Touch Her And... (Completed)

Chapter: 62

"No matter what happens, you will keep her safe with you." Dev said.

"You can't do this Dev. What the hell will you gain by doing this?" Arjun asked restlessly.

"What you said, if that's the truth then I don't really want to gain anything anymore. She was all I had, she is all I care about. When she has decided to stay away from me, I have nothing to look back in my life Arjun. You know what? Ritwik and I have never been a very good example for brothers, but we weren't that bad either." He said, looking at the ground beneath him with a small smile on his lips, probably due to the recollection of their childhood memories. Keeping both of his hands inside the pockets of the hoodie, he released a deep sigh. Arjun was listening to everything minutely, as if he needed to figure out this man's way too complicated way of thinking.

"I always failed to control my anger because of this emptiness that always kept pulling my nerves. Then one day she came into my life. The tiny fragments of torturous memories started fading away slowly. Waking up to her smiling face, coming back to her refreshing and homely fragrance, fulfilled every part of my heart, until I started feeling insecure again.The mere thought of seeing her with someone else brought back that old inhuman self ." He looked beside him and placed one of his hands on Arjun's shoulder.

"What would I gain by hurting my own blood? She gave away her life assuming that I poisoned Pratap. I don't know about Aditya, who seems to be me but again not so much like me. But whenever  Pratap's dying face surfaces infront of my eyes the only thing I feel is a sheer pain and wish for a sole chance to change that incident." His eyes reddened with tears that were threatening to burst out. He pulled his hand back and put that back into his pocket then looked at Ritwik and Teressa who seemed too engrossed in a serious conversation. His eyes showed a different sort of determination that irked Arjun.

"Dev, think wisely before doing anything.  This should end peacefully. Please don't repeat the old incident. Please. I might not be as close as I used to be to Aditya, but I am still countable as a friend." Arjun said, looking immensely worried. To which Dev's lips tugged upwards into a smile.

"You're more than just a friend, brother. I might never be able to pay you back for what you've done for us. But I have to know what's the truth. From the brother that always felt deprived for some reasons, that always stayed aloof even after being so similar. I want to know what happened to me back then, I want to see what happens to me today. I want to see how far he can go. Even after everything, he is my brother. We can fight, we can be beaten by each other to a pulp, but we stop at a point. We always did, because we are not like Aditya and Pratap; we have been the strong trio, Daivik, Ritwik and Manik. We are in better terms with each other than them." He sighed again.

"I still think it's not a good idea. He is not in his right mind Dev." Arjun responded.

"Whatever happens, she should be safe. You have to keep her safe, and take her away. I have to hear the truth from my own brother. No matter what. And also, don't put yourself in any risk. You are the only one left for Teressa. You're her brother. Keeping her safe is your responsibility as well." He added and started  walking towards them, gesturing Arjun to follow Teressa.

His eyes remained fixed on that curly haired stubborn girl. He could see her beautiful husky eyes filled with tears. Ritwik must had been saying something that pained her. He slowly stood behind overhearing his words that froze a part of his heart.

"....I have always been the worthless son, worthless brother, worthless lover, worthless everything. That somewhat turned me into what I am today. I want peace now. You make me feel important, peaceful. You've always made me. You....you're my salvation Teressa. You make me do the craziest things." Ritwik's words came out and pierced his soul. The mere thought of him being with Teressa felt like someone was suffocating him with a pillow. He clenched his jaw and controlled his anger. He had some different plannings. He needed to execute that. His eyes fell on those beautiful husky eyes, who looked back at him with what seemed like.. helplessness? He kept on looking at those as he uttered,

"Salvation.. that word holds a lot of weight brother. Are you sure, after what you've done back then, this feeling of salvation will be enough?" Before he could react Teressa's eyes flickered between his eyes and Ritwik's fists and she hurriedly jumped infront of him just a second before Ritwik's punch was about to land on his face. He jerked in surprise as the familiar homely smell he craved for, hit his nostrils like the drug he had been addicted to, for eternity. His eyes closed unintentionally and a sole drop of tear slip out of it. Gulping down the uncontrollable pain he raised his hands and slowly grabbed her shoulders.  The touch he missed for so many days, felt like heaven to him. But he had no time to cherish her closeness, he needed to finish what seemed to have been going on for ages. He slowly pushed her away, towards Arjun. He forcefully ignored  every word uttered by her and looked straight into the grey pair of orbs. The Ritwik he knew never lied, but the Ritwik he was seeing was not the same Ritwik anymore. Something changed and he was ready to witness it.

¤¤¤¤¤
Looking at the knife in Ritwik's hand, he smiled inwardly. "He carried a knife? He surely likes Teressa a lot to invest so much energy on something for the first time." He thought to himself. But what he felt weird was the very visible inner conflict in his eyes. He knew a part in him is still his brother, although the other part is someone who is crazy for Teressa, just like him. But he could't let the same history repeat itself. His own misdeeds led her to that tragic death once. He couldn't let the same vengeance ruin her life again. He released a deep sigh and glanced at Teressa for once. She was crying his name out, like that's her last resort. Her eyes were filled with absolute terror. He knew it was hurting her, but it was better this way than the one all of them had already experienced.

He glanced at Arjun who kept nodding his head "no". But his decision was made. The trance began where he could only see their mouths move but couldn't hear anyone anymore, just then a sheer pain  pierced through his lower abdomen. His hands instinctively held the place tightly as his eyes witnessed the hand that held the knife, then it slowly moved upwards to find Ritwik's satisfied grin. His mouth kept moving but he hardly understood any word. All he could and needed to hear was the truth from his mouth, and that he did.

"....If she doesn't become mine, I won't let her become yours as well. I POISONED IT.... I POISONED MY OWN FOOD AND THREW THE BLAME ON YOU. But it backfired. I..I..wanted her to be safe. But she.. she.."

He heard him uttering the ultimate words as he started feeling heavy headed. A unique sort of suffocating feeling overpowered his senses. No, it wasn't the knife, it wasn't the feeling of death, it was her eyes. The way they turned stone cold. He saw how her body started to shake out of the immense hurt she had to digest. His heart clenched seeing her that way.

His eyes slowly moved towards Ritwik. Who now looked frozen and surprised at his own actions as he kept looking at the knife in his shaking hand with an unimaginable guilt.

He could hear her footsteps emerging closer to his standing figure. She was running. The very moment she appeared infront of him and stood in between both of them, a lightening flashed around them and a loud thunder rumbled, shocking her to the core. And her hand instinctively responded by grabbing his hand for support, as usual.

Both the brothers' eyes snapped towards her reaction. And that very moment a weird feeling occurred inside his throat. As if something got stuck there. And then he vomited.. BLOOD.

-------------------
Dear readers,
If you like my story, feel free to  support it by Voting, Commenting, Sharing and Following.

Love, Puja.🍁