"Why is it that we torture ourselves with love?
We hope and wish for that special someone for so long, and it hurts so much to see them love someone else. When we finally get the person of our dreams, they leave sooner or later, gone from your life like a feather floating away in the wind, never to be seen again.
We cry endlessly for many nights, remembering their smiles, their kind words, their warm embrace. You can't help but feel joy when you think of their sweet kisses or that special feeling you get whenever you see them.
You dream of them and wake up smiling, until you realize it was only a dream and the closest thing you have to that person are the memories and times you shared, that made it all worthwhile.
I guess that's why we torture ourselves with love."
- Lisa Gilbert
Chapter 37
And.. She had done it yet again. Brought out his worst side and now she was stuck in his path.
Arjun left her with a jerk, slammed the door shut and returned to her.
He crossed his arms across his chest and spoke through gritted teeth, "Ab seedhe mooh bataogi ya mujhe apna tareeka aazmaana padega?"
That undid it. She suppressed a chuckle at the sound of it. Gone was the vulnerable, frail Arohi. She wasn't going to let him know that he was intimidating her.
Her gaze alternated between his fuming eyes and the bruises on his face.
She marched away into the washroom to grab a first aid kit. He always kept it there. She knew she would find one.
Arjun saw her step out with the box and drew a deep breath making an attempt to control his anger. The woman really knew how to get on his nerves.
Rosy ignored him and dabbed some antiseptic onto a cotton plug, stepping towards him, "Agar ho sakey, toh let's take a break. Chot kaafi gehri hai. You're hurt."
He looked at her for a brief moment and with a powerful wrench, pulled the cotton plug and threw it on the floor.
"Chot gehri toh hai..", he spoke through gritted teeth when she looked up surprised.
He grabbed both her hands in his and pulled her to him, ignoring the pain that shot up his arm, "Why do you care, Rosanna D'costa?", he growled stressing on her name.
Despite knowing it very well, that most of his anger was justified; she simply couldn't take it lying down.
Maybe because she had no one else and it hurt when the one who mattered the most was pissed off at her.
Rosy stood still, meeting his steely gaze defiantly, "What is wrong with you?"
He yanked the bottle of antiseptic out of her hold and she felt droplets of the liquid spill over her feet. "What is wrong with me?", he half chuckled and scowled.
"You fought with me, faked your own death, you're hiding things from me. Aur phir bhi mujhse pooch rahi ho, ki what's wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with you?", he released her with a jerk and spun around running his fingers through his hair.
Rosy picked up the half empty bottle and capped it, "Davai laga lena. I'm leaving."
He glared at her and blocked her path, "No you're not. Not until I have my answers."
She snapped back at him, "I'm not answerable to anyone, Arjun.."
Arjun sneered and clenched his jaw stepping towards her, "Really now? Go play your games with someone who doesn't know you, Ro.."
Was it her or did he get taller all of sudden. The anger in his face was slowly subsiding making way for the tightly leashed lethal control which had even the bravest criminals cowering.
Crossing his feet at the ankles, Arjun looked at her with a grim expression on his face, "Care to explain?"
She looked into his eyes, to find a reason behind this conversation they were having, but she found nothing but darkness.
"Aur kya jaan na chahte ho?", she muttered exasperatedly.
He looked around the room and smiled grimly, "Okay. Bulvana chahti ho, so here we go.
Why were you performing at the party? And why was I told that you were the owner's recent muse? Does that help you answer me?"
Those words coming from him sounded alien and for the first time since she had decided to take up the case, she felt disgusted with herself. Is that how it appeared to an outsider?
Rosy looked up at him with shock etched on her face. A fear crossed her mind, How and how much did he know?
She didn't want him to know he was intimidating her and slipped a blank face back on, "I have my reasons, ACP Arjun. And from where I see it, none of it concerns your investigation."
Arjun balled his fist and inhaled sharply. And she rattled him up yet again. But not today; he wasn't letting her win it.
"Right. Your reasons. Fine! Spill it. I'm right here.", he said calmly.
He closed the distance between them when she didn't lash back and snatched the bottle of antiseptic from her, "So you don't have any answers, do you? Very well..
But remember one thing, never use that tone with me, ever again.", he growled dangerously close to her face and inched closer, "Everything related to you concerns me, Miss A. And don't you dare forget that."
For a flitting moment, her heart warmed up with an unexplainable emotion. She felt belonged, after what seemed like ages. The mere thought that despite everything she had done to him, he still cared and accepted that he did, strangely soothed her.
But a look at his hardened face and she scoffed looking away, angering him further. There was no more holding back. To hell with sticks and stones..
"Accha, I haven't forgotten a thing, Arjun. Lekin shayad tum bhool gaye the.", she retorted back.
