Entwined:
--Two Souls...and the Journey, begins!
Index:
Chapter-10(Part 1)
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Entwined:
Prologue:
The screeching sound of the wheels hitting the runway echoed in the cement path, the loud buzzing alerting the passengers waiting to board various flights, the announcement calling out for recipients, as the flight came to a halt, dropping the entrance door off its hinges making the required effective sound and out stepped the tall figure visibly demanding attention from the vicinity.
He walked buttoning the front of this light blue jacket and then casually tugging one of his hands into the front of his jeans, acknowledging oddly familiar faces across the customs as he made his way to collect his luggage. The trolley ahead of his was evidently a large one and he lifted it off the running platform and smiled at the middle aged woman handing it to her, who genuinely thanked smiling back at him before he turned around to collect his own bag.
"The art of smiling is not a rocket science; it's just a reflex action to what you feel. Try making someone else smile by your actions, your lips would automatically curve up at the realization, common try, it's not that hard, Arnav."
He smiled again at the memory; an imprinted memory of a very vague person, who isn't even part of his life, in fact had never been nothing more than a mere stranger, or an almost stranger. Seven years, was long enough to forget someone, not that the memory of the person haunted him or tortured him in anyway, he is just amused by himself to relive the memory ever so naturally every time he found himself helping someone. After all good influences from past are to be remembered, and that is what she is to him, a vague, strange good memory that keeps flashing in his mind out of nowhere very occasionally, only when he finds himself indulged in such small simple gestures of lending help.
"Ram Singh" he greeted as he reached the parking place of the airport.
"Hello sir how was your flight?" the driver spoke reaching out to his luggage.
"It was good, I would have hailed a cab, you shouldn't have come" he said going around the SUV and settling himself behind the wheel.
"Oh, I was strictly instructed not to allow you to drive at this time of the night sir---" he said hesitantly looking at Arnav settled behind the wheel already.
"Then your Maam shouldn't have sent you Ram singh, the taxi would have served that purpose, don't you think? Now shut up and take the place beside me or you can choose to stay here for the rest of the night, and oh! I might just deduct your one day pay if you choose to stay by the way" he said and smirked.
Ram Singh visibly cursed his boss under his breath. Why do all his flights have to land sometime late in the night? He murmured as he went around taking the passenger seat beside his boss. Late night is still fine, but to wake up from his deep slumber after way past mid-night by the ruthless sister of his boss ordering him to pick his boss up and to top that off a threat to reduce his pay from her as well"he should have by now lost the count of such threats he received by these siblings on a daily basis. And here he was stuck in the passenger seat while his boss was happily driving and probably having another verbal batter with his sister.
"Seriously Anjali, when will you grow some seeds in that space in your head?"
"What space?"
"See, that's exactly the space I'm talking about, where there should have been a brain if you are aware of it?"
"Oh shut up Arnav, I was just looking out for you"
"To hell with your looking out! What are you even doing up so late? And do you seriously think waking up the driver from his sleep at this time of the night and getting him to drive me from the airport is called looking out for me? It more looks like a perfectly sketched plan to get me killed!" he finished dramatically.
"Screw you Arnav, god forbid me for putting up with you!" she hissed from the other end of the line.
"Well then don't!" he snapped back at her.
"Yeah lesson learnt! Fine!!"
"Fine!"
And just when he was about to end the call, he heard her again. "What?" he snapped.
"When are you coming back home?" she almost yelled.
"I'm not answering to that tone Anjali!" he snapped again.
She huffed again clenching her teeth "Fine go to hell! argh! I hate you!"
"Well, Good night to you too sis!" he said in a teasing tone and without giving her a chance to respond, he hung-up, removing the blue tooth from behind his ear and tossing it over the front of his car, the sound of which alerted an almost dozing off Ram Singh. He smirked with satisfaction when his driver shook his head waking up from his sleep and looked out of the window suddenly alert of his surroundings.
**
"Sir, would you by any chance be interested in avoiding a suicide news that might probably come in the morning paper?"
"What?" Arnav looked at his driver incredulously turning his attention away from the road.
Ram Singh just shrugged and looked up to a tall building ahead of them at a small distance that stood out in the mid-night Mumbai lights. Arnav shifted his glance up and caught a lean figure covered in a white gown that ended below her knees, her hair left loose flowing with the slight breeze away from her face, her hands stretched wide across her body and she was literally standing at the edge of the terrace wall, with half of her feet rested on the rim of the wall and other half in air.
