" Do you mean to say that I choked him?
Or was it you, by giving him false impressions about yourself? " , Sakina suddenly groaned.

Shaahid pulled the chair and sat on it with its back covering his front like a shield.

" Shit! I never said you choked him! Neither did I..
Maybe he was already choking. Hence overreacted this way. "

Something about this caught Sakina. She did not protest. But stared at the bed frowning.

" I don't understand, what his damn problem is. He was not this way for the last few months. He was changing. He started remaining jolly, just the way I wanted him to be. His earlier self returned now again. " , Sakina suddenly said.

" Okay Sakina ji!
Just let it be!
He knows well, you both are getting married soon. He will return. Everyone needs a break. You too take one.

Come, let's go. " , Shaahid got up.

She stared at him weirdly.
" Where? "

" Pani-puri.
With khatta paani. "

____

Sakina gobbled up the fifteenth pani puri with water streaming like Niagara Falls down her chin and lips.

Shaahid noticed the glitter in her eyes as she vanished the fluffed balls one after the other like a kid, with no sign of an end.

" You seem to terribly love this thing, but didn't have it for long. " , he said.

Sakina was suddenly chilli-struck, asking for khatta paani, and gulping them down her throat as if she was having bottles of RO purified water. She finished and nodded in satisfaction, her eyes wide like rasgulla.

" How I missed paani puri! Having it after years actually! Discovering that the craving still remains the same. "

" You should not stop having what you like, whatever be the reason, except for jaundice. " , Shaahid grinned and paid for the food. She did not protest.

They walked down the street.

" I don't think there's harm if I stop doing something willingly. After all, paani puri isn't elixir for my health, though the taste is. " , she grinned.

" If you give all the importance to your brain, and nothing to your heart, the later will stop functioning. In either case you'll die. So keep both of them happy. " , Shaahid shrugged.

Sakina watched him carefully as they crossed the road.

A girl was selling red balloons.
Shaahid grabbed a bunch.

" What the hell? Why did you buy this now? Who gets balloons at this age? " , Sakina exclaimed.

He took seat on a bench on the roadside, and tied the string to its handle.
She too sat along, staring at him angrily.

" Didn't know you are eighty. But I'm only thirty five ma'am!
And who said balloons are only for nappy wearing kids?
Who even said that pacifiers as these are only for the children? "
Shaahid grinned.

" Of course they are!
When children go unruly, don't listen to parents, cry unnecessarily, they are given these.. to stop doing those. " , Sakina settled comfortably on the bench.

Shaahid laughed out loud.
" You are right.
Thus, these balloons belong to you now.
Because you are unruly, don't listen to your bhai, and cry unnecessarily. "

He jumped up and began jogging down the pedestal.

Sakina somehow gathered her dropping jaw, without any reason untied the bunch of balloons from the seat and ran behind.

" Hey listen, stop, I hate running. " , she caught up with him, strong wind cut her words. The balloons wound around her fingers danced in the air and Shaahid chuckled.

" Sakina ji! You hate me as well. But look at yourself. You are here with me, running, with red balloons in your hand. Which means, hatred is the most fragile emotion on earth."

Sakina stopped, catching her breath.
He kept jogging. She kept staring, unwilling to let go the bunch of red swollen bubbles from her fingers.

" Technically I should have locked myself up in my room, cursing you with the world's most unhearable slangs. But look at me. I'm sitting in the field beside you, particularly under the tree I sit with Salman. " , Sakina made a red face.

" Can we leave Salman behind for a sec?
Someone's life shouldn't technically run around one person. " , Shaahid chewed spiced puffed rice, and munched a coconut piece.

" Excuse me! I'm happy that my life runs around Salman. You can go and sit at the other end of the field if you have got a problem, which technically, you shouldn't. "

Shaahid grinned.
" So, technically, you hate puffed rice. But you like sleeping pills. Right? "

Sakina's face stiffened.
" What do you mean? "

Shaahid didn't say a thing. But pulled out the pair of earrings he bought the other day, from his pocket.
" These will look brilliant with the salwar you are wearing. At present your ears look like a bald old man. "

Sakina was dumbfounded. She slowly took the pair.
" I said I don't wear long earrings. "

" But you loved them once. So you'll love them twice as well. " , Shaahid smiled.

Sakina immediately jumped up.
" Don't you dare try to change my choices back. I'm happy with what I've become. I'm happy with the fact that I discarded old likings. I'm happy that I'm not a kid anymore.

I'm happy that my boyfriend is not an immature kid like you!!! "

Sakina suddenly began screaming.

Shaahid jumped up and pressed her mouth.

" Mmmm.... Meave me myou midiot! " , Sakina spoke somehow from within.

" Shhh.... Look at the sky. It's overcast again. This time the rain came without an invitation. See! " , Shaahid said.

Sakina pushed him hard. He let her go.

" You dumb fool!! I'm leaving right now. Don't really know why everytime I'm ruining my day with you, when the sole reason of my current misery is you yourself!! "

Sakina began running down the field. But tripped on a puddle and fell.

Shaahid walked slowly, reached the spot and stood folding his hand across his chest.

Sakina sat on the ground with a squeezed face.
" Why the heck did you come into my life? You are such a bad news to me.

Now pull me up. I cannot move. "

The rain started pouring. Slowly wetting the field.

Shaahid looked at the sky. The rains began hitting his face.

" Hey dumb!! Don't you hear? Pull me up!! " , Sakina was slowly getting drenched as well.

" In your dreams. " , Shaahid walked away, taking in the entire freshness of the rain.

Sakina kept on cursing him.

He shouted,
" Thank Allah, that he hurt your feet. He too doesn't want...that like an eighty year old, you run away and get indoors when it begins raining.

Sit in the rains now. Until you realise its beauty. "

Sakina stopped talking, and kept staring at this weirdest man on earth. He was watching her too, grinning like shit.

However, the cool rains slowly melted away the anger that was bubbling within herself.

Salman did not like rain. He rather detested it to the core, he would run away as if it was some fatal infection in itself.

Once upon a time, Sakina loved rains like a baby.

Just how once upon a time, she loved paani puri, red balloons, long earrings, and puffed rice......

Sakina now folded her legs and sat on the muddy ground comfortably, her white patiala getting terribly dirty slowly, and her red kurta getting completely drenched to the core.
In the process, she kept staring at the man in front, who was currently making faces at her.

Idiot.