I snap my eyes open hearing a painful cry, and see a small girl laying on the road .
Realizing that I'm sitting on her leg with two heavy bags on top of us, I quickly try to stand up, but the bags feel too heavy, pinning me down.
"Oh my ! What happened... darsh!?" I hear Maa's voice as she tries to pull the bags away from me and the girl.
"Bhaiya !" Riya yells, wriggling in maa's arms. As maa puts her down to pull the bags away from me properly, she runs to me to help me stand up but is not able to.
As I'm trying to get up, I hear another girl's voice. "Kavita are you okay? Did you get hurt !!?". She helps me stand properly and then helps the small girl too.
I glance at the little girl and see her scrunching her face in contour of pain. As she lifts her eyes, our gaze locks with each other.
Her brown eyes narrows at me slightly in displeasure.
I feel Riya's small fingers wrapping around my fingers as she stands beside me, asking in her soft, concerned tone "Are you okay Bhaiya ?"
I smile softly, ruffling her hair and nod my head saying " yes, I'm fine, shona..."
"I'm so sorry... Because of my son's carelessness, you got hurt. Are you alright, dear?" Maa asks the girl with worried eyes, checking if she scraped her knees. The other girl also checks for injuries.
"I'm sorry... didi... I don't know how I stumbled-----" I apologize, looking at the elder girl standing beside the little one.
"Oh no! She's bleeding!!" Maa says, noticing a few drops of blood on the girl's knees..... her knees indeed got scrapped.
Meanwhile, an aunty arrives, looking worried and asks the girls what happened. The elder didi quickly explained the incident in brief.
"Ouch! Ahh..." the little girl winches as that aunty touches her knees, to check her injury.
"I'm fine; it's just a scratch. It'll be okay" the little girl says, wincing slightly at the sting.
"We are so sorry dear!" Maa apologizes again. "What are you looking at ?... apologize to them right now" Maa scolds me, lightly slapping the back of my head.
"Sorry... I didn't mean to-" I apologize again, feeling bad as I didn't mean to hurt her.
"It's okay... don't scold him. He is just a child, and she probably wasn't paying attention either" aunty says to maa.
"Didi, it's hurting...!" the girl says, taking a few shaky steps.
"Alright, I will help, wait" Didi says to the little girl. Maa apologizes once more and then we go our separate ways.
As we walk away, I glance back to see that little girl limping, with her didi helping her along.
Looking down, I notice something tangled in my shirt ----- it's a... Ruby bracelet !?. I carefully untangle it, and raise it up to my eyes, and it starts to glimmer deep crimson red with the evening sunlight.
I glance at the intricate floral patterns, wondering "whose bracelet is this??? When did it get caught in my shirt ?"
"it must be that girl's. She was the only one close enough... it must have tangled when we fell " I noted, joining the points like a puzzle.
I quickly hand over the bags to my father and run back to return the bracelet.
"Darsh, where are you going !!?".... "Darsh!!" I heard my parents calling, but I didn't stop.
"Coming maa !!...wait..." I shout, while running to find that little girl.
I scan the area until I spot her, still limping with her didi, Aunty, two other women and a small girl around Riya's age.
"HEY WAIT !!!!!!!" I shout, running towards them. They all turn to look... including a few bystanders. I run up to them, panting slightly.
"Here ! You forgot this !!!" I Huff, taking deep breaths, handing her the bracelet, carefully. She looks at me, surprised and quickly checks her wrist.
"Huh?... she didn't even realize that her bracelet was missing !? " I wonder.
"Thank you" she smiles, thanking me... her voice- sweet. A proud smile adorns my face.
"You're welcome" I acknowledge, waving back at her, her didi and aunty, before running back to my parents.
KAVITA POV ~
"Stay still, Kikku... let me apply turmeric paste, it will soothe the pain and heal your skin" Payal didi exclaims as I winch again while trying to pull my knees away from her.
"But didi, it's not soothing my pain instead it's burning more when you are applying this bad paste on my skin!!!" I protests, trying to escape her grip.
I scrunches my nose as the sharp pungent smell of turmeric fills my nostrils.
A soft, small smile tugs my lips as the memories of my grandma applying turmeric paste on my knees when I was small and got my knees scraped while playing, flashes my mind.
"It's killing the bacteria, that's why it burns " Anjali chachi explains, entering our room with two small bowls of chane ka halwa.
I smile happily seeing my favourite dish and side-hug her, squealing, taking the bowl in my hand, I cheer "thank you Chachi!!!!!"
She gently taps my cheek and ruffles Payal Didi's hair with a teasing smile "If you want more, then you have to walk Kikku~ hehehe" making me pout.
I hisses again, glancing at Payal didi, who used my distraction to her advantage, applying the turmeric paste on my scraped knees with a victorious smile and a teasing, raised eyebrows.
"I swear, I will find that boy and make him pay for this" I mutter, clutching the bed sheet against the stinging pain.
My mind swirls with my mother's absence. "She should be here once, at least to ask how my injury is ?... if I'm feeling okay or not..." I mumble to myself.
I bite my lips feeling sad, that she doesn't care about me...about us as I glance at Payal didi.
I glance back at Anjali chachi, feeling a warm glow inside my heart, but it gets quickly deemed by the negative thoughts that Maa never looks at me like this.
Anjali chachi giggles looking at us and ruffles my hair affectionately.
I giggle softly with her, my earlier pain- both inside and outside, sadness, agony, sorrow...every negativity fades away, seeing her love and care for me.
"I wish Anjali chachi to be my Maa..." I wish God in my heart, happily.
Glancing at my ruby bracelet, I remember that boy's guilt-ridden face and how he ran all the way, just to return my bracelet back to me safely.
"Idiot....." I mumble to myself, then with a smile, I whisper "Thank you..."
DARSH POV ~
After settling into our new house on Beadon street, and finishing dinner, we all went to sleep.
My grandparents and I are in one room, while my parents and Riya are in another. Everyone is fast asleep.
"Why am I remembering that girl??" I sigh as every time I close my eyes to sleep, I see her face.
"I hope she's not hurt too much! I didn't mean to make her bleed! What if she can't play anymore?"I ponder, feeling bad as I again remember her.
I raise my palm and look at my scraped skin. "Well it's stinging me too, but I didn't bleed like her... I hope her knee is okay" I murmur while rubbing my head.
"I think I should start working on strengthening my body... so I won't trip and hurt someone again. Yeah, that's a good idea..." I ponder, smiling to myself.
My mind again wanders back to her face... She was a little chubby.... cute, her eyes were looking-- NO... glaring at me!
I chuckle as I remember how she was sneakily glaring at me for hurting her.
"She was looking so cute while glaring" I whisper softly to myself.
The most striking feature of her was the mole on her lips.
"I have never seen someone with a mole on their lips... it's unique" I smile, yet my heart still lingers with the guilt for hurting her, even if it was unintentional.
With one last glance at the scraped skin on my palm, I finally drift into sleep.
~ Time passes but memories stays like treasure, covered with happiness and sadness.
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