The Ruined Rainbow

CHAPTER 86

A/N: If there are any grammatical errors, kindly pardon.
I have a seminar to give tomorrow. :\

Sahil

"Sahil, why are you here?"

"Who is inside? And what relation do you have with them?"

"Why are you in Lucknow?"

"What is your relationship with the person inside?"

"Why were you in a Girl's PG early this morning?"

I stood there, uncomprehending, as a throng of people encircled me, their questions a jumble of unintelligible noise. I could only gape blankly, confronted with this new frenzy, unable to make sense of the chaos around me.

I was shell-shocked by this sudden gathering, caught off guard in a way that hadn't happened since my early days in the industry when a disastrous experience taught me to hire a personal assistant and become hyper-vigilant about media attention. 

Despite here I was.

As I stared at the media people, another bomb hit me.

"Who is the girl inside?"

"Is she the mysterious girl you have been dating so far?"

"She fell ill today; what happened to her?"

The stark actualization was too terrifying.

They were asking about Ayesha.

I sincerely hoped they would obfuscate Ayesha's name from this perplexity as if things were not frenzied already. But the following question from a particular journalist crashed my hopes.

"We learnt it is Ayesha Mehra inside-Ayesha Mehra, daughter of the millionaires Aman and Neeta Mehra, of the Mehra Infrastructures."

I froze, baffled as the other journalists huddled around the particular one, whispering and murmuring. A minute later, all of them were back-firing questions at me.

"Is that why Kavita Tiwari came to Lucknow today?"

"Is she inside?"

"Is Ayesha the girl you have been dating, Sahil?"

Bright white flashes blinded my eyes as the circle around me tightened.

"Please, excuse me," I said, my voice quiet and faint, countered by the clangorous chaos exploding within me.

"Is she the reason behind your abrupt breakup with Rhea?"

"Why is Ayesha Mehra in Lucknow, Sahil?"

"Please, let me go..." I implored, trying to push my way through the crowd. To make matters worse, another gathering of common people had gathered around the media, mobile phones in their hands, capturing photographs of me. 

"Please..." I beseeched, my voice faint and cracked, "Please, leave me alone..."

*******

Ayesha

On the hospital bed, in the early morning, two women embraced each other after a separation of several months. Neither of them uttered a word; none of them attempted to speak a word. Both of them unspeaking, their eyes snapped tight, tears flowing down their quivering cheeks silently, arms wrapped around each other for one minute...three...six...seven.