Anguish & Affection

Part 11

Diya carefully maneuvered around the mansion, searching for any phones, laptops or other objects that could help her contact the outside world and her family. However, Atharv Singh Chauhan had made sure to remove all of these items from his home in an attempt to keep her trapped. Memories of him caused a mix of emotions to well up inside her.

Her heart was heavy with the pain of betrayal and grief that his actions had caused her. Burning rage flooded her veins as she wondered why he tried to comfort her in the night when she refused to have her meal. But even as she wanted retribution, a spark of hope still lingered in her chest that maybe all wasn't lost yet.

She stumbled upon a locked room and thought it might be the man's study, where she hoped to find his phone or laptop. Sure enough, when she opened the door, the room turned out to be as she expected.

Cautiously, she stepped inside and shut the door behind her. To her surprise, the desktop was already switched on and in sleep mode. She rushed to the chair facing it and attempted to use it without success - the system asked for a password. Her disappointment was evident in her sigh.

As Diya tapped away at the keyboard, she thought to herself, "He is so self-centered; it must be his name." With this assumption, she entered his full name as the password, capitalizing the first letter of all the words - of course, it couldn't be that straightforward.

As the computer screen informed her that her password was incorrect, she sighed in exasperation and rolled her eyes. She glanced around to see if any other computers or devices were within reach, but they all seemed to be taken. Consequently, she had no choice but to restart the process on the desktop. Taking a deep breath, she tried again.

"Could it be my name joined with his? That's another thing that he is obsessed with," she wondered. While she could not help the butterflies in her stomach, her mind felt repulsed at the possibility. She tried it, only to fail once again.

"Oh no! So many choices, and I could be wrong about which one. I better try his parents' names before he notices I'm here," Diya thought to herself as she typed their name into a search box. Much to her relief, the third time was the charm – she had guessed correctly.

She was now transfixed on the image of his wallpaper. It was an old picture of their childhood, taken at Atharv's house. Diya and Aditi were playfully tugging on his ears from either sides, laughing uproariously as he looked almost scared by their shenanigans. The grown-ups in the room were also finding the scene amusing as they smiled among themselves. Her own lips curved into a smile involuntarily, for the photo had reminded her of those happy days.

Diya's heart ached as she stared at the photo taken on the eve of her seventh birthday. She could almost hear their laughter and feel the happiness radiating from them in that moment, as the innocence that shone from their eyes seemed to reach out and grab her. But that joy was lost now, and as Diya watched the image dissolve into another precious childhood memory, a wave of grief engulfed her, leaving her with an emptiness that felt so heavy it threatened to drag her under.

Atharv shook his head as he leaned against the doorframe. "I thought that after all this time, you would have learned not to sneak into other people's rooms like that," he said with a chuckle. She yelped in surprise upon hearing his voice and jumped up from her seat.

Diya was upset that she hadn't been able to connect with her family or leave before the man spotted her. She closed her eyes in frustration, angry with herself for allowing her feelings to cloud her judgement. Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm herself, Diya turned to face the person.

She was furious, eyes blazing as she crossed her arms in front of her. "I don't want to search through your things. But I've been cut off from everyone and I don't have many options," she snapped.

"I can't let you talk to your family, because I know you are cooking up an escape plan," he said. "I'm sure whatever you come up with won't work, but I'd rather nip it in the bud than having to worry about foiling your plans."

'I'll have none of that," she declared, starting to move away from him when he held his arm out, prohibiting her.

"You should call your family; I'm sure your mother would appreciate it," he spoke softly, the arrogance in his voice fading as he pulled out a phone and handed it to her.

He understood that if he kept tormenting the woman of his affections, he would soon pass the point of no return. His quarrels with her father had already caused her immense pain. He had already arranged for a mobile which would match her requirements while not compromising on his, and his tech team had already delivered the said phone, which he had handed over to Diya.

The words felt like a venomous serpent coiling around her body, seeping into her veins with each word. "What's the price? What do you expect?" she spat out bitterly as if it was an acid burning her throat. With every syllable, the disgust in her voice and the rage in her eyes only intensified, until it felt to him like a thousand kicks to the gut.

"Diya, despite what you believe, I am a man of respect. Here is the phone, to do whatever pleases you; I have disabled specific features and blocked certain numbers so as to protect you. All your family and friends' contacts are already saved in it. If only there were words to express how much I care, perhaps one day then I would succeed in conveying my feelings."

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