Words of Silence: PAGE 202 Oct 25 2006 - Page 44

Chapter Twenty Four

Dev and Kripa talked for almost three hours before stepping out of the office again. Amna had called in between and Kripa had told her that Angad was terribly sick; they would have to manage without him for a week. She also asked her to come visit. Amna agreed.

When Kripa got out of the office her eyes were red. Angad was walking past the office when he spotted her wiping her eyes, and also saw his own father sitting in the office with his head in his hands. He placed the glass in his hand on a windowsill and walked to Kripa. Her back was turned to him. She had decided to call off this engagement and get Amna and Angad together.

"Kripa why are you crying?"

She felt herself stiffen right away. She turned slowly with a fake smile. "I'm not crying, I'm just getting sick. It's your fault."

He rolled his eyes and placed his hands on her small shoulders. "Don't lie. What happened in there? I thought you had already gone home." He continued looking at her, her eyes lowered. She was biting her lower lip, and she was extremely uncomfortable at the moment. Angad took his hands back. "I hope you didn't tell Dad everything."

"No," she quickly said. She was looking at him. "Of course not. I would never do such a thing."

"Good." He watched her smile again. "Then why are you crying?"

She hugged him only because she would have started crying if she didn't. "I'm not crying." But she was, her lips quivered against the cotton of his shirt. "I'm not crying."

"Yes you are!" He screamed at her, drawing her away. "Sure as hell you're crying. But why?"

She didn't answer because someone was clearing their throat. Angad and Kripa looked at the stairs and saw Amna. Angad was shocked while Kripa pleased. "Hi Amna, I'm glad you could make it."

"I'm sorry I disturbed you guys."

"No," Kripa waved her hands. "You didn't. Talk to Angad, I'll be right back." She smiled and walked to the other side of the house.

"How are you Angad?" she asked handing him the flowers. "Feeling any better? Kripa was really worried this morning."

"Yes," he was shocked at her hurt voice. He looked at the flowers and then at her.

Amna looked up at Angad with a weak smile. "I asked you for time Angad, and you got engaged to someone else. Boy you fall in love fast." She bit her lower lips and looked away. "You should have told me you were falling in love with Kripa…"

"I'm not in love with Kripa I still…" it came out too quick, he couldn't stop it. But it sounded like he was defending himself. Giving her an explanation. His body relaxed though. "I'm not in love with her. Our engagement was nothing more than a lie." He cupped her face in his hands. "A lie to get you back, to make you jealous." He kissed both her cheeks and then placed a kiss on her lips. "I love you, not Kripa. Kripa didn't even know I was going to play this game until after I proposed to her."

It was obvious that Amna was shocked, but pleased. Her eyes were wet, and shinning. "I love you, Angad."

He hugged her tightly, "I love you too."

Kripa fell to the floor, against the pillar, as she listened to them. She wasn't in love with him completely yet, but she had some hope for herself. But then all this was her plan. Angad was going to hate her once he found out what she was doing. But she would never let him know. Never, and if he ended up hating her she would accept it with a smile.

Kripa and Angad didn't see each other for the next week. Every time Angad called her she would lie that she was busy with appointments or an emergency had creped up unexpectedly. She smiled and laughed as if everything was fine, but there was a sadness that only Amna saw in her eyes.

So was she in love with Angad? Amna mused sitting alone sometimes. No, she was the one who called her over. She wouldn't be in love. Something else was bugging her; of course she couldn't be in love with the same man I was in love with.

But somewhere deep inside Amna knew she was lying to herself, to make herself happy. And, she ignored that feeling. Not realizing this would ruin three lives in the future.

Karan and Faith, the two closest people in Kripa's life didn't notice the pain she was going through. The ring in her hand allowed them to think everything was fine.

Karan was pleased with her sister, with Angad. He knew everything was going just fine. Relived was what he felt when he planned his future trips. There was someone, reliable, who would take care of Kripa behind him. Everything was satisfying.

Faith also stopped worrying about Kripa. She was spending more time with Jason than having to worry about Kripa now days.

Angad Khanna was on top of the world. He spent hours at night talking to Amna on the phone, it chatting to her online. They would discuss crazy things like what they wanted to do for their honeymoon, or what colors would be a part of their reception. At other times they discussed simply what they were going to wear the next morning, leading into what life they wanted after being married.

Finally, after all their talks that Friday, Amna decided to bring up the matter she was avoiding all week. She was sitting in a small caf waiting for Angad. With the help of Kripa, a small lie, he was able to get out of the house to see Amna finally.

He tapped her shoulder and she turned around, smiled, and stood. He kissed her lightly and they both sat down. "So what was so important that we had to meet?" Angad took her drink and sipped, she snatched it back.

"You can't drink anything cold. Kripa already warned me on that one."

He blinked surprised, how did she manage to think about so much? She was excellent. He smiled lost in his thoughts, snapping out when Amna snapped her finger in front of his face.

"Angad, I need your attention." He frowned, why did Kripa coming back to him? "You need to break the engagement with Kripa now."

The thought made his stomach churn, and his heart slow down. So how was he supposed to react now? Of course agree, he was in love with Amna, remember? He was never actually engaged to Kripa. It was all a silly pretext for bring them together.

"Angad?!" She slapped her hand on the table while yelling his name. "Don't tell me that you're in love with Kripa."

