Fitoor | ✓

16 | Solaa

16 | Solaa

Lekh hadn't really given much thought when they had planned Tara would move to her brother's house. He was realising now had he done that he wouldn't have to spend hours thinking about her. His world had shifted, he felt like the Earth was rotating slower than usual, the days were longer and the air was always suffocating.

He missed her.

He would never admit to anyone; he would never even say it out loud to himself but he really did. In an unconventional way, he had bonded with her without much communication. They had found a common ground between them, loneliness. They were both lonely. Misplaced. And in these bundle of wistful emotions, they found themselves tied together. This is what lonely people did, they found togetherness amongst themselves.

So now that Tara was gone, Lekh felt more estranged than ever, something was different in his life and he couldn't point to it exactly but he was pretty sure it revolved around the woman he was going to marry in mere days. The woman he was sort of falling for.

Lekh would try to keep his mind off her so he could get his job done, but he turned out to be bloody pathetic at that. However, he wanted to dig a thirty feet hole in the ground for himself when he gained recognition of the one thing that could get his mind off Tara – his mother's tantrums. He'd rather indulge into thoughts about Tara and not get his work done than deal with his mother's hysterics.

Indira was mental, Lekh was pretty sure he'd go to hell for thinking about his mother this way, but my god she was. She didn't care who it was, she was simply ordering everyone, assigning them tasks to make the wedding perfect. So much for a small wedding. His cousins regretting coming early on and so did their parents. They couldn't refuse to the work, they were family, work was obligatory. What they would do to get over the torture is bitch about his mother in the night when they would circle in one of their rooms and gossip.

It wasn't just his mother they gossiped about though, Lekh and Tara were hot topics too. Lekh knew it, obviously they all had the sense to be loud enough for everyone to hear if they wanted to; and while Lekh was usually uninterested, he found himself eves dropping on their conversation about him and Tara.

There were so many speculations about why they were getting married. The older women thought Tara had something against the family and was blackmailing to get married. The ones who were ultra-anti- Indira thought she wanted Tara's property Kartvaya had left on her name and the money the government gave her on his death. Lekh was disgusted, whatever relationship he shared with his elder brother, he always admired his work. He was a soldier selflessly fighting for their country. He could tolerate all sorts of drama that everyone pulled up but not when they pulled crap on his dead brother.

When he had heard his aunt – his father's younger brother's wife- talk about Kartavya's death like that, he was about to barge into the room to give her a piece of his mind. But Ramya stopped him, she pulled him afar and directed him to her room.

"Ignore them."

"I can't."

Ramya sighed, "I know, but you don't have a choice. For now, they are only speculating the reasons behind your marriage, if you feed their thirst they'll start pushing us for answers and we cannot tell them that Tara is pregnant.

At this, Lekh forced himself to cool down. He couldn't afford to put Tara at risk. Ramya was right, if he went and fought with his relatives, it would only peak their curiosity. For now, they were just interested but it was more entertainment for them than anything. He had to let it go.

For Tara. Anything for Tara.

* * *

It was Sangeet today, in Tara's side of the family of course. The groom didn't really have the sangeet ceremony; besides, everyone danced and sang every day in the night. It was too much hustle.

Ramya and Pankhuri had gone to Jodhpur to Tara's house, the groom's side was supposed to gift jewellery and clothes to the bride in the ceremony. Pankhuri had shoved him aside when they were about to leave and promised to take pictures of Tara and send him.

"I'll send them to you on Snapchat," she said.

"I do not install juvenile apps in my phone." Lekh deadpanned. He chose his words carefully though, he wasn't going to tell Pankhuri to not send the pictures, but he wasn't going to tell her to send them either.

"Sure." Pankhuri smirked. "I'll send them on Whatsapp."

Lekh shook his head and shut the door loudly when Pankhuri had sat in the car just when she was about to speak something else. Ramya, who wasn't much of a talker smirked from beside her through the window. You could tolerate many things in life, except crazy sisters.

Lekh lazily went to his room and fell into his bed. It had only been a few days since Tara had left but it felt like a lifetime. Sometimes, he'd come to her room to check if she'd taken her medicines and remember she wasn't here anymore. He did ensure that she had taken them with her though. She had. Maybe if she hadn't I would have gotten a chance to speak to her.

Distance only confirmed that he was falling for her and he knew he was going to do everything possible to have her and keep her safe. Things had gone wrong in the past, he had loved, he had lost, he had hated. But he wasn't going to let history repeat itself, this time he was going to love and conquer. And he was going to seek vengeance for what had happened before. He owed it to himself and someone else. And, it was the only way to make sure nothing happened to Tara.

He was dwelling on his thoughts when Indira barged in, she had the courtesy to not knock of course, as always. Lekh didn't even bother to look at her.

"Lekh."

"Maa."

"So I knew we are all very busy preparing for the wedding and no one has the time to sit ideally," she taunted, "something just came across my mind."

Lekh didn't bother to say anything, she was going to finish what she started no matter what.

Indira continued after a few seconds, "I have decided what I want to name the child," she said. At this Lekh looked up questioningly. What was she up to now?

Indira stood smiling pleasurably in silence. Lekh sighed, "What name have you decided, mother?"

Indira grinned.

"Kartavya."