Love that lasts

Chapter 11

That heart-breaking moment,

 When you can't express your feelings to the one you truly love,

But you are screaming inside for them to save you from your misery.... 

Aryan's POV

I wasn't even sure where my feet were taking as I walked blindly away from Chandni, the anguish in my heart so ready to burst, that it was threatening to spill through my eyes.

Some guy, who probably was as absent minded as me, looking down at his mobile collided with me as he came out of the lift, but I ignored everything and everyone and walked off briskly.

I climbed two stairs up and finally reached the terrace. Everywhere around me were more concrete filled buildings, some shiny but still coated with dust, some ageing, sharing a common lifeless look, full of void.

Gawwd!! What did I let myself into? Is this the t*****e I will have to face every day now? One moment we were laughing and enjoying a small victory and the very next the bitter sweet memories of the past have crept back and turned the same into a painful moment.

I wasn't sure how long I stood there! Some of the regular smokers in the building who usually frequented that area surrounded me and I began to feel suffocated. I also had a creepy feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around and looked, but there was no one but the usual g**g of smokers. My restlessness increased and I left the terrace in a hurry and went straight to the Men's Washroom. As I splashed some cold water on my face, I looked up in the mirror, and hoped desperately that, at least my face wouldn't reflect the morose mood I was in.

I came out slowly, still deep in my thoughts and accidentally bumped into a girl coming out of the women's washroom.

It was Chandni and I was shocked to notice her red puffy eyes and blotchy nose. Was she crying inside the washroom all this time? I felt worse. Wasn't I supposed to be the mature guy here, who promised her husband that I would try and be professional with her??

Despite all the bottled up anger and resentment against her, I still could feel nothing but deep sorrow to see her in such a state, and hated myself more for causing pain to her. Why do we keep doing this to each other?

"Listen... I want to speak to you..." I began, but Chandni looked more flustered after seeing me and tried to walk away from me, only to be blocked by two girls who came giggling out of the women's washroom and went past us.

Again I had a feeling as if I was being watched or followed by someone.

It was a narrow, practically empty corridor, and we were just facing each other, so I wasn't sure why I was feeling that way.

I turned around again to look behind me, and saw Mr Murthy from the office next door walk out of the men's washroom. I sighed in relief and blamed my hyperactive brain for my previous foreboding.

Chandni probably noticed that my attention was slightly diverted and tried to go around me, but just then a big bulky guy in sunglasses walked out of the men's washroom in a hurry and shoved her. She lost her balance and tried to avoid the fall by holding on to something. If I hadn't caught her by the waist, she would have hit the concrete wall right behind her. But in that entire skirmish, she cried in pain as if she sprained her ankle or something.

The bulky guy seemed to panic and hurriedly muttered something and tried to walk away from us.

Chandni tried to slide my hand off her waist but I held on, as I could see that she was barely able to stand, but I made sure I grabbed the hoodie of the bulky guy with my other hand, who just made my bad day even worse.

"Hey you!! Are you blind or something?? Why the hell did you shove her?" I asked him, seething in fury.

Chandni shouted at that guy angrily, even as she whimpered in pain.

"Apologise right now!! Otherwise..."

Something about his face looked familiar to me but I couldn't understand what it was.

He roughly pushed my hand off his hoodie and punched me hard in the nose, making me lose my balance, and made a run for it.

"Aryan!" Chandni shrieked loudly as blood poured off my nose. I somehow managed to balance myself, by planking my hand on the wall, but my chin still hit her forehead.

"Are you Ok?" we both asked each other, worried!

Luckily, two of my colleagues Rohit and Sandeep walked in towards the Men's washroom just then, and reached us as they heard the commotion.

"What happened?" they asked us worriedly.

I quickly wiped the blood off my nose and checked on Chandni first, and made her rest against the wall.

"Can you please look after her?" I pleaded with my colleagues and pointed them towards Chandni.

I didn't even finish my sentence before I ran into the corridor to catch that filthy bastard who did this to us. But to my utter disappointment, it was completely empty.

I heard Rohit come behind, and between us, we searched the entire corridor on both sides but without any luck. I urged Rohit to take the elevator as I ran down the stairs, checking the corridor on each floor, before I finally reached the ground floor. I was gasping for my breath but I didn't give a damn as my eyes searched frantically for the offender.

Rohit came worriedly towards me and offered some tissues.

