Chapter 25

Early morning sun rays gently touched Roli's skin, who was still asleep. Dressed in a casual navy blue shirt and black jeans, Sid sat next to her in bed as his gaze fixated on her delicate face. 

After the previous day's incident, Sid was worried to leave Roli alone even for a second. Though Roli assured him that she's fine and not scared after the kidnapping incident, he couldn't be at peace. He was sceptical of something unfortunate might happen again. 

Caressing her cheek with his right thumb, Sid leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. Roli's sleep got disturbed with his kiss as she twitched her eyes to open. 

Roli's lips slightly curled up to find him as she opened her eyes. Wrapping her arm around his waist, she snuggled into his arms to rest her head on his chest. With a chuckle, Sid too lay down in bed, making her rest comfortably. 

"Are you not getting late to the office?" Roli asked as she glanced at the clock. 

"I'm on leave" Sid replied while gently stroking her hair.

Roli looked up at him with a frown "why?". 

"I have someone to take care of at home" Sid pinched her cheek while replying.  

"And that someone doesn't need to be taken care of" Roli sat up on the bed.

"But I need to take care of her" Sid too got up and looked at her.

"I promised I will stay at home and won't go anywhere, right? Then why are you still being worried unnecessarily?" Roli urged him to go to his work. Though she was bothered about the kidnapping and the whole incident, she acted to be normal with Sid as she wouldn't want him to worry. And the discussion continued until Sid gave her a stern look. 

"I'm staying with you" Sid's authoritative tone shut her, making her leave the bed with a huff. 

Sid smiled while she stormed into the washroom like an angry kid. A little while later, she was combing her hair after taking bath when Sid entered the room with a tray. He took a cup from it and handed it to her. 

By the delicious aroma entering her nostrils, she could guess it was her favourite ginger tea. Taking a sip of it, she felt elated. 

"It's super delicious!" Roli exclaimed as she took a few more sips happily. By the time she was taking her last sip, something struck her mind. 

"Did you make this tea?" Roli looked at Sid with surprise. He used to make it for her in the past and she used to love it. Though many years had passed, it still tasted the same for her. While Sid just smiled at her. He was pleased to know she could still recognise the taste of his tea. 

"You are the best at making tea" Roli placed the empty cup back on the tray and turned to him giving him a flying kiss. 

In the next moment, she found herself being trapped in between his arms. "I'm not so far to give a flying kiss. You can give me directly". 

Roli blinked at his prompt action. When she came back to her senses, his lips were just an inch apart from hers'.

Before Roli could process anything, she found her lips getting sealed with his while his one arm held her by her waist and the other one was slipped into her hairs. 

Roli clutched his shirt as he kissed her lips slowly yet passionately. Sid didn't deepen the kiss and left her lips after a few moments. 

"Mom and Jatin are waiting for us to have breakfast. Let's go" Sid informed while softly brushing a strand of hair behind her ears. 

Just as Sid turned around to leave, Roli let out a huge breath she was holding in for a while now. She tried to calm down her racing heartbeat. She couldn't understand why she would always become restless at his touch. She seemed to want more of it but couldn't find the guts to take that step yet. 

When they both reached the dining hall, Jatin and Sujata were already there waiting for them. After reaching home the previous day, Jatin stayed back at Sid's house upon Sid's request.  

"How are you feeling now? Is your health alright?" Sujata asked Roli. 

"I'm good" Roli answered with a smile to assure all of them that she's fine. 

"You should be careful. And Sid you should appoint a skilled driver for Roli to avoid such accidents" Sujata instructed Sid. 

Sujata didn't know about the kidnapping as Sid didn't tell her. They told her it was an accident. Roli felt warm inside upon seeing Sujata's concern for her. 

After having breakfast, Sujata left to attend a meeting and Roli went to their room as she got a call from her friend, Trisha. Now only Sid and Jatin were left alone in the hall. 

"So, are you still having a headache?" Jatin glanced at Sid as he asked. 

"No. It's fine now" Sid replied. 

"Well. Do you remember I said about the person attacked by Aryan?" Jatin asked while Sid nodded after thinking for a couple of moments. 

"I got the information about him. He is a reporter and content writer working for a media outlet. He has a family of four members leading a normal life. I couldn't find anything that can be a reason for Aryan attacking him" Jatin said while Sid was listening to him with thousands of thoughts floating in his mind. 

"Personally he may have nothing to do with Aryan. But, his professional work might be the reason" Jatin paused as he fished out his phone from his pocket. 

