RAYA FF - It Happened One Night Part 7

 RECAP :

hose 10 days became  10 years , that was the  last time they saw each other … fate played  its hand ,   they were torn apart  by fate’s cruel hands. Fate  made them choose between love  and life ,  and they choose  their love  …. But  just not  in their life ..

After 10 years ,fate  once  again bought   them  to together…  will it this time give them a life together with their with love…

 PART 7

Present :  BANDIPUR FOREST RESERVE
 

 The  Forest Ranger dropped them off  on the road, pointed out the  road  to the Rest House and left them . But they  couldn’t see the road nor the rest house. All they  could see  was trees, bushes and more tree and more bushes.



They  were standing on the deserted  road  wondering  where to go and how to go.

Priya looked at  Ram,, Mr Kapoor any ideas…

 Ram .. are you asking  me ideas.. No wonder it  has not stopped raining .

 Please Mr Kapoor.. we can  simply stand on the road and wait for a divine intervention or  the house to  come to us.  but the fact is We need to go there so shall we..

 Ram said  okay was it a joke ,how long should I laugh ……  because if your a cracking joke next time please let me  know I will be prepared to laugh

  Please .. Mr Kapoor

 Ram :  ofcourse we need to go,, but do you  understand , were standing in the middle of a forest , we never know  what  may there in the bushes.

 Priya : Tho, what  should we do  get wet in the rain ,….. Mr Kapoor I am going ..if you want to follow me follow. Or  if you  want  to stay in the  middle  of the road  and get wet … then  that is your prerogative .. I am going

Before He could  raise any other objection, Priya was  already walking down the  bushes  towards the unknown.

Now he  didn’t have any choice but to follow her, he thought  to himself  dammit  this  women  by tomorrow’s sunrise will bring  death to him.

 He followed , her.. … shouting  Why do  you have do to this?

As he walked  he felt  his expensive  Gucci  shoes stamping  something  it may be  anything for all  he  knew ..  Jesus !! why cant this  woman  be  ….  Little mor sane  and little  less dominant

They walked close to 10 minutes through the bushes and tree still found nothing ..

Ram said : May be we should return   back ..

Priya : no  Mr kapoor. The  ranger said  it was this way ..


It is 10 minutes  since we started walking  and we have still  no clue where we are or where the rest house is ..  If we continue like this.. we may get lost …

 Come on  Mr Kapoor … be a sport ,  I think we almost reached the place , it cannot  be very far Mr kapoor .  Please walk .. Anyway  walking is  good  for your health

 I am  fine  , my health  is also fine ..  I don’t need advice from you . especially you .
 Any way how can  you  be sure that we are near … for all we  know we may  be  walking on the opposite directions.

 Suddenly   Ram  saw something move ,    EWWWW!!... I am not going anywhere. I saw something move  he said.

Come on Mr Kapoor, walk…  I don’t think  it is anything Mr Kapoor ,

How would   you know,,, I think it is snake.. and snakes are poisonous ..

I know about snakes,” she said. He wasn’t looking at her, but she sounded like she rolled her eyes.

“I’m sure you are know ,” he muttered.
“Beg your  pardon?”
“Continue,” he said.

What ?
About  what you were saying .

Oh I was saying  Snakes Most species are nonvenomous and those that have venom use it primarily to kill and subdue prey rather than for self-defense. Some possess venom potent enough to cause painful injury or death to humans

What.?   I knew it , I am not moving  a muscle now


Mr Kapoor  if it was venomous, it would  have already  bit you. So can you please keep walking .

No ..
Please Mr Kapoor .. . Okay he said .. never could say  no to her


ahe continued her lecture The English word snake comes from Old English snaca, itself from Proto-Germanic *snak-an-, from Proto-Indo-European root *(s)nēg-o- "to crawl", "to creep", which also gave sneak as well as Sanskrit nāgá "snake".[6] The word ousted adder, as adder went on to narrow in meaning, though in Old English næddre was the general word for snake The other term, serpent, is from French, ultimately from Indo-European *serp- (to creep),[8] which also gave Ancient Greek hérpō (ἕρπω) "I crawl"The English word snake comes from Old English snaca, itself from Proto-Germanic *snak-an- (cf.), from Proto-Indo-European root *(s)nēg-o- "to crawl", "to creep", which also gave sneakas well as Sanskrit nāgá "snake".[6] The word ousted adder, as adder went on to narrow in meaning, though in Old Englishnæddre was the general word for snakeThe other term, serpent, is from French, ultimately from Indo-European *serp- (to creep),[8] which also gave Ancient Greek hérpō  "I crawl"


My God … Your talking  like Wikipedia…..

 For your  kind information that  info  was from Wikipedia,,,,,

Are saying, you actually by hearted that  from Wikipedia,

Ya  that and few other things…

Seriously  !!!! My god .. I should pity  your  students… If I had teacher like you  I would never attend class,,,,

Her lips pursed in a peevish crease. Thank god  you are  not my student .

