RiKara SS - You and I Collide [COMPLETE] pg 63(19/4) - Page 31

Gul has got me with her 90's songs. Those were melodies I used to love, but she's playing them at random moments and gets me all...😲😕you get the idea. But let's stick to the brand 90's, for the sake of this chapter.😊

Enjoy!

Chapter 14

Her demons

The car screeched into a halt in a corner where dusky shadows dwelled. Looking out from the tinted glass, he could not see much of the manor among the trees, only the top floor was partially visible. This was where, his hunt on Annika's past had brought Shivay to. This must have been the house she spent her childhood in. Omkara stepped down, his gaze still lingering on the house that bore unmistakable signs of abandonment. What might have happened here? What did Shivay find? There was no one to answer him. Or was there?

An unsteady, slurry voice was singing in the night, clearly under the effect of intoxication.

"Phir haat mein sharaab hai

Sach bolta hoon main..."

Omkara raised his eyebrows, he knew that voice, even though it was thick and drunk. Her pitch was perfect. The gate cracked as he entered and as he knew he would, he saw Ri had parked her car there. She was sitting on the bonnet, cross legged and a bottle in her hand, head bowed and messy henna color curls hiding her face.

"Yeh chees la jawaab hai

Yeh chees la jawaab hai

Sach bolta hoon main...!"

He folded his arms, watching her chuckle to herself. She looked up, the faint moonlight making her look paler than usual and scratched her head.

"Dekho kaun aaya hai...Omkara ji!" She giggled, "I don't share my bottle with saints - wait- saints don't drink right? Right - Omkara ji? Shankar ji ki kripa hai!"

Thanks to his years of experience with drunken woman, Omkara did not seem effected.

"What are you doing here?" He asked seriously.

"Ajeeb adhmi ho yaar, you pop in wherever I go and ask me what I am doing there? This is my house for god's sake!"

Other than a simple blink, he took it in stride.

"Your house?"

"Are you illiterate? Can't you read?" She pointed a thumb at the dust covered name plate, which read, RiVaNi Bhavan. Omkara had never given a thought to that strange name of the hotel chain, but now, in the light of the peculiar way it was written, he wondered if it was a combination of few names. "Haan," Ri nodded importantly. "That Ri is from my name, Va is from Mom's Avantika and Ni is from.."

"Annika?" Omkara suggested, raising an eyebrow. This was surely not going the way he intended it to. "You are Annika's sister?"

"Antaryaami ho? Bhoot preet se connection hai? How did you know, my sister's name?"

"Your sister is -"

"Gone, I know!" Ri snapped and then pointed the stars ahead. "All of them are over there, watching over me. Bada maza aata honga na? Sab saat mein drama dekhte hue?" She giggled again, drinking deeply from her bottle. From the angle her face was turned to, he saw a bluish bruise on her cheek. Then she shook her head and the hair covered it once more. Before he realized it, Omkara had stretched his hand and brushed her hair behind her ear. Ri turned to look at him, her eyes widened a little. Someone had ruined her face and her lip was cut. "Kya dekh rahe ho?" Her tone was casual. "You're indirectly responsible for all this." She sighed. "You told me about that woman and I went to Ragav, can't say he was pleased." She clicked her tongue.

"He hit you?" He couldn't conceal his disgust and Ri chuckled.

"You didn't know? Yeh toh hamara pyaar hai, chupaye nahi chupte!" She waved the bottle in the air. "And he has chosen a son in law just like him!"

"You need to see a doctor!"

"You need to leave," her tone was brisk as she slid down from the bonnet. Omkara held her wrist, restoring her balance as she stumbled.

"Ri baat sunno - you need painkillers!"

She turned to look at him and grinned, sheepishly.

"Le toh rahi hoon, painkillers!" She held out the bottle. "It makes all the pain vanish - phoof! Gone! Waise Kali Takur ke paas mast daaru hai" she winked at him. "I stole this from him!" Omkara sighed, still keeping his grip tight on her wrist. She tried to struggle a few times and then leaned against the car, staring at the stars. "I can't go to doctors looking like this - media will create a scandal, company ka naam karab hojayenga!"

Omkara snorted. Shivay might love his saali, he thought subconsciously. That moment, she no longer reminded him of Svetlana, but his own mother. The pain brewing in her eyes was not an unfamiliar sight to him, he had grown up witnessing it.

"Let's go," he put his arm around her waist and steered her away, towards his car. She stumped her feet on the ground, refusing to be dragged away, but he was much larger than what she could fight off and the bottle slipped from her hand landing on the ground in pieces. Ri whined loudly.

"You brute!" She accused dabbing his chest with her index finger. "Kabhi meri nahi sunte!"

"I don't listen to drunk women," Omkara said opening the passenger door for her. "Get in!"

"How many drunk women did you transport?" She asked, not getting in, her eyebrows frowned in concentration. Omkara closed his eyes, an innocent looking fruit punch and a goofy Rudra popping up in his mind.