"Look at these articles written by him. All are about the events and movie releases except for this one" Jatin stopped at one link and clicked it to open.  

Sid's eyes turned cold when the article was opened and his grip over the phone got tightened. All of his reactions didn't go unnoticed by Jatin. 

Jatin retrieved his phone from Sid and read the headline of the article. "Wedding bells in the cine-town: Siddhant Bharadwaj and Nia Mehra to tie the knot soon". 

"Why would this be the reason?" Sid looked at Jatin with chilled eyes. 

"Remember why did you get married to Roli in a rush?" Jatin questioned. Sid stared at him coldly without answering. 

"What does it have to do with this now?" Sid was losing his calm. 

"It has to do a lot. You were rushed to get Roli married to you because you were scared of her leaving you after reading this article about your marriage. And that fear of losing Roli is what triggered Aryan, the one that exists within you, in your mind" Jatin's voice was a little loud, perhaps, to make Sid understand better about the issue. 

"Aryan has a habit of punishing people who attempt to make Sid even think about living without Roli. I've seen him doing so back when we were in the US" Jatin said as he was reminded of the incident from nearly eight years ago. 

******

"Hey, Sid, what are you doing here alone?" Jatin reached Sid, holding a cricket bat & ball. "Come let's play cricket," he said enthusiastically. 

"I'm not interested" Sid responded without even taking his eyes off of the photograph he was holding in his hands. 

"Oh, God! You're again looking at the picture of Roli" Jatin sighed knowing Sid's story very well. It had been more than two years since they went to the US for studies. In the meantime, Jatin made a lot of new friends but Sid didn't. All he would do was attend classes and go to the dorm to spend time by looking at Roli's pictures and watching her videos which he shot in his camera. Jatin tried and failed to make him do other things and got used to his nonchalant and cold nature. 

Whilst a guy interrupted them "Sid, won't you feel bored by looking at that picture almost all the time?". 

Sid just looked at the guy but didn't bother to respond. So, Jatin answered on his behalf "No. He would never feel bored of it because he loves the girl in that photo a lot". 

"Yeah, the girl he loved when he was in India" the guy too seemed to know about Sid's love story and why not? Because whenever Sid would talk, he would talk about only Roli all the time. 

"But, it's been two years since he saw her last time. What if she forgot him?" The guy queried, gaining a hot glare from Sid. 

"Roli will never forget me" Sid said sternly as his eyes turned cold. 

"What if she will? And how it would be if after a few years you go back to her and she would have gotten married to some other guy?" The guy made up scenarios only to force Sid to lose all of his calm. 

"Enough of your nonsense" Sid stood up and gave a killer look at the guy, who didn't stop but escalated the topic. 

"She would welcome you with her kids and you would be so lonely and pitiful" the guy laughed at his own words. 

"Stop it, Rick. It's not funny" Jatin warned the guy as he was aware of Sid's possessiveness for Roli and he could already see Sid fuming. 

"It is funny, Jatin. Just imagine Sid's face when he sees his love with someone else. God, it will be so funny" Rick continued to laugh and the next moment he felt a strong hit at his forehead which eventually made him land on the ground. 

Rick's cry made Jatin come out of the shock as he blinked a couple of times and then shifted his gaze from Rick, who was lying on the ground with his hand holding his head, to Sid, who was standing with the cricket bat in his hands and demonic look in his eyes. Jatin was stupefied at the sudden action by Sid as he wasn't even realized when Sid snatched the bat from his hands and hit Rick.  

"Roli belongs to Sid. Only and only to Sid" Sid's voice echoed, sending chills down to Rick, who was looking at Sid.

Sid was about to hit Rick again but was pulled back by Jatin. "Leave him, Sid". 

"I'm not Sid" Sid pushed Jatin vigorously, making him fall to the ground. Jatin was stunned at his reaction. Sid was always calm and never lashed out. But, at the moment, he was anything but calm. And with the strength, he pushed Jatin, it didn't seem like an ordinary move. It was extremely strong and not like a normally functioning human being. 

******

"By writing this article, indirectly he ignited the fear of losing Roli to you and that resulted in Aryan breaking out and harming him. When Aryan gets triggered, nothing can stop him from doing for what he has come out" Jatin said as he finally figured out the trigger for Aryan. 

Jatin would still feel anxious when he would remember that incident from eight years ago. It was the first time he witnessed the other side of Sid that none knew about.  

Sid's other personality, which was capable of doing vicious things.  

Sid's alternate self, who named himself Aryan.