~~Chapter 18~~
Note-- Please Read the Dialogs carefully😊...
and Read Slowly to understand the Situation😊...
"Pia,"
Pia, who was sitting snuggled up in bed reading a classic, looked up to see her mother at the room's door.
"I am going to Nalini aunty's house for some time. Your grandfather is having his afternoon nap and Abhay is also sleeping, and Rishi has been running in and out of the house for some time now, sometimes for taking his cricket bat and sometimes his football," her mother said exasperatedly, "and he forgets to close the door when he leaves. So just mind the house till I come back."
"Okay mom. How long will you be gone?"
"I'll try to come back in half an hour. But Nalini has called some other friends also, and I think they have a long list of questions about Abhay, Shaurya Singhji and everything that happened in the past week," Madhu laughed, "So it may take me an hour also to return."
After her mother had left, Pia remained seated on the bed reading her book for a while longer. Then the sound from the ceiling fan abruptly disappeared and she looked up to see it slowing down suddenly...
The electricity had gone again...
Pia sighed wearily. This was the second time in two days. But since it was just early evening there was enough light in the room. Hopefully, power would return before twilight….She would have to read the remainder of the book downstairs until either her mother or grandfather returned home. The bell wouldn't work now, and she wouldn't be able to hear the sound of anyone knocking on the door if she was in her room.
Pia came downstairs and began to walk towards the sofa and then came to an abrupt halt. Abhay was still sitting in the armchair next to the sofa, reclining with the book lying opened on his chest…one hand resting on the hand of the chair and the other on the back of the book...fast asleep.
She considered going back upstairs…but then, he was sleeping after all...and as usual, he looked so innocent and harmless while he was asleep...if only he was like that when he was awake too, she thought wistfully.
She moved forward cautiously until she was at an arms distance from him. She stretched out her hand to ease the book out of his clasp but then decided against it. He might wake up, and his sleep would be disturbed...and he still looked so tired, she noted anxiously...
Pia walked back a step and soundlessly made her way around him to the sofa. She sat down on the other end of the sofa, took a cushion and kept it on her lap, and then she placed the book on it and resumed her reading. It was very peaceful, a gentle breeze was coming in through the window, and she was soon lost in the fictional world of the characters.
Some time later, she sensed some movement to her right and looked towards Abhay. He was frowning and stirring a little restlessly in sleep...there was a sheen of perspiration on his fair forehead.
Pia hesitated, then kept the book and cushion aside and got up and walked over to the table. Two plain wooden hand-fans lay on it. She picked one up and walked back to the sofa.
This time she sat down on the side next to Abhay's chair. She replaced the cushion and book on her lap, and with her left hand, began to fan him gently with the hand-fan. He stopped fidgeting and the furrowed lines on his forehead turned smooth again. Pia smiled and returned her attention to the book, while her hand continued to move the hand-fan.
"Don't you have anything better to do? Or is this your good deed for the day..."
Pia jumped in her seat and turned to see Abhay awake and looking at her mockingly. As embarrassed colour flooded her face, she hurriedly withdrew the arm that was still holding the hand-fan and averted her eyes.
"I thought you were asleep," she said quickly and then resentfully added, "I wouldn't have done it otherwise."
"Well...it really is quite hot," he contemplated, sitting up and keeping the book on the round table in front of him. "So if you have nothing better to do, you can continue,' he granted generously.
"That's very kind of you," Pia said rigidly😆, "but you can fan yourself since you are awake." And she crossly kept the fan on the table and cast aside the pillow and the book to return to the other end of the sofa, not seeing the amused grin on his face.
She had just stood up in a huff when Rishi came running in at full speed from the door with a football in hand. He rolled it under the table where it joined his bat, and then spun around to run out again.
"Wait!"
Rishi halted and turned around to face his sister impatiently.
"What is it, Di?"
"Where are you running off to again?" Pia asked severely, "Mom said you've been scampering in and out of the house for some time now."
"Raj said there is a new car parked near his house; he says it's a latest model car and it's gray in colour and looks fantastic," Rishi replied, his face shining with excitement. "So we are all going to look at it. Okay I'm going now." And he sprinted away before his sister came out with any new protest.
Lost in the thrill of seeing a magnificent car in his little town which rarely saw such vehicles, he was innocently unaware of the chilling silence he had left behind.
Note-- Pia's House in Not in Main Dehradun... PRASHANT is in some k.m. Far away from dehradun, In a Small Town...
Pia stood frozen, suddenly finding it difficult to breathe...the description of the car ringing in her ears….
Grey...brand new...just like the car Sidharth had...
