Chapter 2 - Part 5

“Don’t you dare read it fucker!” She barked at him. He couldn’t take his head out of that piece of paper.

He was at her place to pick her up for a play. There was quite some time for the play to begin and the theatre wasn’t much far from her place. She came up with the idea of having coffee before they left. Subodh readily agreed to it. It was a small place where she put up. A room and a kitchen. The room had enough space for two beds, for her and her room partner and the kitchen was more of a notched extension of the room with half walls and a doorframe. The space resembled a deluxe room of a two-star hotel, which had been filled with posters, artworks, handicrafts, clothes, sandals, books and all other things that were close to these two girls living within its walls. An exotic fragrance lingered in the room which awakened a mysterious sensuousness deep within him. She guided him to her bed and asked him to be seated till she prepared coffee. He sat on the bed a bit uncomfortably running his eyes over the things around. They fell upon a bright red bra half-stuck out of a drawer besides the mirror. He quickly turned away to look at the books which stood in a pile in the direction laterally opposite to that of the sight.

The fan above him rotated vigourously combating the heat gathering in the room. It led a piece of paper to come down floating at his feet with an unspoken urge to be read. He bent down and picked it up. The alphabets on it seemed like a confluence of free flowing strokes that were a mirror to an unbound mind. They formed words which looked liked vines entangled in each other. He went through each one of them gently touching those lines with his eyes. Sentences assimilated themselves through those words. Subodh gradually sank in the words on that paper as he drifted into reading it with his heart.

It’s just a dew drop
That I want to splash upon you
A little potion
Of my reverie
The gleaming red ball
When in all its splendour
Steps into the vast sheet
Of blindening glitter
I would dissolve unto you
Through my hands
And it in my eyes
Through yours
Yet I think it is much
But still a handful
From you
That I ask

No punctuations, no ellipses, no quotes. Just pure sentences with words. Sentences which didn’t end till they were cut off. A few words which had a lot to speak about. Each sentence seemed like a wail of an aggrieved heart. Subodh read it again. It stung him hard within. Every time he looked at her large beautiful eyes, he felt that they had something buried deep within. Each line on that paper was now a step that would let him descend into that depth and reach the mystery that lay shrouded. He wanted to delve deeper into it and touch those silent dark waters inside.

That very moment she caught him reading it.

“Don’t you dare read it fucker!” her sharp words fell upon his unaware ears. He froze for a moment. She almost ran towards him to snatch it away from his hands. He dodged her grasp impulsively. She plunged over him fiercely, as if he was holding a piece of her heart in his hand. He jolted back on the bed by her thrust. His hand extended unknowingly to keep the letter out of her reach. Yet she leaned over and pulled it out of his hand. A stray drop of tear from her eye landed on his cheek. She moved away quickly and stood besides the bed. By the time he could raise himself up, she had frenetically torn that piece of paper into countless bits. She showered those pieces on the road through her window and closed the window tight.

Subodh was about to get off the bed when she approached towards him with eyes drowned in tears and slapped him hard on his cheek. The same cheek where her tear had landed a few moments. As her slap permeated into his cheek, he starkly felt an unusual assimilation of extreme emotions transpire on his cheek. She went into her kitchen sobbing frenetically. He followed her to the door of her kitchen. She stood there leaning on the platform gathering her tears back into herself. She realised his presence at the door and wiped off the remnants of the previous moment with her fingers. Drawing a semicircle below each eye with her index fingers. As if pushing them back into her large eyes.

“Why did you have to read it?... It was personal stuff...” She said to him in a sharp tone.

“I...am sorry” He apologised with an unsure stammer.

She walked to him, placed her hand gently on the cheek she had slapped and caressed it softly. “I’m sorry too...” she said looking at him with her dismal eyes.

Her touch had a soothing calmness to it. It didn’t heal pain. But it absorbed it. It soaked all the pains, the sufferings, the torments into itself and filled their empty space with comfort. Subodh closed his eyes. He wanted to captivate the moment into his eyelids. He wanted to hold all the pleasure that her touch gave him within himself and let it spread through his body. He stood still waiting for it to reach every atom of his being.

With a long breath, he gradually swigged her touch into his body. He opened his eyes in its daze. She stood before him with faint smears of abruptly rubbed off tears below her eyes and a forced smile. He looked guiltily at her for what he had done. Her hand rose up and reached his face. He closed his eyes tight in an anticipation of another slap. Her hand did land on his face, but gently. It held his face softly in its tender grip. He opened his eyes in incomprehension. She was very close to his face. He felt her breath on his neck. This time he closed his eyes involuntarily, dissolving into a blankness. Within that void, he felt two lips gently land on his cheek which had been slapped. They sucked out all his strength, his fears, his ego, his agonies, his poise, his concerns and... his free will.

When they moved away, he was just a statue of what he should’ve been. He was left only with his flesh and blood. Rest all was stolen from him by those lips. This time he didn’t want to open his eyes, but float in the beautiful darkness that surrounded him. He was about to lift himself off the ground when two hands gripped his shirt tight and a head landed on his chest, sinking itself in it. Subodh opened his eyes to the fragrance her hair right below his chin. He felt a warm dampness gather on his shirt. She was trembling with each snivel of her silent weep. His hand unknowingly curled up around her, holding her closer to him. It was his turn to absorb and dissolve her pain.

Someone knocked hard on the door and she hurriedly moved out of his grip, by almost pushing him away gently. But they couldn’t separate. A bond had created between them. Her earring had entangled itself with a button of his shirt.

“Ouch!” It hurt her ear as she pulled herself away from him. Subodh started loosening it from his button’s clutch. The knocking on the door grew harder. He pulled herself away from Subodh harder this time. A part of her earring broke off with a button from Subodh’s shirt. There was a knot between both of them. A full button and a half earring. Two unequal halves.

She ran to the door to open it. Subodh bent down and picked them up. This was the second thing he was picking up without her permission from her room. Last time, he didn’t know he needed one. This time he didn’t think he wanted one. He silently put it in his pocket. He didn’t care whoever the fuck was the door...

When Subodh opened his eyes, tears had gathered in them.

“It’s okay. Don’t stress yourself to delve in further. Some memories are better left with abrupt endings.” Dr. Padhye said gravely. “I think it’s enough for today’s session... Do you wanna go further?” He asked.

Subodh said no with his head. He didn’t want to lose himself through words.

“Okay... then see you next week?” Dr.Padhye asked after a deep breath.

“Don’t know...” Subodh replied with a morose smile.

Dr. Padhye laughed heartily at Subodh’s reply. “Well... it’s your clinic. Drop in whenever you want. Just give me a call before. So that I can tell my wife I’ll be late...”

Subodh looked at his watch out of curiosity. It was eleven thirty at night. Subodh smiled again faintly.

When Subodh was about to leave, Dr. Padhye stopped him.

“Subodh...” He said gathering his stuff from his table. “One suggestion...”

Subodh looked at him inquisitively.

“You can chase the future... But you cannot chase the past... because you can never catch it...” He said looking at Subodh calmly.


***



Missed earlier parts?
Go here: http://twounequalhavles.blogspot.com/


Follow 'Two Unequal Halves' on Facebook
If you like TUH, 'Like' the Fan Page. Visit: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-Unequal-Halves/208521872503512