Ring! Ring! Ring!
I cut the call and grabbed my socks. I cursed when my phone rang again; Sahil was calling me from another number. I had picked it up the first time, but after hearing his voice, I ignored the rest of his calls. Before blocking that number, I messaged him to stop bothering me.
Fifteen minutes later, I was on my scooter, heading towards the hospital. On the third signal from my home, Nikhil joined me, and we reached our destination. We parked our vehicles and met with our friends who were grouped together outside the ICU. Ayush was sitting with Veer, while my girl gang was keeping Krittika Aunty busy.
"How are you?" I asked her.
She smiled at me and motioned for me to take a seat. I joined my group, but my phone buzzed again. It was an unknown number, so I ignored it. Few moments later, I received a text requesting me to pick up the call. Just as I completed reading the message, I got a call, and my intuition told me to pick it up.
I excused myself and took the call.
"Hello?"
"Sandhya, I am Namrata speaking; Sahil's sister."
"Hi, Didi. Sorry if I sound rude, but I don't want to talk to your brother."
"I know, but could you please meet me once? Sahil told us everything after you left the party, and Dad beat him up pretty good. He is crying for the last two days and hasn't eaten anything. He looks suicidal, Sandhya. Can you please spare some time for me?"
Suicidal? What if he was pulling a stunt again?
"I am not lying. Believe me. Not for him, but please come for my sake; I can't see him like this. I know what he did is not justifiable, but please give him a chance to apologize."
I thought for a minute - I couldn't decide whether to go or not. By Namrata's voice, it was clear that she was panicking and not lying, but I hadn't yet met Ved. I wanted to first ensure if he was doing fine.
When I was busy pondering over it, Nikhil came beside me and asked me what it was. I told him everything, and he took the phone from me. After asking Sahil's sister the address where we were supposed to meet, he cut the call and called Karthik over.
"Ved is out for some work, and it will take him about two hours to return. Let's go and take care of this matter for once and all. Karthik and I will come with you, and if that bastard tries to do anything, we will teach him a lesson," Nikhil said.
"Yup," Karthik agreed.
I felt relieved to have their assistance and went with them after informing my friends that we would be back soon. I got on Nikhil's bike, while Karthik rode his own. Ten minutes later, we were outside a small, garden themed diner. I spotted Sahil and his sister and headed towards them; Nikhil and Karthik sat at a distance to observe.
"Hi," I said.
"Thanks for coming, Sandhya," Namrata Didi said.
I avoided looking at her brother, who was staring at me since I arrived. I sat down on a chair across from the siblings and told them to get over with whatever they had to say. Namrata nudged Sahil to speak up, but it was like he had turned into a statue.
I snapped my gaze at him; his face was bloated, and his eyes were bloodshot. He didn't look like the carefree person I was used to seeing. His sister shook him up and informed him to apologize or he wouldn't get any other chance.
"I am sorry, Sandhya. I... I shouldn't have acted like that. After you showed me how despicable my thoughts were, I realised that what I was doing was really wrong and not acceptable. I let my insecurities control my actions and disregarded how you felt.
"Please, forgive me. I promise I won't repeat the same mistake again - it was my fault that I took you for granted and ruined our friendship," Sahil said.
"That you did," I mumbled.
"Mom was really disappointed and isn't talking to him since then. Dad is also doing the same, but when I saw that he was actually suffering and feeling sorry for what he did, I assured him that I would help him. After all, he is my brother; I can't ignore him." Namrata gave me a sad look.
"Do you really feel sorry?" I asked Sahil.
He nodded, and a tear rolled down his cheek. He started apologizing again, but I stopped him before he dehydrated himself. I rubbed my temples and stared at my ex-friend. What he did was wrong on many levels, but more than me, he was hurting Ved. Both of them were good friends and had known each other since childhood, but Ved was unaware of what Sahil was planning.
"What you wanted to do, you did. There is no going back, but I appreciate that you are willing to change and won't do the same thing again. As for me forgiving you, I will do it only for your family and to save you from torturing yourself with self-guilt. I won't take you back as my friend though," I said.
Sahil looked conflicted but understood my point. Namrata thanked me for hearing them out and giving her brother a chance to explain himself. I smiled at her and got up. Before leaving, I shook her hand and extended it to Sahil too as a sign of our last meeting.
He took my hand, but his eyes widened like saucers. When I noticed him looking past me, I glanced over my shoulder.
"Ved..." Sahil squeaked.
Ved was standing at the entrance of the diner with few take-outs in his hand. He narrowed his eyes at my and Sahil's clasped palms, and when I called his name, he turned around and zoomed off. I shot a concerned look at my friends, and they got up from their chairs.
"Got to go," I said and ran after Ved.
Nikhil and Karthik followed soon after, but there was no sign of Princess. I called him but he cut my call, and then his phone started showing as switched off. My friends brought out their bikes, and we went in search of Ved.
It was like he had vanished in thin air; no one knew where he went. We called up our troop in the hospital and asked them if they had received any information, but they responded in negative. I felt my heartbeat dropping drastically as I wondered where he was.
