The Monster Finds The Nymph.
Nothing lasts forever. Be it time or innocence. For Vulcan the best time of his life went away within a blink along with his innocence. What it left behind was the lifeless structure, the pain, the agony, the unwanted rage. As days passed by he became a soulless, emotionless, monster. What else were the options? What is the purpose of keeping the useless emotions bottled up inside you when there is no one to reciprocate, there is no one to share the emotions with? He was okay being alone, he was okay dealing with the nightmares, they became a part of him, they kept him company when no one else did. The world around us is selfish, if one remains vulnerable he/she'll be trampled underfoot like vermin. You have to be evil enough to seize what you want, what belongs to you. Even if that makes you the monster, be that, there is no shame in it.
But even the monster has a heart buried somewhere deep within and once in a blue moon a mysterious black eyed, olive skinned, straight long haired nymph would mistakenly trespass into it. It slithers into its soul without making the slightest noise and very slowly starts breaking down the wall the monster once built so carefully. The thin streak of light starts entering through the tiny holes made by it. The heartless monster gets the taste of light once again, his cold heart feels the warmth of it and he becomes addicted. Now the nymph that trespassed into its heart mistakenly, gets stuck inside it, because once a monster lets you in there is no way out for you, you have to remain caged inside it for eternity.
And Vulcan has found his nymp.
Oblivious to the intense stare Pihu steps inside the Nagpati Mansion and immediately gets pulled into a known embrace. Teressa, she missed her. It has been so many days without spending time with her. If she gets honest to herself , after a few months when she realized Manik isn't going to come back any sooner, she nearly escaped and busied herself with her office, her social works, her kids. She did talk to everyone over phone but that too wasn't very frequent. She was busy combating with her inner turmoil. But now that she looks at Teressa, every old memory comes rushing back to her. But as usual she takes a deep breath to control the increasing emotion and that's it.
"Why didn't you wake me up that day?" Teressa complains.
"I apologize, looking at your peaceful face I couldn't. But I should've called you. That truly is my fault. You can punish me for that." Pihu says sincerely.
"Yes, you deserve to be punished. However we'll deal with that later on. First tell me who is this pretty lady with you?" Teressa asks and walks towards Brinda.
"Oh my God, you must be Brinda." She adds smilingly.
"And you must be Teressa ma'am." Brinda responds.
"Jeez, not 'ma'am', you're like a sister to me, practice calling me didi." Teressa says patting her head. She then turns to her left as her eyes fall on the tall man standing right beside Brinda.
"And you are...." Teressa begins.
"He is my boss." Pihu utters immediately disappointing Dashis.
"Yes, a boss turned acquitance who certainly wants to become something more than that." Dashis defeatedly explains with his lips pursed, to which both Teressa and Brinda chuckles. Even Pihu's lips tug upwards as she shakes her head. Teressa turns towards her once again.
"Oh, there is a good news.." Teressa begins but her words gets muffled somewhere behind when Pihu turns around and her black eyes fall on the once familiar grey pair of eyes.
The eyes look straight back at her. Although recognizable, there is something totally different about the stare. Her eyes immediately tries to search for it and that's when her eyes fall on the entire man standing at the middle of the stairs. This man looks like Manik, but there is something extremely wrong and unrecognizable about him. His dark short hair has turned into a shoulder length wavy mess, his nose is crooked at the middle of the bridge, he has stubble covering most of his face, his pitch black hoodie fails to cover the tail of the tattoos peaking out from the right part of his neck. His built has changed, he looks more like a man who can readily go for an MMA championship anytime. All of these make him look different, but his eyes, his nearly lifeless, emotionless eyes make him a totally dissimilar person. He looks gloomy, dark, cold.
He is not smiling.
Pihu has been feeling upset since the very day he left, she did suffer without uttering a word, but the pain that surges through her veins right now, that's uncanny. She feels like someone is choking her from within and without her knowledge her legs start moving towards the stairs.
