INDALI

CHAPTER-4

INDALI'S P.O.V:-

The burbling sound of the stream reached my ear. I tried to peep through the little hole in the shelter of the Bullock cart. And there it is , The Ichamati river. As of some magic portion the water was glowing in the moonlight. This river indicates that i am not from Ramnagar. Not far from home...my home.

The rain had stopped. Suddenly kaka spoke looking ahead , keeping his eyes on the road,"Boumaa , the village is near. More 1 hour". I unmindfully nodded still looking out of that hole.

And then came the woods. In the corner of the outstretched river bank stood some tall and strong trees, like some wood. Just what Binod liked.

I closed my eyes and fisted my hand and tried not to go down that memory lane but memories are cruel aren't they? Good or bad they always come, haunting you.

**FLASHBACK**

I anxiously looked around. I shouldn't have came here in the first place. I huffed and looked sideways. There she is sitting, throwing pebbles in the water. Roshni , my best friend. A real defination of beauty with no brains. I picked up a small pebble and threw at her and it hit her arm ," oops missed it" is what I said.

She narrowed her eyes at me while she vigorously rubbed her arm as if I threw a whole rock on her and said ,"why did you do that? It hurts!" I rolled my eyes and murmured ,"Drama queen" , "I heard that" she said , "you were meant to" is what I replied.

We sat there in silence. Actually she dragged me here saying that , he wants to talk to me about SOMETHING. And I don't know what that something is about. What if he wants to call this marriage off? What if his mother asked him not to marry a girl who wants to study further after marriage? Oh god. Now , where is that guy?

I exhaled sharply and and looked at Roshni , she was looking back at me smiling creepily. I made a face and asked ,"what?" She chuckled and replied ,"can't wait?" I again threw a pebble at her ,"woman calm down , will you? " She said. "What if he calls this marriage off?" I asked for the hundredth time ,"His loss".

"Why didn't you asked him that why he wants to talk to me that to here?" Roshni closed her eyes as she calmed her self down and replied ," for the nth time I am saying I did asked and he said he wants to talk to you that's it. I don't want to hear your dirty talks now do I?" She said. "Shut up" , "then don't ask me such stupid questions you fool" she glared at me and replied.

I sat there silently , fumbling my fingers and thinking of worst possibilities. Well Roshni is with me , nothing can go wrong right?. "Hey , everything will be fine. He just wants to talk ok? If he tries something funny just call out for me , I am here only." I smiled hearing her and nodded. One scream from Roshni and the people from nearby village will be on there way to this river . Yes she can scream that loud.

"Who's where ladies?" came a voice from behind. Roshni threw all her pebbles that she was holding at that person and screamed , seeing her scream I was ready to attack that person. When I looked behind , there stood Binod dusting off his white dhoti which was now in a beautiful shade of brown as Roshni threw those muddy little pebbles at him.

"Can you just not give us heart attack? This is the second time you scared the daylight out of me" Roshni said as she stood up. I follwed her lead and stood up as well."I gave you heart attack you say? Look at those poor goats bet their ears might have fell off after that ear bleeding scream" I couldn't help but laugh. "What did you said? Indu let's leave , I shouldn't have helped you" Roshni said pointing a finger at Binod."No no No.. I am sorry. I am sorry for scaring you the second time. Everything is my fault. Please accept my sincere apology miss" Binod said with so much sincerity and innocence that I was almost ready to force Roshni to accept his apology. Then suddenly something caught my attention and I asked ,"second time?"

"Yeah , the first time was when i asked her that if she can bring you here" Binod Babu replied scratching the back of his neck. I looked at Roshni who was wiggling her eyesbrows looking at me. I glared at her and she pouted.

"Ok so you both talk whatever you want to but just make it quick. Otherwise my mother is gonna chop my head off" Roshni sharply said and started walking away murmuring some incoherent words. So much of I will protect you.

"Hi" Binod Babu greeted and I greeted back with a small hello. And we both stood there in an akward silence. "I am sorry , I know I am late , actually I was in a meeting with the general and it took way too long" he said dramatically. I chuckled and replied ,"it's fine". He smiled.

We stood there for a while looking at the sky , we stood there feeling the cool evening breeze against our skin , we stood there seeing birds returning to their nests before dark , we stood there seeing and feeling everything.

After a long silence I asked ,"What do you want to talk about?" He looked at me and cleared his throat "Indali actually I -" I cut him off as I said ,"it's fine binod Babu if you wants to call this marriage off".

"Call what off?" He asked with horror struck face. I looked down and continued ," there's no need to apologise I understand no one will ever want a girl who wants to study further after marriage. But doesn't society needs to understand the fact that we can study further too? Well it's not your fault , I -" I abruptly stopped as I felt Binod Babu held my face tenderly and made me look up.

When my eyes met his. The air started to feel more lovely , the birds chirping were no less than any song and the air was more fragrant that ever. I was ready to stand right there , with him , till the end of the eternity. He was indeed handsome. But moreover he was beautiful. Beautiful inside out. I saw that in his eyes. This was not infactuation that I was feeling nor it was love. But I surely liked Binod Babu. Yes I like him. I like him so much that I feared if it will scare him away.

"I am not here to apologise nor to call off this marriage. I just wanted to spend some time with you , to talk to you. I wanted to know you. That's it. " He said with a very tender smile in his face. All my worries vanished into thin air. All I wanted is to see him smile , just like this. For forever.

I blushed and looked down again and heard him chuckling. "Hey , Hands off Mister" came a voice from a little distance. I pushed Binod and maintained a decent distance between us as I looked at that direction, there stood Roshni with her hands on her waist.

"Good , now don't try something funny you both otherwise I swear I gonna push you people in this river" she yelled from a distance. My already pink face turned red. Then she turned around and started chasing a goat like a mad woman. The goat got scared I guess as it started running frantically for it's life.

I chuckled seeing the scene.

"Indu" Binod Babu called out. I looked at him , his ear were red and that made me smile even more. After sensing all my attention is on him he continued,"actually when I was on my way to here I saw a little woods down right that corner" he pointed out to the west where the sun was slowly setting. "Shall we stroll around there for a bit if you don't mind?"

I looked back where Roshni was and saw here still chasing that goat but the new thing was , a trail of goats were behind her trying to save their friend form the mad woman. I looked back at Binod Babu and smiled "Sure".

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Hey,
Another chapter's up. Do vote and let me know what you think.

With love,
Ek Choti Lekhika