New Devakshi OS - Awakening - Page 3

Awakening... a continuation

Sonakshi got down from the car and helped her daughter down from the car holding her hands. They stood next to each other near the car and looked at Ishwari Nivas. Soha was excited as she was looking forward to living with her Papa in his house after a week at her Mother's house and Sona was apprehensive and sad about what the next seven days held for them (or specifically to her only) in Dev's house. Dev took their bags from the boot of the car and asked DK to carry them in. He called out to Soha and she went to him happily and at the entrance her former mother in law was waiting with an aarti thaal in her hand for her beloved grand daughter and son. Sona stood a little away and Ishwari also never made any attempts to include her in the traditional welcome ceremony. Sona did not mind as she did not have expectations from Ishwari. Sona was here only on her daughter's wishes and she had decided that she would only concern herself with that. The last week and the summer camp had brought a certain truce between Dev and her. They were taking one day at a time.

After Dev and Soha walked in and the crowd dispersed behind them, Sona walked in quietly and there were two people waiting for her - Mamaji and Nicky. She bent down and touched Mamaji's feet and he blessed her and said "Accha hua tu aa gayi beti, is ghar ko teri bahut zarroorat hai". Sona just smiled and then Nicky just welcomed her with a bone crushing hug and said "Sona di maine aapko kitna miss kiya hai aapko idea bhi nahin hai".

Sona hugged her back tightly. She gave an awkward smile and an equally awkward hug to Elena and went into the seating area where everybody was sitting. Just then DK moved towards the guest room with their luggage when Dev said loudly "DK yeh sab samaan mere kamre mein le jao please." Ishwari looked surprised and looked at Mamiji and then Mamiji immediately said "Yeh sab is Bangalan ka kaam hai. Kaisi behsarm hai shaadi to toot chuki hai abhi ek kamre mein kaise rah sakte hain!" Sona looked angry and before she could reply Dev immediately said "Yeh mera idea hai aur mujhe isse koi fark nahin padta hai ki koun kya kahta hai. Yeh mere, Sona and meri beti ki beech ki baat hai. The rest of the world can go to hell!" Sona looked surprised and she did not say anything further. Dev told Soha "Chalo let me show you your new room." Sona and Soha went upto Dev's room and immediately Mamiji told a silent and stunned Ishwari "Dekha Jiji aate hi us Bangalan ne kya kar diya!"

Dev went into his room and switched on the lights. Soha ran into the room and said "Its very nice Papa". Sona hesitated at the door and as soon as she stepped in, a wave of memories she always associated with this room came back to her. She controlled her emotions till Dev went out the room to attend a call. She just went and sat down on one of the chairs, a little stunned and dazed. Dev came back and said "Maa says that dinner is ready. Will you come down now?" Sona just nodded and said "I want to take a shower- you go down and take Soha with you. I am not hungry anyway. I will eat a little later" Dev nodded and went downstairs with Soha. Sona shut the door and went into the bathroom for a shower. She came out wearing a bathrobe and just switched off the lights. She went and sat on the bottom step of the stairs which led to the small attic upstairs. She was overwhelmed at the memories that came rushing back - from her first night when this room was so beautifully decorated and when they had their first argument, the first time they made up after an argument, when they discussed their Paris honeymoon plans, when they talked about their baby, when they made passionate love, when Dev chased her around the room, when they fought and then kissed and made up, when they lay on the bed after making love and spoke about how it would feel to grow old together, the countless times that Dev held her captive against the wall of this very room for a kiss... damn she remembered the little details and all the memories and anecdotes that she had hidden in the corner of her heart all came out. She cried in the darkness and couldn't just stop the tears.

