Kripa,
Kunal and Gayatri went back home and the three just fell on the sofa. They were
so exhausted that all three fell asleep as if they had nothing to do with their
time. Kripa suddenly woke up with a jerk her eyes huge with confusion. Why was
she asleep in the living room? She then remembered her day with her family,
smiled, looked at the watch and screamed. Kunal and Gayatri quickly woke up
wondering what had happened. They looked at Kripa to see if she was alright.
'Kripa, what's wrong? Why did you scream?' asked Gayatri her voice filled with
concern.
'It's quarter to eight! We have to be at Haveli's in fifteen minutes! Oh my
God! They will kill me. Kunal, run and get ready! Haveli is twenty minutes away
so we're already late! One last thing Kunal, do not even considering changing
your shirt more than once. I am already dead as it is and now if you make us
late, I'll kill you!' Kripa said with her eyes narrowed at her son who was just
shrugging.
They quickly got ready and left to the restaurant. It was a beautiful
restaurant with a Punjabi decor. Anyone who entered the restaurant felt that
they had just reached an old Punjabi village. There were charkhas and the seats
were low too. As beautiful as it was, it was one of the most expensive Indian
restaurants around.
Kripa entered Haveli looking gorgeous in her yellow sunflower Punjabi
choodidar. Kunal walked beside her wearing a yellow shirt and black jeans. They
walked to the table and saw that her friends looked really mad at her. 'Hey
guys,' she said nervously. 'I'm so sorry we're fifteen minutes late. You know
we went to a picnic and we got soaked and we were so tired and we fell asleep.
We just woke up half an hour ago and we came running here,' and she rambled on
and on.
It took her a few seconds to realize that her friends were having fits of
laughter. When she had not arrived, they had already deduced her reaction and
this was exactly what they had thought of. Prithvi was shaking with mirth and
Kunal joined the group when he realized what was going on. Kripa was still
confused as to what was going on.
'Oh God, Kripa. You should just have heard and looked at yourself trying to
apologize. I thought I was listening to a politician since you were just not
thinking about stopping. It sure was a sight,' Nishant said with tears in his
eyes as he was laughing so hard. Kripa turned red at that and started mumbling
when she caught herself and looked at the group laughing even harder. She
dropped all pretences and joined the Laughing Company.
They were seated on a low circular table. Kripa was seated beside Kunal who was
beside Kanan who sat next to Nishant who was beside Prithvi and Mishti on his
left. They had a wonderful dinner, laughed at jokes and caught up with each
other. They talked about the hospital cases of the day and Kripa told them
about her dance with Kunal in the rain. They were just about to leave when they
spotted Dr and Mrs. Mishra. They all groaned. Mishti said, 'Why them here tonight?
Now everyone in the hospital will know that we were here and for how long we
stayed here and if they heard any of our conversation, what we talked
about.'
Kanan sighed, 'I know. That's not the end of it yet, they'll also know how we
were seated. This just has to be the most horrible thing today. I was so glad
that I had managed to avoid that miserable excuse of a man but apparently not.
Why is he in Sanjivani?'
'Aunty, don't look there and don't let him find out that we have seen him or
we'll have to go say hello which I'm sure none of you want.' Seeing the gloomy
faces of his companions, he burst into laughter.
They said their goodbyes and went to their respective houses. She tucked Kunal
in bed and kissed him goodnight. She went to her room and fell on the bed
thinking about her birthday. Her window was open and she turned towards it to
see the raindrops still pattering against her window pane. She sighed and kept
looking her eyes getting a distant look.
*********** Flashback***********
It was one of the parties on Josh's farmhouse. They all reached there that day
and were having a formal party so to speak. It wasn't going to be the normal
rowdy party that university students engaged in, but a calm, matured party
where the theme revolved around ballroom dancing. It was in the ballroom in
Josh's farmhouse. It was all decorated in red and black with lots of flowers.
It did not seem like a university party at all but a sophisticated one. Many of
Josh's friends were there including Kripa, Angad and Aaliya who was Angad's
sister.
Josh and Aaliya had decided to go to party as a couple although they were just
friends. Angad and Kripa were dating at that time. All the girls stayed in one
room and the guys in the other. Everyone was really excited since this was one
of the first parties with such a theme. Everyone dressed up with extreme care
since they wanted to treat this as a special occasion.
Kripa was dressed up in a beautiful pink sari with light silver embroidery on
it. For once, she had applied makeup on and curled her hair. She looked
extremely gorgeous. Angad was dressed in a black tuxedo and looked dashing.
Josh and Angad had worn the same thing. Aaliya wore a blood red dress which touched
her curves and looked amazing.
All the couples danced the night away with beautiful romantic music in the
background. Kripa's favorite song started playing 'Khoya Khoya Chand' and
without realizing it she rested her head on Angad's shoulder. They swayed on
the music. She backed a little bit and looked into his eyes. They were saying
so many things she wanted to hear. She thought she was the luckiest person in
the party and in the world. After the song, they walked outside hand-in-hand
under the millions of glorious stars and the full moon staring mischievously at
that time. Anyone that saw them that night thought they were a couple made in
heaven. It was slightly windy that night when the clouds got pushed their way.
It started pouring.
They ran towards the servants' quarter since that was the closest from where
they were. They were completely drenched by the time they got there. They made
love for the first and last time that night with the rain being the witness of
their love. The windows were open that night and it seemed like the heavens
were congratulating them on their love. After the rain stopped, the stars
twinkled in delight and the moon smiled at them. Kripa always wondered what
happened to both of them and their restraint that night that they crossed all
boundaries and showed each other their love. All she knew that night was no
matter what happened she would never regret this.
***********End of Flashback***********
Kripa sighed and came back to reality and thought, 'I have never regretted that
night. I did it out of love and at that time I had thought he loved me too but
apparently not. Thanks Angad for that night because if it was not for you, I
would never have our Pratik in my life. I loved you Angad and I always will but
that does not mean that I will ever forgive you.' With that, Kripa started
sobbing. It just started with a few silent tears down her face, and then she
started crying in earnest. Why did he do that to her? She had loved him so much
and he went around and cheated on her. She had believed in him and their love.
She remembered all the moments she had spent with him and continued sobbing for
a long time. 'You don't even know about your son. You don't even know about our
son. What was Kunal's fault in this? Why is he being punished for that? I know
that he does not ask me any questions about you but his eyes are always
questioning. What am I supposed to tell him? I don't want him to hate his
father. I'd rather not have him know about his father than hate him.' She continued
sobbing for the better part of the night and rocked herself to sleep with dried
tear stains on her cheeks.
She woke up in the morning with a terrible headache and she wondered what had
happened. She remembered but she did not want to think about it and got ready
in a state of mindlessness. She kissed Kunal on his forehead, had a quick
breakfast and went to Sanjivani. They just had a few hours of rounds and were
then free to go unless an emergency showed up.
She walked to Mishti's cabin and witnessed two very agitated and angry women.
She encountered Mishti and Kanan who were pacing around the cabin and muttering
under their breaths. Kripa got worried since she had hardly seen her friends
this worried. She walked up to them and asked them what was wrong.
Kanan erupted, 'Dr Mishra needs to mind his own freaking business. We walk to
the hospital today only to witness gossip. One thing I can not stand is gossip.
I am so pissed right now that all I want to do is shoot that pig! How could he
even do that?'
Kripa was really confused, 'But what did he do?'
Mishti continued, 'He is spreading rumors here that Prithvi and I are dating
and that Kanan and Nishant are dating and that he saw us in the restaurant last
night and we looked really cozy.'
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