Thursday, March 1, 2012

FF: A Blue Moon Ago - Chapter 6


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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