"Wait! Where are you going?" Shekhar pulled Bhawani out of the way of a moving truck.

"Leave me alone. I need to figure things out", She replied back curtly.

"I am no more a person. I am a problem. Too much is wrong with me. I am stuck in life at a point where nothing works for me. I failed in my exams. I am a looser...on an epic scale.

I hate myself for what I am, for who I am. I hate myself for the way I look, the way I act.

I have no life and no one needs me.Something's broken in me. I tried to change. But it doesn't work.

Ishaan doesn't give a shit about me. Though, I have been fooling myself thinking all the time that he loves me, that I mean something to him. He chose to throw me out of his life like...like  I am a fly in his cup of tea. He treated me like a piece of filthy garbage.

My mother is hospitalized because of me.

What if she is unable to sit up straight or ever walk again after tomorrow's surgery?

Di will never understand my pain. She treats me as if I am some sort of a project.

It's so easy for her to ask me to move on. How will she ever understand? She doesn't have her heart broken. She has Prabir Bhaiya by her side at all times. He loves her, cares for her.

I have no one who will understand me. I keep wishing that I had done things differently.

Now you might think I am acting all crazy and jealous and paranoid. Yes! I am weird", She kept on ranting without a break.

Listening to her calmly Shekhar whispered," Will you figure things out by being run over by a truck?"

Dumbstruck, Bhawani stared at him for a while before he pulled her in his arms. She wept for a while. "Let me help you. Please come with me", he mumbled before slowly releasing her.

She looked around to find herself standing at the sides of a very busy street bustling with people and vehicles. Mindlessly, she had walked for around two kilometres away from the hospital.

**********

It was dark outside. Everyone was searching for Bhawani with no traces of her, anywhere in the hospital.

Seized with panic, Prabir whispered,
" Bhargu. Where could this girl go? Any guesses? We are only wasting time. She's definitely not in the hospital."

"Don't panic! She'll be back", Bhargavi said coolly.

"What is wrong with you Bhargu? How are you so calm as if it's no big deal, when that child is missing?" Prabir asked vexed.

"She has switched off her phone, and has gone missing, which indicates that she needs to be left alone Prabir. She'll be back", she replied back smoothly.

"How are you not worried Bhargu? It's so dark outside. What if something happens to her?" He asked annoyed.

"Please stop imagining one hundred and one bad things that might happen to her. Let's go to the Mahakali temple you had taken us on my birthday. I am hoping we'll find her there", she said cajoling him.

"Where's Shekhar? "Suddenly Rakesh quizzed and everyone looked around for him. Prabir called him up," Where are you?" He screamed.

"I am at a riverside temple. uhm. I brought Bhawani here with me", he stammered aware of the anger in Prabir's voice.

"Damnit! Why didn't you tell us before leaving? We have been searching for her for hours now", he yelled.

"I found her mindlessly walking around on the streets. She would have been run over by a truck." Shekhar replied back with concern clear in his voice. "She's safe with me", he added.

"Please bring her back safely Shekhar. I am sorry, I was really worried", Prabir said softly.

"Yeah! Yeah! Sure. She's quite depressed Prabir", Shekhar uttered very softly and disconnected the call.

Prabir sighed a gasp of relief but his face was etched with pain.

"What happened Prabir?" Bhargavi asked concerned.

"I should have been more careful about her Bhargu. Though, I asked Mayank to keep an eye on her.
She's in a depressed state of mind Bhargu. Had Shekhar not been there, she could have been...run over by a truck", Prabir said with great difficulty as the words wouldn't come out.

***********

"You are not a problem and there is nothing wrong with you," Shekhar said softly wiping Bhawani's tears.

"Your Di is right if she asked you to move on and she asked you to move on because her heart aches to...to see you in pain and suffering.

Look life is too short to be wasted for someone who doesn't treat you right. You deserve a lot better," he added.

A soft breeze blew over them and Bhawani's hair flew over her face almost covering her eyes.

