Now that she had talked to him, it seemed she was quite wrong about him.
"What did you study?" She asked suddenly.
"MBA" he said.
"From...?" She prompted.
"IIM Kozhikode"
"And yet you're here" she said surprised. "Why?"
He looked at her, for a beat with those kind eyes. "The same reason why you're here. You could have stayed back in hostel or asked them to move in with you. But you chose to come back and stay here. Why?"
She never got to answer the question, nor he did his, as his sister knocked on the open door politely to intimate them of her arrival.
"Hi" she said waving at her, and she smiled back politely, her hand half raised to wave back.
As he stood up, he extracted a packet of brown paper, and placed it on her bed, pushing it towards her.
"My mother didn't want me to come empty handed hence bought something" he said. "She would like it if you accept it" he said and wordlessly walked out of the room, with one last smile.
His sister, who was looking for a single hint to judge if they liked each other, seemed on cloud nine, watching their little interaction, as she grinned at her and left the room too.
As she sat back on the bed, in the now empty room, she took the brown packet and emptied its contents in her hand, only to have find a couple of silver anklets against her palm. It was the only memoir she would have of him. Or so she thought.
-
For those of you who are interested in the song playing in the background :
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF1rw38DEUI[/YOUTUBE]
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