Caught In The Cyclone Of Love (COMPLETED)

Chapter - 13

I was having one of my dreams in which I was looking at someone who was getting beaten up by some huge bulky guys. That person, unlike the other times, struggled to get out of their death grip to come to me. I found myself hidden behind a rusted barrel, in that dark alley, crying my eyes out, unable to see the horrible scene unfold in front of me. That man, even after losing so much energy and blood tried to come to me, but I did not make any effort to go to him.

Unable to move any further, he extended his bruised and broken hand towards me. It was all foggy and thick black fog covered the whole place, so I could not make out his face clearly. As usual he did not speak anything. Finally, after sometime, I managed to get some courage to hold his hand, and extended my hand slowly, all the while crying profusely. Suddenly I was being shaken and I opened my eyes due to the force and searched for the man frantically around me.

That was when I noticed Anika standing near my bed with a concerned look on her face. She looked at me with so much concern and hugged me. She did not say anything, just provided the comfort I needed most at that time. Nothing is to be said, because she must have understood that I am having another nightmare, so she just gave me some water and I took it gratefully and gulped it down like a starving elephant.

When she was sure that I was not feeling sad or afraid because of the dream, she forwarded the plate with food in front of me. I don't want to call it a nightmare because, at least it brings some feeling out of my hollow heart, which has lost the ability to feel a long time ago. Seeing the food in front of me, made me realize how hungry I was and I immediately started digging in. It was not until, I was sure that the growling in my stomach had completely stopped, I lifted my head to look at her.

She looked like she was in some deep thought, and I am sure she is worrying about me. So, I took a piece of the delicious aloo paratha in my hand, greased it with butter and took it near her mouth. The smell of food broke her train of thoughts and she finally looked at me. She took the morsel in her mouth and started chewing it. Back in our hostel room, we used to share food and I would feed her whenever she was tired or whenever she was angry at me. She looked at me with eyes full of questions. Frankly, I don't have answers to any of her questions, so I began feeding her to stop her from questioning me. By the amount of food in my plate I guessed that she must have planned to eat with me. Seeing her eat fast, just confirmed my suspicions.

"Girl, I won't ask you any questions, now stop feeding me. I will become fat and my own lover won't recognize me", she scolded me with a mouth full and I stopped feeding her. "You won't become fat in just one day. Besides Rob would recognize you, even if you turned into an elephant", I told her and she threw a pillow at me. Soon it turned into a pillow fight and we were throwing pillows at each other and I was laughing hysterically, when a head popped inside the room.

"Thank god, you are playing. I thought some thief entered inside and that is why you are shouting", Rob said faking fear and sat beside Anika on the bed. "Should you not be in your hotel room sleeping, instead of roaming in my house like you own it", she asked him angrily and here goes my peace. "Well, I may not own this house. But I own you", saying this he kissed her cheek and she blushed in response. God, being around couples is proving to be very hard for my poor eyes and ears.

"Guys, you have an audience here. Do one thing please spare my poor eyes, go to your room, and continue", I teased them covering my eyes with my hands. "Come on, Sana. I just kissed her cheek, it is not even a romantic gesture", he whined like a kid. "Whatever, now get out of my house and go to your hotel room. I want to spend some quality time with my friend", before I could speak, she spoke and literally dragged him out. He left us, not before stealing another kiss from her and wishing me good night on his way.

"Way to go, dear brother", I yelled at him and laughed at her shocked expression. "You miss, don't encourage him", she scolded me and in turn I stuck my tongue out and mocked her, "As if it had not happened before" by now she was looking as red as a tomato. "Not you too. I have enough cousins and my stupid brother to tease me. You are meant to support me, not join their squad and tease me", she whined like a small baby. After that we caught up on all the things that was left out.

"Ok, now let us discuss about your wedding. What are all the functions that are going to be held?", I asked her just to divert her mind from me and my problems. She looked at me like she sensed my intentions, but answered me nonetheless. "Well, I have a very big family and there are so many rituals. So be ready. At the end you will have a phenomenal memory of the proper Indian wedding", she told me with a happy smile and I nodded my head eagerly, "That is why I came here early. I don't want to miss anything".

"Sana, we will have to leave for Bangalore in two days, are you ready?", she asked me in a concern filled voice. I did not know what to say to that. Am I ready? no I will never be ready, but I can't just run away from the reality. So, I just nodded my head at her, silently asking her to drop the topic. She sensed my discomfort and immediately changed the topic. "Ok, Sana. My wedding will have a lot of rituals, you will need many traditional dresses for that. I know for sure that you have only western clothes stuffed in your suitcase. So, we are going for shopping tomorrow", she ordered and I shook my head vigorously.

"No Ani, see I have brought enough traditional clothes to last for your wedding. There is no need to go shopping, when we have so less time to prepare for the wedding. I don't want to trouble you. God, it is your wedding, if anything we have to shop for you not me", I pleaded with her. But she gave me a no nonsense look and began looking for my suitcase. "Come on Ani, there is no need for that now", I whined at her. "Shut up, or I will bring mom here", she scolded me. She finally found it in the cupboard and opened it. I had brought only four salwar and a simple lehenga for her wedding, oh god, I am caught red handed.

"This is what you are going to wear, and you say that you have brought enough", she asked me with disbelief in her tone, and I nodded my head meekly. "This won't even last for the first two days, and you are talking about ten days", she glared at me this time. "Why do you say it like that?", I accused her. In return she closed my suitcase and sat beside me, "You know about grandma right, she won't like it if you wear western clothes during any of the rituals", she said. Oh shit, how can I forget about grandma, last time, when I wore a jean for Diwali, she nearly had a stroke and I had to borrow a lehenga from Anika, just to please her.

I would have definitely gone for shopping if the thought of grandma ever came to me. But I was busy with so many things and shopping were not in my priority list. It is not that I hate shopping, I just don't like carrying so many bags and wandering on the streets. It can be so tiring. So, I prefer online shopping. "Don't worry Sana. We will go to the new mall tomorrow and buy all the things you will need for the wedding", she cajoled me. "Why don't you just drop the plan? You know, we can always shop online. I swear I will definitely shop for some traditional clothes tomorrow", I tried to change her mind, but damn this stubborn girl, no one can change her mind.

"No excuses, we are going to the mall, so be ready. We are going to have so much fun shopping together, I can't wait for it", she shouted while jumping up and down on my bed. I seriously don't want to go out tomorrow, but her happiness is more important to me. This girl, she makes me do the things I would not do for anyone. She wanted to sleep with me, saying she wants to be with me just like old times, but I know she wants to sleep in my room to support me, in case I have another dream. I reassured her that I would be fine and I wanted to sleep alone. After so many pleadings, she left my room with a sulking face and finally sleep engulfed me. 

TO BE CONTINUED........................

HI MY DEAR READERS. I HOPE YOU ARE DOING FINE. HAPPY READING. KINDLY GIVE A SWEET KISS TO THAT CUTE STAR ICON WITH YOUR BEAUTIFUL FINGER. THANKS FOR READING MY BOOK.