The Rawat Brides[Complete]

Chapter 28

This chapter is not edited

Rudra side glanced at his walking companion. She had been lost in deep thought and hardly spoke a word since they had left the school premises. And they had been walking for almost 20 minutes. Soumya shivered slightly when a gust of wind blew in their direction. Pulling the ends of her shawl closer around her sweater, she continued to walk silently. He wondered why she never used the shawl he bought her. Did she not like the shawl and she had only accepted it because she was too afraid or embarrassed to say no? He stopped in his stride to see if she noticed that he wasn't by her side. She didn't. Instead, she kept on walking without even looking where she was headed. He jogged and caught up to her. But, even that didn't catch her attention. "Everything okay?"

He touched her shoulder when she didn't respond and she finally snapped out of her trance. "Huh?"

He frowned. "Is everything okay, Soumya? You're awfully quiet today. Even at dinner you hardly spoke or ate."

She shook her head and attempted to brush off his comment. "I am just exhausted."

"Is that why you are walking around in the middle of the night so lost in thoughts that you haven't realized we have been walking for over half an hour?"

She stopped walking. "Seriously? I am so sorry. You are probably tired and sleepy. I-"

"I am fine," Rudra said as he too stopped walking and turned around to face her. "What's going on? Are you still thinking about that lady's 'blessing'?"

Soumya shook her head and hesitated as if deciding whether or not to tell him. "No, I am thinking about the lady."

"About the lady?"

She sighed and tugged the ends of her scarf closer to her. "I mean... She is so alone and practically cut off from the world. On top of everything, she has to work in such terrible conditions for such a low wage. And the sad part of it is there are so many other people in this world who have to continue to work at places like these for fulfilling such basic needs that we often take it for granted."

He had met a lot of different types of people in his life, but none of them had intrigued him as much as Soumya did. She was an all-time genuine human being who cared more about the people around her than she did for herself. He cleared his throat as he tried to articulate his thoughts to her. "But, you are trying to help them in your own way."

She gave a dry, humourless chuckle. "By what? Setting up this week-long medical camp. What about when we leave? Who will help all these people when they need any medical assistance? Even the nearest government hospital is 35 kilometres away."