One Last Leaf
A/N: Hey there everyone! I'm back with another OS. :D :D
Not keeping y'all any further,
Happy Reading! :D :D
"I've said what I have to... now, it's my turn."
She gasped when she saw Ranveer ready to jump. He looked over his shoulder slightly but soon looked back on his gaze over the waters. The words rung in her head like an alarm, as though someone had finally freed her of the paralysing effect that the numbed her limbs and had rooted her to the spot. She saw Ranveer turn ahead and shut his eyes, while she now brought his arms up to his shoulder level.
Ishaani approached with caution, as her hand rested on her chest.
"Ranveer," she whispered. As she walked up to him she got a glimpse of his face. He was crying, silently. He looked so broken; this broke her heart. "Ranveer, what are you doing?" Ishaani asked him quietly.
"Doing what I have to do." He whispered.
"What do you have to do?" Ishaani asked from behind them. Ranveer remained silent. "Please," Ishaani begged. Ranveer let out a sharp breath into the crisp evening air.
"No," He said quietly. "I have to do this."
"Please, get down. We can talk about this over here as well. Please get down."
Even before she could stem her irregularly beating heart, Ranveer closed his eyes and slowly began to slip off the edge. She did not know how fast she ran or how desperately and furiously her heart hit against her chest, but she knew that she had to reach him, she had to pull him off before he fulfilled his threat.
"Ranveer, no!" She did not know what godly powers inhabited her, desperation maybe, but her arms found its way around his feet and pulled him off the ledge, so that both of them fell on the ground with a crashing boom.
By this point Ranveer's sobs have turned into agonizing wails. It broke her hearts. He was curled up into a ball as Ishaani held onto him tightly. She'd lowered him to floor as he as he whispered the same sentence over and over again.
"I want to die. Let go of me, let go of me!"
"SHUT UP!" Ishaani felt her hand fly across Ranveer's face harshly and he fell silent. Even though stars popped in front of Ishaani's eyes at the brutal contact her head had had with the ground, an insane rage had now over taken her. She pushed herself off the ground as she could feel blood trickling down her face, but it did not concern her anymore. Nothing did.
She stood up shakily, taking the support of the road, while her head now roared in protest, but she ignored the darkness that was steadily overcoming her. She shook her head so that her vision cleared, while she saw Ranveer getting up to his feet, a murderous look on his face.
"How dare you?!" Ranveer made to climb the railing again, but Ishaani pushed him off harshly.
"How dare I? How dare you?!" she spat at him, while he now looked thunderous, his face turning red.
"Get out of my way!"
"No, I won't!" she yelled back at him in a deranged voice, while she caught his collar and yanked him towards her. "You think this is a bloody joke? Are you insane?!" Ranveer threw her hands off of him, and spoke in a resigned voice, tears now flowing through his eyes openly.
"YES, YES! You've driven me mad! I cannot take it anymore! Get out of the way or else..."
"Or else what, huh? Or else what? You'll hit me? Fine, go ahead." Ranveer stared at her blankly for a few moments, devoid of any emotion, before he asked her again, his voice now holding a tone of finality.
"Get out of my way. Now." Ishaani shook her head.
"No, I won't. You want to jump, fine. I will permit you to do so only once you've snuffed the breath out of my lungs." Ranveer shook his head, his lips now twisted in a cruel smile.
"It won't work this time, Ishaani. The days where your threats would work are now in the past. So before anything more happens, get out of my way." Ishaani stared at him defiantly for a few momonets before she spoke in a merciless voice.
"You are a coward." She looked visibly happy that the smile was smacked off of Ranveer's face, and suddenly, he looked pale.
"What?" Ishaani gave out a yell of mirthless laughter befire repeating her statement, this time with more venom in it.
"I said you are a bloody coward!" Ranveer looked for a moment like he could explode, befote he shook his head and spoke in a resigned voice.
"Maybe I am." Ishaani struck him harshly against his face again, before she pushed him away from her roughly. Ranveer's face now had blood trickling from his cheek.
"What is wrong with you?!"
"With me? What the hell is wrong with you?! Both of them glared daggers at each other before Ishaani scowled at him. "And yes, you are a coward. A coward because all you have ever known is self-pity. Rather than ever pluck up the courage and fight for your love, all you have done is succumb!" Ranveer gave her an outrageous look, his temper flaring up again.
