New Beginnings

9- Town is lot different than city

Aside from the fact dinner was quite early for my liking, it had been a quite affair, not like the lunch. Definitely not like the lunch.

Flashback

When we returned from the tour, feeling hungry, the door was already open and noise of shouts and cheers could be heard from outside itself.

Peeping inside, Raghav informed me with a sigh, "Rishi and his football buddies are inside. I guess they must have won a match".

"Umm...how about we resume our tour? We can come back later", I asked hopefully.

"No", he deadpanned.

"But....", I started whining but he interrupted me.

"I am hungry and we are going inside. RIGHT NOW", he said, shouting the last sentence with finality.

"We can eat outside. You didn't show me Uncle's restaurant. Let's go and eat there", I tried making an excuse.

There was no way, I would go in when there were so many rowdy boys.

Raghav rolled his eyes and pulled me inside.

"Aaa", I screeched upon being forcefully pulled.

"Hey! Who's the new girl?" one of the Rishi's friend asked, eyeing me up and down.

Raghav came forward, hiding me from that guy and glared at Rishi.

"Keep your friends in check", he said to Rishi and took me to the kitchen, still holding my hand.

Aunt was nowhere to be seen. Obviously she wasn't here or else these boys wouldn't have this much courage.

"Sorry", he whispered while taking out two plates.

"It's fine. It wasn't your fault", I said shrugging.

"Let's go", he said after filling our plates and climbed the stairs.

"Umm...won't Aunt scold us for eating in the room instead of dining table?" I asked nervously after reaching the room.

"Don't worry she won't and if she does then I will take the blame", he said and sat down on the floor of his room. probably to not get the bed dirty.

Nodding, I too sat beside him. We ate our food quietly, not like we would have able to hear each other even if we tried to talk as the background noise of Rishi's friends screaming and hooting, filled the room.

Flashback over

Taking out my earphones, I thought of going for a walk and simultaneously completing the tour of the town, which we had left behind because of the hunger.

"Trisha, where are you going?" Uncle asked when I passed by the couch, he was sitting.

"For a walk. I was thinking of finishing the tour of the town", I replied with a small smile.

"Have you seen the time? It's 9 o'clock at night", Aunt asked in a shocked voice, while coming out of the kitchen.

"Yeah I know it's just 9pm. So...?" I asked not understanding her reaction.

She face palmed. "Why do you want to go outside at this hour? It's so late. What will you see in the town, everything will be closed now and streets would also be empty? Do you even understand, how dangerous it is to walk on empty streets? Have you lost your mind?" she scolded me.

"Empty streets?" I asked, still not understanding why she was getting angry on me.

She was again going to yell, but Uncle stopped her.

"Yes dear, empty streets. By this time, everything closes down except movie theaters, for that too the whole family goes together. So I hope you understand why your Aunt got worried", he explained with a calm smile.

I nodded even though the whole situation was bizarre for me. This was all new to me.

City life never stopped. Even if you came out of your home after midnight, you would still find people and vehicles going on. Night walks were a routine for me and my parents never stopped me. This town was going to be death of me.

"I will...I will just go to my room then",  I said awkwardly and left to hide in my room.

I came back to my room with a frown on my face. Upon entering, the photoframe of my parents instantly grabbed my attention.

Picking it up, I sat down on my bed with huff.

"Your sister just scolded me", I spoke with a pout, looking at Mom's photo.

"Yeah yeah, you just smile at my misery. Everyday, I keep getting shocks about one thing or other.

"The least you could have done was inform me about your sister. I would have atleast known what to expect from her.

"She was so calm all these days and now she bursted out like a volcano over such a small topic. How was I supposed to know that streets died out here so early? But why would you care? You are busy enjoying in heaven with Dad. Well I hope you are in heaven, but you never know", I spoke shrugging.

I knew they would never answer back, it felt good to talk about everything thinking that they would be hearing me.

Shaking my head, I was just going to put the frame back to it's place when Aunt called from other side of the room, asking me to open the door.

No not again. Hoping that I wasn't in for another round of scolding, I opened the door nervously.

She stood there, looking hesitant as well. Stepping aside, I waited for her to enter.

"Trisha I...., I am so sorry dear", she apologized holding my hand.

I just looked at her, well looked at the wall behind her in confusion. Few minutes ago, she was yelling at me and now......this.

Sighing, she walked towards the bed and I too followed, having no option as she was holding my hand.

After sitting on the bed, she turned and apologized again, "Dear, I am really very sorry. In fear of your well being, I totally forgot that you are new here and aren't aware of many things that are usual for us. Instead of explaining everything to you calmly, I scolded you. Please forgive me".

"You don't have to apologize. It's okay, it happens sometimes", I said uncomfortably, while looking at the designs made on the bedsheet.

In my whole life, I had never seen an elder apologizing for their mistakes to the younger generation. To say I was astonished, was an understatement.

"I have to. When I expect apologies and remorse from you when you are wrong, then it's only right if I give back the same", she said, thus raising my respect for her even more.

"Apology accepted", I said, so that she could get rid of her guilt.

"Thank you. If you really wish to go for a walk then we can accompany you, that way you would be safe too", she suggested.

"No, it's alright. I will let you know if I want to go someday", I denied politely.

"Ok dear, Good Night. And I really hope that you could bring yourself to look at my face one day", she said before leaving.

I too wanted to do the same but I didn't have the courage, right now. Hopefully that day would come soon.

  ********                   

Don't forget to click the star button if you enjoyed this chapter.