Firstly I m really sorry guys for late reply...
Kya karu kal mera exam hai bahut tension ho rahi hai😭 Please mere liye dua karo yaar😆...
I m sorry friends I cant reply u ll😭 Because reply karungi to Update nahi de paungi... Mere paas jyada Time nahi hai To...
Here is the Next update😊...
Hope u all LIKE it😊😃...
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~~Chapter 15~~
"Where are you going again?"
Rishi, who had been sneaking out of the kitchen, halted in his tracks and saw his mother looking at him questioningly. He had only come in to gulp down some water and intended to run out to play some more. But the plan had clearly failed.
"Just one more hour," he begged "I'll come back before lunch".
"No," Madhu said sternly. "You've played enough in the hot sun. Wash your hands and legs, they've become so dirty."
Pia, who was tipping vegetables into the frying pan, looked around to see a very sulky Rishi.
"You can go out again in the evening and play for an extra hour," she told her brother appeasingly, once her mother had left the kitchen. "And I'm making your favourite parathas for lunch."
Rishi grinned, rushed to her and gave her a quick hug. Then he ran out of the kitchen, threw his bat under the table, picked up a comics book from the table and plonked himself down on the sofa.
A few minutes later, Abhay came in from outside and sat down on an armchair. Rishi kept down his comics book and watched him silently.
"Rishi, did you wash your hands and legs?"
Pia came out of the kitchen, saw Abhay who looked visibly exhausted, and she went back inside.
"Shaurya uncle said you are not getting sleep at night," Rishi said suddenly.
Abhay looked at him disinterestedly. "Your Shaurya uncle needs another reminder not to gossip about me," he retorted.
Pia came out of the kitchen with some water and held it out to him without saying a word, prepared to be ignored or snubbed. But surprisingly, although he didn't look up at her, he took the glass from her hands quietly and began to drain it thirstily.
"Whenever I don't get sleep, I lie down in Di's lap. You should try that too," Rishi said brightly.
"Rishi!" Pia exclaimed in horror as Abhay choked on the water, and began coughing. 😆😆😆
"What happened here?" Madhu came out of Abhay's room with some sheets in hand, looking anxious. Abhay's coughs had subsided. The exertion had turned his face red; but Pia's face was pink too, she noted curiously. 😆
"But I didn't say anything wrong, Di," Rishi said crossly.
"What did Rishi say, Pia?"
"Nothing!" Abhay and Pia said in unison; they looked at each other in alarm and immediately looked away.😆😆😆
Madhu looked confusedly from one red face to the other.
"I-I was just telling Rishi to wash his hands and feet, mom," Pia said quickly.
"You haven't done that as yet, Rishi?" Madhu said severely, "go to the bathroom right away."
"I'll take him, mom," Pia offered hurriedly and she pulled her protesting brother from the sofa and urged him towards the washroom. "But I was just saying that if he has an elder sister, he should go and lie in her lap," Rishi said indignantly on the way, "what was wrong in that?"
"I'll go and lie down for some time," Abhay muttered without meeting Madhu's eyes and he rose to his feet as fast as he could and hobbled towards his room.
A little bewildered, Madhu stood in the empty room with the bed sheets in hand, wondering why she felt that she had missed something.
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Grandfather sauntered into the living room with a gleam in his eyes and walked over to the chairs where Shaurya Singh and Abhay were deep in conversation. They looked up when he reached them.
He proudly held out two red threads. "I don't know how I forgot to give you both my holy threads before. But Abhay's accident was a reminder that no one should be bereft of the protection of these talismans. So now you both must tie the thread around your wrist and no evil will cast a shadow upon you ever again."
Rishi was bouncing a ball around the room and rolled his eyes at his grandfather's words. 😆
Pia, who was clearing the table, saw Shaurya Singh respectfully taking a thread, and grandpa happily tying it around his wrist. Then Shaurya Singh rose to his feet. "I'll just go and get Abhay's laptop and books from CHINTEN."
Abhay also got to his feet painfully and began to limp towards his room.
"I have a thread for you also, Abhay," grandpa beamed and then saw that a thread already encircled his wrist.
"Oh! You already have one," grandpa said in a downhearted tone.
"That is also one of your threads, grandpa," Pia smiled.
