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6. The long-night game
Satya smiles at Prasanna's act of relaxed position, waiting to hear her story. 😆
She's just looking at him and smiling
"Enough of the admiration. I'm waiting" He says resting his head on the pole with closed eyes and isn't even looking at her😉
She's embarrassed for being lost on her count of stares at him😳
What's it that pulls me like a magnet towards him? She wonders in her mind.
"My story isn't as romantic as yours" She jokes
He chuckles to himself "I'll decide that"
From his stance it is very clear that he has every intention to know more about her. Whatever it is, he is ready to give his ears and mind to it. And even if she wants she cannot stop from saying nothing😃
Satya was a brilliant child at school who shined both in academics and sports. Though her family was poor she had never been inclined towards the monetary pleasures of life. She was happy that she had been gifted with good talents and wanted to use them at its best. Also she wanted to do something on her own to help her struggling mother lead a good life.
Because she had been seeing her mother subjected to cruelty of life, she wanted to free her from it all and take good care of her🤗. Her father was neither a good man nor a bad one. He was utterly selfish and a drunkard. That's all she saw about him. And he wasn't happy with his daughter either. Not because he wanted her to become something else but because he wanted her to be a boy. All he wanted was a son who could earn well for him and his luxury needs.😡
Satya's mother couldn't make her husband understand her own worth and so seeking support for her daughter was a far cry. So she worked as domestic help in many houses, earning enough to send Satya to good school. All thanks to a missionary school, Satya's mother was able to manage the fees and Satya was getting good exposure to variety of good learning.
If not for Satya's mother's love and support, she would've been lost somewhere. Her mother had always told her to live her life in her own terms and not let others dictate it. As much as her mother believed, Satya too strongly believes that she had every right to do whatever she wanted to do. And everytime she sees her mother, she couldn't help but wonder about how she wanted her life to be. Her mother's confidence in her was Satya's biggest morale boost to choose whatever her heart wanted. She was determined, to show the purpose of her life and not a wasted girl's life like her father believed.
But fate had its own way of casting cruelty on strong-willed people. To make them or break them? Only God knows. Satya's mother died in a fatal accident when Satya was in her 12th grade. Till then whatever little happiness she had in her life was lost just like that. Satya cried for days and days. Along with the selfless affection of her mother she also lost her only support in the world. But she didn't want to fail her mother's hopes for her. She wanted to prove her worth at least for her mother's sake.
Satya had been to those houses, along with her mother, where she was working. She approached few of them seeking their support for her financial needs. She offered to work in their houses before and after school. They agreed and she managed to earn money for her daily needs. Her father didn't even bother to know how his young daughter was managing at school and home. And Satya dared not ask anything from him. The one time when she had asked for some expense related to her school he burst into anger throwing tantrums about how she was a curse in his life. Also he used bad words blaming his dead wife for everything. 😡
Satya was deeply affected by her father's indifferent state towards her mother who had been a beautiful loving soul for her. She didn't want to trigger anything of that sort for the woman whom she adored the most. That too from a man for whom she didn't have any love or hatred. She didn't think he was even worth her hatred. She stopped caring for him in fact for anything or anyone.
She finished her school and wanted to get a job because getting into college is expensive and without a guarantee of job. Her school teachers helped her choose her career in sports. Satya was very good in basketball and had won trophies for her school team. They helped her get into a diploma course in basketball coaching. Because she was naturally good in the sport, and had acquired some good skills by practice, she got admission into the course in scholarship program.
Satya could only be thankful for being blessed by her mother indirectly. And she put all her passion into the sport believing that it's a gift from her mother in heaven. As she didn't have anyone to love in the world she found herself loving and being loved when she played the game. And she formed a special bond with the basketball and anything related to it.
After finishing her course, she worked in various schools as coach. With experience and talent in the subject she slowly moved to coaching college students. And Mount Carmel is her first college as a coach and it's a big milestone for her to accomplish to sustain and succeed.
When Satya finished her flashback, all she could feel was Prasanna's hands on hers. Somewhere in between her story she must have gone emotional and she didn't realize that tears were flowing down. He must have noticed it because the lights had come back. And he had come closer sitting next to her, holding her hands.
Satya herself hasn't thought that she still has those memories so alive inside her. Good or bad she can't say but whatever they were, that's what has been driving her all the while. Maybe she still misses her mother very much but she doesn't regret for anything that happened in her life.
Prasanna could see the self-satisfied person in her for whatever she has become today. All with her own good efforts. The special thing about her is that she is very grateful to many of the good hearted people who supported her in different ways. And she believes that she's the blessed one among the lost lots.
"Sorry to hear about your mother" All Prasanna could say
Because Prasanna doesn't think Satya needs any sympathy from anyone. It's her pride to be where she is now and how she has achieved it all by herself. A past that many could have, or even worse than that but how she had managed to get past it. And Prasanna thinks that if anything Satya would feel bad about is that her mother isn't there with her to be part of it all.
"I'm sure your mother is watching you proudly from wherever she is" Prasanna says
He never had faith in God but for the first time he believes in the power of blessings coming from the loved ones who are gone from the world. He wants to believe in Satya's belief about her mother watching out for her from heaven. And he's thankful for that and he doesn't know why he dreads to even think of anything bad to have happened to her.
An unknown feeling forms inside him for Satya, a sense of protection or a bond of affection? He couldn't name it. An unexplainable anger and resentment is built inside him, for the so-called father of the young girl. He doesn't even want to know anything more about him.
"See I told you.. Nothing romantic about my story" Satya smiles
"I thought you had an affair with basketball" He teases
All the while his hand is still holding hers
And she could feel the warmth and comfort in it.
"Huh huh.. I thought I kept it as a secret"
"I thought it's an open book.. Anyone can see it"
"Oucch.. That's a bad news then"
"I don't think so.."
"My husband may not like it"
"Are you planning to have another one?"
"I don't think so.."
"That's what I thought so.."
Both laugh at their sweet nothings..😳
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