Brushing the hair for one last time Paro let it fall on both sides of her shoulders. Keeping down the hairbrush on the dressing table she looked at her image in the mirror.
" Coming ". She bolted towards the door hearing the bell.
"Wow, girl! Are you sure you are not the one performing.?" Ishita teased her while entering inside.
" Shut up. Look at you too." Paro rolled her eyes.
Both of them ended up laughing together.
After that eventful day, Paro hardly left her room last week. She even missed her classes for the first two days.
Today she had to go to Vivaan's school for their cultural program. Pritha and Vivaan both were over the moon about their performance. She couldn't turn them down seeing their enthusiasm.
Paro asked Ishita for once and she was more than ready to join them. It turned out she was in the same school and didn't want to miss the chance to relive their happening cultural fest.
"Let's go. Everyone's waiting." Both of them took the elevator to come to the ground floor.
…..
" Mommy, where are uncle and papa?" Pritha asked her mom as all of them were about to get into the car. Paro became stiff after hearing about the person she never wanted to see anymore.
" Papa will go directly from the office. Uncle may not join us. Now hurry up. Get into the car." Bidisha told her daughter.
Pritha reluctantly got into the car. She wanted her favourite uncle to be there. He was her biggest cheerleader. On the other hand, Paro heaved a sigh of relief.
" Paro and Ishita, come with us," Bidisha said lovingly.
" But Aryan and Vivaan… '' Paro trailed off.
" It's ok. Mom will join them. All of us will reach at the same time." Bidisha replied.
" Yes pipi.. please join us." Pritha pleaded. Without exchanging any words both of them get into the back seat.
…….
" Paro, can you join me in the washroom?" Ishita asked Paro who was busy fixing Pritha's dress backstage.
" It's ok. I am going. You come after you are done." Ishita went out seeing her busy.
After almost five minutes Paro was done when she remembered Ishita asked her to join. But she should have been back by now.
Frowning, Paro started taking steps toward the washroom. The feeling of being watched again consumed her. Now she didn't even know if she was being paranoid or if someone actually was keeping eyes on her. Roaming her eyes around she couldn't find anyone. She started walking hurriedly in her direction.
…….
" Leave me.. you jerk…"
Ishita almost cried out in panic and tried coming out of the person's vice-like grip. The man was a foot taller than her and even in his drunken state, he was far stronger than her.
As soon as he captured her lips with his rough ones she felt like puking.
" What the…" Paro screamed horrified seeing the scene unfolding in front of her. "You scoundrel! leave her ." She bolted towards their direction. Gripping his hair with both of her hands she tried to separate him from her friend.
Turning him around she punched him as hard as possible, straight pointing at his nose.
" You bitch." The drunkard hissed at him.
Before both of the girls could understand anything he slapped Paro hard across her face. Ishita gasped and ran in her direction to save her friend. Before he could hit her again suddenly he was flat on the ground by a strong force.
A terrified Paro turned back to see Adi standing there with a burning gaze. Without giving her any look he walked towards the person and grabbed his collar making him stand up.
" You Bastard! How could you even think of hurting her? I am gonna kill you today." Blinded with rage Adi kept punching all across his face.
He was looking like a wounded bloodthirsty animal. The man was almost on the verge of fainting. He looked at Adi like he was facing death from the near.
Adi still wasn't satisfied seeing his all bloodied face. He felt like burning him alive. Bringing out the gun from his pocket he pointed it towards him.
If Paro was terrified before she almost lost her sense now. She is nowhere near a faint hearted but all of these were too much for her to process. She hugged Ishita tightly and looked in their direction.
Adi was looking like a totally different person. Even though she saw a dangerous side of him the previous day, this one was pure evil.
' Gun! A real one !! How did he manage to get that? Who was he?" All of the questions were gathered in her mind. She felt light headed, consumed by the intensity of the situation.
" Don't". A faint sound escaped from her quivering lips stopping the raging bull on its track.
For the first time in the evening, their eyes met. He smiled lightly seeing her as if he wasn't about to kill a person.
With his bloodied knuckle, disheveled hair, and sweaty body he looked like pure evil to her.
" Please.. please let me go." The man cried out, finding his voice. His pale face was coloured red with his own blood and eyes full of fear.
Looking once more in Paro's direction Adi withdrew the gun from his head.
" I will let you go for now just because of her. But I will make sure you spend a good amount of time in jail. Now get the fuck out of here and do whatever you can till I again get my hands on you."
The man almost ran at lightning speed and disappeared in no time.
" What happened here?" Bidisha looked at three figures standing in front of her. She couldn't get her head around what possibly had happened.
" Your hand! " She said, panicking, pointing to Adi's knuckle.
" It's nothing bhabi( sis in law). " Adi shrugged off.
" Ishita are you ok dear? Why didn't you fight back?" Paro asked her friend.
" I… I don't know. When he suddenly attacked me I froze. I was blank. I didn't know what to do." She cried out hysterically.
Paro's stomach churned seeing her friend's condition. Whom was she telling? She felt exactly the same. No matter how strong she was at that time she couldn't do anything to protect herself.
How ironic it was that her tormentor turned out to be her and her friend's savior.
" Bhabi.. can you please take Ishita with you? I will come in a minute ." Paro asked Bidisha meekly.
" Yeah. I will. " Bidisha said without asking anything more. She could feel something big had happened and they needed some time to speak about it.
Taking Ishita with her, she left.
……..
Entering the washroom Paro tried to calm her racing heart down. She still couldn't believe what she just saw in front of her eyes.
His raging eyes with a gun in his hand were making her terrified.
Who was he?
Would he have ended up shooting the person if Bidisha didn't come at the right time? There was a high chance that he would. Every time she got to know a new dangerous side of him. She didn't see him as a normal person anymore. The man is the epitome of red flags and she needed to maintain her distance from him.
She always tried to show her bravery in front of him but God knew she was becoming more and more afraid of him. Turning on the tap Paro splashed water on her face. But still, it couldn't free her from her overwhelming feelings.
No, it's not the time to think of herself. Her friend needed her.
She was about to turn around when her eyes fell on the person standing near the door. One of his hands was placed in the pocket, the other one holding a gun. His dark eyes were watching her every movement through the mirror.
" You? What are you doing here?" Paro screamed.
•••••••••••••••
Good morning! I hope you all are doing good.
Please LIKE COMMENT AND FOLLOW MY ACCOUNT.
THANK YOU ALL.❤️