Chapter 14 : Forgiveness and The Desire

Tani was sitting in the front seat next to Rishabh in the car. Anu, Rishita and Sayani sat on the back seat, Arka and Akash were behind them.

“I’m so hungry,” Akash said to break the silence in the car.

Sayani said, “You should have told us to pack some food for you, before we left from there.”

“Ah, why are you telling him like that? Don’t you pay him back for what he did for you guys?”, Arka said mockingly.

“Damn, you did that. You traced the number. What did he do?”, Rishita said.

“Baby!! How could you say such a big thing? Well tell me, if I hadn’t called them, would they have flown like birds in the air to help us here?,” Akash said with a sad face.

“Ah Akash, don’t worry. We are here. If we eat your food, your stomach will be full too naa. You are not our friend! So what is yours is ours also.”, Rishabh said jokingly.

“Oh now this trick haan.. I will tell aunty that you steal the pickle she made and eat it.”, Akash told Rishabh.

Meanwhile, Tani was watching Anu through the rear mirror of the car. Anu sat by the window and looked out through the glass. She folded her hands and sometimes she was wiping her eyes.

Suddenly, the phone rang in Tani’s pocket. Tani took out the phone and saw that her mom was calling. Tani picked up the call and said to her mother, “Yes we are almost there. Yes.. yes we are together. Hmm… bye.” The rest are talking among themselves.

Tani put the phone down and looked in the rear mirror, and saw Anu is looking at her, and tears are glistening in her eyes. When Tani looked back at Anu, she saw Anu silently saying ‘sorry’. But Tani controlled her emotions as much as possible and did not react.

Tani turned forward again and clenched her fists. Tani said to herself, “Tani you have to do this. For Anu’s sake. You have to make her understand where her mistakes are.”

In the meantime, Sayani said to Tani, “Tani, your home has arrived.” Tani said, “Yes.. Yes.. Rishabh park the car here. We will manage from here.”

Tani got down from the car and said to Sayani, “Tell her to come down or she wants to sit here like this. If she wants, she can go to her own house whether she doesn’t want to come with me.”

Anu gets hurt by Tani’s indirect words and cries. Then she got down from the car and headed to Tani’s house.

Sayani said to Tani, ‘Why are you doing this to her? Such a big incident happened with her today. At least you don’t hurt her now. She needs you at this moment. Please calm down.”

“You guys go home carefully. I’ll take care of it. And a thanks is not enough. You all did a really good job, I couldn’t have rescued her without you guys.” Tani said.

“Tani, please don’t do any formality. There shouldn’t be ‘sorry and thank you’ between friends. Being there for a friend when they need, is matter.”, said Rishita. Everyone said, “Right”. And then they left with the car. Tani also went towards her home.

Tani goes to the door of her house and finds the door open, and Tani’s mother standing near the stairs. As soon as Tani comes in, her mother asks, “What happened to Anu? She looks so strange. She seems like, she have been crying. Was everything alright at the party?”

“Yes everything was fine. I’ll tell you later. Where is she?” Tani asked.

“Upstairs. I asked her to freshen up and get dinner, she said she wouldn’t eat and went upstairs.”, Tani’s mom replied.

“Ok, relax I’m coming.”, Tani said.

Tani went upstairs. She entered the room and couldn’t find Anu. Then suddenly, from the washroom, she heard Anu’s crying. She went near to the door but didn’t knock. She hears Anu is crying and saying, “I have done big mistakes, I… I.. made a mistake by hurting Tani. I.. I.. made a mistake by not listening to her. She.. she… was right, I misunderstood her. I don’t have the courage to stand in front of her. I am the worst.. I am very bad… What happened to me it was correct. I.. I.. deserve this.”

Tani’s eyes got wet. She understood that anu realized her mistakes. She did not knock on the door. She thought that she would tell her tomorrow that she had forgiven her. Tani wiped her eyes and went downstairs to bring food for Anu. After some time when she came back with food, she found that Anu is lying on the bed.

Tani said in a serious voice, “Eat the dinner. Mom sent it.” But Anu didn’t answer and put the pillow on her head.

Tani understands that Anu is upset, and doesn’t want to face her. Without saying anything, Tani took the night suit and went to the washroom. Changed and came out in a while. Without making any sound, she went to Anu and saw whether she was awake or not?

Tani saw that Anu is in deep sleep. Tired of all days actions and additionally she cried a lot, her puffy eyes are saying that. She didn’t want to wake her up so, gently she took her hand by the pillow, gave it a kiss and caressed it.

After some time, Tani came up and lay down next to Anu. She also went to bed without eating anything at night. Tani was awake, she knows the time is very sensitive for Anu. But while awake, Tani’s also felt sleepy and fall asleep.

It is around 2 o’clock in the middle of the night. Tani’s sleep was suddenly broke by the sound of crying. Tani gasped and sat up and saw that Anu was not there on the bed next to her. Tani saw the washroom door was slightly open, and the light was on inside. Tani quickly got up and went to the washroom.

Tani opened the door and saw Anu sitting in a corner. Her clothes and whole body are wet. She is crying a lot and scratching all over her body.

