The restlessness
After coming back home, Atharv locked himself in the room and smoked continuously sitting on the settee. He had already finished the entire packet of cigarettes and another one also took out. His hand holding the cigarette butt was shakings continuously and he was tapping his left food nonstop as he was feeling very restless. His breathing was heavy and his sharp gaze dart on the certain point of the wall opposite to him, expression gloomy. He couldn’t shake off the word ‘fiance’ from his head. He didn’t know why the thought of Navya with another man was troubling him so much. He didn’t want to think of her but again and again, his mind drifted towards her. This made him even more agitated and he inhaled the smoke deeply.
At that moment, the servant knocked on the door and asked “Master, shall I serve dinner now?” This was the third time the servant came to call him.
Atharv turned his head to look at the closed door and scolded “I told you to not disturb me. Don’t you understand this simple thing?”
“Yes, Master.”
The servant’s voice came from outside. Then he heard the footsteps faded away after sometimes. Feeling irritated, Atharv untied the loosened tie and threw it down on the floor. Then he unbuttoned the sleeves and rolled up till elbow. He walked to the balcony and looked outside, holding the railing. The more time passed the more his frustration increased. His grip on the railing was tight. His mind was fully occupied by the thoughts of Navya. In his life, he never thought of any woman other than Tina then why he couldn’t stop thinking about her? The intensity of annoyance increased so much that he shouted “Why?” and slammed his fist on the railing. His breathing quickened and he felt tremendous tightness in his chest. He came inside, picked up the car key from the side table, and stormed out of the room.
The servants retreated in fear to see his motion and dark face. Within a blink, he came to the garage and got into his car. He ignited the engine and the car exited through the main gate of the mansion at a high speed. After around one hour of driving, he reached in front of an old, multi-story building. This was the apartment where Navya lived. Atharv took out his phone and dialed her number.
Navya was still crying in the living room hugging her knees when she heard her phone ringing in her room. She thought it might be from Nakul. Wiping her tears by the edge of her palm, she stood up and walked to her room. She picked up the phone from the side table and looked down on the screen. Her eyes widened and jaw dropped after seeing the familiar number. It was the same number from which Atharv called her in the afternoon. ‘Why is he calling me?’ A wave of chill passed through her body and her hairs stood straight from head to toe. Unknowingly what to do, she only looked at the screen in a trance. Very soon the call ended. She heaved a small sigh and plopped down on the bed. Before she could feel relief, the phone again started ringing. Startled, she jumped off the bed and looked down at the screen again, only to see the same number. Her hand started shaking. After hesitating for a while, she pressed the answer button “Hello.”
Her voice was low and shaky. Her heart was thudding loudly inside her ribcage, breathing swallow.
She heard his cold voice from the other end of the phone “I am in front of your apartment. Come down quickly.”
“What?” She shouted instantly. “What are you doing here? Why are you here?” Panic and anxious, she forgot that to whom she was talking. She had no idea how harsh she sounded just now.
“Are you coming down or not?”
Atharv was impatient and continuously rolling his hand around the steering wheel. The entire evening he spent in restlessness and came there just to see her and she was wasting time in babbling. He was annoyed and shooting a cold glare at the building.
Just then he heard her “No… I won’t… You go back home.”
Her voice was sharp as though she didn’t fear him. How dare she? This was the second time she refused him within a few hours. No one dared to say ‘no’ to him but this dainty woman showed the guts to deny him twice. Anger ignited his body and he held the steering wheel tightly. His knuckles turned white. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Then I am coming up there.”
Perturbed, Navya immediately said “No…no… don't come here. I- I will come down. You wait… I am coming.”
She hung up the phone as soon as she finished speaking. Her breathing quickened and her heart was racing like a wild horse. She was wondering whose face she saw in the early morning that her day became so chaotic. Monty already created lots of troubles in her life just one hour ago and now Atharv came there to increase her problems. At that moment, she wanted to hide and ran away from there, so that no one could find her out. But could she offend that CEO right now? She feared that if she delayed further then he might come there and if he came there then she might get a beating by Pushpa again. Terrified, she rushed down and within a couple of minutes, she came out of the apartment. She saw his black Mercedes standing outside the gate. His luxury car alienated in front of the old apartment. Taking a deep breath, she walked forward and she saw Atharv coming towards her the moment she came closer to the car. Nervous, her steps froze in the track and she looked at him in terror. His hair was messy and few buttons on his shirt were undone showing his chest a little. His sleeves rolled up till elbow. Navya never saw him in this messy condition. ‘What happened to him? Is he alright?’ She swallowed hard and tried to find out why he was like that but before she could think properly, he grabbed her arm and dragged her to the car.
“What are you doing?”
Helpless, Navya shouted and struggled to set free. But his grip was so tight that she couldn’t pull her arm back. Within a blink, he opened the door of the passenger seat and shoved her inside. He walked with long strides to the other side of the car and opening the door, he got in the car. Before Navya could know what was going on, the car started running very fast.
Navya tried to open the door but due to the child lock system, she couldn’t open it after trying countless times also. Tears started streaming down ruthlessly. She had no idea why he was behaving like this. She turned her head to look at him and asked “Mr. Ahuja, where are you taking me? Please don’t be like this. Let me go.”
But Atharv only busied in driving looking straight on the road. By seeing his sullen face, Navya was sure that he was in a very bad mood. She was puzzled to think that what made him so angry. Could it be that he was angry because she refused to go with him to the hospital? Navya’s eyes widened to think this and she looked at him in horror. She realized that her action was the root cause of his anger and now she had to bear the consequences to offend him. She covered her mouth with both hands after thinking this and couldn’t stop tears to drip down from her wide eyes. A chill was running throughout her body and she was trembling vigorously. ‘What is he going to do with me?’