Chapter 2
It was chilly in the rink. She knew that it would be cold, since it was, after all, an ice skating rink. Yet the sudden change in atmosphere shocked her somehow. She hadn't been to a place this cold since that night….. the night when the cold had penetrated her heart and soul, when the one she loved was seen to be more cold then ice itself. She felt lost once again. She stood motionless, as though in a trance, reliving that night, the night she found that she had been betrayed by the one person she sought to save….
"Pia….." he said, with the most affectionate and passionate voice. The voice he once used with her. "what happened last night….."
"Mr Walia…..Jai…… what happened last night was what we both wanted. Don't try to deny it. We both know how much we love one another. Now it is time we figure out where we are going to go from this point. You are a married man, face it, it is time we did something to change that." Said Pia, her eyes wide with desperation, the desperation that came only with love. Pia loved Mr Walia.
Bani was incredably shocked to hear that. And what did they mean, last night? She couldn't believe her ears, after her repentant cycles of pain and sacrifice for her husband and sisters, they turned out to be the very people to harm her. That too, intentionally. What had she left undone for them? She had gone way beyond the call of duty to save them both. And yet, now that she had given her all to both of them, they betrayed her. They cast her aside like a used puppet. The irony was fantastic, and still haunted her today. Her life had become a big joke. That was all that was left. They had used her. She ran, from that rink in Dubai. She ran and she didn't stop until she reached a secluded park, where she began to cry. And then, after a few hours, she suddenly stopped.
She realised, that people of this sort were not worth crying over. She gathered herself up and went back to the hotel, telling the receptionist on her way to her room that she wanted a ticket to India booked as soon as possible. She packed her bags and took only as much money she would need for her ticket and expenses for a few weeks from Mr Walia's safe. She left for the airport immediately, and before her departure she ensured that the receptionist would keep mum about her booking on the flight. At the airport she collected her ticket to Delhi under the name of bani dixit, and after reaching India she was no longer lost. Well at least not physically. She had spent a year of college in Delhi as part of an exchange programme, and she knew the state pretty well.
And she had never looked back since. She had begun her life anew, and now she depended on no one. She didn't need anyone but her daughter, and that was the way she preferred it. Even so, she found herself more lost then ever now. Her daughter was growing up. A few days ago her little girl had asked her about her papa. What was bani to tell her? Once more, she found herself lost. She told her little rhea that her papa was far, far away. And rhea seemed satisfied, if only for the moment. But the truth was that Mr Walia was as close to her heart as rhea ever was. She still loved him, despite all the deceit. But she couldn't admit it now, it was too late. And what he did was unforgivelable. She had to satiate herself with that much. She was right to leave him….yes, she was right, she was better off.
Rhea's tugging broke bani's trance and she was involuntarily pulled onto the ice by her daughter. Rhea did not know how to ice skate, and so, bani had to teach her. Surprisingly enough, despite all her memories of this place, she found herself completely immersed in teaching rhea. She felt such a triumph when her daughter finally could skate beside her that she all but forgot about the misery that had surrounded her only a few hours ago. When it was finally time to go home, she actually felt disappointed! She didn't want to go home, she was having so much fun with rhea. And so she promised her daughter that they would visit the rink at least once a month and have such fun more often.
When they got home, rhea was asleep in bani's arms. She had fallen asleep during the ride home. As bani looked upon the innocent face of her daughter while walking up to her apartment, she realised how much difference rhea had made in her life. This little girl had made her forget all about the worst day of her life. She had made her forget, completely, what he did to her. That was it. She wasn't afraid anymore. She had nothing to hide from herself. She actually had come to love the place where her misery began. All thanks to her little girl. As she set rhea upon her bed and tucked her in, she thanked her stars that after whatever misery life had brought her, she still had enough luck to find her true love. Her little rhea.
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