Stranger's Deal

Stop Haunting Me

5 months later

I was all ready to go to the airport. I called a cab and got inside it. I was going back to Nepal. I had made up my mind to spend the rest of my life in the USA but Prarthi was making it difficult for me. She didn't know I was in the USA without Amol. If she knew, I would be in a big problem.

After I moved here Prarthi used to message me almost every day, asking me why have I stopped visiting the house. Yeah, house. It was never home to me cause home doesn't make you wanna run away. I just wanted to be away from that house, always. At first, I made excuses but later tired of her questions and her demand to do face time. I told her we had moved to the USA due to some business reasons.

For a while, it was all good and I got to know that she was in contact with Amol. It was weird that he hadn't told her about us. Why hadn't he? I thought after I left he would be happy and marry Ratna. I mean, maybe he had already married her but why didn't he tell my sister that we were divorced? I couldn't bring myself to say to her. It was too much for me but more than anything I was glad he was okay.

For the last few weeks, she started to ask me if I could do face time when he was with me cause he wouldn't do it with her. I was afraid she would find out. I made excuses and it worked but then she started to ask me to come and visit her. As always I made excuses but now she said she was planning to fly to the USA to meet us. I know Prarthi really missed me and I missed her too but I wasn't ready to tell her the truth.

That really freaked me out so without giving her a chance to book a ticket, I told her that I had already booked mine and I would be there in a few days. She asked me if he was coming with me and I told her he was. Prarthi really loved Amol as a brother-in-law. She always said that he was perfect for me and the way he took care of me made her respect him even more. Only if she knew what he did to me.

I didn't know how she was going to react when she found out we were not together. I don't even understand why she always needed to ask about him. She was always like vena, vena like her breath depended on him.

( Venaju = brother-in-law. It is the name given to the big sister's husband. Vena is short for venaju)

When I landed, it was already evening. I called and told Prarthi that I was there. She had told me she would be here to pick me up but I refused. She agreed after a few times I told her that I was not alone. Before she could ask me about him, I cut the phone off. Deep down, I was quite tense about what I was gonna say when she would see me alone. I took a taxi and looked at his picture while going towards my house. It pained me to see him only in the pictures. I really missed him.

These past months our memories kept me alive. Even though he played me, I loved him with all my heart. Now, that I was here, I was afraid I might have to face him again. Closing my eyes, I rested my head on the car's window, tears falling down my cheeks. Why did it hurt so much? Why? He always brought tears to my eyes.

Everything about him hurt me but I couldn't throw him away out of my heart. The questions were about to come near and I wasn't sure how to answer them. Everyone was going to blame me and not him. Somewhere I was ready for it but not fully. I was 20 minutes away from the house when I got in an accident.

I slowly opened my eyes. My head felt like it was turned into a stone. I looked around and I was in a room. The window was open and the moonlight fell inside the room. A cold wind blew in my face. I realized I was in bed. My whole body was in pain. I groaned and tried to get up but couldn't instead I felt something on my hand and my hand felt heavy. I slowly looked at my hand and there was another hand holding mine. I slowly looked at the person to whose hand it belonged.

It took a while for me to realize who it was. He looked horrible. His hair was long and messy. His eyes were bloodshot and he had a beard. It must be a dream. For the past five months, he had been haunting me in my dreams. I wanted to scream and cry and tell him to stop haunting me but I couldn't. He gave me a faint smile tightening the hold. He was about to say something when I finally said.

"Stop haunting me," I murmured.

He stared at me with confusion on his face.

"Why don't you leave me alone? I don't want you in my dreams. Go away," I said closing my eyes.

"Stop haunting me," I murmured it many times like it was my mantra and slowly drifted to sleep.

The opening sound of the door woke me up. I slowly got up and Rima was in front of me, holding a food tray. She gave me a soft smile then the realization hit me where I was. I abruptly got up and she was beside me in a second.

"What am I doing here?" I asked her.

They were vampires so they must have brought me here without my knowing.

"You had an accident and I brought you here," she kept the tray aside. "I brought some food and pills. It may help you get rid of the pain. Taxi's brake failed and....but don't worry, no damage was done," she said trying to calm me down.

I looked at my phone and it was off. I opened it to find that I had like 10 missed calls from my sister.

"She gonna kill me," I told myself but loud enough for Rima to hear it.

"First eat it," Rima said.

I almost forgot she was there. I looked at the food and heard her leave.

I called my sister and with one ring she picked it up.

"Why did you lie?" She asked in an angry tone.

For a second I thought she found out everything.

"I..I.." I couldn't speak.

"If you both were going to Vena's house then why did you tell me you were coming? At least you could have told me."

Relief filled me that she didn't know anything.

"It happened so suddenly," I replied.

"You didn't even bother to call me? Thankfully, vena called me to say that you guys were not coming. I called you so many times and he told me your phone was dead. I was so angry. You could have used his phone to call me." She sounded furious.

"I am so sorry, I was so tired that I fell asleep. I was thinking of calling you as soon as my phone was charged," I said hoping she would take that excuse.

"Whatever, I will be there in the evening,"

"What? Why?" I came out suddenly.

I closed my eyes cursing myself.

"Don't worry, I am not coming to meet you. Vena invited me for dinner," she said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh, see you then and I am really sorry," I apologized again.

"I am only coming to see Vena, not you," she hung up the phone.

Now how was I going to make her not angry with me?

My whole body was in pain but it didn't hurt as much as my heart was breaking. I took both food and pills then laid on the bed staring at the ceiling. I was pretty anxious about how to face and tell her about us. I had to prepare myself for what was coming. Tears welled up in my eyes and a lump formed in my throat.

Once I told her I would have to tell it to my parents too. They would literally kill me if they found out I divorced their rich son-in-law. I would lose my parents and I was afraid, I would lose my sister too. On the other hand, now that I was here, I had to face him.

After all these months, I would see him. I don't know how would I stop myself from running to him. Why did they bring me here? Why didn't they just let me die? Why were they doing this? To torture me? Why can't he just let me go like he did five months ago? He shouldn't worry if I die or stay alive. For five months it didn't matter. It shouldn't matter now as well.

Hello, guys. Please give my book 'The Other Woman' a try. Thank you.