For several sweetly agonizing moments, his lips wrecked beautiful havoc on her own…..and teased her senses into enthralling delight.
Nandini held on to him tightly, wishing with sudden desperation that the exquisite warmth of physical closeness could eliminate the emotional chasm between them.
"Nandini!"
In a second, her body turned ice cold. It was her mother's voice from somewhere below in the house…...
She tore her lips away from his, and strained to free herself.
"Where are you going?" he demanded.
"Didn't you hear that! Ma is looking for me!" she said, pushing at his arms in panic. "And if I don't go, she might come up here and see us together!"
"And if she does?"
"What are you -"
"What if she sees us? What if she asked you about us?" he asked challengingly.
She gaped at him, struggling to think of an answer….but none came to her lips….
What would she do if her mother saw her locked in an embrace with a man….what would she say….what could she possibly say….
She was aware of his steady gaze gauging every emotion flickering past on her features, and the growing condemnation in his eyes….
And all of a sudden, she felt angry. What enjoyment did it give him to always put her in a spot like that….
"I'd tell her you were attacking me," she said tartly.
His face hardened as he let go of her, almost thrusting her away. "I'm sure you will,"
"Cant you stop picking fights with me for no reason?" she asked exasperatedly.
"I'm not the one who starts the fights," he retorted.
"No, you don't start the fights! You only throw tantrums like a spoilt little prince. You know what? You are just an overgrown child," she snapped.
His arms suddenly snaked around her waist again and hauled her into intimate contact with his furious frame.
"Don't make me prove that I'm not a child," he said with a quietness that was more frightening that his temper. "I'll enjoy the experience, but I wont care if you do or not."
She was still speechless with shock and anger when he disengaged himself smoothly. Looking at her derisively, he unraveled the dupatta from around his hand, used it casually to wipe his face clean with purposeful insensitivity and threw it back on her trembling body with cold indifference.
**********************
Sankatmochan beamed to himself as he limped into Ayodhya and made his way towards Prithvi's room.
It had been a stroke of genius. Who else could have thought of something so original! He was absolutely tired of the roller coaster love story going on in front of him and so had decided to take matters into his own hands. But he had hit a roadblock as he had no idea about how to go ahead. Then he had seen those jobless louts lounging around outside the colony and the brilliant idea had struck him.
He had asked them to get drunk to add the right effect. Then they would try to assault Nandini, Prithvi would save her, Nandini would be so overcome with awe that she would never ever lose her temper with Prithvi again, and then the love birds would live happily ever after.
He found Prithvi changing into a new shirt, and puzzlingly, there were faint traces of colour on his face.
"You played Holi?" Sankatmochan asked in delight.
Prithvi turned and frowned. "No, I didn't," he snapped. "I'd just stepped out for a minute and some colour fell on me."
"Oh….but I think you should go out again!" Sankatmochan said staunchly. "Unless you are okay with having your girlfriend out there when those hooligans are roaming free."
Prithvi stilled in the middle of drawing a chair and sharply asked, "What are you talking about?"
"I saw a rowdy bunch of men headed towards the locality. They all look demented with the colours and - and I think they are drunk too. Nandini is standing outside the Sharma's residence with that fat kid. She could be in their path….and you know when men like those see a girl like her - "
"Shut up! It was a stupid idea! And if any one of them even comes close to her, I'll kill you first and them later," Prithvi said with his jaw clenching angrily, and without waiting for a response, stalked out of the room with a dark expression that did not bode well for anyone.
**********************************
Suvek looked at the address in hand. This seemed to be the right place. Now he just had to figure out where Nandini lived, pretend that he had just 'happened' to pass by her house, and then get an invitation to come inside.
He would have been more confident of his abilities to do all of that if he hadn't indulged a little in the drinking binge on the terrace of their hostel last night and woken up late with a splitting headache.
Very few people were still celebrating the festival, most of them youngsters. Majority of the crowd seemed to have returned home. Suvek walked around aimlessly, trying to figure out whom he could ask the direction to her house.
And then he saw her.
Nandini was standing outside one of the houses, with a chubby kid in her arms. With stark disappointment he noted that she had already finished playing Holi, as indicated by the colours on her beautiful face and white dress. But still, he would be able to use the occasion as an excuse to touch her, even if he were not the first to do so.
