Verticordious (Adjective)
To turn the heart from evil.
♡♡
The door slam jerked her out of shock. Bringing back the moments before when he acted so cold, so livid, so pained that her heart constricted feeling his distance in those moments. As if he teleported himself back to the past, being the same way. Her eyes widened in realization and the urge to call behind him, stopping him made her lips part when a touch held her back. A touch so shaky as if holding onto her for life.
"Mahi" she mumbled, glancing towards the door where he just left "He left. Bhai was angry."
She gazed at Mira who seemed on the verge of tears. Mahira touched her palm and the girl clung to her for protection.
"It is fine. It's nothing. He's just angry. He'll be fine." she whispered, caressing her head, glancing at Ron who stared at nothing in particular, his face contorted in a certain bleak of disappointment, affliction, and absence. "Mira" the girl looked up. "Come we have guests waiting"
"He is livid," Ron mumbled unconsciously.
"I know." Mahira tried a shaky smile in reassurance. "Right now we should go to the dining area. Everyone is there. I'll go search for him later. "
"I...No" He was snapped out of his trance, and he took a shaky breath, shaking his head in rejection "Th... thank you for the invite. But I should leave"
"No" Mahira shook her head "You aren't leaving. Mira takes him to the dining area."
"You don't understand he hates my sight." Ron reasoned gritting. "I would have never stepped in if I knew he...He will see me. I remind him of things...things no one wishes to be reminded of. The scenes are near to disgust." He rubbed the corners of his eyes, taking a calming breath he tried saying again. "Don't stop me, please. I shouldn't be here"
"You are here and now you have a chance to straighten out things. I don't know what happened but don't you need a chance to speak to him?" he nodded sighing "Go with her and eat something. Please" She added seeing his conflicted eyes. She turned to Mira, squeezing her hand needing backup.
"Yeah. D...Don't go" Mira glanced back, the chatters loud and growing. "They'll get doubtful if we don't go now."
Mahira held his arm and pushed a little to make him walk. She willed herself to act normal, smile and get back to faking. Convincing wouldn't be that difficult, she did these things before.
There were around 10 of her colleague, Apoorva, and Ranveer. Thus adding two chairs to the dining table of 6 and shifting couches made sitting organized. Sakshi, Yusra, and Vandita were sitting on the kitchen island stools chatting dramatically, Vandita narrating se tale with all flying hands and gestures which came to a hold when her eyes stopped at Ron. She took a double take and gasped, followed by others.
It was like the grown-up working adults all together turning into teenagers seeing a celebrity in front. Eyes wide in disbelief, high-pitched squeals, and crowding in need of some limelight.
"Ready to face your daily?" She mumbled to Ron who seemed to take a sigh and turn off whatever he was feeling, acting all charming and normal
Mahira awed his acting skills, seeing how well he handled all the attention thrown at him. She helped Geeta in serving, Mira who seemed to get back from whatever happened was busy with her jokes and chirpiness.
"Where is Mr. Hotshot?" Sakshi asked her, taking the casserole from her and passing it to Yusra.
"He had a situation to handle, so he left. He'll be back in a while" she lay between the teeth, Eyes darted to her for a second and back to the serving bowl.
"Poor guy!" Sakshi grimaced commenting and started carrying plates and passing them to Ayaan, Vishal, and Kabir who took the dining table seats. Mahira sighed as she bought it.
Now that she had started the façade, she'll have to pull it through the whole time. Smiling, reasoning, and acting like the past minutes never occurred.
She took a deep breath and started.
It was evening.
She kept looking at the door, her hands and feet working without a stop so as her mind. She had set the place back, taking the charge alone of completing the task, refusing any help offered. Geeta had the rest of the day off, and Mira was persuaded to get a nap. Her guests were off to their destinations. Ron included.
The boy didn't eat more than a morsel, acting nonchalant but she had seen right through his façade, she had been emotionally fooling people, now when someone tries it, it was a little easy to point out for her.
Keeping the last throw pillow back in its place, she glanced at the clock, her head twitching with minimal ache, might be the fact she skipped her lunch, her lack of breakfast was long forgotten by now. She couldn't eat.
How could she? Knowing he was out there, somewhere angry out of his mind and starving.
She cared about him, deeply almost to the point she was uncaring towards herself.
