Moments With KaSh|They Both Screamed|Page 7 - Page 4

     Riddhima, dressed in a dark green and red lehnga came out from the kitchen with a metal tray in her hand. Ignorant of the spectacle that had just played out, she lays the tray down on the venue by the priest. The big grin on her face vanishes when she sees Shilpa, half-dressed and bloody.

     'Shilpa!' she screams as she runs toward her in her aid. 'What happened to you?!' She yells as she holds her face and inspects her.

     She gently holds her right wrist that was still oozing blood and wraps her dupatta around it to prevent the blood flow.

     'Sid! Sid!' Riddhima calls out to her husband for help as she was at a loss in knowing what way to take care of Shilpa.

     Riddhima turns her attention back to Shilpa when she feels her hand being pushed off.

     Shilpa, who was staring straight ahead lost in her own world, steels her eyes. She wipes away her tears and marches out the house with Riddhima running behind her.

     The outside air was filled with smells of deliciously cooked food. A huge feast was being laid out for all the guests in Shilpa's honour. Fire crackers and shehnai signaled the baraat coming near to the house.

     Shilpa struggled with opening the front door of her black BMW. Not wanting to face Riddhima's constant questioning right now, she heads towards the gate, takes a black shawl from one of the night-guards and runs as fast and far as she can.

***

     Armaan throws his helmet across his bedroom and screams. He grabs his bed-sheets and spills them across the floor.

     Water; unwillingly pour from his eyes from all the rage that was building up inside him. Anger from what was about to happen and what did happen. Fury for the fact Shilpa just threw him aside without a second glance.

     All the time when Shilpa supported him, took care of him, healed his wounds, made him laugh and simply just made him feel human, came rushing in waves.

     He rips off his shirt and starts punching the red sand-filled bag that is hanging in the middle of his room. He hadn't used it for months but since the last couple of days, this punching bag became his best friend.

     In many ways, this punching bag resembled his relationship with Shilpa. No matter how many punches or kicks he threw at it, it still came back. It allowed him to vent out all his anger and frustration without any questions asked. It returned him like his rock and prevented him from completely going insane.

     Similarly, Shilpa took numerous hits from him, physically, emotionally and mentally. But no matter what he did, she came back to him stronger than ever to keep him stable.

     That is except for now.

     As he punches the bag, he gets distracted by a light shining in his eyes. He takes a step forward to see what it was when the bag hits him from the behind. He starts shaking from wrath. Armaan rips the metal hook from the ceiling and throws it out the window. Shards of glass rip across the red bag making the entire sand spill out onto the wet grass.

     Armaan turns his attention back to the glinting light on his dresser. As he approaches it the glinting light recedes and the object begins to take form. Armaan picks it up and looks at it confused. He wonders as to how and when Shilpa's engagement ring got left behind in his room.

***

     Shilpa thanks Sister Lovely as she finishes up the dressing on her right wrist. Although she had asked, Shilpa refused to answer any of her questions pertaining to how she got the deeply inflicted wound.

     As Sister Lovely leaves the ward room, Shilpa takes out the ticket that she was holding underneath her shawl. She had just come back from the bus station after booking a ticket to Kasauli. She wasn't fleeing or anything. She just wanted to get away from Mumbai for a couple of days so that she can process and think clearly as to what had just happened tonight. She didn't want to make any drastic decisions like Armaan had. She wanted to know why he would just swoop into her room on the most important day of her life and just leave her like a broken doll.

     She couldn't help but feel so used and violated. She felt so... dirty. She hadn't felt this low in her whole entire life. Not even when she found out that she had an actual happy, prospering family here in Mumbai while she shifted between foster homes. Or even the time when she found out that her eternal aashiq was actually Armaan who was still in love with her married sister.

     No, what she felt right now was nothing compared to that.

     Shilpa perks her head up as she hears Dr. Keerti's voice outside. She quickly got off the stretcher and wrapped herself around in the shawl. She didn't want to be seen by any of the authority figures from Sanjeevani since she knew they will go straight to Riddhima.

     She quietly slips out of the ward undetected and runs out the back door of Sanjeevani.

***

     Dr. Keerti enters the ward room with Riddhima and Sid, followed by Sister Lovely who was looking anxiously behind them. As their eyes fall upon an empty room, they dejectedly slip out one by one.

     Riddhima who had lingered behind looking for at least one clue, sees a piece of paper laying by the wheels of the stretcher. As she approaches it and picks it up, she realizes that it is a bus ticket for one destined to go to the hilly station of Kasauli.

***

     Shilpa was looking behind her to make sure that no one was following her, bumps into someone. The black shawl that was wrapped around her head to cover her identity falls. Her eyes widen and her mouth opens.

     The figure before her smirks with his eyes twinkling under the moonlight.

     'Missing something?' he holds up a silver ring that was adorned with three little diamonds.

     Shilpa looks at it and gulps.