First of all, thank you so much for such lovely comments. They really pushed me to finish writing a short update/teaser today. I was so tired, I wanted to put it off. And I know that if I start putting off updating, I will never get around to finishing the story. So here is a short update. I hope you enjoy it and it has you hooked on for more.
_PART VI_________________________________________________________________________________________
She couldn’t go on like this.
Prerna pretended to fix the cushions on the bed as she watched Anurag get ready. It had been over five days since he’d been released. Five days since she had been coming over to his house to take care of him. Whenever she tried to inch closer to him, his entire body had stiffened, and her bravado failed her then. Sleep no longer came easy.
Now she watched as he shaved and groomed without ever looking her way. Something shriveled and died inside her. Mr. Bajaj had handed them a temporary reprieve it seemed. He was laying low, Basu Publications circulation had increased, Anurag was home.
They should have been happy.
Instead, despair hovered over their families like an insidious mist.
Yesterday he’d left the house before she arrived. Not wanting to face his family’s taunts, she had turned around and left. And today…
“Hey,” she ventured as he bent over to tie his shoe laces. “I thought we’d go get breakfast,” she said in a rush.
He shook his head without looking at her. “Sorry. I have an early business meeting this morning.” And he turned to leave.
“He never touched me,” she said in a low urgent voice. “Please believe me, he never touched me. I swear… I swear on…I swear, Anurag, on—”
“Don’t.” In two strides he was beside her, finally. He gently took her fisted hands and unfolded them. “Don’t.”
She looked at him helplessly. She’d told him again and again, but each time he merely looked away from her.
“It’s the truth,” she said, her voice trembling. “He took me to his study and told me that if I spent the night in his house, then in the morning he would ensure the charges would be dropped. He promised he would not touch me, and he did not. He did not, Anurag. He made sure I locked the study door after he left!
She fell silent, mutely urging him to acknowledge her, to turn and kiss her and say what an absurd misunderstanding this all was. To be her Anurag again.
Instead he turned his face away from her.
“Why won’t you believe me?” she sobbed.
He shook his head, his weariness more chilling than anger would’ve been. “Bajaj is b*st*rd to his core, Prerna, without a shred of mercy, decency or pity. I don’t blame you. I just wish you had let me handle this.” He looked at her finally, and to her horror, she saw that his eyes swam with tears. “I wish you’d never gone there.”
He strode to the door walked out shutting the door behind him.
Prerna stared at her hands and then around the room and she sank slowly onto the floor, tears streaming down her face.
His smoke filled voice haunted her.
If he loves you, he will believe you.
What a fool she was.
What an absolute fool.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
No one believed she’d walked out of Rishabh Bajaj’s house untouched. Not her neighbors, who whispered as she walked by. Not Anurag’s family, who turned their backs and scorned her when she walked into their house. Not her own family who thought she was lying to save face. Not even Anurag.
And Mr.Bajaj had hammered the first nail in the coffin.
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Cheers,
Sohaa!
Edited by Sohali19 - 4 years ago
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