This imaginary one shot takes place after Drishti gets injured while protecting Mahima Shergill after the party episode.
“Leave my hand, Mr. Shergill. Just leave it.” She jerked his hand that was holding her by her elbow, unintentionally giving him a push that unbalanced him and had him stumble to his feet. “You want me to stay away from you, don’t you? To ye concern, itni fiqr… kyun? Koi zaroorat nahi hai.”
“Tumhe zaroorat ho na ho… mujhe hai.” Curling his fingers around her uninjured arm, he pushed her lightly on the bed, making her sit there as he began inspecting the cut on her arm. “The dagger has hurt your old wound. The cut is deep. I think we should go to the doctor. This needs professional cleaning and dressing.”
“I’ll see to it myself.” She got the hold of his hand and took it off hers.
“I refuse to allow you to. You are completely incapable of taking care of yourself, Mrs. Shergill.” Going by her indifferent shrug, he was sure that she wasn’t going to give in, not after the kind of argument they had just had, and certainly not after all that he had said to her during that argument. “Challenge ka udhar yaad hai na? This is what I am asking for. Come with me to the hospital.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. He had been chanting the challenge ka udhar for a while and this is what he was asking for? This man was beyond her understanding. Beyond her understanding.
*
Many thanks. On their way back home after getting her wound dressed by his family doctor, he was enraptured by their challenge that he remembered barely anything about for he could put it to use to get her to the hospital.
He had purposely taken the long route to their home that he was sure that she didn’t even realize. If she had, then he would have been met with her never-ending questions by then. The questions that he had no answers to.
Neither did she speak a word to him nor did he initiate a conversation.
She kept her gaze out of the window, and he shifted his, alternatively from the road to her and from her to the road.
“Does it hurt?” He had been meaning to ask her ever since she sat in the car with him to get to the hospital but their recent ugly confrontation that had led to the heated argument did not let him do it comfortably earlier. He had grown restless with time and holding himself back after a point just seemed impossible.
His grip on the steering wheel tightened on being greeted with her silence in response. The woman just wouldn’t speak. Dammit. “Mrs. Shergill. I am asking something.” Despite the frustration that was rising within him, he went out of his way not to let it sound in his voice.
She must be in pain, was the reason he provided to himself.
“How does that matter to you?” She tilted her head to take a look at him. Her blank face and flat voice gave away her inner hurt.
He gave a halt to his car, stopping it on the otherwise busy but currently quiet road. “It does matter to me because it would have been my Mom in your place, hurt, had you not chosen to take it upon yourself. So it does matter to me, Mrs. Shergill and that is why, I take it upon myself to look after this wound.”
“Oh, so you think this is my favor on you?” She was in come on, let’s talk mode.
He had unnecessarily fought with her, making baseless assumptions. Okay, it did have some base but still, not enough to make as rough and unfiltered remarks as he had made, that too in front of her brother. “Listen, Mr. Shergill, what I did for Mahima Ma’am was out of my will and in the future, if needed, I’ll do the same. Kindly don’t take it upon yourself for I did it neither for nor because of you. Spare that from your favor and return policy, please. ”
“Alright, that’s enough.” Taking off his seat belt, he shifted on his seat, angling himself toward her. “I am sorry.”
Her heartbeats quickened. She gave him an unblinking stare in response to his apology that she did not know was for what but still, hearing him seeking her forgiveness stirred something in her heart.
Slightly bowing down his head, he whispered, “I am sorry,” surprising her again.
It was on his mind since the moment his gaze had spotted her wet lashes with unshed tears when she was leaving the room. Pondering over everything – his allegations, her retorts – the realization had dawned upon him that he did go overboard.
What was she doing? Spending time with her brother that equaled her family?
So what if they chose to do that in a store room? He doesn’t get to question her about the same.
He himself did not know what came over him that evoked such a strong reaction within him. “I admit, I shouldn’t have said what I did. It’s just… I am not really fond of liars. Lies enrage me but I accept that I should have behaved in front of your brother. It is not right on my part to expect you to share every little thing that you do just because we are married and to put it correctly, I don’t really expect that either. I think, here, I am at fault, so, I am sorry.”
She was left dazzled with the sincerity his words held.
Thrice! He had said sorry to her, thrice.
The man who would do anything but apologize had just apologized to her, not once, not twice but the whole freaking three times.
She was deeply moved by his genuine and heartfelt confession.
“I am sorry as well, Mr. Shergill. Even I overreacted. I could have kept calm and avoided the entire argument but, I couldn’t. You said something, I said something and we both… just went on.” She let out the breath she was holding, relaxing after a long while that they had spent in dealing with inner conflicts.
Her lips slowly began curling up in a smile reflecting how truly her heart was at peace after having gotten the things cleared between them. “Mr. Shergill, I will not say that I haven’t kept certain things to myself but I can not enlighten you about them… at least not right now. The only thing that I can assure you of is that neither my reasons nor my intentions are malicious.”
He was listening to her intently without interrupting in between. He meekly nodded, acknowledging everything that she just said. His mind immediately wandered back to the day when she had accidentally run into his arms.
The strange innocence in her orbs, that very day, had stolen a tiny part of his heart. It didn’t matter what had happened between them. A part of him always believed that she could do anything but wrong anyone.
Though she became a fierce angry bird when it came to him, she had her most gentle and affectionate side reserved for his family. Not once, she had taken an offense and retorted back when his mother lashed out at her.
She did trick him into marrying her, had the audacity to turn him down whenever he demanded an explanation about the same but… deep down, his heart kept questioning him – was having her as his life partner not his desire that he had locked in the deepest corner of his heart though he was never going to give her the satisfaction of knowing about it?
She snapped her fingers in front of him, calling his name aloud to break his trance, halting the thoughts that he was lost in. For a change, just for a change, he decided to shush his intelligent brain and follow his heart that he was sure was stupid but he anyway chose to go with the same, making a decision to trust her.
“Will I ever get to know why you married me instead of Shikhar?” The issue of the trust was forgotten but he couldn’t refrain himself from asking if he would ever be enlightened about the huge marriage fiasco.
“I was never going to marry Shikhar,” she mumbled to herself, making sure that it stayed inaudible to him.
He looked at her closely with his eyebrows knitted together. “Repeat that.”
She shrugged her shoulders with a small laugh. “Nothing, I just said, yes… someday.”
Despite not being convinced, he let it go for absolutely not being up for spoiling the light mood after a tormenting while of emotional disturbance.
“Mr. Shergill.”
“Hmm?”
She extended her hand toward him. “I want to put in efforts to make this marriage work. Can we start as friends?”
At first PA, then wife and now friend? What a sequence! He wondered what more was in-store but for them. Friendship did not sound like a bad option though. He was anyway lacking friends because of being socially awkward. He gave his hand in hers, moving his head upside down in agreement.
She beamed, releasing his hand. Who had thought that she would be befriending Bedil Shergill someday? Life was sure weird, she accepted that day.
Her smile broadened as she saw a soft, warm smile gracing his face while driving back to their home.
Mr. Shergill had an adorable smile, she witnessed, accepted and cheered up on the same.
*
I hope you enjoyed reading. Do share your feedback in the comment section. Much love.