Part 2 :- Growing Feelings
"Hello Princess ! " , came a
husky whisper , and Piya didn't need to turn to know that Abhay had now
occupied the place beside her , on the bench , in the station. " I don't talk
to strangers. " , replied Piya , curtly.
" What ? " , surprise was
evident in Abhay's voice. " Just because I am delayed by a few minutes , that
too only today , you won't talk to me Princess. "
" Princess , is not my name " ,
snapped Piya , still looking away from him.
" Oh that . Everything about you
is so royal that ... "
This time Piya turned to his
side with a stern expression which stopped him mid-sentence.
" One month and fifteen days
have passed since we first met , yet you manage to repeat the same lame excuse
every alternate day.
What is so royal about me Abhay
? "
Abhay opened his mouth to say
something when Piya continued , " Exactly how many girls are there in your life
, that my four lettered name escapes your memory every time ? "
" There is nobody else that is
special. You don't trust me Piya. " , said Abhay , but Piya's anger did not
allow her to notice the hurt in his voice.
" Thanks Heaven ! Abhay Raichand
remembers my name. Shall I feel obliged ? "
Abhay tried to assess her mood.
What could have possibly happened that Piya was so pissed ?
And then realization dawned on
him and he asked , " What did he do now ? "
Piya went completely silent and
stared at Abhay with an unbelieving expression. He never failed to surprise
her. Since the evening they met , Abhay had always accompanied her on her way
back home. Although it was weird that at the stroke of 5:30 , he would appear
out of nowhere , yet Piya found his presence strangely comforting. He was
another reason now that made Piya wait for evenings.
Abhay used to listen to her
patiently , even cracked a joke or two but, always maintained an expressionless
facade , apart from his signature smirk and occasional grins. His beautiful
eyes were the only mirror to his emotions , and Piya loved it when they held
concern for her , just like now. She considered herself lucky to have found a
friend like Abhay.
" What are you Abhay ? " , asked
Piya in a softer tone , " How do you always know the correct reason behind
everything ? ".
" God ! Your questions scare me
sometimes Piya " , sighed Abhay in relief. " That was not actually difficult
you know. There is only one mistake of nature , called Jeh Khurana , that you
hate so dearly. That dog never gets tired of trying his luck with you. So , are
you going to tell me that what he did , now ? "
" I am scared I will be his
death someday " , said Piya , rolling her eyes , which earned her a chuckle
from Abhay.
" He sent me a marriage proposal
. I turned it down but Auntie thinks he
is a gentleman , just because he clearly mentioned that he is engaged to Ruhi
already , but loves only me. "
" That Khurana sent you a
marriage proposal ? " , asked Abhay in disbelief. " Did you not turn it down
already ? "
" What are you , deaf ? I
obviously told him and even Auntie that I am so not interested in him , but he
seems adamant to prove that he loves me , and all.
I so hate him Abhay. Ruhi
avoided me all day. " , said Piya gloomily.
" Had you not stopped me , he
would have been lying six feet under by now. " , hissed Abhay through clenched
teeth.
" That's because you would end
up in jail. I do not want to lose your company Abhay.
With Uncle and Auntie's failing
attempts to hide that I am more than just a liability to them , our friendship
is the only thing that is dear to me now. "
The last thing Piya wanted was
Abhay losing his temper. The guy had mercilessly beaten the crap out of two
guys of her locality , because they had called her a mirchi phataka . The boys didn't even dare to appear in front of
her ever again.
" Lets get going now. Its
already six o' clock " , said Piya , getting up.
Abhay got up and was walking
quietly with her , but she knew , he was deep in thoughts , probably , planning
a murder.
****************************************
Piya had never been the social
butterfly , so, she had never had a friend group. She was still in touch with
only one of her classmates since pre-primary, and that was Maya. Maya now lived in Delhi and had joined her
father's business.
