Never always well begun - Part 6

Days passed and she was in Kolhapur, her home town. Her freedom was just for a few days. Her dream was over, she had to open her eyes and face the truth. And the truth was she was getting married very soon. Sooner or later she had to get habituated to it. It was just another day for Pallika, she woke up to see another day and again found herself in her bedroom decorated with her smiling pictures and using purple everywhere. Her mother was calling her for breakfast. She got up, washed her face and saw herself in the mirror. Her eyes were loosing the charm due to the growing dark circles. Her tired looking face added to the deteriorating glamor she had.
She walked down to the dining room, where her parents were waiting for her. Her father was an army officer, quite strict but he used to be out of the city most of the times. Her mother was a housewife, she was the sweetest mom anybody could have. She was her bestfriend, and she knew Pallika was not happy with the marraige. But she could not dare say it to her husband. So she always tried to cheer up her little daughter. She looked at Pallika and said
"Beta, come eat."
She walked down and sat next to her chair. Her father did not speak with her since Ajay told him of the night in Pune. She was relieved, no talk was better than the never ending discipline related lectures for her. She was quietly eating everything served in the plate. She did not bother of what was going on around her. The news channel dramatically exagerating the wardrobe malfunction of some model, her mother trying to make a conversation with he father or the utencil sounds the maid was making in the kitchen. None of these sounds were registered by her brain. She was lost again.
"Chance mar raha hai?"
Pallika whispered in Gaurav's ears when he held her hands when they were seated in the bar.
"You don't want me to do that?"
Pallika did not reply, she just held his hands tight and came a little closer to him.
"Tell me were you really going to kiss me? And why me?"
"Aivayi"
He came closer to her and looked into her eyes. When she was just about to ask her what he was upto, he pulled her cheeks hard.
Screaming aloud she said ,"What is wrong with you Gaurav? Why did you do that?"
"Aivayi"
Both of them started laughing at the incident.
This memory was enough for Pallika to smile a little. Her mother was observing her. Her mother knew she was not smiling for Ajay, it was something else or maybe somebody else. She was worried now, Ajay's father and her husband were friends. So when Ajay had come to ask for their marraige, it did not make much of a chaos. Infact, her husband was happy with Pallika's choice. After a few months of engagement when Pallika had mentioned that Ajay was suffocating her amd mentally torturing her, her father said that it was due to Pallika's frivolities. He did not believe her and never support her. The new turn that Pallika's life had taken was quite obvious to her mother. As said a mother can tell what is happening in her childrens life just by seeing her their face.
So was the case with Gaurav's mother. Gaurav was home in Jabalpur for a few days. He did not speak much and was always busy doing something on the phone. He hardly met his friends or spent time playing mischiefs on his mother. The shy Gaurav was very open and fun when back home. But this time his mother knew he was lost into something or maybe somebody.

 By Anvi Mehta