Sandhya ran as fast as she could in the dark and cold night. Tall dense trees surrounded her. She did not dare to look behind; something horrible that did not have a face and could not be comprehended was following her. She ran for her life, crying for help.
Her mother stood at a distance, smiling, with her arms open for Sandhya. She did not look scared, as if she did not care about whatever was following Sandhya, as if she could handle it easily. Sandhya ran towards her, but saw her mother's image disappear slowly.
She cried out in dismay and ran faster. Her father appeared and stood just like her mother had stood, with his arms open for her and a smile on his face. Fear gripping her heart, she ran towards him. Just when she was nearing him, he disappeared slowly, torturing her.
She did not have the energy to run any further, but she still ran, mustering all her remaining willpower, sensing that the faceless thing was almost on her and she would soon be its victim. Then she saw Akash, smiling and with his arms open, simply standing as if he would take care of everything if only she could reach him before the faceless thing hit her.
"No! No!" She cried out in terror as she saw Akash's image disappear mercilessly at the same time as the faceless thing behind her engulfed her.
"Akash!" she cried out loudly and sat up on the bed, her body trembling from head to toe, her brow covered in sweat.
Akash switched on the light, ran to Sandhya and cupped her panic-stricken face.
"Sandhya!"
He could see that she'd had a terrible nightmare. She looked at him with a blank expression for a few seconds before her eyes turned red with anger. She shrugged him off, surprising him.
"Why did you leave me? Why did you disappear! Why? Why? Why?" she screamed fiercely as she clutched his shirt.
Aghast, Akash shrugged as he tried to make her understand.
"Sandhya! You had a bad dream. I am right here! Calm down!" He hugged her.
Realization dawned on Sandhya and she slowly wrapped her arms around his back. She remembered each and every detail about her nightmare, the worst nightmare she'd ever had.
Why did she have that dream? Did it mean that—Sandhya stopped her thoughts right there, closing her eyes tight.
It was just a stupid nightmare, nothing else, she told herself as she held Akash for several minutes.
Akash tried to comfort her, but wondered if he could go on longer without losing to the want that his heart was screaming for inside. He loosened his hands from her back, hoping that she would do the same, but she held him closer and tighter in response.
"Promise me that you will never leave me," she whispered.
"I will never leave you," he whispered, trying to resist the exotic fragrance of her hair.
Sandhya removed her hands from around him and looked into his dark eyes for a long time, deep in thought. She cupped his cheek with one hand and kissed him gently on his lips.
"Sandhya," Akash murmured in agony.
"Mmm?"
He tried to pull away. She looked at him with moist eyes, not loosening her grasp on him. He stared back at her in confusion. She caught hold of his hands and wrapped them around her waist.
"You are torturing me," he muttered.
"I don't intend to anymore," she replied softly.
He stared at her in disbelief. "Sure?"
"As sure as I ever w..." She stopped abruptly as Akash pulled her towards him and crashed his lips into hers.
~
The bright sun rays fell gently on Akash. His hand searched the side of the bed, his eyes still closed, hoping to embrace Sandhya's delicate body. Not finding her beside him, he rose abruptly.
Was she up already? He walked towards the kitchen and found her busy with cooking. She looked as if she had taken a head bath as water dripped at the edges of her long hair, slightly wetting the red cotton sari that she wore.
Akash leaned against the wall and kept watching her. She looked so lovely; he just needed to make her his wife so that he could enjoy this view every day of his life. But why was her face troubled? Was she regretting what had happened last night? He shuddered.
He walked up to her and held her waist from behind. She gasped in surprise and caught his hands with hers. A sweet smile appeared on her face as she looked at him, erasing the worried expression on her face.
"Up so soon?" he asked.
"We both have jobs," she said, running her finger over his cheek lovingly.
"Sandhya..." He hesitated.
She looked at him questioningly.
"Do you regret..." he started but was cut off by her.
