The Stigma Called Love - Chapter 98

Aparna closed the door and slumped against it.

Tosh! Not again.

What if something happens to him?

What if he again goes for trekking?

No, no, no; no ways.

Stop it, she shouted inwardly.

“Mama, look, what Nishant uncle has sent for me,” Prakriti shouted excited digging out things from the gift box.

All total they were 5 gift boxes all packed in one. As she looked on, she found he had actually packed everything that Prakriti had ever asked him for.

She sat down next to her daughter and helped her to unpack all of them. She picked up one of them and pulled off the wrapping paper and found a CD in it. It just said ‘Please play’. Recognising his handwriting, she just stared at it.

But before she could even do anything else, Prakriti snatched it from her hand and rushed towards Harish, who was standing at the doorway looking at the scene.

“Harish uncle, please play.”

Aparna got up and started walking towards her bedroom as Harish clicked the play button.

“Hi, princess,” his sweet and manly baritone boomed in the room and Aparna immediately turned unable to resist and the moment she did, she saw Nishant looking straight at her through the laptop screen.

“Look, mama, Nishant uncle.”

“Firstly, sorry princess for not being there on your birthday; I am a little busy,” she heard him say.

She saw her smile and wink a little as he continued.

“So, here’s wishing you a fabulous birthday. Open all the gifts and have a blast.”

As he said bye, he blew a kiss towards her daughter and Aparna felt as if something had taken all the blood out of her heart and left it completely bare.

She was about to turn away again when the picture on the laptop screen stopped her.

It was Prakriti and her standing against the backdrop of the Himalayas on the terrace of his guest house. 

Her eyes narrowed the moment she saw the picture. Aparna looked at her head and realised that somebody had doctored the image. The backdrop had been changed. Plus, Nishant had been removed from the image; because, she clearly remembered this photograph.

Biting her lip, she rushed inside the bedroom and picked up the laptop. Switching it on, she quickly opened the photographs they had clicked in Darjeeling. As the one that she was looking for opened on the screen, she slumped back against the bed. 

This photograph had been taken against the Kanchenjunga with all three of them being there. Prakriti was in her arms and Nishant was standing beside her with his arms around her shoulders.

A perfect family photograph.

They why had he………

Everything stopped around her as she realised why he had done that.

He had shared his dream with her and in the only way he could.

But he could have called at least for wishing Prakriti. 

No, Aparna he wouldn’t because he had promised so.

“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.”

Aparna closed her eyes as the words flooded back in her mind. But amidst all that, she could hear Prakriti pestering Madhu to call him.

“No, baby, he is busy. You can’t call him,” she heard Madhu say and Aparna shook her head feeling helpless.

Oh god! What has she done?

“You okay?” Harish asked from the doorway.

Although she nodded but Harish knew she wasn’t.

Suddenly, Aparna brushed off her tears and stood up from the bed.

“Harish, I need your help.”

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

The preparations for his birthday were going on in full swing but Nishant was completely disinterested in all of this. By the time it was night, he was so irritated and flustered that he just got up from the dining table and went upstairs.

His family understood his anxiety so none of them stopped him but Dhruv and Sid did not relent.

After everybody had gone off to sleep, they all sat down for drinks.

A couple of drinks later, suddenly Nishant asked, “What’s the time?”

“It's 10:30,” Dhruv replied looking at his phone. 

“Why, what happened?” Sid asked pouring a drink for himself.

“Has Siraj delivered the gift?”

Dhruv nodded and said, “Yes, in the evening. Why?”

All of sudden, Nishant’s became completely immobile and he clutched the glass as hard as he could. Alarmed, Sid and Dhruv beside him instantly and tried their best to take away the glass from his hand but he did not let go. Eventually, the glass started to crack with the increasing pressure of his hand and shattered. As the glass shattered, Nishant felt something breaking inside him.

“Are you mad?” Dhruv asked him angrily and took the broken pieces away from his hand.

“I’ll get the first aid box,” said Sid and went inside.

But Nishant looked at his hand and felt nothing. All he felt was the shock of realising that she had seen the CD and still she hadn’t contacted him, which meant she was not coming back.

He scrambled and got up and staggered back towards the wall.

“Nishant!” Dhruv shouted and rushed towards him.

But he just stared blankly ahead. All his hopes were gone.

Nishant looked at the Himalayas as if asking it, why did you then build this hope inside me?

Sid looked at him and knew something was terribly wrong.

“What is it? Please, talk to us,” he said shaking Nishant with all his might. 

Delirious and completely lost, Nishant looked from him to Dhruv but still did not say anything.

Dhruv palmed his face and urged it up.

“What is it? Please say.”

“She is gone.”

The moment Dhruv heard him his hands fell away. He did not know what to say.

“She is……she is not coming back, right?” Nishant asked his voice choking as the tears turned into sobs.

When his sobs stopped, Dhruv and Sid helped him towards the room and watched him go off to sleep. Then, they bandaged his hand trying not to wake him up.

“Have you told him about the Kavin thing?” asked Sid as he pulled the blanket on Nishant.

Dhruv shook his head and placed a soothing hand on Nishant’s forehead.

“I don’t want to mess him up more.”

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