Gorgeous

 

He was going to meet her after six years.

‘How does she look now?’

He peeped out of the glass window. Green fields, trees, people – everything slipped by except a flock of white cranes which kept pace with the speeding bus. A fair, pretty girl with a dimple on her chin, smiled back at him from among the distant clouds and disappeared. 

His mind traveled back to an old, small town, a secluded rooftop, a young girl feeding a boy with her tiny hands.

His mother had died while giving birth to him. His father, a school teacher, could not cope up with this loss and moved into a shell. Richa was the only hope in his otherwise lonely life. A neighbor’s daughter, she clicked well with him. Maybe, she understood him better than he did.

They studied in the same school, later moved to the same college. But soon, they parted ways. That was when he realized how much he loved her. But he lacked the courage to tell her. Though, one day, he had come very close. 

They were sitting by the lakeside. It was their favorite haunt.

Quite, cool, scenic. 

She was throwing pebbles into the water. Every time she did so, a deep, rippling sound reverberated in the air and a small circle appeared on the top, raced outwards and vanished.

When he told her about his decision to move to the USA and study engineering there, she froze for a moment, glanced at him sideways, smiled and let her hand go once again. One more pebble created one more circle.

‘When do you leave?’

‘Next week.’

‘And when do you come back?’

‘It will take some time.’

She rubbed her hands together.

‘I will wait.’

‘There is something I want to tell you.’

He sucked down a big lump in his throat.

‘I…I mean…you are looking gorgeous today.’

She cackled, showing her dazzling white teeth.

‘Thank you Mr. Engineer but I hope you won’t forget me.’

He dived deep into her light brown eyes that shined like stars.

‘Can I?’

 

He smiled as the bus crossed a bridge. He pulled out a small, blue jewelry box from his pocket and opened it. A sparkling solitaire ring beamed back at him.

‘Today, I won’t make any mistakes.’

 

He had asked her to come over to the lakeside. Short of the town, he got down from the bus and rushed along a narrow gravel track. Soon, he spotted her.

She sat motionless at the same place, facing the lake. 

Something was wrong. 

This is not how she usually dressed– a white salwar kameez and a black dupatta. He approached her slowly.

‘Richa.’

She sprang to her feet and turned back. His mouth dropped open.

 

She looked like a corpse. Dry skin, parched lips, blank eyes. He could see only half of her face; the other half was covered by a thick veil. Her eyebrow was missing. His gaze rested on a patch of pink flesh on her right arm.

‘Are you all right?’

‘Yes. I am so glad you are back, Yash.’

She spoke in a low, soft tone.

‘What happened to your arm?’

‘Nothing, nothing absolutely. Just don’t worry.’

He grasped her shoulders firmly.

‘Look at me.’

She raised her chin.

‘You are hiding something from me.’

‘No, I swear.’

He shook her vigorously.

‘Don’t lie to me. Tell me what happened.’

 ‘You are hurting me.’

She tried to jerk off his hands. In the scuffle, her veil came off.

 

‘Oh, no!’

He held his face between his hands and recoiled back.

The right side of her face was completely disfigured, an ugly mix of red and brown. An artificial eyelid covered her half burnt eye. There were scars on her neck and collar bones.

He turned back and closed his eyes, his face twitching with pain.

‘So now you know the truth.’

She drew the veil on her face again and wiped off her tears. He panted heavily as if he had seen a nightmare. After a while, he regained his composure.

 ‘I am sorry. I was rough.’

 

She stared at something far away. A squirrel happily nibbled at some food crumbs lying nearby.

‘You never told me anything .We were in touch on Facebook. I often called you.’

‘You were out of the country. I knew how important this course was for you. All this would have disturbed you.’

‘You are right! That’s what friends are for. When one suffers, the other doesn’t even come to know!’

‘Please, don’t be angry with me.’

His face mellowed down.

‘Who did this?’

‘What difference does it make now?’

‘Richa, I am asking a simple question.’

 

She ambled up to a wooden bench and sat down.

