Hopes Of A Clear Sky In Monsoon

Chapter - 9

Radhika was sitting on the verandah of her house, looking morosely at the swaths of dark clouds chasing the white ones away and painting the erstwhile cerulean blue sky in depressing shades of grey. In the course of two weeks, she had become practically a shell of someone she used to be. She didn’t argue with her mother anymore, and a certain sense of resignation had seeped into her day-to-day activities.

Her nightmares had started to recur, and were frightening her to a point that she could no longer sleep. Dark circles rimmed her eyes. She used to lie for hours in her bed, sobbing till no more tears were left, until her heavy eyes closed and she was dragged into a few hours of dreamless sleep followed by her excursion to the land of nightmares. Her sister was very worried about her, and although she had tried to ask her a number of times what was wrong, Radhika always had the same reply – “I’m tired, Tara. I’ll tell you later”.

Right now, the scene where she said goodbye to Rudra kept on swimming in her mind. It kept on replaying in her mind like a video on loop. She kept on thinking if she could have handled things a bit differently. She kept on reminiscing his words, not that they hurt any less now that they were replayed in her mind a few hundred times.

By the time Rudra had finished explaining himself, Radhika had wiped away her tears. She could not bear to show her precious tears to someone who thought so less of her. She would cry, yes, but she would do it in a place where he could not see her, where she could lick her wounds in peace. Her only, and most precious possession, her pride, was hurt.

“Rudra, I don’t want to talk to you any more”, she had said, trying hard to hide the sob in her voice. Saying so, she picked up her purse and turned to leave.

“Don’t do this Radhika. Both of us know how much you love me. Stay. Stay with me. I promise that she will not have any place in my heart. My heart has always, and will always belong to you.” Rudra said, grabbing on tightly to her wrist.

She tried to twist her hand out of his grip. But, the more she struggled, the more his grip tightened.

“Let go, Rudra”, she said through her teeth.

He didn’t say anything, simply tightened his grip further, until it felt like he would break her wrist.

“Excuse me, but are you done with your order? If you don’t mind, can I take this seat? I quite fancy the view here.” A man said suddenly, walking towards them.

Rudra did not reply.

“Let go”

“Oh, and did I mention grabbing on to someone’s wrist like that would be considered harassment, that too, in public? ” The man said flippantly. “Ma’am, would you like me to call the police for you?”

The word “police” seemed to bring Rudra to his senses. His grip loosened, and Radhika pulled free, rubbing her wrist to get some sensation back into it.

“We’re not done, Radhika.” Saying so, he stalked out of the café.

Radhika sat down heavily.  How could her life be turned upside down in a matter of a few hours, a cup of chai and some words?

“Can I sit here now? My chai is getting kinda cold” she heard the man ask.

She turned her head to look at the man, irritated. Did all he care about was his seat?

A pair of golden hazel eyes.

That’s all she saw, all she needed to see, to know that the gorgeous jerk had seen her, yet again, at the worst moment in her life. Why did he always turn up when she was insulted or embarrassed?

Radhika was pulled to the present by the sound of the clouds rumbling. The air left a metallic taste in her mouth. She would forget Rudra and what he had done to her. She would. He would just become somebody that she used to know.

........................................................................

Two weeks later, when Radhika was going to bed, she heard a quiet rap-tap-tap at her window.

At first, she thought that it was an owl. But when the tapping persisted, she decided to open the window to check.

Rudra was standing outside. His hair was disheveled, as though he had ridden on his bike as fast as he could to reach her house. It had been two weeks since she had broken up with Rudra and she was feeling as devastated as before. Rudra had not come to the café where they worked, nor had he called or texted.

As she continued looking at him, he climbed through her window, and she saw that he was still in his pyjamas.

“Why the hell are you here, Rudra?”

“Give me a glass of water first.”

“Don’t order me around. I’m not your girlfriend anymore.”

“Goddammit Radhika!” He whisper-shouted. “Will you stop saying that?”

"I am just stating facts. And speaking of facts, why are you here two weeks before your wedding? Did you sneak past your relatives to come here?”

“Look, I don’t have much time”

“Neither do I”

“Listen to me! This might as well be a matter of life or death.”

“What is it?”

“Do you remember the café we went to last time?”

Remember? Radhika thought to herself. He’s talking as if something very pleasant had happened there.
But, to Rudra, she simply said “yes” in a mechanical voice, devoid of all emotions.

"One of the people who met me at our workplace that day followed me to the café. Turns out, it was one of Hari Prasad Dubey’s men. He saw us and made an inference abut our relationship, and now, they are trying to search for you to take you out of the picture."

Radhika's heart stopped beating for a moment.

"Take me out of the picture? As in, kill me? What about my family? Are they in danger too?"

"No, the elections are coming soon and they do not want to make unnecessary noise. Your family is safe, be it before or after elections. They would not dare to touch your family, because of the media coverage it will get. Besides, one of the main points of the party manifesto is to “reduce differences between the upper and lower castes”. It is you that they want to take care of, quietly."

Radhika was chilled to the bone.

"What about you?"

"I am in trouble, too. He was thinking of calling off the marriage. It took my all to convince him that I was devoted to his daughter alone, no one else."

"Why am I the one in mortal trouble? I don’t even know Hari Prasad Dubey or his daughter. You are the one who is marrying his daughter. You are the one running for sarpanch elections. Why am I-"

"I don’t know what you're going to do now, Radhika."

The word “you” reverberated in her head and her small room.