FF:"Far or near" RaYa|pg41 chp17 27th April ! - Page 4

Chapter 3

~Back in Mumbai~

Vikram reminded Ram of the meeting they needed to attend in about 20 minutes. Ram grabbed his laptop and was headed towards the conference room with Vikram when his phone rang. The ringtone meant that it was a call from home, so he immediately took the call.

It was Natasha. "Bhai! Mom fell down the stairs. You need to come home right now." There was panic in her voice. Ram in haste replied. "I am coming this instant. Take her to Central Hospital immediately. Get her checked with our family doctor"

"What had happened Ram?" Vikram asked seemingly confused. "It's Maa. She fell down the staircase. We need to go now!" The next minute they were headed towards Central Hospital. Vikram prayed that nothing happens to her as he knew after Priya Niharika Aunty had been his strength. He had never told his family about Priya but, after she was gone, apart from him and Neha it was Niharika Aunty who had noticed his sudden behavioral change and understood the reason behind it. She had never asked him about Priya but had advised him to take charge of his life. Though being a step mother, she had never discriminated between Ram and the others and made sure he felt the same.

As soon as they reached the hospital Ram and Vikram rushed to where Niharika was being kept.

"Is Maa Alright?" Ram asked in an impatient manner. "The doctors are checking her Bhai..." Ishika answered on the verge of tears. In a moment their family doctor called out Ram. "Ram, there is no threat to her life but her right leg is broken. Her injury to the leg is quite complicated. I would suggest you getting her checked with a specialist..."

 "Isn't there a specialist in this hospital?" Ram interrupted. "Well Ram, at the moment he is in Delhi. I had informed him of the case, but he is unable to be here. He is attending a long surgery there." "So can we bring her to Delhi and there we can get her checked right". "Yes! I had informed of him the same. "So that's it then. Arrange it as soon as possible." It was more like an order what Ram had said. He was willing to do anything for his family and it would be evident to anyone.

"I am going with you Ram!" Vikram knew that his friend would need him there and Ram knew fully understood that.

In about half an hour they were headed towards Delhi along with Vikram, Ishika and Rishub.

...

~In Delhi~

Ram was tired by the time the formalities were done and Niharika was admitted in the hospital. The doctor had confirmed of an operation that needed to be done the next day. For the night everyone except Ram retired into a hotel they had booked for their stay there. He requested that everyone to take rest for the day as they must be tired. Niharika had been sleeping peacefully as the effect of the pain killers were taking effect on her

It was about five thirty in the evening. Ram decided to stroll around for a while as he needed a breath of fresh air badly.  The buzz in the hospital seemed a little less than the time he arrived. Time was seemingly stretching on, without a begging or an end. Hospitals were one thing he rather would want to stay away from. Hygienic as he is, he surely did not like the whole ambiance of such places. Apart from that, there was more of a reason why he did not like hospitals. After all it was in a hospital that he had met Priya for the first time.

He had been visiting an old friend that day and she was there of a minor accident she had met with. They had been waiting for the lift together but as soon as the lift opened she rushed to the staircase. He was perplexed by her weird behavior that day. He also did not know what got into him. Till date he was unaware why he had followed her that day. Out of concern or pure attraction?

"Are you all right?" Ram had asked after a lot of thought.

Priya was taken aback by Ram asking her of the accident. "Yes! It was just a minor injury, nothing much."

"No. Umm I meant why did you suddenly rushed towards the staircase? Not that I was worried or anything ... Just out of curiosity..." He managed to pass that lie as the truth very successfully.

"Oh, that! Well I don't like small, confined ... places" She managed to brush of the topic lightly with a smile.

There was nothing more to say and the silence grew. Priya was unaware of how much Ram was brainstorming to come up with something to talk about. By the time they reached the door Ram had given up. He himself couldn't believe he was acting like a teenager, following a stranger, trying to talk with her with every possible way there was.

"I don't think I would get a taxi even this time." Finally the unbearable silence was broken. And he hit upon the perfect plan to at least stick with her for a few minutes. "I will drop you home if you don't mind" He quickly suggested without giving a moment for Priya to come up with any other idea.

"Mr. Ram Kapoor. Aren't you a very busy person as I have heard?" She knew him and he was delighted. But then it was not a matter of surprise. "Not at the moment Mrs.?" "Not Mrs. It's Ms. Priya Sharma." "Very good then." He thought aloud.

"Did you say something?" "Nothing at all. I will drop you. Let's go."

Ram came out of his memories. He was exactly standing near the exit as he was back then. "How I wish this once she would emerge from somewhere...For this once "Just then somebody bumped into him from back.

 "Sorry!" A voice so familiar, a voice he could pick out from a million of people said. More like a whisper in his ears. Ram froze for a fraction of a second. She was walking away towards the car parked near the exit. Another lady was holding her hand, but Ram was too occupied to notice that.

 He can't forget her walk, the way she spoke, her low voice... It was her!! His Priya... 

