Hello beautiful people. Here is another OS for you all to feast on. Hope you all like it.
This story is dedicated to Hrideyy aka FlightofEagle, for giving us such amazing stories. Hrideyy, I hope you like this. Its angsty but not much
Warning: Domestic Abuse mentioned. Please do not read if you are not comfortable.
HELLO
"Hello"
It all starts with a 1.30am call from an anonymous number on the landline of Kunj Sarna's for this to soon become a routine,
"Hi," he replies, clearly his throat from his husky sleep filled voice. "Kaisi hai?"
"Main theek hoon, tum sunao."
"Sab theek." He reaches for the glass of water on the bedside table to further wake himself up because her voice isn't as cheery as he knows it to be. But before he can investigate the matter she cheekily replies.
"Maine disturb toh nahi kiya na? Tum so rahe the kya?" Of course he was sleeping. What else does she expect a normal functioning adult to do on a weekday, an hour and half past midnight.
"Na, na, bas marne ki practice kar raha tha, Twinkle." It's rewarding to hear that throaty chuckle from the other end of the call. "Waise, aaj call kasie kiya?"
"Bas, yuhi." And he knows there is something that she is not letting him in on. "Aaj, humari friendship ki six-month anniversary hai, toh ek phone call toh banta hai na!"
He quickly checks his mobile phone and lo and behold it's been six months since they formed this unusual friendship. Six months since she first dialled his number and six months since he waits up every single Saturday and Wednesday for her call.
It was never her intention to call him, and she had let him know that since day one. She was instead, hoping to reach the Anonymous Support Group number. But fate had some other plans and Twinkle had switched the last two digits of the number, that got her a rather irritated Kunj Sarna than the help service.
He was about to hang up on the call when Twinkle in her weakest whispered a please' and Kunj wasn't that heartless to hang up on someone in their helpless state, especially when she asked him if his number was that of Anonymous Support Group'. Rationality soon overcame sleep and Kunj figured he should at least ask her about her problems lest something happen to her later.
It takes a lot of resolution to reach out for help and this girl on the other end was already asking for it. So Kunj decided to let her talk because it would truly discourage her if he told her that she had reached a wrong number. He guesses that he could sacrifice a night's worth of sleep if that meant he could help her out.
"Okay, listen, listen. I need you to calm down. Please Ma'am calm down." And only when her hiccupping sobs come to a halt that he continues. "Okay. Let's start by introducing each other. I am Kunj Sarna and you are?"
"Twinkle Taneja."
"Twinkle, where are you from?"
"I am from India." She replies in a small tired tone, still racked with occasional sobs. "Amritsar, actually."
"Oh really? I am from Amritsar as well. Small world, huh?"
And despite the turbulent life she was going through, she yet quoted FRIENDS' "And yet I never run into Beyonc!" It earns her a throaty chuckle from Kunj and she instantly falls in love with his voice. Its firm, reassuring and sweet.
"Clearly you are a Chandler,"
"Am I now? And what are you?"
"I like to think of myself as more of a Ross."
"Married thrice?"
They both laugh at that. Bicker of why he is Ross and why he isn't. The conversation flows with this ease almost as if they are long lost friends instead of a wrong number.
He hears the jingling of keys from the other side and someone calling out her name, she gives out a loud gasp. "Woh, aa gaya. I have to go." And she cuts the phone before he even has the chance of inquiring further. He debates whether he should call 911 or not. Her voice sounded scared after whoever called her, and maybe she needs help. But even if he does call the police, what was he supposed to tell them; a girl accidently dialled his number thinking he was a Support Group and then abruptly cut the phone when someone called her. Of course it seemed crazy. And honestly the more he thought, the crazier it sounded to him too. Maybe it was just a prank call.
Two days' pass by and Kunj can't get her out of his mind. He tried convincing himself that it was all a prank call but-she sounded so genuine. And come to think of it, the way she pleaded for help in the beginning of the call, no one can modulate their voice like that. He is in half a mind to trace and track her number but then a pesky voice in the back of his head, tells him that maybe this was indeed a prank.
