Immersed in a beautiful stupor, Nandini looked at him breathlessly, utterly entrapped by his fevered gaze. Then a captivating colour began to rise slowly on her soft cheeks, and her beautiful eyes dropped.

Suddenly overpowered by the unbearable shyness that she'd somehow kept at bay until then, Nandini covered her face with her hands, and then leaned forward to bury her flaming, hidden face in his chest with a shaky sigh.

He held her in a snug embrace, immense tenderness on his features, caressing the luxuriant black tresses that fell to her waist.

It was a long time before she timidly raised her face from her hands and looked up at him again, and the gentleness in his eyes disturbed all her senses again.

He softly touched his forehead to hers, and her eyes fluttered shut, and they remained lost in each other for some minutes.

So much had happened in the last few weeks...and last night, something had shifted radically in that private universe in which only they existed. But the possibilities of going back to old version of themselves...their old lives...had still existed in some form until this morning. 

However, that option had disappeared now. This morning had altered everything. Their lives had changed...permanently...

"I'm leaving the room now. Don't be here when I get back," he murmured.

Befuddled, she drew back to look at him, and she saw a glimpse of a blazing desire that made her insides shiver with excitement. 

Then he was kissing her softly again...and again...until she had no awareness of anything but him. Only he existed...and her love for him...and for the whole world because he existed in it...

When she opened her eyes in a haze some minutes later, she was alone in the room. There was complete silence within her. Only her body felt vividly alive, burning with sensations that had once been unknown to her. Her lips were pulsing...her breasts felt heavy...she could still feel the imprint of his hands on them...

What if she didn't leave...what if she waited until he returned...

Then she remembered the way he had looked at her, and some instincts stirred her into moving.

Forcing her mind to wake up from its trance, Nandini walked out of the room sluggishly on unsteady feet, and was soon on the terrace. She stood in the sun for a few minutes, feeling the heat on her skin, and the cool breeze on her body that was still quivering on the inside...

She had to go back into her house, but she felt an acute reluctance to face her family. As if the moments she had spent with him had stained her skin, and her family would see it...

*******************

Sarojini kept the receiver back on the phone, and walked to the stairway. She started to call out Nandini's name, but stopped quickly on seeing the closed door of the guest room. Priyamvada was resting, and she didn't want to disturb her.

Sarojini walked up the stairs and gently called out Nandini's name twice when she had crossed the first floor landing. She waited for some moments and was about to climb the remaining steps when her daughter came out of her room.

"Go to Surekha aunty's house," Sarojini said sternly. "She needs your help. She has to go out urgently, and she was asking if you could look after her children and mother in law until she's back. You only have to be there for about two hours. And she wants you to have lunch there with them."

"Okay," Nandini nodded, not fully meeting her mother's eyes. "I'll comb my hair and leave."

Sarojini began to turn back and walk down, then she paused and looked closely at her daughter. "Why is your face so red? Were you crying?" she asked exasperatedly. "Just because your grandfather didn't let you behave badly with Priyamvadaji? He didn't even scold you. He hardly said anything at all. And I'm sure he is feeling worse than you about it."

"Yes, I know," Nandini mumbled, feeling like she was recalling an incident that had happened a decade ago.

"And you listen to me...Priyamvadaji is resting now, but when you see her next, you will apologise to her for being rude. Okay?" Sarojini said strictly.

"Okay, I'll apologise," Nandini agreed vaguely.

Sarojini's face relaxed at the unexpected capitulation. She had fully expected a huge argument over it, which was why she had avoided calling her daughter downstairs even to help with lunch preparations.

"Alright. And don't forget to water the plants in the backyard later. I did the tulsi pooja in the morning and watered the plants in front. But I didn't have time to –

"I'll do it," Nandini said quickly, feeling very guilty. "For both the houses."

Sarojini smiled at her, "Okay, now, hurry up and leave...Surekha is waiting for you."

************************

Bhoothnath tried to give his undivided attention to everyone who was approaching him. Some for poojas to be performed, some for astrology, some for vastu-related problems...he tried to listen to each person and give them the right advice.

But so many different issues were running in his head, the foremost of which was his guilt over scolding his granddaughter. He shouldn't have spoken to Nandini so strictly. She must be heartbroken. He hated being strict with her, and now he wouldn't be at peace until he mollified her. He would explain to her why he had reacted like that, and she would understand.

