The Forbidden Fruit

            "If I could, I would have swept you away,
             away from the shadows of your past,
             into the glistening world of dreams,
             where all of life is a fair,
             where no desire is
             a forbidden
             fruit"

        She listened to him in rapt attention, absorbing each emotion that made way from his poetry. He looked up from his papers, anticipating a reply. On getting none, his eyes inspected her with doubt. His emerald green eyes bore into her dark brown. She was unarmed, unclothed under that gaze. She blushed as though he had read her naked thoughts. She could feel his eyes on her, even as she lowered her own. She wondered what went about in his mind every time he looked at her that way. She tried to think of something to applaud his writing but the words didn't suffice.
        The moment was lost and he soon began scribbling away on the sheets of paper. The tip of this ink pen moved rhythmically under his long, slender fingers. His smooth, shapely fingers.. the thoughts of it sent shivers down her spine.

        She sighed at the sight of him. His lean frame bent over his desk, engrossed in his writings. Dusk was setting in. She went to the window to close it. She shied at the cold winds that blew at her face, biting at her like a deprived lover. She straightened his bed and adjusted the pillows. She found herself doing that whenever she lingered by him. She lit the table lamp. He sprang to life suddenly, acknowledging her presence. How oblivious he became when he was lost in his world of words!

        She stood by his side, the ends of her sari tucked at her waist. She breathed heavily as she felt his fingers tracing her curves. His pointy, cold fingers burnt her insides. It was a storm outside and fire within.
He rose from his chair and closed the distance between them. Her heart pounded madly against her rib as he set her long hair free from the bun. Tresses tumbled down her shoulders and onto her waist. He breathed in the fragrance of her hair, his stubble brushing her ear, tingling her being. He held her by the waist and perched her on the table. He pinned her on to the wall, fingers entwined in hers. She curled her toes as his lips came down on hers, gently at first and plundering later. Then as randomly as it all started, he withdrew and stormed out of the room.

       She climbed down the table, set the knocked down books in order. She held the crumbled papers she had grabbed in her passion. She read his poetry again, this time with tears in her eyes. Her desires were as crumbled as the paper, as forbidden as his.

       She found him in the large hall. She brought him dinner. He ate without a word. She watched his receding figure walking to his room, without as much as looking back. It stabbed her, a cold knife of rejection. He did not want her.
       
      She was same age as him. When she had come to the large palatial house, it was only his presence that comforted her. No one took her seriously, a child bride that she was. She was free to spend her days with him, allowed into his mysterious world of words. He was queer for others, perfect for her. A man must be practical to gain respect, a man must do business. They all wrote him off, ridiculing his dreamy notions. Not her! She sat with him under the huge banyan tree, as he spun the magical web of his poetry. She flowed in the charms of his imagination, as he dipped his foot in the cold waters of the river. His shield was words, her shield was silence. They were perfect companions to each other. Until... until a desire sprung between them.

    She woke up the next morning, disappointed as ever. She went about her duties. He had not been up. Late riser and late sleeper that he was!
The maids swept the yard clean of the leaves that fell after the storm. She had to clear her mind of the fallen leaves of her dreams.  

   The men were back by noon. The storm had delayed them. The women of the house would set out only after the storm was gone. She was occupied all day with the chores.
   She was serving tea when she heard,
    "She is the perfect match. It is time he gets married. Maybe responsibilities would make him more of a man."
   
    She could hardly stifle a cry. By evening, her large dark eyes had become fierce red. She had bawled her eyes in spurts, even that was a luxury. The pain seemed to gnaw her, or what remained of her. She saw his silhouette on the terrace when she was collecting the dried spices. He eyed her suspiciously, asking a thousand questions. You never understand! Do you? She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to hit him.

         "The storm  has cleared
          and so has our time
          It is as I always feared,
          that you are not mine.

          Fly away, fly away 
          into the arms that wait
          This was only how far
          our love could make.." 

     It reminded her of the cold bed that awaited her. Fly away, he said. All she wanted was to come into his arms. She had waited, waited all 5 years she had been in the house. Struggled with her feelings for this man. On many nights, she lay awake thinking of him. She drowned in the melancholy of his words, cheered in the euphoria of his delights. Many a times he wrote of her, for her and about her. Yes, that was it. She was his muse. She had lived the delusion for 5 years. She might have been another's wife, but her heart belonged to him. She might have warmed another bed, but she mated with him in her thoughts. She might have fulfilled another vows, but she lived by the unsaid vows to him. Then it all became clear to her. The futility of her existence stared in her face, placing a tight slap on her marriage. Her marriage to his brother.

     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    He drooped his shoulders like a lost man. Wanderer forever, never to be found. He was whole once, in her presence. She was his strength which had ebbed and darkness crept. He was wrong. The storm might have cleared but a whirlpool of emotions had taken charge of him. He could have told her that night. He could have told her that she was loved. She was desired like he desired life. He could have told her to fly away with him and not into the arms of his brother. He could have swept her away if he could. But he couldn't.

