Be Pretty From Inside.
Human beings are peculiar. They always search for peace but when it's finally offered to them, they choose chaos instead. Now that Vasudha enters into her small but humble abode and sees her father laughing and talking to her friends; now when she sees her brother sitting on a wheel chair right beside her father with a small, barely visible smile on his face, she feels that all she ever wanted was their happiness, their safety, but she also knows that if the need be she will again choose the difficult path, choose to fight against those who try to take away the happiness from her close ones, from the helpless people around her. Because how is it possible to stay back at home, relishing the food and the warm company of your family when others are suffering outside, fighting to manage their daily food, fighting to protect their malnourished kids, fighting to provide them with the bare minimum? How is it fair? No, it isn't.
So the conclusion is, her fight doesn't end, the present situation in front of her is nothing but a temporary break, that's that. She has a long journey ahead of her and she wants to move forward with the man standing right beside her. Danuj, the first and probably the last man she will ever love this strongly. When she began her journey with the purpose of bringing him down to his knees she might have never thought that he will do just that but for an entirely different reason. A person can be as handsome and beautifully sculpted as he is, but he can never compete with this man when it comes to his innocence. Yes, after all this time she has come to this conclusion that this man is downright innocent, because, to her, innocence is nothing close to being foolish or stupid, it simply means being pure and untainted. Even after seeing and confronting so many vile human beings throughout his entire life, the goodness within him remained unchanged. What is innocence if not this?
"Sudha.... " Her father's voice brings her out of her deep thoughts as she looks infront and smiles at him.
"Welcome Mr. Sachdev, its truly an honour to have you here." The old man adds.
Now when Vasudha looks at Danuj, she finds it extremely cute and hilarious at the same time, because he looks like a huge harmless giant standing at the small entrance of her house, with a very confusing expression on his face.
"You know, you can always turn around and run out of this mess. Just an advice, it can save you from the humiliation of confronting these dangerous, criminal minded people." Stifling a laugh, Vasudha whispers in his ear and gets a very kid like glare in return.
"Huh! I can manage talking to them. I've dealt with bigger challenges. They dont scare me." He says the last part under his breath.
Vasudha never needed to remind herself of the fair share of potential and life threatening challenges the man has had to experience throughout his life, she will never dare to. But the fact that even after facing so many things in his entire life he is actually scared to be a part of her family, her world, is somewhat melting her from inside. However, after taking a deep breath he finally decides to move inside her house and take his seat on one of the small but comfortable couches her house had to offer.
It took him some half an hour to mingle up with everyone, after that he seemed to be enjoying the company quite a lot.
While preparing dinner for everyone Vasudha keeps stealing glances at him, finding him deeply engrossed in the on-going discussion about a sportsperson of her fathers time. While Zoya and Ganika keeps helping her in the kitchen, the men are quite busy conversing over East Bengal and Mohun Bagans Football team, surprisingly enough Danuj seems to have enough knowledge about the legacy of both the Bengal based teams.
The sound of their laughter and the way her brother keeps taking part in the whole discussion, may not be verbally but with his gestures at the very least, makes her feel content. He keeps agreeing or disagreeing by nodding his head yes or no, sometimes he even moves his hands. If he keeps trying like this Vasudha is certain he will show progress very soon. Their happy faces, their reluctant and worriless expressions, warm her up from within, just like the old times. They are happy, he is happy and thats what she needs.
¤¤¤¤¤
The fact that Danuj decided to stay here and agreed to sleep in her fathers room and actually doing it for the last three days, is extremely weird for her, but she couldnt provide him with a better option. He just wasn't ready to go to either his or Abhirup's place and her father felt way too proud about the situation where he simply agreed to sleep beside her brother, leaving his bed to the giant of a man, whose full body doesnt even fit to the bed.
"Such a down-to-earth person this man is. I am proud of your choice Sudha. He is just the right man for you." Her father said, with a huge smile on his face.
However, today is finally the day she kept waiting for so long. Abhirup, Zoya and Derek left for the Airport to receive Nihal and Maya while Ojas arrived in the morning and is currently helping Mihir and Ganika with the plan in hand. She woke up at 4.00 AM in the morning, because she had so much to prepare before sneaking out of her house. Although it was extremely difficult for her, because the man just wasnt leaving for work. Every now and then he kept sneaking inside the kitchen and kept pulling her into his warm, hard chest. Right now, her back is not only pressed against his body but also engulfed in it, as he keeps nuzzling his nose and peppering kisses all over the nape of her neck. With every open mouthed kiss there is this natural, wild sound that instinctively leaves his mouth and just like that, every time she fails to control the urge to simply turn around and kiss the life out of this man. She feels his hands roaming around every part of her body, with so much passion, so much affection, as if he was leaving for the sole purpose of loving her, as if she is the source of everything crazy, fiery but immensely good in him, that the strength of the emotion nearly brings tears to her eyes. But she can't let him do all these things to her right now, because that'll ruin the plan. So unwillingly, she pushes herself out of his embrace, getting a complaining grunt as her reward.
