Chapter 30
Two days later :
Abhay dawdled back in the library after college got over, watching Miss Gupta put away the books back in their shelves and then turn to pick up her handbag.
She turned to look at him. 'Well? You've been staring at me the past ten minutes. Something to say?'
'I-uh... I'm sorry we disturbed the library peace today.'
Her lips twitched as though she was holding back a smile. 'No worries. It was rather entertaining watching you two fight over Holmes and Hercule.'
Abhay frowned. 'Well, I was right, wasn't I?'
Dishu shrugged. 'I don't know. I prefer Miss Marple, myself.'
She took another sharp look at him and said, 'What else?'
Abhay cut across to the point. 'I-uh... Just wanted to ask if you could tell me if Alina Khurana was all right?'
A slight wariness came into her suddenly blank expression. 'Why?' she asked, her tone cool. 'Ask her family.'
'We aren't on very good terms,as you know,' he admitted.
'Well, she's living with me,' said Dishu. 'She's been a bit weak, but she is almost back to normal.'
'Can I visit her?'
Dishu's eyes widened in surprise, then she said, 'Sure. You can come over..give me a lift on the way...'
'Thank you,' said Abhay politely, accompanying her out. He had wondered for ages if Alina had been all right...he felt he had been wrong in sizing her up. She wasn't really what she seemed. She had saved his life, after all.
Alina sat up in bed as she heard the key turning in the lock, and then Dishu came in. 'Oh hi,' she said happily. 'How was it? Did they-?'
'You have a visitor,' said Dishu, cutting across her.
Alina groaned. 'If it's him again...'
'No, it's someone else.' She ushered Abhay into the room.
'I'll leave you guys alone then?' said Dishu.
'Yeah, thanks,' said Abhay.
Dishu left.
'Hello,vampire,' said Alina cheerfully. 'How come you show your very handsome face here?'
Inspite of himself, Abhay felt his mouth twitch. 'Well, someone did save my life... I came to see her.'
She made a face. 'Ah, of course..and here I thought you had somehow fallen head over heels for me.'
'You never change, do you?' he asked. 'You love to set me on edge-'
'I can't help it, it's just your personality,' said Alina, snickering.
'And you...control your brother, for God's sake. I do not want to see him everyday-'
'He comes to visit you? Sid?' said Abhay sceptically.
'Yeah,' said Alina. 'I swear, if he tries to charm me one more time-'
'He tried to flirt with you?'
'Oh, yes,' snorted Alina. 'Probably thinks I'm like that girl before him, Piya's sister...'
'Panchi.'
'Yeah, her.'
'How does he know that you were-'
'Oh, because he brought me here.' She felt suddenly hot.
'Are you blushing?' he said in surprise.
'No!' she said indignantly.
'Oh, damn.' she heard him mutter. 'Uh... I guess I should be leaving now...see you soon.'
'No, wait,' said Alina.
'How have things been with Piya?'
Abhay stared at her.
'Please, come on, I've been so bored,' she pleaded. 'Please, please please please...'
'Nothing much,' he mumbled. 'We actually got into a pretty big argument today, but I didn't mind this...'
'Yeah, I thought so...' said Alina, smirking. 'Missed fighting with her, didn't you?'
Abhay put on his shades.
"When will you stop being so interfering?"
She smirked, getting the answer.
Alina smiled widely. 'Thank God.'
'Right.' Abhay cleared his throat. 'I... I'm sorry about your mom...'
Alina shrugged. 'I'm happier here. Well, thanks for coming...'
'Yeah,' said Abhay, getting up.
'I should leave.'
'Yeah, must be..what, breakfast time?' said Alina, looking out at the darkening evening.
'Sure. Happy hunting.'
Shaking his head, Abhay left.
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Sid clenched his fists. He didn't know what was happening to him. He had got sunburn today. Was he turning back into a vampire?
It would explain the continuous thirst that raged in his throat. There had been a moment that day, when he had wanted to bite Piya..feel the blood in his mouth...and it had taken all his self control to calm down.
What worried him more was how close he had come to biting Alina. His fangs hadn't appeared, but they could anytime soon...
