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KISKI BETII 10.1.26
TRUTH AFTER 17th
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Back with an update😊
So this one's a bit emotional. But I promise it'll get better from the next chapter onwards.
As always, please let me know if you like it😳
Ishita scrunched up her nose and looked around. It had been an hour since they had left from the accident site, and so far, it had been the most uncomfortable journey of her life. Apart from Raman and herself, there were three other men in the dingy little space. And they had taken up all the good spots, leaving her with no choice but to sit next to Raman. But she figured that, despite her discomfort, it was the safest seat because she was the only female in there, and right now, she didn't trust anyone around except Raman.
"How ironic!" She muttered, to which Raman turned to her with a puzzled expression.
"Are you talking to yourself?" He asked her, amused.
She rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, well, I'm bored... And this place is creepy."
"Creepy? What's so creepy about it?" He decided to tease her a bit.
"What's not creepy about it?" She raised her voice, and one of the men who was trying to get some sleep gave them a dirty look.
Raman shifted closer to her and whispered, "It would be creepy if there were rats in here - or worse, if these boxes here contained dead bodies - or worse still, if you stood in the middle of this deserted road at this hour of the night with your hair left open... Now, that would be the creepiest sight ever!"
He laughed as her eyes reduced to slits, and her nose flared up in anger.
"You mean to say that I look creepy?" She smacked his arm repeatedly, while he ducked to avoid her blows. When she refused to stop, he chuckled and caught hold of her hands, pinning them behind her back, and pulling her towards himself in the process. He heard her sharp intake of breath, as her body collided with his, and he found himself looking into those lovely eyes of hers.
"Arey bhai, koi sone dega humein yaha pe?"
They were broken out of their trance and let go of each other hastily, when they heard the man's angry voice.
"Have you lost it, Ishu?" She scolded herself mentally, and wondered what it was about him that always made her react so foolishly.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to her, and she glanced at him to find that he wasn't fooling around this time.
"You should get some sleep," he continued, "We still have a few hours of journey left."
"No, it's too uncomfortable here. Besides, I'm not sleepy, anyway."
They were silent for a few minutes, and Ishita suddenly remembered that she hadn't informed her family about what had happened. The thought of going back home disturbed her, as it reminded her of how her family would react to her running away from home on her own. They probably didn't even know that she had been in an accident.
Then there was Subbu. She had assumed that going to Mumbai and landing at his doorstep uninformed would be the best option for her, because then he wouldn't have been able to avoid her. But now she had lost her chance and she knew her parents would flip if she tried pulling such a stunt again. She wondered how she would get an opportunity to speak to him now.
Raman had been observing her since the past few minutes. He had noticed that she had gone back into the same zone as when he had seen her the first time. She was definitely hurting over something... or someone.. he corrected himself, as he saw her fidgeting with her ring again.
"So, you're a doctor, huh?" He asked, hoping to distract her.
"Actually, I'm a dentist...a pediatric dentist," she said, her face lighting up.
"Oh! A dentist! So how are you filling today?" He joked, and burst out laughing. "Feeling.. filling.. get it?" He elaborated as he clutched his stomach, trying to control his laughter.
She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.
"That's the lamest dentist joke I've ever heard!"
"Oh come on, be a sport. It's a good one." He said, nudging her lightly.
"Okay, sorry," he straightened his face when she wouldn't budge.
"Actually, I wanted to thank you." he said, after a moment's pause.
"What for?" She asked him, surprised.
"For saving my life! Not many people would have done what you did back there."
"It wasn't as dramatic as you make it sound." She laughed, embarrassed. "There was a doctor, and there was this other guy with me who helped you. You were lucky you weren't hurt badly."
"Or you're kind and selfless but too modest to admit it," he stated matter-of-factly.
"I treat patients everyday. Being a bit kind is a part of my job description."
"But you're a woman as well, which means that being selfish would come naturally to you too. But you're not!"
"That's pretty harsh!" She was surprised to hear the bitterness in his voice.
"Just telling you what I've observed," he remarked, and deviated from the topic without giving her a chance to argue further.
"So... a pediatric dentist? You must be really good with kids!"
"Yes, I am. I love kids." She replied with a sad smile.
No, Ishu, don't go there. Don't think about it!
"What about you? Are you from Delhi? Or Mumbai?" She enquired, trying to find something else to talk about.
"Delhi. My whole family lives in Delhi." He sighed at the prospect of leaving them behind. How he would survive without his family was something he wasn't prepared to think about.
"Whole family? Do you live in a joint family?" she asked, and his face broke into a smile as he thought of his crazy yet loving folks back home.
