ARSHI FF ~THE GREEK GOD~ Chap 62 - Page 66

Sorry-sorry-sorry guys! Screwed up internet connection at my place! I'm so sorry! Here's the next update. Hope you'll enjoy ;)

~ CHAPTER FIFTY ~

Cabir's and Mukti's unwanted appearance seemed to freeze time in its tracks. Arnav had so badly wished that they wouldn't turn up sooner. Not now. Not when all this waterworks was going on!

Much to Arnav's dismay, Khushi's tear drenched face was the centre of attraction and he feared the doubts and questions that would follow. One question would lead to the other until the answer finally came out. And knowing Cabir, it wouldn't be long before it happened. And... if Khushi ever spilled out the truth... about what happened in the stairwell... he could probably kiss his ass goodbye!

There was an amused twinkle in Cabir's eyes and a burning curiosity on Mukti's face that made Arnav sting from head to toe with intense anxiety. In spite of the sweltering heat that overwhelmed him, he could feel a confusing swoop of air skim over his skin and give him the creeps.

"Arre!" exclaimed Mukti as she quickly got beside Khushi. "What happened to you? Why are you so sad?"

"Nothing," she mumbled in reply.

"Nothing? Then why are you crying? Come on! Out with it!"

"Nothing..." replied Khushi in a low quaky voice. "Really... it's nothing..."

Mukti could figure out that Khushi was too distressed to talk about it so she turned her attention to Arnav. "Arnav! What's going on? You were here all this while, na? What happened to her? Why is she so upset?"

"Upset?" Arnav's lip was quivering now and unnoticed by him, Cabir continued to watch him closely. "Who's upset? She's upset? Nah... she's not upset. Are you upset?"

"Arnav!" snapped Mukti. "You were here only, right? So what happened? You might have noticed something."

"Arre! Nnn-Nothing! I told you," he stammered and flinched as he noticed Khushi glaring up at him. She had that look on her face which screamed LIAR!

"Erm... was just... showing these toffees to her... She likes it... so..." The effort to contain his anxiety was herculean and he hardly rested his flickering eyes on any them for more than a second.

"What?" Mukti raised her eyebrows in disbelief. She knew that Arnav was hiding something. "Come on Arnav. Why would she cry over that? I mean... who in their right mind would?"

Arnav's face was red and glistening with a burning hot sheet of perspiration. "Yeah," he replied nervously, "exactly what I'm saying. Who in their right mind would?" Shit, thought Arnav desperately, I'm so screwed. Why is this female asking so many questions? To hint Cabir about something? If I could I would fire her this instant!

Cabir was doing a fantastic job of covering up the broad grin that threatened to spread across his face. He was simply loving the tough situation Arnav was in - uncomfortable. Helpless. Clueless. Powerless... to name a few. He could see that he so badly wanted to break free of his chains and make a mad dash to safe haven.

"Actually Mukti," began Cabir. "She's not crying. She's happy. Incredibly happy. Those are tears of joy. Can't you see that? Are you blind? Don't ask so many silly questions and worry him. First of all, he's very stressed."

Mukti sighed deeply. She knew that Khushi was really upset about something and hence wasn't ready to accept Cabir's explanation.

"Khushi..." said Cabir with concern as he closed in on the girls with a hand cradled on his hip. "If you really liked toffees so much you could have told me, right? I would have got you an entire bag!"

Arnav's horrified eyes bounced from Cabir to Khushi to Mukti. She nodded her head and mumbled something as Cabir drew closer. Shit. This guy will get the entire thing out of her, thought Arnav desperately. Have to distract him. "Umm... that's okay Cabir," said Arnav urgently. "She's happy with this for the time being. Right Khushi?"

Khushi shot her teary eyes up at Arnav once again to which he swallowed the huge lump that had lodged itself in his throat.

"I guess she is," replied Cabir thoughtfully. "She is happy indeed. Very happy." He had a crinkled smile on his face when he said this. The words he uttered seemed to be coated with irony. Having noticed Arnav's alarmed expression, he immediately covered it up. "What?" asked Cabir, "She is happy, right?" Arnav simply looked away at this.

"So tell me girl," Mukti decided to push aside this topic and switch to a more jovial atmosphere. "How are you feeling now?" she asked with a playful but gentle slap to Khushi's arm.

"Hmm..." Khushi forced a smile whilst she kept her eyes down and dabbed at her wet cheeks with the hanky Arnav had given before.

