Chapter 21 | Her
My creep is such a gentleman!
My mind keeps taunting me as I pick up the bouquet of red roses, with a note proclaiming his love. Again!
I wonder how much time this guy has to pick a different design to send every single day of the month for almost one and a half months now.
Why do you even pick it up? Only to throw it in your trashcan. What a waste of flowers!
I kind of hate this other side of me, who keeps annoying me with admiration bullshit every time a bouquet pops up on my doorstep. Like I haven’t seen what kind of love this man has for me.
But my mind is not the only one being questionable these days. I can’t deny the betrayal my body does whenever I think about it. The heat that flows from my fluttering heart directly into places where it has no business going.
I haven’t heard from him since that night about six weeks ago. Only the flowers, and the notes. Like some kind of conditioning, he is subjecting my brain through to make me accept him as my lover.
Maybe it is working... but his sex skills are way too overwhelming. Not to mention unconventional and scary.
But he protected you. He saved you.
Only once! And then he branded me. He tried to prove his ownership on me.
But doesn’t he already own you?
No, no one will own me. Ever. I am not an object.
If not, then why aren’t you talking to Nakul?
I stop my mind from drifting into dangerous territories and make my way inside my flat. I let myself sink into the plush couch in the living room, setting my purse aside and pulling out my phone to scroll though the day’s messages.
A new message catches my attention. The name shines a little differently.
Nakul: You busy tonight?
No. Not for you.
I type out a few words before making up my mind, deleting the text and throwing my phone on the sofa.
But then it starts ringing before I can put his thought out of my mind. God! Why are you doing this to me? I cannot put his life on the line, with a maniac on the loose, looking for one reason to kill literally anybody laying their hands on me.
Unsure of whether my phone is tapped or hacked or whatever, I ignore Nakul’s call; although, resenting the thought of making him feel rejected. That is something I don’t think I am at all capable of.
Nakul: Do you want me to come, see you?
The moment I read the message; my mind drifts to the night when we shared our first kiss...the long anticipated first. But before I can truly feel the joy the picture that followed replays. The rage in the psycho’s eyes when he asked me if I kissed him. Before my mind can process, I am typing a reply.
Me: No. Please. Don’t come upstairs.
Nakul: Then why are you ignoring my messages?
Me: I am just too occupied at the moment.
Nakul: Take as much time as you want, but don’t just ignore me like this. Talk to me. Just once.
I suck a deep breath and type in...
Me: Okay.
My phone rings within seconds. And his thick low voice calms my nerves for reasons unknown.
“Baby, how are you? And why are you avoiding me?”
The way I’ve been dying to hear this for so many days; its relieving.
“I am fine, I told you. It’s just that I’ve been extremely busy. I’m not able to make time for all this.”
My voice is plain and straightforward, even though my chest aches to tell him how much I miss his voice telling me sweet nothings. His arms wrapped around my body. His lips on mine.
His voice interrupts my unvirtuous day dream.
“You can have all the time, sweetheart. But don’t lie to me,” the pause sounds more like finality, “Something is wrong.”
“No, everything is fine. I am just busy, I promise,” My lies sound just as meek as my voice.
“No, it can’t be. Or you wouldn’t ignore me everywhere. All the time. How much time has it been – A month – or more?”
He is not entirely wrong; I’ve been ignoring all his call and messages since the night we kissed. In fact, I’ve been avoiding his gaze whenever I am outside.
There have been a few times when he’s tried to reach out when I jog in the morning. Or when I’m out collecting groceries. Or when I visit the temple on Thursdays and Mondays. But I just used a life skill I learned while running away from my stalker.
I am good at running away from my problems. Now I am using that skill to run away from my happiness. But I can’t tell him about my intentions; when all it will ever do is pose a risk on his life.
“I haven’t. I don’t get what’s so hard to understand.” Being rude to him only breaks my heart. But that’s for the best; for both of us.
There is a pause on the other end of the line, and I check my call screen if it has been disconnected. Then I hear him sigh. A sigh of defeat. He sounds just like me when I surrendered my soul to the devil.
“Okay... I get it. I’m sorry for bugging you,” There’s pain and something else in his voice that I am not able to discern, “But can we meet – at least once. Today, tomorrow – whenever and wherever you want?”
“No. I have work tomorrow, and tonight I am busy.”
Disappointment fills the air between us for a few seconds, until his voice pulls my hopes back. But the pain beneath those words is killing me.
“I’ll wait. For whenever you are free.”
I don’t answer. Hanging up is the only answer that I could manage since I know that the maniac can hear us talk. But the little teardrop that was threatening me, now flows freely; along with the whimpers of despair.
It’s true... I can’t run away from him forever. Especially when I am falling so hard for him.
I’ll have to think of some other way out.
Messaging what I couldn’t tell him will do the job for now.
Me: Meet me @ApronsUnite Art Festival At Daisy Lawns tomorrow. Five pm sharp. Ring me once, only.
I can feel him smile from here. And it warms my heart like a sunshine after heavy rain.
But you like clouds and rain?
Not when it comes to him. And I smile after a very long time.
MY PHONE RINGS ONCEagain and I assume it must be him again. I mean I understand the happiness but he’ll have to understand it’s not safe for us to talk.
But then I see the caller id.
“Hey Jess... what’s up?” I say cheerfully on the phone.
