I'm sorry guys for not updating in a whole month!! š² I'm surprised myself, but personal problems came up. My mum's ill, she needs an operation, that's why I have been a bit tied up at the moment. Anyway, those who want to be on the PM list, do let me know, and I will start sending PMs from the next chapter, i.e. Chapter Two. So, here is the next chapter of 'The Hitchhiker':
Chapter One
He shook his head in dismay. 'What am I doing?' he asked himself, focusing his eyes back on the road. What if she woke up and noticed him staring at her like an obsessed psycho? Again, shaking his head, he stretched his fingers, whilst his palms remained on the steering wheel. He let out a big sigh, knowing this was the result of tiredness and that he needed sleep desperately.
It was going to be a long journey to Mumbai. It would take almost a five hour drive to get there, he thought, and then mused whether he had done the right thing by giving a lift to a strange girl that he did not even know. She seemed pretty decent though, he thought to himself, surprised over the coincidence that this girl was heading to the same place that he was heading to.
Fate...that is what it was. Fate had led him to where she was, fate had given him the chance to help her, when, clearly she was in trouble. The running mascara, messy wet hair and dirty clothes had compelled him to stop for this lonely, helpless girl. Her eyes had pleaded for his help, and he could not stop himself for offering the help she needed.
Was that the only reason though? Maybe it was the fact that he was not happy in his own life; therefore he was always taking the responsibility of solving other people's problems on his own shoulders. He was unable to do anything right for himself, so why not lend a hand to others? Isn't that why he had gone so far away from home- to do what he always did? Running away from his own life to immerse himself in other's lives was something he was best at.
Suddenly the sound of soft coughing grabbed his attention and brought him out of his musings. He cast a glance through his rear-view mirror, watching, with his heartbeat racing, as the girl slowly opened her eyes and awoke from her deep sleep.
~
She did not even realize when she had fallen asleep, she thought, rubbing her eyes and focusing on her surroundings. Daylight seeped through the windows of the car, as the sun began to rise in the distant. And at that moment it all came back to her- each and every pain came rushing back to her in the form of a throbbing headache. She leaned back on the comfy leather seats and closed her eyes, reaching her fingers up to her temples and massaging in soothing circles. The thought of the leather seats had her abruptly opening her eyes and sitting up. She looked at the front seat cautiously and realized that it was not a dream, and that at that very moment she was sitting in the back of a car belonging to an unknown man that she had never met before. She breathed in deeply, the sound loud enough to reach his ears.
'Good morning,' he said, deciding it was best to break the silence. A small smile crept on his face as he looked at her through the rear-view mirror.
She gave an awkward smile and said the same to him, staring out of the window at the rice fields that they drove past. The light sound of the car and the cozy seats tempted her to drift back to sleep. But she willed her eyes to stay open.
The man spoke again.
'So what were you doing in the middle of the night hitchhiking? In this weather as well? Don't you have family to be with?' he asked.
She continued to look out of the window. 'I don't think it would be right for me to talk to a stranger,' she murmured hesitantly, playing with her fingers apprehensively.
He looked at her for a moment before letting out a small chuckle. What a beautiful sound it was, she thought to herself, frowning and rebuking herself as soon as the thought passed through her head.
'Oh?' he started sarcastically, 'So it is okay to get a lift from a stranger, but not okay to talk to them?' he asked, releasing another small laugh.
She bit her lip and swallowed nervously. Yet she remained quite, swathed in her dirty jacket, as she impassively stared at the speeding landscape. Though she wore no expression on her face, he could tell that she had gone through something somewhat...heartbreaking.
'You know...there's still over four hours before we get to Mumbai, we've only just passed Pune. You can't just stay silent all the way!' he said, smirking.
But she remained silent.
For some reason, he was fascinated by this mannerism of hers. But, sooner or later she would talk to him. He smiled at himself and ran his fingers through his hair.
'Okay, whatever you wish,' he said simply, the smile refusing to leave his face.
After a drive of an hour spent in awkwardness and quietness, he spotted a service station and decided to stop the car there to rest, eat and top up the gas in his car. He broke the silence between them.
'There's a gas station over there. I'm going to stop and refuel my car...and myself,' he said, as he slowly pulled over into the station.
Getting out of the car, he began filling his car with gas. After topping up his car, he went and opened the back door and extended his hand to her.
She looked at him and at his hand with wide eyes. He rolled his eyes.
'I'm going to get something to eat. Did you want to come for a bite? I am guessing you must be quite hungry?' he asked kindly. The smile that he flashed at her was just so alluring.
She thought for a moment before answering. 'Ummm...no thanks, I'm okay. I'll just wait here thank you,' she said without looking at him.
He shrugged his shoulders, defeated. She was too stubborn. 'Fine, whatever- but I'm hungry so I'm going to get something to eat,' he said, closing the door.
She sighed and watched as he turned away, walking towards the fast food restaurant built in the gas station. She sat alone in the car, whilst placing a hand over her grumbling belly. She sat looking around, the silence piercing through her. Everything seemed so different, how would she be able to cope in a completely new city? She did not even know anyone in Mumbai nor would she have anywhere to stay. 'I'll have to find a job as soon as possible,' she thought. But, never would she go back there. No matter how hard things would get, she would not give in and go back home. A tear caressed her cheek as she recollected the horrifying memories of life back home.
*Flashback*
'Taani...Taani!! Where are you beta?? The guy's family has come. Come down now!!' her mother called from downstairs.