"Really! That's a very good thing," grandpa perked up noticeably. "These threads have great power."
"Yes... I am proof of how effective your thread is," Abhay said dryly.
The sarcasm in his tone ? hinting at his accident - wasn't lost on grandpa, who frowned. "Are you making fun of me, boy?"
"No, grandpa," Pia intervened hurriedly, glaring at Abhay. How could he talk to her grandfather like that. "What he meant was that he survived the accident because of your blessing."
"Is that what it sounded like?" Abhay asked sardonically, "That certainly was not what I was trying to say."
Pia stared in dismay at the unfolding scene, Rishi stopped bouncing the ball and looked at Abhay with rising respect, and Grandpa bristled.
"Do you know how many ghosts I have banished to the netherworld? Why, it was just a month ago that a family came to me, asking for my intervention to save them from a malignant spirit and I -"
"And you chanted some mantra and the ghost begged for mercy and you captured it in a bottle and buried it and the family was eternally grateful to you,"Abhay completed the sentence in a bored tone.😆
"How did you know this?" grandpa exclaimed in delight. "Has my fame spread so far and wide?"
"Not exactly. That's the word-to-word ending of all the stories you told us the day we landed here."Abhay said😆
Rishi burst out laughing and resumed his play.😆😆😆
Pia couldn't watch anymore, and glowering at an unapologetic Abhay and her impudent brother, she hurried her spluttering grandfather into the kitchen and quickly ladled some kheer into a bowl and gave it to him to placate him.
She then whispered what had happened to Madhu, who had bemusedly watched her daughter trying to mollify her grandfather.
Two more bowls later, he was appeased and Pia left the kitchen to continue clearing up the table.
"That boy!" grandpa said grimly, and Madhu tensed up, wondering if he was still upset.
"I still can't understand why I feel there is something familiar but mysterious about him," Grandpa continued, and Madhu breathed a sigh of relief, "especially the way he speaks and walks. Raghav had said they belong to an old and well-known family. Did I know someone in his family?"
"He is just an ordinary boy, father. A little reserved by nature, but I am sure there isn't anything mysterious about him or his family."
"Ordinary! hmph!" Grandfather snorted. "That boy is as much ordinary as I am an underworld don."😆
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Shaurya Singh walked into the room with a laptop and some books in hand, drawing the attention of Abhay who had sitting up in bed, looking out the window idly.
"Here. Now you have everything you wanted, my lord," he smiled, keeping the laptop carefully on the table and the books on the stand near the bed.
"You've made all the arrangements with the doctor, haven't you? About the payments..."
"Everything has been settled. And as per your instructions, I managed to convince Jaiswal ji that through our connections with the trustees of the hospital, treatments for you and Pia were almost free. And I paid Pia's hospitalisation bills along with yours."
Abhay nodded curtly.
"It wouldn't do you any harm to show some of that concern in your behaviour too," Shaurya Singh said dryly.
"I wasn't showing concern for anyone or doing anyone any favour," Abhay retorted. "She would not have had to go through anything if it hadn't been for us. So it's only fair that we pay for the treatment. Has your car come?"
"It will be here any minute. Have they been calling you up again?" he frowned.
"No, they haven't called since yesterday."
"Good. I think I should be back in 6-7 days, or even less."
"I hope so. I can't imagine spending one week in this place."
"Shaurya uncle, the car has come."
The men turned to see Pia at the door, and her stiff tone, and the determined way she was looking only at the elderly man made it clear that she had heard the last part of the conversation.
"Thanks, Pia. And just a minute," Shaurya Singh said when she began to turn away.
He took two pieces of paper from his pocket, walked over to the door and handed it over to her.
"What is this, uncle," she asked, puzzled.
"It's a list of his medicines and the schedule of when he must take which medicine. He isn't careless that way, but I'd just like to know that you are also keeping a watch.."
