CHAPTER FIVE
THE GIRL WITH HIS MOTHER'S EYES
✧ ⋆ ☽ ✯ ☾ ⋆ ✧
He doesn't think it's evil to take what one wants. What some would call evil, Rocky believes it to be an appropriate response to a harsh and unfair world. Because sometimes, to satisfy one's hunger, you have to do whatever it takes, even if it causes another to suffer.
That's how he had survived.
When his mother died, leaving him alone in the cruel, capricious world, a strange hollowness settled in Rocky's chest. Like he left every piece of himself in the only thing he loved in his life. For pain like that never faded entirely. Grief had its own life and took its own sustenance. And the only thing that kept him going was the promise he made for her: No matter how you may live, promise me that you will die as an immensely wealthy man.
Even if torment forged him, Rocky's vow to his mother was what made him wake up every morning and get through another day. In fact, to be brutally honest, it was probably the only thing he had stayed alive for. Even if he was alone. Even if he felt like eating his own heart for all the things he was forced to witness and do... he survived.
With his hands shaking and his knuckles bruised, he survived. Cold in loneliness and soaked in blood, he kept fighting for one more breath.
It was truly a miracle how he kept his soul aloft throughout it all.
But deep down, he was glad he did. He was thankful that his mother imparted some sense of morality in him before she left. Otherwise, he wouldn't be any different from all the other monsters that fancied themselves as Don's and sat at the top of the food chain, lording over the weak and deprived.
You see... Rocky had long figured out that the world is an awful place, so he does his best to meet it on his own terms. At least that way, he has some chance of winning. This is exactly why, when a stranger came offering him, Bombay, like it's a piece of candy in return for assassinating a powerful man, Rocky agreed. Because he sensed that the ocean he had always wanted to rule was nothing more than a well.
So, he went in search of the actual ocean.
That was where he saw her, meeting each other by pure coincidence.
Rocky knows what he felt for her was not love, but it's not nothing either.
Her eyes were the first thing that caught his sight. They pulled him toward her like a fish on a line. A moth to the flame. They were the clearest and prettiest dark brown. The fighting spirit behind them was unmistakable.... like mother's, a thought comes unbidden. And no matter what he tried to do, he couldn't seem to shake the idea off his mind.
It was foolish to try.
Everyone knows you can't unring a bell.
But there's also no proof to say they are compatible either.
Unlike her, he's comfortable in violence. His hands are not clean. While she was raised to have a pristine life, dusted in gold and plated in silver, he came from the dark corner of the crowded slums of Mumbai, driven by greed, pride, and pain. While she wears her heart on the sleeve and loves openly, his features are usually masked behind a cold facade. He knows he's not a whole person either. Parts of him died so that he could survive. He's so crooked and broken that he doesn't think he could pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her.
And Aadhya Desai deserved better than anything he could offer.
But knowing this, he'd still begun to lean towards her, look for her. And that need was what led him to Rajendra Desai's Mansion that night. Hoisting himself onto a window ledge just wide enough to perch on, Rocky ducked inside the bedroom. Just as he was refastening the latch, he heard a sound from behind, followed by a familiar voice. "What the hell!"
When he turned around, there she was. Freshly bathed and dressed in a long silk chemise and an overcoat knotted in the front, looking ready for the bed.
Aadhya didn't seem to have fully processed the situation. But once she did, she echoes, apprehension seeping into her voice this time, "What the actual hell!" She took a few hurried steps until she was standing in front of him. The girl peaks through the window to check if any of the guards stationed around the clock had noticed him entering, her eyes apprehensive. When she doesn't see anything unusual, she fixes him with those big eyes, her tone worried more than accusive. "Do you have a death wish? What if someone had seen you entering? What if Reena had been here. She looked like she'd shoot you dead if she ever sees you!"
"You know, generally, people would be shouting out at the top of their lungs when they see an intruder. More so if the said intruder is someone they hate," Rocky explains to the girl, "I mean, what if I came to take advantage of you or something." And just to scare her, he leans forward suggestively, close enough that the heat of his breath can be felt by her.