Taani placed the artificial tikka on her head, as she prepared to meet her future husband. She had not met him before, but her family had reassured her that he would provide them with everything that they would ever need. Her family had lived in poverty and had little in their pockets to feed the family. Being the only child, it was now her time to get married and relieve her parents the duty of providing for her.
Although she was poor, she was the prettiest girl in the village, and the apple of her parent's eyes. Everybody in the village knew of Taani's beauty, yet no one was keen enough to make a poor girl their daughter-in-law. It seemed everyone had their head in the clouds, dreaming of bigger and better things. Thus, it had surprised her when her mother had come rushing home happily one day to tell the family the news of finding a suitable husband for Taani. Taani had full faith in her parents and their choice- she knew they had found her the perfect man.
She smiled at her reflection in the mirror, and then simply covered her head with the dupatta. She turned and made her way down the stairs in her plain red salwar kameez, the best her father could afford. Her heart raced with every step she took. When she sat down on the small sofa beside her father, her eyes probed every corner of the room. She caught her mother's eye and quickly looked down at the floor. As soon as her mother looked away, her eyes scanned the room once more. But she did not see any boy around. Where was her future husband? She asked herself nervously. She could not wait to see the man who she was to spend the rest of her life with. She wanted to experience the closeness and affection that she saw in her parents, she wanted to feel love, to be loved.
The only people in the room, in front of her, were an old woman and an elderly man who looked just a few years younger than her father. He looked like the old woman's son. 'Maybe that's his Papa? And that must be his Dadi,' she thought, musing how her future husband would look like based on how his father looked like. Her mother came to sit next to her, and placed a hand on top of Taani's, bringing her out of her thoughts. She smiled at her mother.
Taani leaned towards her mother. 'Maa...where is he?' she whispered to her mother.
'What are you talking about Taani?' replied Laboni.
'Maa...who I am going to marry...where is he? I don't see him anywhere!' she exclaimed in a whisper, her eyes searching around the room.
Laboni began shifting in her seat uncomfortably, which began to worry Taani. Taani frowned. 'What's wrong Maa?'
'I think we should exchange the rings now,' said Laboni, plastering a wide smile on her face, ignoring Taani's question. All of a sudden, the elderly man smiled and got up, taking a seat beside Taani. Taani's jaw dropped open, and in desperation she looked from her mother to her father, and then at the man beside her, unable to stop the tears that fell from her eyes. Her words choked on her tears, as she struggled to comprehend what was happening.
'You don't understand anything Taani. It's for the best, you have to realize that,' her mother had explained to her afterwards. Taani stared with no emotion at the ring on her left hand as her mother spoke. The ring stirred up only anger in her, it meant nothing to her.
'He's a good man, and he'll solve all our troubles. Neither will he ever refuse you for anything. He will give you everything you need,' her father also argued, failing to see her point of view or happiness in the matter.
She admitted that their family was poor, but she never imagined that they would pawn off their own daughter to solve their problems. Her parents were selling her off to a man just a few years younger than her own father. She felt even worse than a piece of meat. She had to get away, had to save herself, because she knew she could never be happy with this man, could never see herself as his wife, nor could she ever accept him as her husband. No matter how big their problems were, this marriage was not the way to solve them. She couldn't go through with this marriage. She just couldn't.
Tears overflowed from Taani's eyes as she recalled the incidents of the previous week. Suddenly a knock sounding on the window made her jump. Her pulse began to race. She quickly wiped her tears away with the back of her hand to look outside the window. She breathed out a sigh of relief as she saw that it was the man who was giving her the lift. When he had gone, out of fear she had locked the door from the inside. She unlocked the door and rolled down the window to her side. Without saying anything he placed a bag on her lap, before going to sit back in the driver's seat.
'What's this?' she asked hesitantly.
'Well, you didn't come inside, so I decided to bring you food outside. You can't starve yourself you know, looking at the state of you it seems like you haven't eaten in days!'
Taani turned a bright shade of red and looked at the bag and then back at the man.
'Don't worry...I didn't poison it,' he joked, laughing.
'Thank you,' she said quietly, almost welling up with tears at his gesture. No one had cared about her this much before, and this small gesture of his touched her heart. She gave him a small smile.
And her smile made him smile. For him, it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen, and simultaneously the most unusual feeling he had ever felt in his life.
'Her smile could light up a city,' he thought, mesmerized by her simplicity, as he watched her open the bag with shaking fingers.
'What is this? I've never had this before,' Taani innocently confessed, whilst turning the burger around in her hand and staring at it as if it were a baby alien from another planet. Living in poverty meant that her family ate very little; occasionally they even had to miss meals. Never had she eaten anything other than her mother's curries. She sighed, as the thought of her mother stirred up a stabbing feeling in her heart, but she chose to ignore the feeling.
Taani was brought back to reality by the sound of a stifled laugh. Her mouth fell open as she realized that he was laughing at her.
He continued to laugh. 'I'm sorry. I just can't believe you've never eaten a burger before!'
'Bur...gur?' she pronounced with difficulty, frowning and scanning the burger once more.
'Just eat it...you'd love it!' he said simply.
Taani cautiously began eating the burger and fries that he had brought for her, reveling in this new discovery. It was actually very tasty, she thought to herself, and made her realize just how hungry she was.
He smiled to himself at the sight of her eating and shook his head to himself. Never had he met anyone like her. Yes, she was definitely unique. Starting the car, he began to continue their journey to Mumbai. And that moment he knew that this was going to be a journey he would forever cherish in his memories.
Looking forward to reading comments š³
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