Posted:
Trying out something different.
This fic will be in POV or Point of View
The story will be told as it is happening to the character.
The point of view characters will be Vidushi, Randhir and Parth and on occasions VD Sir.
Thanks to --aimy-- for beta'ing this chapter.
Dedicated to Kri and Ayesha. My sisters.
And to all my peeps on the Vidarth DT!
Chapter One : Nothing left to lose.
Pain.
It hurt me in my gut more than the hot red flash that was spreading across my right cheek.
My mother's perfect hand was imprinted onto my skin.
A reminder. The only thing I have left of her now.
A reddening mark and 2 boxes of belongings.
Clothes, books and other things that suddenly seemed unimportant.
As unimportant as me, sitting in the dean's office, tears blinding my eyes as my mother gave me one last hate filled look before she stomped her way out of the cabin and my life. Forever.
I was no longer welcome in her life.
I was as good as dead to her.
I wish I was. Dead.
The Dean's lips are moving.
I can't hear a word.
Her hands are on my shoulder and there is pity in her eyes.
Or is it just disgust disguised as pity for the girl who has no home anymore?
I don't know. I don't even know if I want to know anything anymore.
My cheek stings.
Mom always hugged me after she slapped me when I did something wrong.
Mom used to...
And that is how my silent tears turn into full, loud sobs, in Miss Maya Raichand's cabin.
"Vidushi...stop crying" Maya Ma'am gives my shoulder an awkward pat.
She is probably not used to people having breakdowns in her cabin.
The sobs keep coming. One after the other.
My chest hurts.
"Calm down Vidushi. Take a deep breath! " Vardhan sir's deep voice cut in.
"Vidushi. Breathe" Maya Ma'am continued, still patting my back.
I sucked in a breath of air.
It hurt.
I felt like there was something under my skin, scratching at me from inside.
"Ah.." a whimper escaped me and I looked up into Vardhaan Sir's eyes.
"Are you okay?" he handed me a handkerchief.
I wanted to scream.
How could I be ok? I had nothing left. Nothing!!!!
No scholarship. No home. No family.
And he wanted to know if I was ok?
I bit my tongue. Vicious words would only drag me in deeper.
"She's not ok. She's definitely not ok,Vardhaan!" Maya ma'am patted my shoulder again.
"Wipe your face" Vardhaan sir pushed the piece of cloth into my hand.
I blew at my nose.
Stuffed up.
An awkward silence.
It hurt my ears.
What is going to happen to me now?
"Stop crying. Crying won't change anthing."Vardhaan sir's tone was his usual one. The no nonsense tone.
I couldn't help but sigh.
"Vidushi. You have to think about what you are going to do." Maya Ma'am added.
She was going to kick me out of FITE.
"Please..please don't kick me out of FITE! " I pleaded, my tears blurring my eyes yet again.
"No one is kicking you out of FITE. Like I said before, it will be an easier way out for you. You will stay here, study and pay for what you did." Maya ma'am shook her head. "But you know the rules. I can't let you stay in the campus during the winter vacations."
Winter Vacations. 2 months.
Without a place to stay.
I wish I had saved the money Maya ma'am gave me instead of wasting it away on clothes and luxuries.
I hate myself for this. No wonder everyone hates me
I'm unworthy.
"Vidushi. I said you could rent a flat. Do you have money? " Vardhan sir's words cut into me. "No...no Sir " I shook my head in shame.
"Do you have any friends who could take you in? " Maya ma'am had a flat voice. Probably shocked by the fact that I had spent the 1 Lakh so easily ?
Friends? I had not come here to make friends.
And so, I told them I had none.
Maya ma'am looked at me with disbelief. She shook her head. "Vidushi. You have got yourself into a perfect mess. Do you even know the consequences of your actions?" she muttered.
I knew.
Hatred. Disapproval. Disgust.
In their eyes.
But I hadn't expected my mother to be a part of them.
And then again, thinking of mom made the tears return.
"Rona band karo. Agar rone se sab thik ho jaata toh main bhi tumhare saat roti. Wipe your face and think of something" Maya ma'am was back to her clipped, business like tone.
"Maya, she just needs a place to stay." Vardhan sir tapped his pen on the desk. He had his look on his face.
The look that said that he was making up a plan in his head.
"Thanks for stating the obvious Vardhaan" Maya ma'am scoffed. "Par agar is problem ka solution dhundhoge toh acha hoga. Sab ke liye"
Problem.
That's all I was.
For Mom.
For my family.
For him.
For Parth.
Parth.
He was another person who brought tears to my eyes.
He hates me even more now.
Especially now.
Me, the thief.
"Maya she could stay with you. "Vardhaan Sir finally sighed.
Maya ma'am looked at him in shock.
"No way Vardhaan. Kya explaination doon ghar waloon ko? Tum jante nahi ho. Mera yahan...Relatives arahe hai...family function ke liye. Vidushi can't stay with me." Maya ma'am offered, shaking her head, giving me a sad look.
Unwanted.
"Interesting. Very Interesting. Vidushi, tumhare paas koi solution hai?" Vardhaan sir turned to me.
I shook my head.
It was my twisted ways that had got me into trouble.
And now, I couldn't even think straight.
"Interesting. Vardhaan tume yeh situation itni interesting lag rahi hai toh khud hi handle karlo" Maya Ma'am stormed out.
I couldn't help him.
No one could help me.