But he couldn't do it now. The day had suddenly become very busy, and he wouldn't even be able to have lunch at home. He was sad that he was going miss a chance to have his meal with Prithvi...

Prithvi...why had he had appeared a little irritated while Priyamvada was speaking. Could it have anything to do with the talk about Nandini's marriage? Was there something in the boy's heart? He hoped that was not the case. He would hate to disappoint Prithvi by telling him he couldn't give Nandini in marriage to him, Bhoothnath thought with a heavy heart. It would be even more painful because, if the scenario had been different in some ways, he would have been the happiest man on earth if he could give his granddaughter in marriage to Prithvi.

But he was probably reading too much into it. Prithvi had a difficult relationship with his mother, didn't he.... and he must have been irked by her artifice. 

Priyamvada was even more troubled than he had thought initially. The woman was full of pretence and ego and deviousness. It seemed unbelievable that a woman like that had given birth to Prithvi.

But then he felt very sorry for Priyamvada too. She might not be a good human being, but she was in terrible pain, and one of the main causes of her grief was the loss of her husband. In the course of his life and work, he had met many people who had lost their life partners, but he had not known any woman to carry the pain so deeply over decades. Whatever else her faults were...Priyamvada's love for her husband was extraordinary...and so was Adityaraj's love for her...

*********************

Priyamvada ended the call with Indrajit, and then looked wearily at the door of her room. After finally taking a bath, she'd spent most of the past hour on the phone. Post lunch, she would stay in her room and not come out for the rest of the day. And tomorrow morning, she would be out of this place, she thought with disgust as she walked to the door and opened it.

In the living room, the table had been set for lunch. Sarojini came out of the kitchen, and the inordinately simple-minded woman treated her with the usual fuss and uneasiness.

When she casually enquired about Nandini, the woman lied straight to her face that the mannerless girl was very contrite about her behaviour and wanted to apologise to her, but she had gone to a neighbour's house as of now to do some housemaid-like chores.

She knew this was an everyday affair in this ridiculous household. The idiotic family apparently believed they were everyone's servants, and had no qualms in sending their children and also going themselves to random houses to provide unpaid labour.

Hiding her revulsion, Priyamvada smilingly said, "It is really nice of Nandini to help them."

Smiling with soft pride, Sarojini said, "She is just like her father. Helps out everyone in whatever ways she can. And the people here love her so much. They consider her to be part of their own families," she said happily. 

"Naturally," Priyamvada said with outward admiration. Yes, naturally... if they were able to exploit someone and get their work done for free and thus make their pathetic lives easier, why wouldn't they pretend to care about the stupid girl.

And this was the dumb and servile female that her exceptional son had chosen, Priyamvada reflected with unlimited bitterness.

The absence of royal blood and wealth and power were tragic enough, but couldn't her son have found someone who had at least some redeeming qualities? But then he seemed to go out of his way to find people whom she couldn't understand or tolerate. She disliked most of her son's friends, especially Arundathi. But even that eccentric girl with all of her unbelievable weirdness would be a better match for him than Nandini, Priyamvada mulled sourly as she looked at the door.

Prithvi was entering the house. He gave her a disinterested, cursory nod, then turned his focus to Sarojini, who was warmly asking him to sit down at the dining table.

Priyamvada looked at him with an intrigued frown. He wasn't angry with her right now. And that was strange considering how furious he'd been while leaving the house some time ago. Now he looked subdued and distracted and deeply confused, and he was also glancing around restlessly.

Taking a seat next to him at the table, she informed her son in a murmur, "She's not here, Prithvi. She has been summoned for servant duties in one of the neighbouring houses."

Prithvi looked stiffly at his mother. "I wasn't looking for anyone," he said irately. 

"You're not? Then you need to inform your eyes about it," Priyamvada said kindly, patting his arm that was on the table.

Prithvi scowled and snatched his hand away. He might have looked around once for Nandini, but he had definitely not done it so obviously that anyone could notice. But this would become additional material for the nonsensical drama that his mother was dreaming up in the cesspool that was her brain.

For the rest of the meal, he didn't look at her or speak a word to his mother, and neither did he continue to look around for Nandini. But his inner state remained unchanged. Earlier in the day, pushed by his complete lack of trust in himself, he had unwillingly walked out of Ayodhya, and had spent his time wandering around the area. He wanted to think he had only come to Vrindavan now because he'd known the family would be waiting for him and wouldn't start having lunch without him. He had been telling himself so many lies...why not one more, he thought gloomily as he ate.