Had he returned, she thought, feeling sick with fear...come back to finish the job he had left incomplete the last time... Pia shuddered and crossed her arms around herself, trying to keep terror at bay.
Abhay was injured and Shaurya uncle wasn't there either this time. She hadn't told her family the truth about that day...even if she did now, they would be as helpless as her.
"It's not what you think," a calm voice said.
Startled, Pia swung around and looked at Abhay. He was reclining again peacefully, with his hands crossed behind his head...the absolute fearlessness in his eyes in stark contrast to the terrified anxiety in hers
So he knew what she had been thinking...and why she was suddenly looking frightened to death.
"I was...I was just thinking if -," she started to say hesitantly in a small voice.
"It's not him, it's not Sidharth," Abhay said.
She wanted to believe him...to believe that Sidharth had not come back for revenge. But her hands and feet had already turned cold with the fear of his return...What if it was him and what if he had come with more henchmen... Who could she call upon for help?
"What if it is him? What will we do?" Pia asked worriedly, abandoning all pretense, and feeling terribly desperate and scared all of a sudden.
"He won't be back so soon," Abhay said dismissively. "He had a few head injuries, and he is not going to recover anytime in the near future."
"He tried to kill you with his car when you were walking away," she persisted, "so he must not be that hurt."
"That was not him. He wouldn't do something like that. Even though he is a sore loser, he does have some bit of honour. That must have been the brain of that moron who calls himself Sidharth's servant," Abhay snorted.
"How can you be so sure? How do you know him at all..." she asked helplessly, finally voicing the question that had been troubling her for long. What was the connection between him and those dangerous men...why had they tried to kill him...and why was Abhay so convinced about the honour of a man who had tried everything in his power to take his life...
Abhay looked away and didn't answer, but Pia did not speak again...she was regretting the impulse that had made her ask that...she had no right to ask him anything about his private life... She would not raise the question again...
"It was wrong of me to ask you that, I'm sorry," Pia said earnestly, breaking the silence.
She walked towards the sofa and lifted the book off the cushion. "I'm going upstairs," she said uncertainly. "If you need anything, just call and -."
"Sidharth is my brother,"
Immobilized by shock, Pia stared at him mutely...but his gaze was fixed straight ahead...
And then, feeling that her legs were becoming slightly unsteady, she sank tremulously onto the sofa. "Sidharth is...your brother?" Pia asked weakly.
"Half-brother," he corrected unperturbedly.
"Half-brother," Pia repeated faintly, feeling more shaken by the minute. "You mean...he is -"
"The son from my father's first marriage," Abhay completed her sentence with supreme indifference, studying the floor now.
Innumerable moments of bleak silence followed...
Then with a soft sigh, Pia stood up and made her way around his chair towards the staircase. Abhay looked up with a quizzical frown as she walked past, but she didn't meet his eyes.
When she came down, she was holding the vase with roses. Abhay was reclining in the chair again, and she felt his gaze as she opened the door, stepped into the courtyard.
Pia walked over to the two cane chairs in the yard and kept the vase on one of the chairs. She touched the roses gently and whispered, "I'm sorry but you'll have to stay here. Please don't be angry with me...or with him...he's just..."
She hesitated….what was he….apart from being totally unpredictable? Every time she started to think she was beginning to know him better, something would happen...and all her thoughts would go for a toss...
Pia wondered forlornly if she was ever going to understand him...
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Some Time later-----
"Grandpa, wake up. It is time to open the temple for the evening pooja," Pia gently tapped her grandfather awake.
Grandpa slowly sat up in the bed and looked around groggily. "Have I been asleep for long, Pia?"
"For two hours now," she smiled and tugged at a wrinkled cheek. "I've kept your tea here, grandpa. Drink it before it gets cold."
When she returned to the living room, Abhay was still engrossed in the book he had been reading for more than an hour now. What secrets of the universe were hidden in that book, she thought with mild resentment. When she had returned from the yard after keeping the flowers outside, she had found him immersed in it, and he hadn't spoken to her at all since then.
He had finally told her who Sidharth was. But she still didn't know why he was trying to kill Abhay. Why was he bent on killing his own brother? Try as she might, she couldn't erase the chilling memory of that fight...and even more...of the anger and hatred in Sidharth's face when he had been trying to strike down Abhay with the sword.
But at least he had finally told her something about himself...almost like a friend. But now she wondered sadly if he was already regretting having told her anything about his private life….
"I'm very late today. People might be waiting outside the temple."
Pia turned to see her grandfather hurrying out of his room, dressed faultlessly but with his white hair sticking up all over his head.