After Maya , it was Ruhi that
cared for her and never let her feel alone. Though not as special as Abhay ,
but , Ruhi was a good friend , whom Piya didn't want to lose . Her phone
vibrated. It was a message from Ruhi , which read - " Come out. We need to
talk. "
Piya did not think twice before
sneaking out. Ruhi had ignored her all day , and Piya did not mind if she
wanted to talk now , at 11 PM , when the world was immersed in darkness.
She was waiting at her entrance
but there was no sign of Ruhi. Probably , she was still on her way. Piya
decided to wait till Ruhi arrived , when she heard something, something like a
... snarl ?
Slowly , she turned her head to
her left. The pale moon light and the lights at her entrance allowed her to see
something that was not pleasant at all.
Just about twenty steps ahead of
her , in the bushes leading to the jungle , stood a black wolf , a huge one ,
its golden eyes shining bright , as it glared and growled threateningly at
something.
With dilated pupils , and
adrenaline rushing through her veins , Piya followed the wolf's gaze to find a
man in black , in a fighting stance , glaring back at the wolf. She let out a
gasp as she noticed that the man was not just any man , but , someone whose eye
shone a radiating red , his face was contorted in a scary way , his teeth were
bared , and his canines extended.
God! He was a vampire. How could
it be possible ? These creatures really existed ?
Without warning a shriek
emanated from her throat , as the wolf and the vampire leapt towards each
other. The vampire managed to sink his fangs into a forelimb of the wolf ,
without himself getting hurt. The wolf howled in agony and wishked off into the
jungle , limping on its way , and to Piya's horror , the vampire now turned to
her.
Her fear changed into shock , as
she witnessed the vampire's radiating red eyes turn into an electric blue , his
fangs retraced , and his facial muscles relaxed to reveal the devilishly
handsome face of , Abhay Raichand.
Piya could not move from her
place . " No " , she whispered , " this can't be true " , as Abhay stood in
front of her in the blink of an eye. " You were not supposed to see this " , he
muttered , as a pained expression masked his face. " I can explain , Piya. Please just ... just
listen to me. "
" You are a vampire !? " , she
said . It was more of a question than a statement.
His silence hurt her more than
his words could have.
" Okay. I see it's the truth.
Were you a human , when we first
met ? "
" No " , he said , without
meeting her gaze.
" So , do you want my soul ?
Were you waiting for me to trust
you completely , so that , when you do take my soul away , the devil blesses
you with more power , Abhay ? "
Abhay looked at her in the eye
this time , and apart from hurt , anger was clearly visible in his eyes. Piya
could not help but think , that his eyes would probably turn that blinding red
again , and his fangs would sink into her neck , next.
" Piya don't. Please don't look
at me like that. I would never hurt you. Never " . He held her shoulders , as
he spoke , " I want your friendship and not your soul , Piya. Please don't
judge me like that just because I am not human like you. "
" Why Abhay ? Why did you never
tell me this ? " , demanded Piya , as the traitorous tears trickled down her
cheek. She hated the fact that she was feeling betrayed when she should
actually feel scared. Why did the tingles still rise beneath her skin where his
hands touched her ? How could she have been so foolish to trust him so much .
" Damn it , Piya. " , he cursed ,
as he wiped the tears away. " This is not something that you expect me to be
shouting out loud. I didn't want you to fear me. I didn't want to lose you. I
will never hurt you , Piya. Can we not be friends , still ? "
" Yeah like its going to remain
the same , and its so normal for Dracula and chicken to be best buddies. " ,
said Piya , dryly.
Abhay chuckled to himself. He
was so in love with...her sense of humour , ofcourse. " Yes , you definitely
are one hot chick , Piya , but you are mistaking me for a Dracula. A Dracula
feasts on raw meat , while a vampire craves blood. Its not that I am allergic
to human food , okay. Just a few drops of blood... "
"Yuck. I don't need to know that
."
All humour gone now , Abhay
asked her , seriously , " So , is this goodbye Piya ? "
" I don't know Abhay."
" Okay. Do remember , I will
always be there for you. No supernatural would ever hurt you , I promise you
that. And if you think we can remain friends , just call me once , but only
after 5:30 , okay " said Abhay , his voice lacking the usual strength.