"Come on!" tsk-tsked Mukti. "Cheer up! Don't be upset. It's not good for you. Alright?"

"Right!" chirped in Cabir. "Doctor said so. No tears. Only cheers. So Arnav will be here in the evening to play clown."

At this, Arnav ogled at Cabir. Play clown? "What?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah!" said Cabir with expressive eyes. "Clown. Never seen one? Rosy red lips... colourful rainbow hair and big cherry-red nose? I've even got a costume ready."

"I think it'd suit you better," snapped Arnav.

Mukti chortled at this. Khushi however, remained the same. The source and reason of her sadness was much deeper and grave. It won't be that easy to come out of it.

"Anyways," continued Cabir, "we'll pop up in the evening. Till then you girls have fun." Saying this, the boys made their way out of the hospital and into the car. In a while, they were on the streets headed to Arnav's home. The journey was pretty uneventful with a casual conversation and soothing music played on the speakers.

Pretty soon, Arnav alighted at his place and waved adieu at Cabir. "Don't forget what I told you before," said Arnav. "About Dhruv... push that guy and get him to finish up the pending work on the system."

"No worries bro," replied Cabir with a thumbs up. "Ciao! I'll pick you up in the evening."

Saying this Cabir drove off and Arnav headed back to his lonely apartment. The room had been shut for longer than usual and smelt mouldy as he entered so he opened up the windows to let in some fresh air. He was dead tired and really shaken from his ordeal which had started last morning. Though it was just a day, it seemed like an entire year had passed by.

He desperately needed a good nap on his comfy bed so he popped into the shower and stood bare with his eyes closed whilst savouring the refreshing tingle of the cool water on his skin. He sighed deeply and skimmed his hand over the grooves of his rugged body. It was so comforting that he wished to stand under that shower forever! Comforting until... he ran his hand over his belly.

A sharp, stabbing pain shot from the surface of his abdomen to the underlying muscles. He hissed and cringed in pain. "What the f**k!" His eyes were wide open now as he gawked at the place from where he felt the pain. The water blurred out his vision so he immediately shut down the tap to get a better look.

"What the bloody hell..." he groaned as he noticed the purplish bruise on his abs. What is this shit? How the hell did this happen? And when? And then he remembered... Cabir's nasty punch last evening.

"Shit!" He was fuming now. "Shit! Shit! Dammit!" Why's that I took it? I didn't fight back? What the hell! Why? "Cabir... I'm seriously going to kill you. Just wait and watch."

Because you knew that you were wrong... the other voice in his head told him. And that he was right... You never wanted to hurt her but eventually you did.

Arnav pursed his lips, stepped out of the shower and wrapped a thick towel around his waist. Enough of this for now... he thought as he dried himself up and pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of tracks. This was probably the worst day of my life. I need a break now. Let it all out.

You've dug your own grave, said the voice, now what are you going to do about it?

Ignoring the voice, he sunk into the bed and before he knew it... he was fast asleep.

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~ CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE ~

The doorbell knocked Arnav out of his deep slumber with a start. He was so confused about everything that it took a while for his sleepy brains to kick start itself and reload all the previous day's incidents. He sat up on his bed with a deep groan and checked out the time. 11:15 AM. I thought I heard the doorbell. Or was I dreaming?

Like an answer to his question, the doorbell rang once again. I wonder who it is now, he thought to himself and shot to his feet like he always did but doubled over as he realized how much he was hurting in and out. He was still dead tired that his muscles were screaming in protest.

The doorbell rang again... this time... in an irritating way. "Coming!" he yelled followed by a mumbled "Goddammit!" He was quite surprised to find Cabir at the door so early. "Cabir...?" he asked in surprise. "I thought we were going to meet this evening. It's still mid-day."

But Cabir had a deadly grim expression. The same which he had sported last evening when he met Arnav outside the hospital gates. There was no smile... no humour... no nothing. Just plain seriousness that would make one's spine tingle. "Just come out," he said in a low voice.

Arnav felt an uneasy clench in his guts. "Co... why? What happened?"

"I said come out," repeated Cabir firmly and moved away from the doorway.

Something's not right, thought Arnav as he obliged to Cabir and stepped out. "Okay," he started with a sigh and crossed his arms. "What is it?"

"What happened in the stairwell yesterday?" he asked.

