Embrace

Biased Coin

Not proofread

Holi, Mehra Mansion

The party was smooth, filled mostly with employees and other collaborators of Fusion Beats and a few other clients of Abhi. With Abhi and Purab greeting the clients and Tanu and Aliyah showing off, the party was a silent affair for a pompous festival like Holi. Disha was chatting with her colleagues and sometimes accompanying the older generation but wanted to ditch this party and join her sisters, who have been calling her from time to time, but it looks like with Purab around, who didn't have enough time to talk in detail yet couldn't just leave her alone to go off, she chose to stay back. Especially with Aliyah around, trying to always hover over Purab, she didn't want to leave Purab, unsafe with Aliyah. She does not doubt Purab's intentions or love towards her. But his composed demeanor and his unwillingness to tell off Aliyah strictly always left her bothered. She shuddered, remembering the look on Aliyah's face a week back—a smirk plastered on her face, showing off her victory on crashing their date.

******

It's been a long time since they got alone time together, so they decided to spend the evening with each other. With Sunny gone over to his friend's place for a sleepover, she planned a romantic candlelight dinner, subtly decorated, at a seaside restaurant, much to their liking. She called him to remind him of their date and went to get ready when he said he was on his way to pick her up. They were in the open, swaying to music along the refreshing waves, the light breeze over them, as Purab ducked slightly to kiss her lips. "I missed you," he whispered in her ears. She hugged him emotionally. She missed him, too. "We are close to marking seven years of our marriage. Time flies so fast". He spoke into her ears. She just replied with a "Hmm". They stayed still in each other's arms for a while. 

"You know I love you. Don't you? ," he spoke after some time. He was back hugging her,  breathing words into her ears. "You don't need to be insecure of anyone, Shah. I love you. I'm married to you, and I'm all Yours", he continued, seeing her not replying. He placed a small kiss on her bare shoulder. "I know. I know you love me. I know we're married. And I also know that there is another woman out there, breathing down my neck, hovering over my marriage, waiting for a perfect time to ruin our togetherness. I cannot breathe still, till I'm assured that the woman no longer exists in our marriage." she replied after some moments of silence. "She said she is moving on, Shah. She needs some time, and we, I need to help her". A deep, sarcastic chuckle erupted in her throat. "We run a company together, so it's a bit difficult to move on with me always in front of her. I'm sure she is trying," he continued, his words lacking confidence this time. She turned around, facing him, gazing into his eyes for a few minutes. "Seven years is a lot of time, Purab. It may not be enough to unlove a person or love someone else. But it is a lot of time to understand that the person you have loved is now someone else's spouse, and you should have little to no control over their life. It is enough time to understand that they should keep their distance if they cannot control their urge to meddle between the couple." She whispered, with a little disappointment in her voice. She could see the discomfort in his face. He was again about to defend his ex-turned-friend. "Food is here. Come, let's eat. I'm hungry," she spoke, eyeing the food being served. They had just started eating when Purab got a call. 

"Purab Khanna speaking!" 

"......."

"What, how is she now? where is she ?"  

"....." 

Disha was wondering who it could be, not able to make out anything from the one-sided audible conversation. "I'm coming. Thanks for informing". 

"Disha, sorry, but we have to go. Aliyah got into an accident. She is injured, it seems. Abhi's phone was unreachable, so they had to call me." He cleared the bill, as they were talking and hurriedly dragged her from there. Before she could process it, they were in the car, heading towards the hospital. She was not sure, to what extent Aliyah was injured. But she didn't feel bad. It was unexplainable intuition that Aliyah was playing games. And she was scared. Primarily for herself. How she cannot feel any concern towards the news of Aliyah's accident made her doubt her empathetic abilities. This is also one of the main reasons she is worried about Aliyah's presence in their life. While one was her fear for their relationship, the other was fear for her own self. She doubted she might not feel any empathy one day when she thought of Aliyah being in some real danger. And she didn't want that. She was an empathetic person, and she didn't want to lose herself because of someone else. She looked towards a worried Purab, who was constantly trying to reach out to Abhi. She felt anger, worry, and pity, all at the same time, for the man in front of her.