Tani gets nervous seeing Anu’s condition. As Tani approaches to Anu, she pushes Tani and said, “Leave me alone, please… please don’t hurt me.” And started crying. Tani realizes that Anu is having flashbacks of those events. Tani slowly went towards her. She held Anu’s hands and said, “Anu.. Anu.. look at me. I am Tani..”

Anu looked at Tani with scared eyes. Tani put her hand on Anu’s cheek and said, “Don’t be afraid, I am here. Look, I am Tani, you are in my house. There is no one here.” Anu comes out of the flashbacks, after Tani touches her. She recognize Tani.

She hugged Tani tightly and started crying. “He.. He touched me.. I hate his touch.. He was hurting me forcefully. His.. His touch was cruel.. I hate him. He cheated on me. I really loved him..”, Anu told Tani in tears.

Tani hugged Anu and said, “Shh… Nothing will happen. I am here with you. Calm down. No one will ever dare to touch you again. Okay.. Shhh.. I’m here..”. Tani caressed her back slowly.

“Forgive me. I… I… I made a big mistake by hurting you, not listening to you. I’m so bad. I’m the worst. Please don’t be angry with me Tani. I’m sorry.. Tani please forgive me.”, Anu told Tani by crying.

Tani patted Anu’s back, caressed her head and said, “I am happy that you have realized your mistakes. I have forgiven you. I’m here for you. Please don’t cry Gablu.. I know what are you going through now. I’ll be there for you. Okay, now please get up. Your whole body is wet, you will catch cold. I am giving you dry clothes, wear them.”

Tani came up and gave dry clothes to Anu. Anu came out after changing her clothes, Tani said “Sit here.” She brought the food from the table and fed Anu. Anu knew that Tani too must not have eaten anything so, she fed her also. After they finished their food Anu told Tani, “What you have done for me, I bet no one else would have do that ever. I really don’t know who you were in my previous birth. But in this birth I am very lucky to have you.”

“You are very precious to me. And I can’t lose you for anything. I want to be by your side for the rest of my life. I really…..”, Tani was about to say what was on her heart but she stopped herself.

“You really what? What happened, why are you become silent? Tell me.”, asked Anu.

“No, nothing, come on, it’s late, now sleep. I’ll massage your head with balm. You’ll feel better.”, Tani said.

Anu rested her head on Tani’s lap. Tani was massaging Anu’s head with gentle hands. Anu asked Tani, “Well how did you find me? And how did you know that Rohan has planned so much.”

“Rishita and Sayani told me that during our fight that day in the common room, Akanksha and Rohan were standing outside the window enjoying our fight. They were talking about a plan. Then I asked Akash to find out about this.. That’s how I got to know everything.”, Tani said.

“And how did you find me?”, asked Anu.

“I’m a super woman, can do everything.”, Tani joked.

“No no, I want to know how this happened.”, Anu said.

“Well.. we traced the location of your phone. Then we reached and the watchman wouldn’t let us in so we called the police. Then Akash and Rishabh blocked the watchman. Me, Rishita and Sayani went inside the farmhouse.”, Tani said.

“And what about Akanksha?”, asked Anu.

“When we entered, she was surprised to see us. And she was drunk too, she want to hit me. But I slapped her and she fell on the floor. I went to her and slapped her again, then asked about Rohan. She told me that he was in a room with you. And when I entered I saw…”, Tani said.

Anu got up from Tani’s lap and cuddled her and said, “When he touched me, I was very afraid. It was very dirty. I hated it. I really remembered you at that moment. But one thing I noticed is that, I feel safe with you always. Your touch gives me peace. Every moment I spent with you is a pleasure to me. And I’ve never felt this way with anyone else. Why is it like this, do you know?”

“May be we have a connection.”, Tani said abruptly.

“Yes may be.. you know I feel secure in your arms. Have no tensions, no bad thoughts, no hard feelings…”, Anu said all this and she lift her face towards Tani.

Anu looked at Tani and noticed that Tani’s face was looking awesome in that dim lights. She was constantly staring at Tani’s face and also she was feeling a tickling inside her stomach. Her heartbeat were faster than previous. She was going to touch her lips, but suddenly Tani said, “Ahh… em.. it’s being late. You need to rest now.”

Anu regained consciousness, released Tani from the cuddle and moved to the other side of the bed. Tani wished her good night and rubbed her hand on her forehead and moved to the other side.

Tanisha’s POV :

What was Anu going to do? Did she also have something for me? She looked at me, the way I sometimes look at her. Did she have any feelings? No.. No.. No, I’m wrong. Maybe I’m making things up in my mind.

Anushka’s POV :

What was that? I was about to touch her lips and at that moment I felt some sensations in my lower abdomen and also in my stomach. My heart was also beating fast. I felt like I wanted to kiss her. What is all these happening now? I never felt anything like that with Rohan, I was in love with him. He cheated on me, is another story but my love was real. Am I developing any feelings for Tani? I don’t understand, I’m getting confused. I think it’s because of the stress of the day. I need to take rest, she is right.