   She was 14 when she came  into his life. As his sister-in-law. His brother was almost 30 that year when he brought his bride. Could he betray his blood for a woman? Yet this was no ordinary woman. He had little regard for the societal norms, yet could he stand against the laws of marriage? Was love enough to face the world? Why was the union more important than the man and woman? For once, he had no release in his words.

  She was bolder. Bolder than he ever thought her capable of. She revolted. She went against all bonds that tied her down. Fly away, she did. Into another world. She did not care about the scandal that would arise when they found her body in the well. She did not care about the catastrophe that would come into her husband's life. She did not care about his cowardice. She would rather fly away than see him in another arms. In more ways than he could comprehend, she desired the forbidden fruit.

                                             

Epilogue:

They saw him last a day before his impending marriage. He had walked to the river with his writing sheets and a pen in his jute shoulder bag. Some said he took a boat from there. Some said he had drowned. His sister-in-law's death in mysterious circumstances had been hushed up. Slowly, his disappearance was forgotten. 

And one day, his book was published. 

Abhilasha- a desire unsaid. He named it after her. Drawing courage in his last days to name his love. 

Scorned

                        He sat at a table diagonal from where they were sitting. He could see him staring at her while she placed the order for them. As if catching his gaze, the guy turned towards him. Quickly he hid himself behind the menu card. The guy ignored the man ducking and carried on with his date. 
                        The waiter came on to his table. The waiter was a young man who did not miss the fact that this man came to dine whenever the couple on the earlier table visited. This man always ordered what the man on the other table ordered. He thought it was strange how he eyed the couple every time but never once strike a conversation. It appeared that the man knew them but he was a waiter and he had no business interfering.
                         He saw them holding hands and talking. She blushed every few seconds when he spoke something. She touched his arms as they bantered. Pangs of jealousy rose in him. She pulled his cheeks when he gave a puppy look and acted upset. Acid bile came up in the throat of the man sitting across. He gulped down the glass of water in front of him. His eyes full of hatred and hurt was blurred with tears. He was addicted to the pain that unleashed each time he saw them together. He came back to savor the suffering every time, wanting for more. He lay awake at night, relieving those moments of hurt. The film reeled in this mind all the time, all week, until it was time again to get a fresh wound. He came to get an eyeful of his love. Like his love, his pain refused to end. He refused to let it go. 
                         She knew he was staring. She was wary of his presence. What could she do? He never talked or gestured or did anything to provoke her. He just watched them in silence. That isn't a crime right? Yet she felt uneasy being aware of him. What did  he want? Why wouldn't he just leave them alone? She felt her partner squirm. So he noticed too! Would he confront him? Would he create a scene here? She worried about the consequences. Her man was far too well built to take on the guy on the other table. It calmed her a bit even though she did not want any violence.
                         He thought about the older days. When they would spend hours with each other. They were best friends. They would always be there for each other. They would understand each other without ever saying it out aloud. He hesitated to let his feelings known. Afraid of being shunned by the only person he loved so much. His love had  become an obsession. He started getting possessive and did not like to share his friendship with anyone else. It created tension, yet they always stuck together. Until a third person came along and swept his love away from him. He hated the intruder. 
                        He was getting infuriated. He had tried his best to ignore the man on the other table. The man was relentless. He had been tailing them for last three months. He was aware that his girl was finding it creepy but he had been putting it off for too long. Not anymore. This was getting out of hand. He had thought he had it under control but sense seemed to be evading the man. If he continued to act resilient then this man would take it as a license to keep spoiling their dates. They kept a show of being cool but they both were getting bugged by his intrusion.
                      He had been drunk that night. He had stood outside the house of his love. Waited for a glimpse of that face which blew all his worries away. Instead he had seen silhouette of two people kissing on the terrace. One of them was his love. He knew the contours well enough to get that right.
                                                  
                    He was mad with rage. He had thrown the beer bottle at the window. They both withdrew from each other's arms. They looked at him in shock. He had shouted out his love. They had closed the curtains and ignored him. He stood there all night  like a fool. In the morning, they had him driven out. 
                    " I think we should leave" she said
                    " No. Why should we?" he asked
                    " Because you have been staring at my head all this while. I know he is distracting you."
                    "What nonsense!" he frowned
                    " Admit it, he's been bothering you. It feels scary."
                    " I will set it straight then." he got up saying.
                 
                     "What the hell is your problem?" he asked banging on the table
                     "She is my problem." he replied coolly pointing at their table
                     "Leave us alone. I will report you to the police!" He shouted at him
                     " What for? For dining at this restaurant?" he asked curtly
                     "You know what? You are sick." he turned back.
                      "That bitch is sick. You will realize soon." He shouted back.
               
                     That moment spelled doom. The people at other tables stopped eating and had their eyes glued on the two men. The woman he was referring to left her chair and picked her bag. She wanted to pull her man out of a scuffle and head home. The enraged man turned back and slapped the other man hard. The impact of that slap was fast and unexpected. The man who had been still as a rock all these days was a volcano within. A volcano with a loaded gun.
                     He pulled out his gun and shot at the woman . She was just about to hold her man's hand and collapsed on the floor right away.
                     "You sick bastard!!! What have you done?" he was hysterical.
                   
