Life is... Beautiful?

Chapter 18: Love is so Mad

"Hello?" You asked groggily, picking up the call. It was around 6:00 in the morning, and you had been woken up by your phone, which was incessantly ringing. 

"Hello? Hello, Y/N?"

You yawned, sitting up. "Yeah Srinu, what's up? Is everything okay?"

Srinu sounded close to tears. "Satya- Satya has a boyfriend, and it's all Rakesh's scheming." 

"What? Okay, okay, take a deep breath." You waited for his breaths to even out a bit. "Okay, now explain? What do you mean about Rakesh and Satya?"

"So, Satya has a boyfriend who is from Gold Phase. He's her classmate from college. I was at the lake when Rakesh came, saying that he was going to ruin my life, and to go ask Satya why she's doing this, so that I would understand his pain," he explained.

You sighed, understanding the situation. "I see. I'll ask Paru and look into it - does Satya know it was a plan?"

Srinu scoffed. "I don't think so. She's ruining her life y/n, and I feel like such a failure as a brother. I promised my mom I would take care of my sisters..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're doing the best you can," you consoled him.

"That's not all, even Padhu's mom found out about us. Everything is such a mess," Srinu vented. 

"Don't worry Srinu, everything will be alright. What was that kid's name?"

"Some Manish guy," Srinu responded. Manish... isn't that Nagi's brother? 

"Okay, I'll talk to him. You take care, okay? Bye," you said, hanging up. You rubbed your eyes, stretching your arms, before pulling off your blanket and getting out of bed. After making your bed, you went to go get ready while you waited for Paru to wake up as well. 

You sat down on the couch, cradling your steaming cup of tea with your phone in hand. Scrolling through your texts, you paused as you saw Rakesh's name, thumb hovering over the screen. After yesterday's events, you were, simply put, heartbroken. You used to have a pretty good impression of Rakesh, but after what happened, you just had to admit that you were wrong about him. Your judgment was wrong, and that was a hard pill to swallow, if you were being honest. 

"Y/N?" Paru had come down, hair slightly messy. 

You turned around, twisting in your seat. "Good morning Queen Elizabeth," you teased.

Paru took her coffee from the maid, sitting down next to you. "What's up? Why are you up so early?"

You sipped your tea. "Srinu called in the morning. Apparently Rakesh got some kid from here to go be Satya's boyfriend to get revenge on Srinu, so I told him I would look into it."

"Who?" Paru asked.

"He said that guy's name is Manish, I'm thinking it's Nagi's younger brother? Do you know any other Manish's in intermediate here?"

Paru shook her head no. "I think it is Nagi's brother, we can go before lunch to talk to him," she said. You pursed your lips at this. You hadn't talked to any of the guys since the incident at the police station, and you weren't ready to meet any of them just yet. Paru noticed your hesitation. "Hey, don't worry, they'll all be at the office so we'll be okay." You had explained what happened yesterday to Paru, who had already heard a bit of the story. 

You gave her a half-hearted smile. "Okay, we can go around 10:30. Thanks Paru." Paru just gave you a side hug, before getting up to go put her cup away. 

---

At around 11:00, you and Paru reached Nagi's house. The watchman, recognizing the two of you, quickly opened the gates and let you in. Once you were inside, you asked the maid where Manish was, and she hesitantly led you to his room. Once you knocked and opened the door, you and Paru gasped. Manish was crying, bruises forming on his face.