Good evening! 🌸
Moving on...💃💃💃
"Words in double quotes" - Talking
'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts
(Words in braces) - Telephone conversations.
Chapter 9 - Family
Ragini thrashed around in the water, trying to stay afloat. She tried to hold her breath, but it was becoming impossible due to how much she was panicking.
"Help! *gasp* Som-me*cough*o-o-one! Hel-" she went down the water again and she tried to bring her face above the water. However, she could feel the exhaustion setting in.
Ragini knew that if no one came to save her soon, she would drown. She could barely open her eyes amidst the water. She tried to look around if anyone was coming to save her. But there was no one.
Faces of her sister, Swara and her mother, Shramishtha, her two cousins, who were almost like her own brothers - Samay and Nikhil- flashed in her memory. All the happy moments of her life along with them passed through her mind.
'Is this my end? Is this the way I die? Maa, I'm sorry I'm about to leave you. I'm so sorry.' she closed her eyes in despair, waiting for the end.
"Ragini!"
Her eyes flew open when she heard someone call her name. She looked up in hope that someone came to save her.
"Hang on! I'll get you out in a minute." Ragini heard Vivek speak as he jumped into the water, fully dressed.
Ragini could feel her tears surface. Vivek was coming to save her. Someone would save her. She won't die yet!
Now, with the new hope of survival, she tried to keep afloat till he reaches her.
#Canteen#
Sanskar sipped his bottle of coke while thinking about the events from earlier. 'How could I be so careless? How could I let her see the photo!?' he focused his anger on Ragini. 'And that ignorant girl! How dare she go through my things? I never gave her the permission to touch my things. Why did she try to interfere with matters that doesn't concern her? If this keeps on happening, then...' Sanskar looked distraught.
He shook his head to clear his mind. 'Stop thinking about her Sanky! It will only ruin your mood.' he decided to think about his next song in order to distract himself.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Swara and Kriti enter the canteen.
"That's amazing Kriti! I can't believe you're working with Karan!"
"I know, right? It's like I'm living a dream!"
As he glanced at them, his eyes met Swara's. He just glared at her and turned his head the otherside.
He could hear Swara speak to Kriti in a hushed tone. "If he is here, then where is Ragini Di?"
Sanskar's eye twitched in irritation. 'Just when I was forgetting about that girl, these two came to remind me of her again!'
"I passed by her sometime ago at the corridor. I was so busy ranting about Karan's irresponsibilty, that I forgot to say 'bye'." Kriti replied, smacking herself on the head.
Swara rolled her eyes. "You just love hearing your own voice, don't you Kriti?"
"Hey! It's not like that. I turned back when I got to the stairs. But she was already on her way towards the indoor pool." explained Kriti.
"I guess that's where she went. Di did tell me that she wanted to see the pool yesterday."
Sanskar gripped the bottle harder 'That Ragini! Ugh! Stupid, ignorant, disrespectful girl!' he abruptly stood up, slamming his coke on the table. 'For years I've kept the secret. There is no way I will let this secret out because of some middle-class girl who thinks she can do what she wants!'
Sanskar threw the bottle on the trashcan and strolled out of the canteen to find Ragini. 'If she keeps interfering, she might find out my secret. Today it was the photo, tomorrow it might be something else. Not even Laksh has been able to find out my secret for all these years. I cannot let it get out because of some random girl. I need to tell her to keep her boundaries and not try to become friends with me. That's the only way I can keep my secret safe.'
Swara and Kriti looked on wide eyed as he went away like a mad bull.
"Swara, why does it feel like he is going to start World War III?"
"Just hope that we aren't on his 'to kill' list." Swara replied with a shudder.
#Indoor Pool#
Once Vivek reached her, he slung her arm around his shoulder and held her by the waist with his other hand to kept her above the water. "Don't worry, I'll get you out in no tim-wow!" He exclaimed suddenly, when he felt himself going under the water due to the weight of his clothes. However, he recovered and began pulling both of them above the water.