Priyamvada's quietly disbelieving focus remained on her son throughout the meal.

Over the years, she'd mostly seen him be enraged, downcast, cold, indifferent, ferocious and aggressive. But she'd never seen him like this...lost and troubled and so vulnerable, she realised with disbelief.

Was this really her son? The young man whom she had grown to believe was impervious to everything and everyone. But what did she really know about him...apart from the fact that he loathed her with a vengeance.

Priyamvada fought off an overwhelming rush of emotions. This was not the time for her to get pulled into that quagmire.

Something had definitely happened between her son and the girl to change his mood so radically, and he was in a susceptible state right now, and it was important give him a few nudges while he was still in this condition. If he left behind this place, and the girl, tomorrow, his obstinacy and resolve could toughen again, delaying the whole process.

She had intended to rest post lunch but now she was too agitated to do so. Her plans would have to change. She just needed a little time to think clearly and make some arrangements. And then she would talk to Prithvi.

It was going to be a very transparent move on her part, and Prithvi would see through her games today. Given his intelligence, he might already have understood a while ago that she intended to bring the worthless, hateful girl back into his life. But she was still going to put up an act until she could, because she wasn't feeling emotionally prepared right now to have the conversation that was bound to follow...

*******************

Priyamvada walked out of the house and sat in one of cane chairs in the lawn outside, facing  Ayodhya. Even at this hour of afternoon, it was pleasant outside, with a cool breeze blowing around the place.

She greatly enjoyed the kind of planning and interesting drama that her mind had been engrossed in since a short while, and it usually invigorated her and filled her with enthusiasm. Today, though, she was feeling very tired.

She gazed at Ayodhya intently, feeling an unexpected surge of emotion. That house was as suffocating, cramped and hideous as this one. But Aditya had stayed in Ayodhya for many days, and he had always had a soft spot for both the houses, insisting that this was where his life had turned around, and he had often spoken about how much at home he had felt in both of them. She had not spent much time in Ayodhya with him, but most of her memories of the house were quite sweet.

And yet, this was also the place where she'd been part of the conversation that had triggered a chain of events that had ultimately destroyed her.

Priyamvada gave an involuntary shudder. She had to stop getting sucked into the darkness time and again. She had work to do...

She had just finished a call that had sorted most things for her when she heard a sound, and saw Sarojini bringing out a wooden chair from the dining table.

"Please sit on this chair," Sarojini requested Priyamvada, slightly out of breath as she placed the chair near her. "These two chairs are too old. We've been planning to buy new ones," she added anxiously.

The cane chairs aren't just old, they are also cheap and ugly, Priyamvada replied mentally, and the wooden chair is no better.

But she outwardly said with concern, "You shouldn't have gone to this trouble. I'm very comfortable in this chair. But please take a seat yourself and rest your feet. You have been working tirelessly since morning. In fact, I think you should go to your room and take a long nap," she said kindly. She needed to talk to Prithvi, and before that, she wanted to think out a few things and resolve her emotional turbulence, and she couldn't do it if this silly, eager-to-please woman was going to be around.

Sarojini was touched and grateful at the sincere concern in the words. She really was feeling worn out and very much needed to sleep for some time, but she couldn't leave their guest, who was an unwell woman, all alone here.

Sitting down on the chair facing Priyamvada, she smiled and said, "I'm not that tired. And Nandini will be back anytime now, so I -"

"That would be great," Priyamvada beamed. "I'll be here when Nandini returns, and we will keep each other company for some time. I've been waiting to have a nice talk with her." It would be good if the famous social worker returned while she was talking to Prithvi. The drama would end in one instalment, instead of being dragged into two separate ones.

The suggestion alarmed Sarojini. What if her daughter's temper got the better of her again and caused irreparable damage...

Reading Sarojini's face correctly, Priyamvada laughingly said, "You mustn't be worried. Even if she gets angry with me again, nothing she says will upset me. I still see her as the little child who used to tug at my saree to get my attention. Would you take anything a child says to heart? And I've been told I'm excellent at convincing people to do what's good for them. So, you should let Nandini spend more time with me," she encouraged sweetly. "I might be able to change her whole perspective about marriage."