Nandini dipped her hand into the mug of water kept on the column near the gate and sprinkled the few drops of water on Arjun's eager face and laughed as the chubby infant chuckled with delight. She had been hustled out of the house by her mother who had insisted that she participate in the festivities for a short while at least. Though reluctant at first, she had subsequently enjoyed playing holi with her grandfather, Prakash and all her friends and neighbours. But most of them had returned home, and now she was trying to play a very safe holi with a naughty baby.
Then through the din around, she felt as though someone was calling out to her. She looked around and saw two things that made her heart sink a little.
Firstly, Suvek was coming towards her with a broad smile. And secondly, four plainly drunk, rough looking men were also heading in her direction. All of them were getting too close for comfort.
Suvek looked suspiciously at the men as he approached Nandini. They were clearly trouble makers of some sort, and he couldn't blame Nandini for trying to open the gate to the house so that she could go inside and be safe.
One of the men rushed forward and kept his hands on the gate, stopping Nandini from opening it, while the others formed a semicircle around her, preventing a retreat. White with fear, Nandini stepped back against the wall of the house, clutching Arjun to herself.
Suvek angrily moved forward and pushed the man backwards. The man tottered on his feet, but then came ahead with his friends, and all of them began pushing and shoving Suvek backwards.
He retaliated by trying to strike their arms away and attempted to land a punch on the face of the nearest man. But the man ducked and Suvek's fist missed its aim. Then the man hit out and Suvek lurched and fell onto the uneven ground.
Horrified, Nandini moved towards him to help him up, but the man nearest to her blocked her path and his hand reached out suddenly to caress her face. It was such an unexpected action that it paralysed her mind, but with instinctive reflex, she braced to hit the hand away before it could touch her.
But when it was just an inch from her face, the hand stopped.
The man stared blankly at his fingers that had been about to touch a soft cheek but had stopped in between, and abruptly were hurtling like hell. Then he realised why.
Another hand had come from somewhere and become attached to his, and that hand was crushing the bones in his palm.
He drunkenly looked at the body attached to the arm, and then at the face that was looking at him so icily that he flinched a little on the inside,
Prithvi pushed the man's fingers backwards like they were filled with jelly and the ruffian yelled with pain, and geared to use his other hand for the attack.
In a flash of stunning speed, Prithvi's fist rose and pummeled into the side of the man's head. A single tooth and blood spilled out of the hoodlum's mouth, and he went down like he had been mowed.
Two men rushed menacingly towards Prithvi, who waited very calmly until they were within touching distance. Then his arm rose and swung again and the back of his hand rapped with crunching force against the jawline of the second man who had lifted his hand to launch an attack.
In the next second, his hand slammed into the forearm of another man who had raised his hand, and Nandini cringed as she heard a very mild sound of something cracking.
The three men backed away from Prithvi so fast that they almost staggered into each other, and then they turned around and ran away with a speed that indicated that their feet had sprouted wings. The fourth man stared vacantly at Prithvi, who looked back coldly. Then the lone healthy survivor let out a ridiculous, high pitched scream and scurried away in the direction of the rest.
It had happened in a matter of few minutes.
Or had it even happened, Nandini thought dazedly.
Arjun was bouncing up and down in Nandini's arms now and trying to clap his tiny hands excitedly, apparently convinced he had just seen some sort of fabulous magic, and a handful of young spectators were staring at Prithvi with awe and cautious admiration.
Prithvi turned to Suvek, who was looking dumbfounded at the scene he had just witnessed.
"Girls like you shouldn't be walking around alone on days like these," he said seriously.
Suvek turned crimson, but he only waited another minute before trying to walk around Prithvi to reach Nandini.
He had barely taken a step when Prithvi kept a hard, restraining hand on his shoulder and quietly said, "You are that eager to progress from witness to victim?"
Suvek pushed the hand away, and stepped back, wanting to defy the threat but the scene he had just witnessed was too fresh in his mind.
"Someday, I'll get you for all of this," he muttered wrathfully.
"Don't worry, I'll let you live because I don't fight girls," Prithvi replied thoughtfully.
When Suvek had finally departed in a towering temper, Prithvi started to walk back towards Ayodhya, without looking at Nandini.
