A Journey to Trust and Heal

53- Calling Reinforcements

I took out the plates while Rudra reheated the food. We all sat down on the chairs of dining table. I was going to serve them but everyone refused saying that they weren't guests. Hence there was no need for formalities, they would fill their plate themselves.

"Well we need someone who you are comfortable with and that said person can be levelheaded if any undesirable situation occurs", Maitri summarized.

"Calling your Mom is a total No-No. Do you have anyone else who you find comfort in?", Jiya asked while filling her plate.

"Umm...My sister", I spoke while internally thinking who else did I have in my family other than my Mom and Tanya.

"I don't think, it's wise to call Trisha here. I mean, she is pregnant so this stress may be harmful for her", Rudra advised

"I was talking about Tanya", I said a little awkwardly.

Rudra face palmed himself upon hearing me.

"Shit! I am so sorry. Its just that for all these months, I thought Trisha was your sister and Tanya- your sister-in-law. It totally skipped my mind that it wasn't the truth. I am so sorry for making this so awkward", Rudra kept apologizing.

"It's fine. I can understand", I waved off his apology.

"You are sure that Tanya would be able to handle everything?", Maitri asked.

"No. Tanya is my biggest comfort but she won't be able to handle if something goes wrong. For that, Raghav needs to come with her. He is the calmest and the most composed person in our family", I informed them.

"That's good. Ok so now we have two more people coming to help. Do they know about your problems?", Rudra asked.

"Nope, not yet. I will have to explain everything to them", I spoke already wincing at the thought of scolding I was going to receive for not telling them earlier.

"Guys, listen. I am just going to tell them about my nightmares. So promise me that none of you would blurt out about my distrust and fear of men", I said as an afterthought.

"But why Sia? We need to work on both the problems. How will you hide the fact while trying to recover?", Rudra asked, sporting a tensed expression.

"I am not going to comment on whether Sia should inform them or not but we are not going to work on both the problems together", Jiya spoke in a firm tone.

"Why? Till now I was thinking that we are working on both problems. I even searched about both of them", Shanaya asked with a scrunched up face.

We all had the same doubt but Shanaya was the one who spoke it aloud. Everyone looked at Jiya, waiting for her explanation.

"It will put too much pressure on her. For any kind of method to work, Sia needs to stay calm or else everything will backfire.

If we try everything at a same time, she may get flustered. Who knows, if we may cause more damage.

As her nightmares are a daily occurrence, I thought that we should put it in the first priority.

Let's try to curb her nightmares first. That doesn't mean that we would stop searching about methods to cure her fear. We would just experiment them at a later stage", Jiya explained leeting out a sigh, probably tired of giving such a lengthy speech.

We all agreed with her and stood up from the dining table as we were done with eating.

"Sia, you go and call your sister. Till then we would list out the methods and their consequences to show Raghav and Tanya on what to expect", Maitri said while resuming her previous seat on the floor of living room.

I nodded and went away from them a little, in a quiet area as they were making too much noise.

"Heya!! It's been so long. How are you?", Tanya asked cheerfully as soon as she picked up the call.

"Hi! I am fine. Umm, actually I called you for a reason. I need some help", I informed her hesitantly.

She picked upon my hesitant tone in a second and asked me worriedly, "What happened, Sia? Are you okay? Did someone taunt you? You are not getting bullied, are you?".

"Stop stop. Don't overthink. I will explain everything later but I want you and Raghav to come here for few weeks", I said stopping her train of thoughts.

"I think there's a problem in network. I heard you say few weeks. You meant few days, right?", She asked to confirm.

"Tanya, nothing is wrong with the network. I said few weeks. Can you manage? You can say No, if it's going to be a trouble", I spoke disappointed even though I should have known that they both were busy with their career.

"What trouble? I would gladly leave, everything behind for you. We are coming. But I won't be able to come today, will come by tomorrow. I need to pack and also inform the students that dance classes would remain closed. You can wait till tomorrow, right? Or do you need me today itself ?", Tanya asked in concern.

"No no, tomorrow is fine", I assured her.

"Okay then, see you tomorrow. Byee", we finally ended the call.

Everyone looked at me expectantly when I came back to the living room.

"They are coming tomorrow", I informed them and received wide smiles in return.