Chapter 13: Love In Hallucination
Present….
Riddhima yells at Kabir,
“What do you think? That you have kidnapped me then I’ll love you…. Never. Neither in this life…. Nor in next….. I was, I’m and I will always love Vansh…. Till my last breath… Did you get it…. Till my last breath”
Kabir gives a psychotic smirk to Riddhima and pulls her hair
“Ahhh….. Kabir leave me…. I said leave me”
“No darling I’ll not leave you…… If you’ll love Vansh till your last breath, so till your last breath, you’ll not meet Vansh. Your dead body will reach him” And he laughs devilishly.
He goes out, leaving her alone in that wooden house.
She was sitting there alone, all alone with dizzy eyes, bruises and pain. That pain was not physical, but…. Emotional. Tears were flowing from her eyes and she thinks,
“I can’t bear this pain anymore, pain of staying away from you Vansh. I can’t even kill myself, because I want to live….. Live with you. Without seeing you I can’t die. I know that even you must have been shattered….broken…..like me, even you are going through same pain, through which I’m going”
She leans her head on the wall, close her eyes and countless tears falls from her eyes making her lashes and face wet. Just then a husky voice falls on her ears and she opens her eyes with a broken smile and says,
“Vansh…. You…..”
He says, “No Riddhima you can’t get so weak. You have to fight. You taught me how to live life, then how could you think of leaving life. You are my wild cat,my miss passenger,you can’t lose. In this journey of life, I want my miss passenger with me.”
Riddhima says with badly flowing tears,
“Vansh what if I gets fail? Vansh I don’t wanna fail, Vansh main jeena chahti hu,main marna nahi chahti………main tumhare saath jeena chahti hu”
(“Vansh I want to live, I don’t wanna die……I want to live with you”)
He holds her face in between his palm and says,
“Riddhima neither you’ll fail,nor you’ll die. Tum nahi haar sakti Riddhima…….pata hai …….duniya ki sabse badi taakat tumhare pass hai,kyunki tumhaara pyaar……..humesha tumhare saath hai”
(You’ll not deceive, you know….world’s biggest power is with you, because your love……is always with you)
“Vansh…..I’ll fight…..I’ll fight for you,fight our love. Thank you” and she closes her eyes and allows the tears of sadness to flow, so that she can fight again. She opens her eyes and finds Vansh was just her hallucination and says with a broken smile,
“You were not with me Vansh,but still your love is my biggest power and I’ll come back to you…..I promise”
She takes a deep breath and thinks,
“This is the first time Kabir have left me alone, without making me faint, means he thinks that I can’t run from here. The door is closed,my hands and legs are tied,I can’t even go out and see,how it looks outside. But for sure this an isolated place and this house,in city it’s not possible to find. If I listen to all the sounds carefully there is little sounds of water,birds and fluttering leaves….strange. I don’t even have a watch, that I can count that in how much time he returns. As per my guesses till now 20-25 minutes, must have passed. I have to count seconds now. So that I can see, in how much time he will returns and will he take same amount of time every time. She starts muttering 1,2,3,4…….” and so on.
After sometime her eyelids were getting close again and again due to pain but she thinks,
“No Riddhima you have to fight” And she keeps counting. Her mouth and throat gets dried up, she was feeling thirsty and breathing heavily, but she kept counting. At last her attempt gets failed and she gets faint. After few times Kabir comes and sprinkle some water on her, she gain a little consciousness and whispers,
“Water….. Water”
He makes her drink some water and she slowly opens her eyes, blinking her eyelids multiple times to make her vision clear. He says,
“Darling, Riddhima darling open your eyes baby, look I’m here. I hope you didn’t missed me”
Riddhima turns her face in disgust at opposite side. He opens her ropes and gives her food, she was about to refuse but thinks,
“No Riddhima, you have to behave properly for few days, if you have to run. If he is a psycho then I’m also a psychologist, I know how and when to manipulate him”
She eats her food quietly, without making eye contact with Kabir.
On the other side,
Vansh visits Riddhima’s house and meets her nani (sush). She welcomes him and says,
“O… O… O welcome handsome welcome”
Vansh hugs her and sit on the couch. She says,
“You came so early today”
“Yes Sush, actually today work was very less. So I winded up everything and came to my beautiful”
They both laugh.
“Vansh you go and get freshen up” He nods and goes to Riddhima’s room. After getting fresh, he sits on bed and holds Riddhima’s photo frame which was beside him on table and says,
“I miss you…… I miss you alot” and he closes his eyes and countless tears of pain fall from his eyes. Just then a hand wipe those tears, he opens his eyes and says,
“Riddhima…… You”
“Don’t cry Vansh, even I miss you a lot.”
“Then why don’t you come back, haan. You came like a fresh air in my life, you became my life, my breath and….. Now you went away. I’m tired of keeping a fake smile on my face……but the truth is that,the moment you went away,my smile faded away. I feel like, I’m only a body,without a live…..I feel like I’m dead alive. Now I can’t bear this pain anymore. Tumne mujhe zindagi jeena sikhaya tha na Riddhima……toh yeh kyun nahi sikhaya…. Ki…. Tumhare bina zindagi kaise jee jaati hai?”
(“You taught me, how to live life, so why you didn’t taught me…. How to live life without you?”)
She keeps her hand on his hand and says,
“Vansh……. I’m still here with you. I know…..you stay in this room because you feel my essence here. Even I miss you alot Vansh and you have to fight, for our love. You can’t get weak”
“And……. What if I get fail?”
She keeps her hand on his face smilingly and says,
“Tum nahi haar sakte Vansh…….pata hai …….duniya ki sabse badi taakat tumhare pass hai,kyunki tumhaara pyaar……humesha tumhare saath hai”
(You’ll not deceive, you know….world’s biggest power is with you, because your love is always with you)
He closes his eyes, allowing all his emotions to vent and flow through it. He takes a deep breath and says with broken smile,
“It was just a hallucination, you are not with me,but still……you are there. Your smile is my biggest strength. Miss.Passenger,surely your magic is very strong” and he wipes his tears. Just then Sush knocks the door and she enters with dinner,
“Arey… Why you came Sush? I was coming downstairs”
“It’s ok Vansh. I’m still young, I can climb stairs.”
They both laugh and she sits beside him and he have his dinner happily. She says caressing his hairs,
“You are very selfless Vansh, you look after everyone’s happiness. But your eyes tells the truth, that you miss her a lot. The pain…..the sadness……your love for her,is clearly visible in your eyes.”
He smiles and says,
“Yes I do miss her a lot…..that’s why, I stay here twice a week because I have the same reason….. Which you have, due to which you are staying here and always denies to come to VR Mansion….. That is…..her essence. But our wildcat is strong and so do we.”
“Yes absolutely, she is strong indeed”
“And by the way….. More than essence, I even get a chance to flirt with you” and he winks her.
They both laugh and he side hugs her.
Power of love can’t get measured,
Just a thought of your loved ones,
Fills you with infinite strength……….
~By Author