A New Journey
...Tarika regained consciousness slowly. She restrained her eyes multiple times before finally being able to look around. She found herself in a corner of the room she was working on. She was in middle of a mess. With great difficulty she sat up, resting her back against the wall but her right leg was stuck under a heavy furniture. She could move her leg but couldn't pull it out from there. She tried many times but failed. With the help of her shirt's sleeve she wiped the blood off her face which was running down from her forehead wound. Then, she waited patiently.
"Tarika."
A voice rang in her ear.
"TARIKA!"
This time even louder.
"Here..." She responded in a feeble voice, not knowing if her voice would penetrate the thick barriers of the mess to reach the person who was in search of her. Yet she tried, "HERE."
"Tarika, can hear me? Please response. Tarika." The voice was getting impatient.
In the fear of dying there alone she almost didn't recognize the voice before but now she did. Yes, it's him. It's Abhijeet.
"Abhijeet..." Her voice shakes. Then she tried again, composing herself, "ABHIJEET."
"Tarika!" She could feel the cracks in the voice. "Where are you? Give me direction!" Abhijeet shouted.
Tarika was totally blank after the incident. She strained her mind to recall the room she was in before the incident. But before she could give direction the door of the room opened with a thud.
Abhijeet was checking every room. But when he got response from her, he followed the voice and ended up finding the room in his second attempt.
There she was. At the corner of the room, in middle of themess. Her forehead was bleeding.
"Abhijeet, I can't move." Tarika urged him, seeing him standing there like a statue.
Her voice was feeble. She sounded scared. But less than him. Or at least that's what he assumed. He was sure no one could match the level of his fear at that moment. Without wasting a single moment he ran towards her. Yes, she looked okay. But he was not satisfied. He had to check carefully. He was kind of panicked.
Sitting down on his both knees he took her face in his palms and brushed her skin with her fingers. He moved her head right and left and checked her neck, her shoulders. His hands ran franatically all over her limbs.
All the while he was mumbling,
"You are okay?? Are you hurt? You are bleeding. Where did it hurt? Huh, tell me? You are okay. You are fine." He was asking and consoling himself at the same time.
He again cupped her face and kept mumbling not being bothered if she was answering or not. He was touching her as if he had all the rights over her, as if he had been touching her this way for all of his life. He forgot that he didn't even hold her hand properly ever. But he didn't care. At that moment he didn't even know what was he doing.
Tarika was taken aback totally by his actions. His touches were shuddering her at starting as no one had ever touched her that intimately. But as her body perceived the intention, the care and tension behind the touches, it calmed down. Tarika's mind was on the other hand was focusing on his face only. Her eyes were trying to trace his travelling gaze which refused to settle on one particular part of her body. He wasn't making eye contacts and Tarika could tell he wasn't doing that intentionally. He was just not being himself at that time. He looked scared. He looked panicked. And Tarika looked completely clueless.
Just when Tarika thought he was calming down he started planting kisses after kisses on her face. He kissed her forehead, her temples, het cheeks multiple times without interruptions.
"I am so glad nothing happened to you. You are fine. You are okay." His voice was cracking.
Just then Tarika realized he had been crying all the while. She couldn't push him away. She was stunt. Only thought she was having right then was - was there any way to cover up his these acts? How would he gonna deny his these moves this time?
Tarika sat there like a lifeless statue as her heart sank down in strange kind of feelings. She wasn't wrong. Her heart wasn't wrong. She did take the hints right all along. Always.
"I would have died if something had happened to you." Abhijeet cried taking her in a tight embrace.
Tarika cried too. But silently, not wanting him to come out from his trance. Although she still couldn't believe what was happening. May be these were hallucinations. But still, it felt good. Let it be.
And he did come out of his trance. He realized what he did. But instead of leaving her he hugged her even more tightly. His was scared. In trance or without. He just couldn't push her away. His will power wasn't that strong.
He patted her cheek as he left her.
"You can stand up? Hmm?" He asked, with affection.
Tarika was looking into his eyes although he was refusing to look back. She shook her head. He wasn't even listening to her?
"Wh- Why?" He got more scared. His brain wasn't working.
"My.. my leg.." Tarika gave him hint getting his situation.
Abhijeet felt blank. He couldn't understand what to do. He took some deep breathes. Why wasn't his brain working? Why couldn't he plan anything. It's simple. Very simple. He reminded himself but went in vain.
"Move... the furniture." Tarika guided him.
"Yeah.. yeah.. I am doing it.." He stammered.
Tarika was looking at him without blinking. She was sure she was having an effect on him somewhere but she never knew the intensity of it. She was too shock to even response to any of his acts. She was even more blank than him.
Abhijeet would have denied though if asked.
Never in his life he could imagine himself feeling like this. He himself didn't know the intensity of his feelings.
He moved the furniture and Tarika pulled away her leg from under it. Abhijeet reached at her side instantly and searched for wounds. He was behaving like an obsessive parent who couldn't tolerate a single scratch on his baby.
"It's not hurting that much." Tarika told him to lessen his tension.
"Oh.. okay." Abhijeet responded.
He helped her to stand up and leaded her outside.
"I can... walk." Tarika said.
Abhijeet didn't listen to her. He walked her ahead by holding her around the waists.
She wished it wasn't a dream.
She wished he wouldn't deny any of these.
She wished to listen his feelings in words.
Or may be she could do fine with just the mere acceptance.
Or at least if he wouldn't give any excuse.
