It seemed, Amar owned huge lands of farm. Each field spread over many acres. After walking for about 30 minutes, Sajjan looked at a small path which led to the centre of the land owned by Amar.
He turned onto that path and quickly caught Leela by her hand. She was walking straight ahead. He pointed to where he was heading. Leela bit her tongue and followed him. She was too caught up being around in nature and her own thoughts, totally engrossed in her happiness to keep up with Sajjan. She wanted to spread her arms and run off into the fields full of crop. But she tagged along behind him.
Soon they reached the centre of the fields and looked at a high machan which was used to keep an eye on the crop and to flee the birds away using a sling shot. Sajjan looked around and found a ladder to climb up the machan. They both climbed up which seemed to be 10 X 10 sq ft area and erected about 15 ft high. It was spread with soft grass and had a provision to make shift roof with a canvas during a sunny or a rainy day.
It was peaceful and serene out there. He lay on his back gazing at various formations of stars in the sky. She sat next to him with folded legs. The moonlight was reflecting the happiness, on her face.
“What song were you singing when we walked through the field?’
“I wasn’t singing – I was humming.”
“It seemed melodious. Could you sing it for me?”
She blushed at his request and started singing it in a low voice.
“Hey! It’s just you and me out here.” he smiled, “There’s nobody to hear you sing. Sing it in your natural voice.”
She blushed again and yielded to his request. She looked away from him as she started singing. She looked at the waving fields, the shining moon and the twinkling stars as she sang. She finally looked at Sajjan for approval. He now was sitting next to her, looking at her intently. She looked at him looking at her thus and blushed.
“You sing well.” he said in a tone much softer than he had been using to communicate with her. “You have a very sweet voice. Wow! That really sounded good.”
“You liked it?”
“Yes. I loved listening to you sing the song. There were parts where I couldn’t understand the meaning of those words.”
She blushed at this flattery; “You are a sweet liar” she started laughing at his confused expression, “I know you didn’t understand a word in the song.”
“I wanted to say”, he said sheepishly, “The tune was wonderful, your voice was very sweet – I didn’t feel like disturbing your flow to understand the words.”
She looked at him for a long moment. “This is a song – normally sung by newlywed bride, telling the trees around, the moon and the twinkling stars, the flowing river about how happy she feels when she is with her lover and husband and how she wants to melt into his arms and feel his love.” she started laughing again, “Now that you know the meaning, do not start getting any weird ideas.”
“No. I won’t.” he joined her in her laughter.
It was silent around and the sound of their laughter travelled faintly to Lajjo’s ears.
‘Finally – They seem to be trying to get around their initial feelings of acceptance and trying to understand each other.’ she smiled at the thought of newly developing romance that she would witness…
They sat on the machan, chitchatting about anything and everything under the sun which an adivasi girl could know. They climbed down the ladder and she allowed him to help her in her descent. On the way back, they were unusually quiet. It seemed as if they had finished speaking about anything they could converse. They had not spoken anything personal or about his or her background. Though, they desperately wanted to know the details about each other.
He made sure that the main door to the outhouse was securely locked for the night and entered the bedroom. She seemed to be occupying the bathroom. He quickly changed to more comfortable clothes for the night and sat on the bed. She came out of the bathroom wearing her adivasi sari and the clothes he had bought, in her hand, the ones she had worn all day, folded neatly.
“Hey! Why did you change your dress?”
“I know, it costs big money to buy such nice dresses. I don’t want to burden you with more. If I start wearing these, day in day out, you will have to buy more dresses sooner than you think.”
“It’s okay”, he said, “I do have enough to buy more of these for you.”
He could see that she had a feeling that she was an unplanned burden on Sajjan and didn’t want to trouble him more. He beckoned her to come and sit next to him. She obeyed, her expression was still sad. He took her hand into his own and looked at her in her eyes, “Look at me.” her eyes, still staring at the floor, heavy with the thought of being a burden, “As far as the people in this town are concerned, you are my wife – you have proven that to Amar and his family, you‘ll prove it to others as well – This means You are my Wife” she looked innocently at him, “If you can prove that you are a good wife – I do have a challenge. I got to prove that I’m a good husband, right?” she kept looking at him in wonder, “I don’t want people to think that I can’t take care of my wife’s needs. I got you about a couple of dresses because I want you to choose your dresses as per your choice and the style. You have to wait for a week or so before the town is safe for you to go out and shop in the market. I swear, I will personally take you to the bazaar and let you shop your own clothes. Now be a good girl and stop thinking wayward. You look beautiful when you smile – So – Smile.”
She smiled a bit uncomfortable and looked at his peaceful, convincing and saintly eyes. She could hold it no longer. She put her forehead on his shoulder and started weeping inconsolably, gasping in between intelligible words like “WHY ME?” kind of sorts. He allowed her to weep her feeling out and waited patiently for her to calm down. Finally she regained the control on her emotions, got up and away from him.
“I’m sorry” she said in a tone of shame, “I didn’t want to weep like that.”
He just signed to her by waiving ‘It’s okay.’
“Just be comfortable” he said lying down on the bed and looked at Leela unfold the mat onto the floor, “could you please switch off the light? It’s easy to fall asleep when the lights are off.”
She switched off the light and lay down, one eye on Sajjan till he started to breathe heavily. She relaxed and smiled away at her lucky ‘chance meeting’ with Sajjan. She was safe till she was with him. She wondered and smiled at how comfortable she was staying with a man, under the same roof, in the same bedroom, who she knew less than 24 hours. Soon, she fell asleep.
Sajjan was suddenly awakened by Leela’s screaming which sounded stifled. He quickly jumped out of the bed and switched on the light. He noticed Leela – her face showed extreme fright at the experience of her nightmare. “Leave me – Please – Leave me.” she screamed her hands and feet moving vigorously as if, she was desperately fighting off someone to free herself. Sajjan knelt next to her and grabbed her fighting arms firmly and shook her to wake her up. She opened an eye looking desperately at Sajjan begging and screaming for help. She was still in her sleep, not wanting to let go of her nightmare.
“Wake up” Sajjan said shaking her hard which brought her out of her sleep. “It’s okay. You are safe here with me. It’s just a dream that’s scary. Look at me. I’m Sajjan.”
She stopped screaming and looked around and then at Sajjan. She sat up trembling in fear, her eyes full of fright – she clung onto Sajjan weeping and begging him to help her out. Sajjan put a comforting hand around her patting her on her back reassuring her that he’d indeed help her. In few minutes, she calmed down, her arms around him slackened. He gently laid her back on the mat and she was deep asleep.
Are you ready for a thrill ride like no other?
Look no further than Prasad Deshpande, the mastermind behind heart-stopping, spine-tingling thrillers
that will leave you breathless and begging for more!
"Unimaginable Plots, Unrelenting Suspense"
With a twisted imagination and a flair for the unexpected,
Prasad Deshpande weaves intricate tales that will keep you guessing until the very end.
From shocking twists to heart-pumping action, it is a wild ride that will push you to the edge of your seat.
Dive into a World of Thrills and Chills
Explore the dark corners of the human psyche, where the unimaginable becomes reality.
Prasad Deshpande's thrillers are not for the faint or weak of heart,
but for those who crave a story that will haunt them long after the final page is turned.
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/