He slowed down his car as they neared the building with both of their gazes fixed to the white image above them and finally the car halted just below the building. Sensing the car stop, Ram Singh turned his head to look at his boss as a reflex action. "Sir, I was just kidding; you are not thinking to go up there, are you?"
He asked swallowing hard as he could see Arnav just ignoring him and his glance fixed to that image.
Arnav stepped out of his car all the way looking up at her and stood facing the ridiculously tall building, his face bent behind in an attempt to take a clear look at the white image. He tugged his hands in his pockets and continued to observe her. The white gown looked oversized for her petite body, it looked more like a hospital gown, her legs stood long and straight on the very thin wall; he noticed there wasn't a shiver nor a tremble in the way she stood there, her posture almost looked relaxed and his lips parted registering the view that spoke volumes to him, but somehow nothing made sense. He felt a sudden pull and he swallowed hard processing the unknown fear creeping up his nerves.
His legs on their own accord made their way into the building completely ignoring the repeated calls from his driver. The doors of the elevator wide opened into the top most floor and then he walked around to find the stair case leading to the terrace. He wasn't rushing, he wasn't running nor was in a panic state, he was just walking as if in a trance"something about the way she stood told him that she is going to be standing just there in the exact same way by the time he would reach her and it turns out that he was right.
He could see her from behind, her petite body from within the loose gown showing curves blended in her form in perfect places, as the mid-night breeze blew her gown from the inner side. Her head was lifted up and it looked like she was all together in a whole lot different world. There was some kind of familiarity with her, he just couldn't figure out. For a moment he felt like she might have been frozen still in that posture, it looked like not a single nerve moved in her body.
Forcing himself out of his trance with utmost difficulty, he stepped a little closer and her shoulders stiffened as if realizing a foreign presence in her little lost world.
Making sure, she acknowledged him so that he wouldn't startle her; he cleared his throat and took another step towards her. "May be you should jump and take a look to see what it feels like?" he said seeing her withdrawing her hands and tugging them in front of her. The rest of the stance in her body still seemed relaxed and as expected by him, she wasn't startled.
"I'm not gonna jump stranger, you can go back to whatever you were doing before you decided to save me" she said without even turning her head and the voice hit a chord in his heart. It was so familiar yet so distant.
"You are not gonna jump?" he definitely did guess that already but found himself suddenly curious to find out what she was doing at this time of the night standing on a building like that. Clearly she looked like a patient, and was this building a hospital? He suddenly whacked himself for not checking the building name.
"Well, sorry to disappoint you Stranger, but I'm not jumping" she stated bringing her palms over her hands and rubbing against the cold breeze.
"I'm glad, I wonder why stand like that if you have no intention to jump though"
"Dangerous, isn't it?" She spoke slightly tilting her head to a side. The soft yellow glow of the street light reflected on her face and he could see a sharp nose peeking above her shoulder, the little side of her cheek, a very pale complexion--- where did he see that nose, where??
"Standing at this height several meters above the ground, that little feeling you get when you stand here dominates every other misery of your life; it makes you want to look at every other problem or pain smaller than this. Like they say death is the biggest misery and anything that happens before death is all just life?" she spoke and paused giving that side glance again.
Where the hell did I see that bloody nose!!!
"--it's like my stress buster, people do music, some dance, some read books and I do this" she said and stretched her hands across her body again and lifted her head up in the air and without his mere consult his lips curved up into an amused smile. "And I don't really know why am I even saying this to a Stranger?" she added dropping her hands again.
"Guess, you just wanted to explain that your own self" he simply stated and could see her shoulders stiffened again and she went into a silent mode for several moments. He kept staring at her from behind from a good few feet distance lost in his own trance. His thoughts were broken by a sudden hit of a heavy breeze pushing his messy hair away from his forehead and he sighed trying to take his eyes off from her.
"You"you need any help getting off from there?" he asked hesitantly.
"I'm fine" was her curt reply.
"Well, then I'll leave you to your Me time, careful though" with that he turned around reluctantly and made his way down the terrace, his thoughts replaying the little conversation again and again trying to figure out something which he isn't sure what"his mind registering the little details of her face, the odd familiarity of the features as he ran down the steps.
Just when he reached the bottom of the steps and was heading out of the building his legs halted at the entrance as the white bundle rushed down in front of his eyes landing with a thud on the ground facing the ground, just beside his car scaring the wits of his driver. Before he could register what exactly happened, he could see blood oozing out of her head, clearly draining the vicinity with a pool of her blood. He rushed, dropping himself on his knees, gathered the body over his lap, turning her around to have a look at her face and his mind stopped functioning for a moment---
"Khu"khushi?"
**
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