Moonflower

CHAPTER 29

"306"

"306"

"306"

He kept mumbling those numbers like a chant. Those were the only numbers that Ayaan wanted to see and those were the only numbers that he was looking for. He stumbled across the corridors of the hospital as he searched for room 306 in utter desperation and with a heavy heart. Ignoring his light-headedness and dry throat, he fumbled as far his feet could carry him before they give in too. He bumped into a busy nurse without apologizing and barely dodged a patient in a wheelchair before he found the room. He slowed down as he reached the door. With his increasing pulse, quivering lips and eyes that were eager to look at only one person, he put his one shaky hand on the glass window of the door as he saw Mehek lying unconscious on the bed. He rested his forehead on the glass and his body gave in. His feet had given in, his hands gave in, his heart gave in, his mind gave in and...his tears gave in too. He was crying. Crying like a child.

Ayaan was finally broken. After all those years of hard work of carefully mending the cracks of his life one by one by himself, in the end, he broke down.

After a while, Ayaan wiped his tears with his sleeves and sniffled away his remaining tears. He slowly moved his hand towards the handle of the door and was about to push it when another hand caught hold of the handle firmly. Ayaan got surprised and looked up when he saw Scarface standing in front of him, glaring down at him. He had been sitting on a bench near the room and was unseen by Ayaan who was swallowed in his own grief.

"You can't go in."

Ayaan ignored him and pushed the door but Scarface pulled it back with a frown taking over his features. With his sorrow turning into anger, Ayaan looked Scarface in the eye, "Scarface, let go."

Scarface looked at his disheveled hair, his wet eyelashes and there was no trace of Black Beast on his tear-streaked face. Even though he hated him, he couldn't help but pity him because he had seen how much he cared for his sister.

"She is stable now," Scarface breathed a heavy sigh.

"Let go."

This agitated Scarface, "That's all you deserve to know."

"Let go."

Scarface stayed firm on his resolve.

"SCARFACE, LET GO!" Ayaan shouted in resentment.

"YOU RAN AWAY!" Scarface yelled back in rage.

They painfully stared at each other in silence.

Yes, Ayaan had run away. He had raced out of Scarface's warehouse, caught hold of Armaan's hand and ran away. It was in the spun of the moment and time, and Ayaan just wished that he would disappear into an abyss. He wanted to take his brother as far as possible from Mehek. He didn't know why he did that. Was he scared that Mehek would see his brother even when she was unconscious? Was he scared that Armaan might do something else? Was he scared of the look in his brother's eyes? Or...was he just scared of himself about what he might do?

"You ran away like a coward that you are. You wanted to protect your brother but you left Mehek behind, Black Beast!"

Ayaan clenched his fist.

"Where were you when she was losing all that blood on the cold floor?

Ayaan clenched his fist harder till his knuckles turned white.

"Where were you when I was carrying her and rushing towards the hospital? Where were you when she was getting operated? Where were you when she was hanging between life and death? HUH? Tell me, Black Beast, where were-"

"WHERE WERE YOU WHEN SHE HAD TRIED TO KILL HERSELF?!"

Scarface's face turned pale and his eyes went wide in shock and were visibly shaking. His hand lost the grip on the door handle. Ayaan pushed the door open as he went past Scarface and entered the room. He shut the door behind him. He stayed by the door for a while and just looked at Mehek. He took one step forward and stopped again. He wasn't ready to face her but his love for her was far greater than any of his other emotions and so, he cautiously took his seat beside her, looking at her to his heart's content. It was all he wanted at that moment. It was enough to soothe his writhing heart.

And time went by.

~

"Pirate, this is bad," Blue Volt sounded panicked.

Pirate was quietly working on his weaponry in the storage room but the lines over his forehead were a clear sign that he was troubled inside.

"Cops can barge into our base anytime now. They have sniffed us out," Blue Volt was getting restless over Pirate's lack of action, "I mean, that's what I have heard."

Pirate put down his tools and wiped his hands on a dirty cloth while he was thinking of something, "Take only the best of the weapons and head out to our base under the railway line. I will meet you there with all the loot."

Blue Volt nodded frantically, "And what about Crackhead?"

"Leave him. He might be the best but he is more of a pain in the ass. I will get another expert over time but the important thing now is to escape," Pirate ordered.

Blue Volt nodded again and left the storage room but he found Crackhead standing just outside the room indicating that he was probably eavesdropping. Blue Volt looked him in the eye for a second and then went past him, towards his bedroom.

"You both are planning to go to jail without me, aren't you?" Crackhead felt betrayed.

"Our plan is to NOT to go to jail, Crackhead," Blue Volt stated before he entered his room and shut the door behind him.

~

Ayaan came out of the hospital room and carefully closed the door so as to not to make any sound. Scarface, who was still standing outside the door like a bodyguard, glared at him. Ayaan ignored him and was about to leave when Scarface placed a firm hand on his shoulder, Ayaan looked at his hand from the corner of his eyes with his back facing him.

"I would have let you go just for the sake of my sister's love for you and my love for her," Scarface gritted his teeth, "But Black Beast, I probably don't love my sister more than I hate your brother. Tell him to be on the lookout, I am coming for him."

Ayaan jerked his hand off his shoulder and without saying a word, he walked away.