My Great Bollywood Romance [Completed]

Chapter 17: Data Breaches & Rifles

Chapter 17: Data Breaches & Rifles

It was past dinner time and everyone was given a steel glass full of steaming hot milk with a small ladoo. We sat on cots in the darkness engulfed by stars I had never before seen so many of.

All of us were having a simple conversation when I decided to address the thing that had been bothering me all day long.

"Do you like hunting?" I asked Jash's grandmother and pointed to the rifle on her cot.

Everyone except Rushil, Saloni, and I laughed.

"It's long story," Jash said. He was sitting next to his grandmother while us three sat across from him. "Before I was born."

"Your dad was only three when it happened," his grandmother told him. "It happened the night of Karva Chauth where I had fasted all day for my husband's long life—that was the last time I did that. I was waiting for the moon to come out so I could break my fast. The kids were asleep and my husband—who I went through starvation for—was gambling with our neighbors.

"I waited in the kitchen until ten and was on my way up to the rooftop," she continued, "when I saw a dark shadow. The moon was finally out so the shadow had a hard time hiding. My husband was still gambling and drinking at the neighbors house."

"You didn't break your fast yourself?" Saloni interrupted her story.

"He had to break it," Jash's grandmother replied. "But he was passed out—"

"Mother—" Jash's uncle interjected probably at her tone.

"Shush," she snapped and resumed her story. "He and the other neighbors were all intoxicated. I was livid. Someone was on our rooftop and I was home alone with two toddlers and one in my belly. I was starving. He was nowhere. I went to my neighbor's house—a retired army colonel—and took his rifle."

"The colonel didn't stop you?" Rushil asked.

"He was passed out with the other neighbors," she said. "I took his rifle and went up to my rooftop first. It was a lowlife thief who was trying to steal jewelry. I threatened to shoot him if he didn't leave. He thought I was bluffing. So I shot him in the foot."

"Whoa," I said impressed. "You weren't afraid?"

"Afraid of what? All that mattered to me were my children and their safety," she informed. "I was ready to push a bullet through his chest if he had tried to fight. He ran—stumbled—away however."

"The neighborhood didn't hear the gunshot?" Rushil asked curiously.

"They did," she said smiling now. "The drunk men didn't. I went to the gambling area and put the rifle next to my husband's head. The whole neighborhood witnessed it. I told him he'd be the next one dead if I didn't get a grain of food in me in the next minute."

Saloni and I clapped.

Rushil smiled.

"You kept the rifle?" I asked.

"The colonel never asked for it back," she said with a shrug.

"He was too scared," Jash said with a grin. "He probably thought she'd shoot him next."

"These men think women can't fight back," his grandmother mumbled. "All it takes is a little bit of courage. You can make them run for their life."

"I tried to learn shooting once with my dad but I hurt my shoulder," I told her. "I never had the courage to pick up a rifle again."

Jash gave me a surprised look but didn't say anything. Not many people knew about my hunting life.

"I thought you didn't want to kill animals, that's why you stopped," Rushil said.