But this worry was more than care, she was losing her patience every second of his absence. The yearning to see him infront of her eyes was so much that she kept dialing his phone, like a maniac, She kept calling him only to listen to his voicemail.
"He's not back yet."
A voice observed, Mahira didn't feel like looking back.
"It's all because of stupid me. I shouldn't have said it infront of them, making you plan all of this. I'm so sorry Mahi." Mira resented.
"Don't. It wasn't your fault" Mahira turned and crossed the distance between them, she cupped her face caringly "Stop thinking all of this. If you want to do something, think of places he could be. I would just drag him back here but I'm clueless." She tried smiling tightly.
"Oh! I have a way." Mira said almost jumping but it faded almost instantly "But I'm not sure if it's working still or not."
"What....we can still try right?" Mahira probed.
"We can" she nodded frantically. "Let me get my laptop"
Mahira nibbled on her bottom lip, staring behind Mira who dashed into her room.
"Come on I'll boot up and show you." Mira placed it on the center table, sprawling on the floor and Mahira leaned at the armrest.
"This was a beta version of an app ACME was building a few years back. Bhai had installed it on almost all of our devices saying it would give the real-time Location of the entire family if logged in to the main server. He had kept the password to himself, sharing it with only mom as she had the obsession to know about all of us. I had to sneak it out from her to manipulate mine seeing I was the only teenager in the house. You know he or mom never let me stay out, always sending chauffeurs to my party locations. Mom just used to inform me that my ride was there and she expected me to be home in the next hour. Can you believe this? No freedom at all but today I might have revenge on Bhai. I'll give his location to you and you'll drag his Ass here, only if it is still working." Typing quickly, she fed in the details and stared at the screen, waiting to load.
She kept moving the cursor on the screen as the app took its own sweet time to load.
"Come on come on. Be fast" she urged the device to work.
"It is buffering" Mahira commented discontent.
"Yeah" Mira clicked her tongue, looking up from the app, and turned toward Mahira, who straightened. "Tell me one thing! Did Bhai manipulate your device or anything? You know if he stored this in your phone, we'll get assurity if it's working or not."
Mahira thought back, Did he? She didn't want to think how stalker-ish it sounds. She leaned and picked up her device to check.
"Open Developer's settings in your settings. You'll see a new tab in it. Normal eyes can't see the app, It's hidden." Mira instructed and Mahira kept following.
Thump-clicking on settings and searching for developer's options.
"Oh, it's opening. See!" Mira squealed. She turned the screen a little for her. Mahira's phone was long forgotten.
She moved the cursor a little, zooming into the map. Several red dots on the whole screen with a physiological map.
"Let me search his name," Mira said, selecting the search bar when Mahira zoomed into the map. A dot beeping in Mumbai.
"Here. It has to be him." She said zooming in.
"Junior Malik" Mira scowled reading her name on the dot. "It is me."
"Wait. It's more dots. The other one is...mine" She mumbled the last part in disbelief.
"And the last one is him. See it marked as 'Boss'" She clicked on the pin and a loading circle appeared. "I think he's nearby. See! I hope this gives us the address and not the coordinates. I'll be damned if it did in the times of Google maps."
The screen popped up and Mira squealed in victory. "His location. Is it just me or this is our current location too?"
"He's here only. Maybe..." the realization dawned on her and she immediately jump up. "I'll be back," She said behind her back, dashing out of the main door.
He likes staring down from a height, gazing at the entire world from the top. He had mentioned he liked balconies and open spaces. How can she not go check there before? That was so so tardy of hers.
She muttered a quick prayer under her breath and punched the button for the top floor, the terrace. Her wild guess. She can be wrong about it but the chances to be right were a lot more. Thank god he didn't leave the building going to god knows where, it would be a little hard to search for him in a city so busy, It was Mumbai. No doubt it was equal to searching for a needle in a heap of hay.
"God, please let him be at the terrace. Please" she mumbled and tapped the metal floor as the lift ascended.
She stepped out of the lift and ran towards the terrace door, she thought of pushing the plotted plant for keys, when her glance at the door screamed to her of it was unlocked. She pushed the heavy metal door open.
