Their Imperfect Love

CHAPTER-23

Savitri was lying on her bed lifelessly with her eyes wide open. As she heard knock on the room, she quickly came in sitting position temporarily fixing her displaced pallu in between wiping the tears.

She controlled her breaths as well as emotions.

"Yes. Who is there?"

"It is me, Badi maa," Radhika replied, meekly entering inside the room.

"You...What are you doing here?"

"That...Actually. Yes.. maa needed your help in the kitchen." She herself could never understand why she always used to get scared in front of her Badi maa and started shuttering.

"You go, after a while, I will come there." She replied turning towards the vanity mirror where she started securing her saree in order to get a presentable look, and at last did a futile attempt of untangling the locks of her mild unkempt hair with her fingers as, during the fast, vrati of Jitiya were not allowed to comb their hair.

"You are still standing here," Savitri asked seeing her still present there, clearly unaware of her inner turmoil.

"I wanted to talk to you." Radhika, at last, mustered some courage.

"Say," Savitri said turning toward the mirror and pasting red kumkum at the centre of her forehead.

"Yes... I wanted to ask... that...Nice saree....where did you buy it from?" As the words escaped from Radhika's mouth, a bewildered Savitri turned to have a better look at her niece who was nervously rubbing the nape still standing confused at why even after everything to say she mentioned it making a fool of herself, to confirm she heard it right.

"Aruna bought it for me for Bela market. Ask the address of the shop from her only." Radhika briefly nodded with a fake smile, wondering how, why and what she was going to say to her to bring them at that point.

Never in her life, she was this tensed for something including her board exams. Whatever she knew she scribed on her answer sheets and with Almighty's grace got decent marks to pass.

"Badi maa..." An unsure Radhika slowly muttered.

"Hmmm"

"I wanted to talk about.. you know..."

"I don't have a whole day, say it quickly."

"Yes.. of course...I wanted to say.....That... Yes...these are nice pair of earnings...suits you.." she passed her a timid smile while fidgeting her fingers in the anxiety.

Savitri slowly approached her, uplifting her chin with her finger to make her look into her eyes. "Tell what are you here for as I am sure it is for anything but these sham compliments."

"You are indeed looking beautiful, Badi maa." Savitri sighed in despair.

"Beauty is not what you see but what you feel. I am aware of how you become restless and try every possible trick to refrain from crossing each other's paths. So, stop being delusional with your every lies because at last you will yourself get confused between the thin lines of truth and deception." Radhika couldn't understand if she was this much observant then why she couldn't see her turmoil or her hesitation. And why she didn't try to ease her again around her presence. However, she remembered things were not like this before. Though she had selfish love for her Sneha then it didn't mean she was vampish for the beginning.

Savitri walked passed her outside the room leaving Radhika in her own dream world. As soon as she came outside of the casted spell, she hurriedly ran toward her Badi maa.

"Badi maa.." Radhika hollered at which she stopped moving forward in the corridor toward the staircase and tiredly turned at what she was about to say now.