Let us write a novel together

12.

Pallavi felt as if the world was spinning like a top. Her knees buckled and her body lurched forward. She felt that she was rapidly losing consciousness.

Praveen sensed that she was about to fall, and lept from his seat to catch her. It was good that he did so, for otherwise Pallavi would hit the hard floor on her head and suffered grievious injury.

She neatly fell into Praveen's arms who grabbed aher round her waist and held her up, trying to adjust her wobbling head in the crux between his chin and his chest. He could feel the warmth, the sweet smell and the suppleness of her body as she clung to him for support in a half-conscious way. It reminded him of the ride on the motorbike with Pallavi on that fateful day.

Praveen gently lowered her on the diwan, not knowing what to do. He knew he could not just leave Pallavi in that condition and go away, there was no one else in the house.

He also knew that the movie was a washout now, for he was unlikely to be able to get away from Pallavi's house in even an hour.

In end, he picked up his phone and dialled Priya and gave her Pallavi address and asked her to bring Shalini directely here. They will formulate some other plan for the evening.

As Praveen walked behind her, Pallavi showed him to the diwan and asked : ‘Want a cuppa? To which Praveen replied by looking at his watch, ‘no thanks, not really, I have got get going, I better not rub Shalini the wrong side and incur her wrath,’ and chuckled  nervously.

Pallavi stood there, analyzing her position. She was sounding very pushy, even to her own doing, but she had to know the answers. Her head felt like it would burst, if she did not.

As Pallavi stood there lost in thoughts, Praveen tried to think of ways to break the uneasy silence. As though, answering his prayers, his mobile phone rang. A welcome distraction. Pallavi thought, it was Shalini calling and felt miserable for having held him back, causing delay. Just as she was about to step up and remedy the situation, she heard Praveen say “ no honey,  I will be there on time, I promise, oh c’mon baby don’t get so upset, it will ruin the whole evening…” All these words of endearment definitely added to Pallavi’s already confused state. Definitely they were not used to address a sibling. With puzzlement writ large all over her face, Pallavi turned to Praveen and waited patiently for him to finish the call.

The call was done in a few more minutes and sensing Pallavi’s look, Praveen said ‘ That was my fiancé Priya , we were actually planning a surprise homecoming party for Shalini, the movie,  is the first leg of the surprise ….and he continued excitedly about the rest of the details. But a stunned Pallavi just stood rooted to the spot, too shocked to even participate in the conversation. The only word ringing in her head was ‘finance’.

10.

Pallavi had drifted into a dreamy sleep.

She was jolted out of her reveries by the door bell. She groggily moved towards the door. She expected that it would be Shirley's parents come to pick her up. She ran her fingers through her dishevelled hair, stole a glance at the mirror. She was not looking her best, but that could not be helped.

She unbolted the door. And whom did he find standing there? None other than Praveen.

"Oh it is you, Praveen," she stammered uncertainly, conscious now of her terrible appearance, "I am glad to see that you are up and about."

In her perplexity she did not even think of asking him in.

"Yes, the doctor discharged me a couple of days ago. It was not a fracture after all," he said, flexing the fingers of his injured arm, "and I am mighty glad that it was not."

They stood there awakardly for a while. Then Praveen spoken again, "Actually I came to see Shirley. I heard what had happened to her, and how you had gallantly rescued her and brought her here. I thank you profusely for helping her. Is she sleeping now, can I have a word with her?"

Pallavi was jolted out of her thoughts. Her mind was in a whirl of emotions. "Oh she just left with Javed half an hour ago. Actually she is quite ok, just in shock," she said, trying her best to sound uninterested. "Oh, what a fool I am, I haven't even invited you in, please come in, let us speak more comfortably."

Praveen followed her reluctantly mumbling, "Oh I have to rush back home, I have promised, Shalini, that is my sis, that I will take her to the movies today."

But Pallavi was determined not to let go of this opportunity to get answers to a few questions that had been troubling her from the day she had met Praveen.

She stood there long after they left and kept pondering the puzzled expression intact. Though it was now ascertained that Shirley was not seeing Praveen, it was just that. It did not automatically translate to the fact that Praveen was in any way interested in her.

A cold breeze shook her out of her reverie and she went indoors, her arms crossed across her chest, her lips set, brows drawn. She needed to get in touch with Praveen, ever since she met him for the first time, she felt a connection and she just could not stop thinking about him. The enormity of the situation, all the suspense was weighing her down.

How ? Just how was she going to get in touch with Praveen and let it all seem casual when she was the one responsible for his predicament in the first place? With these thoughts criss crossing her mind, Pallavi lay down and closed her eyes.

8.

Just then Shirley's cellphone rang. She fumbled for it in her hand bag, flipped it open to briefly check who the caller was.

Pallavi was watching her like a hawk.

Shirley limped to the window as she conversed in low tones with the caller.

Who was she talking to, wondered Pallavi. From the way her face changed expressions, Pallavi decided it could only be her boyfriend.

It was a good ten minutes before Shirley concluded the conversion.

"Um..., a small change of plans, Pallavi," began Shirley as she returned to her chair, "my boyfriend is picking me up. Could you please tell my parents when they come that I am fine and will be reaching home on my own later?"

"Of course," said Pallavi.

Just then the door bell rang. Pallavi rushed to open it, half dreading whom she would see on the other side.

"I am Javed," said the young man on the door mat, "I have come to pick up Shirley. Is she here?"

Just then Shirely hobbled towards the door with her belongings. "Oh Javed, I am so glad you have come. I had a terrible, terrible day today," and saying that she flung herself on Javed.

Javed embraced her lovingly and patted her on her back, "Now, now, Shiru, it's all over, let's go home." and took her gently towards the parked car.

