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A story by Haritha Sivakumar
Later that night, Priya was in her room applying aloe-vera gel on her face as she listened to Shefalika and Kavya comparing the Hollywood movie ET to the Bollywood movie Koi Mil Gaya, as a popular song from Koi Mil Gaya was playing on a music channel.
Priya rolled her eyes but smiled to herself as the heated arguments were raising decibel after decibel until the song changed and the beautiful melody of the song ‘Zehanaseeb’ from the movie Hasse Toh Phase filled their living room. Like a fluttering feather, the music crawled into Priya’s room, tickling her with its melody while the past evening's rendezvous rolled before her like an autumn breeze. She remembered the food she harrowed down, the arguments of her friends while their laughter filled her life even in the crowded room, and getting starstruck by the small gatherings of movie stars and celebrity singers from Indian film industries gathered at the party. However, none shone bright like him. Those round-small button eyes, which were so pretty and mischievous all the time, had looked remorseful that evening. " Did I bother him too much? He did look tense. I can be overbearing sometimes. I should stop it. I should know my limits," Priya instructed herself, as she remembered her evening with that 6'2 feet tall Ladkaian man, who looked nothing short of a supermodel- maybe more with his innocent and mischievous hooded eyes that complemented his bright smile. And- and- her eyes slithered down to that silver chain he wore around his neck, his eyes catching hers, the veins in his hands flexing. Priya swallowed hard at the memories, "Esh!" she jerked her head violently, remembering how close they were, his fingers trying hard not to touch her while their eyes met. A shiver ran down her spine and electrified the air they breathed. It felt weird to feel something like this- this panic, yet she didn't know what made her think, "Well, he is attractive, can't deny it. But he really is intolerable," she complained to herself before she switched off the light and fell asleep.
The morning daylight seeped through the yellow curtains of her medical room, gliding in a gentle breeze.
“Thank you, doctor!” A patient thanked her while standing up, as they existed after their check-up.
Priya smiled and rang for the next patient, feeling grateful she didn’t have to handle any chronic cases that day. It was a pleasant day, occupied with patients consulting for mild- colds, normal fever, and diarrhoea. Accidentally, the paperweight near her fell from the table to the ground, and with a loud noise, it emitted blinding- painful streaks of white light. Loud music started playing, and Priya looked up to see the crystal curtains in her cubicle all dancing to the song, ‘Tumkeshwari’. Bewildered, Priya walked forward cautiously, but the curtains caught her in a wild grasp during the dance and wrapped her in a painful grasp. Priya squirmed, but with loud noises, the lights in the hospital corridor broke into pieces one by one, drowning the corridor into charcoal black that scared the patients, who began evacuating the hospital while screaming. Eyes dilated in apprehension and bafflement, Priya looked at her side, and there was a photo frame of an old couple holding a door. She found the same ornate door near her and pushed it open before walking inside. And before she was a land filled with black soil and thundering clouds that loomed over her to space that she could count only as infinity. The wind gushed around her, spiralling her hair, her doctor's coat, and her dress, all violently as she tried to hold them down while protecting herself from dust and kept moving forward. Frightening thunder hit her nearby, and she screamed. Black clouds followed her like nightmares, and she ran towards a building that looked like her college or house; she couldn't understand, but she ran forward, hoping to get to a safer place. A shadow fell near her, and she jerked out in fear but soon realised the looming figure to be someone she knew. Relief seized her heart, and she hugged the figure without a precautionary thought.
“Siddanht- Aadithya!” Priya felt the names slip from her lips before she broke free from the hug, and Aadithya stood before her. His amber eyes stared at her lovingly, like the first time she had met them. She smiled, and he did it too. But then he held her, moved closer and jerked her violently.
“How could you? How could you cheat me?” Aadithya chastised, and her heart broke. The storm broke around, and they stood in the middle with dust and wind swirling around, “ After everything I did for you, how can you do this to me?”
“Aadhi, what do you mean?” Priya asked, perplexed. "I have always loved you. I will always love you," her sound quivered at the weight of the accusation, and her eyes burned at the indictment and disgust.
“How can you like him? Kiss him? Was our love worth only that much? Was our love that easy to forget? You were my pride. My love. My everything, but I guess it wasn’t the same for you. Priya, you have cheated me. You have cheated us. You hurt me more than anybody ever could, and you knew it, and yet you did. How can you live like this by hurting people and breaking their expectations? You embarrass me, Priya, you embarrass me,” Aadthiya spat out his hurt, tears rolling down, "I felt this was for a lifetime, and you broke me. You are not worthy of love. Ever. Even when you crowded my life, I stayed with you because I chose you-"
"Aadhi,"
"I chose you over everyone, and yet -"
“What the hell are you talking about? When did I cheat you? And with whom?” Priya demanded.
“Siddanth,” A female voice echoed through the barren land. Amongst the greeny and gushy pasture overlooking a beautiful sea and blue sky, a young woman in her late twenties wearing a yellow and green kalamkari saree accessorised with oxidised neckpiece and earring walked out with her dark brown hair tied into a tight high bun. Priya’s eyes widened seeing Kavya, her friend in her mother’s style with a large dark red bindi on the forehead.
“Oh lord, Machi, what is wrong with you? You look like a traffic signal with your bindi. Remove it, please,” Priya complained, but the person in front of her was in no mood to answer.
“ You kissed him, didn’t you? You kissed Siddanth without his consent?" Kavya demanded.
"What?" Priya squealed when she realised she was sinking, but she did not know how it was possible, as she could see nothing, and Kavya was not worried for her. " You shallow head. Haven’t I repeated myself enough that your taste in men is bad? Live single because you cannot trust them. Live alone, grow grey alone, cause you are your protector,”
“Kavya, it’s hard to take your words seriously when you look like a tonic bottle with a filler cap,”
“Shut up, you talk too much,” Kavya ordered, but it wasn't her voice. It was Siddanth’s. “Do you think you can have me? You are delusional, Chingu. You thought I liked you, but you know not that I disdain you- I pity you. You are a rejected piece, and who will want you? The whole world knows you are not a good partner. Then why will I throw myself into a gutter knowing I will only get dirty? Grow out of your delusional life. Because no one will like you, consider you, or have you in their life. You can only be pitied by us as you are worthy of nothing else.. Nothing!" He shouted and Priya's eyes shot up, and she gasped for air, eyes opening to the ceiling.
The room was dark, and she lay there in the darkness for a moment, sensing and realising all those vanishing dreams to be a dream, when she felt her fingers scrawl for her mobile and she found it under a pillow. She clicked open her display, and the screen showed it was past 7 am. Exhaling sharply, Priya stood up reluctantly, folded her blanket, arranged her bed, and stepped out of her room with the lingering nauseating sensation of the dream, but unable to recollect the dialogues and the people's faces she saw in the dream except for Kavya.
She took her brush, lathered it lightly with the toothpaste, and sat on the small dining table when Kavya walked into the kitchen wearing a satin peach short pyjamas after a shower. Her hair was still tucked in the towel above her head. She hummed some random Malayalam song while she smiled and tucked Priya's chin adoringly with her finger. Priya looked up, her eyes confounded at the big bindi on Kavya's face, and she remembered that evil-looking Kavya with a bindi in her dream. Eyes darkened, Priya stood up frantically, removed the bindi from Kavya's face and pasted it under the table before walking out without a word and leaving behind a puzzled Kavya next to the bread toaster.
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