"Yes, because you did not leave me with much option!" he screamed back in response, while Ishaani scoffed at him.
"LIES! You claim to know me best, then how could you ever believe that I married you for your money?! How could you ever believe that I would fool you over and over just because I loved playing with your heart, huh?!"
"Oh please, like you haven't done enough damage," retorted Ranveer with a sneer, Ishaani now suddenly looking at him teary-eyed. Her eyes held a different type of desperation altogether, betraying the strong impulse that she had of strangling him for the rubbish he was talking.
"You are a moron! Can't you add two and two? Can't you see that the reason I faked hating you was because I could not see you going to jail?! Can't you see that the reason I agreed to marry Shikhar was because I wanted you to move on in life, and not because I loved him?! Can't you see that Ritika is the person who is manipulating you and is the reason for all of our miseries?"
"I don't believe or trust anything you say," said Ranveer in contempt, while Ishaani gave him a mocking smile, her tone now acid.
"Then it's about time that used the same brains that you talked about at home! Ask your head one time, if I hated you, why would have I ever returned back home for you, if I was happy with Shikhar?"
"I don't care, I don't care about anything you have to say." Ishaani gave him a disdainful look, her voice now taking on a taunting tone.
"You are not only a coward, but a man who lives under the inferiority complex that he is inferior enough to be my match!" And just like that, the contempt on Ranveer's features switch to one of self-reproach.
"Nonsense!" Ishaani smiled ruthlessly, happy to see the effect her words had over him, while she ploughed on relentlessly.
"You are afraid to admit it because it will bruise your ego, but it is the sheer fact that all these years, you have accepted the fact that you are a driver's son! It's why you cannot see anything beyond that!"
"Because that's how you see me!" howled back Ranveer in a hoarse voice, his head bent low in shame. Ishaani could have sworn that she saw a tear or two leave his eyes. Covering the distance between them, she put her hand over his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. She sighed tiredly, her adrenaline suddenly wearing off, leaving behind an aching heart, and an even-more severely aching head in its wake.
"And I'm telling this to you for the umpteenth time that this is all a lie! Don't you see how much I love you? I was ready to get myself hanged! I even tried ending my life just because I could not have you! I almost died, and all I could think about was you. I just want you." Ranveer looked up to meet gaze with her, his eyes greedily searching her own enervated ones.
"I don't believe any of this. You never loved me and if you did, you would never have left me. However, what I do want to know is that why do you even care so much." Ishaani looked stunned for a moment over the stupidity radiated out from Ranveer's statement, before speaking in an aggravated tone.
"I... Because of everything that we have been through together! All these years, I've been right here! All these years just waiting for you to just open your eyes and see that I am right here! And that I'm more than your childhood friend and your one-sided love! Every morning I open my eyes, just so I can see a smile on your face. Because you are the most remarkable, maddening, challenging, frustrating yet self-sacrificing person I've ever met. And I love you Ranveer, and if that means anything to you, if you care about me at all, don't do it." Ranveer looked overwhelmed for a few moments, before the same look of betrayal crossed his features that had become a characteristic expression over his face.
"If I care about you..." scoffed Ranveer, as Ishaani now rubbed her throbbing temples painfully. "You cut a deal for my life like if I was some kind of a child. You don't get to decide like that."
Nausea threatened to claim Ishaani in that moment, but she pushed it away, knowing that it wouldn't be long before she could succumb to the inviting darkness that had begun to cross her vision. It was the last few minutes of their conversation that could possibly result in being their last conversation as well. Ishaani looked at Ranveer in agony, her voice now barely a warning whisper.
"Ranveer, if you keep going with this, Ritika is going to be the one to decide. She's not going to let you live. Eventually, she'll kill you as well." Ranveer looked at her dangerously, his tone now a reckless one.
"That's my lookout, not yours." Ishaani now shook her head, her energy and will to fight leaving her completely. She stood silently for a few minutes as she saw Ranveer looking in the direction of the railing and the calm waters below. She spoke in a suffocated voice.