Arnav was dumbstruck for a moment, his anxiety ever so obvious to Cabir. It looks like he knows something, thought Arnav in utter desperation, oh God... did she tell him? Please... But he managed to get a grip on himself before speaking up. "You popped up out of nowhere just to ask this?"

"Just answer my question," snapped Cabir. The guy looked possessed. Arnav could swear that he saw an evil red gleam in his colleague's eye. I must be imagining things... he thought to himself. People's eyes don't shine that way... or did I really see it? He was really confused now.

"Nothing," replied Arnav in a fed up tone. "Told you before."

"That you tried to scare her?" asked Cabir.

"Yes..." he replied with a sigh and leaned onto the wall. The attempts he put in to look bored was paying off. At least that's what he thought. "See look man..." said Arnav as he straightened up and began to head back to his apartment, "I still haven't had enough sleep. If you're done with your pointless interrogations we can me..."

But Cabir cut him off and made him stop in his tracks. "That's not what Khushi told us."

That's not what Khushi told us... those words felt like a vicious slap to his face. The words got stuck in his throat. "What..." he looked away, cleared his throat and looked up again at Cabir with great difficulty. "What did she tell you...?" he said as he attempted to look confident about his innocence.

"Everything." Cabir folded his arms and bored his sharp eagle eyes into Arnav's round stunned ones. The tons of pending sleep that tortured his muscles before seemed to have evaporated into thin air. Now he felt speechless. Breathless.

"What's wrong Arnav?" asked Cabir through pursed lips. "Would you like to tell me something?"

Arnav could feel his chest constricting. The need for air was growing increasingly desperate. No, he nodded.

"Are you sure?" prodded Cabir with his eyebrows raised in a sarcastic question. From the tone of his words, it was crystal clear that he knew everything. Every. Single. Thing. Now... there was no point in hiding anything. It was the end. Arnav's lips parted as he debated on what to tell him. He had no explanations. Nothing at all. But what happened next blocked his airways for good.

Cabir lunged brutally at his neck and slammed him to the wall, not caring whether it hurt him or not. "I always knew that you were an asshole Arnav," he growled through gritted teeth as he rolled up Arnav's collar into a fist. "But this... How could you... how could you stoop so low?"

"Cabir... listen..." he gasped.

"How could you try and assault a woman? Huh? How could you assault your colleague! Khushi!!!" His voice grew louder and echoed down the empty corridors. But surprisingly, this commotion attracted no attention at all. None of the neighbours stepped out of their apartments to check what was going on. The entire floor looked deserted. It almost seemed as if Cabir had planned all of this... and evacuated them... just so that he could beat him senseless to the ground.

"Buddy... let me explain..." wheezed Arnav. His breath seemed to squeeze itself out through a narrow straw. Cabir's vicious grip was clamped so tightly around Arnav's throat.

"Explain...?" There was intense fury and disgust in Cabir's eyes. "My fist... that's what will do all the explanations..."

WHUMP! Cabir blocked up the rest of Arnav's airways with a ruthless punch to his upper abdomen. But surprisingly, unlike last evening, it didn't hurt at all. The punch delivered last evening had the power to transform him into a satellite and send him hurtling around the solar system. And it hurt like hell. But how come it didn't even hurt one bit now?

Arnav was squirming on the ground already with a desperate need for air. He would have rather taken the punch than this bout of breathlessness. He wanted air. So badly. He wanted to breathe. It felt as though his lungs were and airways were wound up shut with a thick cable. "Cabir... please... help... stop... " his voice came out in whispered puffs of air.

"I was so wrong about giving you a second chance," spat Cabir with the least bit of concern. "I should have informed the boss about this. Which I'm going to do now."

"No... wait. Cabir... just... listen." Arnav was in a state of utter panic. He was sweating profusely as he sat up and leaned against the wall with his hand clutching at his chest.

"And then Khushi can file a lawsuit against you. Get your ass screwed for life." Saying this, Cabir spun around and hurried down the corridor which looked like a nightmare. It seemed like a gateway to hell.

"Cabir. Please listen to me. Please!" His desperate but voiceless cries just floated like mist in space.

"Minimum two years in prison," came Cabir's voice echoing down the corridor. He was now much farther away. "That's what's in store for you! For trying to assault her."

"Cabir!" Arnav gagged helplessly. But in spite of all his efforts, he remained unheard.

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