"Grandpa, you haven't combed your hair," she laughed. 😆
Abhay looked up from his book. "Let it remain that way, Pia. Then someone may actually believe that he has seen a ghost," he muttered.🤣🤣
"What did you say, boy?" grandfather frowned.
"He didn't say anything, grandpa," Pia said quickly, looking despairingly at Abhay. "Just wait here for a minute, I'll get the comb." She sprinted into his room and came out with the comb before they had time to get into another argument.
She combed his hair into place, and then looked at his crinkly face from all angles. "Now here is the most handsome man on earth," she said affectionately and grandfather smiled broadly. Abhay snorted, but luckily the sound was drowned by sound of the door opening.
"Is there a crowd outside the temple, Madhu," Grandfather anxiously asked her mother who had just stepped into the house.
"No, father. But I think I saw a couple of ladies walking towards it just now."
"I'll come and help you, grandpa," Pia offered. "Just give me two minutes to freshen up."
Grandfather agreed and left the house in a flurry.
"Why have you kept those flowers in the yard, Pia?" Madhu asked quizzically while removing her slippers. "I thought you wanted to keep them in your room."
"You kept those flowers outside? But why would you do that?" Abhay asked in artificial surprise, evidently disappointed.
Pia glowered at him. She knew he had seen her take the flowers outside. But he had pretended to be absorbed in his book when she had returned to the living room, and hadn't said a word about it. And he had waited till her mother had returned to ask her why she had done it. Of course, why would he let go of an opportunity to hassle her….
"I – I found a caterpillar in it. So I thought I'll keep it outside," Pia said uncomfortably and Madhu laughed.
"It must have come from some second-rate shop,"Abhay smirked.
"It did not," Pia said indignantly. "And even if it did, it's the feeling behind it that matters. Isn't it, mom," she asked with good cheer.
"Yes...its always the feeling behind a gift that is most important," Madhu concurred smilingly and Pia repressed a giggle at the scowl that marred his face.
"Either ways it's a shame that you had to throw it. That bouquet had really brightened up the place," Abhay said regretfully.
"Well if you liked it so much, maybe I could keep it in your room," she grinned mischievously, as she made to go upstairs to change her dress. "Then you could look at it all the time."
"Are you alright, Abhay?" Madhu asked anxiously, looking at his pale face. "You look a little sick all of a sudden."
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NEXT MORNING-----
Pia pulled her hair back from her face and tied it up with the clip to get some respite from the heat in the classroom. Two lectures were over and the next one was after half an hour. They had decided to remain seated in the class until then.
"Did you look for your cycle everywhere," Ruhi enquired.
"I've searched all over, but its missing," Pia said dejectedly. She had left her cycle by the side of the road last week when she had been hurrying to stop Abhay. She had known it would not be there when she returned but had entertained a faint hope until she had arrived at college today.
"Come with us in the car after college. We'll drop you to your house before going home," Misha said.
"Thanks Misha," Pia smiled, "but I won't let you do that."
"Then I'll drop you to bus stop on the main road at least," Misha insisted, "no arguments about that".
Pia smiled and hugged her in reply.
"But you know, I really miss my cycle," she said sadly after a pause.
"Why?" Ruhi asked, rolling her eyes. "All parts of that cycle were still together and working only because of some miracle."
"Hey...my cycle was no less than an aircraft, you know," Pia said playfully, holding her nose up high in the air with mock haughtiness, "Sometimes it used to almost fly on the road".
"Yeah yeah. And if you had continued to ride it, one day you would have been flying off it too."
Pia started to answer jokingly when a figure entered the almost empty classroom.Kabeer spotted her immediately and began to stride towards their bench, a warm smile plastered on his attractive face.Pia gave a small smile in return, already wary of what he was coming to say and trying to ignore the meaningful nudging and pinching of her friends.
"How are you now, Pia?" he asked earnestly, once he had reached them.
"I'm alright. I only had a little fever."
"Yeah. But Abhay was badly injured," Ruhi cut in.
"Abhay?" Kabeer asked curiously, looking from one girl to the other.
"He's Pia's tenant. Stays just next door to her," Misha offered by way of information. "He's the one who saved Pia that day."
"Oh yes. Someone had told me about it. Is he recovering well?"
"Of course he is. It's not like he is old or anything. He is very young, only 18," Misha said with a naughty glint in her eyes.
"And he is a real genius in his studies," Ruhi chirped. "He's doing his PHD and he has joined our college for it."
"Doing his PHD!" Kabeer repeated, looking baffled.
Misha nodded. "In aerospace engineering."
"And he has joined our institute?" Kabeer asked with a slight frown.
"Yeah, isn't that cool!" Ruhi smirked.