                     They had driven him out. He had pleaded to be given one chance to talk but they had refused. The woman had been nagging her man to cut ties with his friend. She was uncomfortable with the friendship. So much possessiveness was unhealthy. The night's events had convinced her that there was more than what met the eyes. 
                     "I love you.. I love you very much. Please don't do this to me." he had begged
                     " You are sick and you need a doctor. Don't you ever come to me again. You disgust me." His best friend had said. His best friend had closed his door on him.. For a woman..
                     " One day she won't be between us!" He had promised him.
                     "Get lost!" He had taken it lightly.

                       "I told you, one day she won't be between us" he smiled like a maniac..
                   
                         

The Tamarind Tales

        

                                                   

        He looked at the red colored salted tamarinds laid out in the cart of the hawker.   He smiled in remembrance of the tangy childhood afternoons with her.  It had been years since he had last bought tamarinds for her.

                                             

        He thought of the afternoon they first saw the imli wala. Within a few days of his arrival, the imli wala was always crowded with school children. They were waiting for their bus when the imliwala offered them some tamarind fruit. She craved for the mouth watering tamarinds but they had no spare money to indulge. To make sure that they don’t eat any unhygienic outside food, their parents gave them money only enough for the fare for the bus.

       He bought her the tamarind for 1 rupee out of his 2 rupee bus fare.  They were just 7years old then. She was happy to have what she wanted but worried about going back home. He knew the way home and together they walked all the way home. Chattering, eating the tamarind and spitting the seed.  This became a weekly ritual.  Every week he would buy her tamarinds and then they would walk all the way home. 

They were friends and neighbors.  They called their weekly walk as the “Imli walk”. The imli walks made them best friends.

       He remembered how she worried about lying when they walked home late. He had suggested that they drop tamarind seeds all the way in the soil so that there would  be tamarind tree everywhere . and they won’t have to buy tamarinds They had actually dropped seeds on the side walks and poured water with their water bottles.  They checked on the sidewalks every week and felt dejected to see no plant there.

      When they were 10 she had once come crying to him and said, “I think I m going to have a baby.” 

      He had been surprised and curious and asked, “How do you know?”

     She had said, “Preeti says her mother is going to have a baby and so she keeps wanting tamarind. I too keep wanting tamarind so I also will have  a baby. How will I manage the baby and its shit? How will I go to school taking the baby?”

     “Don’t worry we will take care of it and we will have new toy to play plus we will get to play with the toys for the baby too!”

       They were so innocent and not known what they had been talking.

      They had grown up and grown apart but still been there for each other. 

       He packed the tamarind and took it home.  When he opened the pack for her, he saw the same childish grin on her face. It was the tangy childhood coming back. She placed one of them on the tip of her tongue and slowly sucked in its sour  taste.  She ate one after the other not realizing when to stop. She ate till her tongue  burned with the excess she had eaten.  She looked at him and they  both laughed.

   “Your baby  has had enough of tamarind for now. I bet it’s a girl!” she told him.

    He took out the sweet tamarind sweet which he always bought for her along with the tamarind. He knew             she liked to eat it after she was done with the sour ones.

   “You remembered?” she asked in surprise

                                       

   “I bet it’s the girl who wants to eat tamarind in the name of my baby.” HE winked at her

    “Then   your baby craves for Belgium chocolate icecream” she chuckled and pulled him close.

                                       

                                   

A strange relation

                 I found myself running to the lawn. No sound, that I heard, made any sense to me. I knew I had to somehow ensure his safety. That's all that I cared. I could see some guys helping him on to a stretcher. Luckily the stretcher was available as a preparation for  the intercollegiate sports meet which was to happen the next day. They had made him lie on the stretcher and were busy informing the authorities.
                 I pushed through the crowd and tried to reach closer to him. He had an athletic built and was fair skinned. His complexion had turned pink as he was writhing in pain. His leg was hurt and his head was injured too. I winced. I could not bear to see him hurt. I don't know why and what conspired in those few minutes when he looked at me and smiled. That was the impression I couldn't get out of my mind. His pain and smile at one and the same time!
                 The ambulance reached within some time and they took him to the hospital. The crowd had started to disperse when someone placed a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Misha there. She looked tensed and as her hand approached me I realised that she was wiping my tears. I had been crying!
                 "Don't worry, he'll be fine. Let's go home' she said to me. I followed her.
                 "Do you know what happened?" she asked me. I shook my head in disapproval.
                 "You know that tree just at the corner of the lawn? The one that was shaking madly today? It sort of clicked and fell. That guy was standing close to it. He moved back suddenly and dashed with a car. Can you imagine it? Hit by a car while trying to escape an unpruned tree. Poor fellow. He was destined to be hurt today."
                 "Where have they taken him?" I asked her.
                 " The hospital close to our college.. Umm yea Sarvodaya hospital."
                 "You know what's strange? That guy didn't have a single id. They have no idea whom to contact. No one knows who he is. Added to it, the tree isn't really part of our college. Its on BMC road so its supposed to be their fault. It could go on forever you know. The lady driving the car panicked! I guess she will have to be admitted too, that's how much shaken she was. Anyway it will be dealt by them. We got free early atleast." she added.
                 The mystery surrounding the guy was deepening now. There was something about him that seemed to pull me towards him. His perfectly shaped face, his deep black eyes with a thick brow arching it, his lips that broke into that mysterious smile, everything seemed to haunt me. I realised that I was still visualising him. How could he affect me so much? How could he get so harmed in the few seconds my sight left him?
                  I reached home. For a brief time I settled into the normal routine. Soon I had forgotten my earlier confusions and fell  off to sleep.
                  It was then that it happened. The dream that had disturbed me for years. I sat up sweating. Misha's words vibrated in my mind, "He was destined to be hurt today."
                  Then it all started making a weird sense. I wanted to see him again but now I HAD to see him.

