Chapter-13

One week in the hospital and Arjun was bored. As soon as he was discharged, he wanted to be driven to the ETF office.

“Are you mad Raute? Why don’t you rest for a little longer? Go home or go for some holiday. I don’t mind approving your leave.”, Rathore cribbed.

Arjun just rolled his eyes at his words.

“I have some important work to finish.”, he said, while Shree and Chotu just simply grinned at their seniors’ bickering. It was good to be back.

Arjun had made up his mind. He wanted to resign from ETF. His sole purpose of joining the ETF was to avenge Roshni’s death, and that, had been fulfilled. Although he couldn’t do this all by himself, and he will forever remain salty over the same, he still was contended that his wife’s murderer wasn’t roaming out freely in the world. But now it was time to move on, as Roshni said, and the first step would be leaving this job. He also knew that his team wouldn’t let him do it, so he had planned a way out.

As soon as the SUV reached ETF office, Arjun was the first one to get down. When they all reached the conference room, Shree and Chotu exchanged glances. The evidence board was full of pictures of Riya, because before leaving, she was, as they believed, their prime suspect. Rathore too understood the duo’s concern. But before he could do anything, Arjun had already started moving towards the board.

The trio watched in silence as Arjun carefully removed each of her pictures from the evidence board and placed them in a file. Without sparing a glance at them, he took the file and went to his cabin.

Letting out a long sigh, the three of them settled in their chairs.

“This one, is going to be a long, long report!”, Rathore teased them and both of them made faces.

In his cabin, Arjun placed the file in the shelf, not before taking out one of her pictures.

She was flashing her dimples in this one. “Riya Mukherjee! You were brave!” his lips curved into a smile,“ This one’s for the record! My record!” Saying so, he kept the photograph in his pocket and moved to his desk.

Very quickly, he began typing his resignation letter. He moved out of his cabin with the letter to the conference hall, and finding it vacant, he quickly placed it inside the first file kept on the table.

“Someday, you all might understand that this was the best thing to be done!”, he murmured to himself, and left the place at once.

He took a taxi and in twenty minutes or so, he stood in front of a familiar gate, the Ravi Lodge.

Once home to Mr Ravi Wadekar, his wife and son, he too had spent four and a half years of his life at the same place. He was never the kind of person who got attached to people or places easily, but now that he knows, it was Sikander’s house, he felt disgusted with the place.

As soon as he entered the place, he saw some police constables vacating the house. Arjun felt suffocated at the place and wanted to get going with his belongings before any of his team members found out his resignation and began looking for him. He dragged his body up the stairs to his room.

Before he could enter his room, Arjun spared a glance at the next door and memories came flooding by. How the girl next door walked into his life uninvited. How she nearly drove him insane. How she started affecting him and without him knowing, made a place in his broken heart. How she did things for him, he never knew of. And also, how he never understood her, never trusted her enough, could never accept his budding feelings for her and couldn’t even thank her, before she walked out of his life, unannounced.

“I don’t know why, but I kind of knew, I’d find you right here, ACP, right in front of my door.”

Arjun froze at the familiar voice. He couldn’t move. He wanted to, but couldn’t gather enough courage to look behind.

Silence prevailed for a few moments before he finally looked back.

There she was, sitting in her favourite swing and eyeing him murderously, like she always did whenever she found him in front of her door. It was as if she’d just stepped out of his memories.

Not believing anything that was happening around him, Arjun slowly descended the stairs in disbelief. His head spinning and his breath, uneven.

“Riya?” he called hesitantly, almost as if speaking her name might shatter the moment.

Riya looked at him, her hair catching the dying light of the sun, and for a split second, Arjun’s heart stopped. The face was familiar, but it couldn’t be her. She had been gone, that day. Everyone had told him she was gone. How could she be standing there now, looking as real as the ground beneath his feet?

She smiled, and it was the same smile he had loved since the day he met her.

He took a tentative step forward, his voice shaky. “Ri… Riya? Is it really you?”

Arjun’s mind spun. The doctor had told him she was dead. For all these days, he’d carried the weight of that loss, not knowing how to move forward. And now, here she was, swinging before him.

“The doctor said you couldn’t make it! Am I hallucinating?”

Without wasting another second, he pulled out his phone and dialled the doctor’s number.

“You said she couldn’t make it? Didn’t you?”, Arjun barked on the phone but still not believing what he saw.

“Yessir, she was brought dead to the hospital!”, the doctor confirmed.

Arjun was taken aback. He moved back in two quick steps. Riya smiled at his misery.

“The lady had three bullet shots, and due to excessive blood loss from those wounds in an age like hers, the chances of survival were almost reduced to zero.”

It was seconds later that Arjun had registered what the doctor had said to him.

“In an age like hers?”, Arjun finally questioned, his eyes never leaving Riya’s.

“Yes, she was almost seventy!”, the doctor recalled.

It was in that moment, Arjun realised that the doctor was talking about Mrs. Wadekar and not Riya.

Riya took a deep breath and began to walk slowly towards him.

“I thought I was dead too,” she said softly. “I thought I was gone. But somehow, I’m here.” Her eyes shimmered with something he couldn’t quite place—grief, relief, wonder. She took the phone from his shaking hand and disconnected the call.

Coming in terms with reality, Arjun pulled her into his embrace. His heart pounded in his chest, and all the walls he’d built up around his grief began to crumble. He didn’t know how this was possible, how she had returned, or what kind of fate had led them here. But in that moment, all he could feel was that she was here. She was alive.

Riya could hear his throbbing heart and she knew how he felt about the situation. He had spent so much time grieving for her, convinced he’d never hear her laugh or see her smile again. And now, standing in front of him, she was real, tangible, like a piece of his past that had slipped through his fingers only to return.

