The Vile.

Chapter : 65

Destroyed.

The room is decent. A bed at the very middle covered with a light yellow bed cover, two flower vases stand at two opposite corners. At the right is placed a circular glass table surrounded by some black leather couches and sofas. Right beside it is a huge glass window. The left side of the room has a another window an attached bathroom and another door that leads to the balcony.

Abhirup sits at the edge of the bed, looking at his watch.

"He should be here by now. What happened...." His words get interrupted by some urgent knocks on the door. He and the rest of them, who are already sitting on the couches and the sofas of room 101, look at the door at the same time. Abhirup stands up and moves towards the door. He very cautiously opens the door and finds Nihal standing there. His face expressionless.
But what takes Abhirup by surprise is that he isn't alone. There is someone standing right behind him. And by someone he means a dangerously attractive and impossibly proud Maya Deshpande. He remembers seeing her over the television many a times and once on the protest ground from far away. But God, from the front she is nothing less than a walking goddess. His trance breaks when someone clears his throat quite loudly.

"I think standing outside like this can be risky for both the sides. So, may I come in?" Nihal asks, bringing Abhirup back to the earth.

"Y-yes, please." He manages to utter. Then he sees her from an even closer proximity.

"Close your mouth, dumbass. Who is gonna clear your drool later? I will not!" Zoya whispers from behind him and he immediately understands how awfully he is acting. So immediately focuses on the matter at hand.

"I thought I asked you to come alone Mr. Deshpande?" Abhirup asks, to which his eyes fall on the proud pitch black eyes and something flutters inside his stomach.

"I know but she is important here. I knew his past better but Maya knows his present far better than any of us. So I considered her presence important. I hope you won't mind?" He asks looking at Vasudha, who looks at Maya and smiles, who surprisingly smiles back at her and Abhirup feels this weird sensation inside his stomach.

"I am happy that she's here. Thank you for this Maya." Vasudha responds. Maya nods to that.

"Fine. Now please before everything happens can we know what happened within these few months? Because our best friend here has changed to a weird extent. We think we deserve to know some of the truths as well, Sudha." Ganika says looking at Nihal and then at Vasudha.

"Yes. All of you deserve to know." Vasudha agrees.

Nihal looks at Vasudha and even Maya stares at her, while Derek and Mihir straightens their backs. All of them settle down Vasudha, Abhirup, Zoya and Ganika sit on the bed while the rest take the couches and sofas.

"To begin with, I was never kidnapped by Danuj. He gave me a condition, where, if I decided to leave all of you, as in everything precious in my life behind me and agreed to stay under the same roof with him he will let those people stay at Ashroy. I saw it as the only option because we couldn't manage to gather the money. So, I left. Which is the part you already know.  Now, I thought I am being held because he is planning some sort of revenge because of the slap I very publically plastered on his face." She looks down at her hand on her lap and continues in a low voice.
"But that man turned out to be everything but not even close to being the vile man I expected him to be. I was proved wrong every single day, when he pushed his limits to keep me comfortable, protected, safe and mostly happy. He even let me talk to baba. Yes, I spoke to him almost every day for the last few months. And please don't get angry on him. I requested him to keep quiet. He felt immensely bad for hiding these things from all of you. But as you all know, he always respected every decision taken by dada or me. So, he trusted this one as well. Now coming back to the story.