Page 21 of Twisted Bonds

This is what it meant to be torn apart.

“Chitra, please,” It was a plea that made her stomach twist. She could not take the sadness in his voice.

Why? Why did she still care so much for him?

She could not find her voice to shout at him or ask him to leave her alone.

“Chitra, please forgive me. I’m sorry I hurt you. I promise to never keep the truth from you.” He followed her from a distance, but she did not stop walking. She didn’t need to look at him to know he looked miserable, but the defeat in his voice was telling.

It could be yet another social experiment of a rich, privileged kid. How would he be any different from the bratty rich kids who made fun of her in elementary school for wearing the same outfit to school?

“Chitra, please, I promise to you–”

She couldn’t take it anymore. She turned to look at him. “I don’t believe you. You are a liar, and I was just a fun experiment for you.”

“Chitra, No.” He stepped forward, but she held her hand up.

“You once promised me you would never miss a single class, and here you are bothering me when all I want is for you to leave me alone.”

He was taken aback but did not say anything.

“I do not want you around the temple or follow me around like this. If you truly care about me, and it’s not another one of your convenient lies, leave me alone.”

With those words, she turned away from him, batting away her tears, thankful for the darkness so her sadness was hidden.

***

It had been a week since she last saw Mihir. She had taken every measure to avoid him, even if he decided to follow her and attempt to appease her again.

She changed all her shifts to when he was in class and spent her time in the temple, in the back office where no one but volunteers were allowed. As if nothing would spare her from the heartache, the day after she took the job in the back office, she was given the task of tallying all the donations from the past month.

The first thing she noticed was a check for an entire month’s salary donated to the temple by Mihir. There was no way for him to know where she worked for her to think it was yet another act. She held the check, unable to believe that he had given away all the money after all that hard, back-breaking work he had done for hours at the soup kitchen.

Her heart ached for him, and she hated that she couldn’t stop thinking of him and missed being with him. Pushing away her conflicting thoughts, she went back to doing her work.

Later that day, she went to the soup kitchen for her shift, and the situation was chaotic when she arrived. She approached the supervisor, who looked frazzled. “Mrs. Daisy, what’s going on? Why does everyone look so tensed?”

“Oh, we had a serious incident, and if it weren’t for Mihir, it would have been a lot worse.”

Chitra was shocked. “Mihir was here?” He had classes, and that’s why she had changed her timings.

Mrs. Daisy nodded. “It’s a university holiday today, and Mihir signed up for a shift. He was about to begin his shift when one of the volunteers was attacked. Mihir stopped the man from injuring the volunteer and got hurt pretty badly himself.”

“No,” she cried out like she could not keep the pent-up feelings anymore. “Where is he now?”

“Both injured men were taken to the General Hospital a few blocks away.”

Mrs. Daisy had barely finished his sentence, and she said, “I need to see Mihir. I can’t do my shift.”

Chitra didn’t wait for a response. She bolted out of the building and started running toward the hospital, her heart in her mouth. She couldn't bear the thought of Mihir being in pain.

When she reached the emergency ward of the hospital, she saw him.

“Mihir,” she cried, running towards him. His clothes were covered in blood, and his skin was stained red.

“I’m not hurt,” Mihir stated calmly. “This is not my blood.”

She was shocked. And then next moment, intense relief hit her. She hugged him, crying into his chest before pulling back to look at his handsome face. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, tears still streaming down her eyes.

---