The Prince's Bride

VIII. Past Hurts

Rudra's POV:

She walked out of the bathroom in the cargo and t - shirt that I had given her. The moment I saw her I couldn't remove them.. Could any girl look that good in such clothes?

She walked out of the bathroom and came straight towards me, making the hair above my neck stand up.

" Am I looking okay? ", she asked as if she didn't know about her beauty.

But no! I am not going to show her that I care!

I immediately turned away, regretting it from within.

" Normal. ", I said in a steady tone.

Saying so I picked up another set of clothes behaving as if it was mine and went into the bathroom to freshen up.

I walked out to find no one in the room. I immediately walked out of the room and called out for her.

No reply.

First of all I was in a jungle, deep in a jungle and this girl.. She just loves being lost.

'But wasn't that quite true?' I thought as I remembered one incident.

Flashback

I was in class five we had been taken for an excursion to a zoo.

All of us were moving around in groups with our respective teachers. Jaanvi was in my group.

In fact she had been sitting with me in the bus also but I didn't bother to look at her. In any case she was always a popular girl with many to talk, so she definitely didn't care.

Anyway, after we were done all of us went back to the bus and sat, but Ms. Jaanvi Sahaye was missing. All the teachers became extremely worked up and after all she was found in front of the cage of monkeys. Enjoying.

And was then bought back with much scolding.. She never learnt anything though but then.. I returned to the present guessing where she must have gone.

Flashback ends

I immediately got down the stairs and then out of the house to find her adorning the beauty of nature. A nature lover, she was.

She turned towards me and asked,

" Come and see this cocoon, Rudra! It's so nice..!", she says turning her gaze back to it, on a low branch of a tree. I went and stood beside her but somehow couldn't find it.

She turned to leave as I too turned.

" How did you know I was here?", she asked.

" Because even if you never cared about my existence I did.", I said as I felt a dagger go through my scarred heart and immediately walked away. I had just walked into the house when I felt someone hugging me from behind. I knew it with her touch. It was Jaanvi. She said in a broken voice,

" I.. I am sorry.. I didn't mean to do what I have done."

Sorry.. The word I hated the most..

I immediately turned and lowered her hands but still held them as they had been lowered. Standing extremely close to each other.

" You never meant to love me also.", I said rigidly.

" You... You always loved him. Gaurav Chaturvedi.. I was just a source of entertainment wasn't it..?", I said in a low voice which wasn't rigid any more but filled with hurt, pain, everything.

She immediately hugged me as tears flowed down my eyes, unconsciously.

I felt like hugging her back and crying... Crying my heart out.. But what if she broke my trust again? I didn't have the strength to bear that pain.. I stood immobile.

Past hurts and it does every time you stand in front of the person who had hurt you.