To his surprise, Aadhya just rolls her eyes and pushes him back with one of her hands. With her unimpressed and trusting eyes, she says, "Shut up! You are not the type to take advantage of a girl." The words come out of her mouth so easily... like she didn't even have to try and think about it to answer.
He didn't know he should be terrified or offended that she had such a deep understanding of him. "I could be," he tries again.
"Yeah, sure," she tells him blandly as she walks past him to settle herself before the dressing mirror. Taking one of the round brushes from her vanity, she starts combing it through her tangled hair. She pauses her actions suddenly, but only for a second. She places the brush down and turns towards him. "Wait! There are still three days for the election results and a week before the CM's name is announced. Meaning it's not time for you to go after Garuda on a suicide mission just yet," she shakes her head cutely. A sharp furrow of confusion appears between her brows. "I don't understand - what exactly are you doing here?"
Even if Rocky was curious at the odd choice of words, he didn't show it. For someone who had been in India for less than a month, the raven-haired girl had always been mindful of details she had no way of knowing. And he doubted she would tell him anything regarding it even if he asked. "I will be going to Bombay for two days, and I just thought I should come and see you before I leave." He tells her the real purpose of the visit, making himself comfortable on her silk bed.
"Oh," Her eyes furrow even more. "Why?"
"As you said, there's still time before I have to complete my job," He shrugs indifferently. "And the children in the slums are asking after me. So I thought I would go and see them once." At that, her eyes light up as though she had figured everything out.
"Good," she says. But after a moment, she pursed her lips, like she had something to say to Rocky but thought better of it. She licks at her lips before opening her mouth, unable to resist the urge. "Is everything okay there?" She looks uncomfortable as she says this. As though she still hasn't figured out if it's a sensible thing to do or not. "You know- with you gone. I mean, your previous boss must have been pissed off. And with you not being there to protect your people... is everything alright there."
"You know, darling, you seriously know an awful lot about things that you shouldn't be aware of," He says casually, without any accusation in his tone. But it earns him a huff and an indifferent murmur of 'Forget it!' "But yes," He tells her loudly, gaining her attention back. Something in her gaze made her indulge him. "Things, even though a little tense, are going smoothly. Shetty wouldn't do anything foolish as long as I remain an employee of your father and his people. He fears them too much."
A smile had spread across the girl's face, as brilliant as the sunrise breaking over the Juhu. She looks content about it, and he has no idea why. Her eyes spoke of many untold stories, almost challenging him to unravel them. It's an unfamiliar feeling...to not know something. But strangely, even though he felt as if he'd lost a battle for the first time in a long time, he didn't get angry or frustrated.
Instead, he's pleased to find her wishing for the safety of his people even if she doesn't know any of them personally, just for the fact that they were his. A warm feeling blossomed in his chest. In a place he thought was long dead and rotting.
The soft emotion catches him by surprise.
Rocky had always thought no one could fit in the empty place of his heart after his mother. But this strange girl, with her empathetic tears for the poor, her long unreasonable rambling about how her sister would be a better match for him, and the occasional eye-rolls when he gets under her nerves... she proved him wrong.
He knows it's not love. But he also knows it could be... if he gave himself a chance to be happy for once in his miserable life.
Faced with such a conundrum, Rocky gets up from the bed, ready to leave the place before he could turn greedy for her company more than he already has. "I will get going then, darling. Stay out of trouble these two days, alright. And stop letting strangers inside your room no matter how much you trust them."
She scowls at him, just like he expected her to. "For a second, I forgot how obnoxious you are," she says in fastidious distaste. Just as he turns to leave back from the same window he'd come from, she tells him what's probably the most absurdly unrelated thing he has ever heard. "Don't forget to take some Doodh Peda with you. The kids will like it."
***
So, I feel like I wanted to do something, but did something else. I am not really satisfied with this, but since I poured so much time and everyone's asking for a update I decided to post it. I will probably take it off later.
And about his visit to Bombay. Rocky's uncle tells that he just wanted to know where Rocky got the sweets the last time he visited them because the children liked it and all when Shetty and his goons mock him about how Rocky would certainly die.
Anyway, thanks for waiting so patiently. And sorry it was crap.