Her eyes searched frantically for the man who never left a chance to surprise her. Every time she thinks she was trying to know him, he so effortlessly proves her wrong. There were layers and layers to Veer Malik So many layers unwrapped but She was nowhere near his real him.
She spun and looked for him under the shade but he wasn't there. She walked towards the other side of the wall, the opposite side of the door when her steps halted.
"Veer" A sigh left her and her legs seemed tired as she took him. Standing against the terrace fence walls.
He didn't turn back towards her, hearing her call him. She took slow tentative steps more, her palm touching his shoulder when he stiffened.
Her lips parted but the fogged brain failed her with words.
"Why are you here?" he questioned without glancing at her.
"Because you didn't come back. You wanted some space and time alone, I gave you but after two hours I expected you to come back" She stated.
"Expectation." He chuckled mirthlessly "It is all because of this bloody word. Fucking expectations."
She bit her tongue not to point out his cursing. Curse words still annoyed her.
"A new start of a relationship and the fucking word starts ruling it all. Everyone starts expecting. Be it business, personal, or social. Fucking expectations make it all so difficult. To hold as well as let go. We all get tangled in the swirl of it and then start hurting when someone fails to keep up with it. It's such a shit and being tangled is like a fucking visit to hell." He breathed hard, turning towards her and leaning back "You know me for what duration Ira? 5 months? Let's round it to 6 months, and see, you have already started expecting things from me. Tell me why? Why do you expect ?"
"Don't you expect from me? You make me compile with so many things, like one sharing my location almost whenever you have fed that live location app in my phone." She kept staring at him, squaring her shoulders to not get intimidated by his outburst.
He narrowed his eyes at her "Yeah! So what? I'm worried about your whereabouts. Sue me."
Mahira copied his stance "I do the same. I care about you. You must be starving."
"I'm not hungry" he exhaled, staring back in distance. "How did you get to know about the location app? I bet it's Mira" he gritted.
She stood beside him and leaned back "Will you talk about it? Or you'll keep beating around the bush."
"What are you talking about?" he raked a hand in his hair.
"What do think I'm talking about?" She cocked a brow.
He chuckled lightly "You really want me to talk about my past when you keep yours locked up." He sneered at her "Real standards you got there."
Yanking his arm, she got him in surprise and made him look at her. "Yes! I practice hypocrisy. Now you'll tell me or not."
His jaw twitched, lips parting when she cut him off.
"And none of your comments are deterring me so save them. You tried using your tricks, but none worked. Take the hint."
"Mahira Malik" He glared at her, and when she refused to back down, he groaned and turned towards the railings, holding onto the cold Steel. "Shoot your questions"
"Who is Ron to you?" she asked unsure if he'll answer.
"Hitting the point I see," he muttered scoffing.
She rolled her eyes. "It's Ranveer, lad shortening it to fit the society. Ron. Who does that?" he snorted. "Idiot fellow."
He glanced at her and she raised her brows, giving him a look to get to the point.
"Leave the topic ira" he requested.
"No. Who's he to you?" She asked again.
"My brother" he snapped. "Ranveer Vohra is my fucking brother. The second child of my parents, the dysfunctional pair who kept fighting in front of their three-year-old. Uncaring of his presence when they kept throwing insults at each other. A product of them."
Mahira blinked slowly, processing the new piece of information.
"What are you thinking? Why he is not using the name Malik as his last name? That woman, one who gave birth to me left my father and me, choosing her unborn baby as the only tie to keep. She took my sibling and my normality with herself. Leaving me with a man who suffered her leave, it took months for my father to accept the fact that his wife and my....mother was never coming back. She had left."
Mahira tried to touch his palm, slowly and unsure she kept hers on his, conveying silent support to him. His palm took it, wrenching her fingers in his. She gulped seeing his eyes hard, face blank, only a sneer on it.
"You want to know why I loathe him? I'll tell you." He chuckled shakily. "It is not because she chose him over me. Or giving him her maternal surname. Or her presence in his life. Not even because she was showering him with all that the world tags as motherly love & care. None of this." He gulped and she closed the gap between them.
One hand on his arm caressing. Other in his hold.