"Aaya Woh Phir Nazar Aise
Baat Chidne Lagi Phir Se
Aankhon Mein Chubhta Kal Ka Dhuan
Haal Tera Na Humsa Hai
Is Khushi Mein Kyon Gumsa Hai
Basne Laga Kyon Phir Woh Jahan
Woh Jahan Dur Jis Se Gaye The Nikal
Phir Se Aankhon Mein Karti Hai Jaise Pehal
Lambha Beeta Hua ,Dil Dukhata Raha
Khamakha Bewajah Khwaab Bunta Raha"

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Chapter 4

Out of a wish she had emerged and was standing right in front of him. He was in two minds now, was she his desires transformed into a hallucination or was she real. The battle in his head came to a fast conclusion. She was a reality he had wanted beyond anything.

"Priya..." It was almost a whisper. He tried hard to find his voice back again. Alas, before he could call her out again she was in the car and out of his sight. "Damn!" He almost shouted this time. Why does she make me lose myself? She was the only one capable of triggering a war in his mind and soul just like now. And he knew better what other battles she could initiate in him, but this time he wasn't ready to play hide and seek. She was in Delhi and that was more than enough for him to seek her out.

~At Priya's Home~

She was feeling a strange, untold emotion out of a sudden. It was a routine visit to the hospital, just that. Then why today out of the blue she feels as if something was left behind there? Not something to be accurate, but someone.

It was like a whisper in her ears, his voice she had felt back then. It was more of a chill down her spine than sweet words that needed to be savored. It was her imagination she decided almost too quickly. She had been having his figure pop out of the darkness that shrouded her eyes nowadays. Everywhere, she felt as if she could see him drifting here and there. Maybe it was a wish she had been wanting in her subconscious mind, and now it was fading into her consciousness. To see him before darkness overcame light in her life. To be embraced within the protective embrace of his strong arms. To be able to tell him that she actually did love him... Was it too late? ...

Again the tears flooded her cheeks, pillows and obstructed the little view she had of the world. Embracing the eerie silence she closed her eyes wishing for the forbidden... Her forbidden... Ram!

~The Next Day~

Niharika had undergone the operation successfully and was kept under observation for another 24hrs. Vikram requested Ram to go to the hotel and rest.

He was suffering from fatigue now. He needed a bit of rest before setting out to search for her; after all it was no less than a journey that would write his life ahead.

Ram decided to go for a ride alone before landing at the hotel. He took the car and headed out into the roads of Delhi. It had started to rain in a while. Rain was something he hated, then loved and now hated again. The sound of the rain drops inflicted an unspeakable pain on him. He turned on the radio just to avoid it.

"She does not love me! What should I do Shreya?" Someone was speaking on the radio. "Just let her go Neil..." He did not hear what that person told next... The voice had just frozen him in time again. He did not hear anything now apart from a voice that uttered nothing but music to his ears. A symphony was at work again, soothing the wounds of the past... Soothing was just too much of a little word to describe the sensation burning within.

Ram just halted the car. He took his mobile and just called the number that was being repeated on and on again by her.

"Hello! This is Shreya. May I know who you are?" Priya said with ease, as she had done to those thousand of callers before.

"It is Ram..." His voice was shaking and trembling, his mind was on the brink of out blast.

The words the caller had told rang in her ears like a bell going on without stopping. The name did not bother her as much as the voice did. A husky tone that was so familiar. She thought a thousand times before replying to that man.

"I mean Ram Prasad." He twisted the truth again; he was too afraid that she would cut the call. He was not willing to lose her a third time.

"Yes Ram... Tell me your problem?" She uttered the words out with so much difficulty. It just couldn't be him, she was reassuring herself now.

"You see! This girl I loved... She just walked out one me one day on not meeting her for a cup of coffee. Comical eh?" The softness in his voice was making way into pure anger now. "I felt the same; bitterly comical ... What kind of a joke she had made out of my life! What do you think "Shreya Ji"! Does she not love me anymore or she just likes to play with people's lives?" Ram pressed on that last bit.

Rams every word on the other hand, was piercing into Priya's already wounded soul. It was him! There was no use of reassurance and prayers. She had to answer him now, there was no way out.

"Maybe... Just maybe ... she was compelled to do that! If she loved you so much she wouldn't do anything to make your life a hell, would she?" Priya answered, guilt emanating out of every word she said.

"Compelled? Was it too much of a burden for her to tell me why she was compelled..." Rams anger was out of boundary now.

"There are things we can't tell even if we want to at times... You... You have to understand that!" Priya was almost on the brink of tears now.

"Just once can you tell me why..." His words this time was a plea, he could not take it anymore, but before he could complete his sentence, Priya cut him in the middle.

"Which song would you like to request now?" She needed a quick escape.

Ram controlled his thoughts and tongue. "Please play me..."

He cut the phone and banged it onto the backseat while three hot tears rolled down his cheeks.

 On the other side, Priya was defenseless to the words he was piercing her through the song...

"Yaad hai mujhko, tune kaha tha

Tumse nahin roothenge kabhi

Dil ki tarah se haath mile hain

Kaise bhala chhootenge kabhi

Teri baahon mein beeti har shyaam

Bewafa yeh bhi kya yaad nahin

Kya hua tera waada

Woh kasam, woh iraada

Bhoolega dil jis din tumhe

Woh din zindagi ka aakhri din hoga

Kya hua tera waada

Woh kasam, woh iraada"

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