Chapter 14
Adharsh had woken up with a throbbing headache that morning. He walked absently into the kitchen rubbing his forehead while looking for the frying pan when he saw Sonarika busy at the stove frying omelettes. She gave him smile and greeted him. He'd forgotten about the girl until now and suddenly yesterday's events came pouring forth to his memory bringing with it new fresh worries.
'So this is a thing now.' He mumbled.
'Sorry?' She said politely.
When he shook his head she said
'I know how out of your way this all is and I wanted to thank you for the trouble. I was going to talk to you about my situation last night but you got home late and-'
'I'm ok to let you sleep here but you have to be quiet about it. If word lets loose that a soc girl is shacking up with some greasers, there'll be trouble everywhere.' He said his voice quiet firm.
'I understand' she said graciously , she really did, her brother would kill her were he to find out.
'Ive no where else to go..my brother.. he has too many friends around the city who would rat me out' She said trying to keep her voice steady.
Garv waltzed into the kitchen and greeted his brother cheerily with a hug. Adharsh was still sober from last night he was wondering how Garv managed to keep his spirits so high.
'Look at you all sad and miserable' Adharsh said sarcastically noticing Sonarika blush and understood.
'Well its because we have witnesses to help with Samar's case, and..'
'Spare yourself the trouble.' Adharsh said heartily, nudging him in the ribs while Garv looked at his feet in embarrassment.
Garv started to pull out a couple of mugs from the cupboards and began fixing them all tea, absently over pilling the mugs with water as he became distracted looking at Sonarika from the corner of his eye. Adharsh caught him and shook his head.
'Garv beta, normally you stop pouring once it gets to the top' he joked.
'Oh, sure Bhaiya' he said looking abashed and quickly wiping up the spillage while Sonarika smiled shyly. Adharsh shook his head and smirked.
He looked at his watch and hastily grabbed his mug in one hand and an omelette from the stove.
'Im late, gotta hurry. Don't get into any trouble' Adharsh said tapping his brother on the cheek and grabbing his jacket before leaving.
As soon as he was out Garv lifted Sonarika from behind and spun her around.
'Garv! Stop that! You're gonna be late for work!' He set her down and kissed her cheek before parting.
'Wait bhaiya! I need a ride.'
She smiled as she watched Garv leap over the gate and chase after Adharsh onto the street.
It was late in the afternoon, the house was dead quiet as Sonarika unlocked the doors. She went straight to the kitchen to fix dinner. The two brothers were still at work, she had forgotten to ask Garv when he would be back but was usually back before his brother.
Sonarika surveyed the room and sighed contently. She could get used to this. Maybe it would lessen the burden on the Thakur brothers a little, her being there to take care of dinner, or laundry among other things. She found she quite liked the tranquility of the domestic life. Working as a cook for a prestigious company had its perks but it wasn't quite like cooking a meal at ones own leisure and for those she loved.. Not that she ever got the chance to cook at home, her housemaid did everything for them, but here she felt free to take control of arrangements, and although he didn't express it she knew Adharsh was, as much as Garv grateful to find a prepared meal on returning back from a hard days work. At first she had expected disarray in the house seeing as only boys lived there and was pleasantly surprised to find it well kept.
'There's one boss in this house and his name is Adharsh bhaiya' Garv had said to her when she had asked him about it. She wondered how they managed between the three of them to work, cook and manage the house all at once.
'He's superman, he carries heavy bundles at work, comes home and carries other duties. He just works too hard.' Garv had said to her. It tugged on her hearts strings whenever he talked about his brothers and watched them having their moments together. She saw it in the Garv smiled and joked with them, and the way he gave him back rubs when Adharsh didn't even ask for it, and the way he slept, huddled so close to his big brother and the hugs he would give him before he left for work. He idolised Adharsh a lot and loved his younger brother as if he were a baby. She recalled the time she'd first met Samar, Garv had been so touchy-feely with him that it warmed her inside to see them so close. She secretly envied them for having that quality that she never knew in her own family.
