THE WAR FOR LOVE

Part 4

"Jaldi chal sakti ho? Chot mujhe lagi hai lekin dheere tum chal rahi ho!" Sidharth said, slightly irritated. The man had been holding back his nature's call since morning and this girl was walking so slowly, his patience was giving up now.

"Pairo me dard tumhare hi hoga hadbadi karne se!" Sana replied, in a scoffing tone.

"Ya phir tumhe zor ki aayi hai?" she giggled, teasing him. He gritted his teeth, feeling mocked at. He knew she was just joking, but he didn't want to show that.

"Haslo, meri jagah hoti toh pata chalta." he replied.

"Ab bura mat mano yaar! Mazak kar rahi thi mai." she said quickly, fearing she might have hurt him.

"Aa gaya talab, mai ja rahi ped ke peeche." she said, retreating her hands and giving him privacy.

"Palat ke mat dekhna!" he stated, like a child feeling shy.

"Pagal ho? Mai kyu peeche dekhungi?" she retorted. What did he think of her?

"Thik hai." he mumbled and began with his business, keeping an eye around. It did hurt, his knees and back but he had no other choice than to bear with it. Once done with it, he washed his hands and walked back to where Sana had left him, limping slowly all by himself.

"Chale?" she asked, joining him. He hummed and let her lead him, taking support of her shoulders. Suddenly they heard some hushed voices and stopped on their tracks, they were out of those bushy areas and had almost reached home.

"Koi aa raha hai" he whispered.

"Tum ruko, mai dekhti hu." she whispered back, making him stay back and taking a few steps forward to see a guy standing outside her cottage like house.

"Kon hai?" she asked, to see a tall and fair guy turning to her.

"Sultan?" she was upset to see him, not that she wasn't expecting but at this time.

"Kaha thi Sana? Aaj kal dikhti nahi?" Sultan walked closer, drunk.

"K-kaam pe jati hu na.." her words trailed off, reasoning her absence and stepping back to maintain some distance. That guy stunk!

"Itni raat ko kaha gayi thi?" Sultan asked further, looking at her head to toe and checking her out.

"R-raat bahut ho gayi hai, mai chalti hu." she tried to shoo him away and walked passed through him. But he took a hold of her hand and slurred,

"Sana nahi. Tu humesha bhagti kyu rehti hai. Kha thodi jaunga?" he spoke, louder enough to scare her.

"M-mujhe jaane do, baad me. Baad me baat karenge." she replied, assuring him.

This guy, Sultan, was their landlord's son. Rich and spoiled, much to her relief he never did anything more than stalking and stopping by unnecessarily. Wooing her to spend time with him, a little forcefully but she couldn't do anything against him to put an end to his actions. His father almost owned them, gave them a roof over their heads and she was indebted to him.

"Hath chhod!" they heard another voice. Sana was shocked to see Shiv aka Sidharth speaking, she eyed him not to do that though.

"Kon hai tu?" Sultan spat, blinking his eyes to clearly see him in the dark.

"Hath chod Sana ka!" Sidharth repeated himself and clasped Sultan's hand that held Sana's, jerking it away and standing in between the two.

"Shiv mat karo!" Sana interrupted him but her words didn't even fall in his ears.

"Aye!" Sultan grabbed Sidharth's collars to hit him but got pushed back to the ground roughly. Being in a drunk state, Sultan stood up only to get thrashed by him. Sidharth had sore legs, but not hands.

"Jane do yaar! Kyu musibat badha rahe ho!?" Sana spoke urgently, trying to pull him back. Sidharth didn't get her behavior, earlier today she had pointed a knife at him and now she was getting scared of this drunkard. Was she in trouble, he worried.

Just one punch and Sultan was knocked out, finding it an opportunity to escape, Sana and Sidharth came back home. Luckily, nobody had heard the commotion that just took place.

"Isko bahar leke jana galti thi meri!" Sana mumbled to herself, but he heard her.

