Prithvi... [Volume 4]

Chapter 100

Raindrops had barely begun splattering on the ground when the grasp on Nandini's hand tightened and she found herself doing an about-turn on the uneven path.

"Where are you – wait! I don't want to go back yet," Nandini objected.

They had covered only a short distance from the tiny shrine. And though neither had broken the silence until now, the walk had been even more comfortable and blissful than the first part of their journey. She had hoped they could walk to the lake, but the beautiful water body was far away. But in spite of the drizzle, she didn't want the walk to end. It would have been reason enough that the vegetation was growing denser and more colourful, and beauty of the woods was increasing as they explored its verdant and serene home. But her unwillingness to return was rooted in the fact that the quiet moments they had spent together were the happiest she'd experienced in a long time.

"I don't want you to get caught in the rain," Prithvi replied mulishly.

Touched, she gently said, "I won't fall sick. It's just a drizzle."

"That was all it took for you to catch cold and fever last time," he reminded her brusquely.

He remembered, she thought with a spurt of joy and love.

"It was not because of the rain," she pacified. "People in the neighbourhood were suffering from viral fever at the time. I must have caught the bug from someone."

"Maybe. But I'm not taking the risk," he said mulishly, not pausing to listen.

She lovingly stroked his forearm. "Don't be so worried about me."

"You? I'm worried about me," Prithvi corrected darkly. "You have to be focussed on me. Not the other way round. I'm not going to spend the next two days watching you sulk and fall down stairs and cry and dream about saving me from the possibility of having a normal girlfriend."

Put off by the truth and the unjust implication, she angrily said, "I am normal!"

"As normal as my life," he supported mordantly.

"I don't want to go back yet," she snapped, spiritedly – though ineffectively - trying to stay in one spot. In the morning too, he had taken advantage of her relatively puny strength to haul her to the roof. She was not going to let him keep taking decisions.

To her surprise, he paused when they were passing under one of the shade-giving trees that were abundant in the area.

He turned and looked at her thoughtfully, then moved to stand facing her.

"You have a point. We shouldn't hurry back," he concurred with a warm smile. "It has stopped drizzling anyways. We could spend some more time here."

Nandini smiled back uncertainly. The joy of a minor victory was fading speedily. It was unlike him to give in easily, she thought with trepidation. And that gorgeous smile of his....something had occurred to him...something that was not in her favour...

"You want to continue on this track?" he was asking civilly. "Or do you think it's time we change direction and bravely go into the forest?" he quizzed, examining the isolated woods.

At the perfectly harmless question, alarm bells in Nandini's head rang raucously. But it was absurd of her to feel petrified. He was talking about their walk...wasn't he?

Quickly deciding it wasn't worth the risk to find out, she extracted her hand from his clasp and awkwardly said, "I think we should go back. You were right. It might start raining heavily."