"No, it's just my parents and siblings." She could see a sudden sparkle in his eyes as he continued, "I'm the eldest. Then there's Simmi who is pursuing her MBA; Romi, my brother, who is supposed to be doing his graduation, but I've never seen him with any books, so I don't know what he's up to!" he laughed as he remembered each of them as he told her about them, and she laughed along with him, touched by the fondness in his voice.
"And lastly, there's Rinki, our youngest. She's the most pampered of the lot, and not just by Ma and Papa, but by all of us!"
"And Mihir?" She asked, surprised that he had skipped his name. "Your brother really loves you," she said, as she remembered her phone conversation with him. "He was so worried when I spoke to him. He'll be really happy to see you again," she said with a smile.
He looked intently at her for a moment and said, "Mihir is my ex-wife's brother."
She couldn't help the look of shock that crossed her face.
"He broke ties with his sister when she left me," he informed her.
"I'm.. I'm sorry," she mumbled.
"You don't need to be. Some things happen for the best." His features hardened as he spoke about Shagun. "I've spent the best part of the last three years trying to cope with her betrayal. She cheated on me with my boss, and when I confronted her, she confessed that I wasn't good enough for her, that I couldn't give her what he offered her," he sighed defeatedly. "But I guess I'm better off without her."
He hadn't spoken about her, hadn't shared his pain with anyone in all these years; not his friends, not even his family. But it was easy to speak to her, he realised. Probably because she was a stranger, and also because it was unlikely that he would ever see her once they both got off this truck.
"Our marriage lasted only three years. But she gave me a lifetime's worth of pain while we were together. Now I've had enough. Once I relocate to Mumbai, I'll be rid of her!"
"Alone?" She asked him, surprised.
"Well, yes, being in Delhi, and running into her from time to time, watching her with him was getting to be unbearable for me."
"But what about your family?"
"What about them? They're better off without me, Ishita," he replied sadly.
"You know, Simmi wasn't a very ambitious girl. The only reason she enrolled into an MBA course was because my mother was trying to get her married off. Actually, my broken marriage kind of broke her faith in marriage as well. Now, she's not willing to take that leap and this course is her way of postponing my mother's plans for her. Even my father is disappointed with me, because he feels that I've always given more importance to Shagun than my family. So I figured that it would be easier for all of us if I moved out." He concluded, his voice soft and laden with pain.
Ishita looked at him in wonder. She had been cursing her own fate the past few days, and had assumed that only she knew the pain that a broken relationship could bring along with it. But here was a man who was so broken-hearted that her own heart filled with sadness at his plight. There must be something about him that his brother-in-law had stood by him, and not his own sister. She had thought him to be rude and arrogant, but she could now see that he had a whole other side to him that he kept well-hidden under a mask. She wished there was something she could do, or say, to lessen his pain, but she found herself at a loss of words.
"So.. what's your story?" She heard him ask, breaking her chain of thoughts.
Pointing towards her ring, he enquired further, "Engaged.. Married...?"
"Engaged." She stated and fell silent, not knowing how else she could describe the state of her relationship.
"Oh," he uttered, controlling the urge to ask her all the other questions that had sprung up in his mind.
"Actually, I don't know." she spoke up a moment later, "I don't know if I'm engaged. I don't even know if I'm still in a relationship." She took a deep breath as she felt tears prick her eyelids. "My fiance refuses to see me, he refuses to speak to me. He broke up with me a month ago. He's in Mumbai right now, so I thought I'll go meet him once, try to make him see some sense." She closed her eyes and sighed.
"We were to get married today... I had thought.. hoped... " she shook her head as her voice choked.
"But why is he avoiding you?" He asked her, puzzled.
Her chest tightened with pain as she remembered their cruel words.
"How do you expect Subbu to marry Ishita, knowing full well that she will not be able to bear his kids? Why should my son suffer for her sins?"
"Ishita, I cannot deal with your problem AND my parents together. I'm sorry, but I'm calling off the wedding!"
"There is...something... that he...expects... from me that I cannot give him," she struggled to explain her unfortunate situation to Raman. No, she could never put it into words.
"I wish he would meet me once..just once.." she trailed off sadly.
Raman could see the pain etched in her features. He wondered what she was going on about but didn't have it in his heart to probe further.
"But what do you plan to do once you meet him?"
"I'll try my best to mend our relationship. I'll.. I'll convince him that as long as we love each other, everything will be fine."
She tried to sound confident, but he could sense the uncertainty in her voice.
"Ishita, if his love is based on expectations, and depends on whether you fulfil them or not, then that's not love." He tried to explain to her, unable to understand why she would want to be with a man who had treated her with such disrespect. "When you decide to spend your life with someone, it should be with a person who shares your pain, and makes it bearable, not with someone who makes life itself unbearable for you."
