Seize Her And....

Chapter : 19

Huge Mistake.

"A huge mistake!" Arjun's voice echoes from the other end of the phone. Ritwik immediately furrows his eyes. Dev snatches the phone from his hand and turns on the speaker. Leo stands beside the window, worriedly looking at the floor and Purnit sits on the sofa staring nervously at Ritwik.

"Why would you say that?" He asks back.

"Rik, I have been dealing with your twin brother for ages. I deal with thousands of patients every day. I should've told you this earlier but I never expected this to happen at all." Arjun says. Dev looks at Ritwik then back at the phone lying on the table.

"Stop playing with my nerves man. What's going on?" Ritwik asks.

"Remember when you told me he kept stalking Pihu, back at Bangalore? I thought.. I really thought, it's a temporary curiosity that'll go away with time. Because Manik is the most harmless person I've ever met. He won't even hurt a fly.

At least that's what I thought.

But as days passed by he kept repeating the same thing and then the most unexpected event happened. He beat up people. If I am correct as you told me, he didn't move from the sofa for hours after that incident. That's it, the equation changed Rik and my worry began." Arjun says.

"Worry? About what?! And he beat up people? Where? When?!" Dev asks impatiently.

"Am I on speaker?! Great. Screw you, Rik!" Arjun utters. Ritwik glares at Dev who is ready to punch him on the face.

"Sorry man. Dev, like always, is behaving like a pain in the a**. You carry on. All relevant persons are here." Ritwik explains as he keeps glaring at Dev.

"God! So here is the problem, Dev's problem now seem easy to me in comparison to Manik's. It is extremely unlikely for a patient of Haphephobia to loose his mind one fine morning and attack someone, because attacking involves touching and they are fearful of unknown touch. But he did.

The problem he is going through is far complicated than a mere phobia.

Go back to the old days both of you. When you guys kept fighting over Teressa he felt alone, felt like the odd one out. Now why do I know that? Because during that period he was the only person who kept helping me with everything and I saw him, his eyes everyday. I saw how he felt he doesn't belong here, like he isn't important enough. I think this started when he came back from his internship and found out that Teressa told him nothing about what's going on in her life. He was practically kicked out of his bestfriends life for his own brothers." Arjun says as both Ritwik and Dev look at each other feeling guilty.

"He lost hope. He stopped waiting to be loved and he left, with the hope of never coming back. But when he did come back he saw Pihu. The only person who has been neutral to him, who spoke to him without any ulterior motives. Maybe for a very brief period but she has been a source of positivity for him before he left. If I am correct they were getting along quite well because of her happening, optimistic nature. There is no denying it that she is a source of optimism to everyone she meets. There is a weird warmth about her that even if you try to ignore her you fail to do that.

And that warmth made him search for her. His hopeless, loveless life was looking for something, something he didn't get a taste of for ages. It's like finding a wild fresh waterfall in the midst of a dead, lifeless desert." Arjun pauses.

"She has become that for him Rik. Now when he didn't have a taste of the water he was still surviving but after getting a glimpse of it, you think you can take him away from it? You cannot, you can never! That's where my statement comes from, you've done a huge mistake.
Pihu is not going to stay here forever. She has a life of her own, that doesn't include Manik. She'll eventually leave, what will you do then? How will you control him? That's what is scaring me the most.