Chapter 228 - I said, don’t touch me...

|Eshan|

"Don't." Innaya roughly shoved away my hands from her face. That tear-drenched face of her broke my heart. I wanted to take her in my arms, comfort her. 

Arjun and I had heard what she said to Fortune. Listening to her talks made me realize how much she was affected. How sad she must have felt to talk it out with Fortune as if she had no one else who would listen to her. Perhaps, I made her feel that way.

Had I gone overboard? Looked like the case. I should have explained things to her beforehand. 

My feet were frozen at the door as I heard her each word clearly and saw how much everything was hurting her. In a trance, I just stood there, hearing her talking about her pain. I even forgot to help her. My trance broke with the sound of the glass crashing on the floor, bringing me to the present. 

I looked at her, standing in the middle of broken glass pieces. She would get hurt if she stayed there. Hence, I rushed to her side. For a moment, she allowed me to get close to her. Her eyes filled with tears looked as if she was seeing some stranger. 

Her expressions then changed to that of anger.

"Don't touch me. Don't dirty your hands. Your mother warned you, didn't she? Listen to her… Do not come to me." She backed up against the table, moving out of my reach as if she really believed my mother's words.

"Damn it. Don't move." There were pieces of broken glasses all over. She would hurt herself. My mother's words were too hurtful. I should have stopped her, but then we would not have gotten substantial proof to keep the mother-daughter pair behind the bars. No matter what, I should not have let her go through such a horrible experience. Then again, I was unaware myself.

"Careful, you are going to hurt yourself," Arjun yelled from behind me. He came to stand two steps away from us. Innaya pushed herself in a corner, shivering and crying.

"No… Calm down." Arjun tried to take a step toward her.

Innaya's eyes snapped to him. She pointed her shaky finger at him, looking thoroughly disappointed. "You- you don't get to say a word. I am at fault, right? Leave me to be. No, I'll leave. Then all of you can be happy," she said through her sobs. She was not thinking properly. 

"Oh Innaya!" I wanted to take her in my arms. I could not watch her breaking down like this. It was unbearable. 

"I said, do not touch me," Innaya yelled frantically.

I raised my hands in the air, taking a step back. "Okay… okay. I won't touch you. How about you get out of here. We'll talk and sort out things." I kept my eyes on the shreds of glass near her feet. There was a big shred near her right feet, if she moved around carelessly she was bound to get hurt. How do I take her out of the corner? 

She had pushed herself to the corner in-between table and the wall. There was not enough space to move around, where I could take her away without letting her act carelessly.

"Haha… Talk? Sort? You mean to say- taunts, sarcastic remarks, accusations, hurtful words?" Innaya accused. Tears streamed down her face.

I flinched. My own words came mocking in my face. Why did I have to be a jerk to her? I should have kept my anger to myself. 

"I-I'm sorry," I apologized, trying to formulate a plan in my head. Innaya was looking at me, so with my slipper clad feet, I slid the broken glass before me to the side, slowly. I did not wish to draw her attention to my action, least she got agitated. 

"No, I'm sorry. I brought bad luck to your life. I shouldn't have agreed for this marriage," she muttered.

"NO." I shook my head. "Don't say that. D-don't. You are not thinking clearly. Sweetheart, please, listen to me."

"Yes, it's always me. I don't think clearly. Right, you are right," Innaya hiccuped, blaming herself. She looked down at her feet in a trance. "It is always me. I bring bad luck everywhere I go. My father was right. I ruined his life. I ruined my mother's life… and I ruined yours… It is my fault," she whispered brokenly. Her breathing got labored, and she seemed to have difficulty breathing for her chest heaved uncontrollably as she sobbed.

She was going to have a panic attack if this continued.

No… I could not let that happen.

Something hard slipped in my palm, and I looked down to see the broom in my right hand. Arjun tapped my shoulder to act fast. He had at some point gotten hold of the broom. How he achieved that, I did not care. Right at the moment, I could not be any more thankful for it. 

I swept the floor before me, clearing the area before us. I threw down the broom and reached to the Innaya. 

The first thing, I did was to take her in my arms. "Sweetheart, calm down." My chest felt heavy as if a heavy rock was pressing it down. Watching her breaking down made me feel helpless, as well as worthless. 

"It's not your fault. Do you hear me? It's not your fault." I repeated as I rubbed her back. 

If anyone was at fault, then it had to be me. Despite knowing how stress affected her, I failed in keeping her away from the stress. Moreover, I ended up stressing all the more because of my anger, and thoughtlessness. I deserved getting beaten up.

The whimpering sound coming from the door had me looking up. There stood mom, crying as she leaned on dad for the support. She pressed her fist on her lips to not make any sound. Dad shot me a furious glare.

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