Never always well begun - Part 4

“Are you following me?” the mysterious girl replied to Gaurav in quite a rude tone.
“No, why should I follow a stranger who wanted to kiss me a while ago.”
“Oh that was you, do not take me seriously, I was finishing a dare"
Pallika pretended as if she did not remember Gaurav, though in reality she was not able to forget him at all.
“How many times have you been doing such dares?”, Gaurav took her hand saying this and started dancing with her. Pallika did not resist him. She went with the flow. They talked as they moved. Their postures, their style and their movements were all in sync with each other. It was obvious they were happy to spend this time.
“That was my first, wonder how many times you have danced with strangers.”
“Gaurav – law student, living in this city for the past 3 years.” “Pallika – you don’t need to know more.”
They both were totally into each other. They danced for a long time, but none of them revealed any personal information than their name. After a considerable amount of time, Pallika realized that she had been with a stranger for a long time and had no idea where Prutha and the rest of them were. She left Gaurav and rushed to the private area Siddharth had booked. There was nobody there. Gaurav went behind Pallika and stood next to her. Pallika searched for her purse she had kept on the couch. It was not there. She searched for Prutha everywhere in the club, but neither Prutha nor Siddharth were not to be seen anywhere. She could not even find any of Siddharth’s friends.
“What happened?”Gaurav finally asked Pallika after following her everywhere.
“I am alone”
“What?”
“This is all because of you. I got involved dancing with you and all my friends left me.” Pallika was on the verge of crying. She felt like a small kid who got lost in the crowd. She looked angrily at Gaurav.
“It’s okay. I will drop you home.” Gaurav was happy to know his girl was left alone. He had more time with her now. Bonus – he also would know where she lived. “Give me your phone.” Pallika took his phone and dialed Prutha. After several rings, finally somebody picked up the phone.
“Hello, Prutha it's me" she was blank after that. Gaurav could see her face a little terrorised."Okay”, this was the only thing Pallika said and then handed the cell back to Gaurav and turned to leave. Gaurav caught hold of her hand.
“Wait! Where are you going?”
“I have to leave.” She hugged Gaurav, pecked him on the cheeks, looked at him for a minute and then left. After she left, the drinks were getting on Gaurav. He felt like Prince Charming whose Cindrella just ran away. He called up Jeet and they left too, hoping to find Pallika outside the club. She was nowhere to be seen. Finally, they decided to go back home. He was lost and confused. The whole night turned out to be excitingly tiring and he slept off as soon as he reached home.
He got up the next day as if everything that occurred last night was a dream. His eyes were wide open trying to figure out where he was. There were no lights in the room and it was very dull. The place was lingering with smell of alcohol and cigarettes. Jeet was sleeping right next to Gaurav, with his back facing the ceiling. He could feel stress and pain all through his body. His head felt heavy and he wasn’t able to move. Somehow he got up and dragged himself out of the bedroom. He washed his face and saw himself in the mirror. His eyes were red and puffed. He looked sleep deprived and weak. He glanced over the watch on the wall opposite to the mirror. It read 3:30 PM, they were sleeping for 12 hours now. He couldnt understand anything around him, the world seemed to have slowed down and even though he was hungry he did not want to eat. The dizziness was taking away the leftover energy. He was in a real bad HANGOVER. He went inside the bedroom and lay down next to Jeet. He was in a semi-conscious state of mind. He could hear voices inside his head. He could see her talking to him, her beautiful eyes looking towards her. This was when suddenly he realized that the only girl who swept him off his feet was missing. He pushed his brains hard to think of everything that had happened last night. He wanted some clues that would lead him to her.
After brainstorming for a while, he realized that she had made a call from his cell. If only he could call on that number and track her. He started searching for his cell phone. It was nowhere. He looked in his pockets, under the bed, inside the pillow covers, in the kitchen and drawing room and every place possible. He called on his phone from Jeet’s, but it was not reachable. He rushed in the bedroom and woke Jeet up.
“Dude, where is my cell phone?”
Jeet woke up from deep sleep and lazily replied, “I don’t know”
“I need to find Pallika, I want the phone.”
“I don’t know Pallika and I don’t know the phone.”
Gaurav was still trying to find for his phone desperately. He was restless, if the phone is gone so is his girl. There were no other ways of finding her. He kept wondering where she went.
And she kept wondering why her life was so miserable all night. Pallika was afraid to feel good and happy, as it never ended well for her. This night was the only night she was herself, happy and flying high. Her days of independence were gone. That was obvious when she heard to Prutha on the phone when she called her from the club. Apparently, Prutha was also searching for Pallika. After the proposal from Siddharth, she was with him sitting in the garden area outside the club. They were holding hands and she was resting her head on his shoulders. They were disturbed by a phone ringing. It was Pallika’s phone. Her purse was with Prutha.
The phone displayed the name of Ajay. Prutha was panic struck; she did not know what to do. She went to the far end of the garden where it was quiet enough for her to talk.
“Hey”
“Where is my fiancé?
“She is sleeping Ajay. It is almost 2.30 in the night.”
“Really? I am outside your flat. I would love to come in and wake her from her sleep with my kiss, but alas, I cannot break open this lock.”
“Where are you?”
“Where is Pallika?” he shouted loudly, Prutha trying to console him said that they were at a friend’s place.
“I want her on the phone now” “Ajay, I will wake her up and call you back”
“No better I want her in the flat in the next 15 minutes. You know I can’t live without seeing her, don’t you?”
As soon as Ajay kept the phone, Prutha took Siddharth and went to search Pallika inside. Siddharth was asking Prutha of what exactly was happening.
“I just wanted her to enjoy for once in life – and now I screwed her life more.” This is all that Prutha told Siddhartha and they started searching for Pallika.
When Pallika called Prutha, she asked her to come in the parking as soon as possible. She mentioned Ajay waiting for them in the flat. Pallika rushed outside and they left. Ajay - the guy with whom her marriage was arranged by her parents. He was a bigot. An ugly, uneducated rich bastard her parents thought would keep her happy all life. As soon as Pallika had finished her graduation she was engaged. Ajay had been an ass since the very beginning. He had mentally and physically assaulted Pallika. But she knew she would have to live like this all life.
It was to live peacefully for some time before her marriage that she had come to this city. She had to convince her family and her future in laws a lot. Finally when they allowed her, she decided to move in with Prutha, her childhood friend and the only person who wanted Pallika to get away from Ajay - he surely did not deserve her.
Ajay had made her life hell. And now her life was going to be worse as she would no longer be allowed to live in her city of dreams and hopes. Even though she did not love him, she could not leave him. Being a modern generation girl with good education and modest thinking – she had to suffer.
On the way home, she wondered why she was not lucky enough to have somebody like Gaurav in her life. She knew she was going to suffer today – but she was happy for the times she had spent with a stranger who seemed to care more than her own parents and the so called fiancé. This was the dilemma of her LIFE. A tear rolled from the corner of her eye. 
Gaurav, unaware of everything was thinking of Pallika. Her voice was still enchanting him. That was when he remembered the Jacket, he had given it to her for some time in the club. He rushed to the parking area of his residence, opened his car and checked for his jacket. It was there, still smelling of her. He found the cell phone in the side pocket of the jacket. All the upsetting and sad feelings of loosing her just got turned into hope and happy.
Would he be able to contact Pallika? Will they ever meet again? Would Pallika sacrifice her life with Ajay? Why is she marrying Ajay?
Nobody knows what is going to happen ahead. But surely there it was - a beginning of a love story. A love story hoping a happy end but not well begun.
For a love story is never always well begun..!!

- By Anvi Mehta