Piya walked away from him into
the safety of her home. She read the new message from Ruhi that read - " Sorry
to disturb. Would talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight."
***************************************
Was a jerk of a boss not
depressing enough that Abhay had to be a vampire ? Why couldn't life be
anywhere close to normal for her ?
For three days , the excuse of a
fever and a headache saved Piya from moving out of home and facing the weird
men in her life. She didn't even move out into her garden to greet the
evenings. Now, Abhay in his vampire form , advancing towards her , was not the
best image haunting her mind.
On the fourth day , Jeh marched
into her home and insisted on taking her to his family doctor. Imagine the rage
that took over Piya's mind. Even if Piya was really sick , she wouldn't have
gone to Jeh's family doctor for sure. What did he mean to prove by suggesting
his family doctor ? That Piya was family ? Piya hated his guts and wanted to stab
him in the gut. So she had to go to office that day.
How annoying could someone actually get ? Piya
could date a ghost but not Jeh Khurana. Talking of a ghost , even if she had
been scared of him ,she had missed Abhay a lot , and now as her eyes fell on
the bench in the station , Piya wished him to be present.
You could not blame her , the
day was such that she could not help but remember him. She had wished Maya ,
and Ruhi , and surprisingly Ruhi had smiled back in response. Now, where was
Abhay? Oh ! yeah , Abhay would come only when she called him. How to call him
though ? Piya did not have his phone number or anything. She had not even seen
him using a phone ever.
" Abhay " , whispered Piya , as
she sat on the bench.
" Yes " , came a surprised , husky
voice and she found Abhay sitting just beside her.
Piya's hand flew to her heart ,
as she gasped instinctively , her breathing and heartbeat increasing widly.
" You. Bloody moron. Ghost.
Parasitic idiot " , and a lot other curse words flew out of Piya's mouth as she
tried to calm herself down. " Can you not make an appearance like normal people
, Raichand ? "
Abhay had his best smirk
plastered on his face , his eyes shining with humour , as he spoke ,
" Did you
call me to simply curse me right on my face , Piya ?"
" Urmm... Actually " , because I was missing you silly
,thought Piya , as she said , " Happy Friendship Day , Abhay . "
"What !? "
" Did I use Latin , or you don't
understand the meaning of friendship day ? " , asked Piya narrowing her eyes at
him , as she tried to understand the reason behind Abhay grinning like an
idiot.
" I do understand Piya. Thank
you for being my friend inspite of everything.
Wait. You deserve ... " , said Abhay
, as he fished into the inner pocket of
his jacket , and brought out something in a rectangular shape , " this ."
Piya's eyes shined brightly ,
and an angelic smile made way on her face , as she took the chocolate from him.
" How did you know that I like KitKat more than Cadbury ? And. Wait. How did
you know that I would continue our friendship ? "
" Well , for the last three
minutes you had been eyeing this bench with the look of a lost puppy. So I
figured it out , that you were missing me " , said Abhay , proudly
straightening his collar , which earned him a smack on the arm from Piya.
"And about your earlier querry ,
I know a lot about you. I even know that you turned down the only guy that had
gathered the guts to approach you in college , just because he proposed you
with a bunch of red roses . And you dislike red as much as you hate roses. "
" Stalker " , accused Piya , as
she basked her tongue in chocolate. " Since you know everything about me , tell
me about yourself . How long have you been a vampire ? "
" Don't know. Several centuries
have passed. " , shrugged Abhay .
" Really ? Where were you when
the river Amazon changed its course ? " .
" In Egypt. Why do you ask ? " ,
inquired Abhay .
Piya looked at him , wide eyed ,
when she found no humour in his eyes. " You are actually serious Abhay. I was
just teasing you. "
" How was I supposed to know
that , Piya ? "
" Okay . Exactly how old are you
? "
" I stopped ageing at twenty
four. And I belong to the Mayan civilization that is older than every
civilization you know of. Happy , Piya Dobriyal ? "
"You are not Adam. Are you ? "
" Obviously not Piya. I am not
the first man on Earth , but the first vampire , I certainly am. "
" No way. How did you turn into
a vampire after twenty four years of ageing ? "
" Because I was born with magic.
