Chapter 21: chapter 21

SRUTHII lean on the closed door and wait for Madhav’s footsteps to fade. The room is dark and I don’t bother turning on the light. My head throbs and my body aches. I am done pretending to be okay. I am hurt and angry and embarrassed. Now that the excitement of the day is over and the night is silent, all the emotions that I had under the leash escape and tumble down. Tears fall on my face as I think about Praveen’s letter.Was I that starved for love that I couldn’t distinguish fake from real? How stupidly I believed that Praveen was in love with me. How easily, I fell for his words. I foolishly believed that he saw me for who I was and loved me. But to him, I was a harmless girl who he used to make his ex—sorry, lover jealous.I sink to the floor and hug my knees. I feel both physically and emotionally drained. Dramatic. That is how my life seems now. I don’t know what I should do now. I feel like that twelve-year-old girl again who was helpless and useless when her parents were murdered. I was supposed to be the happiest woman today. I was supposed to be married to the love of my life. This night was supposed to be my fantabulous wedding night spent with my husband. But, here I am all alone in the house of the man I am scared of.Tears don’t stop rolling down as I think about the betrayal of Praveen. I am not sure how you can start to hate someone you love in a span of a few hours.  But I hate Praveen more than I hate Madhav. He broke my heart and crushed it into a thousand pieces. He was the first man I believed in after my brother. I feel violated and angry. He stole my first kiss. Oh God! To think that I thought that kiss we had meant something. I feel disgusted and angry at myself. There is no one else I can blame for this—only me. I was the one who fell into his trap. I thought he understood me. People usually expect me to be fierce since I am the defence minister’s sister but Praveen was okay with me being a docile lamp afraid of violence. But only now, I realize that he never saw me for who I am in the first place.My head spins. I want to yell at something. I want to take out my anger on something. I want to punch his goddamn face. I gasp at that thought. I never do violence. This isn’t me. No matter how angry I was, I always had it under control. I try counting to ten but the flames of anger are not extinguished. I put my fist into my mouth and silently scream into it. I don’t want to turn into a violent person because of heartbreak. I don’t know how much time has passed but I sit against the door crying silently and trying to calm my emotions until exhaustion finally claims me and I fall asleep.❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥A loud banging sound pulls me out of my nightmare of watching Praveen walk away from my life. A headache starts as I open my eyes to new surroundings. I  blink my eyes to adjust to the sun rays spilling into the room. I am in Madhav’s guest bedroom. I look around the room for the first time since entering. The room is barely furnished with only a bed and a cabinet of drawers. Nothing more. It is almost empty just like my life. The loud sounds continue and I realize someone is knocking—nope, the correct word would be pounding heavily on the door.“Sruthi, are you in there?” a frantic voice asks from the other side of the door. “Yes,” I answer getting up. The luggage is on the floor where I left them yesterday. My back aches with the position I fell asleep. I open the room door to find Madhav standing with a worried expression on his face. There is genuine concern on his face as he takes me in. There is a three feet distance between us but I can feel his presence physically. His eyes rover over me. Predator. That is the word that comes to mind. When he meets my eyes they are a stormy shade of grey. “I have been knocking for fifteen minutes. What took you so long to open?” he asks. “That is none of your concern,” I answer looking away. His gaze is too intense and if I keep looking, I feel like I would blurt out the truth about how I cried my eyes out yesterday night.“Everything about you is my concern,” his voice is low and smooth. “Why? Because you married me?” I ask incredulous that he is capable of caring for anyone. Killers are supposed to be cold and emotionless. They don't do emotions.  He shakes his head, “Yes and no. I am trying to keep you safe here, Sruthi. I can’t do that if you are being difficult. For a minute, I was worried that something happened to you when you didn’t open the door.”“Didn’t you say that this is the second safest place in the country?”“I did and I stand by it but I don’t want to take any risks where you are concerned,” he answers. The protectiveness in his tone makes me look at him again.“You sure as hell is scared of my brother,” I  say with a smile.“Scared of your brother?” he asks with a frown.“Yes, isn’t it why you want to keep me safe?”Madhav laughs in response. It is a rich warm sound that eases my tension, “Oh God! Honey, your brother has nothing to do with this. I want to keep you safe because you are too important to me.”Before I could fully register his words, his phone rang and he walked away to get it. I stand where I am thinking about his words. I am sure I heard him say the word ‘important’. What does he mean by that? Why am I important to him? If he isn’t scared of my brother then why bother caring about me? All our past encounters were bitter. Either he would say something to piss me off or I would rebuke him. There was nothing sweet or lovely between us. The only time we had a pleasant time was when Vikram first introduced Madhav to me. That was our first and last civil conservation. After that, our conversations were bitter and short. It was no secret about my hatred for Madhav. I believed the hatred was a mutual feeling. But, now, I don’t think that is the case. If Madhav doesn’t hate me then what does he feel for me?“Sruthi, shower and get ready,” Madhav says coming to me again with his phone.“Why?” I ask.“To sell our lie of a couple mad in love, we have got to do a few things like give interviews and act affectionate with each other in public. Your brother has arranged for a meeting with the famous gossip channel. They will be here in an hour,” he says. ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