Simran

******

I stormed off inside the house in anger. Once I was in my room, I threw my bag on the bed in annoyance. This wasn't me. I was not someone who acted upon irritation or even rage like the way I did. Throwing my stuff on the bed like a spoiled brat was definitely not who Simran was. However, ever since I married this stupid man, I had been acting the way I never used to before.

“Simran…” I heard my husband yelling my name.

Was he back already? Wasn’t he way too behind me?

Oh, how could I miss that he was a beast with cars, too? He surely would have flown his car to reach back home as fast as he could. He had even the leverage now as every staff member had gone out to run some errands and were to be back an hour later.

Before Kiaan stepped into the room, his rage reached me, hot and simmering.

“What was that?” He seethed the moment he glared at me.

“What was what?” I acted nonchalant.

“Do you have any fucking clue what dangerous stunt you pulled?”

“No, enlighten me. What did I do? I don’t think I pulled anything dangerous.” I crossed my arms holding a smirk on my face. I knew what I did, but I did not find it dangerous enough.

“So hiring a cab after running out of the café, when the driver was visibly drunk and nearly crashed into another car, wasn’t dangerous to you?”

“But nothing happened, didn't it? See, I am fine.”

“You are fine because I was there. You are fine because Enzo drove you here and not that drunk asshole.”

Enzo did not exactly drive me, but I chose to come back with Enzo instead of my husband. I agree that the driver was drunk, but I was so angry that I just hailed the first cab I found in front of the cafe, and that stupid man almost crashed the car into another passing vehicle. The amount of anger that poor man had to face of my husband surely would have made him shit in his pants. I doubt if he lost his job or was about to lose it now because no one escapes the wrath of my husband. I repeat NO ONE. And when he ordered me to go in his car, I deliberately chose to sit in the one from which Enzo had taken me to the cafe because the last thing I wanted was to share a vehicle with my husband.

I turned around and started going to the walk-in closet to change when he said, “Stay when I talk to you.”

It was a command. Now, things were getting out of hand, and he needed to know Simran did not take shit from anyone, even if it was her husband.

I turned to him, fuming, burning in anger.

“Stop ordering me around. I am not your dog.”

“Then stop behaving like one.” I scoffed. My mouth gaped open.

Wait! Did I hear him right? Because if I did, then how dare he say that?

“Did you just call me a dog?”

“Did I? I don’t think I said something like that.”

My chest heaved in anger. He stood taut, his sleeves were rolled to the elbows, and veins were hard and ready to pop out as if each body part and vessel of his was ready to burst in wrath.

“How dare you?”

I picked up the filled glass of water on the bedside cabinet and splashed the water on his face. He was shocked. To be honest, I was too. I didn’t think I would one day behave like some mean girl, but this man I married drew my strings the way no one ever did, bringing out a side of me I never knew existed.

He had a small smile on his face as he shook his head. He brushed the water from over his face with his hands. Even with that smile dancing on his lips, his eyes were cold and burning. My heart skipped a beat.

“You did not just do that.” He murmured. Those words glided on my skin, making my heart skip multiple beats now. I didn’t let him faze me completely, though. I stood strong in front of him.

“Oh, I did exactly what you thought I did and this too.” Then I picked up the jug from the cabinet and emptied the entire jug on him. I put it back, but my anger still sustained like I needed to do something more to calm myself.

What I did was not right, but it pissed me off so much that I could not control myself at all.

“For once, for even a slight moment, I thought you really wanted this to work, for us to work….But…who was I fooling? You have only ever known how to crush people’s hearts and souls. All I needed was the truth, not some sick story I can’t make sense of. Stop trying to manipulate me emotionally.”

I was exhausted because of his lies, and I didn’t have enough strength left in me to bear with his games.

He took a step towards me, not hurriedly but deliberately. The more he got closer, the more I felt the heat of his anger, his presence.

“This was the exact reason I knew you weren’t ready. You are an immature, stubborn woman who wants things as per her conditioning. You react this way at the slightest discomfort, at things not going as per you expect. You are fighting with me, being impatient for something which needs your patience.”

“Slight discomfort?”

That man wrecked my life and called it a slight discomfort? I chuckled emotionlessly. I did not know what was more funny, the damage he did to me or his not acknowledging at all what he did. The moment I stopped chuckling, I looked at him the same way I did when I found him with Rhea three years ago. I was reliving the same humiliation. The only difference was that this time it came directly from him and not through Rhea. This was worse, more painful than ever.

“So what if I want something as per my timing? I only have one wish, but you are facing an itch in your body and soul just because of that? Are you that obsessed with controlling everything and everyone, Kiaan Chauhan?”

“You aren’t ready for the truth just yet and nothing can change that fact.”

How could he simply announce what I'm ready for or not, just how could he?

Did he consider him some God who knew everything about me?

“Yeah, you’re right. I am a child. So why did you even marry me, you sick pedophile?” I shouted at him.

