Chapter 251 - I don’t mind being clawed by my drowning cat.

|Innaya|

"How about you keep everything aside and sleep for the night?" Eshan asked as he held me.

Despite my attempts, Arjun still had left without sparing me another glance. Perhaps my words were too hurtful, and he did not want to have to do anything with me. I broke down into tears. It was Eshan who walked around the bed and sat beside me.

He had not once tried to stop Arjun. He stood there with his arms crossed across his chest, watching how I pleaded to Arjun. He made no noise as if it was a statue placed in the room for the decoration purpose. So when he sat beside me, I scooted back on the bed. Pulling my injured ankle proved to be a wrong decision because it pained like hell.

The angry red swelling had increased because of my rash behavior. I could only silently bear the consequence of not being mindful of my health.

"You should have been careful." Eshan shook his head as he also noticed the swelling.

"You should have stopped Arjun," I replied. The hoarse sound coming from my throat was too shrill to my ears that I wanted to stop talking. Averting my tear-stained face, I bit back the sob bubbling in my throat. I would not cry. Hastily, I wiped my face with the long sleeves of the dress I was wearing.

Eshan opened the drawer of the bedside table and took out the tube of ointment. The doctor had prescribed that if the swelling increased. I did not want his help. "Give it to me. I'll do it," I said, stretching my hand out.

Eshan swatted my open palm to the side. He then adjusted my body in the half laying position on the bed. "You can hit me later, let me first tend to your injury," he said while he was adjusting cushions behind my back.

He turned around and took out my purse next. He opened the zipper and pulled out a pack of wet face wipes. He sure knew where to find the stuff. "Clean your face. You look like a drowned cat." 

Saying his piece, he shifted his focus to tend to my ankle. Glaring at his downcast head for his comment of 'drowning cat', I very much wanted to show what cats were capable of. He would understand after getting clawed.

"Want to bare your claws? Go ahead. I don't mind being clawed by my drowning cat." 

My eyes went wide at his casual remark, which he said without looking at me. Did he know how to read the mind? At this point, I forgot about crying, and only the shock overtook my feature. I even forgot to clean my face, and wet wipes remained safely tucked in their pack. Shocked to silence, I just sat with my back resting against the cushions.

Eshan carefully applied the ointment to the swollen area. He then paid no heed to me while working before he went back to the bathroom to clean his hands. I just stared at the man whose weird behavior was attaining various peaks today.

He left the door to the bathroom open. From where I sat, I could clearly see his curved back as he bent down to wash his hands under the tap.

Eshan then wiped his hands with the hand towel before his hands went to the first button of his shirt. With a slow and steady movement, he opened a total of six buttons. Six. Yes, I counted each. Something was captivating with the way, Eshan carried out the simple task of unbuttoning his shirt.

"The security was hired for your protection, not to make you worried. That was the only reason I kept it away from you. And, most importantly, we spent most of the time together. So even if you knew about them- it would not have mattered," Eshan said. He did not move an inch from his place, but his voice was audible to me, and I heard his explanation clearly.

"Can you talk to Arjun?" I asked after staying silent for a minute or so. Though I badly wanted to argue with him for hiding such an important fact from me, my main priority was Arjun. I just could not erase his indifference from my memory. Disappointing him was never my intention, but I eventually did it.

After the last incident of Eshan going missing, besides the promise I made to myself and Eshan, I had made a promise to Arjun as well. I wanted to improve, not for others but myself. 

I ended up messing everything.

"I can… but I won't," Eshan replied.

The first half of his sentence gave me hopes only to shatter them with his denial that followed. "Why?" I narrowed my eyes, wondering what reasons could there be that Eshan did not wish to help me.

Eshan removed the shirt and dumped it in the dirty clothes bag. That was when I caught the big faded- green colored stain near the waist of the shirt. That oddly looked like a bitter gourd juice. With the help of the towel, he cleaned his waist. He then walked back into the room, but instead of coming to the bed, Eshan chose to sit on the couch. 

"I introduced a friend to you. After that when both of you decided to acknowledge a sibling relationship, I had nothing to do with it. Then how can you expect me to meddle now?" Crossing his legs, he leaned back. Intertwining his fingers, he placed them on his knees, looking relaxed and at ease in his bare upper torso.

Though his lack of clothing distracted me for a bit, and I could not understand the reason behind not wearing clothes, I stayed silent. Pondering on his words Eshan's surprised reaction on knowing that Arjun called me sister flashed in my memory.

"Hurting him was not my intention."

"Your words spoke otherwise," Eshan retorted. "Wipe your face. With all those tears, you must feel uncomfortable."

Eshan's reaction was too calm. Since the moment Arjun mentioned Karan's name, he had gone silent. Yet, he was not this distant. Something seemed to have changed. Running myself through the things that happened after Karan's name was brought in the conversation, I still failed to realize what went wrong. Taking out a wipe, I cleaned my face. That gave me time to think about the shift in Eshan's demeanor. He was fine when he went to bring the water for me in the kitchen.

Yes, everything was considerably fine then.

Then where things went wrong?