"Enough," he shoved her inside and slammed the door. "Stay put!"

"Saint!" He could have sworn he heard her mutter darkly, blowing air from a corner of her mouth.

By the time they reached the hotel, she was singing in the top of her voice once more and Omkara realized not only those who drink get hangovers. His head was throbbing with her strange numbers.

"Shut up, will you?" He hissed, dragging her in with him. "Or do you want to go to Ragav?"

"Shh!" Ri said, placing her index finger over her lips. "No Ragav."

"Good!" Omkara sighed.

"But where are you taking me? I've never taken this lift before!" She sounded suspicious now, and the doors of the elevator closed with a click.

"It's our personal elevator," he informed her, folding his hands against his chest. "In every hotel of Oberoi group we have a upper floor suite for ourselves, when we visit."

"Oh -" she said nodding her head like a doll. "Your hotel, your elevator." She stumbled on him, losing her balance and he steadied her. Ri put her arms around his neck and started to sing.

"Hum tum

Elevator mein bandh ho

Aur light chali jaaye!"
The doors opened with a click and Omkara raised an eyebrow.

"Nahi gayi!" He exhaled.

"Kya?"

"Light." Omkara said taking her arms off him. "Now come!"

"Were you scared it might?" Ri chuckled. "Poor saint, dharmsankat hojaata right?"

"Oh shut up!" He sounded embarrassed. She giggled and followed him inside sinking into a sofa uninvited and leaned her head back, her eyes closed. He walked off, leaving her in the sitting area and returned some minutes later, carrying a glass. "Drink this."

Ri opened one eye.

"What is that?"

"It'll sober you up." He said shortly.

"Really?" She sounded unconvinced.

"I have a brother who comes home at 6 am and has to go to college at 9, so yeah, I know what I'm doing."

"Are you sure he goes to college at 9?" She sat up straight and asked him seriously.

"No," he confessed with a faint smile cracking his seriously pressed lips. "But that's beside the point. It does work."

"Tum na, bohot achche ho!" She stated blankly, taking the glass and empting the contents in one go. "A bit too honest for my taste, par phir bhi, achche ho!"

"Thank you," he said taking the glass off her hand and setting it away. "Now put on some ointment on that face."

"Omkara," she wondered aloud as he disappeared into the bedroom once more. "I'm not a kid you know? Mamakara mat bano!"

He gave a snort of laughter. Really now? By the time he returned she had snuggled her feet up on the sofa and had her eyes closed, breathing softly. Omkara sat beside her and took some ointment on his finger. Her eyes snapped open. Ri said nothing, neither she moved, as he applied the oily paste on her bruise, too gently that her eyes flattered close again.

"Do you pity me Omkara?" She said abruptly after a moment.

"I try not to." He said honestly, dabbing his finger across the bluish taint. "You don't really deserve it, in my opinion."

"Oh yeah," she recalled suddenly. "You hate me. I remind you of that fiancee of yours right?"

"Why are you doing this?" He could not help but ask. She turned to look at him, her hand coming up to stop his from applying more ointment. "Why are you pricing your life?"

Ri laughed, it was a sound that was bitter and empty. Her eyes burned with tears.

"You think that's all it is? A matter of few billions you say? That company was my papa's dream, he poured his life to create those hotels. You know the moment I leave what Ragav's gonna do? I've seen the papers. He will break it apart and sell it off - that's all he sees right? Business assets?" She sighed, snatching the ointment from his hand and throwing it on the sofa. "Have you ever felt anything like that Omkara? Like you could die to make sure someone would be happy? I know he is no more, but I am, his dreams are. I can do anything to make sure some greedy man does not stump on his hard work...shaadi ka sawaal hi nahi."

He said nothing, but gazed at her as if he had never seen her before. In fact, this was the first time he saw the real her, the woman behind all those layers she had put up for the world. With all wounds and scars, broken heart and trust and tears, that image took his breath away.

Slowly he raised his arm and rubbed his thumb across the cut in her lip, holding her eye.

"Does it hurt?" He asked slowly.

"Not anymore." She said softly, attempting a faint smile, her eyes curious and guarded.

Cupping her jaw gently with that hand, he reached forward and kissed her, his lips gently tugging at hers, too careful that he did not hurt her. It was nothing like the first time they kissed. True, there was still that sizzling passion somewhere buried underneath, but the urgency and intensity was gone, instead replaced by tender exploration and lingering touches, an unexpressed affection so deep that it touched her heart. No one had been so gentle with her before, no one had cared enough. A large drop of tear escaped her eye, then another and another followed.

They broke apart and Omkara watched her doubtfully.

"Gauri?" He sound unsettled by her tears.

"Stay," she muttered snuggling closer, her head buried in his chest. "Stay with me."

**

See you with the next chapter soon.

Take a moment to give me some feedback, please!

Sorry if it's not up to your mark.

Thanks a ton for reading!

Love,

Sakura