Her parents had split up and abandoned her when she was just in her teens neither one of them wishing to rear her up. So, they had sent her to live with her step brother Ankur who had moved out when his widowed dad married her mum. She remembered how it had taken a while to warm to the idea of living with a boy whom she'd never met before and was suppose to consider as a brother even though he wasn't by blood and the awkwardness that it inevitably brought just the two of them alone in the house. She'd been nervous about him at first wondering if he'd hold a grudge against her seeing as she was the daughter of the woman who hooked up with his dad. But he never did. Then one day when she'd come of age her mum had attempted to get her back on the pretext of saying that Ankur would be a bad influence on her though her real motive was really to sell her daughter off in marriage to a loaded rich businessman but Sonarika hadn't wanted to leave then, somehow her mum backed out of the idea but she knew Ankur had something to do with it. Her lousy mum had left her in a most vulnerable situation the day she'd decided to give her up when she was at such an impressionable age. Sonarika had been in her most rebellious stage then, doing things she regretted with Ankur.. she was young and reckless as was he...but he'd been the only one she knew. He took good care of her, gave her a generous share of the family wealth and made sure she completed her education. He became fiercely protective over her as time went on so much so that it became the real reason for having a secret affair. She felt chained and trapped by his oppressive rule and was yearning for her independence, just for once she'd wanted to cross the line into a red zone. That's when Garv came into her life. She had buried all the past undesirable memories of her teenage adolescence when he stepped into the picture, letting bygones be bygones. She hadn't told Garv anything. But sometimes those memories floated back to her from the darkest depths of her mind.
Sonarika was so consumed by her thoughts that she didn't notice a shadow creep up on her from behind.
She nearly jumped put of her skin as she felt strong arms wrap around her from behind.
'Garv!' She exclaimed happy to have snapped out from the dark place she had slipped into.
'No' came the low deep voice in her ear. 'Guess again.' She froze.
He had her enclosed in a tight hug and she was starting to squirm in his hold.
'Sshh, sshh, sshh' he whispered softly smoothing her hair back from her face before she relented and leaned back into him.
Something was amiss. The door was unlocked. Garv flung the door wide open and pulled out his blade from his back pocket before entering the front room. The kitchen door was ajar and he saw Sonarika, her eyes closed resting within the embrace of a rather sharp, fine looking man.
Garv felt his blood boil with jealousy as he watched his girl in intimacy within another mans arms. Seeing her relax into the man like that brought hot tears to his eyes. They broke off immediately as they heard him entering the room. The guy looked familiar but he couldn't place him.
'So we finally meet. The greaser that stole my sister.' His voice was deep and even. Garv stood in shock for a few moments wondering if this was some kind of joke. He was her brother? He should have a felt a bit more relieved but he wasn't.
'You're trespassing our property.' Was the first thing that came to Garv's mind.
'I might say the same of you pal' he snarled.
'Look, I never stole her alright. She came willingly, because you scared her senseless.' He said clenching his jaw. Sonarika looked on helplessly at the two men in her life on a knife-edge of possible conflict..the lasting enmity was already set, him being a Greaser and her brother being a Soc, but there was much more at stake. Garv was digging himself into a deeper grave without knowing it.
The brother clinched his teeth and stole a sideways look at Sonarika who was fumbling nervously with her shawl. Garv saw his eyes burning with anger and something else..
Ankur pulled her sharply by her arm, from behind into him and lowered his voice speaking into her ear.
'Come on, aren't you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?' He said throwing a piercing look in Garvs direction.
'Ankur please, stop being ridiculous, let's just go home. I don't want any trouble.' She implored trying not to betray any sign of her fear. Garv studied her with a mixture of anger and puzzlement while Ankur glared at her before switching to a cool voice
'Nor do I sweet sister but what can I do. I never asked for this to happen.' He said sneering at Garv. noticed Sonarika wince as Ankur clutched her arm tightly and he stalked forwards toward them.
