SS: Some Nights are Blue DISCONTINUED - Page 5

"Let's be strangers again", she'd said and he had readily agreed but gaze turned to her every five minutes in math class. Curious, worried, sympathetic, even loving,...no, loving was a stretch. He inspected her head to toe for any new distress, fresh wounds that were still open and in sight.

Nothing. Black turtleneck with a priest's collar, high waist trousers doubled up with knee high coal boot, dark like a widow in mourning. She was pin stitched from neck down. A black eye was faintly visible underneath layers of foundation. A deep plum lipstick subduing the bloody lips she was sporting yesterday. The opaque new leggings bought presumably with his money did not go unnoticed.

When her eyes met his, an unconscious smile greeted her shy features. She frowned and turned away.

"You don't know me", he'd told her. And he had to keep his word. Plus, she wasn't the only one with problems. He had worries in his life too. In a month, he would be graduating and heading off to college. His father had hatched a seamless plan of lugging on a wealthy heiress on his tail as his "fiancee" unless he managed to conjure up a girlfriend who was less of a burden than a business woman only by his side for the stock share.

He'd already scratched out most girls in the school- some too arrogant even by his standards, others not enough, many still lacking in the skill set he was looking for. The ideal scenario would be a woman who wasn't business minded, who play into his hands, and let him quietly inherit the fortune he so rightfully deserved. The only problem was- any woman with money wouldn't be with a man like him unless she had her own issues to sort out, and any woman without money would leave him the first chance she got, taking half of everything.

But the answer hit him like a bullet between Chemistry and Economics when he casually walked in on her sulking in the men's room.

"What in the name of...?"

The usually sanitary facility stung with the pungent scent of urine. Red blood and toilet paper scattered everywhere, the place looked like a crime scene straight out of crime thrillers. Madhubala was holding a passport in one hand, paper towels in the other trying to wipe off white fluid dripping down her thighs. Her skirt was in shreds, and it seemed so was her self-esteem. In one of the weakest moments he'd seem of a human being, he witnessed her drop to her knees and beg him to save her. She clung on to his leg and cried her heart out, "they will take me to the gulf. I don't...please save me. Please".

He tied his blazer around her hips and discreetly took her back to his house.

"How much?" he asked after he had her dressed and medicated.

"Eh?"
"How much are they selling you for?"

With quivering lips, she struggled to form words.

"Whatever it is, I'll buy you".

She gave him a haunting stare that would resonate in their minds for years to come.

"I meant buy you out".

Tried as he did to explain his slip of tongue, he'd cast the first stone in the death of her being. With his four words, he'd bought her existence.

*************

Within the hour, Rishabh's men did a deal with devil. A promise of no contact from Jenka, and the transaction was complete. Madhubala was paid for.

He'd informed her of his plans to move to the US after graduation. For the month coming, she would be his girlfriend. Following this, he would introduce her to his family as his fiancee. She was set for life as long as she signed off on papers that transfer her gifted shares to him.

"My grandmother has big control in the company. You just make sure whatever money she gives you comes back to me and I will take care of you. If you betray me it at any point, I..."

"I won't. I am breathing because of you. I wouldn't dream of it".

"Good".