The Stigma Called Love - Chapter 60

“Aparna!” Dhruv shouted.

Nishant raised his hand and gestured him to shut up. He staggered a little but steadied himself instantly.

“I know you are angry. But, just listen to me once, please.”

Aparna looked at him with disdain and turned away. Then picking up the bags, she swiftly walked towards the main door.

Nishant saw her handing the luggage to Harish who loaded it in the boot. The pain on his left intensified the moment he took a step towards her but he did not care. All he wanted right now was her in his arms where he can soothe her pains and aches.

“Aparna, please. Do whatever you have to do but at least speak to me. Shout on me, fight with me but don’t stay shut, please,” he pleaded with her.

But she just looked sideways the moment he came and stood in front of her.

Not able to bear it anymore, he palmed her face and pulled her towards himself. But she closed her eyes.

“Please, sweetheart. Say something.”

“You are dead to me,” Aparna said looking straight into his eyes.

Nishant let her go the moment he heard her. Blinking he looked at her and failed to recognise the person standing in front of him.

“You wanted me to fight with you? Why should I? You don’t mean anything to me.”

Saying this, she was about to move away from him but he stopped her.

“You are lying. I know what I mean to you.”

“No, you don’t. And, you never will.”

“Aparna, I am sorry for whatever happened. I am sorry for what they said. But you know I don’t think like that. Please, don’t destroy us because of what they said.”

She turned and looked at him with eyes that spoke volumes.

“There was never an us, Nishant. There was always only me and you. Me, who just wanted a good future for her daughter but you, ruined everything. You and your love. You are Nishant Naik, the mighty Nishant Naik. It’s shameful for someone like you to even breathe the same air as me.”

“Please, I am sorry,” he said bowing his head in apology.

“Your sorry won’t take away the things they said against my daughter.”

“She is my daughter too.”

“No, she is not, she is not. She is mine.”

Nishant came near her and grabbed her shoulders. Looking into her eyes, he said with conviction, “I know you love me. Please, don’t do this.”

Aparna looked up at him and said aggressively, “I don’t love you and I will never love you.”

Shaking his head, he palmed her face and said, “I know you do. Don’t listen to whatever the world says.”

“I don’t love you,” she shouted shrugging his hands off her.

Saying this, she bounded down the stairs towards the car.

He saw Madhu closing the door behind her. Harish started the car just as Madhu slid next to Aparna.

She can’t leave. No way.

He ran down the stairs and stood in front of the car.

“What the hell!” Harish yelled from inside and came out.

“Are you mad? If I hadn’t pressed the brakes, you would have been hit.”

“I don’t care. I will not let her leave,” Nishant said passionately, looking straight at Aparna through the windshield willing her to stop all this.

Dhruv and Siraj tried to drag him away but he did not budge. He kept on looking at her trying to tell her that he was suffering as much as she, apologising again and again for what happened.

Irritated with everything, Aparna came out of the car and took the keys from Harish. As she was about to get in the driver’s seat, Nishant stopped her.

“Please, stop it.”

“Harish, get in the car,” she said ignoring him altogether.

“I am not letting you leave,” he said anger getting the better of him.

“You can’t stop me.”

“Yes, I will. Even it meant using force. I will stop you.”

Suddenly Aparna turned towards him and smiled.

“So, you are no different from the others. Have you told this to your mother, Nishant Naik? You are going to use force on me. Nice, I like that.”

“Aparna, you know I did not mean it that way.”

“No, it’s okay. As far Rushali Sharma’s version goes, I deserve it. So, come one, Nishant, do it. Hit me. Come on, hit me,” she said holding his hand against her face.

When he did not say anything, Aparna said condemningly, “You know something, I was not wrong. You are worst than Kavin. At least with him, I knew he never loved me. But you made me trust you and then destroyed everything.”

Slowly something started to break inside Nishant. His world was collapsing around him and he was not able to do anything.

“I love you, please believe me,” he said brokenly.

“You say you love me right?”

As he nodded, she came near him and took his hand and placed it on hers. Looking straight into his eyes, she said, “Then, promise me that you will never ever try to contact me again. You will never try to come back in my life again. You will forget me. You will stop all this love bullshit. Promise me, Nishant.”

His brain stopped working the moment he heard her. She was asking for something, which was not in his control.

“You will be happy without me?”

“Yes.”

As he heard her, Nishant closed his eyes and unshed tears burned the lids.

“Then, I promise you Aparna, I will never contact you. I will never try to come back in your life. But no one in this world, not even you can stop from loving you. I will never forget you because your memories don’t belong to you. They are mine and they will remain mine till I die,” he said with conviction.

Gulping down the tears clogging his throat, he said looking straight into those wonderful eyes for the last time, “But, there will be a day when you will express your love for me in front of the whole world. Without fear, without shame, without thought. I just hope you are not too late.”

“That day will never come, because you know what Mr Nishant Naik, I would rather die than to be with you, than to love you.”

Saying this, Aparna slid in the driver’s seat and steered the car away from him and turned the corner without a backward glance.

Nishant stood there looking at her go. As his heart pounded against his chest, his mind screamed at him to stop her. But he knew she was gone forever.

She will never come back, Nishant, you know it, everyone else knows it.

She doesn’t love you anymore. If she did then she would have fought with you and not leave you like this.

For a moment he wanted to ignore what his heart was telling him but he knew he couldn’t.

It is the truth.

I have lost her.

Because I am a Naik.

Nishant stood there transfixed just as the rain pelted down on him.

Dhruv and Siraj came rushing to him and tried pulling him towards the car but nothing happened.

Anger, resentment and the burning emotion of feeling empty again got entangled with her last words, and he erupted with fierce aggression.

“Aparna!” he screamed but his voice only echoed through the empty hollows of the barren street. 

Copyright © Paromita Majumder. All Rights Reserved.