No, I am dreaming. I am dreaming.
A fire fighter ran towards them when they were near the exit.
"Take her out." Abhijeet asked him leaving Tarika. "There's a kid stuck there."
The fire fighter supported Tarika and handed Abhijeet a walkie talkie. Tarika looked at him with a questioning gaze but he didn't look at her. She grabbed his forearm.
He freed his forearm genteelly from her grip without looking at her.
"Abhijeet.." She pleaded this time.
But he was gone.
"Take care." She whispered.
The fire fighter man leaded her outside but her eyes were still fixed on the corridor from where he disappeared. Daya and Dr Salunke leaded her to a tent for first aid.
Once out of her sight Abhijeet breathed out loudly, standing against a wall. He closed his eyes. He had failed. He had failed terribly. But he couldn't blame himself entirely. It was impossible to stay calm in that situation. Or may be it wasn't. But what's done was done. Only thing he was worried about was how's he gonna face her?
"Need help here." Someone shouted.
He would think about it later. He ran to help the rescue team.
Tarika was sitting inside the tent, thinking about the incident again and again. Abhijeet's face was roaming in front her. His tension. His worriness. His scared expression. The way he was checking on her. The way he was kissing her face. She couldn't get those scenes out of her head. She took a deep breathe. She would deal with it later. Just like him, she had works to do. There's a lot of injured people out there. She should attend them. But before that, she had to call her mother. But where's her phone! She sighed. She stood up to go out and ask for a phone from her team mates when she felt the ground shaking once again. She sat down automatically. It persisted for a minute. Though the intensity wasn't that strong. It was too much for her to take that second bolt. But she wasn't inside the building luckily!
"Abhijeet!" She talked to herself and tried to stand up but her leg started hurting. Yet, she limped out of the tent. Not so far from her tent she saw Daya trying to connect with Abhijeet over walkie talkie, impatiently.
"Abhijeet!! Abhijeet, can you hear me? Please response."
There was some disturbing noises on the other hand but no one replied. Daya kept trying. Tarika's heart had almost stopped beating when she heard his feeble voice.
"I am alive boss." He said in a tired voice. Tarika could just tell by his voice that he's injured and exhausted.
"You are not a superhero Abhijeet!" Daya sighed.
"I am just Abhijeet." Abhijeet said as if he's drunk.
"Add stupid before your name."
"Huh.."
"I am sending help. Don't move from your place."
"I can't even if I want. I am stuck."
"The rescue team will be there soon."
"Daya, she's okay?" He asked, his voice was affectionate and tensed also.
"She's perfectly fine. Yeah, must be tensed for a stupid." Daya answered without even confirming about whom he was asking.
"Take care of her."
"Abhijeet, are you severely injured?" Daya was tensed
"I wish I was."
"What kind of sick joke this is!" Daya got angry.
"I don't think I can face her Daya." He said helpless.
"What did you do?" Daya asked.
"I have never been so exposed in front of anyone Daya. She had seen my feelings stark naked. I couldn't control. I just couldn't." Abhijeet regretted.
"It had to happen Abhijeet."
"Not this way. Not this much."
"We will figure it out. Don't stress out."
Tarika was standing behind Daya listening their conversation. Finally, it wasn't a dream. But why wasn't she happy? She was contempt. Satisfied even. But where's that butterfly happiness? Why wasn't she dancing on her toes. Was she angry on him? She tried to conclude. But no, She wasn't. She was sad but why? And why was he so vulnerable? Why expressing his love was too much for him? Why was he trying to hide it. Tarika's eyes flooded with tears for him, thinking about his condition. She's surprised with herself. Instead of jerking him by holding his collar he felt like taking him a soothing hug and tell him that it was okay, that she didn't mind any of his acts, that she's not angry on him, that she understood him, that... he didn't have to acknowledge his feelings to her. It wasn't necessary even. Not now.
Both Daya and Tarika could here some noises from Abhijeet's side and concluded the help was there. Tarika left from there before Daya could see her. She went to the first aid tent and started attending the victims. Somewhere she also wanted not to face him right away. Although it's difficult to stay calm without seeing him how much he was injured.
"He's fine." She reminded herself and started working.
0-0-0-0
0-0-0-0
Cold wind was almost blowing the tent away in which Abhijeet was sitting after having his first aid. His right leg had been injured pretty badly. He could barely walk. The sun had set down a long time ago. The chorus had been subsided.
He wasn't a man who would sit down like that in a situation like this no matter how severely injured he was. But today was different. He was exhausted- more mentally than physically. He was kind of hiding himself from Tarika. Yet, every time the curtains would draw aside he would look up half scared and half hopefully to see if it was her.
Bored and guilt for sitting there like that he thought to go out and see if he could help anyone. He stood up with difficulty and went out. He breathed in fresh air. The wind was really cold. The sky was clear. The moon was full although it was hard to enjoy its serenity standing at the middle of so many artificial lights. Chuckling to himself he looked in front of him only to get frozen. She was standing there at 3 feet distance from him. She looked exhausted as well and broken. Her expression was hard to read. Abhijeet couldn't understand if she was waiting for him to come out or they just came in front of each other by chance. They just kept looking at each other and this time Abhijeet was not able to hide his gaze from her. He didn't even try.
KK: Many Many happy returns if the day Crazy Adityan. yes, probably the last wish is coming from me. But what to do. I need to write the entire chapter na.
Don't forget to review guys. This is one of my fav part of this story.