There was knock on the door and Dev walked in. He switched on the light and caught Sona wiping her tears. He immediately asked "What happened?" "Nothing. You needed something?" Sona replied. Dev said "Yes - your driver has come with your car and wants to speak to you." Sona frowned and said "OK. Give me a few minutes - I will come down." Sona changed and came down. Mohan was waiting for her at the door and said "Sorry Didi main kal aapko Gurgaon nahin leke jaa paaonga kyunki mujhe acahnak gaon jana pad raha hai. Maa ki tabiyat kharab hai". Sona said "No problems. Tum maa ki dekhbaal karo main manage kar loongi" Sona came back with the car keys in her hand and told Dev "Can you please get Soha ready for school tomorrow. I have a meeting at Gurgaon at 9.30 and I want to go early". Dev said "No problems. But how will u go of your driver is not there. I will ask my driver to take you." Sona only smiled and said "I can drive well Dev and I will manage. Come Soha lets go to bed".

When Dev went to his room a little later, he saw both that Soha and Sona were asleep. He went to sleep on the other side of the bed.

Dev's sleep broke from sleeping in the same position and when he suddenly realised that Sona was not in the bed. Soha was fast asleep and Sona was missing. He checked the time on the alarm clock on the side table. It was 4.45 AM. He got up and went to the window and looked at Sona working away on her laptop at the table in the garden below. He wondered if he should go down and decided against it. He went back to bed and woke up when Sona woke him up at 7.15. He saw that she was fully dressed in a charcoal grey pant suit and a white shirt. She wore pearl studs in her ears and there was string of rather expensive looking pearls around her neck. Her make-up was kept at the minimum with kohl around her eyes and some gloss on her lips and she was wearing some nice floral perfume which was driving him crazy. Dev did not know what hit him when she woke him up. He looked at her and wanted to kiss her senseless. Sona said "I am ready to leave now. I have taken out Soha's clothes also and prepared her lunch as well. I have kept it all here. Please get her ready and drop her to school. I will be back around 6 PM. After the meeting I also want to visit a hospital there where we want to set up a nutritional consultancy service". Not getting any response from Dev she asked him again "are you listening? Will you be able to manage?" Dev could just mumble "Yes. Have some breakfast before you leave. Also drive carefully. I don't know why you cannot reschedule the meeting".

Sona simply smiled and left after kissing a sleeping Soha on her forehead. Dev got up and after half an hour went downstairs after getting Soha ready. He found Golu also at the breakfast having his milk. When he was sipping his tea he asked DK "Did Sonakshi have breakfast before leaving?" DK sheepishly replied "I got up late so the breakfast was not ready. She said she will eat something on the way". Dev frowned as he knew she had not eaten anything the previous night as well. Ishwari heard this conversation and said "I don't know why you bother so much about her. She can manage." Dev only said "Asha Maa used to personally prepare vegetarian food for me when I stayed with them and in this household we cannot even ensure that no one leaves the house on an empty stomach". Saying these words Dev put his cup down on the kitchen counter and went to drop Soha and Golu at school. He got a text massage from Sona around 9 AM stating that she reached Gurgaon.

Dev was at work the whole day but was very uneasy about Sona. Till 4 PM he stopped himself from calling her because he didn't want to disturb the uneasy truce that seemed to have formed between him and Sona at the Bose residence. He tried her number around 5 PM and her phone was unreachable. He dropped her a text message but that also was undelivered. He reached home around 7 PM and played with Golu and Soha and all the while he was waiting to hear from Sona. He fed both the children and when Ishwari asked him also to eat he made some excuse. He was slowly noticing that his Maa was not worried that Sona was not yet back. He wondered if she had gone to the Bose house when his phone rang and it was Saurav wanting to talk to Sona as her phone was not reachable. Dev informed him that she was not yet back from Gurgaon. At around 9.30 PM her called Sona's EA Paromita and managed to get the address of the client at Gurgaon from her. He wondered for a minute what to do and he went to Elena and said "I need to go somewhere. Please don't ask any questions. Just take care of Soha and keep her with you in her room" Before Elena could say anything Dev left. He drove like a man possessed towards Gurgaon. When he just touched the highway, his phone rang. He saw it was an unknown number. By then the phone stopped ringing. He parked the car to the side and called back. It was Sona who answered "Hi. Can you come to the Lifeline Hospital at Gurgaon. I am in the emergency room here. I had a small accident." Dev knew then why he was so uneasy - he said "I will be there in half an hour" The last thing she said before disconnecting was "Drive carefully". Dev smiled to himself - she was the one who had been in an accident yet she was the one who asked him to drive carefully. He drove the rest of the way quickly and was in the lobby of the hospital in the next half an hour.