If only he could talk to someone...anyone...who would help him... His family obviously wanted nothing to do with him.
Fleetingly, he imagined telling Alina. How would she react? 'I'm sorry, I was a vampire, but then I was killed, then brought back, and I was a human, but I'm turning into a vampire again and I really want to bite you, so please stay a bit farther away from me.'
He bit back a snort. Yeah, right. She would probably raise one eyebrow and say, 'Thank you, Sir. Here are the files you asked me for.'
He'd never been tongue tied around any girl. But with her... She was so cool he hadn't even been able to ask her out. And he shouldn't too. God, what was wrong with him...? He needed to control his feelings. He had a mission to complete.
Sid acknowledged to himself that he missed her. He had told her to take days off, but Alina's temporary replacement was nothing like her, with her simpering smiles and batting her eyelashes, but completely empty in the head. He had more than one found himself longing to hear her dry retorts to him, and the once-in-a-blue-moon slight twitch of her lips...and so, he had taken to visiting her everyday at her friend's home, who made it quite clear that while at certain times she considered him a bit of a joke, she disapproved of him quite a lot. And Alina was obviously irritated to see him. He scowled.
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Piya was surprised and pleased to see Alina had joined office the next day. 'Sir said you were ill, and you might take a week off,' she said, smiling at the older woman.
Alina shook her head, a familiar expression of frustration on her face. 'You don't know, Piya... I have a a mountain of work right now...'
Later, once she settled down, she started being much more talkative.
'So,' she said conversationally, though after performing a quick spell to ward off any eavesdroppers, 'I heard you had quite the debate in the library yesterday.'
Piya rolled her eyes. 'Yes, well, we had differences of opinion. Who told you?'
Alina grinned. 'Taking baby steps forward, aren't we?'
Piya frowned at her. 'It's not taking steps forward. It's just... I like being able to argue with Abhay, he's obviously intelligent, and he brings a different view altogether... I can't do that much with anyone, going into details of whether Holmes was the better detective or Poirot was, or if Shakespeare was a misogynist who hated women, or if Lord of the Rings is better than Harry Potter, or if purple is better than black... It feels so...liberating...'
Alina listened, with a smile on her face. 'But you used to shy away from talking to Abhay. What's changed?'
'I don't know,' said Piya, sounding unsure. 'Well, yeah... Abhay's being nice, and well...friendly, and so I thought, why not enjoy it while it lasts? Who knows when he might decide he's had enough of me...'
'Quite a ray of sunshine, you are,' commented Alina dryly.
Then she said abruptly, 'You miss the past.'
Piya coloured, and kept her eyes on the computer screen. 'Of course I do,' she muttered. 'It was almost easier then.'
'Who do you miss more?' asked Alina. 'Siddharth or Abhayendra?'
'Abhayendra,' answered Piya at once. 'He's..barely there any more. Siddharth is still almost the same, isn't he? Selfish..insecure...jealous... Yet, an ability to charm a slug if he wanted to.'
'You miss being friends with them,' concluded Alina, nodding. 'I thought as much.'
'What are you-' began Piya.
'How would you like to be Piyali again?' said Alina, watching her intently.
'How- I-what?' stammered Piya. 'You're sending me backwards in time again? Didn't I do enough damage the first time?'
'Not backwards in time, no,' said Alina. 'But...you remember... We need to pull Sid away from Maithali...'
Piya's brows furrowed. 'So?'
'So,' said Alina, 'I want you to start meeting him again. As Piyali. With the veil and the costumes. Get him to leave her, and get him to go against her.'
Piya stared at her. 'Alina, but...what makes you think he'd listen to me?'
'Because he cared for you,' said Alina. 'He had the choice to kill you when he was turned. A vampire's thirst is at its peak then. But he let you go... That counts for a lot. '
'Abhay let me go,' said Piya uncertainly.
'Abhay was better at controlling his thirst than him,' said Alina patiently. 'Control varies from vampire to vampire, you know. Like your Haseena aunty has to fight for control, unlike her mate, Chand Raichand.'
