Part 8
New day for him and a long night for her had begun. He woke up with a smile, fresh with Arohi's thoughts after seeing her pouted face in his dream. He wore the sweater she had knitted for him, she had an A on the heart. He loved it. He was running late so he hurried and reached his work. His team memebers were introduced Ben, Kunal, Debbie. He had a personality that impressed anyone quickly and it was no different here. Soon he got busy.
Arohi had reached home by then, changed and with a sullen face ate just for the sake of her mom. It pierced her mother and father's hearts to see her like that. They decided to hurry Akash into coming back. Her mom thought he might be able to bring her out of this. She extended her usual prayers to few more mins especially for a miracle to happen and she gets her daughter back. Arohi tried to sleep. She could hear the thunder outside. The depression in the seas everywhere was bringing untimely rain and bad weathers all over the world. 'Arohi' Arohi utho jaanti ho na har roz office jaane se pehle main tumhe dekhna chahta hoon', she heard arjun's voice calling her, she woke up with a start. Realised she was just dreaming she threw the blanket aside and got up the bed. It was 2 in the morning. She walked to the window and opened it, it was still raining. She wondered what he would be doing now, sleeping ofcourse she thought, would he be in sound sleep or did he wake up like her since she felt he too is awake. If he is awake is he too watching the rain. The wind made the rain drops fall on her and inside the room. The cool air was hitting her face. She felt the same warmth of him that she had felt that day at durgam cheruvu, it was just like any other meeting but arjun was different than his usually composed self. She felt a tremor pass as she recollected it. She felt like arjun too like her was remembering the incident. She hugged herself while letting the rain drops slowly wet her night dress.
Around the same time , at 3 pm in Chicago, Arjun came out of the office with his coffee in hand to get some fresh air, it was raining here aswell. Clouds had made it look like night there was cool breeze and the sound of the water hitting the ground was rhythmic. He loved it, he saw arohi in it. He remembered the first time he saw her get wet in the rain, how much it had disturbed him, how it had led to their first kiss. Even with the coat on and sipping hot coffee he could feel the chill that had passed through him when he had felt her cool skin under his warm hand, it was only for a minute or less but it became an eternal moment for them. He remembered the incident like it had just happened.
It was his birthday but he still had to go to work. He had promised Arohi he would come early and they would go to their favourite spot and spend the evening in each other's company. Both of them ignored the signs of possible rain all they wanted was to be together in the place they always met. It was very important day for her. She had made sweets the previous evening saying she wanted to take it for her friend. She had been knitting a sweater for him with an A on his heart, she was anxious if she would able to finish it before his birthday so made it a point it is ready for her special day. She packed it and put the sweets in the bag. She made a cd for him with all their fav songs. She had been to the temple before going to college and prayed for his healthy and happy long life. She came home early from college saying she did not have her afternoon class. Luckily for her her mother went to meet their relatives and she was all alone to get dressed the way she wanted without being questioned. . She choose her new saree, a pale green towards the color of a pistachio, a plain slightly transparent smooth saree with a lined short sleeve blouse. She left her hair loose was about put her makeup when she saw the time. She was getting late, she hurriedly picked up her purse and the bag with sweets and went to the pick up place forgetting the cd.
She remembered the cd. Looking in her purse she found it missing, 'oh no, main ghar mein hi bhul ke aagayi jaldi mein' 'kya?' 'woh main eek cd banayi thi, tumahare fav songs ka, who reh gaya'. He faked a frown and then seeing her sad face and laughed, 'theek hai kal de dena' 'aur maine mithayi bhi banayi hai' she handed him the sweets she made. He wanted to feed her one, he gave one to her she reached out her hand, he moved it, and motioned towards her mouth. She took a bite. He was acting different than everyday, she liked it. He had one 'hmm good , tumhe bhi kuch banana aata hai' 'pata hai sweater ke colour choose karna kitna mushkil tha, tumhe pasand aaya na, sweets mere fav wale hai, finally sikh liya maine. Aaj temple gayi thi tumhare liye pray karne , aur ...' and she kept talking and he kept listening. Watching her eyelids bat, lips move saree flutter he was not able to focus on what she was saying.
