Chapter 14 link: chapter 14
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“Swaraaaa! Keep your books at the shelves.”
Ragini called out for Swara, who seemed lost in her own thoughts.
“Swaraaaa! Ye ladki! Main iska kya karoon?”
Swara was sitting in the swing chair she had set up in the balcony. Her coffee was cold by now. The sun was hot. Well, afternoons in Delhi are seldom pleasant during summers. And still Swara was sitting outside. She wasn’t bothered about the hot weather. She was too lost to notice it. Only thing she had in mind was about Sanskar and his girlfriend. She tried hard but could not get this whole thing out of her mind.
“Why Swara? Why are you so bothered about that Saloni! She’s good.. And.. She.. Deserves Sanskar.. And.. Both look.. Good.. Together. You should be happy Swara! Then why aren’t you happy? Why do you feel sad when Sanskar takes his name, or talks about her? Why? Damn! Swara calm down! Don’t think about them! Bas!” She sipped her coffee only to spit it out.
“Damn it! It’s got cold as ice!”
“Swaraaaaa where the hell are you??”
“Uh.. Yahan.. Wait.. I’m coming Ragu!” Swara kept the mug aside and ran towards Ragini.
“Where were you Shona?”
“I.. I was setting up the balcony.”
“Too much into that place, eh?”
“Kind of.” Swara smiled and helped Ragini set their new ‘home’.
#Night time
“No, it’s not like that baby. I’ve had my dinner. Yes. Okay. Uhmm nooo. The day was quite.. Saloni, I’ll talk to you later. Okay? Yes everything’s fine. Chalo, good night.”
Sanskar kept his phone on the table and went towards the balcony. He saw a silhouette of a lady. “It’s 2am. Who might be here. I think it’s some thief. I should go and check.” He thought. He slowly and carefully moved towards the balcony. He saw the back of the silhouette-woman and at a very fast pace, he ran towards her and grabbed her arms, twisting them, which resulted in a packet falling down from the hands of the woman.
“Who are you? And what are you doing here? Wait, I’ll call the police.” Sanskar said in the most stern voice.
The woman quickly released herself and started to run when Sanskar held her hands and turned her towards him. With his left hand he switched the balcony’s light.
“TUM?? Tum yahan.. Aise.. Choro ki tarah.. What are you doing here at this odd hour?”
“Wo.. I wasn’t getting sleep.. And Ragu is also not at home. She’s gone to her relative’s house for the night.. So.. I.. Thought..”
Swara picked up the packet and looked at Sanskar with a puppy face.
“Ye kya hai?”
“Ice-cream!” Swara exclaimed with excitement.
“What??”
“Haan.. Actually, whenever I’m lonely or not feeling sleepy, I eat ice-creams. It’s.. It’s like a.. Soothing therapy kinda.. You see?”
“Achhaa.. But tum darwaaze se bhi toh aa sakti thi na? Why like this then?”
“Arey yaaar! You’re dumbo! This is so much fun! Chori chori chupke chupke! Nobody but only we know about this! It’s sooooo fun!” Swara jumped in excitement.
Sanskar smiled at her. He always loved her innocence. He used to think that he has never in his life met such an innocent person.
“Come na! Let’s eat these!”
“Pagal!”
Both of them spent about an hour like this, together. They pulled each other’s legs, they laughed, they talked. Both felt peace in each other’s company.
“Achha Sanskaaaar! What were you doing back then?”
“Nothing much.”
“Tell na!”
“Saloni se baat kar raha tha.”
This made Swara frown. She suddenly felt suffocated. She felt she couldn’t breathe anymore.
“I need to go!”
“Kya hua Swara?”
“Nothing. Feeling sleepy.”
“Okay. Good night then!”
“Good night!” Swara smiled and got up. As soon as she was about to go, she suddenly slipped and fell over Sanskar, resulting in a cute eyelock. For a moment, both forgot everything. Every worldly thing. Every celestial thing. All they knew was each other’s eyes.
“Aachhoooo!” Swara sneezed, thus breaking the eyelock.
“Are you okay Swara?”
“Haan, I’m fine.”
“Sure?”
“Haan baba!”
Swara then got up and climbed back to her own balcony, which was adjacent to his. She waved him and went to her room.
“Aaahh! Durga maa! Swaraaa! Why can’t you watch your steps!” Swara mumbled to herself. She bent down to pick up the the things that had scattered all over the ground due to her stumbling over the table. While gathering them, she found an envelope, addressed to Ragini Gadodia. Usually, she never opened her letters, but this time, god knows why, she opened it. What she read further, shocked her to no limits.
“How can you do this Ragini!” Swara cried, still holding that envelope.
Precap: Swara breaks her relation with Ragini and SwaSan on the journey to Jalandhar.