Save Him.
The coffee mug is half filled. The smoke slowly coils upwards meetings with the clouds that cover the entire open balcony. The small wooden table is placed right beside the railing. Pihu had to wrap her light green shawl around her light blue hoodie. It's way too cold here. She couldn't sleep a bit. When she opened the door to the balcony it was totally dark outside except for the downhills, the crowd of tiny lights were awake with her, making it look like a starlit sky on the ground. She sat there and kept looking at the lights for hours, she saw the sun slowly waking up. Then she finally went down and made herself a big cup of coffee and came back upstairs.
Brinda is going to leave for Bangalore today. Her stay cannot be extended anymore. So she requested Joseph to drop her to the airport and help her board the flight. Her friend will receive her from Bangalore. She also needs to be back because some problems has arised regarding the study centers during her absence. Brinda is the only one who knows to understand and evaluate a situation and explain it as it is to her.
Yes, the sudden change of situations are bothering her but what kept her awake is the incident from yesterday. Her brain stops working whenever she starts to find out what's actually going on.
Manik loved Teressa, he probably even spoke about her the other day behind the closed doors but the same Manik went paranoid the very moment she touched him? Although she meant no harm and no one should know it better than Manik himself. Why would he dislike her touch, even if he doesn't love her anymore? She has been his best friend for the longest of time.
But then again he listened to her although he has never been that close to her. There is something in his eyes, something she is failing to point out, but it is there.
She felt weird, pained even, when she was leaving and he kept looking at the ground, both hands fisted beside him. He was calm some minutes before but when she finally made it to the door and turned around to have a last look at him, he looked enraged.
Did she trigger something?
Her chain of thoughts break when Brinda calls from outside.
"Didi?"
"Come in Brinda." She answers. The door opens and a very upset looking Brinda enters. Pihu immediately stands up and walks towards her.
"Don't be upset sweetheart, I'll be back in a few days, if not early, you know. I need you there. The students must be facing some problems. Some of the teachers were threatened yesterday. I don't know what's the matter but go there meet them and find out what happened. You have to brief me as urgently as possible. I need to deal with some works here. When I am done, I'll be right back, okay?" Pihu asks.
"Yes didi. By the way, Mr. Sharma called your father this morning. He is also leaving today. He'll come to see you before leaving." Brinda says.
"Why calling Papa? He could've called me instead. I don't understand this guy." Pihu shakes her head.
Coincidentally, her cell phone starts vibrating that very moment. She picks it up from the bedside table and an unknown number flashes across her phone screen. She hesitates for a few seconds but gives up eventually.
"Hello?" She utters.
"Pihu?" A heavy voice utters from the other end.
"Yes, who is this?" She asks again.
"This is Ritwik here. Can you come down to our place? We need your help. It's urgent." Ritwik utters and immediately her heart starts beating faster.
"Is everything okay? I would be there but it'll take some.." Pihu's words get interrupted.
"Thank you. God, thank you so much! The car is waiting outside your house. Leo will receive you. See you soon." With that the call gets disconnected, leaving a panicked Pihu all to herself.
¤¤¤¤¤
The entire house is dead silent when she enters with Leo. She ran out of her house so fast that she couldn't even change into a different cloth. To top that, what Leo told her during their ride, has left her speechless. She could only keep looking at the road as he went on,
"Ma'am, have you heard of The Vulcan?" Leo asked while driving.
"Photographer The Vulcan? Yes. I guess everyone heard of him. Why?" Pihu asks back, furrowing her eyebrows.
"What if I say, it's a pseudonym? The real name of the photographer is.... Manik Raj Nagpati." Leo's words were still lingering in the air when she slowly turned around to look at his face. He wasn't joking, he was sincere.
She keeps looking at him, finding nothing to say.
"He is suffering from a rare phobia, his entire body pains whenever he gets touched. He feels threatened by every single person around him. His way of defending is becoming aggressive with every passing day. Previously he used to keep himself hidden, away from everyone. But nowadays he behaves more like a wounded animal, he doesn't hide away, he rather loses his mind and hurts whoever or whatever he finds around himself. He deliberately fights with everyone who pisses him off, beats them to shit and later suffers through his pain all alone. This is extremely unlikely of him." Leo kept saying and she kept listening, trying to understand the situation.
"Yesterday, was one such day, when he was losing it. But surprisingly enough, he was trying hard to fight it back also. He was trying hard to run away and hide himself like the old days. He was planning to hide somewhere and accept the pain, but then the impossible happened." He paused and glanced back at her for once before looking back at the road. The palpitation within Pihu grew, as if she knew what's to come next.
"Then you called him and he listened to you. Then you commanded and he followed. Then his entire body visibly relaxed, as if the pain has evaporated.
He ate without a fuss, he stayed calm, he did nothing, until you left. And when you left he became something we have not really witnessed before.
His breathing became erratic, his body started trembling. He fell on his knees screaming like a wild animal in pain, while holding his hair in his fists. The more he shouted the more his nose kept bleeding, and his nose never bled before, his body never pained like this without being touched or without having a nightmare." Leo carried on. Pihu didn't realize when her palm covered her mouth, she never realized when the tears started pouring down her cheeks.
"Nightmares?" She manages to asks through her own sobs. Leo chuckles sadly.
"His life is a living hell ma'am. Even death would be less painful for him." Leo utters.
¤¤¤¤¤
Leo said he is upstairs in his room but before meeting him she needs to meet both Dev and Ritwik. For some reasons, they want to have a talk with her. She doesn't waste time and follows Leo who leads her to Dev's office, which is on the left side of the first floor.