Finding some feeling in her feet at last, Nandini hurried after him, wanting to thank him.
"Prithvi…" she called out appealingly.
He stiffened but did not turn around. "This was Mochi's dumb idea to -…anyway, you were not in any real danger," he muttered.
So this had been Mochi bhaiya's concoction to bring them together, Nandini realised with relief as Prithvi walked away….but if it had been a carefully set up scene….If Prithvi had known that she was in no real danger, why had he come….
Was it because he couldn't stand to see even a sliver of danger, however contrived, skirting her shadow….
**********************
Sankatmochan sat down heavily on the stairs. Having seen the damage that Prithvi had wrought, now he would have to pay those men double of what he had promised initially. It had just been his idea of injecting some fun into the proceedings, but now he would have to bear the hospital expenses also of the men.
But he had only asked the men to drink a little more alcohol to get some authenticity but they had evidently overdone it. He had asked them to run away once Prithvi had bashed up one of them, but instead, all of them had rushed at Prithvi like a pack of mad dogs and they had been treated accordingly by his friend.
And seeing the blackness on Prithvi's face as he approached Ayodhya, Sankatmochan guessed that it would be in his best interests to rush to his room and hide inside for eternity.
Without wasting any more time, he got up to his feet and scuttled upstairs.
*************************
Nandini walked down the steps into the living room, absently drying her hair with a towel, lost in thought.
The horrible incident in the morning was refusing to fade from her mind's eye. She could still see a coarse hand coming towards her face, and then the overpowering relief she had felt when she had seen Prithvi. It might have been Sankatmochan's setup, but there had been just a little too much aggressiveness, and some other frightening sentiment, in the eyes of the man who had tried to touch her. And they all had been stinking of alcohol. If Prithvi hadn't come in between….she shuddered at the thought….
The news of the event had spread like wildfire throughout their locality and Prithvi had become a hero. On returning home, she had told her mother and grandfather about the incident, and they also had hurried to Ayodhya to thank Prithvi. She had no idea what he had replied and had been reluctant to ask, but when Sarojini and Bhoothnath had returned they were still singing his praises.
Sarojini looked up from the book in which she was writing the accounts to look at her daughter as she sat down at the table, and then glanced at the pile of unopened gifts stacked up in the corner of the room.
"Nandini, why haven't you opened the gifts till now?"
Startled out of her musings, Nandini looked up at her mother. "The gifts?...oh….I-I'll open them tomorrow."
Sarojini stood up and walked to her daughter. She took the towel from her daughter's unresisting hands and began drying the long, silken locks lovingly.
After a minute, she softly said, "This is not how you are usually. Every birthday, I've seen you open the gifts with so much excitement, but this time, you've hardly cast them a glance. Nandini, these gifts were given with a lot of love. This is not the way to treat them."
Nandini looked down at her hands, "I know," she said quietly, "I'll open them up right away."
"Good girl," Sarojini smiled.
"Lets open them together, it will be more fun that way," Nandini grinned.
**************************
Sitting on the floor with the pile of gifts in front, Nandini contemplated on an important decision about how to start and then declared, "I'll open the smallest one first!"
She picked up a hastily wrapped small box. "Mochi bhaiya had given this," she smilingly informed her mother.
Sarojini watched interestedly as her daughter carefully unwrapped the gift and took out a small marble statue of lord Krishna from the box.
"This is so beautiful!" she exclaimed.
"Yes….Yes it is…." Nandini said with numb lips, staring at it in shock, remembering the curious lines Sankatmochan had said while handing over the gift.
"But when you open it, just remember….it was not purchased, it was made – especially for you,"
"You made this?"
"Not me exactly….but…someone did!"
It had been made for her….Prithvi had made it for her….and she had refused it without a second's hesitation…
Mindful of her mother's presence, she held back tears, and keeping the Krishna close to her, pretended enthusiasm to open the other gifts.
An hour later, all the gifts had been opened, and the dresses, bags, purses and other assorted items had been duly examined and admired. Sarojini had left to run an errand and she was all alone in the drawing room.
Nandini looked at the beautiful little Krishna for a long while as a million thoughts and memories flitted through her mind. Then she kissed it, and rose to her feet and slowly made her way to her room.