'And besides,' she added, 'He did attack you.'
'But-' said Piya. 'He only pushed me.'
'Defend him, but keep in mind that the only human whose blood Abhay has ever longed for was yours.'
Piya felt a thrill of fear lash across her...but was it simply fear or something else?
'Like I said, Abhay has exemplary control. Sid does not. Yet he let you go, without a scratch.'
'I suppose...' said Piya slowly.
'Well, think about it,' said Alina. 'If he cared for you then-even after turning- there is a high chance he still might.'
'And what if he just bites me?' said Piya apprehensively.
Alina went quiet at that, biting her lower lip as she always did when she was worrying over something.
'We'll work out something,' she said finally. 'I won't let you get hurt. Obviously.
Piya swallowed. 'All right. I trust you.'
Alina smiled, but her eyes didn't seem to reflect it.
'Uh...so...' began Piya cautiously, 'I know this is..kind of a sensitive topic, but...'
Alina raised her eyebrows.
'Well, I was trying to talk to Jeh about you, since Sid told me you were sick, and that's why you weren't coming to office...'
Alina stiffened. 'What did he tell you?' she said, keeping her voice neutral.
'He-he said that you walked out of the house,' said Piya nervously. 'I don't understand...'
Alina felt a searing anger course through her veins. 'So that's what they're telling everyone, is it?' she muttered.
Then turning to Piya, she said coldly, 'Well, that's a slight misrepresentation of the truth. I was actually sort of kicked out of the house after I stopped my mom from getting Abhay killed-'
Piya recoiled at the ice in her voice. Alina's eyes were focused on her screen, but they were quite blank, and her hand was fisted around her mouse.
Alina had been kicked out? She had been trying to save Abhay?
'Abhay-what?' she blurted out, in spite of herself.
'Mom tried to get him killed, I tried to save him,' said Alina tersely. 'He still got hurt though- you know about that, don't you?'
A sudden flash of Abhay's bloody side flew through Piya's mind.
She opened her mouth to say something to Alina, comfort her, or thank her- but Alina snapped at her, her eyes flashing icy fire. "Stay away from things that don't concern you, Piya, you'll fare better that way."
Piya stared at Alina in shock.
Alina merely turned to her screen and focused on her work.
She shook her head, going back to her own work. When Alina's time was up, she silently walked out the door without giving Piya so much as a backward glance.
Piya did not go after her. Suddenly, she was angry. She was sick, sick of being treated like a plaything- sick of people telling her what to do , sick of every single person trying to run her bloody life and then walking out on her when she tried to find out a single goddamned thing about them.
She walked out of office cursing everyone under her breath, so much so that she almost collided with Abhay, who was waiting for her.
'Whoa, whoa,' he said, steadying her by the simple act of touching her shoulders, yet, as usual, setting all her nerve endings on fire. Her anger increased.
'Such a foul mouth, Piya,' he said, teasing her gently. 'Sure you don't need to wash it out?'
She stepped backwards and glared up at him. 'You shut up. I've had enough with the likes of you.'
There was a silence. Abhay's eyes narrowed.
'The likes of you,' he repeated, making air quotes with his hand. 'What do you know about the likes of myself?'
'Exactly!' she raged at him. 'You- the whole lot of you domineering people trying to run my life- I know absolutely nothing about you! Oh, sure, Piya's an easy target, manipulate her to do this and do that, of course she'll do it, but she mustn't know a thing, not one!'
Abhay stared at her, stunned.
'Are you done?' he said.
'No!' she snarled. 'The whole lot of you can and rot in hell, see if I care! I hate you. And I bloody well hate her!'
She tried to move past him, but he caught her arm and swung her to face him.
'For heaven's sake, stop creating-' he began, but stopped midway as a fist crashed into his face.
He staggered backwards in shock. Piya herself looked dumbstruck at her own audacity.
Abhay stared at her. Her eyes sparked daggers at him, while her mouth was pursed up in an angry line. He could not believe it of her, though he probably deserved it.
She was shaking in fury, her chest heaving as she took deep breaths in an unsuccessful attempt to calm down.