"I think you are mistaking my habits with your, Baba," Abhay said frostily. "I don't need some nurse to tell me when I should be taking my tablets. So you can take that list back."😆
"Yes, your nephew is very responsible towards his health," Pia said frostily, still talking only to Shaurya Singh. "Which is why he doesn't sit in one place and struts around like he doesn't have a fracture and other serious injuries."😆😆😆
"It's only a hair-line fracture," Abhay responded brusquely, also not looking at her. "And I don't need anyone's permission to do what I want to, Baba."😆
"Your nephew doesn't need anyone's permission to walk over other people's feelings too, I suppose."😆
"It isn't my fault, Baba, that there are overly sensitive people around me who are only waiting for a reason to shed artificial tears."😆
Pia started to give an angry rejoinder when Shaurya Singh said in a thoughtful tone, "I'm still in this room, but why do I feel I might as well have been on another planet and you both still wouldn't have noticed my absence."
When Pia had left, incoherently saying something about getting his packed tiffin from the kitchen, and Abhay had picked up a book and seemed to have found something extremely interesting in it, Shaurya Singh came out into the empty living room and finally chuckled in peace.
It had been one of Adityaraj's staunchest beliefs that something good lay in every misfortune.
"How right you were, Your Majesty," Shaurya Singh admitted with a smile.
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After watering the front yard, Pia kept the watering can in one corner of the kitchen, and went into the bathroom and picked up the long pipe that was lying coiled up on the top of a huge drum. She walked out into the backyard with it, connected it to a tap attached to the wall and began to water the plants. The yard was too big to be watered with the can, and even with the hose it would take her a long time to complete the task considering the sheer size of the place. But that was all to the good as far as she was concerned. The whole day so far had been extremely unsettling, she thought with a sigh. She sorely needed the peace and quiet, and was fervently hoping to have a restful and ordinary evening.
If only Misha and Ruhi had been coming...it would have been such a relief to just talk to her friends. But some family friends had unexpectedly landed up at Ruhi's house and she wouldn't hear of Misha meeting Pia without her. So their plan had been postponed to tomorrow, much to Misha's irritation.
Shaurya Singh had left an hour ago. Just before he had gotten into the car, he had looked at Abhay, who of course had insisted on seeing him off despite everyone's protests, and then at her. It had been a peculiar gaze, almost as though he were asking her to do something...asking her to take care of Abhay. Not knowing what else to do, she had nodded slightly in reply, although the idea of her taking care of that...that mean boy...was almost funny.
She had gone a little into the huge yard, when she realised that she was not alone. There was an intruder in her little piece of heaven...the last person she had expected to see here.
Abhay was a little way ahead, walking at a slow pace among the flowering bushes and trees. What else would he be doing, she thought crossly; after all, resting for some time was below his dignity...
She began to water the plants, finding their familiar presence and friendship very comforting after an exceedingly disturbing day. Pia moved through the foliage, the evening sun's warm rays giving a irresistible, golden hue to her creamy complexion, and playing with the long, luxuriant hair that tumbled down below her waist, making them glimmer and shine. Immersed in the beauty of the nature around her, and the heady fragrances being emitted by the flowers that were in joyful abundance, she was completely unaware of her own intoxicating loveliness amongst the blooming flora.
Pia wanted to talk to her plant friends, but she couldn't do it when someone else was around. She furtively looked around the garden and saw that Abhay was some distance away. He wouldn't be able to hear her, and she would surely know if he came close enough to listen to her conversation.
"The doctor has told him to rest as much as possible," she whispered to a bunch of jasmine plants. "But he will not sit in a place for an hour.😆 Because that would mean he is human like everyone else. And he thinks he is a superhero, who doesn't need to take care of his health at all.😆 Let him do as he wishes...as if I care. And it is time for him to take one of his tablets. But dare anyone tell him.😆 but what do I care...and do you know what he told me today morning," she hissed to another plant, getting more agitated, "he told me I should make Kabeer my...no, I cant even tell you what he said...it was that awful. And he was discourteous to grandpa too...He's the meanest person I know...that's what he is...mean through and through...mean, arrogant, heartless..."
"Are you talking to yourself?" a bemused voice asked, interrupting her furious monologue to her friends.
Pia jumped and turned around and saw Abhay standing some feet away, looking at her very suspiciously as though her answer would verify what he had known about her sanity level all along.
Flustered, she tried to maintain a dignified stance.
"Talking to myself...of course not," Pia said haughtily. And that was true...she wasn't talking to herself...she had been talking to the plants...though there was no need to tell him that...