He was getting disturbed, in a good way, he was feeling the sweet pain increase with passing time. 'aaj saadi kyun pehna' he asked her suddenly cutting through her talk. 'haan?' then she understood and blushed that he was observing her attire 'woh naya tha, aur tumhara birthday par tum naya pehnoge toh mujhe bhi kuch naya pehnna tha' 'maine naye thode pehne hai, yeh toh purane hai' 'dekha atleast main toh mana rahi hoon theek tarah se tumhara birthday' she supported herself 'aisa hai toh main chahu mera roz birthday ho aur tumhe aise hi dekhta rahu naye naye roop mein' she looked if he was just teasing, 'sach arohi tum aaj bahut sundar dikh rahi ho' the blush in her cheeks increased and she lowered her eyes. 'tumhe yeh colour pasand aaya?' she asked him 'yeh kaunsa color hai' she made a face and said 'pale green' 'kyun sahi green nahi mila?' 'arey yeh sober color hai aur tumhe sober colors pasand hai na toh maine socha ki...' 'mujhe khud par sober colors pasand hai tum par bright pasand hai' 'toh yeh tumhe acchi nai lagi?' he laughed looking 'tumhe Mazak bhi samajh mein nai aati. Bahut acchi hai, aur tumhe toh koi bhi color suit karti hai' he said as his eyes moved from her to face to her fair arms and back to her eyes again. She felt warm under his gaze. Like always she wanted to distract the moment by talking something or other but today she could not she just looked away. Sensing this he stretched his legs and laid down on his back with his hands under the head and let the cool air hit him.
'Mera most fav gana hai na cd mein' 'saare hai'. 'Chaudvi ka chand ho' he said, 'hai' she replied, 'nahi' he signaled at her and continued 'Chaudvi ka chaan ho ya aaftaab ho job hi ho tum khuda ki kasam lajawaab'. Her heart rate started to increase. He sat up and continued 'julfe hai jaise kandhon pe badal jhuke huye, ankhein hai jaise may ke pyale bhare huye..' he was not singing but saying it in a steady pace, she smiled at him. Her lips looked more beautiful today 'honton pe khelti hai Tabassum ki bijliya, jaane bahaar tum kisi shayar ka khwaab ho' she was at loss of words, his eyes were filled with passion that their intensity increased her heartrate. She finally managed to say 'tumne lines mix up kar diya' 'jaanta hoon, aise hi bolne ka mann kiya' '___' 'Arohi, meri tarf dekho' he moved closer to her and caught her hand entwining his fingers into hers making a strong hold. She did not look at him. The Lake that was still till now started to show ripples as result of the drizzle. 'aaj baarish aane wali thi' she said , 'chalenge na'. He was not yet satisfied, the ache in his heart was still there, he did not want to leave, but he knew soon it would start raining heavily and they had to be under a shelter before that. They started walking as the light rain hit them.
Suddenly it rained big drops and wet them both, they ran to the nearest tree which had a small shelter may be put up by some vendor, it was empty. They stood under it. They got considerably wet. There was water drops on her face arms and neck. The wind brought more rain water in their direction. 'Tum iss tarah aaja' he pulled her towards the tree and shielded her from the wind and rain getting his back wet. He tried hard not to touch her and not to look at her semi wet frame. 5 mins passed with them standing like that and the rain mellowed down. 'thank god' she whispered. 'Chale?' she asked 'abhi nahi' 'kyun abhi toh barish ruk phir zor se aa gayi toh' 'jaa sakte hai par aise nai 10 -15 min ruko' 'kyun? 10-15 min lekin der ho jayegi' he was silent 'arjun chalo na' 'kaha na ruko' 'kyun' he held her by her arm and pulled her close 'kyunki aise tumhe sirf main dekh sakta hoon aur koi nahi, jab thoda sukhenge tab niklenge' she realized that her clothes were still damp she turned away from him, the way he said that only he can see her felt more romantic than anything. He had been looking and talking so passionately that day. He too was loosing control. She felt him come more close to her.
