Her Wounds Hurt Him

Chapter- 02

After rehearsing for hours, Akash suggested taking a break and getting some coffee, but she refused and asked him to go. He couldn't understand what was going on with her. Why was she ignoring him? What had he done? He had too many questions. He went to grab a coffee by himself. He returned to see Dhani sitting near the window looking pointlessly at something outside. The wind was blowing her hair away from her face. He captured that moment on his phone. 

After the rehearsals were over he offered a ride to Dhani but she left without any response. It's human nature, the more something keeps getting away from us, the more we want it. Same was the situation with Akash; he wanted to know Dhani, why was she so reserved in her present, what had happened in her past, wanting to be in her future. He came back home, locked himself in his room and starts painting. He ends up breaking his canvas. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't bring that beauty he saw at that moment. All he could do was to wait for the next morning, to hold her in his arms again. He fell asleep with the splattered colors on the floor. 

Dhani kept herself busy with her books. Her parents often wished they could get their daughter back, who was full of life. It had been four years and she still cried in the dark. Mahika had to start sleeping alone; she couldn't see her sister crying all night. 

Every day Dhani wrote something in her dairy, something that nobody knew. 

The next day when Dhani reached the dance studio, Akash wasn't there yet. 'He is late again' she thought. This time he wasn't actually late; he was hiding in a corner just to see Dhani dance. There was no one around, Dhani danced like an ocean, few moves like the high angry tides and few like the low calm ones. She twists her ankle and loses balance. Before she could fall, Akash held her. He expected it to be a typical Bollywood scene; heroine falls into the hero's arms, the really long eye contact and the heroine is head over heels for the guy. But this was the real world, as soon as Akash held her, she helped herself and stood there with her expressionless face and asked him to start rehearsing. He was shocked by her reaction. 

Her pink suit, her silver bangles and the jingling sound of her anklet took him to another world. He wondered how his touch didn't affect her at all; whereas her one-touch could give him butterflies in the stomach. 

In the third meeting, they hardly spoke and Akash was getting furious about it. As they rehearsed, she would move closer, he could hold her and all his rage would vanish. He expressed his love for her through his dance. While holding her in his arms, without giving much thought, he blurts out about the painting; how he couldn't justify her beauty on the canvas. She steps back and turns around to leave. He grabs her hand and begs her to give him a chance to know her. He wanted to know her. Her expressionless face brought tears to his eyes. Those tears melted her heart and she promised to open up to him. 

With the promise comes a condition, that she won't tell him much until she gets to know him completely. He loved the idea; He always wanted an opportunity to express himself to her. He immediately agreed to it. During rehearsals, he told her stories from his childhood; about his best friend Nikhil, how Nikhil had gotten punished for his mistake. Nikhil had stopped talking to him, for two months and how every day he kept sending a letter to know if he was still angry. After hearing this cute story she had a slight smile on her face. It was there just for a few seconds. He wished he could stop the time for that moment, with that smile on her face. That day he knew he had underrated his lady love's beauty. She was way more beautiful when she smiled and now he was wondering how her laughter sounded like; probably the most beautiful sound he would ever hear. 

After the rehearsals, it was quite dark and Dhani was waiting for her car to arrive. Akash was driving back home and saw Dhani waiting by herself. He couldn't leave a girl alone standing by the road so late at night. He asked her to hop in but she refused, yet again, and said she would walk down to her house. Knowing how adamant she was, Akash parked his car to the side and told her that he would also prefer a walk today. She just nods and they started walking. There was an awkward silence hanging between them. Akash tries to break the silence by talking about her sister, internally cursing him about the silly question. 'She is fine' was her reply. It was monsoon and all he could ask God at that moment was not to make it rain. But it never works that way. It starts to rain. He runs towards a nearby shop for shelter. He turns around to see Dhani dancing in the rain. He could see the child in her had come out. More than to kiss her on her cheeks, he wanted to pull her cheeks. That's how cute she looked. All of a sudden she stopped as if someone had reminded her that she wasn't allowed to be happy. She stood there in the rain without moving. Akash ran to her and asked her to get into the nearby shop.