"Where are you?" She asked, expecting a bark for an answer.
He'd taken her to their apartment door and left without another word. She'd panicked he would leave the city the same night and after 45 minutes of hesitation, trying to mentally rehearse the words she could utter, she called him, but only after a calming shower and careful choice of clothes to go meet him. The last time she'd checked Daadima was in deep sleep. To her advantage the clock hadn't crossed 11.00 PM and she felt that gave her couple of hours before her bhaiya and bhabhi would come home.
Her emotions were the biggest surprise of all. Where had her anger and impulsiveness gone? Any other day, she would have had an outburst too? But at the time when he was dragging her through the crowds, she'd felt just the opposite. Fear, that he was mad at her and a tinge of joy at the possessiveness that he still openly portrayed. However the small part of joy was all soon disappearing when he held onto the phone for a while without an answer.
"I'm hungry. There are no leftovers at home. Can you get me a sandwhich?...the one with tartar spread" She added, hoping he would pick up on the hint. Her eyes scrunched and her forehead folded in embarrassment that she was blatantly asking for it.
"Let me get one" He responded finally.
When he heard her voice, she felt her body loosen up. He had her all knotted up inside until she could know for sure, he would meet her, even if he'd had plans for leaving.
"I will see you in your apartment" She said in a hurry and before he could resist or suggest anything else, she cut the line and shot straight to the apartment door.
In less than 5 minutes, she was there at Meera's place. He got the door, half way through unbuttoning the number of shirts he was wearing. And what met his eyes had him forget he was awake. Suddenly it was lost on him, the details of where he was or what he'd been doing the time he opened the door or that he was supposedly angry with her. He thought he was cross-eyed for a minute there.
"Sari?" He blinked in disbelief.
She scuttled inside with a shaken expression, like she was sneaking out of her house at the hour. It was alarm of getting her sari untied or if it was apprehension itself, he wondered, that put a distraught look on her face. But apprehension for what? Losing him? Stop dreaming! He silenced the little voice inside his head. He didn't expect miracles to come running inside his door, that too in the same yellow sari he had given her, in only eight days of having asked her come back to him.
Once inside, she waited for him to lead her. He paused after shutting the door, but hurried to his bedroom without inviting her along. She followed not minding his ignoring. She saw he was packing a small suitcase that was wide open on the bed. His clothes lay scattered on the bed, which he must have been removing from the makeshift closet. This stay was only a sojourn after all.
"You are leaving?" She asked in a strangled voice.
"Yes" He said, dumping a few sets of his clothes into the suitcase.
"Umm!...May be you should talk to Maan about that"
He didn't respond, but lifted his head to look at her, while still bent at the edge of the bed.
"I will text him" He was curt in his responses, almost unusual to the point that he thought she must have figured it was feigned.
Apparently it was not the case, for he noted her trembling hand seconds later in the silence that ensued. She kept tying and untying the corner end of her sari on her index finger in small fast movements. Her face pale with worry, eyes looking down as if her answers lie there on the ground and the image wrenched his heart.
"Look I'm sorry" He said, walking back to the closet and the sigh he let out later, was audible even to her in the far corner of the room.
"I shouldn't have behaved like that" He gritted his teeth as he spoke "You should know I don't like any bas***d touching you"
"I know" She held onto her small voice.
He was a tad bit confused as he noticed her distressed tone and absence of upsurge of flares at his irrationality. Turning to look at her, he saw her move against the wall and lean on it. He dropped the clothes in the suitcase and went towards her.
"Is something wrong?" He asked and she felt she was caught unguarded. No amount of preparation seemed to be enough to come talk to him. Her words failed her, quite predictably, when he was standing, arms folded and inches away from her.
"You should let Daadi know before you are leaving" She muttered.
"Ok" He said in a placid voice.
"I mean she won't like it, if you leave like this" She kept her eyes on the button that was half-way through the button hole, caught in an inertia, waiting with bursting static force, just like her.
"Ok" He added as he was beginning to feel his one word acted as a rudder she was using to swim through her words.
"Then there is Maan bhaiya and Geet...Of course Meera and Yash...Even Papaya and her pups..." She met his eyes for a brief second, but when she saw what seemed like traces of a smile surface on his face, she looked away, nowhere in particular "And Snow" She ended.
"And you?" He asked, lifting his hand to cup her cheek.
She caught sight of his raising palm. Lord! no...She screamed mentally. She would break like sheet glass, into a thousand pieces if the touch wouldn't turn into a kiss. And she thought she wasn't built to handle any more disappointments. She shuffled to her right on her tiptoes, pulling back her face and body against the wall, but the dresser blocked her from getting away. He'd matched her movements instinctually and now confined her to the small space between the dresser and his body. Placing his palms on either side of her face, he prodded her further. Somehow he felt it was her day to speak.
"Tell me...And you?"
"What about me?" She asked as she closed her eyes shut, her tone unyielding despite the shakiness of her voice.
"You don't want me to inform you that I'm leaving" He asked.
"No" She bit out instantly.
His firmness dissolved with her denial. It was clear to him that he was indeed hoping against hope, all the while, to hear something else; of the sorts that perhaps would tell him to stay.
"Because..." He heard her say, but she was silent once again. When he was about to pull his exiling arms away from the wall, she added, "You promised you will never leave me. I don't understand how you can go back on...(your words)" She couldn't finish as she jerked forward and was dragged into a hug. Her arms went around his neck in urgency, like every second counted. She didn't know what she was missing until then. It had been so long since they mutually went for an embrace that she didn't remember what it felt like surrendering to him willingly. She was crying now, thrusting her face deep into his shoulders and he crushed her to him, just the way she liked.
Time was surreal, transcending dimensions in a way he didn't comprehend. He'd imagined this exact moment, so many different times that he'd begun to believe that it was like those silly wishes one always dreamt of, but never could attain. And in all those times he'd not accounted for the sweet smell of hers or how soft her hair would feel when he would run his fingers through it. Not even had he pictured the right smoothness of her skin. But that instant onwards, he would be living it all, a culmination to the endless living and re-living he had done. She was finally back in his arms.
"I love you Abhi...Don't leave me" She cried her heart in a whimper, just as she felt his lips on the curve of her neck.
This is the end of Part 95. We will continue the scene in Part 96, for its no longer apt to fit it under the same title. Very few comments 😔 and I can't be more disheartened about it. But I want THANK all those who have been faithfully commenting. Do let me know how this part came out for I wrote it in a rush. I couldn't bear Naini's angst.
Cricket
Financial markets and global economy
Ishaani
12