Shlok had been restless seeing Aastha avoiding him. He was quite sure she was doing this because of the unexpected kiss. He needed to talk to her. He got up from his bed and slowly walked towards Aastha's room. He saw the door was shut. He knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" he heard Aastha's voice as she opened the door.
Aastha had not expected the person to be Shlok. She moved a few steps back in surprise and turned her back towards Shlok to avoid facing him. She pretended as if she was busy in folding her clothes lying on the bed.
"How are you here?" she asked him without facing him.
Shlok understood that Aastha was avoiding him. "I want to talk to you..." he said looking at her back.
"Talk to me?" asked Aastha as she continued folding her clothes.
"Look at me, Aastha" said Shlok waiting impatiently for Aastha to turn around.
"I am folding my clothes Shlok. You say whatever you want to..." Aastha carefully tried not to face Shlok.
"Aastha look at me when I am talking to you!" said Shlok trying to control his frustration.
"Bolo na... I am listening" said Aastha not knowing how long she will be able to avoid him.
Now Shlok lost control over his composure. He walked to Aastha, and turned her with force holding her arm. "Why are you avoiding me?! Tell me the reason dammit!!" he yelled.
Aastha was shocked. Tears filled her eyes as she looked back into Shlok's. She could see pain in those deep dark eyes. She knew she was hurting him. And more than that she was hurting herself. But didn't he know he was to be get married to Swati? Then why the hell did he let these feeling grow? Why didn't he just curb all this before it even began?
Shlok could see loads of questions in Aastha's eyes. Seeing tears roll down her cheeks, Shlok loosened his hold on her arm, but didn't leave it. Aastha remained silent. Shlok calmed himseld down, and said "I am sorry Aastha... It just happened. I know you were not prepared for it, may be you are still feeling nervous about it... I understand Aastha..."
Before Aastha could say anything, Shlok held her hands in his. Aastha didn't understand what to do. She just wanted to move away from him. But his closeness was so captivating that Aastha was lost into the moment.
"Aastha..." whispered Shlok coming closer, "why do you look at it as a mistake? It was such a beautiful moment we had together... There was no wrong in it..." Aastha just stared at Shlok with wide eyes. What is he saying? Shlok looked deep into her eyes. "Don't you trust me, Aastha?" Aastha's heart was beating at an unusual pace. This is not right! Pulling her closer, Shlok gently blew a strand of hair off her face. She closed her eyes feeling his breath. "It wasn't so bad, was it?" he whispered, "Our first kiss..." Aastha suddenly opened her eyes realizing what was going on. "It was a beautiful moment, Aastha... A very special one..." he said gently circling his thumbs on the back of Aastha's hands. Aastha was feeling uncomfortable now, rather guilty. "Aastha... whenever I see you, I feel like..."
"No!" cried Aastha pushing Shlok away. "You can't feel anything for me!" she said stepping back. Pain gripped her as tears streamed down her eyes. This didn't want to lose this beautiful feeling she had whenever she was with Shlok. But the feeling had to be crushed, she couldn't let it reside in her heart any more. She had no right to feel anything for Shlok, and neither had Shlok the right to feel anything for her, anything more than friendship. Shlok was Swati's. And that was the truth, though very difficult to digest.
Shlok looked at Aastha in shock and confusion. Why was Aastha behaving in this way? Shlok was waiting for Aastha to answer his silent questions. Aastha breathed in and out to compose herself. She saw Shlok looking at her with a questioning and confused gaze. Aastha wiped off her tears and sniffed before she was ready to speak.
"You never told me anything about Swati..." she said softly. Shlok had forgotten about Swati. He was not expecting Aastha to bring up this topic. He stared at Aastha blankly, wondering how she knew Swati. Aastha could read his mind. She wanted to have a casual conversation with Shlok... no tentions, no hard feelings, no pain. She smiled to ease things a bit and said, "Niranjan uncle told me..."
*****
Karan and Aditi wanted to let Aastha know what had happened with them and what they had heard Ajinkya say at the police station. But they were pretty sure that their phones were being tracked. So if they tried calling Shlok, Inspector Deshmukh would know immediately and they would also know the conversation going on. Karan had come to meet Aditi in order to discuss what next as they couldn't discuss it over the phone. Both were sitting in Aditi's room thinking out a way to somehow reach to Shlok and ask him about Aastha. They didn't have Aastha's new number, the old one not working. And anyways, Aastha's new number was with Ajinkya. So the only way to know about Aastha was to talk to Shlok somehow. But that had to be done without letting Inspector Deshmukh know.
Just then Aditi's mother entered the room with two glasses of juice for both of them. Aditi and Karan's face glowed at once seeing her as something struck their minds. They looked at each other in excitement and they immediately knew their minds were on the same track.
"Are you thinking the same what I am?" asked Karan.
"I think so..." replied Aditi.
"We know each other so well..." said Karan.
"No doubt!" said Aditi and they laughed.
Aditi's mother was amused to see them, not understanding anything.
*****
Shlok and Aastha stood silently resting their elbows on the railing by the pool-side looking down at the reflection of the stars in the water as gentle breeze brushed past their faces. As reality had dawned on both of them, they hardly had anything to say. Silence was all they had to share with each other at the moment. The rustle of leaves and the cry of insects was all that was audible. Aastha heard Shlok let out a sigh. She didn't look at him though. She continued staring at the ripples on the surface of the water. She observed how the water deep down was still though wind was disturbing it's surface. She realized that her case wasn't very different. She had to stay composed deep withing though the outside world kept disturbing her. She needed to keep her mind, and now her heart too, steady whatever may happen. After all she had no one to take care of her. She had to take care of herself as well as Avdhoot. She needed to be strong enough to face the challenges life threw at her. She couldn't just keep crying over her broken heart. She had to move on and she was determined to... for her Baba and for herself. Making up her mind, she filled her lungs with the cool night air and turned to go to her room.
"I have known Swati since childhood" she heard Shlok say and her feet stuck to the ground. "They have been our family friends since long" Shlok continued without shifting his gaze away from the pool water.
Aastha came back to stand beside Shlok like she was before. She knew Shlok wanted her to be there as he shared his story. She was eager to know more...
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Edited by ..optimist.. - 9 years ago
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