‘You remember Arif?’

‘He was in our class only.’

 ‘Yes. I didn’t know him well. Last year, sometime in March, he invited me for coffee, saying he needed some advise. I agreed.’

Yash crept up to the bench and slid next to her. She picked up a pebble and tossed it into the lake.

‘Then?’

‘He seemed to be an amiable guy. He said he wanted some help with his studies as he could not afford tuitions. I gave him some of my notes. I told him if he had any doubts, he could always fall back on me.’

 ‘After a few days, when he returned the notes, I found a love letter inside. I was mad. Next day, I told him never to meet me again. But he grabbed my arm and created a scene in the canteen. I slapped him and bolted out. He shouted back at me, saying that he would make me pay for the insult.’

‘I didn’t see much of him for the rest of the month and thought that the matter was over. I was wrong.’

 

She drew a deep breath.

‘It was a Sunday. I had gone to the market. While I was coming out of the grocery shop, two men blocked my way. They were riding a bike and wore black masks. One of them gripped my hands from behind, while the other uncorked a shiny white bottle.  Before I could react, he had thrown a hot liquid on my face. It was acid.’

 

She touched her face tenderly.

‘I felt as if somebody had put my whole body on fire. My facial skin peeled off within seconds. There was this pungent smell of burning flesh. An unbearable pain ripped me apart. As I crashed on the road, the attackers managed to escape.’

‘For three months, my mother did not allow me to look into the mirror. One day, at the doctor’s clinic, I sneaked into the washroom and took my chance. I noticed an ugly girl with a burnt face, staring at me in the mirror. I screamed with horror and fainted.’

‘Since then, I have undergone two surgeries. The doctor says that more such operations will be required to restore my face. But I know it’s just a consolation.’ 

 

She gaped at the faded reflection of the setting sun in the water for a while.

‘Both the men who had attacked me were nabbed from their village after two weeks, one of them was Arif. In his statement, he confessed that he committed the act in a fit of rage since I had rejected his proposal. His last words were: 'if Richa cannot be mine, she cannot be anybody else’s either.'

A mild wind ruffled the lake surface. A few dead leaves shuffled on the ground.

‘You know Yash, what was the cost of the acid that he threw at me?’

He turned his gaze on her.

 '30 rupees – that’s the value of my dreams, my future which has been destroyed forever.’

A tear escaped from the corner of her eyes. He took out a kerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. As he did so, a jewelry box rolled out of his pocket and fell on the ground. Richa lifted it up and held the diamond ring in her fingers.

 

She overcame her grief for a moment and nudged him in the ribs.

‘So, going to propose to someone?’

He stared at her with vacant eyes. She returned the ring to him.

‘You said you wanted to show me something?’

He looked away.

‘I have spoiled your day. It was a homecoming for you.’

 

She rummaged through his bag.

‘Gifts for everyone?’

She plucked out a rolled, thick sheet of paper and straightened it up.

‘Degree in mechanical engineering from Manchester University!’

She giggled like a small girl.

‘You know Yash, nobody can be more happy than me today.’

‘I know.’

‘A bright future awaits you. Go, grab it man.’

 

She fought through her tears.

 ‘I want to tell you something, Richa.’

‘I must go now.’

‘If I don’t say it now, I will never say it again.’

‘You could say it to ‘Richa’ you were proud of, not to a girl who will be ashamed of walking beside you.’

She touched his face affectionately.

‘I cannot ruin your life.’

She barged off.

‘Richa.’

She halted.

 ‘If this degree and my so-called status are meant to keep me away from you, then I better remain an idiot throughout my life.’

He tore apart the degree and chucked it off.

 ‘I want to tell you that you look as gorgeous today as you did six years back.’

He stepped up to her, took her hand gently and slipped the ring on to her finger.

‘If you say no, I will jump into this lake.’

She smiled, cried and smiled again.

‘I love you Richa, I love you.’

As she buried her injured face into his broad chest, the burning sensation that had become part of her life eased off and her light brown eyes, once again, shone like stars.

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