Leo knocks on the door and it immediately gets opened by Ritwik. His grey eyes are quite similar to Manik's and right now they are filled with worry.
"Pihu, come in. We were waiting for you." He utters. Pihu says nothing, only nods and enters. Leo was about to leave when Ritwik says again.
"We need you here Leo. You know him better than us right now. I hope you briefed her on the way? "
"Yes sir." Leo enters.
Dev is standing against the huge glass window. His back is facing the entrance.
"Pihu." Dev utters and turns around placing his hands on the table. Pihu's eyes visibly widen seeing Dev's teary red eyes.
"I don't have the patience Ritwik has or the power of acceptance that Manik has. I'll come straight to the point. Sa.... save my brother. Please help him. I don't know what's happening to him, why does he feel so much pain but I can't see him go through this again. The guilt inside me will eat me up. All of this would've never happened if I would've let him be happy with Teressa, but couldn't, I still can't. I would rather die.
But the pain he is going through will certainly make me choose the later. Because if he goes like this he'll be dead himself.... and he is the youngest amongst the three of us. He deserved better. " Dev clenches his eyes shut.
"Did you consult a doctor? Because as far as I know Arjun isn't here right now?" Pihu asks worriedly.
"Yes we did. We called Arjun and he recommended this doctor. The doctor came yesterday. He injected some medicines that made him fall asleep eventually. He gave some medication and tests to run, which we'll do tomorrow, because today we need to see how he is acting first. Because trust me he doesn't listen to anyone and controlling him has become the most difficult task for every single one of us. Leo still gets to deal with him a little more than us but even he isn't enough." Ritwik explains.
"And that's why we need you ma'am. For some unknown reasons, he did listen to you yesterday. H-he might listen to you again." Leo says hesitantly.
All of sudden Pihu feels a weird pressure on her chest. She brings her fist to over her mouth.
"And what if I fail?" She asks worriedly.
"Trust me you won't." Ritwik utters with an uncanny amount of confidence.
¤¤¤¤¤
Purnit stands infront of them. His face looking pale, his eyes looking tired.
"Threw it again?" Leo asks feeling sorry for Purnit.
"Yes. It's impossible. This was the third attempt and trust me I did everything you told me." Purnit says.
"I know man, I know. You go take some rest, you have been looking after him the entire night." Leo says patting him on his shoulder.
"Yeah. I need some sleep." Saying so he looks behind Leo. Standing there are Ritwik, Dev and Pihu. He unknowingly releases a sigh of relief. He looks back at Leo and nods at him one last time before leaving.
"Ma'am, you can come after me." Leo offers and Pihu nods. He gives a small and decent knock on the door before pushing it open and a menacing deep voice booms from inside.
"Do you have a death wish Leo?!" The man utters through gritted teeth and turns around to find Leo with the same breakfast trolley. Right behind him stands Dev and Ritwik.
"I. Said. I. Want. To. Be. Alone. Which part of it you didn't understand ?!" He growls and that's when a known smell hits his nostrils and a light green clothing slowly becomes visible to his eyes from behind his brothers. His heart beat increases as his expression softens.
Pihu slowly comes to the front and holds the trolley. She looks straight at a spellbound Vulcan and her face breaks into an affectionate smile. His lips start trembling as if he'll break into tears anytime now.
"You.. you left last night." He says, more like complaints, to which both his brothers look at each other with worried eyes but Pihu only smiles bigger.
"I am sorry but trust me I had to. I have quite a conservative family to deal with and they will go crazy if I don't go back." Pihu says in a way as if she is talking to a toddler. And he is visibly acting like one because he immediately turns his face rightward, furrowing his eyebrows, as if to show he is angry.
That's the very moment Leo turns around smiling and gesturing others to leave as well. All of them leave closing the door behind them.
Crossing her hands behind her Pihu slowly walks up to him, not too close but not too far as well.
"Angry are we?" She asks, to which he turns around facing the wall, without uttering a word.
"Sad, if you're not gonna talk to me, I'll have to leave. Fine then, please eat the breakfast, okay?" Pihu says stifling a smile and turning around to leave.
"Take a foot out of that door and the food remains untouched." The threat echoes through the huge room.
"Is it like that? Okay, then I'll keep standing here, you eat. " Pihu says turning back at him and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Come here and sit beside me." He urges grumpily. Pihu's face breaks into a smile as she strolls towards him, making him slowly look up at her from where he is sitting on the bed. His grey eyes look tired, puffy. He hasn't recovered yet. Her smile falters as she gulps down the growing worry within her.
She slowly takes away the lid revealing the foods and his eyes follow every move of her hands meticulously, as if he is seeing something like this for the first time. She cuts the apples, sprinkles some salt on the poached egg, spreads butter on the pieces of bread, pours the fruit juice into the glass and places everything neatly infront of him.
"Eat." She whispers looking at him with a smile, but he keeps looking at her. His grey eyes mesmerized by her smile.
"You won't go back today, will you?" He asks looking at her with a worried pair of eyes. The question catches her off guard.
"I.... I'll stay as long as I can, okay?" She asks, stammering.
"You'll leave, you'll leave again." He states knowingly, his voice changing from calm to furious.
"No. Look at me and calm down right now." She commands and his eyes soften.
"If you eat I'll try to stay longer." She offers, smilingly.
"Are you being honest?" He asks hesitantly.
"Hundred percent." She answers and he picks up the glass filled with juice, gulping down everything in one go, making Pihu slap her forehead.
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Love, Puja. 😊