BITS  Pilani standard for teaching has come down .. I should  say

 Please …   My students always  give outstanding  results every year…By the way How did you know  I am teaching  in BITS PILANI…

Oh.. that  Karthik  told me…  realizing  his folly , He told me when I asked  him about his family..  Trying  to cover up the tracks.  Actually  Ram didn’t  know Karthik was  Priya’s brother till a week ago, But  He knew everything  about  Priya for the 10 years .. he kept  track  of it ,, It was an obsession, it was a hobby  it was his passion  . He had even  seen  her  from far  few times..   It was only  yesterday. After 10  year  for  the first  time he saw  her upclose and actually talked to her.

 …  Oh she said continued walking,  when  she realized that he was not following her. She turned back and looked at him

 Mr Kapoor  you have no choice  now you can’t turn back , so we  have to go forward,  Just trust me.. Come

Ram grudgingly nodded walked behind her..

True to her words,, They reached the  rest  house…  If one may call  a wrought iron fenced entire property. With broken windows, shingles falling down, gutters hanging off the house, shutters flapping, Victorian architecture, dead trees around the house   a rest house

 They  both looked at it  in horror…


I am going back he said …
 Mr Kapoor.. just.. minute…  Let me go and look


She went inside,  leaving her cargo with him.

 He stood there readily  waiting for her,  to come out  shrieking .. and waited  and waited she  didn’t come out

 And when she didn’t come out , He rushed in  fearing  the worst … ..  There she  was actually  cleaning the floor with  a bunch  of leaves… There was small candle  glowing in one corner

Priya What are doing ..

It is obvious  Mr Kapoor , I am cleaning

 You can’t clean this place… We cant stay here…

Mr  Kapoor we have no choice… Didn’t  you hear what the Ranger said, that there is going to be a storm  and even more heavy rains , we   have to stay put here  Mr Kapoor. We will have to manage  tonight  here. It just dirty Mr Kapoor, and there is no current  but there is bathroom and running  water pointing to  leaky tap  beside  a equally  dirty bathroom. And Lots of candles ……

She was right ,  they had no choice  but  staying here  was preposterous idea to him .
But PRiya… How can we  stay here he asked

Don’t worry  MR Kapoor I will clean it up for you  in another  half an hour.. This place will  be habitable … Don’t worry.

I don’t know…

I know she promptly said…

Do you want me to help? …

Looking at  his  face , Priya  knew .. he didn’t want to .. No  I will manage. She said .
There was  instant relief on his face . She added in good measure  Just stay put  where you are … That is all I am asking ..

He sat on  her cargo, in the corner of the room, waiting  of her to finish. Felt bad that  he couldn’t help, even if he wanted  he wouldn’t know  how to help . Then he thought of helping  by  lighting  the candle. He started lighting candles placing them at vantage point ensuring  maximum  light. Then covering them from four side with broken tiles  lying around so that  winds don’t  blow them out .


Half an hour  later , the  house looked clean and well lit  , bathroom usable .

Okay  she said… Let me  wash  my  face  and change….?     Oh god she said  she had to change  in the bathroom, and   the door was exactly  fixed for privacy … there was no bolt and  more importantly the top half  of the  door was missing

 What  Happened did you  see something .. where is it ?

 Nothing Mr Kapoor .. How Will I change …. The bathroom ..

 Oh he said .. One minute  he said .. walked to the  entrance of the  house,  saw the door hanging on its hinges at the entrance  gave it a pull, it came out  from hinges as if it was fixed  by glue.

He Bought  it  to the  bathroom,  placed against the  already existing  door . Use the  bathroom, I will  hold it from outside..  any way it served no purpose as entrance door   then she hesitated .. seen her hesitating  he said  Don’t worry  I  will turn  around and hold it ,  you will have  your privacy ..


She watched his face. It was the face she loved, and she knew every last detail of it. Ten years, it seemed, did little to smudge a memory. But something was different now. He’d changed, but she wasn’t sure how. The photos in the magazine never did justice to his looks. He looked handsome as ever.. the dimples still played havoc  on her senses. Thank god he was not smiling …  or she would have disgraced herself  melting allover him.

She nodded her head  gave him a smile !!!! and walked inside with change of clothes …

But when she smiled at him he couldn’t move.  How many nights   he  wanted to see this  smile …. Dammit  it was 10 years since he saw  her this close.. He was okay with it  just this  small smile  . Because he knew her presence was all he was ever going to get. There would never be a kiss, never a meaningful glance or touch. There would be no whispered words of love, no moans of passion. All he could have was just this one  smile and her company, and pathetic idiot that he was, he was willing to take it.


