"Gauri?"
Gauri froze as Om called. She craved to hear this.
"Ha..aa?" she stuttered. (ye..ss?)
And the silence that followed was neither awkward nor soothing. It was filled with questions Gauri wanted to ask. Filled with feelings Om wished to express. He wanted to speak, but what? He did not know, where to start.
As Gauri walked out of the room hurriedly, tears welled up in her eyes. Did he have nothing to tell? Did he give up on her, on them?
Little did she know, that they were both responsible for perpetuating this haunting silence
This situation did not arise due to a lack of words, but rather because of hesitancy.
The apocalyptic bereavement had left disastrous effects on the Oberoi family. The horrifying event had shaken the souls, broken the hearts, and taken a part of them away.
Far away...
Rudra massaged his temples, and the cup of espresso sat in its usual place on his desk. Without Om, the workload was intolerable. There were files to be signed, projects to work on, and decisions to take. Decisions, ahh, decision, this word haunted him.
One decision.
Decision. Decision. Decision.
If only, he had taken a decision that day, not to accompany Om. If only he had stayed back. If only he...
These thoughts made him want to scream until his throat bled. Fate had been cruel. Rudra snickered. Fate. Huh, bullshit.
His destiny remained least bothered, he had a fate written. The lines in his hand were not for show. If fate impounded his happiness, it would return it too.
Every night, when Rudra sat in his usual place at the bar, with the sweaty bodies dancing all around and the heavy smell of alcohol mixed with the air, he thought. A thing he now often did. He was not unaware, he had changed, a lot. From loquacious and spirited to terse and apathetic. Time was passing, things were changing, and so did he. It was unintentional, he did not wish to. All he desired was the "Shut up, Rudra!", the teasing remarks, the Obro moments. He desired a family, his family. He wanted what he had lost, not long ago.
Distancing his Bhavya from his wasn't less than torture, but he did it for her. Just like his Shivaay Bhaiya did, always. His brother did things for others, others. If only Shivaay would have been there today, Rudra would have made him see, his foolishness, not before hugging him. He would have hugged him until the moment got awkward, more than awkward.
He would have made Shivaay see, what he did. He did for those people, who never cared for him. The family, whom he shielded, had stabbed him.
To say Rudra loathed Tej, would be the understatement of the freaking century. That man had snatched things from him, things? Nah, he had snatched his reason to live.
Whom did we live for? We live for love. The love from family. Family, this word made his heart bleed.
He loved Bhavya, and he wasn't kidding when he said that. That woman, who had the same eyes as his brother, had stolen his heart. It seemed ironic, how these hazel-eyed people blinded him, there was no such thing he wouldn't do for them.
Distancing Bhavya had not been easy, that stubborn woman, never stopped trying to get to him. He knew he was hurting her, but he was hurting too. He was aware that he was breaking her, here, he was shattering as well. His love wasn't dead, he had just kept it inside himself.
He could not permit her to be imprisoned by the same pain. He was the victim of the past, he couldn't let her ruin her life by loving him. She would regret in the future, for loving him, for being with him. And he couldn't just bear that. He was afraid, that once she was with him, he could never let her go. He feared, that one day, Bhavya would leave him as well, and he would be the sole reason for that. That would kill him, her regret for loving him, would surely kill him.
He was doing it all for her. He consoled himself.
Often, instead of doing better for our beloved, we end up breaking them in the worst way.
With her night suit on, Anika stared out of the large glass, their house was near the beach, and the view was breathtakingly soothing. One could hear the sound of shores on the balcony, but she wanted silence. Shivaay was still asleep. Shivaay, the sole reason for her existence. She knew, that she was hurting him, a lot, but wasn't she hurting too? Didn't he see that?
With a heavy, inaudible sigh, Anika proceeded toward the washroom. After a while, when she was setting the toast and scrambled eggs on the plates, Shivaay came downstairs, in his usual suit. As he sat on his sit after wishing her good morning and passing a smile, Anika noticed, his face had become pale, his eyes were empty, and he resembled a dead man walking.
She winced inwardly, she hated to accept that she was one of the reasons for this.
Anika wanted to wave goodbye when he dropped her at her office, but he drove off soon as she got down. She felt bad, yet she knew she deserved this. She had also walked away nonchalantly while he was waving at her in the past. She knew he was still behind, but she had walked inside the office, without turning. His eyes became moist at the thought, she had hurt him intentionally. Somewhere a part of her believed that hurting him would somehow lessen her pain, but it only increased.
She had drowned herself willingly in the ocean of miseries, not appreciating the hand which was trying to revive her, Shivaay...
She had visited the park today, and quite unusually, it was as if something was compelling her to go. As he reached the park. Anshi's giggling face made her smile. This girl was an actual box of happiness.
Time passed quickly. Happy times passed quickly, Anshi's father, who sat on a bench at a distance, came to take her, dusk was approaching, and they had to go home. Anshi's face was saddened as she saw her dad. She went with him, not before pressing her lips to her chocolate's cheeks,
Anika noticed that her father was trying to talk to her, while Anshi kept mum. This was unusual, Anshi hardly ever stopped talking and laughing. A secret Anshi had told her, she even talked in her sleep. Anika smiled remembering that thought.
These innocent souls knew magic. They could lift your mood in a jiffy.
A child,
innocently unaware was a happiness machine.
A child
is what she lost.
Shaking off these thoughts, Anika proceeded towards her car, which he brought along while coming here from her home. As she glanced in the direction of Anshi's car, her unusual behavior started making sense. She saw her father giving her chocolates while holding his ear with his other hand. Well seems that Madame was angry with her father. Anshi laughed as she wrapped her arms around her father's neck.
Anika smiled before a thought struck her mind. This was love, which gave no place for revenge. Love was confusing, and anger in love was justified, yet it was like wax. It melted with a warm touch from the beloved.
How could she let revenge come in between them?