My body vibrated with the anger I had been holding inside for far too long. It clawed at my ribs, desperate to break free, to tear its way out of me in any form it could find. I had tried to hold it back, but was failing miserably. But I still restrained myself just enough. Because if I didn’t, this wouldn’t turn into just noise but destruction. Someone would get hurt. And not metaphorically.

“What did you just call me?” The heat from his body burned me, and I could not move when he took one stride and grabbed my arm.

“Let me go…” I struggled in his grip as I felt his fingers dip into my skin. It hurt, it really did. My eyes clouded with tears in pain as his grip on my arm tightened tremendously.

“It hurts…Kiaan..you are…hurting…hurting me.”

As my tears streamed down, he did not seem to be bothered by it at all.

“Let me go, you monster,” I screamed. He, instead of leaving my hand, slammed me into the wall nearby, trapping me between the concrete wall and his monstrous figure. His warm breath fanned my skin, burning every inch it touched. I struggled more to free myself, but the more I struggled, the firmer his grip got.

“You want to know why I can’t be honest with you?” He screamed. I froze. I was scared. Really, really scared.

I had seen all shades of Kiaan, but this….this was new. I did not know this man. I had seen him angry, but this time it felt like he would cut deep into my soul without even using a knife. He was so livid that I knew he held the power enough to burn me down and the entire house just with his anger.

“I can’t be honest with you because you remember nothing, while I carry the venomous truth since I was twelve.”

With my tearful eyes, I looked at him, confused. I could not understand what he meant by that. 

Twelve? But we met only a few years ago. How could he have known me before that?

Just then, his voice lowered, turning into a gentle touch.

“But you know, never for a moment, never for one fucking moment I wished to not carry it with me.”

From his free hand, he cupped my cheek, tenderly like I was delicate, as if I would break if he wasn’t careful.

“You know why?”

I noticed his eyes turning soft then, as if a curtain he struggled to remove was drawing apart. Then I saw him, the real him. I saw the man who looked…scared.

Scared?

Why was he scared? What was he afraid of?

“Because then I would have had to forget you, firefly. And that…that would have killed me. But how would you know? You don’t remember anything and do not see my efforts to....”

He loosened his grip on my arm and took steps back from me. The curtains were back again, hiding his true self. He looked disappointed, like he was not the one who hurt me, but it was me who did something to him, as if I broke him, wrecked his life.

He released an exasperated sigh and then turned towards the door, leaving me behind. 

How could he just shut himself off? 

I was desperate for this truth, but now that I had seen for myself what he was hiding was big, my desperation increased.

“Efforts to what?”

“Just fucking finish it.”

“Kiaan.”

I kept shouting to stop him, but he didn’t. But I was not going to stop myself either, and I was about to say something cruel just to have him stop and not run away.

“And ladies and gentlemen, this is my man running away for the hundredth time… because that’s what he has learned, how to run away.”

That hit the right cord. His steps halted, and he turned to me, tired but angry.

“What? Why are you glaring at me? Did I hurt your fragile ego?” It had to work. I was hoping for it to work so badly.

Kiaan let out a short laugh. It didn’t carry humor, just exhaustion. He dragged a hand down his face, water I splashed earlier dripping from his lashes, and for the first time, he didn’t look angry anymore. He looked tired.

“You think I’m some sick pedophile who has a fragile ego?” He asked quietly.

From everything I had said, he was still stuck on the term pedophile. I knew I shouldn’t have said that, but I was clueless that it would affect him that much.

“You believe I am some monster who wants your body, don’t you?”

“You think my hands are dirty with people’s blood, and how could someone like me be with someone like you, who is so pure and pious, isn’t it?”

I stood silent, letting him vent out as I didn’t want the moment to get disrupted. I thought I put him in some conscience trance or a guilt trip. Heck, I was so wrong.

“Get your hands dirty, too, then. Stoop to my level.”

“What…what do you mean?” I asked, nervously.

“I mean, you kill someone, too, dear wife, then we would be equal, wouldn't we? Because I am not letting you go, either in this lifetime or any other life. So, either you accept this murderer husband of yours or get to my level by killing someone.”

I was speechless.

How could he say that?

He wasn’t talking about eating candy but taking a life.

Was a human’s life that worthless to him?

He was talking about anything but the truth. But I was not going to give up just because he took me off guard by telling me to kill someone.

“I want the truth, Kiaan. I want the truth. All I want is your honesty, and I can put past everything behind….even the fact that you killed someone or that you had some whores in your past and that you broke me.”

I put a tempting offer in front of him; I just wanted him to take the bait. But before I could gauge any reaction from him, suddenly, there was a loud bang.

I got spooked and shocked. This was something unusual.

Kiaan ran towards the window of our room, and then there was another bang sound. This was harsher, closer, and then I heard the cursing sound of men and Enzo yelling. Kiaan peeked out from one side of the window, and his expression turned grave.

The sounds continued, and I realized what it was that had me go pale, and my heart began thudding faster.