'Don't look at me like that,' she snapped.
'There's no need to get physical with me,' said Abhay . Now that he had gotten over the shock, he had to hide his amusement.
Piya's mouth fell open in shock. She furiously started to reply.
'In the car, please, yell at me in the car, or we'll have a huge audience here,' murmured Abhay, opening the car door for her.
Piya blushed as she realised a few passersby had indeed stopped to watch. She suddenly felt very childish and ashamed of herself.
Without another word, she got in.
Silence prevailed between them as the car smoothly travelled the road towards her hostel.
Piya cleared her throat. 'Uh... I wanted to say...what I wanted to say is... I didn't mean to...you know...'
'Bad day?' he enquired sympathetically.
'You could say that,' she said gloomily.
'So who got you all worked up?' he asked.
Piya sighed. 'Alina.'
Abhay glanced at her, brows raised. 'Alina?'
'I know it was a personal subject,' muttered Piya, more to herself than to Abhay, 'But she could have been nice about it. I thought we were friends. She didn't have to go all cold and haughty.'
'So why are you mad at me?' said Abhay.
Piya scowled. 'Because you're just like her. All closed up and secretive, and neither of you wants me to ask a single thing, which is of course none of my business, but of course whatever I do is yours!'
Abhay exhaled. 'Look, Piya- you have to respect that some people don't like to talk about their personal matters. Alina probably didn't mean it- more likely, she was being aloof so you wouldn't ask any further questions.'
'She could have told me,' said Piya. 'She could have told me-politely- to stay out of it.'
'Yes, because that worked so well on you when I did it,' muttered Abhay.
'Well, I simply don't get it,' said Piya. 'How is it that she can ask me for details on everything in my life, and boss me around to do this and that, but when it comes to her-!'
Abhay smiled slightly. 'Alina is a bit overbearing, I admit... I guess some people are bossy. You have to learn not to take offense.'
'Go and date her then, if you two understand each other so well,' she spat.
Abhay didn't reply, he simply slowed down and braked. 'You've reached,' he said.
He got down and opened the door for her. 'Thanks for the lift,' she said grudgingly.
'No problem,' said Abhay. 'And, Piya?'
'Yeah?'
'Alina's not my type.'
She frowned and began to walk away, then she heard his voice.
'Piya?'
She stopped, turning to him.
'Better?' he said quietly. Piya felt herself smiling suddenly, for no apparent reason. He'd let her yell at him,punch him and throw tantrums, without insulting her back even once. She must have tested his patience sorely, yet he had never let his irritation show. She thought she might just have fallen a little bit more for him.
'Yeah,' she said. And because she was sure she looked like a monkey, she turned and walked back to her room, feeling much lighter.
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'You are sure they are not together?' asked Maithali, feeling the thrill of victory rush through her. Abhayendra was hers...all hers...
Sid smirked. 'Wanna bet?'
'And he has made no move to give her back his memories?' she asked, running a finger across his cheek, feeling a satisfaction of an entirely different kind as Siddharth's eyes dilated.
'Of course not,' he laughed. 'Did you expect him to?'
Maithali laughed, her laughter echoing around the walls of the cave.
'He doesn't love her. He cannot. If he did, he would have claimed her by now.'
'Of course he doesn't,' said Siddharth, sounding impatient. 'He has never loved her...or indeed, anyone...'
Maithali smiled, as the plan she had been formulating seemed almost poised to succeed. She could practically taste the sweetness. 'But of course. He would never get her out of the way...my foolish, noble, Abhayendra,' she said, smiling.
Sid's smirk widened. 'Well said indeed, Princess. Well said indeed.'
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The moonlight fell on Piya's face as she lay sleeping in her room, quite unaware to the figure that leapt into her room from the open window.
A hand moved over her forehead, causing Piya to jerk awake at the touch.
'What-'
Her hand flew to the switch of the bedside lamp.
'Abhay?' she said in shock. 'What-'
'Oh, Piya,' he whispered. 'I love you.'
Piya goggled at him. 'No, you are not having a dream, my love,' he whispered. 'I love you. I have always loved you...always.'
