“Bhaiya, I’m telling you married ladies have psychic powers.” Priyanka said, “Mom has, Bhavya bhabhi has, and now even Gauri bhabhi has!”
“What do you mean?” Omkara asked genuinely confused. He had been discharged from the hospital but still needed complete rest for another week.
“They all know when something wrong is about to happen to the love of their lives or to their children!” Priyanka said throwing her hands up in air.
Gauri looked at Priyanka wide eyed hearing ‘love of their lives’
Do I really love him in that way? Gauri wondered.
“Believe me, Gauri bhabhi sensed something wrong had happened to you. And then we got the call and she ran off.” Priyanka narrated the whole incident to Omkara who intently listened to her, throwing glances at Gauri every now and then.
When she finished narrating, he let out a chuckle glancing at his wife who rolled her eyes.
“But seriously bhai, we were all so scared.” Priyanka continued, becoming a little serious. “Especially bhabhi, she looked as pale as a zombie when she heard it.”
“I’m sorry you guys had to worry for me. I didn’t mean to fall prey to an accident.” Omkara shrugged. “It was purely coincidental, I didn’t ask to be hit.”
Priyanka rolled her eyes at her brother and then left the room after a little more chit chat.
“So, you’re psychic huh?” Omkara asked and Gauri looked at him. “So now I have a house filled with psychic women.” He commented with a laugh only to earn a glare from Gauri.
“You sit and laugh.” Gauri muttered, “For you everything is funny! Do you have any idea how worried sick I was!”
She turned around preparing to leave the room when he held her by the wrist and pulled her to sit on the bed.
“What happened?” Gauri asked as she sat.
“Gauri, in those ten years…did you… ever missed me?” Omkara asked in a low voice, a whisper meant for only Gauri’s ears to hear.
Silence. She looked down at the floor, not answering his question. A million things running through her head.
Pain.
Hurt.
That’s what Omkara felt at her silence. So did he mean nothing to her after all?
Gauri was too shocked by the sudden question that all the memories of their time together in bus, his last day, the numerous days she missed him, the many incidents that screamed his name, the days she wished she had him by her side, the days he had given her strength by just being in her thoughts and a lot more other days played in her mind, as if some flashback sequence from a movie was playing.
She wondered if there was ever a day in the last 10 years where she hadn’t thought of him.
No. Not even one day. Her heart answered.
“No.” Gauri replied using the same tone as his and Omkara felt his heart shatter. “Because you were always in my thoughts.” She finished with a soft smile meeting his eyes that had sparked up a little.
“Not a day in my life passed, where I hadn’t thought of you. You were always there with me in my thoughts even when you weren’t there physically.” Gauri replied honestly. “Everything I did, somehow always led me to you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me then Gauri?” Omkara asked, half relieved and half angry that she had never told him all this before. She hesitated but he urged her to speak by asking her, “Did you doubt my love for you?”
“Never. And that’s why I never let you know anything.” Gauri said shaking her head, “Because I was scared. Scared I would hurt you.”
“What? Why?”
“I didn’t want to raise your hopes up that we had a future together…. I was never sure of my feelings for you and you were so sincere. I didn’t know if I could ever feel for you like how you felt for me.”
“Gauri..” Omkara called her unsure of how to reply.
“I’m sorry…I know I’ve given you a hard time…but I just didn’t know..”
“And now?” Omkara asked.
“Now?” Gauri asked confused. “What now?”
“Do you..” Omkara started but then decided against it as he knew she would surely tell him when she realised it. So he came up with something that her suspicious brain would believe, “I was just asking if you still miss me?” He did his signature smirk that he knew would make Gauri blush. And blush she did.
“Why will I miss you know?” Gauri said trying to cover up her blush.
“You know…” Omkara leaned in closer to her and whispered to her ears, “A wife would always miss her romantic husband.”
Gauri hit him on the chest, “Look at you! You haven’t recovered entirely yet and you’re already talking like this!”
“You know, sitting in my room all day isn’t that bad after all.” Omkara chuckled. Then, seeing her frown in confusion, he continued, “I have your full attention.”
“You’re impossible!” Gauri said exasperatedly.
“And you’re so tempting!” He said looking naughtily at her. Their faces were just a few inches apart and Omkara controlled his urge to kiss her on the lips.
Gauri looked at him wide eyed as he kissed her cheeks one after the other earning a small gasp from her. “You know I could loose control anytime.” Omkara said in a husky voice while she could feel butterflies in her stomach. For a minute even Gauri considered him to loose his control but then immediately shooed her thoughts away.
They were both looking into eachother’s eyes, their faces still close when Rudra walked in and gasped.
Gauri quickly got up from the bed while Omkara mentally cursed Rudra and his timing for ruining their moment.
