lmao!! You guys are too funny... I had an exam today so I'm late cause I was studying yesterday... here's your dose! 😆 and please forgive me!
recap: As he toppled over, he shook her balance by unknowing to her, taking grasp of her hand... She landed right over his chest... but she managed to stop her face just before his face... some unfelt passion tingled in her as she struggled to breath... her eyes had been closed, and now she opened them slowly and took in the scene... her hair hid his face from the world... being in such close proximity with him... again, that odd feeling... Desperately, for the sake of herself, she stood up and looked down upon this man... whom she shared a relation... that was held together by the weakest of thread, yet the connection seemed undestructable. Why does he do these things? Why does he hurt himself so?... a sharp pang of sorrow revisited her as she undid his shoes and lifted the covers over him. She turned back to her bed. As she sat down, her eyes trailed again to the moon... a lost tear escaped from her eye as sleep finally came...
Part 6
A stong stream of light hit the window and reflected off his handsome face causing him to stir. Gradually, his eyes opened at the sight and slowly he sat up holding his head, which felt rather heavy. As he sat back pushing into the pillow his eyes closed momentarily and his head rested against the top. Why was his head so heavy? And then the events of the night before played in his head... the party, the girl, the dance, Gauri leaving... the rest he remembered in bits and pieces.. faintly. But, there was a strong, yet faint memory... he recalled a deep, sweet fragrance which engulfed his senses even when they were numb... He flipped open his eyes when the voice of his mother rang in the quiet room... "Uth gaya mera kharoos beta... ab kaisa la raha hai? Tumhari biwi mujhe subha khaas keh kar gayi hai ke jab tum utho toh mein tumhare liye ek strong coffe ka cup le kar aoon... waise tumhari tabeeyat kaisi hai? Gauri ne bataya tum dono party jaldi chod kar aye teh kyun ki tumhare sar mein dard.. are you ok beta?".. He held the cup but stared past it... Again, she had saved him. Why? Why does she always do this for him? He was so confused... his mother's voice called him faintly in the distant and he told her he was fine. With much hesitation, he managed to ask where Gauri was to which Nikhila replied, "ab 11:30 woh kahan hogi? Office mein budhoo!" and after saying something about breakfast, she left the room.. and him, to ponder over what had just happened... He just couldn't understand how someone could hold themself so...
As she sat in the cabin, she felt an emptiness which crawled everywhere... the silence was different today.. her thoughts were mingled elsewhere and concentration was far from a possiblity. She kept thinking about him... was he awake yet? How was he feeling.. Why? "Mein ye sab kyun soch rahi hoon?" Nothing. The still room seemed to suffocate her, yet she dared not to move... again, she recollected him at the party. Accepting another girl's hand for a dance.. How could he? But what did she care? They shared no relationship afterall... right?... The buzzing of her phone slowly brought her back... startling her almost. She held it up and the screen read, "Private"... curiousity overrided and the voice on the other end spoke... "Kaisi ho Gauri?"... she recognized it from somewhere... that voice.. who was it? "Tum mujhe kaise bhool sakti ho... humne toh humesha ek doosray ko yaad rakhne ki kasme khaayeen thi.."... she felt as though lightning had struck on her... everything went numb... a moment of silence passed.. "Shashank?" she said in horror... Just then, the door to her cabin flung open and in stepped her husband... her eyes widened and as she stood up, the phone slipped from her hand, falling to the floor.. but she cared not...
As he looked up, his eyes locked with hers.. For a moment, the silence seemed deafening... then he slowly walked over to her.. all the while his eyes not moving from hers..as he stepped right in front of her, so close, it was as if her heart skipped a beat. Her chest lightly rose and dipped down, sweat threatening on her forehead, but it wasn't because of being interuppted, but something else.. Maybe it was the way he looked at her, she just couldn't make it out. Struggling for breath, trying not to make it obvious, she looked away.. only to see his eyes continuously burning through her... he bent down, still looking at her.. and picked up the phone, slowly coming up and handed it to her. She looked down at her hand, which held the phone, as if trying to figure out why she was holding it.. the purpose of the call was lost... She could not recall what she was doing with the phone... As if that weren't enough, he lifted his hand to her forehead, where some hair had covered one of her eyes when she had got up so suddenly, and gently moved them aside... The unfamiliar, yet so very real touch sent a shiver down her spine.. the cool touch of his finger brushing over her bare skin made her tingle all over... why was she feeling so?... She didn't get a chance to think as he had walked over to his desk and asked for the Mukhta Construction file, which was her current project...