'You better leave her alone' he glowered clenching his fist.
'Why should I? She belongs with me. Got that hero? Or would you like me to make you get it?' He said slyly.
There was a look in his eyes that made Garv's blood run cold. He now remembered where he'd met him. It had been in the joint, during the brawl that took place. Perhaps he had figured out about their affair then which is why he had vented out his rage on Garv alone rather than hit out on the other gang members.
'So this is personal is it?' Garv said
'You bet it is, pretty boy.' Ankur replied leeringly.
But Garv wasn't about to let her slip out of his hands that easily, not after all she said about not wanting to go back home. She was his girl.
Garv grew enraged as he watched Ankur continuing to twist Sonarika's arm. He grabbed his arm and said calculatingly,
'You leave her alone, or you'll regret the day you were born'
Ankur shook his hand off roughly and pulled him by his collar.
'You dare threaten me greaser.' He said grinding his teeth.
Sonarika was crying out and tried to intercept them. She finally pulled Ankur away while they continued to glare at one another and hugged him shuddering against his chest.
'Can we please just go home. There's no need to make a deal out of this.' She pleaded looking into his face while a curl was forming on his lips as he prolonged his stare off with Garv.
'Sonarika, what's wrong with you? Why d'you want to go back and to him? Don't you see how he's treating you?' Garv said growing irrate.
She looked at him despondently. Garv wrenched her away from Ankur and cupped her cheeks.
'Sona, why are you acting up? It's cos you're scared isn't it? You don't have to be. You can stay here with us, he can't separate us.' He said softly trying to meet her eyes but she kept averting her gaze from him.
'Im sorry' she mumbled under her breath and brought his hands away from her . Ankur smirked as if in triumph and strolled over to him saying dangerously
'Me and you are going to mix partner, and when that time comes you better be ready.' He finished with a smirk before taking Sonarika's hand and walking out.
Ankur made sure they were well out of sight before flinging her into a corner. She collided against the brick wall and looked at him aghast as he stalked menacingly to her and put his hand on her cheek before dropping it to her throat and slamming her right back against the wall. She shrieked as she felt the rough surface of the bricked wall scathe against the skin of her back.
'Did you really think there'd be no repercussions for what you did?' he said livid with rage, tightening his hand around her throat as she kicked her legs and grappled hopelessly with his hand in effort to inhale air into her lungs. She saw the muscles in his arm contract as he maintained his grip around her throat slowly quashing out the remaining strength left in her.
'Answer me!' he commanded almost lifting her up by her throat with his one arm.
'I can't breathe...I cant..breathe..' she felt the blood rush to her face while he gazed at her, his face seething with rage. She started to feel faint and he quickly released his hand from her leaving her gasping desperately for breath. She sunk to the ground feeling her body go limp but he dragged her up and leaned into her till he was inches away from her face.
'I don't want to see you with him again. Got it?' He breathed heavily his face brushing dangerously close to hers.
She sunk her head from exhaustion still heaving for breath and he laid his hand on her cheek forcing her to look up at him.
'I said, got it?' He said huskily leaning in and looking searchingly into her eyes.
'Yes' she exhaled feeling his intense eyes on her and his warm breath on her skin. He smirked darkly in response to her acceptance.
'Good girl. I knew I could count on you...I have missed you' he breathed in a deep voice and hugged her. His gaze softened and he swept back her hair from her face. He looked around him furtively.
'Come on. Lets go home before people start talking' and held her hand before walking off. Dhairya emerged from the sidewalk feeling confused as ever. That was Garvs girl with Rajbirs best buddy, he was sure of it. Garv and his girl had been discovered by Ankur, the Socs ringleader. As if things aren't already rough as it is. He thought.
Edited by daenerysnow - 7 years ago
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