Kabeer didn't say anything and Pia realized that he was looking strangely disturbed.
But then he seemed to take hold of himself.
"Yes...that's great," he said at last with a forced smile. "Did you get my flowers, Pia?" he asked eagerly.
"I did. Thank you so much for them," she smiled.
"You are most welcome. Your family members didn't ask you anything, did they? About me? I realized later that maybe I shouldn't have…I mean…I hope your family members didn't misunderstand my intentions?"
"Actually, your card had fallen down, so no one saw it except me," Pia said uneasily, not meeting his fervent gaze. "So there was no problem at all."
Disappointment clouded his face for a moment but he recovered immediately. "Oh! That's...that's great. Okay then, I'll see you around, Pia," he added with a peculiar tilt to his voice. "Bye Misha, Ruhi."
"Bye," all three girls echoed. As he turned around and walked out the room, Pia noticed apprehensively that his shoulders were bowed down….as though some terrible weight was pressing down on them.
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Pia wiped her face with the handkerchief. It wasn't particularly hot, but it had been a long walk from the bus stop, which was on the main road, back to her house. The door was already open. She opened the gate and looked despondently at the spot where she used to park her cycle after coming from college.
But when she stepped onto the threshold of the house, the scene in front of her drove all other thoughts out of her mind.
Abhay and her grandfather were sitting on either side of the small round table. A board game lay open in front of them. Rishi itting on the floor his face at the same height as the game, and his thrilled eyes moving from Abhay to her grandfather like a pendulum.
The scene would have been a very sweet and peaceful one...if only the two men on either side of the game had not been glowering at each other.
"You made that rule up just now!" Abhay said angrily, breaking the tense silence.
"I did not," Grandfather said loudly. "I forgot to tell you this rule when we began playing the game."
Pia stopped at the door, and looked at the argument happening before her with rising alarm. She had made Abhay apologise to grandfather for his earlier behaviour, but now things seemed to have gone back to square one.
She kept her bag aside and hurried over to them to break up the argument before it got worse.
"I'm back," she called out and walked over to them. All three looked up at her. Grandfather smiled happily, but Abhay and her brother simply looked irritated at the interruption and returned their attention back to the game.
"Which game is this, grandpa? I've never seen something like it before," she asked cheerfully, bending over to see an antique multicoloured board with some white and blue shells strewn all over it.
"This is a game invented by your grandfather. I don't think there is any such board game in human history at all," Abhay snapped.
"There is a game like this, I am not making it up," Grandfather insisted stubbornly.
"Then this is the stupidest game ever."
"No, it is not. It is a very interesting and intelligent game and I'm an expert at it."
"That's funny," Abhay snorted. "You invented this ridiculous game and its bizarre rules, and you are still losing."
"If you aren't enjoying this, cant you both play something else," Pia suggested, worried that this game was going to cause another argument.
All three looked at her again, and this time there was uniform annoyance on their faces.
"Who said anything about not enjoying it!" Abhay retorted. "Don't you have anything else to do? In case you didn't notice, we are in the middle of a game."
"Yes...Don't interrupt us, Pia," grandpa declared and Pia looked at him in complete amazement.
"Go away, Di," Rishi added urgently. "This game is very exciting."
"And if you have nothing better to do, bring me something to eat," Abhay said, his eyes on the game again.
"Yes, that's an excellent idea," grandfather agreed. "I'm hungry too."
Feeling amused and curiously happy, Pia looked at both the men. "Okay, I'll check in the kitchen and come back with something," she grinned.
Inside, her mother was sitting at the table, writing down the accounts of their income and expenditure for the month.
Madhu glanced up and smiled at her daughter. "You're back from college. I'll get you something to eat."
"I can wait, mom," she said ruefully. "There are three people in the living room who have placed an order first. Mom, how long has this been going on outside?"
"Your grandfather has been trying to beat Abhay at some game all day now," Madhu laughed. "He began with chess and lost very badly, and after that he tried – "
"But grandpa is amazing at chess. No one can beat him at it."
"Abhay checkmated him within two minutes.👏 They played around 16 times and your grandfather lost every game.😆😆😆 Then he went into the locked room on top and came down with a very dirty and old looking board game.😆 I don't think even he remembers what kind of a game it is.😆 He has simply made up its rules, but I think Abhay is defeating him at this game too.😆 And after Rishi came back from school, he just swallowed his lunch and has been sitting watching them since then."
Pia chuckled and peeped out the door to see her grandfather and Abhay snarling at each other again and Rishi egging on Abhay.
She couldn't decide who looked cuter...😳😳😳
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Hope You LIKE it😊😊😃😃
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Edited by krishnarock - 13 years ago
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