"And even if I am talking to myself, you should be happy about it. At least I'm not talking to you," she added resentfully and turned to her plants.
"Yes...there is that bright spot," Abhay agreed, grinning.
For some reason, Pia sensed that he was ridiculing her again. But when she spun around angrily, he was looking at her with a very serious expression.
"Don't let me interrupt your walk then," she said rigidly, turning back to continue with her job, "but I would be grateful if you remember that it is time for you to take one of the tablets."
"I -"
"I know what you want to say," she forestalled him curtly. "It's none of my business and I shouldn't be telling you what to do. But I'm only reminding you because Shaurya uncle asked me to."
"Actually I was just going to say that...today morning, maybe...I shouldn't have said..."
With the pipe still spraying water over the plants, Pia gradually swung around to face him, both disbelief and hope filling her heart. Was he saying what she thought he did...was he actually apologizing for what he had said about her and Kabeer...
"The tea wasn't as bad I had thought," Abhay completed smoothly, leaving her feeling confounded and wrong footed again.
"You were talking about the tea?" Pia asked, aghast.
"What else did you think I was talking about?" he asked callously. "I don't think I said anything else today morning that I shouldn't have."
So he didn't think he had said anything far more worse ...
Fuming, Pia stormed past him and walked further into the interiors of the yard, to a place almost surrounded by a cluster of trees.
Abhay grinned and limped towards where she was watering the trees and the plants with a vengeance. He made his way to an ancient looking mango tree and stood leaning against it.
"How did you hurt your leg?" he asked suddenly.
Astonished by both - the totally unexpected question and the fact that he had come to talk to her, but not willing to look at him incase he was only making fun of her again, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He was standing under her favourite tree, gazing with great interest at some plants that lined the wall of the backyard.
"Was it when...you were pushed?" he asked hesitantly, still examining the plants.
Why was he showing concern when she wanted to be irritated with him...this wasn't fair at all...but already she felt herself softening against her will.
"You were trying to save my life," she said softly, staring at the roses, "so please don't feel guilty about it."
"Guilty?" he snorted, "why the hell should I feel guilty. If anything this should serve as a lesson to you."
"A lesson...to me...?" she asked falteringly, twisting around.
"It should teach you not to stick your nose into matters that don't concern you," he said coolly.
Pia looked at him speechlessly. Every time she thought she was becoming habituated to his hurtful words, he proved her wrong. She swung and returned her attention to her plants.
"I've learnt my lesson well. I won't trouble you with my company from now on," she said quietly.
"Is that a promise? Can you give me that in writing?" 😆😆😆
For Pia, who had been bottling up the resentment and hurt at his insensitivity since morning, that was the final straw; her control snapped. She spun around with her eyes sparkling with furious tears.
"You were right about me. I really am very stupid," she said in swift anger, indignant colour flooding her cheeks. "Why else would have I been trying so hard. I don't know why I bother when I know...But don't worry; I won't from now on, so you can do as you please."
She flung down the pipe and started to return to the house, all limits of endurance having been crossed. But she had hardly made her way past him, when inflexible fingers snapped around her hand, foiling her attempt to walk away.
Abhay had listened to her silently, his initial surprise at her outburst turning to unconcealed amusement. And now, without budging from his position against the tree, he pulled her around to face him and studied her with interest.
Too annoyed and distressed to even feel shocked at his action, Pia glowered at him. She had vented her ire, so she assumed he didn't want her to leave without insulting her in turn.
"Leave my hand," Pia said stiffly and waited defiantly for him to release her hand and for his mandatory nasty retaliation.
But she continued to wait and neither of the two things happened...
"You know you should get angry more often," Abhay said slowly, "it suits you a lot more than that 'poor-innocent' act of yours."😲😲😆😆
She could definitely see the glint of humour in his eyes. So he was entertaining himself at her expense, Pia thought bitterly.
"Let go of my hand," she repeated in a choked voice, feeling her throat clog with frustrated tears but resolutely holding them back.
But he still didn't loosen his hold, and the amusement in his visage slowly faded away, to be replaced with some other unnamed emotion. Pia felt her exasperation ebb away at his puzzling assessment, and then, all of a sudden, she felt a little panicky. And the silence and the solitude of the backyard that she had always found very pleasant and relaxing, now felt dangerous somehow...Why was he looking at her like that, she wondered nervously...