“You guys continue, I’ll leave.”
“Rudy!” Gauri called out. “You stay, I’ll go help mom.”
And there she goes. Omkara thought to himself.
“I’m sorry bhaiya.” Rudra said with a nervous smile seeing his sister in law exit, “I forgot to knock.” When Om rolls his eyes at him, Rudra goes back to his fun loving teasing mood, “So will I become a chacha soon?” He asks raising his eyebrows.
“No.” Omkara replied sternly.
“That’s sad.” Rudra replied with a pout. “You know I thought, you guys were so quick that I thought maybe I could be a chacha.”
“Not anytime soon.” Omkara replied. “Why don’t you make me a chacha first?”
“Ah that will wait.”
“You hurried up your marriage.”
“I was 24.” Rudra shrugged “Her parents didn’t want to wait longer since she was 26 and you didn’t want to marry anyone, so I had to marry before you.”
“So 6 months since your marriage huh?” Omkara replied with a chuckle. “Not bad, I married 6 months after you.”
“Thank god you did. I’m so happy to get Gauri bhabhi! She’s so cool!” Rudra exclaimed. “So, all okay between you both now right?”
“I don’t know how to put it Rudy.” Omkara replied lost in thoughts. “But I’m sure one day it will.”
“So nothing happened between you two?” Rudra asked shocked out of his wits.
“No” Omkara frowned at his brother.
“Then..that day-” Rudra recalls the incident where he walked into Omkara’s room when Gauri and her family had come for dinner and he had found Omkara shirtless and Gauri together in the room. “What were you…?”
“We didn’t even kiss!” Omkara burst out and then cursed himself for doing it.
“WHAAAT!?” Rudra asked covering his mouth with both his hands unable to control his shock.
“So I’m not becoming a chacha anytime soon huh..” Rudra mumbled after some time.
“Nope.” Omkara replied shaking his head. “And I don’t think we both are ready to have children anytime soon.”
Rudra sighed.
Meanwhile Gauri who had walked out of the room, recalled her last day in school bus with Omkara. It was a month and half before his board exam.
Flashback
“Gauri?” Omkara called to her softly. Anika was in the front bench doing something for the small kids while Gauri was sitting infront of Omkara on her seat.
She turned her head around to face him slowly. “Yeah?”
“I wanted to ask you something..”
“Sure.”
“Um…Do you think that maybe someday…we would….marry?” Omkara asked in dread as he waited for her answer. He had to know it today. It was now or never.
Gauri stared at him in shock as his words sank in. For some reason, she felt panic rising in her as the thought of being committed struck her. If she said yes, then he would hold on to it. If she said no, then it would hurt her and him.
Having to choose either of the options seemed bad to her. And for some reason her stupid instincts told her to run away since her mind was in a state of confusion regarding her feelings for him.
Why was he even asking her this?
And like a coward, she stood up from her seat, grabbing her bag and paced towards the front seat earning a confused look from Anika and a glare from the conductor for walking in a moving bus.
She sat in the front seat quietly without turning her head back, unable to face him after what she had just done!
But when she landed on her stop and got down from the bus, she knew she had to get a last glance of him, since they were never going to see eachother again. Their friendship was only giving him hope that someday it would become romantic but she knew it wouldn’t.
She turned around to look at him and saw him watching her through the window. Unknowingly a gentle and painful smile made its way on her lips as she held up her hand to wave him a goodbye. He smiled back at her painfully and she mouthed a ‘sorry’ to which he nodded and the bus started moving.
Gauri closed her eyes shutting down her emotions. She had to do it. The thought of never seeing him again killed her and it hadn’t struck until this moment that she had actually ruined their last memory of eachother.
A few months later, long after he and his sister left the school Gauri saw that she had received a new email. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw ‘his’ email address flashed on her screen.
omakaraso@gmail.com
She opened it to read his message.
Hey Gauri,
Remember me? Long time since I’ve heard from you. Just checking if everything was fine.
She closed the mail immediately. As much as she wanted to reply, she knew if she did, he would just keep dreaming of a future with her. Even after her refusal to be in a relationship, she knew he had hopes about them. But having him continue to hope wasn’t right so she decided it was best for them to never talk to eachother again even if it meant to hurt herself and him.
Gauri shut her eyes forcing the memory to end. She knew she had been wrong then but never did she ever expect they would actually get married. It all seemed so unreal and dream like to her. Her fingers went up to her neck feeling her mangalsutra. A smile made its way on her lips as she thought of her husband. Sure, she had been stupid back then. But not anymore. He was the best thing that had happened to her without a doubt!
To be continued….
A past sequence after a really long time. This is probably the last past sequence as it shows the end of their story in the past timeline. Hope you guys liked it!
Thanks for reading!
Take care!