In a split second, Shekhar softly kissed her lips and stepped backwards apologizing, " I...I am sorry. I am so sorry Bhawani." His eyes shone brightly with moisture. "Please don't hate me Bhawani. I don't know what ...I am so sorry."

He looked devastated with guilt set deep in his eyes. He bit his lower lip hard till he could taste blood.

He had taken her to an empty riverside temple but with the only intention of helping her by listening her out. She had always treated him like an elder brother. He cursed himself mentally. Though he liked her, he had buried his feelings way back, knowing that it wasn't right to love her. She called him 'Bhaiya'. He had decided to never let her know that he had feelings for her.

What just happened here? Does he have feelings for me?
Why is he behaving so awkwardly?

It was only him, who noticed my face and almost panicked the instant he saw my bruised face, when I was kidnapped by Mayank.

Bewildered, Bhawani shifted her gaze to look at him, and noticed that he was standing far away from her, with his back turned towards her.

She strode softly towards him and placed her hand on his left shoulder. Shocked, he jumped and turned around to face her.

"I know you hate me Bhawani. I won't ask you to forgive me. Let's return to the hospital. Everyone will be searching for you," he said in a husky voice.

"You saved me. You saved my life. I could have been sandwiched by that heavily loaded truck," Bhawani stated bluntly and before she could have said anything more, she was engulfed in his arms.

"I did nothing. I could do nothing for you. I left you in someone else's arms. I could never confess... that I love you.
I couldn't protect you from being kidnapped. I couldn't protect you... from having a broken heart.

Now that you know how I feel for you, you are going to hate me throughout your life.

It's okay! I can live with your hatred but I don't have the ability to withstand you...leaning on that jerk Mayank Sinha for support," he murmured and walked away from her.

She swiftly hugged him from the back and said," I don't hate you."

"But you still love Ishaan," he whispered with a sad smile.

"You will never break my heart, will you? I don't have the strength to be broken again and again," she mumbled hugging him tighter.

"You treated me like your elder brother all this while. Are you okay with this? This is wrong Bhawani," he replied back sharply, breaking himself free from her grip.

"Why is this wrong? Only because I called you Bhaiya?"

"Yes! Obviously. We shouldn't be...I mean..."he fumbled.

"Then why did you save me? You should have let me die. No one would blame you," she said angrily.

He pulled her ear making her scream in pain. " You say that again and see what I do," he rebuked her.

"See now you are threatening me just like Di," she laughed and his heart skipped a beat. He stared at her quietly for sometime, mesmerized by her beautiful smile. He was happy to see that smile on her face and wanted that smile to never disappear.

The gloomy, depressed state of her mind had strangely changed. She started to run into the waters barefooted and play with the splashing waves.

His prayers before Lord Shiva in the empty and stranded temple had been heard he realized.

When he reached her, urging her to come out of the water; she happily splashed water on him soaking him completely wet, revealing his muscular and heavily built body beneath his white shirt.

She was awed by his physique.

All of a sudden, she realized he had scooped her out of the waters. Dismay was clearly visible on her face.

"I will bring you here again, with extra pair of clothing. I can't let you get wet and catch a cold. Plus clingy clothes can reveal a lot," he said stroking her hair.

With deep red cheeks, she moved away from him feeling embarrassed.

"Bhawani. I know you are still worried about your Maa. Everything will be fine," he said after a long pause.

"Yes! I hope so.
If you think I am like my Di, you are totally wrong.

I smoke,smoke a lot actually. I am not good at studies. I have no clues to what I should become when I grow up. I took up science and biology as a subject but am now realizing that I made a grave mistake.

Biology was my favorite subject till standard tenth but now I have failed in it too," she went on.

"Umm...Smoking is a serious issue. You shouldn't become an addict.
Rest, talking about your career I would say, you still have plenty of time to decide what you want to become.

I hope you are not insisting me to teach you biology?" He smiled.