As she watched in a mixture of confusion and uncertainty, Abhay's eyes darkened mysteriously as it gazed at her extraordinarily beautiful face, which was aglow with the blush caused by anger and the red rays of the setting sun that shone through the branches of the tree, and her flashing huge, black eyes.
With his fingers still curled around her soft hand, Abhay took a silent step towards her. When she started to back away in bewildered fear, his other hand came up speedily and threaded itself smoothly into her silken hair, effectively holding her in place.
Feeling strangely weak and vulnerable, Pia struggled to think...to say something to protest, but she seemed to have lost the ability to speak or reason. The colours of the scarlet roses around her found their way to her flawless ivory complexion, and she simply stared at him, wide-eyed and astounded, her heart pounding deafeningly, as he stepped even closer. In a futile attempt to break the mesmerising hold of his gaze on her, she forced herself to lower her eyes. But then his hand withdrew from her fragrant hair, and his fingers pushed up her chin, mercilessly compelling her to meet his steady gaze.
There wasn't even the gap of an inch between them now...😳😳😳
His eyes dropped to her lips. Pia helplessly squeezed her eyes shut in desperation, as his dark head bent slowly...
"Pia, have you lit the lamp for the tulsi," her grandfather's voice came loudly out of the house.
Shocked into sudden and terrible awareness, Pia snapped opened her eyes, horror-struck...
As astounded as her, Abhay stopped with his lips barely a breath away from hers.
He straightened and stepped back instantly with colour searing his cheekbones, looking just as dazed and stunned by what he had been about to do. His hands immediately dropped to his sides, freeing her.
With a jerky movement, a trembling Pia backed away fearfully. Before she gave into the ridiculous urge to cry, she turned around unsteadily and fled into the safety and comfort of her home.
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Pia tried to light the lamp with unsteady hands, but the matchstick slipped between her fumbling fingers, fell onto the ground and was extinguished. She looked at it feeling a foolish sense of guilt. Then she drew out another matchstick from the box and tried again. When its end was lit, she quickly held it to the wick of the lamp, not wanting to waste another one because of her clumsiness. Once the wick was aflame, she made the customary three rounds around it and then stood praying before it, trying to ignore the fact that her hands were shaking slightly...
Pia tried to control the shivering in her arms, but couldn't gather the mental strength for it. Her whole being was overwhelmed by dismay, guilt, panic...She felt frightened...but even more than that, she felt appalled at her own behaviour. Had she gone completely insane...how could she have just stood there silently?.what if grandpa hadn't called her?.
She shuddered at the thought of what might have happened.
After so many days of quietly enduring his taunts and callousness, she had gotten angry with him for the first time, and had said some things in resentment. This must have been his way of getting back at her, she thought with eyes stinging with tears of pain and humiliation...a new way to torment her...that was all it had been. It was the only possible reason for what had happened.
She was still standing, staring unseeingly at the picturesque scene outside the gate when the silence around her swiftly seemed to become overpowering. And without even turning around, she knew that he had joined her and was standing at a distance from her.
Abhay hadn't made a sound as he hobbled into the courtyard from the back of the house and stood far behind her, but she sensed his presence as surely as if he were standing before her.
A fresh surge of anger passed through her.
"Pia, I -" Abhay began hesitantly.
"Don't! Please don't talk about it," she cut in urgently with her eyes closed tight, wanting nothing more than for him to go away and leave her alone.
"You've taught me my lesson," Pia continued bitterly, "and I wont ever come in your way again." And then, without waiting for a response or looking at him, she turned around and rushed into the house.
Abhay stood motionless for a long time after she had gone...and the dusk slowly enveloped him in darkness?
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Pia splashed water on her face and looked again into the mirror over the sink in the bathroom. She saw despondently that her face still looked swollen and her eyes were red. What would her mother think...
And then, as if taking pity on her, the lights went out.
Power cuts were very frequent in This Area and she was only surprised that it had happened after so many days. There was usually at least one power cut every week; sometimes they would last only for a few minutes, but often they would continue for many hours.
