Bairi Sanam: The hate of a lover

Chapter IX: Nafrat

Ketaki

I didn't realise when I fainted amid the fire and woke up at my house with him standing in front of me. I was feeling scared as is, but rage took over me seeing him near me. He tried to help me to get up, but I felt annoyed by his touch and pushed him away.

"It is all your fault," I shouted looking at him with anger filled eyes. "Do you have any idea how sacred I was?" I stood up hurriedly as his gaze kept following me. "The fir— fire," a cry escaped my lips remembering that horrendous sight in front of me and I closed my eyes for a moment. It resurfaced my fear again, making me remember how my parents were burned in this same fire. I could hear their screams all over again when I was surrounded by the fire today.

As I opened my eyelids, my gaze fell on him, and it escalated my wrath. Nearing him I held the collars of his shirt and began shaking him, but his strong body didn't budge from its place.

"I could've almost died today all because of you," I bellowed while gripping his collars even tighter. "I hate fire and now I also hate you more than anything. I hate you for putting me in this situation," he kept listening to me complain without uttering a word while staring deep into my eyes. I was not frightened by him anymore as whatever I experienced today surpassed my all other fears.

He held my wrists tightly while keeping his eyes still on me and removed my hands that were gripping his shirt with a jerk, pushing me away.

"It is your fault, not mine. You should've been more careful. Your field caught fire because of your carelessness," he said but my mind got stuck on the words 'my field caught fire.' I realised that all my crops would've been damaged by now and there's hardly any chance that any of the stock survived. All my hard work of days and nights burnt away the blaze.

I stood there flaring my nose and fisting my hands looking at him who didn't care the least about any of this. Why would he? It's just a mere piece of land for him but for me it was my father's gift to me. It was a symbol of my hard work that was beyond his understanding at this moment.

"LEAVE," I screamed pointing my finger towards the door and he clenched his jaw looking at me. I heard some footsteps and my eyes turned in its direction where I saw chacha ji walk in from the door. He hurriedly came towards me and engulfed me in his embrace. The tears that I was holding back left my eyes as I could sense his concern towards me.

"Are you okay bachi?" he questioned, and I nodded against his chest while shedding some tears. Releasing me, he faced the man who was responsible for all this chaos.

"Dhanyawaad chhote sarkaar," I saw him adjoin his hands as he neared that arrogant man. Twisting his neck behind, he gestured me to come close to him and I did. "You should thank chhote sarkaar, he saved your life."

(Thank you young prince.)

"There's no need—" he began speaking but I was in no mood to listen to him utter a single word anymore.

"Why would I huh? He was the one to put it in risk in the first place," I gritted my teeth in anger as he stood in front of me with no ounce of guilt on his face. "Get out of my house RIGHT NOW," I yelled taking a step towards him but chacha ji held my arm and squeezed it, stopping me from going any further. Jerking his hand off, I ran into my room without looking back.

Sitting against the wall, I cried my heart out. I covered my ears in urgency as I could still hear their screams and it intensified my cries. I shook my head vigorously to get the sight of fire out of my mind, but nothing was helping at this moment.

"I hate fire amma," I said between my sobs and bringing my knees closer to my chest. I rested my head on them and circled my arms around the legs. "That fire took you away from me bauji. I can never forgive Rajwant for letting this happen to you." I cried more and the cloth over my knees was all wet with my tears now. "And now his son wants to take away what's left over," I said to no one, fisting my skirt.

Tejasvin

She kept taking her anger out on me and I kept listening quietly until she held my shirt. She blurted out how she was scared of fire and looked devastated in that moment.

Belonging to the family of Dhyutidhara, I've always seen fear in people's eyes whenever they talk to me, but the fear in her eyes was not for me. She did not fear me. She was not afraid to say her mind out, which is something I rarely get to see.

She continued with her spiel and blamed me for everything while I was mad at her for being so careless that her field caught fire. I wasn't oblivious to the fact that how important the fields and crops are to a farmer. She dashed inside the room leaving me and kaka there. It was past midnight, so I decided to leave as well.

"I'll leave now kaka," I said moving towards the door but paused for a moment before stepping outside. "And you can keep your land."

Saying this, I left and kept walking on the streets filled with darkness. Few lanterns that were hanging outside some of the houses emitted dim light just enough to enlighten my path. I heard flapping of the wings and soon Jabaaz came and sat on my shoulder while I kept walking towards my house.

"You saved her life today," I said, and he let out a shrill, accepting the praise.

I couldn't stop thinking about her soft cries in between her anger that did something to me. I wondered what made her so fearful about fire and why she was so adamant about wanting to keep the land. The only reason I wanted that land was because I noticed traces of oil when I picked up the soil in my hand. I wanted to explore it further to see if I could extract oil from that piece of land. It would've been a beneficial move for the people of the village as it would open the doors to more jobs and sources of income for them. I was thinking like a Sarpanch already, hoping to see this village grow. But in the midst of it, I hurt someone.

Her eyes conveyed her emotions. The wrath, the fear, the sorrow, everything she was experiencing at that time. I inhaled sharply and Jabaaz touched his head to the side of my face as if he sensed my uneasiness. I patted his head, and he flew away while shrieking few times.