The understanding and compassion in the other woman's voice brought tears to Sarojini's eyes. "If you do that, I – my whole family will be so grateful to you. I can't sleep at night because of anxiety," she said with a shaky voice. "It's all everyone talks about to me and Nandini's grandfather. Some families whose proposals were rejected by Nandini are saying it's our fault for letting her work, and that it has gone to her head. Some of those people have even begun saying that we are the ones rejecting the proposals because we want to keep Nandini home so we can have her income. But if I tell Nandini any of this, she will go after them and insult them. That is how impulsive and reckless she has become over the years. How should I convince Nandini to give up her stubbornness? She has become so obstinate and headstrong and aggressive. It frightens me," she said agitatedly. "She has always had a temper but she wasn't like this before. How should I make her understand that women cannot be like this?"

Priyamvada listened with a growing fury. She wasn't seeing Sarojini anymore. The idiotic woman's image had blurred into the faces of every supposedly well-meaning woman who had repeatedly given her advice to hide her intelligence and her confidence, to conceal her strength, to push down her arrogance, to speak with honeyed words and not the cutting ones she usually did...so she would stop intimidating or hurting the extremely fragile egos of the shallow, empty-headed, chauvinistic males who were courting her.

You have to pretend to be stupid, Priyamvada...keep your knowledge and intelligence to yourself...a woman must never show her arrogance, especially in front of men...try to look shy and docile...look fragile and helpless, men love that...laugh and fawn over men even they are saying and doing the most brainless things possible...that is how good and smart women should behave...

And then there were the women in the institutions where she had stayed...most of them convinced that they were born to be beasts of burden, unworthy of any respect...laughing at her, mocking her because she wouldn't allow herself to be treated the same way...

Her voice vibrating with rage, Priyamvada harshly said, "This world run by men loves it when a woman grows up with the feeling that she has been a curse...a burden from birth, so that she never develops any faith in herself and forever hates herself for being born as a woman. This society would like women to believe they are servants of men, born solely to serve them like unpaid maids in the roles of daughters, sisters, wives, mothers. Her only value lies in how much neglects herself...her life and her emotions to make her family members happy. I understand that is the role that you have accepted and grown up with. But don't you feel it must stop with you," she asked sharply. "Do you also have to put the same senseless ideas into the mind of your daughter, so she too starts to think it's alright to be considered sub-human only because of her gender."

Priyamvada paused her fierce tirade, her breaths shortened by anger. She wanted to say many more things but Sarojini already had the shaken look of someone who had been slapped a good many times...which the woman undoubtedly deserved. But she was destroying whatever goodwill she had gathered, Priyamvada mulled irately. She had to mend the damage immediately.

Forcing a smile, she remorsefully said, "I'm sorry, Sarojini. I didn't mean to speak so hurtfully. I just feel very bad when I hear of girls and their families being disrespected in this manner. I basically just wanted to say that, to me, it sounds like your daughter had several lucky escapes," she said sweetly. "You surely wouldn't want Nandini to be married into families consisting of these kinds of people who would spread malicious gossip about a girl and her entire family without knowing a single thing about them just because their egos are hurt. Don't you see that too?"

"I-yes, yes, you're right," Sarojini said uncertainly, bewildered and troubled by the acidic scolding she had received. But then she shouldn't have shared so much with Priyamvada, who belonged to a vastly different class of society and so couldn't be expected to understand her worries.

On hearing the gate opening, Sarojini turned in her chair and was relieved to see Nandini.

Nandini looked cautiously at the two women. She'd not expected to see them sitting out here in the yard, and she sensed some disquiet in the air.

"You wanted to apologise to her, didn't you?" Sarojini told her pointedly. "You can do it now."

Nandini hesitated. She had agreed to apologise when she'd been in a totally distracted state. She did not want to utter a word of apology now. But the look on her mother's face was clearly saying any more rudeness on her part would not be tolerated. And she certainly didn't want her grandfather to hear that she had yet again been impertinent towards Priyamvada.

"I'm sorry for speaking the way I did," she told Priyamvada stiffly, not looking at her.

Priyamvada smiled coldly. "I didn't feel bad at all. I've actually been waiting to sit with you and talk for some time. Sarojini, please go to your room and take rest. I'll be going for my afternoon siesta too in a short while, but Nandini will keep me company until then."

Nandini tried to hold back a mutinous expression. She had hardly done anything to help her mother since yesterday. The least she could do now was to endure Priyamvada for some time so that her mother could rest.