"Stop complaining and leave for work will you?" She coos at him, pulling herself away from him.
"Just ten more minutes and I promise I'll be out of that small fucking door. Now, come to me!" He argues.
"I said I cant Danuj. I have to leave for Ashroy, I have some urgent works to deal with." She says trying really hard to avoid his grumpy, pouty face.
"And I said to come here. Just ten more minutes Sudha and Ill be out okay? Come now!" He urges gesturing to run into his arms, but as much as she wants that right now she doesnt have enough time and who in this world can ever win against the big guy? Seeing her unmoving figure he simply walks ahead, grips her upper arm and pulls on it, bringing her flash against his chest and burying his head into her hair. Her eyes close on their own. Her hand moves upwards, tracing his hard, sculpted muscles, stopping at the nape of his neck. Her fingers start gently moving within his hair, entangling them within the mess. Involuntarily, his mouth releases a purring sound, as he wounds his arms around her waist, bringing her even closer.
"You seriously want me to go?" He mumbles in her hair to which she chuckles.
"I knew it." She says, pulling her head to look at him.
"Such a kid." She adds, smiling.
"Whatever." He grumbles. Finally, pecking her forehead and almost forcefully pulling himself out of the kitchen, mumbling something like, "What have I ever done to you God," under his breath.
At around 11.00 AM she successfully manages to get out of her house.
¤¤¤¤¤
"I spoke to the manager but I think we need to talk to the owner directly. They aren't ready to give us the auditorium for the Annual Meet and I really liked this place. I can bet this is just the perfect place to hold the meeting. Will you please come down and have a word with them?" Maya urges.
"I can't believe this. How on earth you failed to convince them? It's just an auditorium Maya, no big deal. You've dealt with difficult challenges than this. What's wrong now?" Danuj asks. He is finding it extremely difficult to focus on the work at hand. All he wants right now is to go back to Vasudha and have her within his arms. What the hell has happened to him?
"Have I ever asked you for any favors before? I don't think so. I am asking for it because it's urgent D'. It will take only a few minutes, after that you'll be free and will be going back to Vasudha. Does that sound Okay?" Maya asks.
"Coming," is all he says.
¤¤¤¤¤
The route seems extremely familiar. No way Maya has gone to that auditorium? He still remembers that day, just like yesterday, when he saw her for the first time.
His Sudha.
The girl who taught him to "be pretty from inside."
The more he follows the map the more he feels certain. Maya has to be talking about the same auditorium. Do they have another booking that day? If they have he can always reschedule his meeting. Thinking about all these things his car enters the same parking area of the same old auditorium. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would come back to this place again. All he remembers is how he was haunted by the last happy memories he had with his father and the girl he never expected to encounter ever in his gloomy, hopeless life. As he reaches to open the door his fingers tremble and all of sudden he feels cold. Hence he immediately puts back on the grey suit over his black turtle neck. Without wasting anymore time on thinking he gets out of the car while buttoning down his suit and then he calls Maya.
She comes rushing towards him, looking extremely messy for being Maya. Something is surely odd about her nowadays, he points.
"Is everything okay?" He asks collecting his own racing nerves.
"Yes,y-yes, totally fine. No! I mean not fine at all." She says being uncharacteristically clumsy again.
"I think you need a long holiday Maya. Have I burdened you with too much workload? Because I don't know why, but you're acting weird." He suggests.
"Shut up D'. Just come with me. We don't have much time, the owner will be here any minute." She says, finally sounding like herself.
Weirdly enough, they go through the same corridor, towards the same room, Stage 2 of the auditorium, how can he ever forget that.
"Are you sure the owner will be there? I know this place and that's a stage there." He says, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Oh, you've already been to this place? Then it'll be easier for you to talk to the man. Now let's get inside." Maya says, pushing the door open and dragging him into the auditorium that he expected to be empty but is not. People, lots of people are occupying the seats and the very moment he enters all of them looks at him with a creepy smile on their faces.
But then he realizes that he knows all of them, they are from Ashroy, the home he owns right now, the home that turned his life upside down, the home that gifted him their most precious asset, Vasudha Roy.
_________________________________________
A/N
To my lovely readers,
I hope you all are doing good and if not then please believe that this too shall pass. Today I would like to inform all of you that "The Vile" is finally reaching its finale and there is only one last chapter left to be uploaded. You've constantly been there with me, through thick and thin. I have no words to express my gratitude towards you all.
Just know that I love you and want you to be safe, happy and always beside me.
If you have anything to ask regarding any of my stories, please feel free and ask away. I'll always try to answer.
If you like this story feel free to Vote, Comment, Follow and Share as well.
Love, Puja. 🤗