Hello All!
I was so happy to see so many of you commenting even after the show has ended. Not to worry I will definitely complete all my stories as long as my readers support me, just be patient as you have been till now!
I am slowly responding to all your comments. Just wanted to give you guys the update because its been over two weeks since the last one. Hope you Enjoy this!
Chapter 5: An Eclipse of Hearts
Across the city, in a cluttered locality a girl stood at the terrace hanging her towel to dry. The Girls hostel she resided in was situated among many other Paying Guest houses. Except her's had been officially bought by the Delhi Sahitya Academy.
The building was an old brownstone, crumbling at the edges, with a few cozy rooms , a dining hall and a terrace. Having arrived here late last night, she was ushered in by a rather grumpy and sleepy looking old lady dressed in a white tunic. Spitting image of what she'd imagined a ghost to look like. Practically dragged to her small dingy room, she wasn't prepared to see the family of creepy crawlies having found their home in the crook of the walls by her bed. The sounds of the callous youth drinking and howling outside her hostel had kept her up most of the night. But this was her new life now and she would have to accommodate herself to the the rush, the heat, and the dust of the big city.
Sighing she turned to go get some breakfast at the mess. Walking down the steps she passed across rooms and rooms of girls giggling and getting ready. Chatter and music flowed all around as students from different years and courses mingled. She had no energy for these giggles and gaggles right now. All her energy was lost because of the nightmare that had woken her up from her small bout of sleep at 7 in the morning.
It was dark and silent all around when a voice had called her. His voice. He had sounded like he was choked with agony, crying out for her help but she could find no way of getting to him. It was too dark and she seemed to be trapped in the folds of a luminous white cloth. He kept calling her name but she couldn't untangle herself physically.
"Naina!" a familiar voice made her escape the fits of her nightmare.
Turning around she hugged an excited Shefali who had moved away to join a theatre course in DSA. At a time when Naina had found herself crumbling from depression, the kind she could find no way out of, Shefali had sent her the way out. A form for MA in Creative Writing at DSA. Suddenly she had a purpose again, a will to try something; a goal to achieve. She had hurriedly applied for the program arranging a makeshift portfolio from the stories she had scribbled down in her tragic state. Destiny had come knocking in the form of an acceptance letter. Things felt fated as one thing after the other paved way for Naina to embark on a path she had long dreamt of but never had the courage to sought.
The path to her destination seemed so much more familiar with Shefali by her side. It had helped her convince Chachaji and Chachiji that she would not drown herself in her unspoken grief again. It had made Naina feel more confident for the long journey ahead.
A new city with its hustle and bustle would be easier to accommodate to if she had a person she loved with all her heart. And of course that person had been Shefali. She swore to herself that she was purely thinking of Shefali here. Yes there was someone there whose name started with S as well but she had convinced herself that she had forgotten him just as easily as he had abandoned his promises to her.
"Naina! Kahan kho gayi? Dekh ab uske baare mein sochna chod de. Uske baare mein sochkar apne iss naye safar ko english wala suffer mat bana. Woh tujhe chod kar ja chuka hai Naina. Bhool ja usse ab." Shefali said, dragging Naina down the vacant lot of stairs to the mess.
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kaise bhool jao uski garmahat
uske woh ashk jo meri aankhon mein khoon se beh gaye
uski woh baatein jo chubkar bhi dil mein sama gayi
kaise bhulaun mai usse
jab bassa hai woh mere dhadkano ke shor mein
Naina wiped the small drops of salt on her cheeks as she finished writing her grief.
His memory was the ink of her pen. Dripping onto pages, a moment of words etched onto the surface forever. He flowed through her blood like the ink that flowed through her pen: his touch, his warmth, his breaths there for a second gone the next but leaving a stain for eternity. She could see his face in the rough matting of the pages, in the flowing scrawl of her handwriting, in her scalding fingertips that had touched him. Maybe in writing she had found her solace but in this writing she had also found a way to keep him close. When all connection between them seemed broken, it were these handwritten words which connected her to him.
An intimacy of ink drops that she would retain for the rest of her life away from him; all alone.
She sighed and decided to go get some books for her new course to start day after. Getting up she searched for her course listing, panicked, as she found her course initiation pack missing. Where could it be? She wondered as she turned her neatly laid room topsy-turvy.
Retracing her steps, her eyes widened with horror as she realised where the folder might be...
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Sameer huffed in and panted out the heated dust ridden air of New Delhi. So much more heavier than the fresh breezes of Ahmedabad mornings. He often used to jog with Nanu at the break of dawn. Dragged from bed, his body heavy and attitude grumbly, his feet would soon catch air with Nanu proudly walking behind him. Ahmedabad jogs had afforded them the isolation of a small city waking up, the sun rising far away in the sky but bringing a warm peace in their hearts.
The crowd of Delhi mornings disturbed him. From commuters to fitness freaks: people were out and about all around him. A cold loneliness increased in his heart as the sun shone. It brought with it the awakening of a bleak new day in his life in the Somani mansion.
Should I wish upon a fallen star to be able to see my light again? He pondered as his gaze scanned the many other's to find that one pair of midnight eyes which talked to him like no other soul on this planet. The day had broken, the city was moving, people flowed like ocean waves around him, and yet he stood still amongst the rapidness: broken and alone. Trying to catch the glimpse of that one woman who was his only hope. His only hope he ran away from. He chuckled at the dark irony of his life.