'aaj kya ho gaya tumhe achanak' she asked. 'tumhe nahi pata?'. she moved her head sideways 'apne dil se puchna pata chalega' 'woh toh koi jawab nai dega' 'kyun' he asked like how she always says it. 'bahut zor se dhadak raha hai meri awaz nai sunegi' 'theek hai phir main hi bata dunga' he came to her and bent down to her ear 'aaj mera hosh ud gaya hai' she had a blood rush through her body. He turned her around 'arjun' she hesitated. He continued 'kyunki aaj kal mujhe jannat dikhayi deti hai'. She quivered, she had tears in her eyes. He continued ' tumhare ankhon mein mere liye jo pyaar hai woh jannat se kam nahi hai' 'aur mere liye jo tumhari ankhon mein hai woh jannat se bad kar hai' she said controlling her trembling voice. Her words , her makeup less damp face, the semi wet saree, the proximity, the love for him in her eyes, the sensuous lips everything was playing havoc with his brain. 'Arohi' he called her moving closer, she had become a prisoner of his eyes. They were dark filled with passion when he said 'duniyaa-e-husn-o-ishq kaa tum hi shabaab ho' Her throat became dry anticipating his move. 'main aur ek birthday gift le loon?' he asked in a heavy voice 'kaisa gift?' she whispered 'yeh' he moved more close causing her to hit the tree behind. He placed his finger under chin and lifted her face he placed his other hand lightly on her waist, as his warm hand touched her cold damp skin she felt a shiver and almost jumped he quickly bent down and kissed on her lips, he could not help it when his hand firmly landed on her waist. She was lost in the kiss which had numbed their brains and only thing they could hear was the heartbeats. Both their hearts ached for more. It was only for mere few seconds when the ruffle of leaves scared her and she moved away from him. It took few seconds for him to come back to senses and she already had tears in her eyes, tears of joy of experiencing the most endearing moment of her life with the most dearest person to her. But seeing her tears he thought otherwise. He felt guilty, he felt like he had broken one of his own codes. 'sorry' he said in a low voice 'woh pata nai kya ho gaya I am sorry arohi please ro mat I promise aisa phir kabhi nahi hoga'. She could not see his eyes like that she wiped her eyes 'main ro nahi rahi thi' he looked at her she smiled and said 'maine bura nahi mana' he was still not sure 'smile please' she said he got encouraged again and his eyes got locked on her lips he moved closer to her again 'tumne abhi abhi promise kiya aur tum promise todne walon mein se nahi ho na' she reminded him moving away but looking at his face through the corner of her eyes. 'haan kiya hai, lekin yeh promise nibhana mushkil ho jayega par main vada nibhano walo mein se hu aur yeh challenge bhi accept kar lunga matlab sirf tab tak jab tak tum khud tayyar na ho I mean'' 'Arjunnn' he laughed again but caught her hand and in a serious tone told her 'yeh promise iss liye bhi nibhana zaroori hai kyuni mujhe apne aap par bharosa nahi..' she thought to herself 'mujhe bhi nahi hai'.
He said 'thanks' 'kyun' 'mere birthday ko itna special banana ke liye'. 'yeh lo, mera sweater pehenlena , thand lagegi ab gaadi par' 'tumhara, woh toh itna bada hai'. Apart from keeping herself warm, he wanted her to cover the still semi wet saree. He felt possessive and protective about her. He wanted to be the only special person in her life that gets to share these moments. She wore it, it was loose, but she felt warm. They walked hand in hand. True to the promise made they did not go beyond the limits set by themselves again.
Arohi remembered his every expression his every word and tears started rolling down. 'tumhe bhi yeh sab yaad aa rahi hogi na ab? Samne nahi ho toh kya hua mujhe toh abhi bhi tumhare ankhon ka pyaar dikhayi deti hai jo jannat se bad kar hai, lekin mujhe yeh nahi pata ki tum kaise ho , kya kar rahe ho, main kya karu? Kaise rahu tumhare bare mein jaane bina?. Ek saal rukne ke liye main tayyar hoon lekin mere dil ki dhadkan itni tez hoti jaa rahi hai. Jab hum milenge pata nahi aur kitni tez ho jayegi , pata nahi main bardaash kaise kar paaungi tab toh tumhe hi aake mere dil ko sambhaalna hoga' she cried holding the window bars, tears getting mixed with the rain.
Arjun felt the same pain there at the same time. 'kaisi ho arohi tum? Main toh tumhe bataye bina hi aa gaya. Kaise bataon , tumhe toh gussa aa jayega agar pata chalega ki main itne door hoon. Pata nahi tha tumse door aana itna mushkil hoga, apne jannat ko chodke aana itna dard bhar dega. Jab milenge toh apni duniya phir se aabaad ho jayega bas ek saal rukna padega, lekin tumhara dil bahut zor se dhadakta hai, kahi meri aane ki awaaz sunayi nahi diya toh. Use samjhake sambhalke rakhna, mere aane ke baad main sambhalunga'.
'Arjun' prakash's voice brought him back 'what happened you are staring at the rain' he asked. 'nothing' arjun went in with him. Seeing Prakash he found a best way he can inform arohi where he is.
Jhanak
Udne Ki Aasha
