Her
Iused to believe Divit to be such a sweetheart, but I should have known better. After all he’s the devil’s best friend.
Nakul did tell me to beware of his bestie. Something like him being a more psychotic bastard or something. But it never occurred to me that he could be genuinely warning me and not just making an excuse out of jealousy. Until now.
The surgery room is in the basement of the shed behind the cabin. The entire facility is made inside a huge underground cellar; the entrance looking ominous and almost impossible to see with the lush network of ferns and vines. You could only see it if you were good enough to look past the heavy canopy hanging above us at the moment.
Almost disoriented by the sudden absence of light as soon as we enter the facility, I grab Nakul’s hand. His strong arms instantly pulling me close to him and leading all the way in. I sense a sudden stiffness near my belly, and jerk back, although the heat it ignites in response is undeniable. The asshole does not mind groping the first chance he gets.
When Divit switches on the lights, I find myself standing on one end of what looks like a long hall with passages leading to probably more rooms, rather than just a surgery room like I had imagined.
The place stinks sharply of bleach and something I can’t quite decipher. My palms instantly cover my mouth and nose in response to the heavily reeked scent of chemicals.
The walls of the entire hall are lined with chairs, but not ordinary ones; these look like surgical chairs. A dentist’s surgical chairs to be precise. The least promiscuous ones are those which have leather straps on their armrests and headrests. And I am unfortunately not na?ve enough to not know what those must be used for. What the hell is this place?
There are cabinets on every side and corners of the walls, the glass separators displaying things – weird things; and a part of my brain wants to explore but I dare not imagine.
“Sorry, did you say you were a doctor by any chance?” My imprecise and edgy question draws a giggle out of both these maniacs.
Whenever I’m about to settle down with this lunacy surrounding my life these days, something seems to pop out of nowhere like a jump scare in a horror movie. And I fall back to level one.
“Nope. Not a doctor by any chance.” Divit responds tight lipped, before bobbing his head side to side furrowing his brows. And suddenly he has started looking a lot like my beloved second-chance boyfriend here.
“As a matter of fact, I began as a medical rep in a pharmaceutical company. I used to facilitate distribution of medical equipment; I mean that was my area of expertise.” He speaks casually walking beside a surgical weird-ass chair, “But soon, I realized that I could open my own firm, which grew into the business I now own. I test my surgical supplies at least once here, of course in the presence of a certified doctor.”
And the moment he finishes, both of them indulge in a hearty laughter exchanging looks. What’s so funny to these assholes?
“Am I missing something here?” I ask Nakul, whose laughter is slowly fading as he grabs his tummy, trying to silence it.
“Ask him who the doctor is?” He tells me.
“What’s going on Divit? What is he talking about, who’s the doc?”
“Okay...okay. I’ll tell you.” He silences his giggles, “Mira is a certified forensic surgeon. She studied medicine before that... We were at the same university. Did he tell you that?” He signals towards Nakul.
“Come on dude. She hardly assists you.” Nakul says still fighting the tears in his eyes due to the exhaustion of laughing at God knows what.
“That’s because I’m too good at what I do.” Divit responds.
“No. That’s because you don’t follow the right procedure. Moreover, you do it on live people. What’s the point of her being then?”
Live people?
“Is this a torture chamber of some sort?”
“Omg, she got it!” is the only response from my soon-to-be-dead boyfriend. And both of them break into laughter again.
“So, you think I’m a dumbass?”
“Omg, shut up for one moment, Disha.” And then they are arguing amusingly again, while I am slowly losing my shit.
“Will you guys tell me why am I here?” I shout loud enough to pull their attention.
“You are here for training. And leave the fragile fluttering heart up in the cabin. You won’t need it down here.” Divit responds, the grin still on his face.
If I haven’t fainted till now, I’ll surely do now.
“What training? Why do I need training?” I ask trying to calm my racing brain down.
“Have you forgotten how you came here? Did it not cross your mind that the people who filmed you, must want something from you now?” Divit’s expression is calm, but I can see the rage boiling beneath the calm exterior.
The energy in the room has suddenly turned dark. Loud laughter to still silence in mere seconds. Grim!
When my gaze turns to Nakul, I see him sitting in one of the torture chairs legs spread apart, fists clenched and face flushed. The veins on his thick tatted neck are clearly throbbing when our eyes meet and he turns to look away. Was it guilt or anger that I saw in his eyes? or both...?
“They’ll try to attack you as soon as you are out in the open. And Disha, maybe you’re not able to understand right now, but I’ll tell you something... this thing that you’ve stuck yourself in. These things don’t just leave on their own. You have to make them leave. And for that you’ll have to learn self-defense as a first priority. Followed by offence, in case you need it – ever.”
I am dumbfounded by the sudden realization of my mistake. It’s true how easily I underestimated them, whoever was behind that day’s events... it couldn’t be Aniket alone.
My brows furrow as I instantly remember something, “He – he told me something... Aniket said he and Veer worked for some Miss – umm – God! what was it?” Both their eyes shoot open as they exchange glances.
Nakul shoots me a look before getting up.
“It was... I think. It was Miss Versatility. He told me they worked for her.” I say finally remembering the whole thing.
“What? Why did you not tell me this before?” Nakul races towards me and buries my face in his chest; and I can hear his heartbeat racing beneath the white shirt and a layer of stone hard trained muscles, “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I was late that day.”
I know what he is thinking. He wants to kill Aniket all over again, if he could.
Divit’s raspy voice cuts through as we split to look at him who is standing in the corner smirking thoughtfully, “You know how easy it will be to track them down now. I’ll call everyone immediately. Nakul can leave with you just in case. We’ll dig for her in the meantime. I’m sure that’s an alias for the dark net.”
He turns to face Nakul, “But can you promise me to control your animosity dude.”
The humor back in his voice, as quickly as it vanished.
Nakul curses under his breath as his sexy lips curl into a genuine smile.
“So, when do I start training?” I ask Divit.
His eyes darken, “We’ll start right away.”