"I hate him because he didn't get to stay with a passive parent Because he didn't get to witness those fights and insults they used to throw at each other. He didn't have to learn to make excuses at the age of five to hide the absence of both his parents in school events. I hate him because he didn't keep waiting for his mother in the snowstorm outside the house only to faint and get admitted to a hospital. It was not him who woke up screaming for his mother to come and hold him. It was not him who got consoled with the hope that his mother is on her way to see him only to get it crushed when she never came, not even receiving a call when father kept calling her for two days."
Pushing himself away from the railing he glanced at her with onyx eyes glimmering with pain.
"She didn't try contacting you?" Mahira voiced out lowly.
"No, Not once in the last 22 years has that woman tried contacting me. I hate her because She forgot I ever existed, That woman forgot her firstborn. She forgot the child she loved for straight five years. She forgot me." He looked away, curbing his emotions.
"How Ron, no, Ranveer got in contact with you? You knew him?" She was pushing him, she knew how dangerous it was to tread now but it was the only time he'll get to let himself out of control.
She understood how hard opening up was. If he was halfway there, she was nowhere ready to give him a pass on it.
"My father is an emotional man Quickly giving in to trusting people. Too bad he has suffered the burn of it. " he laughed mockingly "Ranveer was curious I would say. He was just turned 18. Free to make his own decisions. He tried contacting my father. Twice he tried to set up a meeting with him and my father being gullible gave in to the need of seeing the baby he was denied custody of. Ranveer met my father a few times, wanting to know who was his sperm donor. He got to know about me and the lad tried contacting me. I was aware of his identity as he had bloomed in his acting career, not about our blood-y-tie. It was a dinner my Chi had orchestrated when I saw him in person for the first time. It was just Dad, Chi, Uncle, and Ranveer. Two minutes into dinner and the truth came out, I left the moment Ranveer opened his mouth to speak. I resented the idea of sharing air to breathe with him, words were a far-fetched idea."
"So you never heard his part of the story?" Mahira asked.
"You want me to hear his part of the story? What story? That he missed his father for 18 years of his life. That his mother wasn't enough of a parent to him" He was breathing heavily, voice an octave stern and loud. "You got be kidding me"
She was to keep calm. For both of them.
"Tell me what do you see up here" she demanded.
He blanched in anger. "What the hell Mahira? What are you trying to do?"
She tip-toed, cupping his face and making him look at the sky. "Look up and tell me what you see."
"I see bullshit" he hissed.
"Veer please" she rubbed circles on his shoulder. "What does the sky look like?"
"It's black. The sun is gone so it's logical it is black." He gritted
"It is red." He looked quizzically at her "It's cloudy and the black sky has turned red. See there"
"So what to do want me to do? Dance" He thundered.
She smiled "No. I want to make you understand the difference in perspectives. You said it's black, I'm seeing it as red. There are two different views of the same sight. See different people, different ways to think, and different deduced meanings."
"Just say what you're implying Mahira. I don't have the time or patience to deal with your words. Oh fucking great." He screamed as the rain droplets dropped down.
She gaped looking at the sky, eyes closing as the water hit her with full force. It was little drops in one second, replaced by harsh rain the next.
"Come on woman. You'll have enough time to freeze." He yanked her towards the shade, a little space for the two to cover themselves from rain. "This is so annoying. One second it was all good, clear. Now it's raining cats and dogs. I really despise the weather here."
Mahira chuckled shaking her head, she wrapped the saree a little closer to her. It was wet in seconds. The sound made him glare at her. His eyes narrowed and traced her wet strands. The black orbs dropped down, making her skin prickle with goosebumps as he did a once over on her.
"You're drenched" he commented disapprovingly "All because you thought it was the right time and place for you to start your philosophical talks on people and how well their eyes function. Bullshit."
"Stop cursing" she hit his arm "I was trying to explain you something but as always you break moments like that with your curses and snappy words. It's impossible to have a deep conversation with you."
"Yeah, Deep talks above rains." his arm shot to her waist seeing her shivering in the cold air, pulling her to his chest.
"What are you doing?" She gulped.
"Keeping you warm" he responded nonchalantly.
She stared up at his face. The trance of all the emotions washed away from rainwater. It confused her so much how the two brothers could switch on and off their feelings. It was like a headache to think.
"What you thinking?" he cocked a brow. She felt herself snuggling closer to him. His eyes darted to her face.
Her lips parted to speak when...
To be continued...