He walked in or rather barged into the emergency room and looked around for Sona. He saw that she was sitting on the last bed on his right. He quickly walked upto her and saw that the doctor was there. She saw him and smiled and said "Ah there you are." He tersely asked the Doctor "I hope Sonakshi is not badly injured. We can get any doctor you recommend from Delhi now". The Doctor replied "That wont be necessary. Now if you will excuse me I will be back on ten minutes. There is one more injection that would be required to be given". Dev nodded and the when the Doctor left he went to Sona and without thinking engulfed her in a tight hug. Sona was surprised but she hugged him back. They pulled apart when they realised they were in public place and he asked her "What happened? I told you not to take the car" Sona smiled and replied "I was returning and there was a vehicle which stopped suddenly and to avoid the crash I moved to the left and hit a tree. My head hit the steering wheel and I blanked out for a while before someone called the ambulance. I am fine. I needed two/ three stitches on my forehead and possibly my left wrist is broken and there are some brusies around. But I am ok." Dev smiled and replied sarcastically "I can see you are fine. You missed talking about your ankle which I can see is wound up in a crepe bandage." Sona smiled sheepishly. He said "Let me call your parents. Else they will get angry about this also." Sona stopped him and said "Call them tomorrow". Dev left and completed all the discharge formalities.

They reached home an hour later and Dev helped her out of the car and when she struggled to walk he simply picked her up and carried her in. As soon as they walked in they realised that the whole family was in the living room. Sona was embarrassed and tried getting down but Dev took her to the guest room and called Elena. He said something to her and she went upstairs and came back with a change of clothes for Sona. She went into the room and closed the door. Dev came out and spoke to his Maa "Sona had a small accident and she is not well now. I don't want to talk or explain anything now". Ishwari said "That is why you went all the way to Gurgaon now. You went without even telling me." Dev said "Maa I had to get her back. Do you know her condition is worse because she had not eaten anything since last night. Because we did not give her food to eat either. Isnt it shameful. Would you have let me or Nicky leave home without food. No isn't it - then why cant you treat Sona the same way. Anyway I am also tired I don't want to discuss anything now. Please all of you go to bed." Dev then abruptly went to his room upstairs to change. By the time he cleaned up and changed and came down, everyone was in bed.

Elene was in the guest room waiting for him. Sona was sleeping. Elena said "Bhai I helped her change. I also forced her to have some soup. I can stay here for the night with Sona.' Dev said "Thanks Elena for everything. I will stay here - u go and rest and take care of Golu and Soha." Elena left and closed the door softly. Dev came and sat down on the chair by the bed. He looked at Sona sleeping with a slight frown on her forehead. Dev leaned and placed a kiss on her forehead and smoothed away the frown. He thought "Thank goodness nothing happened to you Sona. You need to be strong and get better soon. After all we have a long way to go. I want to tell you how much I love you and how much you mean to you. I need to tell you that it has always been you and no one else. I want to hear you tell me the same. I know you love me too. But just don't want to admit it. I will not be stubborn anymore and I will tell me what is in my heart!"

In the morning when Sona woke up, she was astonished to see Dev sleeping on the chair with his feet on the bed and his hand was holding hers even in sleep. She shifted slightly and Dev opened his eyes and asked "Why are you getting up. Do you need anything?" Sona looked at him and smiled and said "There is nothing more I need now." She leaned back and promised herself that she would really think about Dev and her future together more seriously... because she realised that it was what she wanted too...

<End of the story>