And yet he can't get her out of his mind.
His phone rings at 1 am on the fourth day. He disorients him for a minute before the events that took place three nights ago crash into him like a freight train. "Hello?"
"Tum Anonymous Support Group se ache ho."
Twinkle had called the Anonymous Support Group the very next day after calling Kunj. But things didn't work out. She was looking for some emotional support, some sympathy, some advice on how to deal with the mess that her life is. Instead she got an emotionally detached operator who asked her to come and meet them.
She had decided, that Kunj though a stranger, a wrong number dialled in the dark of the night provided her more comfort and security than any of those so called professional groups. And maybe she shouldn't really approach or rely on him but she couldn't help it. She needed someone, she just needed someone to talk to, be it just for an hour.
So she thinks twice and no more than that before dialling his number again.
"Happy to hear that." He says, they had hit up the talk without any explanation or re-introduction as if this conversation was scheduled to happen. But then there isn't anyone else Kunj knew who would call him this late night. "Kaisi hai tu?"
"Main theek hoon. Tum sunao?"
"Bas, badiya." He glances back at his bedside table, the red LED of his clock telling him it was 1.10am. "Toh, tune who group ko call kiya tha?"
"Haan, par kuch kaam nahi bana. Unhone kaha ki ke I should attend one of their sessions. Yeah, right! If it was that simple."
"Waise, ek baat pochun? Bura mat maan na, par aisi kya problem hai jo tujhe aise support ki zaroorat hai. Main sirf help karne ki khatir pooch raha hoon."
He doesn't think she would answer. They have just spoken once and she has no reason to confide in him yet, but she does anyway. "My boyfriend is abusive."
"So leave him."
She scoffs and he knows he shouldn't have said that. "It's not that easy Kunj" but he had already meddled open the topic, no use backing away now.
"Kyu nahi?"
"I'll leave and he will find me again." Again. She had tried to leave before? And she wasn't successful. How?
There is that jingling of keys again and her boyfriend' call out her name. She had to cut the line.
Things go on this way for a while. She calls him every Wednesday and Saturday. He starts staying awake on those nights, starts looking up for verbal games to play to take her mind of her predicament. Some nights it's 20 questions, some nights its riddles and some nights it's just 1 am philosophical talks. Soon they started looking forward to their sessions. Kunj even went as far as cancelling plans of going to the bar with his colleagues on Saturdays because he didn't want to be late and miss her call. Wednesdays was tiring but talking to Twinkle was like a gush of cool air on a hot sunny day.
"How about we meet? Yuvraj ek hafte ke liye, Los Angeles gaya hai. So coffee?"
He answers embarrassingly quick. And she laughs in delight. Tells him she was happy he was that eager to meet her.
"Toh, M&M world? At 9 tomorrow morning?" She asks
"Yeah, sure" Kunj smiles, writing down the place and time "Wait-What!? M&M world?" He repeats, not sure if he heard it right.
"Haan, Kyu? Tumhe M&Ms pasand nahi?"
He smiles because it's just concrete proof that she was the 8th wonder of the world. He expected her to choose a coffee place, maybe even a pizza parlour. But she surprised him, as she surprises him with all things, with her choice.
"Par, main tujhe pehchanuga kaise?" Valid question.
She thinks for a while. "Umm, I'll wear an all-black attire. Tum bhi all black pehena. Okay?" He agrees.
She was earlier than him, and the only one there in all black. She was beautiful too. Black leather jacket over a black vest and black jeans-but pink sneakers. Her face was framed by hr luscious curls but none of this was prominent. What was prominent however was her almond brown eyes-full of a child-like innocence.
She instantly recognizes him as he approaches her and madly waves her hand at him. Her face unable to contain her joy, breaks out in a grin that went from her right ear to the left. She only gives him a chance to ask the customary, HI's and how are you before she is pulling him inside the store.
