Chapter 206 - Did he threaten you?

|Eshan|

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(Flashback)

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"Are you alright?" I fired the first question when Innaya answered the call. The whole night I had kept trying in vain for her to answer. It was only in the afternoon of the second day that she had decided to put end to my misery.

Sound of her shallow breathing came through the microphone of the mobile. I closed my eyes as I let my head fall back on the chair in exhaustion and relief.

She was there.

She was finally there.

No matter if she was talking or not, the assurance her breathing sound brought was a great relief to my troubled heart.

We could always talk things through. I didn't want to sound interrogative on the phone, at least not at the moment I heard her voice.

"Yes," her raspy voice answered.

She had cried. It was clear from her hoarse voice. She fell silent after that. I did too. All the stress, tension, worry of the past hours was slowly fading away. We had things to discuss, but nothing was more important than her safety. Being able to get in touch with her was already the best thing.

"Sorry…cough... cough... "Innaya broke down into coughing fit. I sprang up to pat her back only to realize I couldn't. We were miles away from each other.

I sighed regrettably, falling back on the bed. Rubbing my temples with my left hand, I waited for her to get better. I heard her moving around.

"Are you not well? What happened?" I asked her when her coughing subdued.

"I caught a cold…" Innaya answered.

It was no wonder. She was out there in the open air for so long. And, she had fallen on the ground, unconscious. She would fall sick. I was not by her side to take care of her.

"How's the situation there? When will you return?" Innaya tried to change the topic, but the concern in her voice was unmistakable.

I smiled sardonically. So much had happened, and she was still concerned for me.

"Let's switch to a video call. I want to see you," I abruptly said. I knew she was wounded. If she didn't want to straight away tell things, I had my ways of knowing the truth. Taking a single glance at her I would know things.

"No…" Innaya protested weakly.

"Innaya, I want to see you. Don't make any excuse now," I firmly pressed on, not giving her chance to refute I disconnected the call, and went for video call.

Despite what had happened for the entire day and night, my lips broke into a smile at her attempt of hiding things the moment her face came before my eyes. Innaya had wrapped her head with the white towel as if she wanted me to believe that she had just taken a shower. I observed her face. Just in one day, her face had turned pale and lost all the color. Her eyes were swollen as if she had cried a lot.

My wife had first time used make-up to cover up, but she forgot that her eyes would always give her away, and there were tears in her eyes. Did she cry hearing my voice, and that was why she coughed to hide her sobbing?

"W-what are you looking at so intently?" Innaya nervously shifted in her place. She refused to make eye contact.

"You tell me. I missed you, so I'm looking at my wife to fulfill the longing of my eyes. It seems as if you did not miss me at all," I vocalized my feelings.

"Oh... What are you saying? I-I missed you too," she stammered.

"Then why did you not call me? You didn't even answer my calls. What were you busy with?" I probed.

"I-I..." Innaya could not answer. She was at a loss of words. She could not lie. Maybe, she was trying to find excuses.

"What are you hiding? What happened yesterday? Why was Karan with you?" I asked her directly. I had decided to take things easy, but watching her in that state just broke away my patience. Something had gone wrong, and I had re-watched that footage of her sitting listlessly in the park last night. I had nothing else to do when I could not get to her.

Innaya gulped, her lips parted in shock as if she did not expect me to know about things. For a moment, I saw the hesitation in her eyes which soon turned to determination. Even without her saying anything, I knew she would not tell me. That determination of keeping things away from me was visible in her eyes. I sucked sharply.

'She would never share what happened today with you.'

Karan's words rang in my ears. Innaya's silence was proving them right. I felt unexplainable pain rising in my chest.

"Eshan, I don't wish to talk about it. Nothing happened, I'm fine. I just accidentally had hurt myself, and Karan happened to help me," Innaya said after a long pause. I knew they were all lies. I had seen it with my own eyes. She chose to hide the truth from me.

"You've learned to lie," I whispered brokenly.

Why would she not share worries of her heart with me, but rather confide with Karan?

Innaya's face fell when she heard me.

"Eshan, it's not that I'm not willing to. Sometimes, we need to make some decisions while hardening our hearts because we know the consequence," Innaya replied with tears glistening her eyes. She bit her lips, averting her eyes from me.

I caught the agonizing pain and fear in her eyes. I considered the possibility of her being threatened. At the time of her kidnapping, she had chosen to give herself away for saving me. She had willingly chosen to leave with those kidnappers knowing that they could harm her. She had done that just to save me from getting hurt.

"Did he threaten you with something?" I asked.