The Stigma Called Love - Chapter 40

Aparna picked up the photograph with Nishant and Rushali sleeping together and looked till she could take it no more.

This can’t be true.

Nishant can’t do this.

Tears escaped as she remembered his promises and her resolve became stronger than ever.

She has to know the truth.

But did she have the courage to face the truth?

What if the photograph was true?

“No,” Aparna shouted more to herself than anything else.

Breathing hard, she picked up every picture and shoved them inside the envelopes.

She will wait for him, even if it meant for the whole night.

For the first time in her life, she felt anger more than anything else. She might be broken but not ruined. If Nishant has done this then, he has to confess everything looking straight into her eye.

Aparna strode out of her office with an undeterred will to know the truth.

As her car stopped outside Nishant’s apartment block, it started to rain hard. Feeling suffocated inside, she opened the door and stepped outside. She rested her back against the car’s bonnet as the rain pelted down on her. For once, Aparna did not care about her own safety. She did not care if Kavin found her now. All she cared about was the truth.

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It was raining cats and dogs by the time Nishant and Dhruv arrived at Delhi airport. Finally after 30 minutes, they settled down in the car and Nishant breathed a sigh of relief. He took out his phone to call Aparna but then thought otherwise.

It’s 12 in the morning. She must be sleeping, dumbhead.

He smiled as the driver started the car. Couple of hours more and then he will have her in his arms.

Oh, Aparna! The morning seems so far.

Nishant rested his head against the seat and sent her a message. At least she will know that he has arrived.

The endless hours of wait ended as Aparna saw Nishant’s car nearing the apartment gates. He got down as the driver handed him and Dhruv umbrellas.

Look at me, Nishant, please, she willed him.

But he turned towards the gate and her resolve shattered. Tears streamed down along with raindrops as she slid slowly to the ground.

Nishant was about to enter the gate but something to his side caught his eye. He looked sideways towards the street in front but could not see anything as the streetlights went off and the place suddenly plunged into darkness. He strained his ears but could hear nothing but the downpour.

Then, what was it?

Why did he feel there was something?

Aparna spread her palms on the street and sobbed hard. Her heart told her that Nishant hadn’t done anything but her mind kept on refuting it. The only way of knowing was asking him but now with him inside the gate, she did not have the strength anymore to confront him.

Oh, Nishant!

Nishant turned towards the gate and then again looked back.

“What is it?” Dhruv asked him.

“I don’t know. I feel as if someone is there on the other side.”

Shaking his head, he put his feet inside the gate and suddenly pulled it back. Giving in to his instincts, he started to walk to the other side of the road. There was something and he needed to find what it was.

Nishant’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could see a car but he could recognise it as the downpour was too heavy to see anything. As he neared the car, his heart started to beat faster than usual.

Why did the car look familiar all of a sudden?

He was only 10 steps away from the car when suddenly the streetlights came back on.

The umbrella fell from his hand as his vision cleared, and he saw Aparna sitting on the road and sobbing brokenly.

For a moment, he kept on looking and then, his body reacted as his heart pounded against his ribs in break-neck speed.

“Aparna!” he shouted rushing towards her.

She shivered as she felt his fingers clutching her arms. Gripping the rails of the bonnet, she stood up.

“Aparna, what’s wrong?” Nishant asked, his face betraying the emotions raging through him.

The relief of seeing him along with the notion of concern in his face rendered Aparna speechless. She just stood there and kept looking at him. Then, suddenly, Rushali’s final words echoed in her mind shattering the moment.

Anger mixed with missing him for so long mingled with confusion streamed down her eyes.

As the raindrops got mixed with her tears, Nishant closed the space between them and cupped her face in his palms.

“What’s wrong?”

The urgency in his voice made her feel secure but then, the visions of the photographs played in her mind.

“Sweetheart, please tell me what’s wrong?” Nishant asked her again as his voice shook thinking about all the possibilities of why she was here like this.

Was it Kavin again?

He looked around here and there but found no one.

Had Kavin hurt her again?

Nishant looked at Aparna top to bottom but found nothing.

Had something happened to Prakriti?

No, it can’t be.

His security men were guarding her 24 hours.

Then what?

“Aparna, please tell me what’s wrong?” he asked her again, shaking her hard to get a response.

When she did not reply, he just engulfed her in his arms knowing too well something major had happened.

“Let’s get her inside,” he heard Dhruv say.

Nishant instructed his driver to park her car and then, guided Aparna towards the lift as Dhruv took out her stuff.

She was shivering badly by the time all three of them reached Nishant’s apartment.

He gestured her to sit down but she just stood by the door and kept on looking at him with a strange expression in her eyes.

Finally, Nishant lost his patience and asked her in a frustrated tone, “Will you please tell me what’s wrong?”

She gulped down her tears and strode to the table where Dhruv had kept the envelopes. She took out the picture of him and Rushali and slumped back at the wall as she felt herself breaking inside.

She flicked the photo in full view and said in a shaky voice, “Please tell me this is not true.”

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