“I still can’t believe… How?”, he was at a loss of words.

Without wasting another moment, Arjun poured his heart out in front of her.

“I love you, Riya!”, his eyes glistening with tears as he spoke those words.

Riya felt a chill run through her and her expressions grew serious. She looked him in the eye, and for the first time, there was an intense look in his gaze.

Riya took a deep breath, her emotions threatening to overwhelm her. The next moment she took a step back, surprising Arjun.

“No. uh.. You don’t!”, trying to free herself from his hold.

Arjun frowned at her answer. He knew that she loved him too, but why was she refusing to accept her love for him.

“Riya…Listen…”,he tried to explain to her, but before he could, she had already started moving up the stairs.

Taken aback at her strange behaviour, Arjun ran behind her.

“Riya,I said I love you. Listen…”, he tried to stop and tell her how much she meant to him.

“WHY?”, she retorted back angrily.

Arjun couldn’t understand what brought about the sudden change.

“Do you find me beautiful?”, she asked, turning back.

He nodded with a smile, in acceptance.

“Then, it’s mere attraction, ACP. It will go away. And so should you!” she barked at him and pushed him away.

Arjun was left speechless. He climbed another pair of stairs to block her way again.

“No, it is not what you think! You did so much for me, without me knowing. You helped in ways I can never thank you enough for! I feel…”

“That was a part of my job, and what you feel is gratefulness and not love! So, MOVE!” Riya was irritated, so she climbed few more steps to reach her room, only to be stopped by a stubborn Arjun again.

“You cared for me, even though it was not a part of your job, your care for me was genuine, and so was mine!”, Arjun’s tone grew serious.

“Appreciation it is! Everyone wants to be cared for, and if a person cares for you, you feel important, but it is not LOVE! You don’t love ME!” saying so she pushed him away and ran to her room.

Arjun froze to his spot. He was unable to prove his love to her and she was moving away from him.

It was minutes later, that she walked out of her room with her luggage. Without sparing a glance towards Arjun, she walked past him.

“I know I’ve hurt you. I’ve doubted you—over and over again. And I’m so, so sorry, Riya.”

He paused, his voice thick with emotion, while Riya stopped in her tracks.

“Every time I questioned you, every time I held back, every time I believed someone else and not you, I was wrong. I let myfears take over. I let the past cloud my judgment.

Riya turned around and watched him, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“I am also sorry that even after you did so much for me, instead of being thankful, I was being salty about the fact that somebody else had done it for me, what I wanted to do on my own. I know I was being an egoist and a complete jerk.

You’re the strongest person I know. You’ve always been there for me, even when I didn’t deserve it. I should have trusted you. I should have believed in you.”

He got down on his knees, his head hung down.

“I want you to know that I’ve realized how wrong I was. I can’t change the past, but I can promise you this: I’ll fight every day to earn your trust back. You deserve someone who believes in you completely.

And I just can’t explain why I love you, how or when did it happen. And just because I cannot explain it to you, I know it is love!”

I love you, Riya. And I’m done letting my doubts get in the way. I want to build a future together, one where you never have to doubt my faith in you again. I know it’s going to take time… I know. And I’m ready to put in that time. I just need you to give me a chance. Can we start fresh. Together?”

Riya had finally let her tears flow free. Arjun had answered all her doubts at once, he had accepted his mistakes. And she knew, all of this came right from his heart. Yet she was still holding herself back.

Riya just turned away. Arjun waited for a response but that never came. She began moving with her stuff towards the gate when suddenly something fell off from the stuff she was carrying. Assuming that Riya has not noticed, a dejected Arjun moved towards it and picked it up.

“ETFID CARD?”, he asked out aloud, “Hey, you are joining the ETF?”, he was surprised.

“Yup!”, she answered without looking back.

“SHIT!”, he shouted, moving his hand in his hair.

Riya stopped at his response.

“What should I make of that reaction of yours?”, she questioned his intentions.

“I resigned, just today!”, he said, almost crying like a baby.

Riya couldn’t believe the man standing in front of her.

“See, this is what I was talking about! You don’t think through anything, you just do things, without realising the consequences.”

She started walking towards him in quick steps.

“One moment, you want to kill me and in the next moment, you are head-over-heels in love with me. One moment you are ready to give up on and leave anything and everything, and just moments later you regret your damn decision.”

Arjun looked at her, realizing how every word she spoke was so true.

“Ughhh!”,Riya clenched her fists, as if controlling her urge to pull his hair out.

“Main tumhara kya karoon?”, she said irritated at the man in front of him.

“Make me a better person!”, Arjun smiled at her with moist eyes.

“I do not want to be a victim of my emotions anymore!”, he held onto her hands, his black ones never leaving her hazel.

Riya could read the honesty in his eyes.

“Only you can!”, he added, pulling her towards him with a jerk. Riya collided with his chest and something caught her attention. She instantly pulled out what he was hiding in his shirt’s pocket.

What she saw, melted her heart, it was her picture.

Riya finally let her guards down and pulled him into a tight hug, promising to give their love a chance, their relationship a chance, that would be built on trust and truth, where both of them could be better versions of themselves.

***

Their long blissful moment was disturbed by Arjun’s phone ring.

Arjun picked the call without realizing who it was on the other side.

“So, Mr. Arjun Suryakant Raute, should I approve your resignation, or are you…”,Rathore teased knowing his best friend way too well.

“No, No….I’m coming back, Arjun said panicking, rushing out of the Ravi Lodge with their belongings, taking Riya along with him, with a promise of a lifetime.

Note:

So, that is the end of the story. Took exactly a year. I hope I did justice to it. And I hope you enjoyed reading it, as I much as I enjoyed writing this one. Drop in your views, I'll be waiting to read them all. Coming up with a new story very soon. Follow for more!

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