A Rishabala OS-Hiding My Heart Away
Rain drops were trickling down the window pane, drawing patterns. And it was still raining cats and dogs. She was looking at the window and sat on the alien bed, unmoving.
Or perhaps she was looking through it, waiting for him to come back! It had hardly been around fifteen-odd minutes but it seemed like a fairly long wait.
No, she really wasn't looking anywhere.
Floating in front of her eyes were terrible images of the recent past they had to come running from, till they could finally flee their eyes and found a hiding in this hut on this deserted lake side.
She could still feel the same shudder that she did when she had first seen her husband lying on the floor, unconscious, bleeding slowly to death. And then, the entire past month had been full of the untoward happenings till one fine day she learnt how the family had been plotting against him, with no exceptions, not even his mother! She had felt disgusted, not merely angered, when she first heard her mother-in-law offering to turn back things to the way they were (before her) if she stopped prying in their plans and left Rishabh by himself... all alone!
Alone? Alone so that they could keep ruining his life slowly and gradually?
Alone, so that they could keep exploiting him for their personal motives?
"Ha! Bulls***! "she had said.
She did not realize how seriously dangerous they could prove till this morning when she nearly lost him at the hands of the goons chasing them and the bullet nearly hit Rishabh while trying to get her out of the harms way. The thought still dried her up!
She had thought it all would end once she exposed their true intentions to Rishabh, and of course, it wasn't hard because he never treated them as family (neither did he have any expectations)... though he could never imagine them to stoop to this level.
She had never had the thoughts of leaving him, till this moment. But how could she continue posing a menace and risking him fatally just to avoid getting his name and fortune misused and his feelings trashed? Or better, because she could not bear to be separated!
___________
The door cricked open and she was brought out of her trance and saw him enter.
"I'd never let you go Biwi, not for anything" he had said, planting a soft, lingering kiss at the top of her temple before leaving to collect some wood for the fire.
He was literally soaked, saturated in rain water, when he entered and placed a small heap of twigs and branches on the flooring by her bedside. She continued eyeing him steadily till he struggled and finally managed to light the fire in the fire-place.
She sat their unmoved, mesmerized, adoring him, just like the first time she looked at him when she realized how much she cared for him, how much she loved him.
And it was not her, it was not her that fell in love with the guy who was standing by her side, swearing to stay by her side no matter what.
It was him. It was him who made her fall for him-deeply, madly, irrevocably!
He finally rose and caught her eyes.
She turned her gaze down.
This was it. She would rather watch him alone and miserable than see him nearing death with every passing mo'.
She had to go.
She was shivering (with cold) as she moved towards him. She looked at him as if trying to capture his beauty, all his features, in her memory for she would never see him again. And then, before she could realize herself what she was about to do she hugged him snugly. Tears came streaming down her cheeks as he hugged her back with the same, if not more, intensity.
And then he kissed her. And it was not just a kiss. It was a promise to never let go. It showed how much he wanted her. It was pure love.
_____________
There was deafening silence in the room as she kept the note carefully under the pillow where they celebrated love. It was nearly the break of dawn. She wanted to leave before he could get up and persuade her to change her mind (as it is it was killing her). She kissed him for one final time, gently, and left, without knowing where!
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