"Of course not!"
He breathed in relief.
~
Sandhya fiddled with the diamond pendant on her neck, deep in thought about her nightmare and the events that had followed. Akash was her family, her everything now, even though she may not be his wife yet in the eyes of society. Though they were determined to fight anyone that might come between them, the anxiety and restlessness within her wouldn't go away. Her parents would never have been happy with what she did. Now, with the new turn in their relationship, her earlier resolve not to marry for six months was less important. They should get married soon; they could plan for the consequences, their jobs and such, later somehow. But how should she convey this to Akash? She had rejected his proposal earlier to get married immediately. If she asked him now, he might think that she did not trust him. That was not what bothered her; she was bothered that society would stamp her relationship with Akash as illegitimate, as a stigma. She could not bear that. To her, her relationship with Akash was a pure and sacred one. Her cell phone rang and a smile lit her face when her eyes fell on the caller name.
"Hi, Miss Vijaya!" Sandhya said excitedly, realizing how much she missed her teacher. If Miss Vijaya had not been transferred to a different village, she could have visited her often.
"Hello, dear."
Her teacher was not sounding that excited; something was wrong.
"Is everything alright?" she asked worriedly.
"Yes...I mean...I am fine," Miss Vijaya replied. There was a long pause. "My father passed away a month ago."
Sandhya stood dumbfounded with shock and guilt; Miss Vijaya was going through the worst phase of her life and she had not even called her during that time.
"Sorry, madam," Sandhya replied, her voice escaping the knot in her throat.
"Would you like to come and stay with me for a few days? I will be here for two or three weeks before I leave for Mumbai," Sandhya offered.
"Thank you, my dear, I will definitely come and visit you soon. But, I actually called you for something else. I am considering adopting a child—a slightly older child. I cannot adopt a small baby at my age. Since you worked in a few orphanages, I thought you might help me with the process."
"Yes, of course!" Sandhya cried out in excitement. Miss Vijaya would make a great mother. She was the most affectionate woman she had ever encountered in her life. "Were you thinking of a boy or a girl?" she asked with hesitation.
"Either is fine. Doesn't matter that much to me."
Sandhya had hoped to hear that. The one person who had come to her mind as soon as she heard Miss Vijaya was Roja, but she kept a lid on her excitement, hoping that things would work out for the best.
"I will talk to Mr. George. He will give you a call back soon," she replied before bidding her good-bye.
~
Sandhya bit her lip as she stepped into her home with Akash, who had come to pick her up half an hour early, surprising her. Her mind debated the best way to approach the topic of marriage with him. He was surprisingly silent the whole time.
"I will start making the tea." She threw her purse on the side table, preoccupied with her thoughts, and started walking towards the kitchen, her brain tired.
The next moment, his warm hands encircled her waist and dragged her into the bedroom swiftly.
"What are you doing?" she protested. He threw her on the bed and before she could protest, he had removed her sari drape and torn off her blouse.
"What the?" she screamed, recalling the money she had spent on getting that blouse stitched.
"What the?" Akash hissed with clenched teeth, his black eyes piercing though her as if she was doing a crime by thinking about the damage to her clothes. She lost her mock fight soon, as she became weak against the sensations that stormed through her at his passionate kisses on her bare skin.
~
Sandhya lay with her head on Akash's chest, her long, soft black curls flowing down as she drew circles on his forearm. Eighty more minutes, she thought as she checked the clock ticking on the wall, eighty more minutes before Akash would leave her. She closed her eyes trying hard to keep her tears at bay.
She needed to talk about marriage, but was this the right time? Her brow wrinkled as she stressed over this.
"Sandhya?"
"Mmm?"
"Should we get married as soon as I get back?"
She pulled herself up on her elbows and stared at him in disbelief. Akash raised his eyebrows in confusion. She wrapped her arms around him tighter, interlaced her hands with his and nodded, feeling immense relief.
