War For Love

~Twenty Seven~

Love?

Siya knew Sahib loved her but never did they think he would confess his love in a jail. Sahib had told her that he feels so much for her but never did he dared to name those feelings as love. Sahib felt they would be safe until they don't name their relation. But when Siya started crying on his wounds and scars he couldn't help but gather her in his arms, not caring if anyone saw them this close. The confession of his love was not something Siya had expected from him and that too in a jail. But she felt her heart stirring inside her chest, nonetheless.

Sahib realized what he had said when Siya froze in his arms. Her fingers suddenly went cold on his bare shoulders and he clenched his eyes shut, cursing himself mentally. Siya pulled away from him, looking at the conflicted look on his face and a smile formed on her face. She stroked his left cheek, making him clench his fingers at her touch. Her touch drove him crazy and he was learning to control his desires for her but Siya made it so hard for him. Her thumb rubbed his skin gently, almost to soothe the turmoil inside him.

"Do you regret confessing your love for me, Rudra?" She asked softly and he sighed, opening his eyes as he held her palm on his face before bringing it under his chin.

"Yes." His answer made her heart to crumble but never did her smile turned down into a frown.

"Do you...... do you regret loving me?" Siya asked. She was well aware her next question could either break her heart for a very long time or it could make her the happiest woman alive. Though his eyes had answered her question even before he let the emotions of his eyes to take the form of words.

"Can I not tell you the truth, please?" Siya chuckled at his unusual demand as she looked into his eyes. Tears welled up in her eyes but her smile only widened. It was like even the pain had grown accustomed to her. She was so used to smile at others that no-one could really tell if she was really happy or she was just pretending. Sahib never felt anything so painful as her smile that day. He realized at that all the time, Siya had smiled, she wasn't always happy.

"People often try to seek comfort and solace in lies. But your lies would only break me more, Rudra. Truth is not always hideous, my warrior, sometimes the truth is everything you need." Siya said, her voice barely a whisper and Rudra still managed to hear her. When Sahib didn't say anything, she continued.

"Think what would have happened if Kunti would have told the truth of Karna being her first born child. Karna and Arjuna wouldn't have prayed for each other's destruction. She kept one truth to herself and you do know what happened in the last, right? Karna died." (Please read the reference at the end for this paragraph)

"Siya, please......" Sahib begged her. Her words were no less than a shard, piercing his heart deeper with every every word she spoke.

"There are so many things we can't achieve together. We can't name our relation, we can't share a house, we can't share a name. The only thing that would remain within us forever would be these moments and confessions. Please, Rudra."

"If this is what you want, Siya. You want me to confess the truth? To tell you what I feel, hm? I love you and as much as this confession scares me, it also calms me down. I have loved you even when you defied me. I loved you when you sneaked in my house to feed me. I loved you when you secretly tried to be the part of your first protest." He confessed, his voice heavy, his eyes dark and Siya felt her insides curling at his words. Like a long, incomplete dream of her had finally found its reality.

"I don't know when I started loving you, Siya but I know it's too deep, too much embedded in me that I can't stop loving you even if I tried. I don't know when you made me yours; I don't know if it was the day you came in my house, breaking all the norms of the society just to give me medicines and to feed me. I don't know if I fell for you when you defied everyone with your bravery, not caring once about the world and yourself. I don't, Siya. And I don't even want to know. I love you and that's the only thing I am very well aware of and I tried to hide my emotions from you, since God knows when!"

Siya smiled as a tear rolled down her eyes at his confession. She had never thought his words could make her cry from happiness and ecstasy. She felt as if she lived a life in those words. She felt her heart beating against her chest loudly when he cupped her palms, pulling her closer to him. Siya didn't knew when Sahib became so brave as to pull her towards him with such a look in his eyes. The look that held flames of desire and warmth of love. And she, for once wanted to get burnt in those flames and warmth.

"Trust me when I say this, Siya, I may have never loved a woman before but I'll always cherish you like a precious stone. I'll love you, not just your body but your heart and your soul. The restrictions this society has put on us is only subjected to our bodies and not to our souls. I may not be able to give you an eternity of love but trust me, even if I will be with you the smallest time, I'll make it akin to the eternity." Siya swallowed, nodding her head as she wrapped her arms around his back, pressing her face into the crook of his neck. The tears that had escaped her eyes, made his skin wet.

"I'm not even asking you for an eternity, Rudra. Give me as much as love you can and it would always be more than enough for me." Sahib smiled at her words.

Siya swallowed at his smile. He was so beautiful. Like someone had carved him with utmost love.

"I'll give you a piece of me everyday, Siya, until one day when I'll be left with nothing of myself and you'll be brimming from me. Just me." Siya nodded her head, pressing her lips together as she closed her eyes.