Tears began to form in Piya's eyes. 'Abhay,' she said softly, 'Are you...are you quite sure?'
'I have never been surer of anything else,' he said, his voice low. 'I am yours...for ever...and beyond...'
'I love you,' said Piya, crying freely now. 'I have always loved you- I thought you didn't want me-'
'Shh,' he said, wiping away her tears with one finger.
Then he got up from the bed and held out a hand to her. She took it uncertainly.
'I want to take you somewhere,' he said, clasping her fingers in his. 'Somewhere more...appropriate. Will you come with me?'
Piya smiled, nodding. 'I would walk to the ends of the earth with you,' she said, getting up as well.
The two figures walked together, outside the hostel.
He led her into the forest.
'Abhay?' she began.
'Hush, love,' he murmured. 'Why don't you wait?'
Piya nodded. He left her hand to take the lead then, walking just ahead of her, yet turning back every ten seconds to check if she was still behind him.
On and on, they walked, until Abhay finally stopped in a clearing. Piya blinked, as her eyes adjusted to the now-bright moonlight, after the darkness of the trees. The roar of running water hit her ears.
They were standing near the edge of a cliff. Piya went closer to the edge, watching in fascination as a waterfall roared beneath her. Her awestruck eyes took in the grandeur of the cascade, as it fell into a small lake about seventy feet below.
'Do you like it?' came Abhay voice.
'I love it,' whispered Piya. 'It's so beautiful. I had no idea...'
'Why don't you take a closer look...sweetheart?'
Something cold in his tone caused Piya to turn around to look at him. He was standing at an arm's distance from her, but the atmosphere might well have dropped twenty degrees : Piya felt a bucket of ice settling in her stomach. Abhay was looking at her, but his eyes and his smile...they were not loving. They were filled with contempt and disgust...hatred.
She took a step back. She had never felt this strange fear, that possessed her senses and made her numb. She stared at Abhay.
He smiled wickedly, exposing his fangs.
'I lied, Piya Jaiswal.'
Somewhere in her mind she noted his use of her old surname.
'I hate you. You are nothing to me- nothing, except the scum ,worthy of a gutter. Nothing!'
Her gripped her chin hard, forcing her to look up at him. Then he laughed. 'Terror. You are so afraid of me... Oh, how long have I waited for this...'
'Let me go,' said Piya softly. 'Or will you kill me now?'
He laughed again, a cold, cruel sound. Then he let go of her.
'Of course.'
Then he stretched out a hand...
and pushed her clean off the edge.
She twisted midair, trying to find something...anything...to hold on to. She would not die. Not like this.
Her torso grazed something hard and solid, and she threw her arms around it as she fell.
It was a rock, jutting out. The waterfall roared not two feet away from her, drenching her with the spray.
Then she heard his voice,cool and victorious. He probably thought she was now dead or dying- not very far from the truth, thought Piya, since she couldn't swim at all.
'Die well, human,' she heard him sneer.
'Die well, knowing that it was I- the man you loved- who sent you to your death.'
By the time Piya mustured enough courage to gaze upward, Abhay was no longer there.
The rock was slippery, and she felt her grip decrease, bit by bit, until she was hanging only by one hand.
All she could think of was Abhay, and his horrible smile as she pushed her.
No. Abhay could not have done it. He had to have been possessed or something. Abhay would never call her human...he could not kill her. He could not. She had to talk to someone...
She had to get up. She tried to hold onto the rock and tried to climb up, but her fingers slipped...and she fell...
It was a strange, weightless sensation, she thought...till she hit the water.
She closed her mouth at once and stopped breathing through her nose. She could not die, she could not leave Misha...what would her family think, losing another member? Alina... Reina...what about Sid, who she had to help? And Abhay...she had to see him...one last time...she had to tell him...
She was going down...the water was not so bad, really...soft...comfortable...she could go to sleep...
Betraying her self control, her mouth opened on instinct to take in air..and water filled her lungs.
She felt the arms of Death were closing in on her. The last person she thought of was him.
Edited by bookworm-ALS-- - 12 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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