Simply Rebellious

Chapter 18 - From My Heart To Yours

Happy Reading

Naina had entered a distant colony. She recognized the place instantly. Fate has twisted ways of working.

She was looking around and was walking backwards when her waist hit something very hard.

"Ouch!"

She turned around and saw that she had hit a parked car's bonnet.

"Chalti gadi se takkar khane se koi marta nahi hai. Kaho to gadi start kar du fir iske aage kud jaana?" She heard a very familiar voice.

She turned around to face the one person even she didn't know she needed the most. Layers of numbness came falling down. Just by the sight of him, she could feel again. She could feel pain right in her heart, the void had melted. Tears had started lining her eyes.

"Karu? Gadi start karu?" Sameer said to draw her attention.

That was it. Naina ran to him and hugged him tightly. Her mehndi clad hands were clutching the back of his shirt as tightly as they could.

Then came the downpour, one tear after another.

"Naina?" Sameer tried to pull away from the hug and ask her but she didn't let him go.

She broke down in his arms. He held her, preventing her from falling apart.

When Naina finally got a hold of herself she broke the hug, a little embarrassed because of how weak she would've come across to Sameer and began walking back.

"Naina!" He called her.

She stopped instantly.

"Kya hua hai? Ye kya haalat banai hui hai tumne apni?

"Kuch nahi." She smiled. "Mai theek hu."

"Accha! Bilkul! Tumhe lagta hai tum mujhse jhooth bologi aur mai maan lunga?"

In a short span of time he had mastered the art of seeing through her.

"Kya hua hai? Tum mujhe bata sakti ho. Itna bharosa bhi nahi hai?" He asked, a little hurt.

"Papa ... nahi hai. Mummy ..." She spoke incoherent sentences.

He jogged to the tea stall and got a glass of water for her. She reluctantly took a sip or two.

"Mai - Mai ghar jaa rahi thi. Darwaza khula hua tha. Sab baat kar rahe the ki mai Rakesh Tauji ki beti hu. Maine apni maa ko maar diya. Papa ... Mummy ko mujhe a-adopt karna pada." She said in between muffled sobs.

He had no idea how to react to this. So he just pulled her closer and rested her head close to his heart. He kept a hand on her head and caressed her hair slowly, to give her some sort of relief. He kissed her head, softly. She was beginning to relax.

"Maine aaj tak Taiji- Maa." She was confused how to address her biological mother. "Unki photo dhyan se bhi nahi dekhi. Rakesh Tauji se toh baat bhi nahi  ... sab kehte hai mai unpe gayi hu... Mai toh Papa par gayi hu na, Sameer? Tumne dekha hai na?"

He nodded.

They sat together, quietly. None of them spoke a word. Sameer ordered two cups of tea. He didn't leave her hand for a second.

The tea arrived and they began drinking in silence.

"Tumhari mummy kaisi hain?" Naina asked.

"Theek."

"K-koi letter aaya tha?"

He nodded. A small smile crept on his lips.

"Tumhe chitthi likhna bilkul bhi nahi aata." He said.