Note :
All my chapter titles are lines from Bollywood songs. They in no mean convey what the song means as a whole. But just the line that's used as the title to convey the emotion in the chapter as a whole
************
It was past 7pm and there was no message or a call from her. He was still in his office cabin working away hoping he received any kind of message from her. His patience was surely ticking and it wasn't helping his staffs. He was being unfair with a few of them with his way of handling his temper but that's how he works. Anyways the new project they were working on required some projections and their finance department were going back and forth with some numbers that weren't matching up with the rest. Akhil had offered to come back tomorrow to sort the problem, after all a fresh mind would help all of them to look at things differently but he was simply stubborn and had the bunch of them who were working on those numbers to stay back in office. They did have another week but he needed to look at numbers to keep him from thinking about her irresponsible behaviour right here. Yet another hour passed and that was it, he couldn't sit behind wait for her to reply. If it was any other day he wouldn't have bothered but with Rahul on the loose, he couldn't help but worry about all the mishaps that could have happened with her. Logical thinking had gone for a toss. His staff had left rather they were made to leave by his father after of course Akhil had gone home and ranted about his irrational behaviour with staff who were so dedicated to their company.
He grabbed his stuff and stormed out of the room worried. He felt suffocated in his shirt suddenly and had the urge to rip his shirt out but that wasn't possible. As soon as he got in to his car, he ignited the engines to life and cursed at every traffic light he had to stop. Even her brother wasn't attending his call. He couldn't call her father and bombard him with questions and so he had to first go to their hospital and if not later see how. He had anyhow alerted his security to look for anything untoward and all looked under control according to them. He had arranged for her security after his meeting with her but they had asked for time till tomorrow to deploy the best of their men for her and he wanted the best so all he had to do was wait. Maybe he should have let his security people keep an eye over her till hers were ready he thought and cursed himself loudly. He couldn't believe, how important she was turning out to be in his life. "Keep her safe" he mumbled a prayer in his mouth and like as if his prayers were answered, he saw his destination on the other side of the road. All he had to do was drive straight take an U-turn and all should be good definitely he thought.
Avinash dashed in to the hospital as if someone he knew was in emergency. Well it wasn't exactly a medical emergency but sure the issue he had was a personal emergency. He did not know whom to contact as the A & E was a chaos and he did what he would do any other day. He marched towards her cabin and found it locked. He felt like pulling his hair and he searched for her brother's cabin and to his luck the door was wide open and both of them were laughing heartily about something. He wanted to compose himself before confronting her to avoid any unnecessary showdown between the two of them but his anger won over all his sensible thoughts and he entered the room making his presence loud and clear.
"At least you could have had the courtesy to message me" Avinash spat out angrily.
That's when she realised what had made him enter the way he did. His demeanour was different. He looked like a possessed man. His hair all over, his shoulders slouched and his chest did not puff the way it usually he did. He looked like he carried the entire burden of the world on his shoulders. A sigh escaped her lips and she received a glare from him. Her ever protecting brother jumped to her side immediately.
"Hear her out at least" Rohit tried to diffuse the tension in the room.
"Oh please" Avinash scoffed in return and took a couple of steps towards her only to grab her wrist.
"Leave her at this instant" Rohit yelled and tried holding her other hand.
She knew to handle her brother better than the beast standing in front of her.
"Rohit let me deal with this. It can't be too bad" she told her brother calmingly and she turned towards him with her wrist still in his vice like grip "and you will leave my hand at this moment" she said coldly.
Her voice lacked the warmth with she talked to him usually and her face showed no signs of sorry. If anyone had to apologise it was him she thought. He had no business to walk in this way and manhandle her. She tugged his hand with her other hand even though she knew her delicate ones stood no chance against his strong grip. But she did, hoping he is the gentleman he had portrayed himself to be all these days. He did let go of her and she was glad that he was at least true to his nature.
"Where on earth were you without replying to me after reaching your goddamn hospital" Avinash yelled fisting his hands angry.
"I had work to do" she replied and once again noticed how tensed he looked. She did feel bad for him. Any other day she would have even hugged him to calm him but not today.
"I was fucking worried if you reached or not and here you talk about your work. No one would die if you delayed by a second or two" he knew he was wrong but who cares.
"It was a bloody emergency and yes he could have died had I delayed a second or two" she replied to him in his own words.
