Tere Liye | ✔

Chapter Twenty-One - Near Yet Far

He blinked back the moisture of angst rapidly and forced a composure in his demeanor as he lifted his hand to caress her head fleetingly. 

"Hey." He smiled through the residue of his tears. "How are you?"

He rectified his faltering smile when he no longer found those same round eyes twinkling at his voice and shrugged his shoulder, giving out a broken chuckle.

"I know I shouldn't be here this early but I wanted to talk to you." 

He gulped a mouthful of air before he could stable his smile again. 

"Remember our plan? It,"

He exhaled, irked when his constricted throat hurdled his speaking ability.

"It's becoming a success, Khushi. First day, and she's already worn out." He chuckled, this time a somehow genuine one as he remembered Sheetal's state since last night. 

"In fact, we didn't even have to do anything and she created a drama herself this morning. She was so scared that she thought Payal's shadow to be of the one scaring her and just decided to attack her." 

He gave out a relieved sigh as he added. "Thank god she was not successful. But whatever happened was for good. Everyone was even more angry on her. Especially Di. Di was so done that she made arrangements to send Sheetal away today itself and I had to stop her."

He laughed again, this time as the moisture brimmed in his eyes again whilst the scene he just escaped from rang in his ears like an excruciating thunder. 

"But Di got more angry." He whispered, no longer having any strength left to feign being alright. 

Tears spilled forth as his sister's words started choking him again, pricking needles in the pieces of his already shattered heart. 

"So angry that she said I never loved you. That I, I was like my father, a betrayer who left you to, to di-" He stopped, unable to utter the word that seemed to be a blow to his guts - the whole statement in fact being nothing but a stigma on the love he carried for this girl in front of him.

Taking a sharp intake of breath, he blinked to clear his vision of Khushi's face, caring less of the tears that fell down in the process. 

"She said I don't love you, Khushi." He croaked, his hand reaching to cup the side of her face, taking care not to move the mask that kept her breathing.

"But you do know that that's a lie, right?" His pained voice shook as he desperately tried clearing the doubts he feared she might have gotten. 

"I have not forgotten you. I, I can never. Whatever I'm doing, every step I'm taking is for you. My love for you was never and is not a facade. You're everything to me, Khushi. My life, my happiness, everything and I can never leave you. I won't. You know that, right?" 

A silence followed his heart-breaking whisper, bringing him no comfort like the old days. Unlike those days, Khushi was unmoved. Neither did her arms flung around him to hide him from the monsters that clawed at him, nor did her soft voice utter any words of comfort to sooth his pain. 

But as he watched, a lone tear dripped from her eyes and landed on his hand. He stared at the glistening drop, his heart shattering as he realized she was still there - listening to every single words that he spoke. She was there and she was trying to reach him but the shackles of helplessness had gotten the best of her, giving her no choice but to simply cry along with him.

She was caged. Caged away from him in such a dark place from where he couldn't find no easy way to rescue her. She was here but also so far away from him that he could hear her voice cracking and breaking as she called out for him, but he couldn't see her. He couldn't see where she was or which path to thread in order to reach her.