"Yes, maa, you should go. I'll sit with Mrs Rathore." She pulled one of the chairs to face the house, so she wouldn't have to look at Priyamvada's face.

Her mother didn't look convinced but finally left, although not before giving her a sharp threatening look that spoke volumes.

Priyamvada looked at her phone, and said, "So, Nandini, I hear you have a wonderful job? I would love to know more about your company and your work."

Nandini stared at her. There was no connection between the highly interested tone and the bored and indifferent look on Priyamvada's face. But she had to play along in case her mother was lingering to hear her speak. So, she answered as politely as she could, keeping her eyes on the door and windows rather than on Priyamvada.

Her mind was elsewhere as she spoke. It had been good for her to be in a completely different environment when she'd been in that fogged state. As always, she'd loved being with the children, and their innocent talks had brought her back down to earth and calmed her nerves, and she'd enjoyed chatting with their sweet old grandmother too. But her heartbeats had once again gone crazy on the way back, and now she couldn't stop looking towards Ayodhya, eager to see him and also panicking about the same thing.

At one point, Priyamvada curtly interrupted, "You can stop blabbering now."

Furious, Nandini glared at her, struggling not to make a rude retort.

Priyamvada held the phone to her ear and tersely said, "Prithvi, I need to speak with you. Come here at once."

Nandini got up quickly, flustered and thrown by the thought of seeing Prithvi. If he was coming here, she was not going to hang around. Her heart had begun thundering the instant his name had been mentioned. She couldn't see him again so soon.

"Sit down," Priyamvada said coldly. "You will want to listen to this conversation." The mere mention of her son had made the girl blush, and that along with the flustered behaviour was giving much credence to her earlier conclusion that the morning had been...interesting for both of them.

"I don't want to listen to anything," Nandini rejoined hastily, her panicky eyes looking at the other house. She was feeling too self-conscious and disconcerted, and she certainly didn't want to have to interact with him in front of his mother.

"Fine, I'm sure your grandfather and mother would love to know that you continue to behave badly with me," Priyamvada said smoothly.

Nandini glared at her with resentment and wariness, and then sat down reluctantly while looking at Ayodhya again in time to see Prithvi emerging from the house.

Priyamvada watched the scene unfold with extreme attention, keeping her eyes only on her son. She had already noted that Nandini had glanced away hurriedly and was now twisting her fingers and looking like she was about to disappear out of embarrassment.

She watched her son's eyes fall on Nandini. And she was astounded  to see a faint flush appear on his face. This was her son...her son who had never until now displayed the faintest sign of being capable of feeling embarrassed or self-conscious...

"What is wrong?" Prithvi asked her with a frown as he reached her, glancing frequently at Nandini, whose gaze remained lowered.

"Nothing at all. Take a seat first, then we'll talk," Priyamvada said, gesturing to the wooden chair. "Now...I wished to speak to you about our plans regarding our departure," Priyamvada said calmly, and then gave a mocking glance towards Nandini.

Anger flared in Prithvi's eyes, and then turned into hesitation as he looked at Nandini, who was now looking up at Priyamvada with distress. She glanced at him with despair, and then looked away, battling to bring her stricken emotions into control.

With renewed fury, Prithvi looked at his mother and furiously said, "I've told you before – you can play all the stupid games you want with my life. But keep others out of it."

Priyamvada cocked her head to a side, and thoughtfully said, "I distinctly remember you'd not used the word "others". You'd said - "people who matter to me". Is this female still one of them...even after what she did to you?" she asked with raised brows.

Prithvi reddened. "Yes, she is. Now you know...so leave her alone," he said roughly.

Nandini looked at him with fresh tears of unvoiced shock, a heart that was bursting  with love and happiness...and also being torn by guilt.

"That is quite pathetic, you know," Priyamvada said with exaggerated disappointment. "When you behave like this, I can hardly believe you are my son."

"The only thing I've prayed for since some years is proof that I am not," Prithvi retorted derisively.

Priyamvada seemed to flinch, then she frostily said, "Calm down. I didn't ask her to be part of this conversation purely for sadistic reasons. She needs to hear what I have to say. So...the plan is that we will be leaving tomorrow."

"That was decided. I didn't need the reminder," Prithvi said irately.

Priyamvada smiled at him. "No...but you do need some additional information. We will not be going to Devgarh or Taravan. There is an unobjectionable chalet about an hour away from here. Very rudimentary and bare, and not very large, but it is big enough to accommodate the number of people I have in mind."