After  15 minutes ,,  she knocked the  door from inside  asking him  to  open it.

 She came out … and there he was, just gaping at her, trying not to notice that she was wearing  perfectly  respectable  a dark crimson nightgown and dressing robe,  but  it accentuated the curves .. he could see theoutline of— He gulped. Don’t look. Do not look.

“Mr Kapoor?” she whispered again
 Yeah . I go and change . Do you  want me  to hold it .. looking at  the door..she asked

  Yeah , why not  he said   trying  to look  anywhere but her

 He entered, the bathroom, It was too small for him , he couldn’t  even turn without banging against something. He tried to lift  his arms ,  ceiling of the bathroom hit  his knuckles. Dammit  he said loudly ,

Are you okay she asked from outside . Iam fine  he answered..

 Priya  was smiling … she knew  what the problem was ..the bathroom was tooo small for him, For the next 10 minutes  there was series   of dammit ,hell,bloody  streaming from  the bathroom. Suddenly  there  loud OH GOD.. and there was Silence..

Priya  called, Mr Kapoor  are you okay … There was no reply.. Mr Kapoor are you okay she asked again… Mr Kapoor she shouted when she still didn’t hear  his voice… Iam  coming in she said , moved the  temporary door… Saw  Ram freezed …standing in the corner… what happened..  she asked ..  Tell me.. He just  pointed at a  something in the  corner…..  I think there is snake there he said..

Just stand there.. Don’t move she said .. Ran to get   a stick… and extra candle to see in the dark  corner of the bathroom.

  She came into  the already  small bathroom.    .. Don’t move she said… Looked closely with the  candle…. It was  just  dried up stick …  MR KApoor it is a  just stick nothing to worry about .. she looked up  at him smiling .. abruptly stopped smiling , they had never  stood this close not after that night he had kissed her … she was so close to him  she could see that  tiny hairs on  his chin..

He turned to her then, a wry smile tilting one corner of his mouth. He’d changed, she
realized. Oh, there were the obvious differences—the ones everyone would notice. He
was tan, quite scandalously so, and his hair, always midnight black, now sported a few
odd strands of silver.

But there was more. He held his mouth differently, more tightly, if that made any sense,
and his smooth, l grace seemed to have gone missing. He had always seemed so at
ease, so comfortable in his skin, but now he was… taut.

He looked so handsome in the moonlight, and so unbearably in need of love, that her
heart nearly broke. Surely there was no woman who could resist him, not with that
 face and  he was not  muscular nor did he have 6 pack body  but there was more to him  than  anyone  realized . And anyone who took the time to explore what was
underneath would come to know him as she did—as a kindhearted man, loyal and true. He would make someone  someday a wonderful husband .And  little voice kicked and said …. And not for you .. never for  you

And he seemed terribly close.
She moved, just an inch or so; she didn’t want him to realize she’d been made
uncomfortable by his nearness.Nor did she want to admit the very same thing to herself.

  She was irritated with her self .. come on priya  you had 10 years  to get  over him, you cant still moan  over like love sick teenager .. Get a grip.. This man was never meant for you

and Ram could tell she was irritated. With away her lips pursed. She didn’t like to be

 he’d apologized, thinking it was because of him  and although he could swear up and down that he wasn’t going to behave like an idiot again, he would probably find himself apologizing again sometime in the future, and she would most likely just chalk it all up to a cranky nature on his part,

it  is okay  she said , left the bathroom.

 He came out,  are you hungry  he asked .
. no  not much  she said ..

 I have some  sandwiches packed, would like some..

No she noded.. She didn’t want anything , but somehow  pass the night with her sanity intact .

Priya  I think you should have some thing… We don’t know when  we will reach wayanad… so  it is better you have something..

Mr Kapoor , I am fine , I have a  apple somewhere in my bag..  I have it … Just not feeling hungry right now..


He looked at her , she was upset about something …  He knew  if  asked she  would  never tell him.. He had no choice but  to let it   go.

 He  went to his  suitcase , remove  the bag  that  contained sandwiches.  He had asked the hotel  to pack some, before they  left Mysore, knowing they  may need  it  while  traveling . Now  he had to eat it alone.  He looked at  her she was standing  near  the entrance , looking  at  the lighting.He couldn’t be in a room with  Priya and not know where she was. It had been like this since the moment they’d met, and the only thing that made it bearable was that she hadn’t a clue.

Every now and then he’d catch a glimpse,of  dark black hair that caught the candlelight

Every time he thought he knew, everything about her, had unwillingly memorized every last detail, something inside her flickered and changed, and he felt himself falling anew.
He would never escape her, this woman. He would never escape her, and he could never have her. It was impossible, quite simply wrong. There was too
much there. Too much had happened, and he would never be able to shake the feeling
that he had somehow lost her. All because of one night  10 years ago …







Author

Priya RamKumar