PRE-RISH FICTIONS
1) Accused
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Plot hint : MissHumptyDumpty
Thank you Ankie!
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Sweat trickled down Mr. Mehra's forehead. His mouth dried as the man seated in front of him asked him questions. It’s difficult when you don’t know answers, but miserable when you want to hide them.
“Is there anything you want to share with me?”, he asked in the simplest way possible. But it wasn’t that straightforward.
Mr. Mehra knew he was doomed, already, without facing a meager minute of his wrath.
“I… ummm", he began, rather nervously, when he was interrupted by a couple of claps. Bewildered, he turned around to see Prerna Sharma Bajaj entering the study.
“Waah Mr. Bajaj. You never fail to disappoint me, and you’ve done it yet again”, she spat furiously.
“It’s very, very sad ki aapka empire bohot bada hai but unfortunately aapka dil bohot chota hai", she spaced her fingers closely demonstrating her words.
His eyes narrowed down on her. Reflexively, he put down his cigar.
He got up instinctively and wore the coat over his arms.
“But don’t worry. Main samajh sakti hoon ki aapke paas apne driver ki lachaar biwi aur bachchon ke liye paise nahi hain. But Mrs. Prerna Rishabh Bajaj ke paas hain. Bhale hi mera bank balance kam ho par mera dil bada hai. Bohot bada", the barbs hitting his ego hard.
He was seething in fire. Mr. Bajaj shot a straight glance towards Mr. Mehra. The lawyer already felt like pleading for his life.
“Mr. Mehra", she continued, “Aap mere account se….”
She was cut short by the loud bang of the study door. Without wanting to explain his innocence or the situation, he barged off. He didn’t feel like revealing it to her cause his every word would sound like a mere, unwanted excuse and he hated that thought. He was the perfect man, the perfect assassin and he sincerely disliked mistakes and excuses. They blotted his intimidating personality and made him more humane. More relatable.
He grabbed the car keys from the stand and drove off, furious and rampaging. Buildings and trees flew past him as her words rang in his ears. He felt insulted and disoriented. The fact that her words were actually affecting him was even more maddening.
Prerna stood there, numb. Tears rolled down her eyes. It'd been six months. Six months into this deal and every time she thought she’d begun to understand him, he scurried far away, into some distant senses of the living realm. Unfathomable.
She asked Mr. Mehra to take a leave and not return until notified. Well, he had erred and couldn’t be forgiven so easily. He’d thrown those people on the streets without consulting either the Lord or the Lady.
She clutched her head and fell onto the sofa. She had been an absolute dunderhead. Irresponsible. Blunt. Impulsive.
-X-
Her anxieties took a turn for the worse as they brought him. She froze in the living. Her feet couldn’t move. Warmth crept off her face.
Rishabh Bajaj was on a wheelchair. Head bruised badly and arms bleeding. She was rooted to the spot.
They took him to his room.
As soon as her senses took over the shock, she processed the visuals. He had met with an accident.
She hurriedly ran to his room.
They were laying him on the bed. She could see his collar drenched in blood.
“Why not Hospital?”, was all she could manage to utter.
“N…O”, he responded with firmness, dwindling between blackouts and consciousness.
She couldn’t answer or question that.
One of the people around him, apparently a doc, started cleaning his wound. Blood wouldn’t stop oozing out.
The very smell of the thick red fluid made her feel nauseous and sick.
Covering her mouth with her palm, she ran out, with him keenly observing her through the corner of his eye.
-X-
She stood at the window, staring into nothing.
More than guilty, she felt worried. He wasn’t even taken to the Hospital. What if there were severe injuries?
The scope of innumerable scary and scarring possibilities spun her head.
The emptiness ate through her mind. The house was pitch dark, and silent. Slow wind played in and out of the curtains.
The staff members had left, so had the doctors. She hadn’t been to see him, the very sight of that room and it’s ‘contents' flinched her skin. She felt incapable of witnessing what he possibly was going through.
The clock struck 2. Her head was pounding, and gut felt heavy.
The door creaked open as she sneaked into it. The darkness provided for a perfect veil to the apparent threats of seeing his open wound.
She felt relaxed, he was right in front of her.
She inched closer, the scent of medications and ointments hurting her nose.
He stirred unconsciously, responding to her sudden arrival. Cautiously, she sat on the edge of the bed, not to disturb him. As she turned back to adjust a pillow, the water jar came crashing down the floor, it’s voice echoing through the empty Bajaj Mansion.
He woke up shaking with sweat and anxiety, a gun pointing towards her vague figure.
Within a moment, he put it down. He winced his eyes in pain and rested backwards, his head felt like stone.
She couldn’t move. Could she believe it? He slept with a gun by his side! Visibly, she could see through the insecurities in which this man lived.
Blood leaked out from his white bandage, blotting it red.
She switched on the lights hastily, to see him shivering with fever and blood trickling down his temple.
She panicked. Quickly making a move next to him, she neatly sat at a respectable distance, not making him feel cornered
Grabbing cotton wool, she dabbed the blood, alternately looking at the wound and the ceiling.
“This is not… your job", he said, uncomfortable, gauging her trouble.
Not feeling the need to respond, Prerna, now in sufficient control of her senses, searched for paracetamol.
“Has Sneha….”
“She’s off to bed, securely”, she said, hinting at his unnecessary worries and staring at the gun. It made her feel weak in the knees. And hurt.
His open eyes wrecked havoc in the head as it throbbed. He closed them, though still hurting, somehow returned to sleep.
-X-
Light flooded the room with brightness and hope. He wriggled in the bed, subconsciously, and felt warm. The other side of the bed wasn’t cold like everyday. He extended his hands and it brushed hers. Alarmingly, he woke up, eyes flexed open and wide. He turned his painful head around to see her seated on the floor and head resting on the bed.
He felt something about her carelessness. He remembered how she felt sick of all the blood and bruises.
She was here all night, tending to him. He felt something weird.
He coughed audibly and she moved. She sat up straight, slightly embarrassed and slightly worried.
There were a million things on in her mind.
She had to apologize, check on his fever, see the wound, call the doctor. Right, last things first.
She got up to call the doctor.
“Don‘t compel me to accuse you of sensitivity, Ms. Sharma”, he said. "It's not permissible by the clause".
She could feel him smirking while lying down yet, even with her back towards him.
Rolling her eyes, she could bet he was okay now. She struck the fever part off. She couldn’t understand if she herself was feeling relieved or irritated.
“And don’t enter my room ever again", he told her, as she ticked off the apology in her list and he smiled to her retreating form.
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INDEX
Accused ... Pg1
A Force To Reckon With ... Pg5
Deal With It ... Pg7
The Safe and the Sound ... Pg10
The Declaration ... Pg16
To Win and To Lose ... Pg19
Edited by Mishti_Dahi - 4 years agoFirst and foremost, I love the concept. ⭐️
Prerna stood there, numb. Tears rolled down her eyes. It'd been six months. Six months into this deal and every time she thought she’d begun to understand him, he scurried far away, into some distant senses of the living realm. Unfathomable.
^ Here's my favourite quote.
The effect Prerna's piercing accusation had on him, followed by his madness is really well-expressed in words. Then the guilty woman's deep worry for her wounded man that compelled her to sneak into his room in the dead of the night, only to behold the dark insecurities that loomed over him was a lovely read.
“And don’t enter my room ever again", he told her, as she ticked off the apology in her list and he smiled to her retreating form.
^ Now this is an interesting end. RB being RB even in that state. 😆