Maybe in that morning of balmy sun rays, he was the only one experiencing an eclipse.
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Standing in the vast expanse of the rich marble kitchen, Naina Agrawal felt even more aware of how far Sameer really was from her. His was a world of fancy polished marble while hers was composed of dingy tiles and brownstones. She indeed was an idiot to think that a man like Sameer Maheshwari could ever fall for someone like her. She was just his partner for a short spell. Someone who he needed to drive away the loneliness from his heart.
Looking back she realised she didn't blame him for drifting towards her in his extreme youth of seventeen. He was a broken, lonely, and abandoned soul: he just wanted to be pampered and loved. He needed stability even if he couldn't give any back.
That was the thing with broken souls. They found another soul to quench the wailings of their hearts. But rarely did that agony cease in them. Eventually they would move on broken and remembered by those they had broken and forgotten.
As Naina set about making tea in the kitchen that made her dream of a future she would never have, Sameer found himself at the threshold of his dreams. Draped in a beautiful pink suit, the sun rays played the melody of patterns on her serene face. His breath struck in the sashaying twist of the elegant folds of her thick long braid. She looked lost in thought as she put the water to boil, her bangles musically erupting a storm in his heart.
An image in the light, his deepest dream and his darkest fantasy. She was both the day and the night. Shy and crimson: the girl who lowered her eyes as he touched her. Seductive and scarlet: the girl who stroked the bareness of his chest when she was in his embrace.
She was all the shades of red he lacked in his life. Who was she? What was she?
He pondered as she stood there in the kitchen like a shadow of a past life, making tea. Was she real or was this another one of his dreams? If he touched her like he dreamt would she shriek or would she melt?
He decided to find out, steadily his feet moved closer to her; embarking on a new adventure. As he neared the heat of her body exuded onto him in waves making the end of his spine tingle. He was just a few steps away from her body when she turned to see him. Does she still feel my presence? He asked himself, bells of hopes ringing in his heart as he remembered their past moments with a fondness that staggered him. And he knew it then. This was no dream, Naina was really here in the kitchen of Somani mansion.
"Sameerji...aap yahan kya kar rahe hai?" She asked, her voice a slight tremble of shyness. From the pink hue on her cheeks he could make out she was recalling the embrace they had shared yesterday.
Her 'Sameerji' got his blood buzzing with a divine fury as a deep storm roared in his veins. He remembered his dream, his gaze of its own accord taking in the graceful dips and curves of her body, coming to rest on her glowing face. She looked so soft, her curves so smooth and she had felt so shapely in his arms yesterday. He longed to hold her, touch her waist like he did in his dreams, to rub her curves as he teased her with his touch.
He craved for all of her. Her anger, her passion, her love, her sorrow, her elation. He wanted to absorb all of her into him. To kiss her sweet rosy lips and have his heartbeat ring like the divine incantations at break of dawn.
Her cheeks burned scarlet as she registered his heated gaze at her lips. Had he been staring for too long?
"Sameerji, maine kuch pucha aspe?" She asked, her voice loud even as her tone trembled.
Shaking himself mentally, he answered "Tum yahan kya kar rahi ho, Naina Agrawal? Ghar toh mera hai toh mai aaunga hi."
Her feminine allure pulled his steps to her as he spoke each word. Pulled to her like gravity, he didn't realise when he broke into her personal space his body just inches away from her. The heat of her curves burned him as he gazed at her mouth forming each word. Her dark eyes lowered before looking up to peer into his, blush arising her features like the scarlet sky at sunset.
Naina's eyes widened as she realised she should not have been the one to ask in the first place. Not the kind to keep mum, he could see the fire of Nainadevi replacing the slow burning embers of her passion for him. "Mujhe yahan mummy..mera matlab hai tumhari mummy ne bheja hai. Unko sar dard ho raha tha aur keshav nahi the toh maine socha mai he unke liye chai bana loon."
He had caught the slight trip in her words. She still considered him her 'shaadi-wala pyaar'. She still dreamt of a future with him. Its why she called his mother mummy and why she cared to make tea for her in a strange kitchen. She still considered herself as his, she saw his relations as hers and cared for them.
In that moment, Sameer Maheshwari couldn't understand what happened to him. Maybe it was the dream he had last night or the warmth of her beauty or the sparkle of her eyes or the rosy promises of her lips. Maybe it was the way she had taken to this house and for the first time made it a home for him. Maybe it was her love that flowed like a stream deep in the woods: its ending and starting blending into the horizons. Or maybe it was all those years he had missed her.
Maybe it was all these things and countless more that clobbered at his heart and made him fall in love with her all over again. An overwhelming falling that uplifted his being.
Stepping forward, he deeply peered into the ocean of her eyes. Slightly leaning into her his fingers gently brushed the skin of her cheek, making it colour up in beautiful shades of crimson.
"Naina...." he whispered, his voice stroking her name like his fingers stroked her cheek.
Precap: Her lips trembled and a sigh escaped them, her hair a poetry of his teasings. This was a forbidden beauty. The kind that would sink ships as sailors peered at the siren like creature. He wondered if there was any saving for him: would he sink or would he float?
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Bundles of love,
Sims
