Raghvi os: An Apology.
Raghav erased the last curve he drew on the paper. He picked up the pencil and redrew only to realise it didn't create much difference to the previous one. Irritated, he tossed the pencil hard over the table. He took a deep sigh and clicked on the phone in desperation to look for any new notifications. Alas! Nothing was much of any emergency or to be precise none among them were from her. He then gulped down a significant amount of wine from his glass caused him a sharp pain in his throat. He winced at it. He shifted his gaze back to the paper , vowed to concentrate this time with all his will. The sheet of paper was absorbing almost all the light of the study lamp in the dark room and the design of a necklace over the paper was emeging with every tiny details to his eyes. But something in it wasn't perfect to him. He couldn't figure out exactly what he was missing in something he has given a whole week into.
Besides being the Don of the city and a renowned businessman, Mr Raghav Rao was an artist also. He was not only the employee of the best designers but also one of them. He creates marvels with every punctiliousness that it satisfies him a way nothing other does. But unlike other days, today the Artist in him was lost somewhere. He never required alcohol to keep himself focused to something he is passionate at. Neither he had a habit of scrabbling his phone every other second. Today his habits were betraying him like she did few days before.
All he wanted was to remove their name from the absurd allegation they were thrown at. He was denounced innumerable times in the past . He bothered the least for himself but she was foreign to this circumstances and needed a helping hand. He had thought. But on the contrary to his imagination she turned out to be a thankless woman. In return she promised him to destroy him, punish him to the level he would never forget ,making him chuckle at the return of her fierce incarnation. He felt betrayed when none of her promises turned into actions till now. He was waiting for a stormy arrival of a Raged Pallavi Deshmukh at the mansion like she did in other occasions , whenever she lost her patience on him. Nothing of that sort happened . The next day he learned the shop didnot get opened. And to add to his restlessness he found out she had left the city. On enquiry from Krishna and some neighbors he got to know about her location, Kolhapur.
'She hasn't abandoned Hyderabad, just went to Kolhapur for a day or two. She will return soon' This is what Raghav had explained to himself initially to clam down his wondering mind. As the days passed, it became difficult to remained stick to his own theory. He grew distressed at the thought of her never returning to Hyderabad and ended up messaging her one day. He hid his concerns behind mundane complaints like the inconvenience he was experiencing for the shop renovation due to its closure or not getting the rental of his shop timely. She didn't reply to any of them but his complaints were well taken care of. Pallavi had him delivered the keys as well as the Rental of the Shop through Krishna which left him even more furious. He had thought of calling her many times but what would he speak to her. He was not left with any convincing excuse and asking her about her wellbeing might appear him a bit more sympathetic than he should be to her which the Don inside him would not allow anyway.
As days turned into a week , myriads of thoughts was taking a toll over his head. Her absence was pestering him more than her intolerable presence.
Exhausted with his contemplation process, he grabbeb his phone and typed ' when are you coming back?' He paused a little and pressed the backspace button and rephrased ' will you be ever coming back? And to complete this he inserted a smirking emoticon, which had no resemblance to his current facial expression. After reassuring to self that the message depicted only a tease and not his worries he sent it. No reply came. No taunts, no complaints, no assurance. Nothing.
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Raghav pressed himself more into the mattress as the ringing sound from his cell phone hit his ear. He mumbled some something in telugu and wished it would quiet the disturbance. With some efforts he managed to wakeup and checked the screen.
'Saree Ka Dukaan' flashed on the screen. He rubbed his eyes and brought the screen closer to ensure he was not hallucinating. It was indeed her. His back straightened and he gathered up all the emotions he felt was rushing inside him and prepared himself to act like A perfect Raghav Rao in front of her.
' saree ka dukaan . Tumko neend nhi ata kya raat ko...aise odd hours pe call karke pareshan karta hai' Raghav spoke as soon as he received the call. He tried his best to sound sleepy and irritated and most importantly non worried.
' Im sorry Raghav' her voice didnot appear as rebellious as he was expecting it to be. Neither it was soft.
'Yeh kya naya businesses shuru kiya tum...logo ko raat ko jagake sorry bolne ka' he said sternly, flawlessly concealed the sense of relief he achived after hearing her voice.
'Raghav, I want to say sorry to you for what happened to you due to me and my family. Maine realise kiya ki mujhe tumhara sath dena chahiye tha . Mera behavior bilkul sahi nhi tha aur main inn sab ke liye tumse maafi mangti hoon . I hope tum mujhe maaf kar doge.' Pallavi apologized , not in a classic apologetic tone though. She sounded more confident than ever as if not under any force , any fear , any unwanted responsibilities. She was herself, the free and ferocious Pallavi Deshmukh, the way he knows her.
'Baad mein palat toh nhi jayega?' Raghav asked leaning to the bedpost for a comfortable position. Her tone was enough to convince him that she truly meant her words but he still risked a chance to provoke her.
'Nhi' came her firm reply.
'Tum bahut lecture deta hai..aaj main tumko ek baat batata hai...tum duniya ke saamne jaisa pretend karega ..duniya tumko waisa hi dekhega..if you dont stand for yourself, you are guilty by default'. She was listening to him , without interfering .
'Thankyou' pallavi said.
'Lecture ke liye?' Ragav asked surprisingly. The transfer of the lectures, sayings, advices between them was always unwanted to each other so thanking for it was strictly prohibited which have been one of their unwritten rules.
'Nhi... Thankyou for the help' she corrected, clearly disappointed at his presumption.
She could hear him grinning from other side.
'Did you accept my apology?'
'Abhi ke liye thik hai.. par agli baar mein yeh sab drama tolerate nhi karega. Raghav Rao baar baar maaf nhi karta. Ardhamainda'
' Ardhamainda...Good night Ghamandi Rao.' She made a face and quickly cut the call .
A wide smile of content spread across his face. He instantly felt the peace in this quiet room as soon as he saw her message on the screen 'I will be back by tomorrow and the challenge is not over yet' with a smirking emoticon at the end.
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Hey all .
I hope you all are safe and healthy.
Since I have never seen a apologetic Pallavi I thought to give it a try.
Hope you liked it.
Thankyou😃
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
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