"Vidushi. Dekho main tumse nahi puchunga ki tumne chori kyun ki. It's none of my business. However, it's my business to ask you not to do it again. Nothing...And I mean nothing is worth losing your morals and your dignity. Nothing." Vardhaan sir was looking right at at me.
I nodded.
But did I really have anything left?
I gave him my all.
And now I'm empty.
"Vidushi, it's not my place to judge you. Main janta hun ki you are not this girl. Isliye I want to give you another chance. You can stay at my place. But tell no one about this. Am I clear?" His face was serious enough to scare me.
"Thank you...Sir...I won't disappoint you...Sir" the words were heavy on my tongue.
I mean to mean them this time.
"It's not me you should be worried about disappointing. Don't disappoint yourself. Now you should go back to your class. I will give you my address and you can come there. " Vardhaan sir scribbled down his address onto a piece of paper.
He held the paper out.
A lifeline.
I held onto it with trembling fingers.
--------------------------------------------------
Class.
PKC's class to be exact.
My lifeline was tucked safely away in my jeans and I thought of it everytime someone taunted me.
Thief.
Chor.
Thief.
Chor.
The words rained on my ears like a torrent.
An endless cresendo of anger that hurt my ears.
It had never been like this.
Me walking with my eyes trained to the ground.
I'd always walked with my nose turned up at everything.
And now, I was being mocked at.
Full circle.
"Characterless!"
I knew that voice.
I knew it by heart.
My heart which broke into sad, bitter pieces.
Like it always did.
---------------------------
Class was a painful blur.
PKC had been in a a foul mood since he had entered the class.
No thanks to the great artist who had taken the pains to draw a beautiful portrait of PKC on the board. There was a speech bubble next to the figure "Prem Naam Hai Mera. PREEEM KUMAAAR CHAUUUDHAAARY!!!"
I managed to fake a giggle.
This artist was talented.
But then, he had also made PKC yell like crazy. My ears hurt more than ever. All that crying had resulted into me getting a massive headache.
Thanks to which, I had a valid excuse for not being attentive.
And that reason had nothing to do with someone glaring at me.
Not at all.
----------------------------------
Finally, the interminable lecture was over.
And so was my patience.
All I really wanted was to cry out into my pillow, drink something hot and cuddle with my blanket.
All three were out of the question.
I had to go to work.
Work.
Teaching some first years as an assistant in the lab.
I hated it.
They would ogle and mutter stuff about me behind my back.
And I'd come to learn that people muttering about you behind your back? Not a GOOD thing. At all.
I usually yelled at them and told them to mind their tongues.
Today? I felt that I would collapse to the floor.
"She stole...did you hear? I've heard that she did it to buy dugs" One of the juniors whispered.
Drugs?
"Nahi re...I heard she is poor. She did it to buy all those clothes"
"Pagal hai kya? She must have had one of those surgeries! Like those supermodels."
Drugs. Clothes. Surgery.
This was getting beyond ridiculous!
Despite my best intentions, I snapped.
"For your kind information, what I stole the money for is none of your business. The practical examiner will not ask you how I spent that money. Pass hona hai toh chup chap gloves pehenlo aur machines saaf karo." I gave the idiots a glare and they gulped.
Good. Be scared of the witch.
An hour into the lab work, there was a knock on the door. I was too busy tightening the screw to look up
"Come in." I muttered.
It had to be another one of those stupid juniors.
The new entry walked into the room, footsteps echoing.
I felt a presence behind me.
I swear if this junior thinks it's okay to grab me...
I turned around swiftly, intending to tell the creep that it was NOT okay to sneak up on a girl. Especially me.
He glared at me furiously. His eyes held the one emotion I was afraid of.
Rage.
"You are dismissed for today. " Parth's tone chilled me to the bone.
"Who are you to dismiss us?" the oversmart green tshirt clad junior (whose name I forgot) asked, raising a cocky eyebrow.
"I'm Parth Kashyup. I'll be helping you fools learn something. Now scram." He gave the juniors another glare.
"Chalo niklo..." I added, not wanting them to think I was not in control of this.
I picked up my bag from under the table and turned to leave.
And then, I was trapped between the table and an extremely furious Parth.
His hands shoved me into the table, caging me in.
"Wh..at the hell?"
It came out squeaky.
Heat was spreading over my body.
Red hot flashes overtook me as his harsh breaths fanned my face.
There was a horrible, horrible fluttering sensation in the depths of my belly.
"Well played Vidushi...Well played."
It was the dead tone of his that did it. That look in his eyes.
Disbelief.
"Wh..what well played?" I blinked nervously.
He couldn't have found out right?
His nose was touching mine.
I could almost feel his lips on mine.
Almost.
And then he pulled away.
"You got what you needed. You have ruined Sanyukta and Randhir's friendship. Do you want a standing ovation? Flowers? Chocolates? What do you want Vidushi!!" He yelled into my face.
"I know it was you. No one else can be cheap enough to pin that card on the notice board. You will pay for all this. Maybe not now. But you will pay for this." his hand brushed against the wall. He punched the wall hard and I couldn't help but flinch.
It was because of me.
It was because of me that everyone was hurting so much!
He walked away.
My knees refused to support me anymore.
I was on the floor. Sobbing.
Sobbing like someone had died.
That someone was me.
He said I'll pay.
But I am paying.
With my mom. My family. My dreams. My love.
My everything.
It's all gone.
And I have nothing left to lose.
______________________-
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But that would mean so much to me to know that this is being read and liked.
REVIEW if you love Randhir (Had to use blackmail!)😆
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