A strange relation..

                      It was a regular day at college. The lectures that day were all boring. Just for the sake of attendance we had brought our lazy selves into the classroom. The lecturer was changing slides faster than we could open our eyes. The moment she saw one of the students paying the least attention she would get into her routine of reading the slides and make us more sleepy!
                     The first benchers were scribbling notes. The second row students were busy reading novels below their desks.

                     Misha was busy drafting a letter (rather a love letter) to her prince charming who was happily dozing off. Misha had set eyes on Rounak on the very first day of college. She had spent the entire semester deliberating whether to confess her feelings of let him guess. Rounak was the last person who would ever guess the meaning of her subdued and suppressed emotions behind her playful jokes and thoughtful SMSes.

                     Our classroom opened out to a lawn and half the class was lost looking at the final year guys who sat on the wooden benches on the other side of the lawn. They had left early it seemed. The girls were busy blushing and giggling at those guys.
                      The boys in our class seemed in a low spirit that day. A whole hour had gone by but no had started dropping their stuffs. The obvious childish hints the boys gave when they could no longer bear the constant slide reading!

                      This was the overall picture of the classroom I was in, occupying a seat between Misha and Reema. Reema, I thought, must have had a fight with her boyfriend. She was silent throughout and had lunch with us without even once excusing herself to attend a phone call that day. Misha was still writing her letter and quickly covered the book so that I couldn't get a peek at it. The last time I read it, she thought it was funny, I thought it was great. She felt I said that just because I write better than her. There was no point in arguing and I didn't bother to intrude her privacy there after.
                      An hour and a half later I kept staring at my watch to show 4.30 so that I could make a dash and catch my 5:05 local. Travelling in local trains had become a way of life and life depended on what train you caught.

                     This was one of the days when I wonder," what am I doing in a room full of idiots?" My friends were busy in their own worlds, I was fed up of giggling girls. I wanted to run away. I was praying I could just move out of the class somehow.
                     I looked out at the law, green and fresh in the month of October. Though its usually warm this time of the month, there was a little chill in the air. It looked as if the trees were dancing. I was jealous of the final year students who were out at the lawn.
                     That was when I saw him. Something about him seemed so much known and so much mine.. I was sure I had never seen him before in campus. He looked older but could he be one of the research students? I had no idea. He was busy talking on the phone and I was waiting for him to just turn around and face me fully so that I could see his face clearly. Why was I interested in seeing his face? Another question I had no answer to.

                       The immediate response I would have given to such a situation was to disturb Misha and ask her if she had seen him and she would have temporarily forgotten her preoccupation with Rounak and be as excited as if I asked her about her boyfriend!
                       But something about that day was strange. I kept looking at him for a some more minutes. Whne I was about to reach out to Misha, one of the giggling girls screamed out, "Nooooooooooo... Oh my God!!! Save him"

                       The whole class was startled. The lecturer seemed to have woken up from her meditation. Misha and Reema had a look of shock. As I looked outside the window, I could hear more screams. I tried to concentrate on the lawn and wondered where the guy went.. Then I saw him drenched in blood on the lawn...
             

(to be continued)            

P.S: sorry for being MIA for so long. Just lost the inspiration to write fiction. Although the entire story would be in first person narrative its entirely fiction. This was something I wrote in first year. Just found this today and got inspired to complete this story.. I will try my best to post regularly.. 

An untold love story concluding part..

     She heard the door creak open.. Her heart wildly beating with each approaching footstep.. She didn't know if the tears now welling up in her eyes were of separation or hurt or joy.. 

     She turned back to look at a stranger.. He looked pale but his frame still strong.. The veins more protruding now in his artistic fingers, his eyes deeper and a little sunken. His hairline receded but his greying hair- still that floppy hair..For her he still looked handsome.. 

     His gaze never left her. It was as if he was talking out his pain through his eyes. 

     "Angad.." there was more of a question in her tone

     "Rhea, I knew you would come some day.." 

      The pain, the hope, the love in his tone broke her heart.. 

     "Angad why didn't you tell me about Shikha?" 

      He looked at his diary.. So she read it but not the end..There was no end to his love story yet.. 

      "You read it already.. you know why I didn't tell you. You didn't trust me enough.."

      "I trusted you Angad..more than I could trust myself.."

      "Then why did you leave?" 

