Virakhi FF : In Search Of You

Part 17 - Shadows

Virat was sitting alone in the hallway and sending yet another sleepless night. Their trip was coming to an end. They are supposed to leave day after tomorrow. But he and Pakhi stood exactly where they were in , in terms of their relationship.

They understood each other a lot more ever since they started living alone without anyone meddling with their life. But , Pakhi could never again believe that he could be in love with her.

Virat understood that she was not even considering such an angle to their relationship anymore. He didn't know whether to go ahead with his plan to propose to her. Now, on their last day of the trip he just wanted some alone time with her. But with Shlok's invitation to a near by trekking spot, even that was not happening. Somewhere his mind was shutting down the hopes his heart had started to nurture again.

He went back to the room and sat on the bed. Pakhi was asleep. She infact was excited to go back to Mumbai as Vinu would be back on Monday. Virat smiled to himself as he thought of his little boy.

In the morning, Pakhi opened her eyes to see Virat still sleeping. She knew he had slept late. She knew he wanted to spend time with her. That's precisely the reason she showed interest in this trekking thing, when they got invited, just to avoid them being alone.

In an hour, Virat was up too . He was disturbed by the awkward silence between them. He wasn't sure it was always like this or he is noticing it because of Vinu's absence. Back at home, Vinu will be always there chirping around, he never noticed any lack of communication with Pakhi. May be it was always so... having Vinu around them and him showering them with love had somehow healed the dryness in their life.

Half way into the trekking, Virat noticed that Pakhi was walking either ahead of him or she lagged behind knowingly. He turned around a few times and waited for her. But she prefered to walk with Shlok.

Virat wasn't feeling jealous anymore. He knew Pakhi would never love anyone other than him. Atleast he should understand that much about the woman he spent all these years with . Her reason to be in Shlok's team while trekking was just to avoid him and Virat knew that better than anyone.

They reached a spot which was a table top cliff. Behind it was a beautiful valley . Beautiful yet scary. The team was taking their refreshments while Pakhi walked around clicking some photos.

Even while chatting with Shlok, Virat's eyes followed her. He saw her walk to the edges. For some reason he felt this was not going fine.

Pakhi stood on the edge clicking pics and it was then that her mind went back to the moment she had stood like this before.... holding Samrat's photo, wanting to end her life. She was trying to decipher what went through her mind back then. Was she ready to die because she was left alone ? What was she thinking ? Was it all for Virat ? To gain his attention? Love ? And did she gain anything ? Along with the thoughts gushed waves of guilt and she could feel her limbs going weak. Visuals of her being stuck in the bus and falling down to an abyss rushed before her eyes. She thought Virat left her alone to die while he chose to save Sai. She wasn't upset that Sai was saved, but at that moment the loneliness she felt was immense. The thought that no one cared for her, she lived in no one's mind..... she came to know later that Virat didn't leave her alone in the bus, but he actually thought she was safe . He hadn't ignored her. Emotions were surging inside her head and everything around seemed blur.

She spiralled in a tizzy and she could see the depths of the valley. Her eyes could no more see Virat or anyone.. there was only a thin white obscure layer blurring her vision. Her legs were no longer touching the ground firmly and she felt weight less , as if being drifted by the wind.

Virat saw in utter disbelief what just unfolded before his eyes. Pakhi had somehow tripped from the edge and she was now almost hanging with just the support of a half broken railing near her midriff. What was more alarming was that her feet barely touched the ground. Virat could quickly guess that Pakhi had gone into a state of shock and she wasn't aware of the situation she was in.