"Well, I guess there's just nothing I can say is there?" Ranveer looked back at her and frowned slightly, a touch of worry in his eyes. When he remained silent, Ishaani spoke again, her eyes partially shut as an excruciating pain coursed through her head, blood still trickling on her cheek. "You're right, Ranveer. It's your life. You can throw it away if you want to, but I'm not gonna stick around to watch you die, so this is over, I guess. I'm done."
Ishaani turned her face away from him as she felt darkness over come her, yet she made her way away blindly. She did not know how far she made it or how long she had walked before she felt the energy leave her legs, feeling several sharp objects piercing her temple and head, while something alike an explosion resonated in her ears. She did not know whether an actual pair of arms were there that had actually prevented her fall or whether it was simply wishful thinking on her part before she felt a strange calm overcome her senses whole.
The next thing she knew, she was in a comfortable bed, her head under a comfortable set of pillows. Her head hurt her quite a bit, and felt slightly tender under what she supposed was a bandage, but apart from that she was in no other pain. Her heart felt strangely numb, as though it had forgotten what it was to feel pain anymore, or rather as if she had left or thrown behind the emotion of pain. It was as though something had died within her, something that always made her care about things. She did not know why her head felt tipsy or why did she feel so weird in the first place, but she only comprehended one thing - she didn't have her heart in anything anymore.
She opened her eyes slowly to find Ranveer sitting beside her head, a grim look on his face. She noticed that he had a bandage on his cheek, while its surrounding area looked yellow from the bruising. She shut her eyes as her heart heaved a sigh of relief in spite of itself, and the bruising on his cheek gave her another level of satisfaction altogether, seeing as it was her artistry.
Opening her eyes again, she saw Ranveer look at her nervously.
"How do you feel now?"
"Brilliant, I guess." Ranveer looked at her awkwardly, before Ishaani spoke again. "I see that you are still here." Ranveer flushed dully, answering in a soft voice.
"I couldn't go through with it." Ishaani gave him a sardonic look, her lips twisted in a cruel smile.
"Why? I thought that this was all you could see." Ranveer twitched irritably, scowling at Ishaani.
"I would have gone through with it, but before I could, you... well... collapsed and hit your head on the headlight of the car. There was quite a lot of bleeding and you went limp in my arms. I couldn't leave you like that." Ishaani continued to scrutinize Ranveer in the same manner that made the latter feel highly uncomfortable. After a few minute's silence, she spoke blankly.
"I thought you didn't care."
"Must you rub this in my face so much?" Ishaani gave him a dead-pan look, her voice just as expressionless when she spoke.
"You asked for it." Ranveer shrugged his shoulders and both of them remained silent, not knowing what to speak next. Ishaani did not know how much time passed by, before Ranveer asked in an uncertain voice.
"When you told me that you loved me, did you mean it?" Ishaani gave him a perplexed look, his question a little different than her expectation, but strangely it did not irk her. She nodded her head in assent.
"Yes."
"And about the reason why you drifted apart from me?"
"Yes."
"You were an idiot." said Ranveer slowly, while Ishaani gave him a flummoxed look.
"Sorry?"
"I said that you were a bloody idiot!" Ishaani gave him a look of explicit disinterest, her voice suddenly sharp.
"That's rich." Silence reigned the ward while both of them glared at each other viciously, each coming up with a better retort in their heads that they could have used for their conversation earlier. Breaking the silence for the second time, Ranveer spoke again, this time, his voice holding an undercurrent of curiosity over his otherwise vacant expression.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Haven't you been doing the same since the past five minutes?" Ranveer cocked his eyebrow up in response, realizing suddenly that the thing that made Ishaani speak so spitefully was the side-effect of the morphine-induced sleep that she had abruptly woken up from. Changing his expression into a more sympathetic one, he spoke in a kinder tone.
"I'm going to take that as a yes. Do you trust me?" Ishaani looked at him bewildered for a moment, her answer leaving her lips almost instantly.
"Yes." Ranveer shook his head in disagreement, a strange look on his face.
"I don't think so."
"Why ask when you have to assume?" asked Ishaani irritably, and Ranveer couldn't help but smile in spite of himself.
"Because if you did, you would have never taken the blame on your head. I had stately clearly that I hadn't killed Chirag, and if you didn't as well, I don't see why you had to incriminate yourself in place of my by planting false evidence on the crime scene."