      "Angad you left without even telling Anthony uncle.. You didn't bother calling me for one whole week.. What was I supposed to make of it? I was worried for you but I couldn't call you as you left no forwarding number.. How I wish we had cellphones back then.. My fiance's Dad was on his deathbed and this rushed up my marriage..My parents took me back home. I couldn't tell you. I was dying every moment! And you say I didn't trust you?" She broke down.. Years of yearning, disappointment and hurt was now making itself expressed..

      "Rhea I don't know what went wrong.. Our love was jinxed.. The day  I went to settle the case with Shikha, she committed suicide. I was in for questioning as I was the only one having any profit with her death.. The investigations revealed the deep debts she was in and also a suicide note where she blamed only herself for her death.. I still don't know what caused her to kill herself when she was about to get 50% of the will from me. It was as if the heavens have finally smiled on me.. I came rushing to you only to find a locked door.. It took me more than a week to trace you and by then you were already married and had set out with your husband to some other country.. I tried to find you but I couldn't. I wanted answers Rhea.."

     "Our love was jinxed Angad. You didn't marry?"

     "After all that I faced, no guy would dare to love again."

      

She nodded her head.. Even though she would have hated to know he had married, it really was saddening that he had stayed alone all his life.

      "You happy?" he asked her

      "I have everything to be happy.. My husband turned out to be understanding and we became good friends.. Companionship is enough to live life sometimes.."

      "You love him?"
      "He is family now."

      "So why did you come back to me now?"

       She looked at him in surprise 

       "Angad you called me!"

       "I don't think I did." 

       " I received your letter!"

       "I didn't even know your address!"

They both looked at each other and then said together, "Anthony uncle"

He was in tears.. After years he had seen Angad and Rhea together. One of Angad's students had come home to visit when Angad wasn't around. The student recognised Rhea from the painting that Angad had made of her.. Anthony uncle sent the mail to Rhea.. 

"Why did you call her" Angad asked Anthony uncle.

"That was the only thing I could do to make you happy.."

"She's married.." 

"You are married to her memories."

They both cried for all the twenty years they lost.. For the love that remained unrequited.. For the dream that remained incomplete.

"Angad can I spend this summer with you?"

"Rhea you are talking nonsense.. You cannot stay here.. You are married.."

"Angad this is the least we can do for all that which we have lost."

"Not at the cost of someone else's happiness.."

"What if it involves your own daughter?"

"What?" He fumbled with his words..His daughter! 

"Yes, your daughter.. I was pregnant with your child.. I realised it a month after my marriage.. I had had no relations with my husband so far.." 

"Rhea where is she? What is her name? How old is she?"

"She is in London.. Her name is Anahita.. She is 19 years old and an artist too.."

"Does she know?"

"Not yet.. But I will tell her someday.. Our daughter is sensible and caring.. She would understand her mother.."

"Will you come back?" 

"Yes darling, I will come for the summer with Anahita.. We will live our life in that one month.."

"That will be all my life dear.." He said lost in his thoughts

She looked at him sensing a deeper meaning in what he said.

"Rhea I won't live for more than 3 months..Ironic how all my life I lived like dead and now when I m at the doorstep of death my life comes visiting.."

It all made sense now.. Anthony uncle going all out to bring Angad's  happiness.. How could life be so unfair to anyone? Angad had got none of the happiness that he deserved and when he finally found his love, his life was giving up..

She had made up her mind.. No matter what the world thought of it, she would still give him the happiness he longed for all his life.. She would give him the life he wanted to live even if it is just for a month.. She would stay behind to be with him in his last days. She couldn't be with him all his life but she will hold him strong in his death.. His family will be by his side.. 

P.S: Sorry I had been terribly caught up with mundane tasks and couldn't complete this story earlier.. Love stories aren't unusual.. The decisions are.. Some people brave the world and do what their heart wants and their stories become unusual and mostly go untold.. Sometimes it isn't really in an individual's hands what happens with his life, so we are not really anybody to judge what others do. With this tale, I would just say- next time around you judge someone's morales or talk something about their madness just think back, maybe life really didn't treat them fair and they have every right to live for their own happiness.. even if it is just for a moment and even if it comes at the cost of lifelong isolation.. Maybe you and I would never have the courage to do what they did..

    

An untold love story Part 7

"Angad I cannot talk about breaking up this engagement.. The whole family would be mad . They value honour more than life!" She was in tears. It broke my heart to see her cry. I had no where to elope with her. She would have to wait till next month.. Hopefully I could take her out of her then.

I held her close. I felt helpless. 

"Angad lets just run away. I don't care if we don't have money and comforts. I will be happy wherever you keep me. Right now I just want to be with you. I cannot face my relatives and I cannot fake happiness. They will take me away next month to the city." 

I could see in her eyes, the fear of losing me..

"Rhea have patience.. I will do my best to work out something before next month..Even if I cannot,  I sure won't let you get married to someone else.." 

She weeped.. I was testing her patience but I had no way out.. I had no money.. 

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Life can be strange sometimes.. I have to meet the one who made my life miserable for the sake of the one who made my life beautiful..