"Only you "

~~~~~~~~

"What do you mean, the officers put her in the jail!" Leela cried out and Vedika clenched her eyes shut as a tear rolled down her eye as she nodded her head.

"They said.... they said that Siya admitted to them her involvement in the attack that happened on the mills and the office. She is in the jail." Vedika kept the part of how she intentionally got arrested to meet Sahib to herself. When Vedika couldn't find her sister, the first thing she checked was Sahib's house, which was empty. The villagers later told her, the officers had arrested her and she put two and two together.

Leela sat down on the ground, holding her head as tears kept leaking her eyes. Why does Siya keep getting involved deeper in all these mess! Does she not care about her life and her family's life? How will they live if something happened to her? And who will respect her and marry her if she continued getting arrested and coming into the eyes of everyone. Leela like every other mother feared about Siya's future which seemed too dark to Leela at the moment.

Satyavan was however not thinking about her future, nor was he worrying about her marriage. He was thinking about what had compelled her into taking such steps even men feared? He knew Siya was brave and what she was doing needed courage, not everyone had. And he was proud of her but he was worried about how would he make people not look down at her. This world often views different people as criminals. The radical thoughts Siya had would make people keep their children away from her. They would think of her as a bad influence. Satyavan was thinking of a way to make people take inspiration from his daughter.

"This needs to change." Satyavan mumbled and Leela looked at him with her red and puffy eyes.

"Of course things need to change! You need to teach your daughter to behave like a woman!" Leela cried out to her husband who in turn, shook his head.

"My daughter doesn't have to change, Leela. We need to change. She's doing nothing wrong." Leela looked at him shocked, fear gripping her chest as she clutched on her husband.

"Nothing wrong!? Our daughter is in the jail and it doesn't seem wrong to you? She publicly whipped an officer and you think that was ladylike? She asked about Sahib to a man and you find it perfectly alright? I think the man she loves is none other than Sahib!" Vedika's eyes widened and Leela noticed the horror on her face and she felt anger rising inside her.

"You knew, didn't you? You very well knew she was in love with Sahib!" Leela accused her and Satyavan sighed, holding his wife back who looked at him helplessly.

"You should be proud on your daughter, Leela. She is standing for her country, her people. How many people have the courage to die for their country? How many people have the guts to question the wrong and raise their voice against it? Not everyone, Leela. Not everyone and yet our daughter has the courage to voice her opinion, raise her voice against the wrong." Satyavan tried to explain his wife who looked at her husband, still unsure.

"She's fighting a lost battle. The change she desires is the magic that would never happen. I don't know what changes it would bring but I certainly know it would ruin my child's life." Leela sobbed out, her body shaking and Satyavan rubbed his wife's back as he looked at her firmly.

"She will be the change that would be new normal for the coming generations. Our daughter will inspire many more daughters of our village. There would be a day when women will work, they would study and raise their voice against the wrong and people won't look down at them. Our daughter will the tsunami of change. My daughter will create a history, the mankind would remember."

Leela looked at her husband, trying to make her heart understand that Siya has her own life and she has every right to live it the way she desires. Leela doesn't understand revolution and neither she wishes to understand it. But she really hopes that her daughter's sacrifices and pain doesn't go in vain.

"And what about Sahib and Siya's relation? Who will accept their love?" Leela asked and Satyavan smiled at his question.

"I will. You will. We will, Leela. Sahib is the man who have saved thousands of people in our village from the injustice of the royals. And if my daughter loves Sahib, I'll never take away her happiness by keeping her away from her own love. She is my child, Leela. I have brought her up but that doesn't give me the right to sell her happiness at the cost of my reputation." Vedika for once didn't knew how grateful she was to his father.

"I won't!" Leela said, her eyes narrowing at her husband.

"I won't let her live with a man who doesn't earn. What will they eat? How will they live a life? We find him in the custody, every week. I can't let my child ruin her life in the blindness of love."

"Leela....."

"No! I won't let my daughter be an early widow! I'll get her married as soon as possible. Infact, I'll get both of my daughters marry soon."

Reference:

The face epic, MAHABHARAT talks about a character "Kunti" who was blessed with a boon. Every time she would chant the mantra, she received as the boon, one of the Gods would bless her with a son. A curious Kunti wanted to try the boon and chanted it to the God Surya (The sun ?), who in turn blessed her with a son.

However Kunti was unmarried at that time and she feared raising a child without marriage. She feared the humiliation she and her child had to face if she decided to raise the child alone. The only way Kunti found was to give away her child and she made the baby flow in the water current. The child was none other than the famous archer "Karna".

"Arjuna", the fourth brother (3rd brother from the Pandavs) was a world famous archer. But Karna believed that he could defeat Arjuna. Both of them turned to be rivals, unaware of the fact that they were real brothers. Both of them only desired to defeat one another.

In the famous battle of Mahabharata, Karna and Arjuna were standing against each other. In the end Arjuna killed Karna by the false means. When Karna was taking his last breath, Kunti revealed to her other five sons that Karna was their eldest brother. Karna however knew it a few days before his death. All the five Pandavs (son of Kunti) regretted hating on their eldest brother.