The man standing at the middle of the stairs lost his mind a few seconds ago. He ignored his brothers desperate pleas, partly because he couldn't hear a word. All his eyes could see was the man standing within his territory. Rationality flew out of the window as he started to descend the stairs but then she turns around and the very moment his grey eyes meet the deep black ones the world around him stops existing. He sees her, for the first time, he sees through her. Her beauty is otherworldly, her mesmerizing eyes can allure any sane person. For a few seconds both of them stand still at their spots but then a small drop of tear escapes through her eyes making his heart clench. It trails down her cheek and very slowly her legs start moving towards him. His breathing becomes erratic as his entire body starts trembling with a sensation totally alien to him. He loses every ability to move and all he feels is an unknown weakness. He feels vulnerable.
Pihu couldn't understand what's happening anymore. She never felt this way, never felt this strong a pull. All she wanted to do was pull the man into her embrace, all she felt was the urge to comfort him and take away whatever is bothering him. All she wanted to do was plant a soft kiss on his forehead and keep him safe. Her hands twitched to hold his face within them. She was just about reach the beginning of the staircase when Teressa's voice brings her out of her trance.
"Pihu!" Teressa calls her and startled she looks behind her before glancing back at Vulcan's face for a millisecond with utter shock. What was she doing?
"We can't touch him. While staying away he has been going through some problems, one of those is this. He doesn't want to be touched." Teressa whispers sounding extremely sad. That makes Pihu snap her head back at Vulcan once again as her eyes furrow with concern.
Vulcan on the other hand has shifted his deadly stare at Teressa. The very moment Pihu looks away his jaw clenches and his entire body fills with a burning rage that immediately gets directed at the source of distractions: Teressa. Standing right behind him Ritwik feels the shift in ambience and when he finds no solution at all, he begins doing what he does the best.
"I see a beautiful woman there.." Ritwik utters loudly looking at Brinda and successfully drawing everyone's attention. He then turns towards Vulcun.
"Don't! Trust me she'll hate you for this. I am begging you, don't do this." He utters and moves forward.
"Welcome back Pihu." He whispers as he simply passes by her and heads towards Brinda, who stands like a statue with her eyes as wide as the open sky. Never in her entire life has she seen a man this handsome. His tall, muscular frame, his sharp nose, his strong jawline and his grey eyes mesmerize Brinda and the fact that he just called her beautiful has left her bewildered.
"What's your name pretty lady?" He asks in his signature husky voice, the one that he uses to lure women everytime.
"Bri..Brinda." The girl stutters.
"Wow, what a pretty name." Ritwik utters to which both Pihu and Teressa turn to look at the interaction. Dashis, however, looks confused. As if he expected something but is getting something else.
"Daivik?!" He utters looking at Ritwik. Ritwik immediately releases a sigh and shakes his head but he doesn't shift his gaze from Brinda.
"This is Ritwik Raj Nagpati here. His twin." With that he extends his hand towards Brinda mischievously. The earlier incident puzzles Pihu as she furrows her eyebrows but tries not to overthink, instead she looks at Ritwik and his antics.
"Mr. womanizer has not lost his skills I see." She interrupts crossing her hands over her chest, as her face breaks into a small smile.
"That's innate you know." Ritwik winks pulling Brinda's hand in for the intended handshake. Pihu only shakes her head and stares at Brinda who looks back at her while her hand remains grabbed by the bigger one. Pihu gives her an amused look that clearly says, "this man is just joking around, do not trust him."
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While they sit around the huge living room and engage into various conversations Pihu understands that both Ritwik and Teressa are deliberately avoiding any topics related to Vulcan. The antsy feeling keeps growing making her feel restless.
"Where did he leave to?" She thinks to herself.
Vulcan never came down from the staircase. After a while he simply turned around and left upstairs. Pihu didn't expect him to greet her like the others. She could see that the man has been going through some serious problems, but the fact that he didn't even smile for once keeps bothering her. His eyes looked pained, he looked tensed. Her train of thoughts break when the sound of something breaking comes from upstairs. Ritwik stands up and hurries out of the door on autopilot, shouting,
"You guys carry on, whatever it is I'll manage it."
It seemed like he already knew what's happening upstairs. The sounds don't stop for the next few seconds and an unknown worry settles into the pit of Pihu's stomach.
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The rage within him has become limitless. He needs to hurt someone, break a few bones, break something, anything!
He kicks the first thing he sees the moment he gets inside his room: the bedside table. The photo frame falls to the ground breaking the glass into pieces. The once smiling face of the person he used to be gets blurred by the shattered glass. He looks at the frame and the smiling face looks back at him mockingly. He keeps panting as his entire body shakes with fury.