"Nope! Definitely not. I am an idiot. You might go crazy," she laughed making his heart flutter.

"I can teach you, if you want but I will prefer physics rather than biology.

Please promise me that you won't hate yourself ever again because of that scoundrel.

You have a life. Your Di and Maa both need you Bhawani," he said honestly.

"And what about you? " She asked curious.

He looked away, unable to frame words to describe how he felt for her. "Bhawani. The moment I first saw you in Parili, when your belongings were being shifted, I...I couldn't focus on what I was doing. I kept stealing glances at you.

I could never muster up enough courage to tell you what I felt for you because I was scared stiff about how you will react.

Even if you don't accept my love, I have already come to terms with it. I only need you to be happy."

He sneezed three to four times continuously.

"Why don't you just take off your shirt? It's wet. You will catch a cold," she pleaded.

"I am fine! ach...achoo," he sneezed again as the cold breeze kept blowing.

She quickly unbuttoned his shirt.

"Wait! What..." He began but fell silent as she smoothly opened his shirt and squeezed the water out of it.

"Where should we let it dry?" She questioned aloud and gladly answered herself,"Ah! We can hang it on a branch of that tree there," pointing towards a tree.

He snatched the shirt away from her hand as she tried to hang it on a branch and placed it on a branch quickly.

"You too could have splashed water on me. Atleast I would be spared from the guilt of getting you catch a cold as I too would be sneezing by now," she said softly.

"You really are crazy. Then would you roam around like me half naked, letting your clothes to dry on some tree branches?" He asked instantly.

Her blush had a genuine sweetness, he had been craving for.

"I owe you my life. Thank you for saving me from being...If the wheels would have run over my chest or stomach or hips, but not skull it could have been a very painful end," she said rubbing her arms as if already imagining the pain.

"Shut up!" He yelled and kissed her hard. She placed her hands softly on his torso and moved them up on his arms tenderly, feeling his muscles beneath her skin.

The moment he lifted his face up and stood up erect, she placed her arms around his neck and pulled his face down upon hers to kiss him back.

He forcefully broke the kiss and murmured," No! No! This is wrong. We shouldn't be doing this."

Disappointment was evident on Bhawani's face. Her eyes were moist. "I am extremely sorry. Then let's just forget whatever happened here and never see each other again," she cried.

"It's already getting dark, we should go back," she added and started to walk towards his bike.

He held her arm and pulled her close," Why are you crying?"

"Is it my fault that you are Prabir Bhaiya's friend and so I called you Bhaiya?"She snapped.

"It is nobody's fault. But it is true that you treated me as your brother and now it is wrong, extremely wrong if I kiss you," he stated breathing heavily.

"I am not your sister. You never treated me like one of your sisters. So why are you feeling guilty about it?"She spat.

He cupped her face in his hands as she spoke calmly,"Even after being broken once, I am trusting you with all of my heart and all you have to say is, it is wrong to fall in love with you."

He kissed her again and this time he took his time to deepen the kiss. He sneaked a guilty peek at her with half open eyes, every time he paused for breathing only to ensure that he wasn't imagining all of this. All his other thoughts were silenced.

Her heart was racing wild. She curled her fingers in his hair, which was frizzy. She could feel heat radiating from his skin. Her whole body tingled as he gently moved his hands from her face to her waist, pulling her closer.

The cellphone vibrating in his jeans pocket, made him stop finally. He saw the name and the time.

Lost in passion he was unaware yet that it was already so dark and the sun had set a long time ago. He received the call...

******

Please let me know if you liked this update. It's already  so late and I feel very drowsy, so please forgive me for typos and errors.

I hope you enjoy reading and you like the new twist.

Am I going too fast or too slow, I have no idea.

I am guessing I am not able to convey the feelings and emotions of Bhawani as well as Shekhar the way I want to.

Please do comment else I don't feel like writing anymore.

I shall be glad if you do vote for me.

Thank you for reading!