D R I S H T I
I was not so sure if taking him inside my house was a good idea but I did it anyway. Even if he had helped me with the fence there was no way I would be getting along with him. Asking him how he got hurt seemed a bad idea so I lead him inside the house and asked him to sit on the couch till I got the first aid box.
Rakshit seemed uncomfortable with the treatment he was getting and continued looking here and there in awkwardness "You don't need to do this, really. Look, you're caring for me which nobody had done for me so far. I don't want to disrespect you, but I don't want any help"
"I'm not doing it just because you helped me. I'm studying to become a doctor, and that's what doctors do, helping others, right?" He nodded his head and sat down on the couch, looking at the floor while his hands never ceased peeling the skin of his thumb.
I went inside my room and grabbed the first aid box lying on the top shelf of the closet. I went outside the room and saw Rakshit sitting silently on the couch, and from the look on his face, he seemed pretty unsure of what I was trying to do by helping him.
From my past experience, I had always been distancing myself from most of the people but how long would I continue it when I was in med school.
"Can you take off your shirt, please?" I managed to keep my hesitation from pushing the situation into a further uncomfortable situation and didn't let the feelings be expressed on my face.
"Can you do it with the shirt on?"
"No, I need to see the wound clearly and from the shirt on I can't figure out how deep it is or where are you exactly hurt. So, can you?" Rakshit simply hummed in silence and removed his shirt.
No sooner did he keep the shirt aside, his well-maintained body drenching in sweat came into my view. It was clear how to trouble he would have faced in maintaining such good health.
The only thing bothering me was a few scars and blue-blacks leftovers of what seemed to be punches. One or two of them seemed terrible while others were either healing or almost healed.
"Can you be a little quick?" I flinched at my place and let my eyes make an indistinct contact with his, at last landing properly on him.
"Yeah" I spoke.
Pulling out an antiseptic along with some cotton from the box, I sat near him and started cleaning his wound. From a closer look, it didn't look that sort of bad which could not be healed quickly. Just some antiseptic and proper dressing would be enough to do the work.
"Turn around" he did what I asked him to do and turned around. I stood behind his back and continued cleaning his wound with the cotton and soon moved on to the dressing work.
He didn't show any sign of pain when I was cleaning it. Fact: Mental pains are worse than Physical ones. He looked bothered by nothing but himself, sad, broken, and aimless.
"How did you get hurt?" As I was done with more than half the work, I thought it was the right time to ask him. But this only lead to the tightening of his shoulder muscles which was visible from his naked back.
"I don't like getting along with people neither answering any questions, so please don't ask anything" with his head slightly turned to the back, he gave me a cautionary look before restoring his prior posture once again.
"Looks like we have something in common" I smiled gently at him and completed the dressing. "It's done," I said, picking up the medical waste left behind which included used cotton and leftover waste gauze which I used for dressing "You can put on your shirt now"
He hummed once again as he grabbed his shirt from the couch and wore it before leaving. I walked him to the door but realized that I didn't even ask him for plain water. But there was no use in asking him when he was leaving.
None of us uttered a single word till we reached the door and opened it. I waited for him to speak something but he looked relatively quiet and absorbed in his own world. I had left the hope of him speaking anything when he said,
"Thank you for all this"
"You're welcome" smiling at him affiliatively for no reason, I closed the door behind him and headed towards the nearest window which would provide me a clear view of him going inside.
I watched him walk towards his house in complete silence and disinterest in his surroundings. On reaching his door, he looked towards my house and opened the door, going inside soon after he noticed me watching him like a creep through the window.
"Why did he look so broken?" I wondered and felt something similar in him as I felt in me before Varun came into my life.
I had a reason to live, to thrive, and to be cheerful, but he looked aimless, just like he didn't know what he would do with his life. It was just he and himself.
The situation wasn't that I would be saying 'I felt an unknown attraction towards him the second day I met him' but it was this way that I could say 'I felt my attention and my interest shift towards him after seeing how mysterious and secretive person he was'
I usually distanced myself from everyone but I wished not to do the same with him. He looked lonely like he needed someone to be there for him, love him, care for him. Or maybe he needed a reason to smile, someone whom he can care for.
The whole day before I got to my part-time job, I kept myself engaged in my studies so that I could have some free time during the weekend when Sia, Divya, Varun, and I would be going to the mall for a movie. During the day we would be meeting at Sia's and spending some time there till the movie.
I really appreciate the love and the people who came into my life when no one was there for me. Being pregnant as a teenager, I got rejected from many places, but the end is not always that bad. I got people who love me, care for me, and would always stand by me, no matter what came. And I love them for that.
R A K S H I T
I noticed her looking at me through the window due to which I had to get inside to avoid any misunderstanding. She was, so far, the first person who, in spite of my bruises and my scars, offered to help me instead of distancing themselves from me.
The only reason why I did not tell her a no which would be insulting her care in a way.
A few minutes ago I was peering at her through the window of my room while she was working in her garden and watched her breaking the fence door connecting the two houses.
I would admit that her kick which broke the door had me smile. Something I hadn't done in a long time.
Taking the keys to the house, I went outside and locked the door, started walking towards where I knew would be able to suppress this loneliness to some extent.
I had been wandering around aimlessly, fighting for money, and managed to gather enough to rent a house for myself. But the loneliness could not be killed.
There was never a day when I didn't miss my brothers, didn't miss the way we were before, but there was no way I was going back, knowing that Arjun hated for what I kept doing when he forbade me to do it.
Seeds of misunderstanding are deep and often misinterpreted with hate. Arjun didn't hate me, I knew it, but he felt betrayed when he was working so hard for his younger brothers but the youngest one chose to take care of it himself by hurting himself.
Arjun had always overreacted when Romi or I would get hurt, and all of this was because he cared, he loved. He felt helpless and useless at the time his brother had to get hurt and feel the pain because of him.
Since that day, I have been waiting for Arjun to come finding me and take me back. I won't return if he didn't come.
As her name suggested, Drishti had the most beautiful feature in her, her dark brown eyes which expressed her inner hope and her positive personality. Not much to talk about her, but I assumed she was a single mom whose life was contained in her son.
As I had just shifted here yesterday, I didn't know much about them and neither did I want to learn anything about anyone.
Diverting my mind from these thoughts, I looked at the ring in front of me and removed my shirt before entering it.
"Start!" As soon as the referee whistled, the fight started and without trying to protect my healing wound, I started throwing a series of punches at the opponent, dodging his punches when they came to me.
The match kept going. The hootings of the crowd kept increasing with the proceeding intensity of the fight. The problem came when the opponent aimed at my wound, making me yelp in pain. "Let's end the match," he said and threw another punch at my wound. One wrong move could lead to a fatal consequence.
The crowd gasped
As the opponent's body fell on the ground and I stood in front of him, breathing woodily after my victory. "It is ended now," I said.
"The winner is Rakshit Shergill!" The referee announced and handed me the prize money, shortly after, I left the place and walked towards my abode. Since the road was still under construction it was devoid of any vehicle. In spite of the spooky and ghastly atmosphere which was capable of making anyone freak out, I started walking towards my house.
This was when I found a known figure walking on the footpath, clenching her purse tightly. From the distance I could see her clothes and they were the same that Drishti wore today, informing me that the girl was Drishti.
Her way of walking showed how scared she was, walking in the dark all by herself. I mean, anyone would be scared of this situation, I was too, but I didn't have an option.
I hastened my walk and tried matching her pace which kept increasing every time I increased mine, to reach her. Then came this one point when she stopped and I did that too.