Turns out M&M was more fun than he expected. 9 AM was the ideal time to visit the place plus it being a weekday had the place almost empty. That only meant that they could run around like wild children, tasting and collecting candy like it was the end of the world, without being embarrassed. She created a rainbow in her candy bag, while he went for a more grown up colour scheme of only blues and greens. And of course they couldn't and wouldn't pass by the opportunity of buying M&M tees.
It was hard to believe that they had never met each other before this, because everything they did was so in sync it almost looked practised. And this wasn't only noted by the workers there but by Kunj and Twinkle themselves too.
"Aisa lag raha hai ki tu meri loi bachpan ki dost hai."
"Aisa kyu?"
"Dekh na, isse pehle hum kabhi mile bhi nahi, ek dusre ko jaante tak nahi the, aur aaj hum M&M world mein bichde dosto ki tarha behave kar rahe hai."
They sit down at a corner caf, intending on having lunch but ending up having just dessert and coffee. Twinkle was yet hugging the soft toy he had gotten her from the gift shop. It was endearing to watch.
There was that lingering thought of asking her if she needed a place to stay, an offer. He could provide her with a place to stay until they can come up with a proper legal action route against Yuvraj but then he bites his tongue because today wasn't a day he wanted to remind her of her bloody boyfriend. She was devastatingly happy today and he wanted her to stay that way-at least for the day.
The part ways by 6 in the evening with a delicate kiss planted carefully against the side of his cheek by Twinkle and soft thank you' whispered against his ear.
That was on a Monday. Thursday came by and she hadn't called him.
He paced the entire length of his bedroom multiple times on Wednesday night worrying about her. He picked up his phone with the intention of calling her multiple times. He put on his coat, planning on visiting her but then again he didn't even know where she stayed. It was a long and restless night. He woke up with a catch in his neck, sleeping on the couch, waiting for her call.
Friday afternoon, and he decides to leave from work early, planning to spend the evening watching the game and maybe even a couple of beers. He had just dropped his bag on the table when the phone rings. Thinking nothing much of it, he casually answers. "Hello."
"Sorry maine call nahi kiya."
His relaxed stance turns rigid and tense. Her voice was slurred and -in pain? "Where were you? Sab theek toh hai na?"
She is quick to reassure him, and that only sets off more alarms in his head. "Haan, baba. Sab theek hai. Bas so rahi thi isliye call nahi kiya."
"Do din? Tu do din tak so rahi thi?" He doesn't believe a word she says. Something was wrong and she was hiding the fact from him.
"Haan."
"Twinkle sach sach bol, kya hua?"
Recognizing that there was no use pretending, because he can catch her just by the tone of her voice, she takes a different approach. "Kuch nahi yaar. Yuvi, Los Angeles se vapas aa gaya tha, toh call karne ka time hi nahi mila." Half-truth.
He too recognizes that there was no use pressing her for more information. If she didn't want to tell him, he shouldn't intrude.
"Hmm, aur aaj kaise call kiya? Tu toh hamesha Saturday ko call karti hai na?"
"Haan, par Wednesday ko call nahi kiya tha na. toh aaj uska compensation."
They talk for a while more, about nothing significant, just the weather and the likes before she tells him that she has to go and promises to call him the next day.
Kunj was a smart guy and he wasn't convinced that just because Yuvraj had returned from LA that she didn't call him. And then the idea strikes him out of the blue, he checks the caller ID on his phone and makes out that this wasn't her normal number. She was calling him from somewhere else. Quickly booting up his laptop, he Google's the number and is shocked to see it belong to Apollo Hospital.
Quickly changing into more casual clothes, he hails a cab to go to Apollo hospital.
"Hi, good evening. I am looking for a Twinkle Taneja. Which room is she admitted in." He asks the sweet, plump looking nurse behind the reception desk.
"Umm, hold on darling. Let me just check that for you." She smiles and types away on the computer. "Oh, darling you just missed her. She was discharged just half an hour ago."
Kunj curses underneath his breath. He was almost there, damn it. "Could you tell me why she was here?"
"Now, honey. This is strictly against the hospital's policy." She tells him "But you look really concerned for this Twinkle Taneja so I'm going to pull this favour for you okay?"
