Oberoi's Ardhangini

CH | 116

Pranavi sat on the balcony with a cigarette in her hands while her gaze was unfocused, and she inhaled a puff lazily while she was lost in her thoughts. She was never a smoke person, but the terror she felt today made her want to smoke to calm her nerves.

Although the trepidation in her heart had subsided a little, the fear of the unknown was bugging her, because she had no idea who they were or why they were after her.

Moreover, when she reminisced about how the creepy man almost kissed her, she had the urge to puke her guts out, and in fact, she did throw up right after she came to the house.

And when she eyed herself in the mirror and took note of her disheveled appearance, all she could feel was how dirty she looked.

Involuntarily, her gaze settled on the bite mark the anonymous man gave to her body, and she felt disgusted. The feeling of ants crawling on her skin was rising with every passing minute.

Seeing that reddened bruise, anger coursed in her veins, and she strode to the bathroom and instantly turned the shower on and let the water drench her from the top of her head as if all her worries would fly away just like the flowing water.

After her mind calmed down a little, she took a deep breath and pumped a heavy lump of body gel into her hands, and wiped her body roughly until her skin turned red, hoping his smell and touch would vanish from her body miraculously.

However, when she came back from her shower, there was no trace of Jwalin yet, and she so badly wanted to feel him, because only when her eyes took note of his silhouette, she would feel safe, because he was her home!

The urge to take a whiff of his unique fragrance to calm herself down was driving her insane, and she walked to the wardrobe and slipped herself into one of Jwalin's shirts, and closed her eyes shut, hoping this would relieve the knots in her uneasy heart.

In fact, she didn't know why he hadn't called her back nor responded to her yet, because it's been a while since she dialed him, and she shrugged it off thinking he might be busy.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she felt the burning sting on her fingers and immediately threw the cigarette away from her hands.

With a sigh, she turned around and switched the television on to distract herself, but before she got a chance to settle down and watch it, her mobile rang in the large bedroom, and she lifted it without even seeing the caller's name, thinking it would be Jwalin.

But to her surprise, a voice that she hadn't heard in a while spoke from the other end of the line, "Sister."

Listening to the tremble, Pranavi gripped her mobile tightly and said, "Ishika?"

As soon as she said that, Ishika started crying and she didn't know what to do as she was not very close to her, nor did they share a lovely bond over the years.

But somehow, she shrugged off her thoughts, and queried softly, "What's wrong?"

"Dad is in hospital," Ishika said while her cries hadn't reduced and Pranavi blinked hurriedly while a lump formed in her throat, and she immediately enquired, "What happened to uncle? How is he now?"

But Ishika hadn't answered and all she could hear was Ishika's sobs and her heart felt troubled because although Mehta's didn't love her wholeheartedly, she felt blessed because if not for them, how can she get Jwalin in her life?

And just like that, her dissatisfaction with the Mehtas vanished when she thought things through, and it's been a few months since she decided to forgive them.