Later that night, as the world lost itself in slumber, her eyes remained unsettled as did her thoughts... She remembered the call... that voice. Shashank... the man who had left her in the alter... shattered her dreams.. drove her to him (Shiv)... what did he want now? Why had he called?.. Why did it even matter? Shiv despised her for all she knew, but then lately he had been acting weird... or was it just her? She feared attaching too much importance to anything he did, because she knew, he only felt he was forced into this relationship and wanted nothing of her. And if she let her mind dwell on such things, her already troubled heart may not be able to bear much more... Like several other nights, sleep dared not come too fast and she got up to go to the window. Many other nights, she looked through it not really knowing what she was looking at as her vision was blurred by unexpected tears... but this time, there were no tears... this time, she did not see the blur of car lights.. but it was a woman. A woman dressed in a pale blue night gown. Her face revealed an aged sorrow masked by some unknown confidence. And then the rain began to fall...the reflection faded as she stepped back under covers with hope that sleep would be gracious.. but then she had never slept a whole night since the day she was tied with him..
The air was cool and the night still.. yet the silence seemed to be blaring out... as she stood on the open deck looking at the moon, some old, some new thoughts and memories raced passed.. Again, the buzzing of the phone startled her into reality... "Private" read the screen. A panic of sorts ran through her as she realized who it could be... But for some reason, she took the call. "Gauri, phone mat rakhna please... mein tumse milna chahta hoon..." She didn't even bother listening to the rest. It didn't even matter, afterall she was someone else's wife now, even if her husband and her did not accept the relation fully.. time was just testing... testing her patience?
"Di, aap yahan kya kar rahi hai?" came her sister's voice. She turned to see a curious Kaya looking over at her sister with intense eyes. Gauri turns back to face the sky and pointed at the moon... Childhood memories raced through their heads as the two used to sit for hours on the night's grass talking to "Chanda Mama", their old companion. All of a sudden a shooting star (toota tara) flew across the open sky and Kaya excitedly closed her eyes making a wish and coaxed Gauri to do the same. "Aapne kya maanga Di?..." Gauri was silent for a moment and smiled to herself thoughtfully. "Hum insaan kitne swarthi hote hai na Kaya? Jab dekho doosron se maangte rehte hai... unse bhi, joh khud dard se bhara hua daaman liye ghoom rahe hai... Jaise ke ye tara. Dekho na, hum jab bhi kisi toota hua taray ko dekhtay hai, humesha ussay kuch maangte hai.. Kisi ne kabhi ussay uskay dard ke baare mein kyun nahin poocha?.." Kaya was lost by her sister's words. She knew not what to say, when the sight of her Jiju saved her from explanation... Shiv had been standing at some distance... listening over unintentionally but had not uttered a word, nor moved a muscle.. just stared at the empty sky... Kaya attempted to withdraw the akwardness by inviting them downstairs where a party was going on for Maya's birthday. She left them saying that all are awaiting...
Now they stood, with a little distance between them two... He is looking up while she looks somewhere to hide.. they had not spoken since the office.. in fact, that tended to be the only place where any major exchange of words happened between them.. otherwise, it seemed as if the silence unfolded their thoughts... or tried to at least. For a moment, she looked up at him, dressed in his beige kurta... arms crossed, eyes fixed on the sky. As he turned his face to look over, she turned hers desperately elsewhere, afraid to look into those eyes... Slowly, he turned to leave and as he did so, his whisper rang close to her ear.. "us taare ke paas chaand hai na humsafar ke liye.. bas, zara murh kar dekhne ki zaroorat hai..".. As he walked away, she was left completely dazed.. confused.. He too, wondered why he had said that... what did he mean?..
Dadi had asked Gauri to do some shopping for the pooja tomorrow for Karva Chauth and she had gladly went... wanting to escape the odd thoughts, the endless confusion, his intense eyes... she needed some fresh air. As she stepped out of a shop's glass door, a hand took hold of hers, startling her...
Cheers,
dc
Long nah Soha? Hopefully not disappointing 😕