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I have never mentioned my past to anyone.. Anthony uncle is the only one who knows.. 

SHE was the one who made it worth going to college.. I was the artist and she was my muse. The long boring hours at college would pass restless without her.. She became my muse first, then my friend, then my lover and then my sister-in-law..

I had few dreams.. My passion being the first and she my second.. My father was a reputed businessman but I lacked the liking and the sense for business. I was happy with my colors and canvases. Business was what bhai did. 

She was content with me. We saw dreams of a small house to us. Unknown to me she dreamt of bigger things.. While I saw the world in her, she saw me as her pass into the world of her dreams.. 

My reclusive nature was not unknown to her, perhaps she was waiting to bring in a change.. 

We were planning to marry.. She insisted she see my family as a friend first.. I was naive and madly in love.. She was a wolf in the garb of a goat.. 

She soon found her way with bhai and started avoiding me.. Bhai had been so smitten with her that he was blind to reason.. She had come home as a friend and she went back as my brother's fiance.. All this while I was innocently waiting her return and feedback at our little love nest.. 

Before she came, came the news that she and bhai were getting engaged... 

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I tried, I tried my best to convince bhai.. But he was too arrogant because of success and too proud to accept that she loved him only for his money..

She married him.. I left the country for good.. 

I broke contact with everyone.. My parents thought I was doing my art course.. Bhai n she were too much in bliss.. The silent spectator of my sufferings was Anthony uncle..

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I had vowed never to see her again.. I hated women after that.. 

Fate had other plans..

Only a year after I went to NewYork, I got the the saddest news of my life.

My whole family perished in an aircrash..

Lucky bitch, wasn't on board..

I came back to India to do the last rites of my family.. I was now an orphan.. 

My grief was beyond expression.. In a single day, my entire family had washed off.. What was left, was an unpleasant remembrance of my past..

The will nominated me as the heir of the property.. She was no where mentioned in the will.. She made a big hue and cry about the injustice meted out to her. After all her husband was the first nominee in the will and in case of his death, she was the rightful beneficiary she argued.. 

The tables of fate had turned.. 

I was the beneficiary.. She knew her case was weak. I could fight on and would have won as and when the case came to hearing.. Till then I was content with what I had..

For Rhea, I wanted it speeded up..

She however, did not want an out of court settlement.. I did not know what she wanted.. 

In court, anyhow she was going to lose everything.. An out of court settlement would atleast give her something to fall back on..

I did not want to meet her but now I had to..

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"Shikha what do you want?"

"Aren't you being too rude to me Angad.. Did you not once love me? Did we not once plan our future together? she asked in a seducing manner.

"Shut up, you screwed it all. " I hated her with new vigor.

"I know.. I should have never left you.. IT was so good with you Angad.. "

"What is it that you want now Shikha?"

"You.." she replied without any shame..

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How could he? How could he keep this from her? Even after so many years of separation, reading this still made her jealous, still made her teary.. How much she had trusted her and he hadn't told her this? 

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"Just 15 days Angad. I m scared." Rhea said and burrowed her face in my chest.. I stroked her hair .. We lay in my bedroom.. Her presence calmed me. I was as anxious as she was but I had to take a decision.

Shikha wanted me back in her life because she had no man and no money.. I meant both! I was sick of her behavior. I had to part with more than I was willing to give her but what the heck! I could live in peace with my Rhea then..

I could not tell Rhea..not until the problem had been sorted. I left in the early hours of morning for Delhi..To talk for the last time with Shikha's lawyers.. 

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He had tried to protect her but his distance had made her apprehensive.. She stayed close to him but he was lost somewhere else.. It was frightening.. Had she taken the wrong step? 

Had he told her then, of his troubles, so much could have been avoided... 

P.S : Last part coming soon.. :)

An untold love story - Part 6

    Love can be so beautiful, only she could reprove this to me.. I had shunned all contacts with the world and in the most deserted part of this town, I find my world again..

    

   Whatever the greater problems love may pose, it is amazing how much strength it could give.. 

   We will work it out somehow.. Right now, I m happy spending my days in this place. Where we can be lost for hours in the beauty of nature and in each other's love.. The long morning walks, the secret afternoon nap (which she takes in my backyard in my lap) and the evening market wandering.. wow, life is perfect..

   

    

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What bliss she had found in that one month with Angad.. Those morning walks were the most refreshing walks of her life.. That lazy afternoon when she lay in Angad's lap and he stroked her hair so lovingly, making her go into slumber.. She tried to stay awake.. She did not want to lose a moment with him and he always softly whispered, "shh.. I m there with you.." How she believed him! 

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 Her wedding was only 2 months away. I did not want anything to go wrong this time. I had to sort out my past and come clean about it. I started sneaking out in the evening to contact the lawyer who was handling my case. 

I knew Rhea didn't like my missing out our evening dates, but I wanted to tidy up the mess and only then tell her. It was just a matter of 2 weeks and then I would have finally got rid of my past.

SHE was acting adamant. SHE wanted me to personally meet her. I did not want to see her face. Not that SHE affected me anymore but I really didn't want to see that face again. After another frustrated evening at the chamber I returned to my house to find the house in dark.. 

