Satranga Ishq

vii.

A loud, shattering noise made her run to his room, worried and concerned. What might have happen? 

Standing at the threshold, she behold the sight of Nihar, pushing off the things of his study table; the stationery making clanking noises once meeting the floor.

Nihar's condition is neither good himself. His messed up hair strands moving haphazardly in all directions, his frantic eyes, seems like in search of something, his hands grabbing and throwing away the smallest of things he could have a hold on. 

Thanks heaven, Maya was not here! Orelse, he would have had a nice handprint on his cheek by now. 

" What are you doing? " he didn't as much as look her way. 

Then she realised, what must have been the case. Running down the stairs, Sanchita went to the kitchen, and retrieve his hearing aids from the basket, placed on top of the refrigerator. She walked up again to his room. This time he did notice her.

Before she could give him his possession, he snapped," I don't wanna hear any of your shit right now. " then he laughed humourlessly pressing his forehead," Oh, how fucking dumb I'm! I can't fucking hear, without the hearing aids. How pathetic, don't you think so? " 

She shook her head, coming closer to him, and sitting beside him on the bed, " Then why are you here for, to shower me with your so-called sympathy? " she nodded a no again and gently forwarded her closed palm in front of him. 

Upon noticing the aids in her open palm, he snatched it. Sanchita wasn't expecting a thank you, but what happened next was also not something that she'd expected. 

" Why did you take my hearing aids? " she frowned at his bloodshot eyes. 

" I didn't. You forget it yourself on the kitchen counter and I thought- " 

" -and you thought to hide it somewhere and have some fun watching me getting mad over my lost thing. You wanted to have a show of a deaf boy getting restless without the only thing that normalized him, because he's fucking deaf and he can't hear by himself. Don't you? " he snarled backing away from her. 

Sanchita was shocked at the misinterpretation of her actions.

She stood and take a few steps towards him, in an attempt to explain herself and calm him down in the process, " You're getting it completely wrong, Nihar. " she hold out to touch his arm, unknown to her that the man was getting flashes of past in his mind.

Him, being the eleven year old boy, going to school. Him, being the helpless boy getting beaten by the bullies. Him, being the deaf boy whose hearing aids were snatched away right from his ear, before they're crushed by his bullies. Him, ultimately being the silent boy, who'd not tell a thing to his grandmother and kept all the things to himself; the torture, the pain, the loneliness.

' Please, give me back my hearing aids, it's the only thing through which I can hear. ' a hand hovering over him to snatch the other device. 

" Don't touch me. Don't. You. Dare. " but Sanchita inched closer, " This is my house and you are a mere employee, just behave like that. I can throw you out the very instant I want, so know your place. Naani ke do shabd acche se bolne se tum hamaare ghar ka hissa nahin bann jaogi, samjhi? You're a bloody nobody to us. " he didn't realised what's he saying. He's just venting out his long suppresed anger and frustration on her. 

Sanchita checked the tears that had threatened to spill out of her orbs, due to his harsh words. 

How did he got much control over her tears, over her emotions, over her? 

She sniffed, voice a mere whisper, " You know, I wasn't pitting you, when I saw you searching for your device, like a retard. But I pity you now. Not because you're deaf, but because you're blind. Blind towards the good that's happening around you. Blind towards the love you've showered with. I pity you, really. " he clenched his jaw, " And for your, information, I- I know I was just a mere employee and I don't have any intention to become more. I'll keep m- my distance from now onwards. " she walked out of there before he could notice the tears that had stained her cheeks. 

•

" Happy birthday to dear grandma, happy birthday to you. " the children clapped gleefully, surrounding Maya, while Sanchita went away to arrange the snacks for the children. 

On the occasion of Maya's birthday, all the three of them -Nihar, Sanchita and Maya- had visited the orphanage, which was under the NGO in which Nihar was working for. 

At first, she was overwhelmed when she got to know that he worked in an NGO despite having qualifications, that could get him much better jobs. But Maya said that he wanted to help out those children, not out of sympathy, but because he believed that no children deserved to have a childhood like his. 

Her heart did melt, but not enough to erase off the hurt she'd felt due to his rude words.

After swallowing his venomous words that evening, she'd locked herself in and cried until she fall numb in the arms of slumber. The next morning, she'd a terrible headache, though it's nothing compared to the heartache she'd felt. Both Nihar and she had maintained their distance from then onwards. 

And, when she got to know that Maya's birthday was celebrated in the orphanage every year, it seem like a good idea to forget about the past incidents. Now, here she is, jumping and playing with the kids, reliving her childhood. 

" Didi, pass the ball yaar. " the fat guy she'd saved that day in the forest said, huffing. 

" Why didn't you just sit and relax bubbles. You lack the sportspirit- " Sanchita bumped with the human wall. Her playful demeanor changed the very next second in his vicinity. 

Passing the ball onto the boy, she was just about to walk away when, Nihar pulled her closer and to her utter shock, hugged her tight. 

Sanchita had frozen to rock, but sighed heavily upon hearing the whisper in her ears, " I am sorry. " 

~•~

The first fight between the couple and well, our coconut had really screwed this up. And a simple sorry won't be enough for sure. Let's see what's in store for them. ;)
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