She simply blurted it out on an impulse; it wasn't planned nor was it an excuse to start a fight with him.
He looked at her with a crooked brow and watched her as she glared at him,
"Yes, you forgot everything. Tumhare promises, tumhare farz aur mujhe bhi.", she yelled out her pent up frustration.
Arjun stared at her with a baffled expression and gritted his teeth, "What else was I supposed to do?"
Rosy chuckled sarcastically and moved closer, raising herself on her toes to look straight into his eyes, "Kahan the tum, jab hum sabko tumhari zaroorat thi?
Jab Baba ko apne iss bete ki zaroorat thi.. When I needed you? Bahaduri ke medals jama kar rahe the?"
He looked at her with disbelief not quite believing that she had dragged his promotion into the middle of it and scoffed angrily, "Tum hi ne kaha tha, they were your family and you could take good care of them."
Rosy stood still and looked into his eyes; her's mirrored the same fury as his.
"Toh aur kya karti? 10 years after living with us, you still called yourself an orphan? What did you expect me to say?", she spoke through gritted teeth, with tears flying out of her eyes.
Arjun's head spun with memories of their last fight. Deep down, he knew he had disappointed her. She had pressed all his wrong buttons at once and he had succumbed to his anger. He hadn't looked back once, to check on the family.
The guilt would probably haunt him for the rest of his life. But now was not the time.
He wasn't going to let her pile it up on him.
"Right. Mere rehne ya na rehne se kya farq pad gaya?", he spoke with a dangerous edge to his husky voice.
"Farq pada, Arjun.", she snapped back and cried out shocking herself.
His head tilted to the side and he stared at her intently trying to look through her.
Her earnest cry and shallow voice conveyed her pain to him. He almost wanted to scoop her in his arms and drive away whatever it was that was hurting her.
Rosy smacked herself mentally for the unintentional slip of tongue and quickly stepped away from him towards the door.
But he hadn't missed it and neither was he going to let her pretend as if she hadn't said it. Arjun caught her hand and brought her back to face him.
"Kya kaha?", he enquired looking right into her eyes, daring her to lie.
She almost wanted to cry out and throw her arms around him. But nope. She couldn't afford to. She chose to stay silent, not knowing how to make up for her foolish retort.
Just then, her eyes fell on his bruised jaw, which was now red and slightly swollen. He noticed and was prepared to shrug her hand away but she beat him to it.
Rosy bent down, picked up the bottle of antiseptic lying on the bed and tore a fresh piece of cotton from the roll. She held his unhurt shoulder gently and pushed him lightly, to make him sit.
As expected he shrugged it off and turned away but she wasn't letting him do it anymore.
She quickly latched onto his wrist and plopped herself on the bed next to him. "Kuch der apni zidd chod sakte ho?"
Arjun looked at her in disbelief and for a moment it felt like no time had passed. It felt as if this what was happening was one of their usual fights when he ignored her, giving her a taste of his anger and she fought back to have her way with him.
Caught in the midst of his wandering thoughts, he had missed the soaking ball of antiseptic liquid nearing his hurt jaw.
He yelped in pain and caught her wrist cursing aloud, "Pagal ho gayi ho? That hurt."
Rosy winced at the feel of his fingers tightened around his wrist and looked him in the eye, "Accha? Toh kal yeh baat nahi soojhi?"
She threw the cotton plug at him, sprang to her feet and stood up towering over him, shocking him.
"Damn it. What were you thinking?", she growled angrily, releasing her pent up anger and helplessness from last night.
He was stunned for a moment, barely registering that the angry voice indeed belonged to her.
It is when his jaw tingled with pain that he snapped out and glared back at her, "Tumhe usse kya? Aur waise bhi marr hi jaata na, achha hi hota."
She scowled and spun around turning her back to him, "Haan.. Marr jaao aur mujhe bhi maar daalo. Kamse kam roz roz ghutne se toh better hoga."
A thick, uneasy silence followed their outburst. Neither moved nor spoke.
Though still seething with anger for her furious retorts, Arjun realised she was hurting badly when he saw her body shake slightly.
Now was one of those rare times, when he was willing to swallow his pride and anger, just so it would make her feel better.
Looking around, he picked up the cotton plug lying on his track pants and reached out to hold her hand.
"Yeh lo. And finish what you started."
She closed her eyes for a moment, calming herself down and turned back, apologising to him silently.
Arjun shifted slightly to make place for her and tilted his face towards her.
Rosy tried hard to stop her tears from spilling out, but they betrayed her as always.
This is how it had always been.
They fought, hurt each other and then made sure they were around to heal the pain.
****
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Edited by _Mohabbatgirl_ - 11 years ago
Shiv Shakti
272