"Kon tha vo?" he asked, the moment they were in her place. She refused to answer and started making her bed.

"Sana mai kuch puch raha hu?" he said, getting stern.

"Humare makan malik ka beta! Jise tumne mara! Ab pakka vo mujhe ghar se nikal denge!" she shouted, replying to him and getting anxious.

"Makan malik ka beta hai toh? Zabardasti karega? Aur tu karne bhi deti hai?" he asked, sarcastically.

"Kyon ki ghar nahi hai mere paas khudka. Ek chhat mili hai, isi me guzara karna hai! Aur mai usse kuch karne nahi deti! Mai pagal dikhti hu jo kal aadhi raat ko pani bharne gayi thi jab tum mile? Mai puri koshish karti hu ussey dur rehne ki." she replied, getting hurt with his remarks.

"Kya sahi koshish hai na?" he humorlessly chuckled. Was this even an attempt to solve the problem?

"Jo bhi hai, jaisa bhi hai, mera tarika hai. Tujhe kya lena dena?! Kyu mara tune Sultan ko!?" she fought with tears in her eyes.

"Toh kya karta? Khade khade dekhta tere sath zabardasti hote huye?" he retorted, standing up from the bed. He wasn't raised like that, his father and mother always taught him to speak up and fight back against everything that was not right.

Sana didn't have an answer to him, because he was right in his but she was thinking of it in the long run. This guy would leave the village once he's fine but what about her? She stays here permanently.

"Jaise hi thik ho jayegi chot, tu chala jayega gaon se! Mujhe aur Dadi ko rehna hai yaha. Yahi humara ghar hai! Samjha?" she answered, trying to calm down and thinking of a solution to the mess he had created for her.

And she felt miserable while letting her weakness out to a stranger, well, this very stranger had also saved her today. She had panicked seeing Sultan like always but her heart did feel good
when sultan was getting punched.

Sidharth took a deep breath and ignored her, because she was being so cowardly and definitely not going to listen to him. Maybe she was scared, his heart said, she was bearing with all this to protect her grandma.

"M-maaf karna, mera woh matlab nahi tha. Tu-tune jo kiya mai bhi vahi karti kisi aur ki baat hoti toh. Jaane de, ho gaya ab. Mujhe pata hai tera irada sahi hai, mai bas. Majboor hu.." She apologized for lashing out at him but he looked somewhat lost.

"Shiv-" she said, calling him out.

"Mere sath chalegi?" he asked her suddenly. She kept looking at him wide eyed as he continued.

"Mat reh aisi jagah jaha dar dar ke jeena pade. Mere sath chalegi? Mai abhi toh tujhe leke nahi ja sakta, lekin va pas aunga. Bol! Chalegi?" he added more.

It was hard for himself to believe how much he grew protective about her in such a short span of time. Knowing how gullible and innocent she was, he couldn't digest the fact that she was facing such situations by herself. She didn't deserve that! Sana was dumbfounded with his words, she doubted if she was dreaming or he was offering her that for real.

"Tu pagal ho gaya hai Shiv? Mujhe janta bhi nahi hai aur sath chalne bol raha hai! Mai maan bhi jaungi par Dadi kabhi nahi manengi Narainpur jaane ke liye." she refused to come along, well, her words made it clear that how much of an excuse she was making to not come along with him and how much she actually wanted to be with him.

Yeah, the fake name and place that came out of her mouth were the major reasons she shouldn't come with him, his mind mocked. He had been lying to her since the beginning and now expected her to come along. But honestly, he had started liking her and his lies were those holes he was digging for himself.

"Uh- Sidharth." he mentioned. Sana looked at him confused.

"Kya?" She was pardoned.

"Mera- naam. Sidharth hai aur mai- mai kisi Narainpur me nahi rehta. Mai Vijaygarh se hu." he replied. She was stunned would be an understatement but the sad part was that the actual bombs were yet to be dropped down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~tada! Another part is here.. Lemme know hiw was it?