Kiaan rushed to me, clasped his hand in mine, and without a word hurried out with me. We rushed down the stairs. He was in extreme hurry, but in that hurry, he made sure not to leave me behind, nor did he let this urgency hurt me in any way. I, on the other hand felt I was in a trance as I kept running with him. He took us to the corner room on the ground floor. Once inside, he left my hand, shut the door behind, and then slid away the table, and then removed the carpet. He then removed a wooden plank, which led a way to a hidden space. I could see the wooden stairs leading into a dark space. He securely led me inside and then followed me in. Until then, he had not said a word to me.

I knew what was happening, but I was too scared to even say something. Once we were inside that space, he turned on the switches behind the staircase. The room lit up. I noticed it was a cramped wooden space with multiple boxes stacked. There was a closed door too. He opened a wooden box, and my eyes widened when I saw what was inside it. The box was filled with grenades, guns of all kinds, and knives, too. He pulled out two guns, a lot of bullets, and a knife, too.

“You know how to shoot?” He asked.

I shook my head as my heart palpitated in fear. My face blanched looking at the gun in his hand.

“Then I guess, this is going to be your first time.” He said as he took hold of my hand and put a gun in my hand. My hand shook, but he held my hand tight.

“Hold it tight.” When I took hold of the gun, he made a call.

“Enzo, what’s happening?” Not sure what Enzo said, but his expression only turned more somber after hearing him.

“Okay. How many?”

He quickly cut the call and then pulled out a backpack from another wooden box. That wooden box had a lot of eatables and water bottles. He started filling the backpack with those items.

“It's a gunshot, isn’t it?” I asked with my shaky voice. That was the dumbest question to ask. I knew how a gunshot sounded because Ishaan Bhaiya used to practice shooting, and sometimes I used to go with him to his practice. I liked the sound of it, but I never wished to hear it outside of any shooting arena.

Kiaan didn’t answer me. Once he filled the bag, he had me sit on a small ottoman and knelt in front of me.

“Stay here. Don’t make a sound. If I don’t come back in an hour, then….” He pointed at the closed door and said, “Open this door and just follow the straight path.”

He was not planning for us to run away, which I had thought earlier, but only me. He put the bag beside me and said, “This bag has everything you will need to get out of this place and reach a safe place. It has a spare phone, a physical map, food, and water. The path is an hour long, and it can get scary because of the darkness, but trust me, you will be fine.”

He stood up then, and so did I. I knew what he was about to do, and I didn’t want to let him.

“Don’t go. Don….don’t go, please…” I sniffled.

How could he claim he would not leave me in any lifetime, a few minutes ago, and decide to ditch me now?

“I need to handle the situation.”

I wanted to believe it was a nightmare, but I was not in a nightmare. Everything was real, and he was leaving.

“Call the cops. They will handle it. You will get hurt.”

“This is not some burglar we are attacked by. Cops can’t handle shit.”

“Please…please….don’t leave me. I don’t want you to get hurt.” I cried, holding his arm tighter. A few minutes ago, I was crying because he hurt me, and now I was crying because he was about to get hurt. A moment ago, I was scared because of him, and now for him.

“I won’t get hurt.”

How could he have known that? I might consider him a beast, but he still had a human heart beating inside of him.

“No….no….Don’t go. I am not letting you go.” I tightened my hold on his arm. He freed his arm effortlessly and then cupped my tear-stained cheeks as he said in a firm tone, “Simran, this situation demands me out there. Otherwise, there will be a bloodbath. You want that, baby? No, right?”

I didn’t care about it. All I wanted was for him to be safe.

“I don’t care. Just don…don’t go. You are not a cop.”

“You are the strongest woman I have ever known, and I trust you. I trust you with your life. You will keep yourself safe for me, right?”

He can’t do this to me. He can’t.

But he was doing it anyway.

I shook my head in response, crying. I could not leave him behind in danger. I would never do that.

“Simran, we don’t have much time. I need you to assure me that you can keep yourself.”

“No…I can’t…Don’t go.” I sobbed, and I hugged him tight. He didn’t hold me back. He simply left a chaste kiss on my forehead, and he pushed me away from him, not harshly but gently.

“I trust you that you will take care of yourself.” He said, and then he was gone, leaving me with the most terrible ache in my heart.

You know what’s worse than being out there in front of danger, waiting for the one facing the threat. Threats are never kind; they are always cruel and always take something from you, always. It took my mother away once, and this time….

No…

He will come back. He promised he would. He will have to.

So, I waited and waited and waited ... even when more than an hour passed…

But…he didn’t come.

******

Hi Lovelies,

I hope you all are doing good. 🤗

Really sorry for the late update. I had been working tirelessly for around 18-20 hrs a day, and I was exhausted, hence the delay. 

Do you think something will happen to Kiaan? 🤔

What will happen to Simran now? Will she be safe? 🤔

P.S --> The truth will start coming out in a chapter or two. Rest assured. 🤗

Do share your views about the chapter. It would mean a lot to me. ❤️

Thanks,
Shrishtee