Chapter 248 - Broken Bond, and Grieving Heart

|Innaya|

Once again, a deafening silence fell in the living room, making me aware of my quickened breathing. I could not believe what Arjun said, even though I knew he would not lie. 

"Security? Why did you not tell me?" I asked, backing away from Eshan.

The new piece of knowledge was like a cold bucket of water dumped over my head. I struggled to make sense of the information. The kidnapping incident had happened very long ago, almost two months, and for two months, Eshan kept this away from me. I just could not make peace with it.

"Did not want to scare you," Eshan answered simply. His hand gripped my shoulder, pulling me back to his chest.

I did not want to. How could Eshan hide such an important matter from me? There were people following me without my knowledge. Now it all made sense. How he got to know about Karan, how he always knew about everything concerning me when he was not in the vicinity. There were eyes and ears he had planted around me. He would obviously receive the report. Did that not mean he knew everything his mother had done? 

I could not resist the sickening feeling of disgust rising in my chest. Here, I bore everything for... him. I did not want him to have to choose between his mother and wife, whereas he had already decided whose boat he was sailing. I could not be any stupider than this. For the past month, he had been putting on an act to deceive me, and yet he blamed me.

"Don't think too much without listening to everything," Eshan said, his voice coming out a little stern, which I perceived as an annoyance. 

Great, now he was getting annoyed because I found his play.

"Take your hands off," I replied instead. His mere presence was causing me to feel choked. I failed to understand why I was having such a strong reaction. Logically, I should be listening patiently without reaching any conclusion. Eshan also said that he knew nothing, but I failed to distinguish when he was telling truth, and when he was lying,

Eshan remained quiet, restraining my unsuccessful attempt of getting away from him.

"When aunty came to meet you for the first time, there was a security breach," Arjun said, explaining the details of that day. 

"And, Eshan does not know what happened that day," he added hurriedly as if sensing my growing displeasure with his friend. No wonder he could not see his friend getting hurt. He wanted to clear the suspicion on his friend as soon as possible. 

I could not bring myself to believe anyone of them. They all lied to me, kept things away from me. I did not know if I could accept their words anymore. Eshan gripped my chin and forced me to look at him. "I am not lying to you. I'm unaware as much as you are… The only difference is, I knew what was going to happen today," he said, looking directly in my eyes.

I blinked with tears pooling in my eyes. The man holding me was capable of throwing me off-balance with his just glance. So, when even the idea of betrayal from him scorched my insides. I absolutely could not accept that he could not include me in the matter of our life.

"Innaya, I kept matters of hiring security personnel hidden because I did not want you to feel pressured. I knew you would feel conscious. And, I thought I was taking precautionary measures, never would have I thought that in a way, this decision would help us somehow. Because of this security, those people were unable to hurt or get close to you in person. That's why they chose to go to mom." Eshan caressed my jaw tenderly, even his tone lowered down, and he spoke slowly.

Breathing deeply, I searched for signs of dishonesty in his eyes. I was soon disappointed to find nothing but honesty in those dark brown orbs.

"I can vouch for that because I was the one to suggest hiring security," Arjun interrupted. "I even recommended him some people. You can't actually blame him."

I freed myself from Eshan and created some distance between us. My ankle protested in pain when I moved, but I pushed back the pain. "Oh! Right, how can I forget your undying love for your friend? Before him, you can't think of anyone else, can you? What am I? A foolish girl whom you took as a sister for your friend's sake. Is hiding things fun?" I retorted, pouring out my grievances through anger.

Arjun's face turned serious. "Who can know this better than you? Do you not love hiding things? If you have not hidden the matter of Aunty throwing you out of the house and giving you divorce papers, do you think the matter would have stretched for so long? Do you even know what would have happened if things went out of control?

Learn to treasure your time and relationsh.i.p.s because sometimes your foolishness can lead to your doom. If all I cared about was Eshan's happiness, you would not have a chance to hurt him again and again. I get that you have your reasons, but don't you think you are being unreasonable here by blaming us for thinking about your good? You can hide things, but when someone else does, then that's the problem. Don't you find yourself a bit hypocritical?" 

I instantly blanched as Arjun blasted. He stood up. His blue eyes glared fiercely at me. For some strange reasons, I felt guilty about my behavior. His words were hitting the right spot, making me realize that my words were overbearing. The stubborn, angry self of mine was too dense to accept it despite the slowly sinking realization.

"Arjun, calm down," Eshan said, walking to Arjun's side. He kept his hand on Arjun's shoulder. "Buddy, calm down. She did not mean it that way."

Arjun shrugged off Eshan's hand, continuously glaring at me. "Do you think only you have a horrible past? Does having a horrible past gives you a free license to hurt people who love you... time and again? If you keep on doubting the affection I have for you, I think I better stop myself. I don't want to force any relationship on someone who knows nothing than questioning my intentions," Arjun spoke word by word. His expressions furious, and his blue eyes turned red with anger. More than anger, the feeling of being wronged appeared prominent in his stance.

"Anyways, it has nothing to do with me now. We don't have any relation anymore, so this doesn't concern me. Thank you for your non-existent trust. Oh, and by the way, had I not received the word of what Ayesha's mother wanted to do, you would be kissing goodbye to your dignity. So yeah, I think it was fun hiding things. Right? " Arjun sarcastically chuckled before he dashed out of the living room, leaving me stunned with guilt and remorse.