"Of course not. Don't be an idiot Amna." He snapped in anger. Or am I? He asked himself. Nah! I couldn't be. "Ok I agree. I need to tell my family and Kripa's family that our engagement was nothing more than a silly game. Now I would like to be engaged to you, because I love you. Not Kripa."

She smiled pleased with the idea. "Sounds great, sweetheart."

"Yeah." She was happy but the thought made his heart sink.

A few minutes later they both realized that no one was talking. This didn't happen when he went for "out" with Kripa. They were always talking, non-stop about so many things. No he couldn't say that because he knew Kripa from high school. If he knew Kripa throughout high school, which was only about two and a half out of four years. He and Amna were together in college for almost six years. And at the time he wasn't in touch with Kripa. And, he even dated Amna they shared more. He never dated Kripa. But most importantly, he loved her… But who was her? Amna or Kripa?

"So how are things are the hospital?" he took Amna's hand in his and kissed it softly. I love her, and no one else.

But then why do I have to remind myself again and again?

"Wonderful. Kripa's workload has expanded since you haven't been at the office."

Ok so it wasn't all a lie, he thought. She was busy, she wasn't running away. "Oh! I'll be back on Monday for sure."

"I'll be glad. At least I'll see you around."

"Yes." he said in a small voice. "You will." He looked at his left hand in which he was wearing the ring with K-R-I-P-A embedded on it. The letters were slowly starting to embed in his heart, in his soul. Suddenly he left her hand. "I have to go Kripa." He was shocked, "Amna…" he quickly corrected. "Kripa is waiting we have to go home together." His phone rang with Kripa's name flashing on it. She had picked him up and went to a meeting after dropping him off here. He had asked her to come along, but she refused. "Kripa I'll be right there." He leaned forward and quickly kisses Amna. "Bye Amna. Kripa where are you?"

"Exactly where I dropped you off Angad." She sounded heavy, like she had been crying again. She dropped the call and waited for him to get there.

About fifteen minutes later he was finally there. "What were you doing, having a make-out session with Amna? I've been waiting for almost twenty minutes now." She was irritated that was obvious. She wasn't concentrating on the road either. Her arms rested on the end of the open window. And unlike the past few weeks there was no music in the car.

"Have you been crying again?" He asked without making any physical contact.

She looked at him with a cheeky smile. "No Angad. I have a cold myself, see my nose is red." She placed a finger on her nose. "My eyes are red and watery, and I have the worst sinus anyone has ever had."

"Good. You got me worried."

She turned the car into his street. "Don't worry Angad. I couldn't be happier. At least I know for a fact that I won't be getting married to you know."

Her voice was teasing him, he decided. She was happy about him with Amna. Ok so maybe he was feeling guilty all this time because of Kripa's past heartbreak. Good Angad you're not in love with her. He let out a breath and smiled.

"Thank for calling Amna over that day."

She smiled looking at him while she waited for the gates of the Khanna House to open. "If I knew you getting sick was going to work its magic I would have turned off the hot water in the bathroom and made you stand in the shower with cold water."

Ok, I'm not in love with him either, she told herself. I did the right thing before it was too late. I was sad because I had started dreaming, I know what the reality is now.

She took her bare foot off the breaks and pressed it gently on the accelerator and a few seconds later the car was parked in front of the house. "Bye Angad." She said smiling, her head leaned back. "I'll see you on Monday?"

"Yes you will." When he was about to lean over to kiss her cheek, she turned pretending to cough. He was taken back. Kripa was making sure nothing happened between them anymore.

She turned back and smiled at him. "So are you leaving or am I gonna spend the night in here with you."

"Yeah, I'm going." Before leaving he leaned into the window of the passenger seat. "You should get married the same day as Amna and I."

She smiled looking at him again; there was a hint of naughtiness present. "Find me someone nice. I'm sure I'll agree happily."

"Really?" He opened the door and sat down. "We should talk about this. How about Rishab?"

"He's a great guy. We should think about it. For now please let me go home. I have a drive that's two hours long, and traffic that will piss me off like hell. I have been through two, five hours operations today already. Let me go home and sleep."

He smiled, she was obviously fatigued. "They let you in with a runny nose?"

"Well this didn't happen until just a few hours ago."

"You were at a meeting?" His voice was skeptical, interrogating.

"No." She said not looking at him. "I was at the church where they set-up a small display outside in the grass with Jesus and his mother Mary. I forgot my jacket at the hospital and got sick."

"You sat there for like two hours?"

She nodded, "I go every year Angad." She yawned and relaxed her shoulder. "For the last three weeks before Christmas, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Then the week before they are open everyday." Her eyes closed as she spoke her next words. "You get this peace sitting there and listening to the choir sings Christmas Carols. I wish everyday was this cool and I could sit there everyday for hours after work. It's very relaxing. Feels like you are mediating with your eyes open." She opened her eyes and turned. "You should take Amna it will be nice to sit there together. Faith is taking Jason tomorrow." He was nodding carefully. "Can I go now?"

"Yes." He wanted to hug tightly; he was seeing her for the first time in since the day he had gotten sick. Four days. Since the day they had met, they had been meeting everyday. Suddenly the last four days they seemed long, like four weeks. It's only Friday? He asked himself suddenly. "It's only Friday?" he asked her.

"Yeah." Kripa said annoyed. "Bye Angad."

"Yeah, bye." He got out and she quickly drove away.