Till The End : A Journey Of Togetherness

Part 15

Rk started for the dhabha but it was very far it was almost out of the village it would almost take a hour to reach there by walk, rk's body was paining he was hurt. Rk reached the dhabha there were very less people there but madhu was not seen then rk went at back of the dhabha where he has parked his car.Someone sat down leaning on his car, Rk instantly recognized the person it was Madhu still wearing the shawl he has given to her. Rk sighed in relief seeing her "Madhu " he faintly whispered. Madhu raised her head and turned towards Rk . At last her wait was over she thought. She waited for Rk near the river for 2 hours then she heard some people talking about the fight at the temple. Madhu thought it was Rk but she didn't know where he was so she decided to go to the dhaba as Rk has said that his car was there

Rk was glad that his guess was right, Madhu was at the dhaba. He didn't have energy to go searching for her. Madhu got up and went near Rk "Rk you are here!! I was so worried for you, why didn't you come at the river? I was waiting for you ...and Rk how did you get injured? What happened? the fight at the mandir, were you in that fight?? Are you alright now??" "Madhu relax!! Are you okay??" "Yes but tell me first what happened with you" "Some of your father's men recognized me at the mandir and we had a fight. The caught me locked me up in the haveli but luckily I had my mobile with me. I informed Tai about it and she sent some lady to get me out of there. So now I am here" "Rk said, Madhu hugged Rk and clutching his shirt she started crying "I was very scared Rk what if I get caught ? What if something happens to you ? I would have died Rk" "Shhh!!! Madhu don't tell like that, until I am there with you, no one can lay their finger" saying this Rk kissed Madhu's forehead and again said "Madhu we need to get out of here as soon as possible" "Yes lets go" both of them sat in the car and started going. "Madhu mobile's battery is too low can you call Tai and inform her that we are together and safe?" "Rk my mobile is switched off there is no charging in it" "Okay so call from my mobile ..here take this" Rk says by giving his mobile to Madhu. Madhu calls Roma "Hello Tai " "Hello Madhu!! How are you? I was so worried" "Tai I am fine , me and Rk are together now, you need not worry" "Madhu listen you both shouldn't go back to Delhi " "Tai I will talk to Rk about this " "Madhu did you sign any papers or anything?? " "No Tai" "Okay then..." Roma was telling something when Rk's phone got switched off because off low battery. "Rk mobile's charging finished " "Oh you talked to Tai properly na??" "Yes" "Madhu the weather seems to be stormy and roads are dark, I don't know the way back to Delhi" "So what will we do now?" "We need to stop somewhere Madhu and I think it will rain also" "Rk but I don't see any place where we can stop" "Madhu we will keep going for a few minutes if we don't find any place we will wait in the car till morning" "Okay" Madhu said. There was a silence in the car no one spoke a word, Madhu kept staring out of the window at dark sky, the dark sky resembled her life she thought but she didn't understand that after the dark night comes the day with the bright sun . Rk stopped his car and turned towards Madhu. "I think we are in some jungle now Madhu. We should wait here till the morning" "Okay Rk as you say. You must be very tired, you need to take rest" "Yes Madhu, I am very tired and hungry also. I saw that you have a bag with you what is there in that" "Oh its some makeup, jewelry and my mobile. My mother asked me to keep it with me but I think I have two apples in it" "That would be great if I get an apple" "Here take this I have two apples " Both of them ate the apple. "Madhu you go and take rest in the back seat" "No Rk you go at the back seat you look so injured you need more rest than me" "Madhu you go back and sleep. I am okay" "Rk I am your sleeping beauty I can sleep anywhere so now you go back" Madhu said. Rk chuckled and went back and slept in few minutes.

