Southern Avenue

Chapter #4

Chapter #4 

"I don't ever remember seeing you here. I did come on vacations." Ranvijay spoke his words quicker than he had intended to and cuddled Nikki, who was almost dozing off after her bath, as she nuzzled her head near his hip. Her eyes were drooping closed as she kept poking his side softly every now and then.

Sharanya chuckled, "Because I fled away whenever someone came in the house. You might remember my mother, she worked here for a few years as the head of house management. Her name is Hridya Devyani."

"Hridya maa?" He asked, surprised, "I never knew her daughter lived with her."

Of course, he remembered Hridya maa. She was the woman, other than his grandmother, who spoiled him with everything that she could. Especially she had always spoiled him with food. He owed her everything that he'd learned to cook during his teenage years. She hadn't just been a maiden at his grandparents' place. She was always someone way more than that.

"Yes. Her." Sharanya nodded towards Ranvijay.

"Why would you flee when I came?" Ranvijay furrowed his brows again, looking at her with amusement sparkling in eyes.

"I don't like the pity. And...I was not good with strangers."

"That still doesn't quite explain why you are here though." He tossed back his wet strands of hair that fell on his forehead away with his fingers, looking at Jimmy who had fallen asleep on Sharanya's lap. He looked awfully comfortable with her as if he had known her for a long time.

"I...made a promise to Naniji and Nanaji. Will get to that later." Sharanya nodded.

"Sure, continue."

"There was this incident, I had met this guy, while I was sitting on the pavement in the road, nibbling on some ice poppies when he came and helped me back to the road across." She smiled at the memory, "I'd lost my way actually and was a little stubborn to acknowledge the fact. Nanaji and Naniji had been very worried about me the next day. I was their little doll, they'd always said." Sharanya sighed and her eyes became wet, remembering that they were not there anymore.

"When was this event?" Ranvijay frowned and looked at Sharanya replenishing an old rugged memory. It had been so old that he'd nearly about forgotten about it happening. Yet, some broken pieces of memories from his teens when he had come to his grandparents' during summers came back. Those days had been amazing. The best he'd had in those years. Recalling them felt like he was recalling happiness back.

It hurt every time when he realized that they were not with him anymore.

"When I was 15. Around 12 years ago." She whispered looking at him.

He remembered it then, suddenly. It all came back in a sudden flash of overflowing memories.

Years back, when he was 18, he had come to this house which was then known as MahaShikshya, as per the name of his grandma and the group of industries they held. His grandfather had been the founder of the chain and had been so much in love with his wife that he had named it after her. Not only that, his grandma was an active member of everything relative to it.

He had been cycling on the roads of the avenue, and this was the only place in the city he was well versed with. Going elsewhere had the chance of him getting lost in a terrible manner.

In the crossing, from where he was to return back from the club he went to spend his time at; There was a girl, younger than him, sitting on the pavement on the road near the signal, nibbling on some ice poppies. She seemed to be a little too engrossed with the ice poppies in her hand but there was something else which he noticed.

She looked vulnerable and lost, wearing an old faded T-shirt along with cotton pants.

Used to his own ways in Manchester, he slung over his cycle and looked at her, as he stood by the pavement.

"Missy! You need help?" He asked looking at her, while her deep intense eyes instantly captured him. Her skin was spotted and marked with sunburns, but her eyes were intense.

She looked at him with a pause before she spoke up.

"I'm... I just lost my way." She shrugged off the matter as if she was used to be left alone on the road.

Ironically, that was a fact. He hadn't known.

"I can drop you off." He offered.

"How do I know, you are not the bad guy?" She looked at him, suspecting his intentions. Her eyes bored into him, but he had been too young to actually understand that. To him, she'd just looked like a girl who was suspicious of a random guy on the road who was trying to help her out.

"Do I look like one?" He frowned. He was an average teenager with a clean look of a sober guy from a respectable household, but with a very thin built. He was working on that though, the reason he'd gone to the club in the first place. Even his hair was cropped shortly. Since he was coming back after some working, he might have looked sweaty and sorts; but it was already summer so that hardly mattered.

She shook her head in negative.

"Then come, but where to?" He looked her way, as she sat on his back carrier of the bicycle.

"Southern Avenue, Street 10, Block C." She hummed.

He knew that place, it was just opposite to where his grandparents lived. Thank goodness it was a place he knew of. If it hadn't been that way, he'd have been in an awkwardly embarrassing situation.

So, he quickly dropped her there and went back home. It had been a long day, and he needed to clean up instantaneously.

As an 18 year old, the memory of the 15-year old girl stayed for some months until it got away in the midst of memories he had made in those vacations.

In the present time, as Ranvijay remembered the incident, his eyes directly fell on Sharanya's eyes, which had the same intensity of that of the girl he had met years back, or maybe, just maybe he was imagining too much. 

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Hello, people! I'm back to my hostel life so pardon me if the updates stray from the said time. I'm sorry beforehand. The classes this semester are gonna kill me soon, I'm sure. 
But anyway, let's hope you are liking the story? Keep me updated about how you feel about it! 

Love, 
Dee.