Oodhni ka Moti. (Letting Go: Part 10)

Oodhni ka Moti.

(Final Part)

Rudra's first instinct was to stride up the remaining steps to the Mandap Hall and drag her out of the darned temple, away from the crowd and scream at her! He could not believe that he had found her here in the middle of nowhere praying while he was out like a mad-man running across the town, organizing a massive search and rescue operation utilizing precious BSD resources, while she was here praying for crying out loud, as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn't run away!"Are you freaking insane!?", he wanted to scream at her.

But all those thoughts went up like a puff of air as soon as the stroke of the familiar drew him in, like it had the first time they had met all those months ago in the middle of a blistering desert amidst her cries of help. She had taken away a piece of him that day, and as she stared back at him from the top of the beautifully lit up temple now, he knew exactly what she had taken away that day, his heart. She was the light that lit up his dark world. He could no longer deny.

For a moment, neither moved. 

The trance however was broken by the sound of the temple bells. It brought them back to the present, for him it was a moment of sheer relief, she was safe, everything else could be fixed. For her though, it wasn't as simple.

"Bewakoof Ladki..." he mumbled as he made his way towards his visibly nervous wife.

"Ghar chal Paro..." he said, not caring that he was still interrupting the aarti or the curious audience that was attuned to his every word by now.

"I can't go back..." she said folding her hands in prayer, "Pundit ji, why don't you start the aarti?" she asked trying desperately to avoid the fuming man besides her.

"Paro..." his voice was a firm reminder, the tone a clear indication that he was not taking a no for an answer.

"Is this man harassing you?" the priest asked Paro much to Rudra's annoyance,"No!" was her emphatic response, "He is my husband" she added in a low voice.

"Pundit ji, its getting dark" another woman spoke up, "Why get in that middle of a husband wife tiff?" 

Rudra stood right behind Paro as she joined in the aarti, observing her the entire time. There was no way he was letting her out of his sight now. However, as soon as the aarti was done, he held her firmly startling her in the process, "Kya...what are you doing?" she asked looking down at his grip on her hand.

"I am taking you to Birpur" he said.

"But... I didn't ask you..." she stopped as his words hit home, "wait what...Birpur?" a very puzzled Paro stared back blindly at Rudra.

"Kyun.." he stepped towards her intimidatingly, "wasn't that where you were headed to?" 

"But I was coming back to Chandangarh" her words stopped him in his tracks,"Paagal hai tu?" he asked out of sheer frustration, "Do you even know what ..."he held her by her arms tightly.

"What was the point of all this?" his eyes held her captive even as he let go of her physically, she was not making any sense, and his patience was running short,"Paro... I'm waiting..." he said. He needed answers.

"I ...err...I couldn't leave without telling you why I was going away" he noticed she was playing with the folds of her dupatta as she spoke, the way she did only when she was utterly nervous.

This woman would drive him mad, Rudra knew.

"So wait, let me get this, you ran away then stopped in the middle of nowhere to return because you needed to tell me why you needed to run away?"  his beautiful wife would be the death of him someday, couldn't she see what all of this was doing to him - he simply stared back incredulously!

"Why are you here?" she asked a little annoyed, "If you plan on shouting at me the whole time..."

"Paro..."

"Why are you here?" she repeated herself, suddenly the need to know overwhelmed everything else.

Rudra was never comfortable baring himself, and he wasn't about to start here and especially now when she was the one supposed to be answering him  "Chor police?" his response left her confused, "Chor police?" she repeated after him.

"Haan, tu chor mein police, toh bata, police ko toh chor ki peecha bhagna hi tha..." 

Paro couldn't stop her smile this time, it felt good and made her feel better. And thats how Paro finally gathered enough courage to spill the truth; truth that felt like a lie to him, "Thats it?" The disbelief was written large on his face.

"It is the truth..." she said. 

"A vow?" he asked,  "You made me a thing?"

It offended her. "The most precious thing I have"  she reiterated right away.   The emphasis on the most precious was not lost on either though.

The honesty in those words, in her eyes and the truth rendered him defenseless... baffled and irritated him at the same time. So much so that Rudra couldn't decide if he wanted to stay mad at her or just kiss her senseless till his kisses drugged her and him both, "Paagal" he wanted to say and take her into his arms...

He kept staring at her finally grateful that it wasn't anything sinister that had taken her away from him, that she hadn't fallen out of love but this... he didn't know what to do with her, with his Paro. 

The most precious thing, only Paro could kill and breathe life into him at the same time.

"Now you know why I need to go away from you" she said a little flustered under his intense gaze and completely oblivious to the effect her words had had on him, "They said another bus will be here in an hour" she said looking at the empty road barring the odd traffic, trying to avoid starring back at his eyes that were beginning to make her feel strange things. Strange things that made it very difficult to breathe...

"Fine then, I will take you there" he said "You are not going alone" 

"Matlab?" Paro turned back to look at him, "But why?"

"Pata nahi kya hoga Birpur ko, the minute you get there. Everywhere you go, you get yourself in trouble" his eyes still held hers in a hypnotic gaze, "One night Paro, one night. thats all you get"

"But?" 

"You made that promise Paro. Not me. Thats all I know"

"So I'll go to Birpur and you can go back home" she was equally adamant, "why is it so hard for you to understand..."

"What if you run away again? I cannot take that chance..."

"Why would I run away?"

"You don't have a choice Paro, either you go with me willingly or I take you back by force?"

"You will force me?"

"Yes, when you are being silly. Yes i will force you"

"But I made a promise to Bholenath"

"To hell with that promise..."

"How can you talk about Bholenath like that?"

"I meant your silly promise Paro"

"But..."

"You promised about walking away but I'm not bound by your promise. You..."he drew her close to his body, "My wife stays with me. And if she goes running away then I go where she goes...besides you didn't vow not to ever come back. And i never made any promises, so its going to be one of these two, either you get on that bike now or..." his voice was fanning her face.

"Or...?" his proximity was wreaking havoc with her resolve by the second.

"I will pick you up and take you home forcibly"

"Birpur" she corrected him.

"Aaj raat...sirf aaj raat" and let her go.

"Par Major Saab..." He shushed her, "Chup!" he commanded, "Ek aur shabd nahin..."

"Dont twirl that mooch!" he heard her say when she was a good few paces ahead of him but it did not stop him, life was going to be very eventful he knew with Paro and her brand of unpredictability around, he mused, but he was ready for the ride. 

"Major Saab...I can't go" she turned around with a frown on her face, breaking his happy thoughts, "What's wrong now?" he asked, "But this is wrong"  Rudra understood her dilemma but he wasn't going to let her give up on them so easily.

"That was wrong Paro" he walked up to her and held her hand, "This isn't. We aren't"

He knew he had her attention now and he had a lifetime to try and convince her of the same, he could live with that.

~~~