Ruhani ignored the feeling that was summing in her gut and quickly moved back to the auto.
"Are you okay?" Alina asked. Ruhani's anxiety must have been visible on her face.
"Oh yeah,absolutely awesome..let's go" Ruhani told Auto wale bhaiya their destination and the auto took off.
Ruhani paid for both of them as they reached their location. Alina calmly observed her surroundings. It was a loney wide lane with dim lights and very few people walking nearby.
"Uhm..Alina,do you like dogs?" Ruhani faced her professor and asked
"Yes..I do..Why?" Alina responded
"Perfect"
They walked a few steps and entered a small shelter on corner of the road. The entrance was small but as soon as they entered,The whole place came into view. All the injured,uninjured,pregnant street side dogs and pups came running to them.
"Meet the Indies,Alina" Ruhani sat on her knee and started petting all who came running towards them. Ruhani turned herself to face upwards so that she could catch Alina's reactions. The silver spoon girl must be disgusted fosho.
"It's okay Alina,you don't need to pet them if-" Before Ruhani could complete her sentence,Alina hurriedly ran towards the dogs and sat on the floor.
What was this reaction? It was something Ruhani had seen for the first time. Was Alina happy? Her face was red,almost flustered and she was smiling whole heartedly. It was as if for the first time Ruhani had seen her smile reaching her eyes. She held some pups and placed them on her lap. Their little paws on Alina's chest and their tongues licking her face. Alina was laughing. Her sensual feminine voice turning into that of a child.
Everything else was a blur for Ruhani. Her only centre of attention being a lovely woman who was currently enjoying to her heart's content. How pretty she was. Every other sound faded in background. Her focus was only on the prettiest being right in front of her. What a delightful scenery it was. It was as if everything else was animated. She saw the woman caressing their heads,Running around like a child,jumping around, scratching their stomachs,kissing their nose, catching them mid air,playing with their paws and at the end being happy.
Reality hit her. How close she was to her yet how far they were. Her eyes became glisery and a lump formed in her throat. What was she expecting? She knew the truth yet she couldn't do anything but hope for more. The most alluring,most perfect woman on the whole planet was smiling right in front of her and here was Ruhani, a simple teenager whose existence always gets unnoticed even if she passed among a crowd of some handful.
"Ruhani..Ruhani" Alina was calling for her,breaking her from her stance.
"Hanji?"
"Do you come here often?" Alina asked
"Well,it's my favourite place to be other than my farm house"
"You own a farm house?"
"Papa does Ma'am,We have twelve german shephards and a Labra there" Ruhani replied
"WOW..I have to tell Aliya about it fosho" Alina said cheerfully
"She knows,We have planned that we'll visit there together soon"
"Cool"
Alina played more for a bit. She moved around and petted all the pupps ,made some donations online for the injured and pregnant dogs and at the end they waved Bye to their Indies. Ruhani could see that it was particularly tough for Alina. As soon as they left the place,Alina was back to being her usual self. They were surely tired. The way back to their last station was mostly silent with some basic conversations here and there. Ruhani took all the stairs and Alina took all the escalators.
As they reached their last stair/escalator footing,Alina stopped.
"Hey Ruhani,come here" Alina called for Ruhani and she came. She stood next to Alina in front of the escalator.
"Hanji?" Ruhani asked
"Step on the escalator" Alina commanded
Ruhani huffed "No,I'll rather take the-"
" I said step on the escalator" Alina's voice low and intimidating,sending shivers down Ruhani's spine
"I-"
"Are you scared of escalators?" Alina asked
Ruhani didn't replied.
"You should have told Duffer" she sighed
Embarassed Ruhani couldn't muster any words
"Here take my hand" Alina offered her hand and looked at Ruhani.
Ruhani looked back at her,still not saying a word.
"Take my hand Ruhi,We don't have the whole day Baccha"
'Ruhi', 'Baccha', all in one sentence..Ruhani's death was confirmed now.
Ruhani held Alina's hand and sudden butterflies erupted in her stomach. Eventhough the winds were chilly,Alina's hand was warm. Her fingers were slightly bigger than Ruhani's. She guided Ruhani to put her right foot forward and just like that she stepped on the escalator. None of them attempted to free their hands,even after leaving the escalator. Their walk to Alina's car was still the same, hand in hand.
Alina reached the car and left Ruhani's hand to open the car's door. The sudden lack of touch made Ruhani snarl. Ruhani opened her side of the gate and got settled in. Alina turned on the car's heater.
"Alina let me take heat for a moment and then I'll leave" Ruhani closed her eyes
"Don't worry..I'll drop you home" Alina replied
"Nope don't worry..I'll go on my own"
"But it's quite late -"
"It's fine Alina.." She sighed "Oh yeah..I have to give you something"
Ruhani took out a clothed cover from her college bag.