Prithvi looked at her with a sharpened gaze as his impatience and tension eased out. He could now see where she was going with this...

"What do you mean by the number of people you have in mind?" he asked impassively.

"Your friends will be joining us. The thakur wants to send them off on some tour of our palaces, but I'll be asking them to come to the chalet first and spend a few days. Then they can decide where else they want to go."

"And what does any of this have to do with Nandini?" Prithvi asked without any real curiosity.

Priyamvada looked at her son with a mix of pride and frustration. He knew...he knew what she was going to say. He'd seen through it as she'd known he would.

Nandini heard his question, but she was too enmeshed in wretched misery to care about the answer. She only wished this talk would end so she could go to her room and be alone with her anguish.

"She will be coming with us tomorrow," Priyamvada said calmly. "I will be speaking to her family in the evening, and I will make them agree it is a wonderful plan."

Startled, Nandini looked at Priyamvada in disbelief. She felt a momentary exhilaration at the thought of being with Prithvi for some more days...but it was immediately followed by a cold, abject fear. There wouldn't be any good intentions behind this...

"And why exactly will she be coming with us?" Prithvi asked his mother coldly.

A thin smile spread on Priyamvada's face. "I don't have any malicious intention...this time. For a long time now, I've wished to have some time to understand what is it about this girl that mesmerised you so deeply that you still haven't forgiven me, even though it was purely her decision to cast you out of her life. I could do it by staying here for some more days but I simply cannot tolerate being here anymore."

"Curiosity...that is why you're doing this, is it?" Prithvi asked her with biting sarcasm. He was to blame for this to a huge extent. If he had managed to conceal the state of his emotions today, she wouldn't have come up with this moronic plan, which was essentially an open declaration of her intentions regarding his life.

"Yes, you could put it like that," Priyamvada nodded innocently. "I know more about her life than she does, but I'm yet to come across anything remotely appealing  -

"Be very careful with your words," Prithvi said with a deathly calm.

.Priyamvada's face tightened, then she continued with a sarcastic smile, "Thank you for the warning. As I was saying, I know by now that you would not fall for any superficial charms, no matter how dazzling they are, so I'm assuming there are some great hidden depths to her character that I'm unaware of as of now. I'm hoping to get some idea about that in the next few days. Three or four days won't be enough, but it will have to do, because I don't think my patience will last for longer than that. And before you start being more insufferable than usual, I should tell you...nothing will change my decision. I didn't call you here to discuss anything. I just wanted to inform both of you."

Nandini looked at Priyamvada with a fast-escalating hostility. She'd initially felt hopelessly bewildered by the older woman's words, and had struggled to grasp what was happening. But now her confusion was clearing, and her temper was rising simultaneously. She was no one's puppet, and she was going to make Priyamvada understand that. She was just about to snap when Prithvi spoke, essentially raising the same question that she had intended to ask, albeit in a much calmer tone than she would have used.

"And if I don't let you do this?" Prithvi grimly asked his mother.

"I don't have the energy to enjoy being unpleasant right now, Prithvi," Priyamvada shook her head regretfully. "And I'm certain neither of you need my help to understand the power I hold in my hands over both of you. Especially her," she looked at Nandini with disgust. "Considering there is so much her family doesn't know about her old adventures with you. Oh I wouldn't be doing anything personally. I might only arrange for certain circumstances that will help them find out the truth from others. I doubt her honour-obsesssed grandfather and mother will continue to live after learning the truth about the child they consider to be so chaste and virtuous," she sneered.

Nandini froze with a mind-numbing terror. If Priyamvada carried out the threat, it would signal the end of her whole family...

Her petrified gaze intuitively sought Prithvi, and she saw the expression on his face as he regarded his mother. And instantly, Priyamvada transformed from a towering, menacing figure into an arrogant twig that was shouting threats into the roar of a storm. 

Nandini felt as if she'd been yanked forcefully out of the grips of death itself. She couldn't have explained how and why to anyone, but the fear had disappeared with the same speed that it had broken loose within her. In its place, however, a crushing anguish was filling her heart as she looked at him...

Prithvi tried to control the rage exploding in him. The words he wanted to utter were not the kind he would say to any woman, let alone the one who was unfortunately his mother. Because of the vast distance he maintained from her, he had not had to directly witness this side of her too many times in the past three or four years. But he'd always been aware of it, so her sickening behaviour had not shocked him. And she had a pathological need to issue threats to anyone who irked her. But these specific threats were futile. She lived each day in the fear that he would cut off his relationship with her completely, and so she wouldn't ever do anything that would alienate him further.