"
" You were a witch ? "
" Sorry to disappoint you Piya ,
but since I have always been a male , I was not a witch but a wiccan or wizard
. "
" Oh ! And then , what happened
? " , asked Piya becoming interested.
" Well , I never met my parents
, so magic was all I had. I taught myself every sort of spell , from levitation
, to healing and even chanellising the forces of nature. People were scared of
me. Everybody thought I was evil. They used to run away on seeing me.
One day , when I was fondling a cheetah that
was my only friend , I felt a searing pain running down my spine and then I
blacked out.
When I fluttered my eyes open ,
I felt drained . The people of the village had attacked me with a spear and
left me to die. I had lost all the blood in my body . Even my cheetah friend was
dying beside me. Probably they had attacked him too. So I used all magic I knew
and drank the cheetah's blood to provide myself some. All I could feel for the
next ten hours was pain. And then I changed. My wounds healed and I was
different and stronger than before.
I remember all the witches and
wiccans bowing before me. I was the first person to have surpassed death. Since
then I have been the King of all that is supernatural. Phew. Story over . " ,
finished Abhay .
" Wow ! You are brave Abhay. You
survived all alone and fought even death. " , said Piya with something like
admiration.
" See , that is why you are the
only girl that has ever attracted me. You are always interested in everything
weird. " , chuckled Abhay.
" Shall I be happy that the King
of Supernatural creatures is my friend ? " , asked Piya as she turned to him
once they reached her mansion.
" Why ? Yes . You should be
proud. " said Abhay , which made Piya laugh.
" Why do you always appear only
after 5:30 , Abhay ? "
" That now is another story.
Save it for some other day. And before you ask , let me tell you , that
vampires can't move around in sunlight , because daylight rings are only
present in fiction shows and movies. "
" Oh ! " , said Piya giggling.
And just as she moved to open the gate , her left sandal's heel broke and she
would have fallen had Abhay not saved her.
He held her by the waist. They
were close. Very close , their noses almost touching.The atmosphere around them
had changed. He looked at her as if he could see right through her soul. Piya
could see the grey freckles in Abhay's blue eyes. She could feel his cold
breath on her face. She could feel her cheeks heating up , as his gaze shifted
from her eyes to her lips. The world seemed to have freezed. She didn't know if
it was her imagination or Abhay had actually leaned towards her , when
something literally shook her and she was startled by a loud music followed by
Enrique's loud voice " Loving you was easy. Thought you'd never leave me. Yeah."
Even Abhay seemed horrified.
Piya immediately moved away from
Abhay as she realized it was her phone ringing , rather singing .
Abhay felt extremely irritated.
Whoever it was that had called Piya , definitely had a death wish. And what
about that stupid device known as a cell
phone ? He wanted to snatch the phone
from her hand and throw it against the wall. And what was the screen made up
of... a monkey , no ape , no gorilla , yeah gorilla glass. He wanted to smash
the gorilla glass until it broke into pieces.
" Urmm... It was Maya. My friend
" , said Piya awkwardly. She was not sure if she had really wanted to be
interrupted or not. " Bye Abhay. See you tomorrow " , said Piya looking
anywhere but him.
Abhay still stood there ,
watching Piya go , until he was interrupted by a voice.
" She called you Abhay. I m
assuming you to be Abhay Raichand. I thought you were a myth . " .
Abhay turned to face Piya's
cousin ,Prabal ,smirking at him as if teasing him .
" Wait until Piya knows the
truth , Prabal Dobriyal. " , said Abhay in a cold , threatening voice.
" You wish " , scoffed Prabal ,
as he passed Abhay and moved into the mansion.
It was then that Abhay noticed
the hooded figure with shining bright green eyes , filled with humour waiting
for him.
