Doomed

Chapter 23

      Aghanya paced the room as she started hyperventilating. "What do you mean he left? Where would he go? He just got married...I told him to cancel the wedding if he wasn't feeling it. And now he left her. On the wedding night. I'm going to kill him."

      "Calm down." Viren told her with his phone to his ear.

       "How can men just run away? From everything?" She made a remark and Viren snapped his head to look at her. He knew it was personal to her. He had left her in the past and all of it was coming back to her.

          "His phone is ringing." Viren announced. He put it on speaker as they all gathered around it.

         "Hello?"

         "Dhruv! You fucking bastard!" She grabbed the phone and put it close to her mouth. "How can you do this? You were there. You were there, you saw me. You saw what I went through and you're willing to put Kushi through it?" Her voice tore. "Wah, I mean, you are really great you know the consequences and still did it."

      "Woah...what are you talking about?"

       "You said you were leaving for New York."

         "Yes I am."

         "What the fuck Dhruv?"

         "Wait. Did you not read the message I sent? I'm leaving for a conference to New York. I wouldn't leave my wife for God's sake!" He said exasperated.

         "You sent 'I'm sorry, I can't. I'm leaving for in New York.'"

         "No I didn't. I sent, ' I'm sorry I can't delay this. I'm leaving for a conference in New York.'"

          "Well, fuck you but you sent what I said."

          "Ahh... I was using speech to text to message, it missed some words maybe. You know what, chuck it, I'm coming back. I'm hanging up now."

      The line went dead and Aghanya slumped to the couch. "I was really scared for a moment."

      "I told you not to worry."

***

       "Let's go." Nikhil said to Janvi as he pulled her out of Viren's suite.

       "That was something." He chuckled. "Hey?" He cupped her face, "You look pale. Are you alright?"

       Janvi nodded and walked towards the empty balcony. Breathing in the cool air, she went to the parapet and looked at the dusk sky. She was scared. She was scared, she had messed it up.

She placed a palm on her chest, her heart was still beating fast.

"It's okay..." Nikhil rubbed circles on her back. "Calm down..."

Janvi whimpered and crushed her face on his chest wrapping her arms around his back. She felt his arms running through her hair. His chin rested on her hair. Janvi relaxed visibly and closed her eyes. At the moment, she forgot about how she was using him, how Dhruv was spiralling because of her, how scared she was that Kushi might know about her and Dhruv. In that moment, as the evening breeze blew, all that mattered to her was his finger tips alighting sparks along her hair, his soft breath blowing on the top of her head, his steady rapid beats on his chest and his warm embrace.

***

"I would've killed him if he had left." Aghanya said to no one in particular.

"I'm sorry." Viren sat beside her taking her hands in his.