Ijya

Chapter-11.2

I didn’t have to wait for long, instead of thirty minutes they came in twenty. My work is done and I can be at ease for now, I thought and came into the kitchen to make some tea for me. Before I could finish it, my phone rang. It was from Mr. Kant, “Pack your bags, we are shifting you. There is a possibility that someone will come behind you because Punit and his partner are handed over to police and they can tell your address to his gang.”

I skipped my breakfast and packed my clothes, shoes and the grocery which I bought yesterday. At 9AM someone rang the bell. It was the driver who was assigned to drop me to my new residence. He took three of my bags and put them in the car's trunk. He came back and took the rest of my luggage. Meanwhile I checked if I needed to collect anything else.

I locked the door and looked at Sagar’s apartment. He was watching me and as I had eye contact with him, he shut the door on my face. That’s it, I guess I’ll never meet him again. 

He is a nice guy and I don’t want to add suffering to his life. He is also lonely like me but he has a life and at least he can fall in love with someone and I don’t want that someone to be me. 

I sighed and sat in the back seat. The traffic was terrible. After a drive of an hour, I finally came to my new residence. I was too tired to unpack and was hungry, so I asked the driver to take me to a nearby restaurant where I offered him to have food with me. We had our brunch and he took his leave after dropping me back at my place.

The apartment was a basic one BHK. I’m glad that I do not have to clean one extra room. I entered the kitchen and it had similar tiles that we had in our home. Our home… ‘‘Do you like this house?” Abhimanyu asked me.

“Very much,” I giggled. “Abhi don’t you think we should invite your father?”

“Please don’t talk about him, I’m in a good mood. Anyway, it doesn’t matter to him whether I’m married or not and I also don’t want to meet him. When I was young, he never gave me his time after my mother's death. He admitted me to a hostel and the only thing he did for me was send money. I have this intuition that he has married some other women after my mother’s death.”

“There is nothing wrong with remarriage. Maybe he feels lonely after your mother's death. I want you to marry a nice girl if something happens to me.”

He put his hand on my mouth, “Don’t talk about death. I have worked very hard to make you mine and I’ll not let you die before me.” He said and pecked my lips. This was the first time I kissed him back. I broke the kiss after feeling his tears on my face. 

“Are you crying?”

“No,” he pulled me into his embrace and deepened the kiss. “If it is a dream I don’t want to wake up,” he said, hugging me.

My eyes were filled with tears. I came out of the kitchen and unpacked my bag. My eyes landed on the jewellery box, I opened it and touched my Mangalsutra. We had a court marriage in Ahmedabad when I turned eighteen and he was twenty-one at that time. 

The marriage was not out of love, I did have some feelings for him but I was not sure if it was love or anything else. I had to leave the hostel after I turned eighteen and I had nowhere to go. Abhi proposed to me to be his girlfriend but I rejected him many times thinking that he was not serious about me. 

I was wiping my tears when I got the notice to leave the hostel. He saw me and asked why I was crying. I was very upset so I told him everything. “Stay with me,” he offered.

“Have you lost your mind, how can I stay with you?”

“Marry me, Ravi,” he said, wiping my tears. “I am serious… Marry me… I love you. I will keep you happy forever.”