The Stigma Called Love - Chapter 61

The skies cried with pent-up fury as Nishant tried to believe that she was gone. He opened his palm and looked at her ring, and instantly he was back in that moment; only this time, he was alone. Her hand was no longer there.

He closed his eyes and tried hard to summon the feeling of her arms around him but nothing happened. He only felt the heavy drops of rain on his body.

I am sorry, please forgive me, please.

Slowly turning away he started walking knowing nowhere to go.

The moment he crossed his car, Dhruv ran after him and caught his arm.

“Let’s go home. Come on, you need rest.”

Nishant brushed his hand off and kept on walking. For once he did not feel anything, which was a good thing. At least he will not feel the constant pain gripping his heart.

“Bhaijaan, please let’s go home,” Siraj said coming in front of him.

Nishant bypassed him and kept on walking.

Dhruv shook his head and again walked up to him and grabbed his shoulders from behind.

“I am not letting you go anywhere like this. She is gone but it’s not your fault.”

His words rang in his mind like a gunshot and Nishant turned around. Shrugging off Dhruv’s hands, he looked straight into his eyes and said, “It is my fault.”

Dhruv looked at him and knew that no matter what he said, it will make no difference to his friend right now.

“We can discuss all this at home. You are not fully recovered right now. Come on, let’s go.”

Nothing was making sense to Nishant right now. All he wanted to do was stay alone. And, the only way to do that was to leave this place.

“Keys!”

“Nishant, please.”

“I said the keys.”

“Please, Bhaijaan,” Siraj implored with him.

“The keys. Now.”

Knowing how stubborn Nishant could be, Siraj handed him the keys and watched him walk up to it. But the moment he opened the door, Siraj put his hand on the window.

“Bhaijaan, please you need rest.”

“Nishant, please stop,” Dhruv pleaded with him.

Nishant closed his eyes and tried hard not to lose his patience. But the more he tried, the more his blood boiled with resentment.

“Did you stop them?” he asked glancing from Dhruv to Siraj.

Both of them looked at him and knew what he meant. Even though they had been there in that moment when everything turned upside down, still they hadn’t done anything. Feeling guilty, Siraj turned away and Dhruv lowered his head.

Nishant smiled sadly and sat inside the car.

Then, he opened the glove compartment and ripped the GPS tracker from its place and threw it on the road. As the car started, he rammed the accelerator with force.

Dhruv cursed hard as it zipped past them. Both he and Siraj ran to their car and sped in the same way as Nishant.

********************

Aparna sat down next to Prakriti in the waiting lounge and handed her the juice. She looked at her daughter as she sipped her juice silently. Why is she so silent?

“Want some chips?”

Prakriti just shook her head and looked the other way.

“Are you angry with me?” Aparna asked as she sat down on the other side.

But her daughter was not in the mood to talk. She just shook her head and kept drinking her juice. Once finished, she handed the empty carton to her and walked off to stand with Madhu.

Aparna sighed and slumped against the chair. She knew why Prakriti was upset.

Why is it so hard to make children understand the complexities of human relationships?

All of a sudden, she sat up straight as a thought crossed her mind.

Why did her daughter love him so much?

Doesn’t she love her?

Shut up, she commanded her mind. She is my daughter. Why wouldn’t she love me?

Sighing, she closed her eyes. Somehow, her mind had blocked all thoughts related to the past events but his face never vanished. And, her body boiled with rage every time she saw it.

As her flight got announced, she picked up her things and started walking towards the boarding line.

*******************

Nishant kept on driving till he could no longer stare at the road ahead as his vision kept clouding. Finally, he stopped the car in a middle of a deserted road and got down. The rain had stopped but the chill in the air had increased.

He stood next to his car and looked down at a puddle on the road. As the street light above illuminated the puddle, his face stared back at him. For a second he couldn’t recognise it but then when he did, it suddenly turned into hers, and everything she had said zipped through his mind piercing his heart.

Slowly, Nishant started to slip to the road as her voice kept ringing in his ears.

“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.”

No, I am not. I am not like him, Aparna, I am not.

“I would rather die than to be with you; than to love you.”

“No!” he shouted and collapsed on the ground.

Anguished sobs turned into screams, screams turned into tormented groaning as his soul shattered into million pieces.

After some time, the wind howled with terrible anger as it started to rain again. Nishant got up and staggered to the driver’s seat. As he started the car, he looked at the road ahead. He smiled the moment he realised that it was as empty as his life. The car moved ahead as he pressed the accelerator but he knew that his life would never move on.

It will remain stagnant forever where she left him.

Hours later, he stopped suddenly in front of a building. The excruciating pain in his left was numbing his body constantly. He shook his head as he tried to focus but his vision completely blacked out the moment he stepped out of the car.

*********************

Siddharth Singh Rajput was slowly cruising out of the hotel parking lot when he noticed there was some kind of commotion at the end. He was about to bypass it when he reached it but stopped as he saw his sister-in-law Roshni Singh Rajput waving frantically to him.

“What?” he said getting out of the car trying his best not to get wet.

She pointed at someone lying on the ground in a small pool of bloodied rain water.

His eyes widened the moment he recognised the man.

“Nishant!”

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