"Here" She handed it to Alina
"What is it?" Alina eyed the cover
"Open it" Ruhani asked
Alina tore the clothed cover and held a brown handmade shawl.
"Remember I told you I'll give you something feasible the next time we meet..Here it is" The young girl smiled
"You didn't need to Ruhani.." Alina was eyeing the shawl,touching it's fabric. "It's handmade...Right?"
"Oh yeah,My Nani made it..She was making one for me,so I asked her to make one for you as well. I didn't know what colour you would like,so she went with the basic"
A smile appeared on Alina's face. "It's so pretty,please thank her from my side"
"I will..Also here's something else" Ruhani handed Alina another bag
Alina opened it and her eyes widened. She took out one pair of jhumkas among thirty other pairs resting in the bag.
"This-"
" I didn't know which pair you particularly liked,so I bought all of them" Ruhani said with the most innocent smile
"Ruhani you-" Alina couldn't believe what she was seeing
"It's okay Alina,The next time we go-"
"There won't be a next time Ruhani" Alina said in a voice which was almost above a whisper
"I'm sorry..I didn't hear you"
"I said there won't be a next time Ruhani" She said it clearly this time
Ruhani broke into a weak smile. "It's fine..if..if you don't want to c..come with me-"
"It's not about you Ruhani..I.." She took a deep breath. "I'm leaving the college permanently"
That took Ruhani by a storm.She wanted to ask if Alina was joking but the older woman's tone and expressions were telling other wise. She diverted her gaze.
"I see" She took a pause. "But it's not your last day right?..You'll..you'll come for internals &-"
"Nope Ruhani,I won't come for any of it. They are assigned to other teachers. Today is my last day"
"You should have..told earlier" Ruhani's voice was cracking but she refused to gave in. She knew it would happen sooner or later but itna jaldi..she didn't expected it
"I am telling you now,aren't I"
"No I mean.." Ruhani stopped midway her words. It took her some seconds to realise. "Wait a minute..if this is your last day,why did you even came for this drive"
Alina's expression told that she absolutely understood what Ruhani was referring to. She let the young girl complete. "If..If this is your last day,it makes today, officially our first & last drive" Ruhani took a pause. "Why did you even came,This drive was meant to teach you how to settle in more..if this was your last day..There was no need to come at all Alina"
Ruhani looked at the older woman who didn't said anything for a few seconds. "You said it yourself, today was my last day,more of a reason to come"
"But-"
"It's okay Ruhani..I wanted to thank you..For Today & for every other day you were there for me..I'm genuinely greatful & yeah..I seriously enjoyed today" The most radiant smile was resting on Alina's face and Ruhani couldn't help but smile back.
"Yeah..No worries" Ruhani said in a low tone
"Just tell me one thing,How was today going to help me with anything bacche?" Alina asked
"It's just..I thought I'll introduce you to the basics,basics of how normal people like us live with. The daily travel of Metro,running and travelling miles just for mere survival of food and shelter,small things like enjoying street side food with your friends and family,petting every other stray animal you pass by. These small unnoticed things make us who we are. I thought if I'll introduce you to all these stuff,it will help you in understanding everyone around you psychologically better. You can act more comfortable and more normal. It's not much but it would have definitely helped you ...I guess"
"You are so intelligent and thoughtful,I'm shocked it's the same you who was tripping mere hours ago" Alina huffed."Again,Thankyou for everything "
"You don't have to thank me,It's..It's fine"
Both of them sat in silence for some seconds.
"It's goodbye then..I guess" Ruhani weakly smiled at her professor.
Alina didn't replied her and rather weakly smiled as well.
"I'll..I'll miss you..Miss Oberoi" Ruhani didn't met her gaze
"Yeah.."
Ruhani was hoping for a 'I'll miss you too' but at this point everything seemed blurry.
She looked at the woman next to her for the last time before taking a deep breath and pushing the door's handle. But before she could,she felt a hand holding her arm. She looked back,staring right in Alina's soft eyes.
"Is there..something Alina?" She asked.
The woman didn't said anything. Ruhani closed the door and sat again with Alina still holding her arm. Both of them kept staring in each other's eyes until Ruhani couldn't manatin eye contact any longer and moved her gaze lower. She felt Alina's index finger under her chin,moving her head up. Alina moved forward. Ruhani couldn't grasp hold of her surroundings and got plastered in her current state.
Alina moved forward again,her breath grazing Ruhani's skin,their lips centimeteres apart. She moved again and placed a tender kiss on Ruhani's Cheek,right below her eye.
It took Ruhani by surprise,pit of her stomach turning warm and her ears getting red. Her eyes became glisery and this time she couldn't help when a tear escaped her eye. Her breath hitched and she turned around to leave. Alina's hand was still holding her arm.
"Goodbye Ruhani" These were Alina's last words and then the woman drove away,leaving Ruhani behind.
Write a comment ...