SuKor: Emancipation (Pt 18 : Updated on Pg 41) - Page 12

Trying to divert her mind from Suraj, she thought about Ma and Pa. She felt content today after speaking to Ma and Pa. It felt like a massive burden was lifted off her shoulders. Instead of being the miserable and hopeless Chakor, she wanted to start living her life. Removing the robe, she sat on her bed with the warm milk and looked at the glass door that leads to the balcony from her room. She decided to take a slow yet steady step to end her troubled life and to revel in the beauty of the night's sky. Hence, she got up from her bed and opened the glass door on to the balcony with the view of the garden; her backyard garden; a beautifully maintained garden by their gardener and landscaper, Mr Arjun Khanna; a garden that she never paid attention to all these years.

Just gazing at the midnight sky above while sipping the warm almond milk stole every thought from her mind, all her qualms simply forgotten. There were the divine stars above and a half moon to beam down at her, and Chakor felt a bizarre tranquillity. As she shifted her attention from the serene night's sky to the garden, she noticed a well-known figure laying on the garden bench by the small water fountain. Chakor looked carefully to recognize who it was. To her surprise, it was none other than her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Suraj Rajvanshi and he was already looking unswervingly at her. He was far but this eye lock gave room to butterflies in her stomach. He invaded her thoughts and the entire world around her stopped.

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Story from Suraj's viewpoint

Suraj stared at the business card given by Chakor. It spelt Khurana & Assoc., together with the address of the office and contact details. Khurana... The name sounded so familiar to Suraj but he couldn't recall who it is in particular. He placed the card on the coffee table and gulped the remaining drops of beer in one go. His swollen nose is not letting him sleep in peace and now his mind is in chaos too. Suraj thought he will feel relieved once the divorce matter comes to light but what happened was the opposite. He took his mobile phone to contact Ranvijay but it was almost midnight, so he dropped the plan.

From the recliner, he peeped up the staircase to see if Chakor was anywhere to be seen but her room door was shut. A sudden urgency to spend some time with her seized his mind but he stopped himself from doing anything stupid which might give room for her to have any feelings for him. Not knowing what to do, he got up, opened the main door and walked out of the house to get some fresh air. With nothing much to view from the porch, he walked under a pergola covered in bougainvillaea towards his backyard which led to his home garden. Suraj remembered hiring Mr Khanna to do the landscaping for his garden and realized what a great job he has done. He wondered why he never noticed it before and wasted his life confined to his social gatherings, his reading room and bedroom all the time.

He saw a big tree right in the middle of the garden, which is surrounded by a water garden, a small water fountain, number of scrubs, and subdivision for vegetables and varieties of flowers. The LED outdoor lighting provided warm white light and Suraj was impressed with the hard work that Mr Khanna put in to maintain all these. "I should increase his pay from this month, that man deserves a medal, he said to himself and settled down on a bench right next to the dahlias and the water fountain.

Staring at the dark yet sparkly sky, he remembered his childhood at the Rajvanshi mansion. He used to play gilli danda and lagori with his friends. Chakor was once his playmate too but only till she moved into his house. He remembered ditching her during playtime and Chakor complains to his mother which landed him in trouble all the time. That too is one of the reasons to his hatred towards her, but now, with all the overwhelming feelings he is having due to Chakor's behaviour towards him, he questioned whether the hatred still exists. Chakor was very cute as a child; impulsively, a crazy idea got over his senses: If I have given a chance to Chakor in this marriage (not that he want to), would our children be as cute and smart as her or witty and rebellious like me? That thought itself was sufficient to give him an unparalleled rush of emotions.

He liked the conversation he had with her earlier today (although Chakor was the one talking most of the time); her audacity to defend herself from him enthralled him and the guts she had to face his parents about the divorce made him respect that woman. This unknown feeling about Chakor has started to consume his heart and soul, and he tried shaking it off.

