Chapter 78: chapter 78

THE SILENT LOVE ...Chapter 77 :Swetha was flabbergasted by seeing the scene in front of her. Rana’s hand was held very tightly by a strong hand  making him wince in pain forming the  sweat beans on his forehead.Swetha spun her head slowly to the owner of the hand  and was stupefied to see the person. Her heart  filled with ecstasy and her eyes filled with tears for seeing the person who came as a knight in shining armor to protect from the atrocity she was about to go through.Sreekar, who was driving the car aimlessly  on the busy roads after leaving the office, got a call from Meenakshi. She asked him to  pick up Rasi from the college as her vehicle broke down and Rohan was stuck in the meeting who was supposed to  bring them home.Without having any other option , Sreekar went to the college to pick up Rasi,  being aware of Swetha’s presence and also riding her back along with Rasi. Once he reached the college, he saw  both Swetha and Rasi moving towards the  tree and at the same time saw Rana slapping on her ass.Sreekar was infuriated by Rana’s action and  immediately jumped out of the car. He dashed towards their direction and by the time he reached them,Rana was trying to grab her. Sreekar was enraged and grabbed his wrist before it could touch Swetha. Rana was dumbfounded to see Sreekar so suddenly at that place, at  that time and in such a situation.Sreekar glared at Rana giving a murderous look for a while towering him with his height and later spun his head towards Rasi who was lying on the ground. He slowly stretched his hand and helped her to stand on her feet without leaving Rana’s hand. Later he slowly averted his gaze towards Swetha with a cold icy expression on his face. He saw the tears which are streaming continuously from her eyes and his heart clenched with agony to see her tears.The previous day her tears didn’t show any affect on him but at present her tears were boiling his blood and a fire was rising in him by witnessing it. He wished to rip them into pieces whoever may be the reason for her tears.Swetha was looking at him with mixed emotions by tilting her head slightly to the left side. Sreekar can see the agony, helplessness,  shame, humiliation due to the earlier incident and also the gratitude towards him for appearing in such a tough situation in her eyes. He clenched his jaw, gritted his teeth and his eyes turned to bloodshot red by seeing all the emotions and helplessness in her eyes. Swetha blinked a couple of times looking at him, unable to bear the humiliation, she covered her face with her palms and leaned on Rasi’s shoulder while sobbing.Sreekar spun his head towards Rana with a devilish look and growled,“How dare you touch her?”, and punched on his jaw while holding him through his collar which made Rana scream in pain.None of the Rana’s friends come ahead to protect him from Sreekar and stood frozen in their place.Sreekar whirled his head towards Swetha and roared,“Take your sandal”.Swetha slowly spun her head back and saw Sreekar growling at her and gaped at him with puzzlement.“Are you deaf? Take your sandal”, yelled Sreekar.Swetha almost jumped on her feet frightened by his voice, took one of her sandals and held it in her hand. By seeing him gesturing to her to come near, she slowly moved to him and stood beside him followed by Rasi.“Hit him with your sandal. He should learn the lesson for touching the  woman inappropriately”, howled Sreekar.Swetha was  flabbergasted with his statement and gaped at him with widened eyes. Sreekr turned towards Swetha who was looking at him in astonishment and glared at her.“didn’t you hear what I said? You want me to repeat. Hit him hard for touching you inappropriately if you are disgusted with his action”, taunted Sreekar and twisted Rana’s hand on his back making him face Swetha while looking directly into her eyes.Swetha gazed at  Sreekar with fury for throwing such words and turned towards Rana. She wants to show  Sreekar how disgusted she felt with Rana’s touch.“Didn’t you ever think how your sister or mother would feel to experience the same before hitting me?”, shrieked Swetha and hit Rana with her sandal very hard on either side of his cheeks.Rana’s face burnt with pain and his cheeks were swollen with the hard hit. He felt humiliated and tried to  retreat himself from Sreekar’s grip but all his efforts went in vain in front of his strong grip.Sreekar  felt proud by hearing her statements and the way  she confronted Rana. He could acknowledge the disgust she felt with Rana’s action and felt scared of  the consequences if he wouldn’t come to pick them up.Rana was irate with the humiliation and  wiggled in Sreekar’s hands  to  release himself. He wants to  show the consequences to Swetha for  humiliating him in front of the co students.  Sreekar,realizing his inner thoughts, released his hand and grabbed his collar after turning him  back to face him.“IF. I. SEE. YOU. NEAR. HER. NEXT. TIME. YOU. NEED. TO. COUNT. YOUR. DAYS.”,threatened in a very dangerous voice while whispering  in his ears.Sreekar jolted Rana back making him stumble on his feet and fall to the ground. He pointed his finger   towards him  and gave a  deadly glare indicating him not to mess with Swetha. He shifted his gaze towards his friends as a warning and turned back  while gesturing to Rasi and Swetha to follow him.Swetha and Rasi slowly followed Sreekar who was  heading towards his car.    They both entered the back seat and Sreekar ignited the engine to dash towards their house.Swetha kept her eyelashes downcasted trying to control her sobs whereas Rasi held her through her shoulders consoling her. Though Sreekar couldn’t see  her face , he could notice her sobs by the movements of her throat.Throughout the journey Sreekar kept stealing glances at Swetha through the rearview mirror and  felt a pang in his chest to see her  being dejected. He realized the truth that  whomever she may be with or whoever she chooses, his heart cares for her. But  why? It is an unanswerable question for him.Before reaching the house, Sreekar cleared his throat to attract their attention. Once they looked at him, he slowly informed them about his  feelings.“I think it’s  better not to inform anyone about the earlier incident”, stated Sreekar while gazing straight at the road.“THANK YOU”, keeping her eyes down, Swetha thanked him wholeheartedly.Sreekar gazed at her for a second through the rearview  mirror and averted immediately towards the road. He can acknowledge her inner turmoil by hearing her shaky voice.Once they reached the house, Swetha alighted from the car followed by Rasi and went into her house. Rasi nodded her head towards Sreekar as an acknowledgement and followed Swetha to her house.Swetha directly went to her room after wishing Mahalaxmi who was in the living room. Once she entered the room, she fell onto the bed and started crying. Rasi locked the door and reached Swetha.Rasi kept consoling Swetha to forget the incident and appreciated her for hitting Rana with her sandal without any fear. She tried to encourage her to get back to normal condition for which she succeeded after half an hour of coaxing.Sreekar, after dropping them, went inside the house and spoke with Meenakshi and Chandra Mohan for a while and went to his room to have a look at Swetha. But the curtain for the window was closed and nothing was seen from the room. His heart was feeling restless for not seeing her and he wished to confirm her getting away from the agony she experienced in the earlier incident. After waiting for a while he left the house with a puzzlement of questions that were rising in his heart for which he didn’t have any answers.Why is his heart throbbing by seeing her in pain? Why did he get infuriated when Rana touched her inappropriately? Why is his heart wishing to protect her? Why does his soul crave for her presence though he was acquainted with the truth that she belongs to someone else.