She kept the little Krishna idol safely in her bag, and then opened the cupboard and took out a beautifully packed gift. A moment's hesitation hailed her, but resolutely casting doubts aside, she began removing the lovely paper cover.
When the unwrapping was over, a velvet case lay in her hands. With trembling fingers, she opened the case.
Gorgeous diamond anklets twinkled back at her.
The ones she had loved in the jewellery store and had wistfully desired. She wouldn't be able to keep it of course, it was too expensive. But back at the store, she hadn't spoken a word of her wish to Prithvi and yet he had known it….like he always did….
Only when a drop of water fell on the anklets did she realize that she was crying.
***********************************
Nandini walked out of the forest, towards her home, with a lightened feeling. She had just spent some time alone in front of the old temple, and was feeling much more peaceful with herself.
"Excuse me,"
Nandini turned and found herself looking at an unfamiliar face.
"You're Nandini, aren't you?" Digvijay asked, glancing around nervously. He had to say his part and leave before the prince saw him. Last time, he had barely escaped with his life and the shattered car. This time, the prince wouldn't spare him.
He had been loitering around Vrindavan for a long time, waiting to spot the girl when she would be alone so that he could pass on the king's message. He had also left his car far behind and dressed in an ordinary fashion so as to avoid attracting attention in this middle class locality.
But even in his nervousness he couldn't help being aware of the fact that girl was really beautiful and there was an innocent sensuality about her that was very intriguing. It was no wonder really that prince wanted her. In fact, Digvijay reflected, if the prince hadn't already set his eyes on her, he might have thought about making a play for her himself.
"Yes," Nandini replied, confused.
"I have come with a message for you from Prithvi's grandfather. He wants me to tell you -"
"His grandfather?" Nandini repeated perplexedly.
"Yes, his maternal grandfather."
Manohar had told him to avoid speaking of the king as much as possible. But how was he to convey a message without telling the girl who it was from. And he didn't see any harm in it either.
Nandini stared uncomprehendingly at the strange man. There had to be a mistake. Prithvi didn't have a maternal grandfather. He only had his uncle, Sumer Singh and a few relatives on his father's side.
"But he doesn't have – he never said he had a grandfather," she said haltingly.
"And why must he tell you anything," Digvijay asked loftily. "Now don't interrupt me and listen to what I say carefully."
"But -"
"Listen to me. If Prithvi is interested in you, you will give into his demands, whatever they might be. If there are any unfortunate consequences of the liaison, you will get rid of it."
Nandini felt increasingly sick with every word the man uttered. But there was something very unreal about this sequence, she thought torpidly with growing shock. Was this a nightmare? It didn't seem true….it was something out of a book….nobody spoke like this in the real world….at least, not in her world….
"How much money do you want for it?" Digvijay continued nonchalantly. "You can ask for as much money as you wish. But let me warn you…..don't get carried away and dream about having a place in his life. Because that will never happen. And yes….you will not tell Prithvi about this conversation. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, I understand you….and I wont tell Prithvi anything about you or this meeting, but only because I don't want your life on my conscience," she said at last, enraged beyond belief.
"What?" Digvijay asked blankly.
"If Prithvi ever learnt of even a single word of all the disgusting rubbish you dared to utter, he'll kill you," Nandini said, rigid with anger. "You said Prithvi's grandfather had sent you. If so, I need you to convey my message to him."
"Your message?" Digvijay asked, astounded at the temerity of the girl. Who the hell did she think she was to give a message to the king!!
"Yes, please tell him, that I am neither his grandson's servant nor his. "
"You dare to -"
"Tell him that I always held Prithvi's attitude against him. But now I understand that I was wrong to blame him. When the elders of the family themselves don't know anything about decency and culture, I shouldn't blame the youngsters."
"Listen girl -"
"Tell him that I respect his grandson a lot more now for being so goodhearted and noble despite growing up with terrible examples of humanity in front of him."
"You have no idea what you are -"
"I belong to a family that believes in cultured, educated behaviour so I cannot say all that I want to," she spat venomously. "But if you ever come up to me again and speak such filth, I'll kill you myself."
And without sparing him a second glance, she stormed away towards her house in wild fury.
****************************