And Kunj can't help leaning over the counter and placing a kiss against the lady's cheek. "Oh Thank you so much"
"Sure honey. Okay...Twinkle Taneja. She came in on Tuesday with multiple bruises across both arms and legs. A grade three concussion, one dislocated shoulder and two broken ribs."
It horrifies Kunj and the nurse can see it on his face. "Up I felt the same after reading it too. And I will fill you in on more. When she was asked about how she sustained these injuries she stated that she fell down two flights of stairs. But honey you and I both know there is more to that isn't there?"
He murmurs a yes without even knowing, this mind running a thousand miles an hour. All he knows is that he needs to get to her. He needs to get to her right now. But how? All he has is her phone number. He doubts the police is going to buy his story and trace her call. He is alone in this fight and ne needs to get to her.
He races back home, fumbles with his keys that refuse to go properly into the keyhole and his damned door jams until he resorts to kicking it until it opens. He trips multiple times on his way to reach the phone. Fingers trembling, he dials the last number on the caller ID.
No one picks up.
He cuts the call and dials the number again.
Again, no answer.
He gives up by the fifth try and throws his fist against the wall.
"Sooch Kunj, sooch. Twinkle ne kuch toh kaha hoga. Kuch hint toh hoga ki who kaha rehti hai."
He plops down angrily on the couch, deep in thought and doesn't know when he falls asleep.
He wakes up angrier than he was last night. He was angry that he yet hadn't come up with anything and angry that he had fallen asleep. He shouldn't have fallen asleep, he should have stayed up and come up with a solution. What if Twinkle needs him right now and is unable to even get to the phone.
One thing is for sure, Yuvraj was going to pay for this.
And then it strikes him. Sid! Yes of course. Why hadn't he thought of this earlier. His friend Sid was in NYPD! He could ask Sid to track her. Thinking nothing more of it, Kunj whips out his phone and dials Sid's number.
He quickly narrates the whole story to him and literally begs him to find Twinkle.
"Kunj, Kunj, listen, calm down. Kuch nahi hoga Twinkle ko. Just calm down. You are no help if you are like this" Sid reasons, because it's true. Kunj was a blubbering mess and he really wasn't helping anyone.
Kunj quickly composes himself and had a glass of water before continuing. "Okay." He lets Sid know that he has calmed down.
"Okay, good. Ab Twinkle ka pura naam bata."
"Taneja. Twinkle Taneja."
"Okay. Tujhe aur kuch pata hai, uske baare mein? Kaha kaam karto hai, age? Whatever, everything and anything is helpful."
Kunj racks his brain trying to find anything substantial about her. "Haan, uske boyfriend ka naam, Yuvraj hai."
"Okay Yuvraj, kya?"
"I don't know Sid! Shit maine usse kabhi poocha bhi nahi. Damn it! Sid you have to find her. Please."
"Kunj, we will find her. Bas mujhe thoda time de. I have to get the warrant to search our database. But I promise we will find her."
Sid hangs up then leaving a restless, worried and anxious Kunj. Why was he even worried about her so much? She was just a stranger, a wrong number, and just a voice over the phone.
But oh, she was so much more than that. She was riddles and rhetorical questions. She was the child hearted innocent girl that he wanted to shield from the world. She was laughs and unalloyed joy. And somewhere down the road he has fallen in love with this stranger.
Sid calls him when Kunj was just in the middle of planning his next course of action. "Hello Sid. Haan, kuch pata chala?"
"Kunj" Sid's voice is solemn. "Hume Twinkle ka address mil gaya hai."
"That's great news Sid! Kaha hai who?"
"Kunj."
It stops his heart. It was voice that was the harbinger of bad news. "Kunj, waha par abhi abhi do ambulance dispatch hui hai. Ek dead body report ki gayi hai."
The world spins senselessly to him and time stood still. Its Sid's distant voice from the phone he had dropped on the ground that brings him back from this trance. "Kaha?"