But none of the threats he'd heard from her yet had driven him to this kind of fury. She had gone too far this time. And the indifference with which she had carelessly hinted at the likelihood of Bhoothnath and Sarojini ending their lives had hit him hard. She was incapable of respecting his bonds with them, but they had looked after her devotedly since yesterday, treating her with tremendous affection and care, showing genuine concern and compassion at all times. And even that had meant nothing to her.

"You will not do anything of that sort," he said icily.

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't," Priyamvada murmured with a complacent smile. "Do you really want to take the risk of finding out? Anyway, there is just no need for either of you to get upset. I can make your lives unbearable, but I'm merely taking both of you on a short holiday with me. So be grateful," she advised, then rose to her feet. "This conversation has exhausted me. I'm going to my room to rest."

After she had left, Prithvi remained stock-still for some moments, unable to look at the girl who was sitting at an arm's distance from him.

Then he heard a gentle voice whisper, "Prithvi..."

"She will not do any of those things, I promise," he said quietly. "So you don't need to be afraid of her or fall in with her stupid plans."

Then without glancing at Nandini, he got up and walked out of the yard, with no direction in mind.

A short time later, he was sitting on the boulder in front of the old, abandoned shrine, still striving to calm down his seething fury, revulsion and bitterness towards his mother.

He heard the rustling caused by her footsteps on the dry leaves, and felt her slow and tentative approach towards him. He still didn't look towards her, but with a frustrating predictability, the unrest within him started to subside a bit as she came closer...

Nandini sat close to him, wound an arm around his, and rested her head against his shoulder.

He didn't know why it shocked him. It shouldn't have. This was how she had always been...

Prithvi closed his eyes briefly. He had been lucky enough to experience love and affection from many people in his life. But nothing...nothing had ever come close to this feeling...this sense of being in the presence of a love so pristine and powerful...of knowing that he was loved completely and unreservedly in a way that was beyond his understanding...of being aware that he didn't have to utter a word to be understood fully...

The quietness of the surroundings had left him unaffected until now, but now, he felt it seep into his heart, making his turmoil reduce gradually. And in some time, the roaring chaos of his thoughts had largely settled down, and a calmness fell over him. But he couldn't just brush aside the ugliness of what had happened...

"This is a great chance for you to say you were right about what you did back then, and not get any foul replies from me," Prithvi muttered.

"I think I'll wait for better chances in the next few days," Nandini said lightly.

He looked at the top of her head with a frown. "I told you...you don't have to do anything she says. She will not hurt you or your family. I won't let her."

"I know you won't," Nandini said simply.

"So, you don't have to go along with her plans," he reiterated impatiently. "Once I leave with her tomorrow, you and your family will not be bothered by her again," he said harshly. "I'll make sure of that."

Nandini raised her head from his shoulder, and drew back her arm. Absently plucking a long blade of dry grass, she began to fiddle with it, and then awkwardly mumbled "I'm not coming along because I'm afraid of her." She hesitated, and then whispered, "I...I just want to be with you for some more days."

He gazed at her in silent astonishment, and a strong relief unexpectedly gushed through him. In the midst all the turbulence, he had not somehow not considered the possibility that she would want to come along...

There was a heavily charged silence for some minutes. And then Prithvi casually asked, "You're going to risk it even after what I said yesterday – and happened today?"

Nandini gave him a startled look, and lost her breath on countering the blazing black eyes that were levelled on her...demanding answers to questions she was not prepared for.

She looked away quickly with a pounding heart. Different emotions were pulling at her...confusing her. Her world had gone wholly topsy turvy since morning. But she wanted to believe there would come a point at which both of them would regain their sanity...

She had a sudden, stark vision of hurtling unstoppably towards a predetermined destination, and there was nothing she could do to stop herself anymore than a river could change its mind about merging with the sea.

Unnerved by the vibrant image, Nandini shuffled away to put some space between them. "You didn't mean it," she mumbled, twisting the grass between her fingers.

"I didn't?" Prithvi said in surprise. "Thanks for letting me know...that's a relief."

As she blushed at the sarcastic response, he nonchalantly continued, "But given the rate at which I'm going, I have a strong feeling I will be seducing you tonight..."

*********************