Ragini started panicking. "What happened?! Why are you drowning!? Oh my goodness, we will both die now!" she began thrashing again in panic. "We're gonna die! We're gonna die! I haven't even had my first kiss yet!"
Vivek tried to balance her. He needed for her to stop thrashing so that he could keep her afloat and take her out of the pool "Ragini? Ragini! Stop it! Stop thrashing! I'm not drowning, it was just my clothes. Ragini! Ragini calm down! Ragi-"
Suddenly, while thrashing, Ragini's elbow accidently hit Vivek on the nose with full force. Vivek felt the world spin and felt himself going under water. Because of the sudden hit, he couldn't recover soon enough as his breath shortened, leading him to lose consciousness. Ragini's horror stricken face was the last thing he saw as darkness clouded his vision.
Ragini's eyes widened as she felt Vivek's body slacken. "No no no! You can't faint now! Now's not the time to sleep!"
With Vivek unconscious, she was going underwater again. Ragini tried to shake him awake. Water was getting in her mouth, making it hard to breathe. "*gasp* Vi-Vivek! Wake up! *cough*Vivek! You're here to save me, damnit!*cough*Wake up!"
'Now we're doomed. I doomed not only myself, but he's going to die because of me too! God save us please! If not me, save him please!' she felt like sobbing. Because of her, Vivek had risked his life. But she put him in danger instead!
She took a deep breath and screamed as loud as she could as a last resort "Someone *gasp* help us! Save us *gasp* Please!" She could feel the air leave her and hoped that someone comes to save them. That scream was her last weapon, and her last string of hope. 'Help...someone...anyone!' That was the last thing in her mind before darkness overcame her.
#With Ansh#
Ansh looked in all the changing rooms, but couldn't find Vivek anywhere. He thought that Vivek might have left through the back door to the field and so he went there to check. But there was no one there. He sighed in disappointment. 'Guess I should just head back.'
However, he didn't know if he was ready to face Ragini.
She had seen him in one of his weakest moments. He didn't know how she would react. 'What if she doesn't want to talk to me anymore thinking that I'm an emotional mess? Maybe it would be best if I just go around the field to the hall, without facing Ragini?' he took a step, but paused. "No."
Ansh shook his head of the earlier thoughts. 'No! Ragini isn't like that. I may not know much about her, but she looks like a good person. Besides, I can't keep escaping her forever. I would need to face her sometime.'
Thinking so, he headed back to the changing rooms.
Ansh was about to open the door that connected the pool and the changing rooms, when he heard Ragini's scream.
"Someone help us! Save us Please!"
Ansh didn't wait any second for thoughts to form in his mind. His legs moved before his thought as he rushed out to save her.
#With Sanskar#
Sanskar was heading towards the indoor pool, royally pissed. He was almost at the entrance. "Today I'll make sure that she clearly understands that I will never agree to be her friend. We will forever remain enemies and-" he stopped speaking when he he heard a desperate scream which shocked him.
"Someone help us! Save us Please!!!"
"What...what was that?!"
Sanskar broke out of his shock and ran as fast as he could towards the pool. As he reached the door, he pushed it open and looked inside frantically. His eyes went to the middle of the pool and noticed two figures afloat.
However, his attention went to the other side of the pool when he saw someone else arrive there in a hurry. It was Ansh.
Ansh's eyes, too, met his from the other side. Both brothers stared at each other. It was as if they were in a face off.
Suddenly, they heard some gruggling in the water and looked to find two people drowning.
The brothers looked at each other and nodded.
They both knew that it was no time to argue. They needed to work together to save the ones drowning.
Both discarded their jackets and jumped into the water. They swam as fast as they could and reached the two, who were unconscious. Sanskar grabbed Ragini while Ansh grabbed a hold of Vivek. The twins tried to pulled them to the edge of the pool.
However, it was a difficult task, as both Ragini and Vivek were heavily dressed and their clothes kept pulling them down.
The Maheshwari brothers managed to get them to the edge and used all their strength to get them out of the water. Once they were out, the brothers tried to get to the surface as well.
