The Two Lost Hearts

Chapter 5

Poor Shikha became a laughingstock that day. She was dying from the perspiration of shame. She couldn’t find a place to hide her face. She couldn’t make them deny that rumor. Wherever she went, the gangs of Rakesh would follow her like spies. They didn’t give her any way to escape. It was like she was the scapegoat tied to a hungry tiger. Nobody was there to rescue her.

“It’s not true,” she countered. “It’s just a rumor.”

Shikha cried; she was angry with Rakesh, but she couldn’t do anything. She felt helpless. It was the worst day of her life; she couldn’t attend her class and returned to her house with great shame and humiliation. She was fuming with resentment and hatred.

“Rakesh, I will never forgive you for this worst deed. You’ve spoiled my name. You’ve sold my good reputation. You have to pay a heavy price for this. I hate you. You’ll be my number one enemy from today for my lifetime.” Shikha’s mind was boiling with rage. She gritted her teeth until it hurt her jaw. She wanted to punish Rakesh. If she found Rakesh right there, she would tear him into thousands of small pieces.

At her house, Shikha grumbled to her mother about Rakesh. She threw her school bag and water bottle on the sofa with all her might, as if she were hitting and punching Rakesh for his unpardonable sin. But the lid of the water bottle opened and splashed water all over the floor. She lay down on the sofa, covering her face with her hands, battling with herself. She didn’t know how to face the next day at school. She even wanted to change her school. But why? She hadn’t committed any heinous crime that would require her to change schools. Rakesh was solely responsible for this mess. He would have to pay the price. He was the real culprit. He was the only one who would be punished.

Her mother came out of the kitchen in a hurry, as if someone had bombarded her house. She was in great puzzlement.

“What happened, Shikha?” Shikha’s mother asked in great amazement. Her eyes were bulging out as if she had witnessed great chaos in her house.

“Mummy, why did you share everything with Mrs. Singh?” Shikha was weeping. She was hitting and punching the sofa wildly and madly, behaving as if she were out of her mind.

“What happened, beta?” Shikha’s mother asked her in surprise.

“Her brat and rascal son, Rakesh, teased and harassed me today at school. He has spoiled and ruined my life. He has defamed my name.”

“What happened, beta?” Shikha’s mother asked her, surprised.

“Her brat and rascal son, Rakesh, teased and harassed me today in school. He has spoiled and ruined my life. He has defamed my name.”

“For what?” Shikha’s mother picked up the fallen water bottle from the floor.

“That I peed on my bed when I was in sixth standard.”

Shikha’s mother laughed aloud.

“Mummy?” Shikha cried out. “I’m not cracking a joke.”

“So what? You were a little kid at that time.”

“No, mummy. You shouldn’t share anything with his mother. He is a big gunda in our school. I hate him.”

“Okay, okay, I will never share anything with his mother.”

“And Mummy, don’t invite his family to my 14th birthday party.”

“But, beta, they are our good friends.”

“Okay, but don’t invite that wicked scoundrel, Rakesh.” She gnawed her teeth and raised her tight fist in the air.

“Okay, beta.”