Anthony uncle was not home.. I somehow made my way into the bedroom when someone hugged me from behind..

"Shhh.. Angad its me.. " her scent intoxicated me..

Her breathes were now quicker and shorter.. Slowly she lit the candles and a beautiful fragrance spread in the room.. As I adjusted my eyes to the dim light, I could see a different bed which was the one I had kept for spare use.. She had decorated that bed with beautiful flowers. The room had exotic candles and wine glasses.. 

"Rhea.." Before I could say anything more, her lips sealed my words..

"Angad we have missed enough evening dates, you have to compensate for all of them" she said with a naughty grin..

She inched closer and yet there was a little hesitance in her.. I knew how much this meant for her.

"Rhea are you sure?" I asked cupping her face in my hands.
"More than I have ever been in my life" she answered coyly

With that she gave herself completely to me and became mine forever.. 

"Rhea what have we done.."

"The right thing.. I m yours forever now Angad"

There.. I understood how desperately she wanted to prove her loyalty to me.. How innocent her love was.. I wanted to protect her from my past.

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Yes she had wanted to be his.. How naive she was! She had thought he didn't completely trust her decision to marry him and so started keeping distance.. She wanted to be close to him..very close.. What was he doing? What was running in his mind while he became one with her? Who was SHE he was talking about? What was his past or rather WHO was his past?

(to be continued)

P.S Ok I promise you all to complete this series this week :)

An untold love story

 For a moment my world seemed to topple. How could she do this to me?

"Rhea you were engaged before you came here?" I asked hoping for a negative answer.

"Yes.." She withdrew herself from my arms and looked downwards. She couldn't face me.

"Then why did you come here? To play with my emotions?" I shouted at her and she winced.

"Angad.. I didn't mean to. My engagement was fixed when I didn't even know what love was. I came here and fell madly in love with you. I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else."

"Why did you come here?" I was angry. I felt deceived. 

"To spend some time in the place I grew up before I leave this country. I lived here till I entered my teenage. My parents then shifted to the city. This town is close to me."

"Rhea just go back to your house. I don't want to talk to you." I didn't know what was happening with me. How can this happen to me? I walked back into my room where I stayed all day.

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She had been confused. Here she was ready to leave behind everything for Angad and there he was not even willing to talk to her. She had faith in her love for him but did he want her? She was naive to the ways of world and to the handling of men. She worried about how she would live if Angad didn't want to marry her..

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I lay on my bed thinking back of the past.. Love was painful, I had experienced and yet I dared to make the same mistake. 

"Baba, are you well?" Anthony uncle looked concerned.

"I m okay" I answered knowing that he would not be satisfied with the answer.

"You love her right?"

"I do not.."

"You have to forget the past baba"

"I have.. But the present is no different. She would leave me."

"IF she is ready to leave everything for you, what is stopping you from accepting her?"

"She is young, she will miss her comfort.. "

"Give her a chance..She's been standing all day waiting for you."

I looked outside. She was pacing in her compound.. Maybe I had to give her a chance.. Her determination and faith evaporated my anxiousness..

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What past? What was it that Rhea didn't know till date? All these years while Rhea thought only she had hid her engagement, Angad was holding a bigger secret? She had to know what it was.. Was she fooled and made to feel guilty all her life? Was it really her fault for what happened?

(to be continued)

An untold love story- Part 4

Continued  from Here

          I got her car repaired by a nearby garage boy the next day. I later returned to my room keeping a watch on her compound. 

        At her usual time she came to read. 

        My pulses quickened as if an unknown pleasure was filling my heart. 

        I went to the backyard and was about to call her when I realised I don't know her name! 

        

        I stood there watching her and thinking what to do to attract her attention. It would look stupid if I banged something and would be rude if I whistled! I was deliberating to jump the wall and talk to her when she looked at me. She jumped with joy and quickly came running to the wall! She was blushing and her cheeks were turning rose red in the sunlight that was now glowing on her. She looked angelic.

        

"Hey" I said

"Hi" she replied and looked around nervously.

"Will it be okay if I get your car now?" I asked.

" Oh no problem, my parents aren't home. Bring it in." she said with relief.

"What's your name?" she asked the question that I was about to ask.

"Angad, and yours?" 

"Rhea." she smiled.

I took her car while she kept on staring. She was a young girl and I knew she was smitten. I had to keep myself in check. 

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Yes she was smitten.. He was her first love. She had never felt such strong feelings for anyone. She had struggled with her self enough to let go of that dream. 

The days following their talk she had spent in his thoughts. She was even more eager to get a glimpse of him. Sometimes when he used to venture into his backyard, she would walk to the wall and think of ways to start a conversation. 

She caught him smiling at her more often now. She was going mad for him! 

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I m not sure anymore of what my feelings are. She is drawing me towards her. I cannot stay away from her. I do not want to. I yearn to talk to her, to hold her close. 

Her soft giggle lightens up my day, in her lovely eyes I see my entire world.. 

I tried ignoring her but I couldn't. I thought being her friend would be enough but what a fool I had been! With every passing day the wall that separates us is dangerously collapsing.