Raman's words reminded her of something Jassi aunty from the dhaba had said to her
Love, on the hand, makes it all bearable! My husband and I.. we've been through a lot together. But it's only because we had each other that the pain seemed less.. painful."
"I'm telling you this based on my own experience with Shagun," he continued bitterly as she remained silent. "I was so busy trying to keep her happy that I didn't realise how unhappy she was making me!"
His words were an epiphany of sorts for her. All this while, she had assumed that nothing could come between her and Subbu; she had been so sure of their love. She had had her doubts about him with the way he had acted, but she had thought it would be easy to persuade him. But now, she wondered if she had been wrong all along. What if she wasn't as important to him as she'd assumed herself to be? Couldn't that be why he didn't think twice before he broke up with her? Shouldn't he have stood by her side instead? The fact that he had thrown her out of his life so easily could only mean that he didn't care enough about her. It had always been she who had trusted him with her life, and loved him with all her heart. And all he had done was betray her in return.
She looked at Raman then, her eyes filled with tears.
"Hey, I'm sorry," said Raman, regretting the blunt way in which he had put across his opinion.
"No, it's okay," she interrupted him. "I'm fine."
She was anything but fine. He could make out from her face that she was deeply affected by what he had said. He should have been more careful with his words. After all, he didn't know enough about them or their relationship. But the guy had broken her heart, and she didn't deserve that. However, he decided to remain silent, not wanting to hurt her further.
The darkness of the night had faded, and the faint rays of light that seeped into where they sat signalled the approach of a new dawn. Soon, the truck lurched and stopped at their destination.
"Last stop!" They heard their driver yell from the front, "This is where we unload."
Ishita got down and stretched her cramped body. Looking around, she noticed that the area was deserted except for a few trucks parked nearby. Glad that she had finally made it back to Delhi, she decided that she wouldn't take any more chances and to ensure that both she and Raman reached home safely, she called her Bala jiju and asked him to come and pick them.
"Ishita," she heard Raman call out to her and she went towards where he stood.
"The driver says there's a cab stand nearby. Let's go, I'll drop you at your place."
"No, I just called jiju. Let's wait for him. He'll be here soon."
"Oh," he said, and decided to wait with her until her jiju arrived.
"So, what next? When will you be leaving for Mumbai again?" He asked her carefully.
"I don't know," she mumbled. "Let's see. I just want to go home and get some sleep now!" She laughed softly and realised that she didn't know if she even wanted to go to Mumbai anymore.
"Of course. I only asked because I need to go there too, you know. Maybe we could plan another trip together?" He added with a wink.
"Ya right! Not happening!" She replied, amused.
"Raman..." she added, after a moment.
"Hmm?"
"You're taking a wrong decision," she blurted out.
"What?"
"Don't go to Mumbai!" she continued, "You'll only end up hurting yourself and your family more if you move away from them. Instead, stay back with them, and allow them to help you move on. I'm sorry if I sound patronizing, but you cannot solve your problems by running away from them. You need to throw your ex out of your life, and not your family!"
"Oh really?" He asked her, as he felt his anger resurface. "And what do you think have I been trying to do all these years?"
"Well, maybe you're not trying hard enough!"
"Then how do you suggest I should try?"
"You could start by throwing her picture out of your wallet!"
He had no reply to that, and fell silent, realizing, at the same time, that their raised voices were drawing the attention of the people nearby.
They heard a honk in the distance and turned around.
"Bala jiju," she called out to the man in the car, who waved out to her once he had spotted her.
"Raman... jiju is here," she said to him. "Come on, we'll drop you."
"No, it's okay. Our paths are different, Ishita" he said. "I'll take that cab."
She hesitated a bit. She didn't want to say goodbye yet. But she realized that there was no point in prolonging the moment anymore. She sighed and held out her hand.
"Bye Raman. Think about what I said... and all the best!"
She tried to turn but he had his hand in hers.
"All the best to you too, Ishita!"
He felt her fingers slip away from his, and felt a twinge of regret. There was definitely something about her, he surmised, as he found that he didn't want to let go of her. She had captivated him with her beauty, infuriated him with her feistiness, and amazed him with her kindness; all in the span of the one day that they had spent with each other. It had been long since he had let himself get affected by someone this way. Could he dare to hope again?
"But she's in love with someone else," he reminded himself sternly as he watched her walk away from him, and forced himself to turn in the opposite direction towards the waiting cab, resigning himself to the fact that they would probably never meet each other again.
I adore your fics- I always have this silliest of smiles when reading ❤️ ❤️
Loving the beginning - is that astrologer part of the party of five on truck trip? He can just make things easier ;)
Jassi Aunty and her husband were lovely :D
Just one meeting and Raman is out of shagun shadow but I'm still wondering about subbu :/
Continue soon :)
I dare you to post a thing about anyone other than DivAn.
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