"You treat kids not adults"
"At the end it's a human being and I know to treat one" she would listen to any nonsense but nothing about her profession. "Listen Avinash, I had made myself clear that my profession is important and if saving lives is more important than a fucking message, I'd rather save lives. Plus you waltzed in to my life what a few weeks back and I am not your damsel in distress nor you're my knight in shining armour" and no one could stop her today.
He could only listen to her go on without a break. He never wanted to be her knight in shining whatever, all he wanted was for her to be safe but why was she exaggerating as if he had been behaving like an ass to her all these days.
"You make no sense here" was all he could say. The person before him was talking as if she had lost all her marbles.
"Oh I do. You have an issue then deal with it. There is a problem then share it with the person concerned. You don't have to talk like every thing is perfect when nothing isn't" she barked at him.
Rohit felt like an outsider. He couldn't understand why were the two arguing so much. All he wanted was a message that she reached safely, agreed they had emergency patients to deal with but why was she talking about irrelevant things. As far as he knew, not once Avinash questioned about her working style but why was she so bothered. Or were these some pent up feelings. He took a look at Avinash's face and clearly he was pissed off. He wasn't someone to control his temper but he was doing a good job at it. Only then he noticed the sudden silence in the room, Aadhya looked so red after her outburst
"Enough not a word more" Avinash's voice boomed through the 4 walls. Rohit quickly ran to the door and closed it as to avoid any spectators.
"I had asked you to message and you did not even after almost 3 hours. Yes, there is a problem and I do not know myself how the attack would possibly be and the extent of it. So I have been worried and I haven't revealed it without knowing the severity myself. But one thing is sure, tomorrow onwards there will be a personal security for you. I don't care what you do, how you do but you better make sure you have him with you all the time. Since you work at a hospital, you will have unknown people all the time and I expect you to accommodate him. End of it" he as usual made his point clear and looked at Rohit "and you make sure, she doesn't get rid of the guy"
"You can't do that" Aadhya said and this time around her tone was lot calmer.
He found no reasons to explain himself and his decisions anymore to her. At least not till she realises. He wasn't going to take any crap she threw at him. And this time, she was responsible. He spared her a glance and stormed out of the room without bothering to reply her or say a courtesy bye to them.
He walked past their father without stopping by to talk to him cordially.
"What happened here" Anand asked entering the room.
Aadhya walked out almost crying. She couldn't stand a moment more knowing she had to explain herself again.
Rohit took it upon himself to explain what happened between the two and also added his 2 cents on how Aadhya wasn't entirely right this time. Yes Avinash shouldn't have grabbed her wrist like that in fury but Aadhya had no control over her words today.
"Someone has to show her the mirror today. I am sorry nothing else would help. As for Avinash, I would definitely ask him why he grabbed her wrist like that but nothing more because Aadhya was stupid today" he said and his father heard him attentively.
Gautam concluded that both needed a dress down. They were going about things in their own way and it could only ruin them in the long run. He made it a point to update his friend Anand and walked out of the room disappointed with both of them who acted mature all along.
Avinash was ordered to be at the study after his late dinner which he did eat upon his mothers emotional blackmail. He hadn't revealed anything to her yet, but from the way his father did call him to the study he knew it wouldn't be long before she knew it all. As guessed, his mother was pulled in to the picture as well.
"What's wrong with you Avinash. You are far matured than that" his father expressed his disappointment.
"How come you did not get an update about how stupid she was. It doesn't boils down to me alone" he spat back.
"I heard that as well just to let you know" Anand replied.
"Plus let's not talk about why I had to do what I did and got myself insulted in return and you know that papa" Avinash yelled at his father.
"What?" Purnima shrieked.
Avinash closed his eyes frustrated and Anand had his head down in guilt.
"Why don't you ask your perfect son ?" Avinash mocked looking at both his father and Akhil.
They did not want their mother to get an idea about all this but Aadhya had ruined it. Only if Aadhya was before him, he was sure to have burned her down to ashes.
Akhil shared everything with Purnima and she sat down with a thud on the sofa shocked and hurt. She closed her eyes shut and tears ran down her eyes. How stupid was she ? She had believed her husband wholeheartedly and not to do any of this and he had done just that. What would happen if her mother in law got to know. What a mess ? She thought and walked out of the study leaving the three men behind who loved her so dearly or maybe not.
To be continued ~
Hope you are all doing good. Silent readers do start liking and please comment. They would mean a lot to me. Thanks for taking your time out to read this one.