His Favourite Book

Chapter 51 - Perspectives

The main door of the Purohits flung open when a furious Abeer stomped inside and went straight to his room. Before he banged the door of his room close, his mother from the kitchen area peeked out to see the origin of the sudden noise.

"Abeer? GAURI?" She called out when a hasty Gauri entered the home and neatly closed the main door behind her. "WHAT ARE THOSE INJURIES?!" Their mother was taken aback by the scene she just witnessed.

Gauri halted her movements. "Mumma, I'll tell you later. These are nothing, okay? Don't worry." She ran behind Abeer to force her way into his room. Their mother followed.

"But beta-"

"Mumma, I said I'm fine, no? Nothing's wrong. Chill." Gauri said one last time and closed the door of Abeer's room, keeping their mother out and locking them inside.

She turned around to see Abeer standing before his study table. He was frantically searching for something in the drawers. Bringing out a pair of scissors he, with no second thoughts, split apart from his wrist what seemed to be a bracelet. Gauri stepped in closer behind him to find him aggressively throwing a transparent, tape-held flower bracelet on his study table. It was as if he had decided to look at it for one last time and never again would he turn to it.

It seemed like a token from someone's happy moments to Gauri. She had experienced some similar ones, after all. She knew what it meant to throw away such charms. Gauri was a divorced woman. She knew exactly how much it would hurt when a relationship fell apart. She knew what would happen when either of the two parties ceased to put in efforts to keep the pillar of their relationship standing undaunted and thriving.

When they say that your elders have seen a larger world, they are not wrong. Well, sometimes wrong, maybe, probably. But in this case, Gauri was definitely not going to let history repeat itself. Not at least under her supervision.

Abeer was not an immature person. But he was definitely younger than her and lacked some experiences that Gauri enclosed. It was important to make him realise the results of his current actions. What could happen if he continued to stay oblivious to the varying perspectives? How the tables could turn if he did not realise the importance of communication almost immediately then. Gauri took upon the responsibility of shoving into Abeer's brain, the importance of understanding relationships.

"I met Dhruv last night." She said from behind Abeer's shoulders that were busy heaving up and down, wildly in utmost desperation. The four words sparked something in him as he turned around, his expression a completely different one from that seconds before.

"DHRUV? AGAIN?" Abeer's loud voice reverberated in his room.

"Aye! Shh! You want mumma to hear us? Idiot!" Gauri slapped his lips to lower his voice.

"Ah- Ow!" He brought up his palm on his lips as a reaction to the pain and put his bag on the table to push all his attention to Gauri. "He did this to you?!" He referred to all the wounds all over her body.

"Yes. But I managed to do something worse to him, so these are justifiable, I would say. All the grudge-bearing gym sessions and the resentful lifting of weights paid off at the right time. We fought like animals and once he lost all his energy, we, Girisha and I, left him there in the dark, empty area of that parking space. Later, I called his family to get him. It was soon enough for him to stay alive. He's admitted to a hospital now, fighting to stay conscious. He'll recover, I feel. But I think I might face legal repercussions. There were CCTVs all around. Now only if they were in a functioning condition, I might be saved. I mean, he attacked us first. And that'll be pretty clear in every footage, no matter the camera angles. Proposing self-defence would yield preferable results. Let's see what happens. Anyway, that was my last time visiting that area. And the last time I met those people. Even accidentally. I hope so."