18. In Search of Love - Sandhya
“What happened Praba?” asked Nikhil trying to sound casual.
But Prabakar gave back a cold stare.
“I heard your conversation Nikhil. Now stop bluffing and tell me what’s this jewel business is all about?”
“Nothing special Praba” said Nikhil with a smile
“Nikhil stop playing with me”
“Why should I play with you???”
Prabakar gave a sharp stare and then turned his attention to Chandalal.
“Mister Chandalal, you better tell me the truth”
“Look here sir, what I told you was the truth… The third party I was talking about is Nikhil… I don’t know anything more than that…” said Chandalal in a hurry.
Now Prabakar again turned his attention to Nikhil.
“What are you gonna say now?”
“I think it’s better for us to talk about this in the car Praba”
Prabakar turned around and started walking.
Nikhil looked at Chandalal with a smile.
“Hare Nikhil who is he??? I have never felt so scared even in the presene of police…”
“He is my brother in law”
“Hare!!! God save you!”
“Ha Ha Ha! Thanks Chandalal!”
When Nikhil reached the car Prabakar had his eyes closed…
Nikhil got into the car and tapped his shoulder softly.
Prabakar looked straight into his eyes.
“Why did you enter our life Nikhil? You are a beast…. A monster…. I will never trust you”
Nikhil turned his face and sighed…!
“I know Praba… I know it’s difficult… I am not just a beast but I also have a good side…”
“You were very deceptive… How can I believe you are doing the same thing again?”
“I think I have only my words for that. May be time will prove it. I will wait Praba… Let it take any number of years”
“But you entered Pooja’s life for money! You have got it. Why can’t you leave her alone?”
“No Praba that’s not true”
“Oh come on now… you can’t….”
“Please listen to me… Atleast give me a chance to tell you what happened from my side…”
“Ok”
Praba’s reply sort of surprised Nikhil. He was expecting another one sided argument.
He took this as a good sign and started his story…
“I don’t want to bore you with the all the difficulties my family faced during my childhood… You can assume safely that it was like hell. Classmates teasing at my worn clothes… books… many times I didn’t even have notebooks… And many days I have slept even without food… If it was like that for me, you can imagine how it was for my little sister…. But our problems where very minimal compared to what my mom faced… I don’t remember much about our life at kallur but I always remember my mom with a smile… But after our life changing incident I have never seen her smile… If I call my experience as hell, I don’t know what to say about my mom’s condition… You can imagine it don’t you?”
Prabakar didn’t say anything, he quietly started the engine and started driving the car.
Nikhil waited for few more seconds and continued his story.
“I had revenge in my mind right from my school days… I wanted to crush and destroy Murthy… I wanted to torture him to death… So after completing my college, I joined a company in Chennai. I needed some money to plan and execute my revenge… But unfortunately Murthy died even before I can confront him… He was lucky even in his death…. My rage was still burning inside me… Then I met Pooja…”
Nikhil stopped there.
Prabakar turned and looked at him. Nikhil’s face had a very soft tone… He even had a boyish smile…
Prabakar’s eyebrows raised high…
Nikhil got back his senses and continued his story.
“She was like a fresh air… The breeze I was looking for… I fell for her in the first sight… And when I started talking to her and came to know about her…. Ohhhh…. I don’t know how to put it in words… It felt as if she was part of me… But one day everything got spoiled… While talking to me casually, Pooja mentioned about her parents… She told me how her mother treated her… And then she told her father’s name….”
Prabakar again looked at Nikhil. This time his face showed glimpses of surprise.
Since Nikhil was in a different state of mind, he didn’t observe that…