“Hi... Hey, I called you to talk about my flat mate. She’s leaving by the end of the month; she just confirmed.”
“Oh, okay... So, I’ll have to talk to my landlord to end my rent agreement.”
“You haven’t talked to him? Oh God D! When were you planning on letting him know? You’ll have to talk to him to return the deposit too.”
Shit! I totally forgot about it.
“Do it right away... Because only then will you be able to sign in here.”
“Yep... I’ll go right now. Thanks Jess. You’re the best!” I can hear her giggle before hanging up.
She is indeed the best!
I planned my move right after my date night went wrong. Jessica had been pushing me to move in with her ever since the club incident. She had ever since been paranoid about my safety in my apartment.
I wish she were wrong.
But, two weeks back when her flat mate informed about her transfer from the city, she was more than delighted to tell me that I could move in right away.
Her roomie was on a one-month notice period which ends on the thirty first of this month, so I can replace her soon after that. I’ll need to, however, discuss it with my landlord for revoking the rent agreement early, so the deposit and everything else is settled down before I leave.
The relief is seeping in as serotonin is filling my head. All I need to remember is not to screw up like the last time. I have to make sure the creep does not get the slightest hint when I make a run for it.
I HAVE NEVER VISITEDor so much as peeked past the staircase that leads upstairs. Plus, after Payal told me about how paranoid our landlord was about social interactions, I had come to terms with the fact that I shouldn’t try approaching him until absolutely necessary.
Today is absolutely necessary.
There is something about exploring the forbidden that excites me to my core.
As I take the steps to the floor above, awe takes over all the happy hormones. This place looks like a whole another world.
The marbles on the stairs are different than the ones up till the eleventh floor. These are dark, like pitch black. And glossy as fuck! The lighting looks more savage because of the shine; like someone from royalty could stay here.
Even though this place is decorated with bonsais from every corner of the world, it still looks neat; like someone just cleaned this place. The entire floor smells outrageously classy.
So, my apartment is not even the beginner’s mode to this guy’s tastes. He must be awfully rich to afford all this.
I reach the giant luxe quality wooden single door; gawking at everything around me. This is a huge space for a single person to live. Because I don’t see any other doors, meaning the entire floor is just all to this man. What businessmen own such kind of luxury?
Now I get it. If I were him, I too would never want to leave this place.
Stop goggling and concentrate on what you’re here for.I push the button on the intercom once before my gaze falls on the golden name plaque.
“Nakshatra Arora.”
Okay, why does this name ring a bell? I scrunch my brows trying to remember.
There’s no way I could end up being a tenant to someone I know, without them knowing about it. But it just sounds vaguely familiar. Considering the fact that we meet people of the same name every now and then; it’s not odd to feel like you’ve heard a name somewhere.
I push the button again. Still no answer.
My intuition is screaming that I am being watched. There’s someone behind the door somewhere; looking at me and deciding to ignore my door call.
If my work wouldn’t have been urgent, I wouldn’t have come knocking on this door. Being an introvert, I understand how bad social anxiety can be for people, but it’s still creepy to look into the intercom without answering.
After about ten whole minutes and at least eight rings I settle on the fact that this guy is actually an ass. So darn rude! What’s such a big deal about meeting with your tenant just once? I’ll try again, later.
I drop a message to Apeksha on my way back downstair. Why not just give in to curiosity, I mean?
Me: Hey babe! Do you know anybody that goes by Nakshatra Arora?
A few minutes later a new message pops up on my screen.
Apeksha: That’s a rare one but yeah, I do know someone by that name. Why do you ask?
Me: I saw it somewhere.
I wait for her reply but she seems to have not seen my message. So, I head to my bed to have a goodnight of sleep. It is then when a new message pops up.
Apeksha: Did you see him on Meta? Cause our school girlies might just explode from the overwhelm! ??
Curiosity is killing me now. He might not be the one that resides on the floor above mine, but I still need to know. School gossip is still a topic of interest.
Me: Why? What’s so special about this guy?
Apeksha: I cannot find him still. I thought maybe you could; since you’ve never be on his radar. You are, safely, not his type.
Me: Stop playing around. Who is this guy?
Apeksha: Omg! you’re so not fun. Wait I got something on Anu’s profile.
I wait for her to complete the damn sentence. I am not in the mood to play games right now. Neither am I interested in the guy. The text screen lights up with another message.
Apeksha: See that’s him.
There’s an old photo. It’s hazy but we must be in high school at the time, because it looks like Anu’s fifteenth birthday. It’s the guy standing beside her, that I seem to have seen somewhere.
Where have I seen you? Where?
My eyes narrow at the expanded image of the guy’s face, when realization hits me hard right in the guts.
Yes – Yes, I recognize you. How wouldn’t I?
Apeksha’s message pops up right at the moment. And every single hair on the back of my neck is erect in attention.
Apeksha: He is the only Nakshatra Arora I know a.k.a Naksh. Anushka’s brother.
The guy with the crazy face. The one who looked at me with that insane look in his eyes. I can’t forget him. He even followed me the next day at school and scared the shit out of me.
Can he be the one who lives a floor above? If yes, then I am in deep, deep shit.
Because, as terrifying it may seem, he might just be the one that’s been stalking me this whole time. All those years.
Whatever it is – but sleep is the last thing on my agenda tonight.