However, Ansh could feel the exhaustion overcome him. All his strength seemed to be gone while pulling Vivek. He was no doubt heavier than Ragini with all the muscle, and his clothes too were of much layers. 'So...so sleepy. Just a bit...a little nap.'
Ansh was about to drift off in the water, which would no doubt lead to his doom. However, he felt someone grab his arm. The same person pulled him hard and pushed him over the edge of the pool, and onto the surface.
As his sense cleared, he tried to push himself to turn over to look who helped him. 'Is it Karan?'
He blinked his eyes to get a clear vision. However, he got surprised by what he saw.
He noticed it was Sanskar who got him out of the water. The same brother who claimed to despise him and not care at all about him. "San...Sanky?"
Sanskar managed to get his brother out successfully. However, he could feel the adrenaline leave him. He too had felt exhausted after handing an unconscious load out of the water and then pushing it over the edge. However, when he saw his twin about to go down, he rushed to his aid with renewed vigour.
But now, he was all out of energy. He could feel haziness set in. He gripped on to the edge of the pool, but could feel his fingers slipping due to lack of energy.
Sanskar would have drowned. But before his grip loosened compl, Ansh grabbed him. He grabbed his wrist and pulled him out.
Once they were both out of danger, they took in deep gulps of air. Both panted in relief and exhaustion.
Sanskar let out a a laugh. "Oh yeah. That was *huff* fun. Let's...never do that again!"
"So the cool Sanskar Maheshwari *huff* finally needed help from a computer geek *huff* like me, eh?" taunted Ansh in good humor.
"Look who's talking." he spoke breathlessly, coughing out some water. "It's you who was ready to faint like a girl. And you would have, if it wasn't for me!"
"I was able to pull out a fatso like you out of the water. I think that's enough to prove my manliness." remarked Ansh, sitting up slowly taking on deep breaths.
"Fatso? That's probably you looking in the mirror. I think you mistook yourself for me, my twin bro." Sanskar replied with a smirk.
"Maybe I should have let you suffer for sometime underwater." Ansh muttered with an eyeroll. However, there was no animosity in his tone. It was obvious it was a joke.
"Nah. You're too much of an emotional fool to let anyone suffer. I bet you couldn't even hurt a fly!"
Ansh raised a hand in surrender "Alright. I guess it's true. Guess you win this time."
Sanskar smirked. "Big brother always knows the best, little brother. Big brother knows the best."
Both looked at each other and smiled. To them, it felt like how they used to be when they were a family.
Suddenly, Sanskar's eyes widened. He looked like he did something he shouldn't have. At once, he stood up. He stumbled back and promptly ran away from there.
As he watched Sanskar scram, Ansh just kept sitting there dumb-founded, too confused about everything. 'One minute he is talking to me like old times. And the next, he runs away like that. What....what does this all mean Sanskar? Why won't you ever tell me?'
He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard some coughing beside him and found Ragini waking up.
"Ragini. Ragini? Hey, Ragini? Are you alright?"
Ragini sucked in a deep breath and turned on her back to gag out all the water that had gotten in her lungs. "Ye-yeah."
"Are you really?"
"Yes." she breathed heavily, but manages to give him a reassuring smile. "I ain't gonna leave pestering you that easily." she tried to lighten the mood. "I'm fine, see?"
Ansh still worried if she was really alright. 'At least she doesn't seem to have been injured severely.' thought he.
From the corner of his eyes, noticed that Vivek still hadn't moved. He moved near him and pressed his chest two or three times. After some moments, Vivek coughed. Ansh at once turned him on his back to let out the water.
"Is.. Is he alright?" asked Ragini tentatively. She was well enough to be able to talk coherently.
"I...I think we need to take him to the college medical wing. Fast."
Ragini gasped. "Oh my! Let's go quickly then."
Both he and Ragini held Vivek between them and moved out of the indoor pool.
🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
To be continued...
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Thanks! ~ 🌹 Mona 🌹