Sid gives him the address and Kunj doesn't even bother locking his apartment up before racing down the complex and into the streets. He wants to scream at the pedestrians, how can they go about their business so normally? Don't they know Twinkle was hurt-possibly dead? NO! No! He can't think about her dying. He down right refuses to believe that she stopped breathing, that her heart stopped pumping! She was okay! It could possibly be someone else who needed medical attention. Twinkle was fine-he shouldn't worry. He has just got to go over the address Sid texted him and see with his own eyes that Twinkle was fine. Yeah, that exactly what he was going to do.
He forces himself to slow down, to breath, to make sense of it all before proceeding. But his heart is still circulating thread instead of blood and the pace is quickened again. He catches a cab and pays extra to break every traffic law in the city to get him to Twinkle.
He reaches there in twenty minutes and wishes he hadn't because suddenly his blood runs cold and his feet refuse to obey his command. There are two ambulances parked in front the building. Their flashing blue, red lights hurt his eyes and make everything seem more daunting.
Somehow, he makes it to the front door of her house, the police too busy attending to one task or another, let him in. It's a blood bath. Crimson life liquid stains the wall in a spray, scarlet drops on the floor increasing at an alarming rate with every step that he takes, it's nauseous. Furniture are over turned, glass pieces shattered, cigarette butts littered.
And then a body covered in white cloth.
Kunj feels the life knocked out of him, feels hallow where is heart is supposed to be and his stomach drops into a bottomless pit. His knees go weak and he drops himself right beside the body. His fingers reach out to pull the cloth away from the face-to confirm and tears leak out of his eyes because somewhere he was to be blames for this too. If only he had acted upon his instincts and called the police then maybe Twinkle would be alive today. If only he had acted sooner.
There is some sort of commotion going on in the other room, but he doesn't have the heart to check it out.
"We've got a pulse. Twinkle? Twinkle can you hear me? Stay with us baby! Stay with us."
Twinkle? Kunj's head snaps up. Had he heard that right? Someone from the other room was talking to Twinkle? With speeds that surprise him, he runs to the opposite room. And it feels like his lungs would finally breathe, his heart could finally beat, he could finally exist. Because there, with an oxygen mask around her face and electrodes to her chest was Twinkle-breathing, living, Twinkle.
She was bruised, battered, bloodied and broken from head to toe but alive. And that's all that mattered. Her frantic eyes meet his and they soften in utter relief. She extends her hand towards him with every ounce of energy in her. His feet carry him to her at their own accord where she murmurs her name and falls unconscious.
The paramedic rush to work at that. They push him aside and load her into the ambulance, shouting medical jargon that hardly made any sense to him. He argues with one of the paramedic to let him ride in there with her, but seeing that he wasn't immediate family the deny him of his small request.
He meets Sid while impatiently waiting for a cab who explains that Twinkle had called the NYPD when Yuvraj Luthra returned home drunk and furious. He had started abusing her but was harsher than usual. She called them when he threatened her life and chased her around with a knife. By the time the police had arrived, Yuvraj was lying in a pool of blood, stabbed with a broken bottle. Twinkle was in no better condition and was only coherent enough to say that she did what she did in self-defence.
Kunj doesn't know whether to be sad or to rejoice. Should he be happy that Yuvraj was finally dead and out of her life or should he worry that Twinkle's life yet hung by a thread.
"Only time will tell." Sid tells him. "Chal ab tu Twinkle ke paas jaa. Woh Apollo hospital mein admit hogi"
Five broken ribs, a concussion, multiple broken bones, an internal bleeding and yet she survived. Kunj thanks every God he knows.
They put her in medically induced coma to help her body recover. Five days later she wakes up to the sight of Kunj sitting next to her bed. He notices her being awake just as soon as she was awake and offers her a smile.
"Move in with me?" It's the first thing he says to her.
And she does.
THE END.
Yup, that's the end of this OS. Honestly guys, I think I forgot how to write short OSs, but I don't think you all mind!
Anyways, I hope you all liked this. And thank you for taking the time to read, like and comment!
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