Almost half an hour has passed by after Rk slept, it had started raining also as Rk guessed, Madhu was restless she was not able to sleep at that time she saw someone from the window. it was dark and raining so Madhu couldn't see the face, she worried and checked if the doors were locked properly as the person was coming near the car. Madhu was getting more worried at last the person came and started knocking Madhu got very scared she jumped at the back seat and started waking up Rk. "RK get up!!! Someone is here !!!" "Mmm... Madhu what I am sleep" Madhu shook Rk vigorously "Rk get up fast" Rk rubbed his eyes and asked "What happened?" "Rk someone is knocking at the window!!" Rk looked at the window there was a old man "Madhu do you know him?" "No" "Oh then what do you say ... lets talk to him or not ??" "I don't know" "Lets talk" Rk said and roll down the window "Who are you??" "I was passing by and I stopped when I saw your car, is there any problem??" "We are going to city but as its night we stopped" "My house is nearby you can come and stay there" "Oh that would be great but won't you have a problem" "No, no you can come" "Okay " Rk replied. Then he turned towards Madhu and said"Madhu this man's house is nearby we can spend a night there" "Do you think we can trust him??" "I see no harm " "So lets go" both Rk and Madhu went with the man to his house. The house was very small , it had only one room in it, the man said that he was he was going to the farm and will return in the morning so they can stay here. The room had nothing in it there was only a mat spread on the floor. Rk went and lay on the mat "Madhu I am very tired, I am going to sleep" "Okay but Rk I am very scared !! What if they find us" "Madhu we are many kilometers far from your village" "I know Rk but they found us in Delhi" "Yes but you don't worry. Madhu can I ask you something " "Yes" "Madhu why are your parents back of you. why did you run away at first??" "Rk..I.." "Madhu if you are not comfortable let it be." "I will tell you Rk, I never wanted to hide but I was not comfortable but now you hold a very important place in my life" "Madhu come and sit here first" "Yes" Madhu sat on the mat, Rk came closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder "Madhu don't worry now I am with you, I wont let anyone lay a finger on you" "Rk I was adopted, my parents died when the left wing of the haveli caught fire. I was only 4 year old at that time, I was out with my grandfather, we went to our factory that day. We were at the factory when we got the news that there was fire at haveli. We ran to the haveli but we were late. I don't remember everything clearly as I was very small. Few days after the incident my fathers step brother came to live with us. My grandfather's health started detouring , at that time they adopted me. I started to call them mom and dad. They were very nice to me at start but after my grandfather died they stopped talking to me, I was just a responsibility on them. They gave me food, clothes and spent money on my studies but they never took care of me. Tai was everything to me, she was the one from whom I got love , she took care of all my needs but one day she also left me and went. I was all alone there, I was a furniture to them. Whole week I waited for Tai's letter. I wanted to study more and to my luck they allowed me. I joined in the architecture college at Delhi only for my holidays I went back they called me only when they were sending money. They were least bothered about what I did, how I did, how my health was but slowly I got used to it but the last time when I went to village they behaved very nice to me, took care of all my needs, I was very happy and I told Tai about the change in them but Tai felt something was wrong and asked me to be careful. Then on day my dad asked me to sign some papers but I said I would sign after reading them, he got angry on me and said that he did a favor on me adopting and asked me to sign and I denied him again so he got very angry and slapped and locked me up in the room. That night I said Tai that they wanted me to sign some papers and I didn't but the next day I would sign them without reading as they adopted me and did a favor on me and it was the time to repay it. Tai got very angry on me and said they adopted me only for the property and they didn't do any favor. We knew they wouldn't leave me if I didn't sign so Tai decided to help me escape from there. This is how we came to Mumbai" Madhu said with tears. Rk hugged her tight and replied "Madhu you don't need to think about the people who don't care for you. Tai is right Madhu they didn't do any favor , you don't need to feel in debt but Madhu why were they getting you married ??" "My dad had taken some money from one of the powerful family and he was not able to return them. My grandfather has given all the property to my real father and after his death I got all the property . So my father wanted to sell them and repay the debt but when I didn't sign them they decided to get me married to the son of the man from whom he took the money. His name is Sultan" "Madhu you forget about all that now. We will go to Mumbai and this will be left back" "I hope so Rk " "Now lets sleep, we have a very long drive tomorrow " saying this Rk lay on the mat and gestured Madhu to come. Madhu lay beside Rk hesitatingly , Rk pulled her closer and kissed her on her head in response Madhu hugged him. They both slept peacefully ignorant about what the next day is going to bring.