~
They sat on the porch steps and enjoyed their tea. Akash had to leave in a few minutes.
"I will miss the exotic taste of your tea."
"Right, you will miss my tea but not me," she said mockingly as she pinched him on his side.
"Be careful what you eat... I heard that it's difficult to get water in America. You only get sodas. Try to find and drink water, otherwise your stomach might get upset."
Akash laughed at this and replied, "Yes, madam!"
Sandhya was hardly smiling the whole time.
"Oh come on, don't look like that! You are behaving as if this is the last time you are going to see me."
Sandhya looked at him, stunned. He was joking of course, but she wished he had not said that. She had not told him about her dream. The tears that she had tried hard to keep inside were now flowing uncontrollably. Taken aback by her reaction, Akash placed her head gently on his arm and said, "I will be back before you know it, sweetie."
~
The red bangles jingled as Sandhya walked to the orphanage. It had been ten hours since Akash left; it would take a while before he would reach New York and call her. She had decided to wear those bangles until Akash returned, even if they did not match her dress. They reminded her of him, made her feel more secure.
As soon as she entered the orphanage, she found the kids standing before her, all beaming with bright smiles. Even Roja looked as cheerful as ever.
Mr. George stood in front of them, with a huge grin on his face as well.
Sandhya was pleasantly surprised. "Go on. Spit it out. What are you all up to?" she asked teasingly.
"We love you, Sandhya Di!" everyone shouted at the same time.
"Thank you! I love you all too! Now tell me what's going on," she asked again as she pulled a boy's cheek lovingly.
"Thank you for taking us to Ooty!" a little girl exclaimed.
"Ooty?"
"Sandhya, we are so blessed to have you with us, my child." Mr. George spoke. "You arranged the trip to Ooty with Varun's help. It's something that I never even dreamed of. I wish all politicians thought like him; he's such a nice young man. He was here a few minutes ago confirming the plan," he said with his eyes twinkling
His words hit Sandhya like a ton of bricks. Acid formed in her throat as she recalled her conversation with Varun at the restaurant, back when she was friendly with him. She had forgotten about the whole incident.
What had she done...just what had she done! But maybe she could work something out. She gave a fake smile to Mr. George and said, "Yes. It is exciting. I was wondering if Geetha could go with the kids instead of me, since I have things to wind up before I leave."
Mr. George's smile disappeared. "Geetha has a small baby to look after. She won't be able to go," he replied, worried.
"How about we hire someone from outside to escort the children?"
One by one, the children's faces fell, making Sandhya feel terribly guilty.
Mr. George turned sober and replied, "I cannot trust outsiders, especially with what happened recently. If you don't go, then we will have to cancel the plan."
A couple of kids were in tears by now. Sandhya cringed.
"OK, Mr. George. I will go," she said, trying to sound as excited as she could.
The kids stood silently with blank expressions.
With her hands up in the air, she shouted with full force.
"Yay! We are going to Ooty!"
The smiles returned to their faces and the kids shouted back, "Yay! We are going to Ooty!" They took turns hugging her and disappeared for their breakfast. Sandhya slowly traced her steps to her office and closed the door. She went to her desk and buried her face in her hands. How was she going to spend two full days with that Varun in Ooty? What was Varun up to? She shuddered.
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/***Authors Note***/ "The Independent Girl" was published on JUNE 20th 2016!!!
Links to purchase:
https://www.amazon.com/Independent-Girl-Sneha-K-ebook/dp/B01GUSEPMO/ https://www.amazon.in/Independent-Girl-Sneha-K-ebook/dp/B01GUSEPMO/ https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/643119
https://itunes.apple.com/fr/book/the-independent-girl/id1121906593?l=en&mt=11 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-independent-girl-sneha-k/1119160004?ean=2940152772036 https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-independent-girl-1
Note that I will only be posting a limited number of chapters here on wattpad for you to sample.
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