But this particular power cut had been very timely...her puffy and red eyes wouldn't be obvious in the light of the candles. Grateful at this stroke of luck, she sent her thanks up to the heavens.
"Pia," her mother's voice came floating upstairs, "Is there a torch in your room?"
"There isn't a torch in my room, ma, but there are two in the living room," she answered on her way downstairs.
When she came down, her mother had already gathered all the candles in the house and had kept them on the table, and was taking out the candle stands from the cupboard.
They lit some candles, placed them in the stands and kept them around the living room, until the room had adequate warm light. Pia took one candle to try and locate the torches.
"Why are your eyes looking red, Pia? Were you crying?" her mother asked, frowning anxiously in the light of the candle.
"Oh no ma. I was cleaning up Rishi's room and some dust went into my eyes," Pia said quickly. "By the way, where is Rishi? Hasn't he come back after playing?..It's already so dark outside," she added worriedly
"Manish's mother had called. Rishi will be having dinner at their place today. They will bring him home after that," Madhu responded and took another candle to keep in the kitchen.
They turned around at a noise and saw Abhay coming in from outside. Pia stiffened when she saw him, though a small part of her wondered uneasily if he had been standing outside in the darkness all this time.
"Abhay, your uncle had called just some minutes ago to ensure that you've had your medicines," her mother smiled.
"I'll have them right now," he murmured in response, though his eyes were on Pia, who had determinedly turned her back to him and was searching in a corner of the room for the torches.
"Alright. Pia, have you found the torches?"
"Yes, ma. I'll just go to the temple and leave one with grandpa, just incase the electricity doesn't return before he comes back."
"I'll go and give the torch to your grandfather. Go upstairs and lights candles in our rooms. There should be some light there. Rishi will come and just run upstairs in the dark and he may fall and get hurt."
Pia nodded and gave the torches to her mother, who left the house for the temple.
Then she walked over to the table, picked up three candles and held them in her free hand. And feeling the need to be as far away from him as possible, she began to hurry up the stairs.
"Pia,"
Half way up the steps, Pia came to a halt but didn't turn around to face him.
"What do you want now?" she whispered in despair. "Haven't you done enough...or do you still want to humiliate me."
"I'm sorry," Abhay said quietly.
Pia, who had been waiting for him to say something harsh, heard the words in disbelief. She slowly turned around on the steps to gaze down at him, shocked and unsure of what she had just heard.
"I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. But I really am sorry," he said in a low voice. "I didn't mean to...I don't know what I was thinking that I..." he muttered, suddenly sounding very uncertain of himself... like he himself wasn't sure what had just happened...and why...
Pia looked at him with increasing astonishment. Even in the candlelight, the uncomfortable colour on his face was unmistakable and he looked genuinely repentant.
"I'll leave...I'll move to CHINTEN tomorrow morning," Abhay continued uncomfortably, "I would leave tonight but I have to speak to your grandfather first and it looks like he may be late in coming home."
In all the time that she had known him, he had always seemed very self-assured and infuriatingly arrogant...But there was no sign of that manner now... At this moment, she couldn't see anything of his typical cool and composed demeanor. The sincere remorse and desolation he was feeling was plainly visible in his eyes and Pia looked away as something close to compassion began to take form in her heart.
Abhay waited for a moment, then swung around and limped away towards his room and went inside.
Feeling curiously discontented, Pia turned around and went up to the first storey. After lighting a candle in all of their rooms, she didn't return to the ground floor, but made her way to the terrace.
It was her habit to come up here whenever there were power cuts. There would always be a cool breeze blowing, and the nearby areas looked very pretty with candles lit in the dark households. But tonight, she didn't really notice any of it, and she simply walked along its length in the dark, restless and uneasy.
She had been wrong in thinking that he had tried to...tried to...just to get back at her. There had been sincere regret in his eyes just now. And back in the garden, hadn't he had looked as stunned as her when...as though he himself had not been thinking...had not realized what was happening.
And what about her own behaviour...
Pia cringed as her mind cruelly replayed the scene...she hadn't uttered a word of protest, hadn't tried to stop him, push him away or reasoned with him...
She could neither identify nor understand the emotions that were tearing at her...and she didn't want to either...
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Please do comments😃😃😃
Edited by krishnarock - 13 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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