Chapter 18
February 6, 2014. 6:00 pm. Rachna's Room.
Shail hugs Rachna to comfort her. Rachna just stays enveloped in her mom's arms.
Shail realizes after a few minutes that Rachna has fallen asleep. She slowly makes her lie down and covers her with a blanket. Quietly Shail closes the door behind her as she leaves the room.
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Everyone asks about Rachna at the dinner table.
Dayal: "What happened Shail? Where's Rachna? I didn't see her this morning either."
Seema: "Yeah didi. She has been in her room all day...she didn't even go to office today. Is everything ok?"
Shail lies to the family. "Yeah, everything's fine. Actually she is sleeping. She's not feeling well. I already gave her some dinner up in her room."
"Mausi ma, are you sure Rachna's ok? She seemed a bit weird this morning when I went to talk to her. She seemed kind of lost and then when I asked her about it she made an excuse that she had a headache."
"No Gunjan. It's really nothing. I already talked to her and she's fine. It's just some work-related tension beta. You don't worry."
Shail hated lying to her family but she did not want to worry them. And plus, Rachna had made her promise not to tell anything to the rest of the family.
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Kabir's House. 8 pm.
Kabir has just reached home and dadi opens the door.
"Nanhe! Just in time for dinner. I made your favorite pasta! Come freshen up and we'll eat together."
Kabir walks into the house and dismisses dadi. "No dadi. I'm not hungry. I'm going up to my room, I have some work to do."
Dadi is surprised to see that Nanhe has turned down his favorite pasta. She feels that something is wrong so she brings a tray of food up to Kabir's room.
"Nanhe beta. You didn't want to eat downstairs right? So I brought both of our plates up here so we can eat together in your room."
Kabir glances up at dadi and frowns. "Dadi, I'm not hungry! I told you that! Please, just go from here!"
Dadi becomes sad and leaves the room. Kabir realizes that he yelled at dadi unnecesarily and runs after her to apologize.
"Dadi! Wait, please...I'm really sorry! I shouldn't have talked to you like that. Please forgive me."
Dadi smiles at hearing her grandson apologize to her like a little boy. "It's ok beta. Now are you going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to guess?"
Kabir sighs and walks back to his room with the tray of food and dadi following closely behind. They both sit on his bed and he starts telling her about everything that happened that day...from seeing Rachna at her house to meeting Raj at the coffee shop.
"...So Raj refused to tell me anything and I just don't know what to do. I can't see Rachna like this."
Dadi pats Kabir's back. "It's ok beta. I know how you feel. You love her but you can't tell her that. And you don't know what's wrong but you want to be there for her. But just give it some time. She'll open up to you when she's ready."
Kabir sighs. "I guess so dadi. I'm going up to the roof to get some fresh air. You take your medicines and go to sleep ok?"
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Rachna's Room. 10 pm.
Rachna opens her eyes and is confused to find herself in bed covered with a blanket. Then she remembers her conversation with her mom and realizes that she must have fallen asleep. Rachna gets up and drinks a glass of water. She realizes that it's late at night and everyone else in the house has already gone to bed. Rachna doesn't feel like staying in her room so she decides to go sit on the roof.
Rachna quietly sneaks out of her room and goes up the stairs to the roof. She sits on the swing there and leans her head back while closing her eyes, trying to relax. The same memories come haunting back.
Flashback:
Final exams had just finished and all the students of Swami Vivek Anand College were excited about their summer vacation. But one person was especially excited...Rachna. She had convinced her parents to let her go on a 10-day trip to Goa with a group of her friends. Gunjan, Raj, Chaya, and him...all her most special friends. The five of them had been planning this trip for months...
He was going to come to the Garg house to pick Gunjan and Rachna up. Chaya and Raj would meet them directly at the airport.
Rachna was on cloud nine. She couldn't believe that she would be basking in the sun on a beach in Goa with him. She couldn't stop smiling. She kept smiling while packing her suitcase. She was smiling when he came to pick her up. She was smiling when he secretly pecked her on the lips while no one was looking. She was smiling while they drove to the airport. And she was smiling even now as she sat on the airplane with her head peacefully resting on his chest, her fingers intertwined loosely with his.
"What happened Rachna? Smiling quite a bit today? I've been noticing that you haven't stopped grinning all day." He chuckled.
"I'm just really happy baby...I can't believe that mummy and papa agreed to let me come on this trip."
"Obviously they had to agree. We had Miss Gunjan on our side to convince them. She is so good at sweet talking that she can convince anyone for even the most ridiculuous things."
Rachna laughed lightly. "Hmmm that's true. But it's too bad that Mayank bhaiyya couldn't come with us. His final year exams are not finishing until later this month. Gunjan was really upset about it."
"Acha c'mon let's forget all this and just think about all the fun that we're going to have in the next 10 days!"
Rachna perked up and smiled again.
"Ok Rachna, close your eyes."
"Arre, why? Why are you asking me to close my eyes?"
He sarcastically commented: "Because I want to quickly change seats with someone so I don't have to sit next to you for this whole flight...Stupid! Obviously I have a surprise for you! C'mon close your eyes."
"Ok, fine but it better not be one of your stupid pranks!"
Rachna closed her eyes and suddenly felt something cold touch her neck. She jumped and yelped. Raj, Chaya, and Gunjan stared at her and the air hostess came to check if everything was all right. Rachna felt embarrassed but he had handled the situation stating that everything was fine. But Rachna could still hear Gunjan and Chaya giggling behind her.
"What was that Rachna?!? I'm making you wear such a beautiful necklace and you are screaming like this?"
Rachna pouts playfully. "Sorry sweety! But when I felt the cold necklace against my skin I thought you were playing one of your pranks and putting a bug on me! Anyways, it's a really pretty necklace!" Rachna admires the beautiful gold necklace that is now around her neck.
Chaya: "Aww, I wish I also had someone to give us such beautiful presents! Some people have all the luck!"
The five friends (Raj, Chaya, Gunjan, Rachna, and him) had joked and laughed all the way to Goa like this. And the next 10 days had also been amazing. Relaxing with her friends on the beach during the day. Candlelight dinners and watching the beautiful sunsets with him in the evening. It was a perfect vacation. But how could she have been prepared for the storm that came after?
Flashback ends.
Rachna snaps out of her thoughts and finds herself shivering.
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Kabir has come out on the roof and he glances up at the night sky, admiring the beauty of the stars twinkling in the dark night. He glances over to the Garg's house next door and is surprised to see Rachna sitting there. He watches her intently, noting her every detail. He sees that she has her eyes closed but she is shivering from the mild breeze that is blowing on this chilly night. Kabir gets a blanket from his room and climbs over to her roof using the pipe, just like he used to when he was a kid.
Kabir carefully places the blanket over Rachna's body and sits down next to her. She opens her eyes and is surprised to find Kabir sitting next to her.
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Precap: Rachna tells Kabir to go away.
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How was it? Hope you liked it...I will start revealing Rachna's past in the next chapter.
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