As Pallavi waved a good bye to the departing couple, there was a puzzled expression on her face.

6.Before Shirley could answer, Praveen’s parents entered the hospital room in great agitation, and in the melodrama that ensued, Shirley quietly left the room, leaving Pallavi’s question unanswered.It was several days later. Pallavi picked up a film magazine from the rack and settled down in a comfortable sofa in the lounge of her hair-dresser. She knew it was going to be a long wait, for there were still two more people in the queue. Before her was a large glass window overlooking the street. On the other side of the street were posh shop fronts, including that of a popular pub.That was when the commotion started. A gang of young men surrounded the glass door of the pub and at the signal of one of them, they all rushed into the pub. Pallavi was watching all this from her vantage point beside the window.The men suddenly came out, dragging several young girls by their hair and flung them roughly on the road. Even as the hapless girls tried to get to their feet and run way, the goons kicked them in their stomachs and shouted slogans.Up till now Pallavi was observing all this in a rather detached, if shocked, manner. But suddenly, she was all attention. One of the girls writhing with pain on the road looked pretty familiar. Yes, it was the same girl Shirley, whom she had met in Praveen's hospital room.Pallavi dashed across the street, grabbed Shirley by her shoulders and pulled her to her feet. She then  dragged her away from the commotion, and hailing an auto, bundled her into it. She then gave auto driver the address of her home.Settling Shirley comfortably in a chair, Pallavi handed her a can of cool drink from the fridge and waited for her to recover sufficiently before probing her on her connections with Praveen.

a quick note to Renie : Like Mr Balasubramanyam mentioned above, Im not sure if this entry can go on this forum, I went ahead with my post as there was no opposition from the moderators. apologies in advance if this is not the right place

4.Thoughts raced in Pallavi's mind.  For a moment, even Praveen's mishap and allergy malady took a back seat as she reasoned out who the girl could be.  By the time she crossed the little distance to Praveen's room, she  thought about all possibilities of who the girl could be. Sister? Friend? Acquaintance ? Lover? Fiance? caretaker? who?

The doctor and nurse in tow, Pallavi finally entered the room. The stranger's brow seemed creased with worry as the doctor examined Praveen. It was a tense few minutes and a collective sigh of relief went up, when the doctor  announced that the allergy was not very serious after all and regular medication would tackle it just right.

The doctor and nurse turned to leave and there Pallavi was, guilt ridden,  knowing how to react. She looked at Praveen and then at the stranger and back at Praveen again, her eyes screaming 'sorry' for the double trouble caused to him.

As though reading her mind, the stranger who was the first to react said : 'Pallavi, please don't feel sorry, it was not your fault. I must thank you though for taking such good care of Praveen. Now that I'm here, you can go home for some much needed rest'

3.

Pallavi knew not what to do, she rushed out to find a nurse or a doctor. There was no one in the corridor. She then saw a room with a glass door and as she looked in. There were some medicos there.

Soon Pallavi was running towards Praveen's room accompanied by a doctor and a nurse.  As she enered his room, she was surprised to see a girl beside his bed who was bending over him and giving him a glass of water. Her other hand was on his shoulders and she was gently caressing his long hair that were spread over his shoulders.

The girl was about Pallavi's age, slightly taller, and very attractive. Pallavi saw the expression Praveen's face as he met the girl's eyes. There was something in that expression that she found quite disturbing. Who was this girl, what was she to him?...

The guilt within - this mishap happened because of me compelled me to meet him again. He was hospitalized .I went to see him took orange yellow and pink sunflowers and lillies,to cheer him up.He was happy to see me and not even once he  mentioned the incident ,but suddenly he felt uneasy about something.He was figiting ,scrubbing and started sneezing within 5minutes..He was all red with blotchy rashes and allergic sneezing.To my horror -how on earth have i known that he was allergic to flowers. Not again i cursed my self ..

1.

As Pallavi approached the steps of the hospital, she could fell a quickening of her heartbeats. She wondered why she was so flustured, and she knew that she knew half the answer. Praveen was in the hospital partly because of her. She thought over the incident rapidly and found it to be so unbelievable. Only two days ago she would not have been able to tell Praveen from Adam…

On that fateful day she had been walking home from the bus stop in the afternoon. She had been shopping, and her hands were overfull with carry bags. Suddenly one of the bags had burst spreading her purchases on the middle of the road. She had felt so embarrassed. As she knelt down on the hot, burning asphalt to pick up the things, she heard the engine of a motor cycle on the road.

It gradually came to a stop beside her, for there was no way it could have gone any further without crushing some of her belongings. A handsome youth had got off the bike and soon he was kneeling beside her, and gathering her things into the ripped carry bag.

She stole a quick side glance at him and murmured a few words of thanks, but she felt sure that she could have done well without his help.

But the chap seemed well meaning. Soon they had gathered all the things and Pallavi was about to leave, when he said, "You are Pallavi aren't you? I am Praveen, from the same college, but in a different class. You act very well."

Pallavi cursed the day she had joined the amateur theatrical group of her college. This group had recently staged a play in the college festival in which she had played the lead role. That was how this hunk had come to know her. She wished that she could just sink into the ground without a trace.

“I am going your way, why don’t you come with me?”, he said.

Pallavi should have flatly refused the offer. But for some unknown reason she got onto the pillion without a word.

They had travelled in silence. It was but a short distance to her house. It happened at the last turn of the road. Praveen was not concentrating on the road, perhaps because of Pallavi sitting behind him on his bike. The collision with the car threw him off his bike and onto the road. Luckily, Pallavi escaped unhurt, for she fell on a grassy patch on the side of the road that cushioned her fall.

It was the car owner who took Praveen to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a badly bruised shoulder and a fractured forearm...