Secrets And Lies [Completed]

03. mr. loverman

Song of the chapter is
Medicine by Daughter

-03-
-Kartik Malhotra-
-Present-

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Malhotra Law Firms, Delhi
7 November, 2030
1:06 pm

As I twisted the paperweight on the white mahogany table, my mind clouded with the past memories.

The mail had arrived an hour ago.

I had been looking at my recent client's files, trying to find an anomaly in the same, when my galaxy tab had buzzed with a notification. Usually, I would've just ignored it and asked my secretary to check it afterwards, but something in that notification had caught my eye.

The words; Delmore High.

My breath had felt constricted in my throat and my palms had felt sweaty. Unbuttoning the two top buttons of my black linen shirt hadn't helped either.

It had been 11 years since it had all gone down, 10 since we had graduated from the place. But it all just felt like yesterday.

For people, it might've been just another phenomenon of 2019, that had faded with the course of time. But the ones who had gone through it, were still stuck in that place. In that time. In those horrific events.

We all may have moved on with our lives, and become people we had once wished to be, but we were still those scared kids who had faced monsters at the tender age of seventeen.

Jesus, we were just kids.

I picked up the phone and spoke loud,

"Hey Siri, call Love."

" Calling Love." The automated response came in a second.

In a few rings, she picked up.

"Hey," her voice came through, putting me at ease.

"Did you get an email from-"

"Delmore High?" Siya completed before i could finish. "Yeah, I just got it."

"You're not thinking of going, are you?"

"Kartik, listen-"

"No, no, do not try to convince me into this, Siya." I interrupted, before she could continue further. "I'm not going back to that place."

"Kartik, we agreed to let go of our past." She reminded. "Now, if we can't even be in the same place that we grew up in, how is that going to work?"

"Siya, it's not that simple. You know that." I balled a fist.

"I know that better than anyone, Kartik." Siya spoke slowly, but with composure. I could sense her vulnerability through the phone. "She was my sister after all. The one I grew up with and called family. The one who eventually turned out the biggest monster I had ever come across."

I rubbed the nape of my neck and leaned back on my chair.

"So yeah, I do know it is not that simple." She continued, her voice brittle. " But if we don't even try, then that will just be pathetic."

"Even if Sanchi was the one behind it all, it was all because of my sister. And her deeds." I said in an undertone. "How could I go back to the place that reminds me of what she did?"

I could hear her sniffling on the other end.

"We're not the same people anymore, Kartik."

Her words took some time to settle in.

"I know you're afraid, but there's no reason to be. The people who hurt us aren't there anymore. It's been eleven years after all."

I swallowed the bile forming in my throat for the past few seconds, but didn't say a word.

A couple of centuries passed before she spoke again, "Do you want me to come down to your office?"

"No.... I'll be fine." I responded. "Just need to be alone for a while."

"Alright." She softly placed. "I'll see you at home."

"Yeah. Love you, bye."

"Bye, babe." And with that, she hung up.

But her words stuck with me, haunting the air in the tight space of my office.

'We're not the same people anymore.'

And yes, while we may have changed into a more refined version of ourselves, we still had those kids in us somewhere. The ones who had not been given the opportunity to live their teenage life to the fullest, the ones who had been scarred forever by scars that would take a lifetime to heal.

And it had only been eleven years.

I knew that even if Siya had tried to sound bold and unafraid on the phone, she was as much as petrified as I was. Both of us had seen our loved ones turn into ruthless monsters and carve indentures on us. And both of us had also lost those same people to the darkness of life.

The guilt of it all would always stay alive in our hearts, like a parasite, growing and breathing.

My eyes wandered to the photo frame kept at the edge of the table and I instinctively picked it up. Our bright smiles stared back at me, reminiscent of the happiest day of our lives; our wedding day.

The corner of my eyes crinkled at the memory.

The day was as clear as crystals. A cloudless sky, the presence of two hundred people and two beating hearts, eager to be each other's. We had decided to have a small reception for our close friends and family only. And the happy time had flowed by like sand in an hourglass ; quick and easy.

It has been two years since. And needless to say, my wife had spent every day since then in making me the happiest man alive on earth.

If she was asking something from me, it was only my utmost duty to give it to her. And right now, she needed my support for going to the place which had given her a million scars. So why couldn't I be there for her?

I sat straight up on my chair and pressed my lips together as my hands instinctively went over to the touchpad on the tab.

I typed the words : Delmore High and clicked enter.

A bunch of pictures came up on the screen in an instant. I clicked on one with the clear view of the main gate and slowly muttered to myself.

'See you soon, old pal.'

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my heart!!!

my loves are so happily married to each other i can't believe-

i am going to have so much fun writing domestic sartik!

anyways, what do you think of this one? do vote and comment your views!

love,
Bosedisha