Karma : A Tale Of Vengeance and Love

Chapter Twenty Five : Confrontations & Conclusions

She was getting ready to visit the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and seek blessings.

Rudra would be arriving soon to pick her up.

Everything was going so well. I was finally in love. Maybe it was too good to be true.

A trail of thoughts kept bubbling in her mind.

Was he keeping tabs on me all this while? How does he always seem to know everything? Actually, at this point, I am not even surprised by his return.

A part of her knew that she would run into him some day. And she feared what would have happened when they met again. Would the sparks fly or would the flame burn the entire forest down?

But she didn't expect him to barge into her life and completely tear it apart like this.

She expected him to, she wanted him to, but she didn't dare to.

"Kalyani, Rudra is here." Her mother came to inform her.

Her stomach churned at the mention of his name, after her own. She was too startled to even imagine that now their fate had been tied as one.

Throughout the ride to the Temple, she sat quietly on the backseat. Rudra too didn't urge her to converse.

Once she got down, she went towards the flower shops to buy flowers for offering.

"Please give these Neelkanth flowers." They were Lord Shiva's favourite.

"Please give me some flowers too!" A hand stretched out towards the florist.

"I am sorry, those were the only ones left of the lot." The florist apologised and shook his hands to show that he indeed had no more flowers. "My entire lot sold out, thanks to this lady. Her presence was auspicious for me, and I got my first sale, Boni."

"Oh, I am humbled. Here, you can take some flowers from me." Kalyani offered the man some flowers. He took them with an outstretched hand. She noticed that on the other hand, he was wearing a plaster.

"Are you… alright?" She asked him, and suddenly recognised the figure in front of her.

"Kalyani!" The man gasped and removed his black shades. He was wearing bandages all over his head, covering almost the entire face, and barely his eyes were visible. His hand was plastered too, and he carried a splint to support his broken ankle.

"Avinash! How are you?" She knew it was him through his voice. He held her hand and tried to hug her, but she pushed him away.

"Let's not talk here. Come, let's go to a safe and quiet place where it's more private."

"What.. is… this?" He asked, pointing to the ring on her finger.

"I can explain. But not here." She took his hand and ran, towards the narrow streets surrounding the temple, which were meant to serve as shortcuts for the priests to quickly reach the temple in the olden days.

They came to a quiet street, and Kalyani stopped running, panting for breath. "I got engaged", she said, hurriedly, "to Rudra."

Although his face was covered, she could see the hurt in his eyes. "But you first tell me, what happened, exactly? Quick! We don't have much time." She asked him.

"I am okay, don't worry. But are you fine?" He knew the backstory about Rudra, and was genuinely worried about the circumstances.

"What happened? How did you get yourself into an accident?" Kalyani held his arm and shook him.

"I didn't have any accident, Kalyani. I was beaten up", he sighed, "by some unknown goons. Their faces were covered and I don't know yet who they were. There were three of them, but what I do remember distinctly was their cologne. If I ever come across the same perfume again, I will immediately recognise them."