"The evidence over there was proof enough that you killed him, whether in self-defense or no. And even if I would have eliminated all proof, the police would have eventually hunted you down the moment they would find out about your enmity with him."
"You should have let me fight this." Ishaani looked at him guiltily, tearing her gaze away from his own.
"I couldn't let you go to jail because of my mistake. I hope I made this point clear enough." A third and more pregnant silence dominated the occupants of the room this time, although the atmosphere was much less hostile. Ranveer absent-mindedly stroked Ishaani's head, while the latter felt herself relax. Ranveer spoke after the elapsing of several more minutes.
"Is it true?"
"What?" murmured Ishaani sleepily, opening her eyes with great difficulty.
"That you tried to kill yourself?" Ishaani looked at him uncertainly, weighing her options carefully, before she nodded her head slowly.
"Yes... yes it is true. It was the day I was released from jail. On the way, I saw you and Ritika at that award ceremony where you called her your wife. She was expecting and I guessed that you had moved on in life; that perhaps I had burned too many bridges for amends to be made. I met Mala some time later on the same day who told me to stay away from you because you had finally begun a new and happy life. I met Devarsh thereafter who told me that my being dead was a blessing for all of us rather than a curse. I was alone and shattered and rejected by everyone I ever loved. All my life, I had borne the harsh realities of life, but I had you. But that day, I was totally and irrefutably alone. I couldn't find hope, I couldn't live with the burden of what I had done to all of you. I decided that it was best to end it all. Nobody would miss something they never loved or cared about. I couldn't do so, however, because Shikhar saved me. Again."
Ranveer nodded his head silently, letting his mind register the facts that she was telling him. He looked at her beseechingly as their eyes met again, this time with their guards fallen away.
"I came to visit you every week in jail, but whenever I tried to meet you, the matron would reject my plea. All my lawyers faced the same fate too." Ishaani gave him a painful smile.
"I figured that if I kept seeing you so frequently, I would lose control over myself. That's why I decided that it was best the way to help us both move on. As for legal help, I didn't want any, because that would mean you getting involved as a suspect. I couldn't have that. When I pushed you away, I made sure that I did it for good measure."
"You pushed me away again when I met with an accident," said Ranveer quickly with a touch of annoyance.
"It was what Kaki told me to do."
"And then there is Shikhar." Both of them gave each other a deep look, before Ishaani spoke placidly.
"I only sought to marry him because I wanted you to move on in life with Ritika, especially after that episode in the godown. I had told Shikhar right from the start that I never loved him, but I would be marrying him solely for helping you move on in life. As to what the two of us-" said Ishaani, and pointed her finger at him and herself simultaneously. "-have been through ever since has been total miscommunication. You believed one thing, I believed another, we ended up creating more confusion and kept distancing ourselves from each other. This is a screwed up business, something both of us have messed up badly. By the time we realized things, it was too late. I've realized my lot of mistakes, you are yet to do so."
Ranveer did not comment over what she just told him, but only gave her a solemn look. Contemplating on whether to speak or not after a few moments, he decided in favour of it.
"I don't know what to believe and what not to anymore. Every truth of my life seems like a lie, and now, I don't know how to distinguish." Ishaani gave him a half-hearted smile.
"Wow... we are so damaged." Ranveer obliged her with a sad smile of his own, before he took on a serious tone.
"We need to do something about our situation." Ishaani looked at him tiredly, as she let out a small yawn. Ranveer looked at her worriedly.
"I don't know what to do anymore. Anything that I do isn't good enough."
"And I cannot think of anyway to undo the damage both of us have inflicted up in this relationship." Ishaani couldn't help but let her eyes shut as she felt the same wave of darkness overcome her. She spoke in a sleepy voice.
"I'm tired." Ranveer gave her a sympathetic look while he whispered softly.
"Go to sleep. The doctor said that you weren't supposed to be awake up until tomorrow morning. It must be the morphine working its effect. Rest a little, while I get the doctor." Ishaani nodded her head, as she shut her eyes, quickly drifting away into a restless sleep. Ranveer planted a small kiss on her forehead, before whispering in her ear.
"This may be it, Ishaani. This is perhaps the last leaf that had to shed before we turn over a new leaf in the broad daylight."
Constructive criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for any typos. :) :)
Advocate Anjali Awasthi
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