"Aryan, you are bleeding a lot. Please stop and go to a doctor. Me and Sandeep, we will check with the building security or inform the police." He said, gasping. He too was running around with me everywhere.

I didn't care about my wound or going for a doctor, but my heart was still pumping hard with the anger and frustration that I couldn't catch that thug.

After some time, we had to give up as there was no sign of him in the building or outside.

"Let's go to the security office, Rohit." I said, as I walked towards the basement, but Rohit stopped me.

"Aryan, please listen to me. I will go there, you please go to our office and get some first aid done, otherwise Namrata will kill both of us." He demanded, and I finally had to give in.

As I got into an empty lift, my mind went back to the face of that thug who just attacked us for no reason. Suddenly something clicked inside my head, and my heart thumped harder, as I realised what that could probably mean. I tried my best to compose my face into a neutral expression, and calmed myself as the lift doors opened.

As I entered the office, Sachi and Rithika rushed towards me and went into hysterics looking at my blood splattered white shirt, which escaped my notice till then. I assured them I was quite fine, but they followed me as I went straight to Chandni's cabin. I was glad to see Namrata fussing over Chandni with an iced bag strapped around her ankle.

As if she sensed my presence, Chandni's eyes snapped in my direction and I spoke apologetically, addressing no one in particular.

"We couldn't find the guy. I looked everywhere."

Chandni spoke to Namrata instead of me.

"Namrata, I am absolutely fine. Please look after Aryan. I think he lost a lot of blood."

Namrata too was looking at me with a worried expression.

"Aryan! I have First Aid here but I think you need to see a doctor. Who knows, you might need stitches!! Why don't we go and see Dr Kirloskar in the next block? Please don't say no." She implored.

"Come on Namrata!! It's nothing. Give me that First Aid kit!" I took the box from her hands, but she pushed me onto the sofa next to the door and made me lie down as she began to clean up the wound.

"Rithika, Sachi, Don't worry about Aryan. I will look after him. Please talk to the building security on my behalf and see where Rohit and Sandeep are. Will you?" Both of them left the cabin reluctantly, as per her request.

"Aryan, Chandni told me everything, but is there anything you want to add? It is just so weird that this guy shoves Chandni, gets so worked up and hits you like that!! Do you remember his face? Chandni says she probably couldn't identify him again except he was big and bulky and wearing sunglasses. Can you identify him if you ever see him again?" Namrata asked anxiously.

"Hmmm no! I too saw him just for a few seconds before he gave me a red nose you know. If you ask me, I wouldn't want to see him ever again, but more than me, he wouldn't want to see him again because I am going to make a mincemeat out of him." I winked at Namrata mockingly and she shook her head in exasperation.

"Do you think you are a superhero or what?? Everything is so funny for you isn't it?" Just then her phone buzzed and she excused herself out of the room to answer it.

Chandni too rose slowly from the Chair she was resting on.

"Where do you think you are going?" I demanded, not too softly.

"Just to get my phone, I need to call Rashid Chacha." She replied crossly.

"Oh! Rashid Chacha! Yes I recognised him, the other day you know..." I paused, unsure of what else to say,

To cover up the awkward pause, I finally asked what I ought to have asked the moment I entered the room.

"Is your foot hurting a lot?" I looked worriedly at her ankle. Although I could see no swelling, I guessed she must be still in a lot of pain, as she walked slowly, putting most of the weight on her left foot.

"It's not that bad. I will be ok once I rest a bit." She tried to assure me as she rang Rashid Chacha on her mobile.

"Chacha!! Can you pick me up as soon as you can?? No... nothing. I just got a bit of a headache and want to go home early. That's all... Hmm... Ok. Yes, just call me once you reach the office." She hung up and looked at me. 

I spent the next few minutes in awkward silence but still welcomed the privacy.

She was looking at everything in the room except me and I very well knew why. 

Finally, as if she couldn't help herself, she asked, "Aryan, Why don't you see a doctor? You did lose a lot of blood." 

"No need. It's just a bruise, nothing that you need to worry about."

Her gaze settled on my face as she asked softly, "Do you want us... I mean Chacha to drop you at home?" 

I was finally glad of the privacy we had.

"Listen..." I began.

 A/N

As Aryan says what can you do if your past comes back to haunt you, right? 

Now we have a mysterious guy who gave Aryan the red nose. Was it a pure accident? Why do you think Aryan is hiding the fact he recognised who their attacker was?