Tum Kaafi Ho ✓

t h i r t y s i x. choices and chances

t h i r t y  s i x. choices and chances

Pranati was losing her mind.

What was she thinking? Why was she becoming soft towards Reyansh? Why was she melting in his arms, agreeing to his words, and acting like a lovesick teenager around him?

Did she not learn her lesson once? Was the pain of eight years not enough for her to know how much he hurt her? Eight years of constant tears, hardships, broken heart and a child to raise, all of which Pranati did alone. 

Only because Reyansh ran away from her. 

He left her. 

He left her when she needed him the most.

And here she was, being softer towards the man, letting her guard down and acknowledging his presence. 

Why?

"Pranati?" Reyansh called the girl out from her trance, "the tea..." He watched the tea boil over the vessel and spill out on Pranati's hand.  

Pranati immediately shut the gas switch and hissed at the burning sensation on her left hand. She could not grasp anything after that, the sheer pain of the boiling tea was enough to numb her senses but Reyansh quickly came to her aid. He immediately placed her hand under cold water but the hot tea had left its daunting mark on her skin.

Pranati was near to tears, she could hardly withstand the pain but froze when she saw Reyansh crying instead. He was blowing air on her burnt mark, tears dropping from his eyes as he tried to help her. 

"Reyansh..."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Reyansh yelled at her, holding her hand and blowing air at it, caressing the outer skin as Pranati took her hand back.

"I am okay."

"It was boiling tea, Pranati." Reyansh grabbed her wrist, eyeing the reddened skin. "What were you so lost about?" He tightened the grip when she tried to pull her hand again. 

Jaana and Jugnu who had heard the commotion, watched the duo from the cot and while Jaana looked a bit worried, Jugnu had a smile on her face. The old lady looked at the kid, the one who would bring the whole house down if Pranati had even a tiny scratch on her. 

"How are you calm about this, Jugnu?" 

"Because my father is here," Jugnu shrugged, a grin on her face as she watched Reyansh apply ointment on her mother's hand ever so carefully. He was crying like he was the one in pain despite Pranati telling him that she was okay. "And he takes better care of her than me." 

Jugnu looked pointedly at the duo with a nod of her head and Jaana watched Reyansh scold Pranati, towering her and still caressing the wound. 

"We have to go the hospital, the burn marks looks bad."

"Reyansh, are you crazy?" Pranati countered the man who did not seem to want to leave her wrist. "It is not that big of a deal."

"I am not arguing with you." Reyansh looked sharply at the girl, "waise bhi tumse behas karna bekar hai."

"Excuse me?"

"We are going to the doctor and you are going to oblige if you don't want me to force you." Reyansh leaned in closer, almost whispering in her ears. "You out of everyone will know what I can do."

Pranati shut her eyes, hating how the flashbacks of the past immediately got her to stop. Reyansh smiled, and pulled her outside, not giving a single hoot about her pleas. 

"I am taking her to the clinic." Reyansh announced to the duo who watched Pranati obey Reyansh like a little kid. "We'll be back soon." 

Jugnu gave them a thumbs up when they left the house and continued watching TV, ignoring Jaana who was very startled at the behaviour of Jugnu's parents.