Holding her so close to him today brought Suraj back to his University years. Today wasn't actually the first time Suraj held Chakor till he could almost feel her heart beating fast. It has happened before but Chakor wasn't conscious during that time. That particular incident took place a few years back at their university campus training field.

*flashback*

Chakor was a sprinter, a very fast one. Suraj was a striker of their University football team, a fast player with decent ball control and dribbling abilities. Both of them usually train at the university campus together with their respective teams for almost 20 hours a week, after their class hours.

One sunshiny day, after the training, Suraj and his team were resting at the bench near the track and field training spot. Suraj was relaxing, wiping his sweaty body with a clean towel and drinking water occasionally, but then one fit, hardworking young lady jammed his attention. It was none other than Chakor Bhuvan Lal who was doing some warming up exercises before moving on to conditioning run and her perseverance amazed him. There were few other girls training together with her but his eyes were fixed on her only. He is used to seeing her do strenuous training without any tension visible on her face but on that day, she looked different; she looked pale as if her blood has been drained out, and that alarmed him. In split second, she started hyperventilating and was almost passing out when Suraj ran towards her to get hold of her from hitting the ground. She lay unconscious in his arms with the rest of the team approaching them to help Chakor.

The coach called the ambulance while Suraj tried to wake her up. He was very concerned to see her like that. He tried pinching her earlobe and gently shook her shoulders but she was still unresponsive and that horrified him. Suraj hates her but he never wanted anything to harm her. With no patience to wait for the ambulance, he carried her in his arms and brought her to the hospital in his car. Chakor's track mate, Tina, followed them as requested by the coach. Suraj was talking to Chakor all the way to the hospital. She wasn't responsive but talking to her gave him unknown satisfaction.

At the hospital, Suraj waited by her side, holding her hands till he gets confirmation that she was alright. He left before she could open her eyes and till now he never told her about it and he warned everyone else there not to tell her about this too. He didn't want her to know that he cares about her as that vulnerability will hurt his self-esteem and pride.

*end of flashback*

Not wanting to think too much about this, he laid back on the bench just to get a better view of the night's sky and some peace of mind. He placed both his palms around the back of his neck to support his head and from that position, he could view Chakor's balcony. "Chakor again. Why is she running in my mind this whole day?" he murmured. All of a sudden, the balcony lights were on, the glass door slid open and Chakor stepped out.

There she was, in an elegant white nightwear, looking angel-like in the moonlight and Suraj couldn't take his eyes off her. Suraj does not know much about women nightwear but Chakor was indeed looking tantalizing in it. Not realizing Suraj's presence, Chakor was admiring the beauty of the stars and the moon in the sky while Suraj was admiring how beautiful his soon-to-be ex-wife is looking under the bright night's firmament.

Suddenly weird feelings rushed through his heart and veins and he comes to the sense that this might probably be the last few days he sees Chakor as his wife and that feeling was full of remorse. At that moment, Chakor looked at him and their eyes met. Her looks pierced through his empty soul and gave him chills. Astounded, he got up from the bench, without breaking the eye lock. The darkened atmosphere dilated his pupils, subconsciously signalling his attraction towards her. What's happening to me? What is she doing to me? Such questions run in his tangled mind.

Before he could make any move, she smiled at him harmlessly, waved him good night and disappeared. Seeing her innocence, guilt consumed his 'already' messed up mind.

Staring at the empty balcony, blood dashed through all parts of his body in high speed and Suraj apprehended that it's the after effect of Chakor's Mona Lisa smile: "What have I done? he uttered, remembering these three years he wasted without getting to know her.

Something to ponder:

What is your opinion regarding both Chakor and Suraj's viewpoints?

Do you find it weird that Chakor is not hating Suraj after all that he has put her through?

Should Suraj inform Chakor about his sudden doubts about their relationship?

Will they proceed with the divorce?

*****END OF PART 7*****

PART 8: UPDATED ON PAGE 20 ❤️