Once we reached the hospital, we informed our friends and got divided in groups. Ayush, Shreyas, and my girl gang stayed behind to look after the Rajput family, while I and the rest of the boys searched for Ved. We wouldn't have been that worried if he hadn't switched off his phone.
Even after we roamed around for hours, we couldn't find him. Mayank and Rajeev were informed about the same, and they assured that they would investigate in their areas. I broke down crying in the middle of the street when a lot of negative scenarios started popping up in my head.
"Hey, stop imagining weird things," Shree scolded.
He took me to the side and gave me some water to drink. "Nothing will happen, okay? He is alright."
"Why me? Why can't anything go right for once? Did the doctor sign bad luck on my birth certificate?"
Shree pursed his lips and tried to control me, but he was having a hard time. I was a complete mess and feeling the most unluckiest person on earth. While I was cursing myself, Shree got a call, and he dragged me to his bike.
"Mayank got Ved's location," he said.
In a flash, we were on his bike and moving towards the pub. Shree drove really fast and got me there within half an hour. The pub was in a remote locality, and we had to go through a maze-like passage to reach it.
I was already worried for Ved's safety, but when I saw a guy punch him, I lost it.
"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled and pushed that guy back.
"Who are you now?" He smirked and flaunted his biceps.
He was tall and muscular, but he still looked like he was under training. I ignored him and moved towards Ved; he was having difficulty standing on his feet. When I went closer to him, the smell of alcohol invaded my olfactory glands.
"Are you drunk?" I asked in shock.
"I dooon't know y-you," he slurred and swatted my hand away.
"While we were searching for you like idiots, you were getting drunk here?"
"Go back to your boyfriend." He stepped back.
I narrowed my eyes at him, but there was no use talking to him when he was not in his senses. I told Shree to help me in getting Ved out, but that idiot from earlier butted in.
"Not so fast, Missy. We haven't gotten our payback yet. Hand us 30K and you are free to go," he said.
"What 30K?" Shree asked.
"For ruining my watch."
He showed us his wristwatch which was actually a cheap copy of some famous brand. Still, he was adamant on extracting the money because Ved had accidentally spilled his drink on that guy. One of the bartenders informed us that even after Ved apologized, the thug guy kept bullying him and refused to let him go.
"You bullied him?" I seethed.
"Yeah, so what? He owes me the money so you better pay up, or I will call the police."
"What if we don't?"
The thug guy began blabbering the same nonsense again, so Shree and I decided to leave. Just as we averted our gazes, that guy moved forward and was about to hit Ved, but I blocked his kick.
"Try that again, and you can kiss your life goodbye," I warned.
"Flight or fight?" Shree asked.
"Fight."
I punched the guy square in the face. He stumbled backwards, and soon, his friends also joined the duel. There were six of them in total, so Shree and I divided equally. Few seconds later, it was all chaos. I grabbed the arm of one guy and smashed him with his friend.
After them, I blocked the punch of the third guy after he kicked me in the stomach. I jabbed him in the chest and threw him over my shoulder. I turned around when I felt a hit on my head; I grabbed that guy's collar and stared at him with the best of my death glares.
"Why do assholes like you have to appear out of nowhere?" I punched him. "Can't you see a girl happy?"
"We don't even know you," he yelled.
"Now you will." I kicked him across the head.
"What the fuck? I was expecting you to solve the matter, not get into a fight yourself," Mayank said and threw the guy away who was advancing towards me.
"Why is my love life like this?" I shouted.
Mayank rolled his eyes and took care of two of the guys who were fighting with Shree. He glanced at the passed out form of Ved and shook his head.
"So much for being a National Martial Arts champion," he mumbled.
A guy moved in my direction, and I was also ready to butcher him, but he froze in his spot. He turned around to dash away, but a hand appeared from behind me and grabbed him.
"You are so dead," Rajeev said and smashed the guy on the floor.
When the rest of the guys saw my adoptive dad, they began running away, but Rajeev caught each one of them and in just two hits, all of them were rolling on the ground, wincing in pain. When we saw that we had no more enemies, Rajeev smacked me behind the head.
"They bullied Ved," I said.
Rajeev checked my wounds and told Mayank and Shree to grab Ved. We followed behind and met with the rest of our gang who had arrived recently. I got in the backseat of Parth's car after Rajeev laid down Ved in it. I took his head on my lap, and caressed his cheek.
"What the hell was he thinking?"
"Maybe he misunderstood your meeting with Sahil," Parth said and started the car.
I glanced at Ved and lightly flicked his chin. "Idiot. Even when he knows that I only love him, he still thought like that?"
"Relax, dude. Don't take too much stress. You can beat him up once he wakes up."
I grabbed Ved's hand and clutched it tightly. "You thought that I would leave you too, Princess?"
Ved shifted a bit, and I moved the hair strands from his forehead. I ducked my head near his left ear and whispered, "I love you, Bird's nest, but you have a long ass lecture waiting, so rest all you want."
I kissed his cheek and patted his head. I knew I was feeling unlucky the whole day, but after finding Ved, I realised how truly lucky I was.