AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Atharv was staring as her, his eyes wide with surprise. Even from the distance Koyal knew that he was struggling. Koyal could see realization dawn upon him. Your marriage was worse than hell because he used to hit you, didn’t he? his stunned expression asked from across the rows of chairs, bringing out goosebumps all over her body.
She stood unmoving on the stage, the words from the passionately written speech lost now, desperate to vanish into nothingness.
Koyal would never quite know how she managed to get through the speech, but get through she did. And then she flew off the stage, somehow fiddled with her phone to call an Uber and ran to it as fast as her legs could carry her.
‘Destination address,’ asked the cab driver politely.
‘As far away from Atharv as possible,’ she said.
‘Madam?’
‘Let me give you my postcode,’ Koyal said hurriedly, red-faced.
31
It was Amit again. He was running towards her. He had a rope in his hands and he was screaming at her.
Koyal got up, drenched in sweat, her heart thumping in her chest. Unsure whether she had just woken up from a dream or if Amit was indeed close by, she jumped out of bed and dashed out of the room and into the unlit kitchen. She smashed head first into a shelf. The utensils clattered on to the floor and Koyal tripped and fell on them, feeling something sharp cut through the skin at the nape of her neck.
A few minutes later, Koyal found herself sitting on the kitchen floor, holding some kitchen towels, already blood-soaked, against the cut. Suddenly, the tears started to flow.
Tears, the truest sign of weakness, she thought grimly.
Someone, anyone, she screamed silently, her face wet with tears, please, please please help me. Someone show me the way, please.
In this new life, Koyal had made a success of herself by telling herself that she didn’t need anyone for anything, and so far it had worked spectacularly, but now, she could tell, the walls were crumbling. Just when everything seemed to be looking up, she had started to break.
‘Come in, Koyal,’ Kimberly said, rushing to her, concern apparent on her face.
‘Thanks, Kim,’ Koyal said, smiling weakly, looking around Kimberly’s office. Kim’s office, Koyal had noted as she had walked in, was right next to Atharv’s.
‘Show me the wound?’
Koyal turned around and felt Kimberly unzip her dress a few inches so that she could get a better view.
‘I think I fell on a knife or something…’ said Koyal. At five that morning, Koyal had hesitatingly called up Kimberly to ask her what she should do about the cut. Her inhibitions proved baseless when Kimberly not only dismissed Koyal’s apologies for calling her at that hour but also insisted that she come directly to her as soon as she was ready to step out of the house.
‘This doesn’t look as bad as it sounded on the phone, to be honest,’ Kimberly was now saying, sounding relieved. ‘Just needs a nice little bandage. Why don’t you change into this gown and I’ll get the stuff I need?’
Koyal was sitting in the flimsy hospital gown, waiting for Kimberly, when she heard the door open.
‘Is she here?’ came a voice from behind her and Koyal’s heart skipped a beat.
‘Yes, Atharv,’ said Kimberly, approaching Koyal carrying a million little things on weirdly shaped trays. ‘I’ve just inspected the wound and it’s not too bad. Do you want to do the dressing?’
Koyal turned to look at him. Atharv was glowering at her, angry and worried.
‘Clearly, she trusts you more than me,’ Atharv said curtly, stepping away.
Koyal looked away.
You know how it is when you desperately don’t want to see someone because you desperately want to see them? Koyal had avoided Atharv since the NGO event. And now, feeling as vulnerable as she was, she had no wish to be around him because that would make her want to be in his arms – because just being wrapped in his arms would make things okay. It would make her wish things between them had been different.
But they were not.
And they were not going to change. And at the moment, she was too tired to think about all this.
Kimberly was talking, both to Atharv and to her, as she bandaged the wound. Atharv maintained stony silence but, Koyal noted, did not leave. Despite trying very hard not to, Koyal turned around and gulped when she saw his expression. He was still and pale – he looked like he had seen a ghost.