" Hell no. I was not taking
advantage of the situation. She was close and I couldn't think straight, okay.
And what a pervert are you ,
Piya and I were so close and you were watching. " , said Abhay , defending
himself while accusing him.
But the green eyed man said
nothing ,only laughed , irritating Abhay majorly.
********************************
" What is it Piya ? Please tell
me. You have been quiet for ten minutes now. " , demanded Abhay as he stroked
Piya's hair who was hugging him tight.
" In a meeting , I was talking
to Jeh about the new anti-virus our company is going to launch soon , when Jeh accidently
spill his coffee on me. I had to borrow
a spare uniform. " explained Piya , as she blinked back tears .
Abhay had already known this had
something to do with Jeh. He had a strong feeling Jeh had messed up big this
time.
Piya continued , " When the
meeting was over , Jeh told me to stay back. And then I came to know that
everything was planned. Jeh has pictures and even the video in which I am... changing
my uniform. He is now blackmailing me to agree to marry him , within twenty
four hours , else he would make the pictures and video public. "
Piya looked up at Abhay to find
him literally fuming with anger. " Tell me where he resides , Piya , and I
would finish him for good " , said Abhay through clenched teeth. " I will tell
you Abhay , but I need to delete those pictures and the video first. Nobody
knows his password. He is the owner of
Queen Technologies , Abhay , how do I know what is the word that secures his
laptop. " , sobbed Piya.
Thinking for a while , Abhay
suggested , " Why don't you send him a fungi , Piya ? ".
Piya looked at him through teary
eyes. Was he really joking in such a situation ? But his face held no humour.
Then Piya realized the meaning behind his words and couldn't help but laugh ,
as more tears spilled out of her beautiful eyes.
Abhay thought she had gone crazy
due to the situation.
" It's a virus , silly. A virus
is a threat to softwares and not a fungi " , explained Piya , while Abhay
muttered , " Whatever ! "
" You are right. I can create a
virus. " , said Piya triumphantly , " See what I do to you now bloody Khurana "
, she resolved , as she sped towards her
home not wanting to waste time at all, while thanking Abhay repeatedly .
****************************************
" No way " , argued Piya , " Why
don't you check the message I sent you Jeh. I am not repeating my words again "
she said angrily.
" Calm down , babe. My phone is
switched off. No charge . That's why I asked you. " , said Jeh smirking at
Piya. He connected his phone to his laptop and checked his inbox for Piya's
message .
Piya thanked God for little
miracles. She knew that the virus would definitely corrupt everything in Jeh's
phone , but she didn't know how to reach the files in his laptop. Now that his
phone and laptop were connected , it was just victory for Piya.
Jeh opened Piya's message ,
which read , " Hello Jeh ! " , and then there was a box that had a hyperlinked
text " Click Me " written in it . He clicked on the hyperlinked text , and his
screen immediately blacked out. Then a cute smiley appeared on the screen its
eyes fluttering at Jeh as it smiled brightly. At the bottom of the screen was a
rectangular box that had " Processing ..." , written in it. Jeh looked up at Piya
and mouthed cute while winking at her. The box at the bottom of the screen
disappeared after a minute and then the emoticon started to blow trumpets as a
larger box appeared on the screen , with " formatting complete " written in it.
By the look on his face , Piya
understood that she was successful. Jeh looked at her in shock to ask , "
Formatting ? But... It was a virus ? ".
" Hell yeah , Jeh Khurana " ,
grinned Piya. " Now your phone and laptop are as good as new and you have
nothing to blackmail me with. What did you think if I could design an
anti-virus , I could not design a virus. Silly you.
And the paper that you signed
just few minutes ago was my resignation letter. Thank you so much for setting
me free from Queen Technologies and you. "
Piya poured Jeh a glass of water
and winked at him before exiting his cabin. She loved the defeat and anger in
his emerald green eyes.
" Piya where are you going ? " ,
asked Ruhi , as Piya moved towards the exit.