It had been a week since I saw her. She did not come to read in the morning nor did she wait at the gate in the evening. I was becoming desperate to see her. Did she go back as mysteriously as she came? The very thought of not seeing her ever hurt me. Maybe I was not destined to experience love..

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How could she forget that whole week ! She had existed like a dead body. She had wanted to die. That was when she realized how much she wanted him !

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Life had gone pale in her absence. I had lost all hopes of seeing her beautiful face again..But life gives you surprises when least expected. 

I woke up in the afternoon ( getting up in the morning and not seeing her was too painful) and went about my work. It was almost after 2 that I opened the window to let in some air and voila! IT was her standing there in her garden watching me with eyes that spoke volumes! I knew that she was longing for me as much as I was dying for her. My joy knew no bounds! 

I ran into the backyard and jumped through that darned wall. She had gone red and was now looking pale. 

"What happened to you?" I asked her in concern.

"I was standing here for you since morning" she replied.

I was simply touched and cursed myself for not getting up.

I hugged her for the first time then. She hugged me back with such passion that it was worth all the wait and pining! 

"I m sorry Rhea."

"It's ok. It was not your fault. You didn't know I would be here." she said softly.

I kept on holding her for a long time. 

"Rhea I love you." 

"I love you too Angad.. I don't want to lose you.. I cannot live without you..." she started crying still holding me close.

I kissed her forehead trying to soothe her.

"Rhea don't cry dear."

"Angad..."

"Yes" I knew she was about to say something.

"I .. I m.. engaged." 

(to be continued)

P.S Sorry readers the series has been going unusually slow. Will try to post more frequently now! Thanks PeeVee  and MSM for motivating me to carry this further :) 

An untold love story -part 3

                     I returned to my room and buried myself in the art books when a soft  purring sound grabbed my attention. A white furred cat was hidden under my bed. I lost my cool. I hated cats and was about to grab it out when I remembered... her.. 

              

               Thankfully Anthony uncle had returned and he pulled the cat out and let her into the neighboring compound. I saw her through the screens.. She jumped with joy and held her cat protectively.. 

                I wanted to stay away from her.. I wanted to stop looking at her so obsessively everyday.. I wanted to concentrate on my work... I decided to not bother with her any more..

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Her thoughts were all jumbled. He was such a mystery for her.. Then and even now.. 

She still remembered those chilled winter mornings when she would sit in the garden reading, her eyes on the first floor of the opposite villa..for a glimpse of him.. She wondered what lay inside that room.. 

He never came out during the day but he would take his jeep out every evening to the market. The market was a walkable distance..but the route dangerous after sunset. She waited by the gate of her house for his jeep to return every evening.. There was something about him that screamed out "Stay away" and yet that was the thing that made him so alluring for her.

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   I was doing a pretty good job of avoiding her..until she came into my way. I was returning from my usual evening out when I saw her. It seemed her car had broken down and she was distraught with panic. 

   She signaled for me to stop and begged, "Please please please help me out with my car."

   

    I looked at her, she was today not in her usual gowns but in a top and a short skirt which reached only till above her knees, giving a good view of her legs. She had covered herself appropriately with her top. Her heels gave her a more lady like appearance than that of her usual innocent girl looks. Perhaps I had been looking at her too intensely, she shifted her weight showing discomfort. I quickly took my gaze on the car. I was not great with getting it right and neither did I want to keep her standing there as it was after sunset. Wild animals were not the only threat, wild people as well.. Drunk wild people.. 

    "I don't have time to repair this thing.. I will drop you home.. Hop on.."

    " I can't leave my car here.. I m not supposed to be out driving alone.. I need to reach home before anyone else reaches home."  

    " I will see what I can do to reach your car.. Right now get in or I will drive away." She looked at me in dilemma.. I opened the door of the jeep and she got in.. 

    "Do you even have a license?" I asked her for she looked no more than 17..

    "Ofcourse I have.. I m 19 !" she answered. Well that was close :) 

    

We headed into the driveway.. I saw another car in front her house..

"Oh shit, my parents are already here.. I will be killed for sure!!" She was too scared and almost on the verge of tears.

" Hey relax, I have an idea.." I said while she looked unsure. I drove into my own compound. Anthony uncle rubbed his eyes and put on his glasses. HE would have pinched himself too for the sight baffled him. 

" Questions later" I answered his unasked questions and then proceeded to the backyard with her.

"Oh my, this backyard is connected to our backyard through a mere wall!!" she looked amused. Although our backyard was not visible to her from her own compound, I had a clear view of theirs from my room everyday.. 

A portion of the wall had broken during the monsoon last year when a tree had fallen on it. I could easily jump through the stunted wall portion now. I lifted her up and she gave me that look of shock and fear. With one movement I carefully transferred her to the other side of the wall.

"Tell your parents your car is given for repair.. I will bring it tomorrow morning."

There were a lot of things she might have said but she just hurried into her house and I walked back to my room..

I saw the concern in Anthony uncle's eyes. 

"Don't worry uncle, it won't happen again.. "