It's All In The Mind √

Chapter Eighteen

" Do you mean to say that I choked him?
Or was it you, by giving him false impressions about yourself? " , Sakina suddenly groaned.

Shaahid pulled the chair and sat on it with its back covering his front like a shield.

" Shit! I never said you choked him! Neither did I..
Maybe he was already choking. Hence overreacted this way. "

Something about this caught Sakina. She did not protest. But stared at the bed frowning.

" I don't understand, what his damn problem is. He was not this way for the last few months. He was changing. He started remaining jolly, just the way I wanted him to be. His earlier self returned now again. " , Sakina suddenly said.

" Okay Sakina ji!
Just let it be!
He knows well, you both are getting married soon. He will return. Everyone needs a break. You too take one.

Come, let's go. " , Shaahid got up.

She stared at him weirdly.
" Where? "

" Pani-puri.
With khatta paani. "

____

Sakina gobbled up the fifteenth pani puri with water streaming like Niagara Falls down her chin and lips.

Shaahid noticed the glitter in her eyes as she vanished the fluffed balls one after the other like a kid, with no sign of an end.

" You seem to terribly love this thing, but didn't have it for long. " , he said.

Sakina was suddenly chilli-struck, asking for khatta paani, and gulping them down her throat as if she was having bottles of RO purified water. She finished and nodded in satisfaction, her eyes wide like rasgulla.

" How I missed paani puri! Having it after years actually! Discovering that the craving still remains the same. "

" You should not stop having what you like, whatever be the reason, except for jaundice. " , Shaahid grinned and paid for the food. She did not protest.

They walked down the street.

" I don't think there's harm if I stop doing something willingly. After all, paani puri isn't elixir for my health, though the taste is. " , she grinned.

" If you give all the importance to your brain, and nothing to your heart, the later will stop functioning. In either case you'll die. So keep both of them happy. " , Shaahid shrugged.

Sakina watched him carefully as they crossed the road.

A girl was selling red balloons.
Shaahid grabbed a bunch.

" What the hell? Why did you buy this now? Who gets balloons at this age? " , Sakina exclaimed.

He took seat on a bench on the roadside, and tied the string to its handle.
She too sat along, staring at him angrily.

" Didn't know you are eighty. But I'm only thirty five ma'am!
And who said balloons are only for nappy wearing kids?
Who even said that pacifiers as these are only for the children? "
Shaahid grinned.

" Of course they are!
When children go unruly, don't listen to parents, cry unnecessarily, they are given these.. to stop doing those. " , Sakina settled comfortably on the bench.

Shaahid laughed out loud.
" You are right.
Thus, these balloons belong to you now.
Because you are unruly, don't listen to your bhai, and cry unnecessarily. "

He jumped up and began jogging down the pedestal.

Sakina somehow gathered her dropping jaw, without any reason untied the bunch of balloons from the seat and ran behind.