" I resigned Ruhi "
Ruhi didn't say anything but
hugged her , expressing her gratitude. " Who is the special guy ? Jeh has never been turned down before. "
" What ? There is nobody Ruhi."
" Really , not even your man in
black ? " , asked Ruhi. To reduce Piya's curiousity , she explained , "
Remember I had messaged you to meet me out of your home , few days ago. Well I
came , saw you guys talking. Couldn't hear whatever you guys were discussing ,
but your eyelock was like you mean the
world to each other ."
" You think we love each other ?
" , inquired Piya , looking outside .
" Oh I am sure of that. Your
blush confirms it. Go tell him , now "
" Okay " , said Piya smiling at Ruhi as she hugged her goodbye. Piya felt like giggling as she felt
a million butterflies in her stomach. She now knew what her growing feelings
for Abhay meant.
*******************************
" Oh God ! " , Piya groaned as
she hurried towards her home.
Prabal had informed Piya that
Granny had returned home and wanted to see Piya at home before 5:30 , because
it was supposed to be a lunar eclipse tonight , and probably that strengthened
evil forces. Piya had never felt more annoyed at her grandmother ever before.
When would she speak to Abhay now ?
She was moving towards her home
completely unaware of a car speeding towards her from back. A massive blow sent her crashing on the ground and black
spots danced around her as her head hit a stone on the roadside. She was only
aware of a mind-numbing pain in her head and her back , until her hair was
yanked to force her to look at a satisfied looking Jeh Khurana.
" If not mine , then nobody's "
, said Jeh laughing out loud , as he left Piya to die and went back as quickly as
he had arrived.
Piya could feel a cold sensation
filling her body and her eyelids becoming too heavy to be kept open. A darkness
was surrounding her. Was it death ? Piya didn't want to die , not when Abhay
didn't know of her victory , her feelings. For the first time , Piya was scared
of the darkness , because there were no stars to console her.
Abhay called out her name
infinite times. He rocked Piya and pleaded her to talk to him. It was scaring
Abhay. It had only been few minutes since he had heard Jeh's laughter and the
sound of his car's engine , speeding away , but Piya wouldn't respond.
A shadow indicated the presence
of somebody. Abhay looked up to see shining green eyes looking down at him. " I
WILL KILL YOU IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HER " ,
roared Abhay. " Would deal with you later "
Abhay closed his eyes and then
opened them saying ," Misha ! Misha can help. "
" Yes , my lord " , came a
feminine voice and the air around , shimmered to present a young , slim lady ,
appearing close to Piya's age. She was quite fair and had short , black curly
hair.
" I sensed there is a problem. I
tried to contact you... " , Misha had begun to say , when her eyes fell on the
beautiful , bleeding , unmoving body of Piya in Abhay's arms. Her eyes went
wide with concern and fear as she kneeled down , " Oh God ! Its Piya. Piya wake
up. " , she pleaded patting Piya's
cheek.
" Wha..What happened to her
Abhay ? "
" Later. First check if you can help her or not " , ordered
Abhay. " Piya cannot di...leave . Get it.
I have waited for this eclipse since forever.
She can't leave when she is yet unaware of the purpose of her birth " , said
Abhay , his face as expressionless as ever.
Misha looked from Abhay to the
green eyed man whose eyes held worry and fear , whether for himself or for Piya
, that Misha couldn't figure out.
" STOP STARING AND DO YOUR WORK
" , scowled Abhay , making Misha cringe in fear.
Misha proceeded to check Piya's
vitals with shivering hands.
She could not decide if she was wrong to have
assumed that Abhay had fallen for Piya. He seemed to care only about the eclipse
and the purpose of her birth. Was everybody else right , to call Abhay , the King
of all Heartless Creatures ?
***************************************
A/N : Long
update for making you all wait. So , do you like cliffhangers ? I do ,
but only while writing. 😆
Piya's ringtone - Heartattack by Enrique Iglesias
Do tell me
what are your thoughts about this part. 😊
Edited by 2Obsessed - 8 years ago
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