Maami ki Behen ki Beti ✓

18. Pyaar tha

"Gaumbi, I need to go."

Gautam and Dhara with the others were tired the next morning, Rishita had her head on Dev's shoulder and Dev was sipping tea, rather wanting to sleep. Krish was seated at the foot of Dhara and Gaumbi who sat on the swing, lazily sipping their morning tea. Since Suman had extended another week of her stay with the rest of the devotees, everyone were taking the best advantage of this and Gautam had tried his hand in making tea that morning.

It was really good, and even it wasn't, no one really had the energy to go make another one.

The fair had tired them all, because they had all been enjoying till the end. Krish was with his friends, all the other in their pairs, except Shiva, who could not sleep a wink since last evening.

"Need to go?" Gautam asked, yawning, as Dhara sat back, eyes shut. "Kaha re bappa?"

Shiva was restless, he was the only one who was standing, clueless on where to head now. "I need to go, send me out of Somnath, asap." 

"Kya bol raha hai, Shiva?" Dhara wondered what had gotten in to him now, "Aur kal raat ko kaha tha?" 

"Haan Shiva, kitna mazza aaya tha kal." Krish yawned, sipping his tea, "you missed it."

Shiva's anxious heartbeats were louder than all his family members right now, and all he wanted was an escape. Because if he did not leave, he would do something that would only cause more chaos than peace. Last night had been an eye-opener and he was getting out of hand with his emotions, being very close to releasing all his thoughts in the open. 

Two days, Shiva told himself, rather reminding himself that he had to calm the beast only for two days, she is going to leave in two days, and until then, he had to keep quiet.

But he could not, he knew if he saw Raavi one more time, he would tell her everything and he did not want to think about the consequences after that. Hence, he wanted an easy exit from all this mess, go out somewhere and come back after she is gone, this way he could spare himself a heartbreak and her, some pain.

"Gaumbi, woh... woh... chawal ke liye aapko woh... Rajkot se kuch samaan...  chahiye tha? Plus woh Dwarka mein Maa bhi hai, toh wahi reh lunga unke saat ek hafta..." He ranted, his nervousness visible in the rubbing of his hands and his anxious speech. "Bas, main aaj nikal raha hu..."

That woke them all from their slumber and they sat up, even Rishita who had almost slept on Dev's shoulder, "Aa su baat kare che?" Dhara now got off the swing, walking towards Shiva, "Taari tabiyat saari che?" She touched his forehead, concerned but Shiva got out of her hold, his anxieties now blurring his vision. 

"Sab theek hai, mujhe jaana hai bas." He said, shaking his head vigorously like a stubborn kid, "and today."

Gautam nodded, as he walked towards the impatient brother of his, "saaru, pehle tu shaanti se hume baata hua kya hai?" He asked, cupping Shiva's cheek, concerned. "Baith, yaha baith." He then informed Krish to get a glass of water and Dev-Rishita, surrounded the very trembling Shiva. While Shiva tapped his feet, Dhara sat next to him and looked at Gautam, worried. This was the second time she had seen Shiva act this way, the first being the time he told her about the nightmares. This was getting too serious to pass it as a joke.

Shiva was handed the glass of water and he drank it, he took a deep breath, eyeing his concerned family members, "I need to go, out of Somnath, today." He repeated the same thing again, this time more relaxed than before. 

"Par kal shaam ko Raavi jaa rahi hai," Krish said, as always without understanding the gravity of he situation, "aur humne uske liye aaj farewell party rakhi hai."