"You. Are. Not. Me!" He grits through his teeth looking at the photo, eventually kicking it aside.
He stands there looking at floor with his bloodshot eyes when the door to his room bursts open.
"Who is he to her?" Vulcan asks with his voice as cold as death.
"Her boss. Not certain about any other relationships yet." Ritwik walks inside taking in the messy floor.
"She was smiling at him. She was looking at him affectionately." Vulcan states. Ritwik looks at the floor with his eyebrows furrowed and before he could answer he sees the cellphone flying across the room and hitting the wall opposite to them.
"Why was she smiling at him?!" He shouts and starts tearing up the pillows one by one. Ritwik's eyes widen with sheer fear. This isn't okay in any way. They are standing on a very thin thread and he can feel it tearing up slowly.
"Stop it Nik! You breaking things can never change the situation. Calm down and talk to me. We'll find a way out to deal with this brother. Trust me." Ritwik tries when Vulcan snaps his head towards Ritwik and he meets his younger brothers unstable eyes.
"Then do something and do it fast. Because I can feel it, something is severely wrong with me because I want that bastard dead. And nothing will satisfy me until I see his blood covering my hands. Do you get it? Are you getting what I am trying to explain brother?!" He utters menacingly.
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"Where are you going?" Teressa asks worriedly.
"I just remembered, I need to make an urgent phone call. It'll take a little few minutes. Don't finish the chicken wings alone." Pihu says as she stands up with her phone and comes out of the room. She is feeling sick. Something isn't right because the anxiety within her spikes up. She stands infront of the staircase contemplating her decision for a while but a weird feeling keeps forcing her to take it. And finally she listens to her instincts. The very moment she hears the sounds she becomes certain about its source and her legs keep moving towards the familiar wooden door.
"But your anger, your rage will ruin everything Nik. You have to learn to let go. This way you'll keep hurting yourself." Ritwik's voice can be heard from the other side. The room remains silent for a few seconds but then the deep voice booms from inside.
"I don't know how to let go. I don't want to know. I want her and I've never wanted anything this bad in my entire life. She has to be mine and if she doesn't I'll force her to." Vulcan utters.
Pihu gasps as she moves away from the door and starts walking back towards the stairs. She fails to recognize this person. Who is this man? This is not the person she admired, she respected. This man is downright evil. What could change a person this much? What happened to him? Knowing her feelings this well Manik could never do or say such things about Teressa. He left her with Dev without uttering a single word, without any protest. What could have happened to change a man so much so to make him this aggressive, this desperate? Pihu feels sick and lightheaded as she places her foot on the first stair as the words of Vulcan keeps echoing through her mind. She holds the railing tightly and closes her eyes shut breathing heavily.
"And what brings you upstairs?" The eerily calm voice penetrates through her soul as she snaps her eyes open.
Her breathing becomes heavy but she tries, tries really hard to control herself as she slowly turns her head towards her left. The man stands a few meters away from her. His hair disheveled, his grey eyes bloodshot and his right hand inside the pocket of his sweatpant. Her heart thumps within her chest but yet she manages to bring a smile across her face.
"I could've said 'to see how have you been'? But unfortunately no. I am here in search of Ritwik. He came upstairs to check on something. I just wanted to make sure if everything was okay." She utters confidently.
"Ritwik, oh. Then go ahead, find him out." Vulcan utters clenching his jaw .
"Not needed anymore. I can see everything is okay. Hence I should leave. They will be waiting for me." She utters and proceeds to leave when her eyes fall on his left hand. Blood is trickling down his fingers. 'What was he doing inside?' She thinks. Vulcan follows her gaze and it lands oh his hand and for the first time in his entire life he craves for attention. He desperately wants her to react, wants her to look at him with the same affectionate eyes but to his disappointment she takes a deep breath and turns ahead.
"I think you're hand needs first aid. It's bleeding." She says and starts moving forward.
"You truly don't want to know how I've been." He states looking at her when she turns her head towards him and answers,
"Because I know you have a whole lot of people to ask you that question. It must be tiring. That's why I don't want to be one of them." She turns around and walks away leaving a fuming Vulcan all to himself.
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Love, Puja. 😊