Na Bangaram (Pranushka)

Chapter 21

Anushka's Pov:

I see Shriya sneaking glances at me to make sure I don't break down. I did not think he would find me. I get chills thinking about his touch on my arm. 

A few minutes later I stop the car and watch Shriya get out. She stops in front of my door and pulls it open. 

"Get out. You do not need to tell me anything. I just don't trust you to be by yourself," she says while grabbing our purses. I step out of the car and walk up the pathway to the house praying that Prabhas is not there. 

Thankfully Aunty opens the door, and then another person comes to the door as well. 

"Miheeka! What are you doing here?" Shriya screams as she hugs Miheeka hello. I try to put a smile on myself but act normal, so she doesn't notice anything. She comes over and hugs me but frowns as she pulls away. She lightly touches my arm where he held it and raises her eyebrow. Shriya pulls Miheeka away from Aunty and drags her upstairs. 

"Anushka, had a rather unpleasant interaction with a guy today at college, and she won't tell me the history she has with him." 

Miheeka looks me up and down and says softly, "You do not need to tell us if you don't want to, but don't let it build up." I slowly look up at their faces that have understanding looks on them and begin to tell the story.

"Remember the other day, I told you guys I was serious with someone," I look up at their faces and they nod.

"Ya, well this is that guy. Guna. We met in school and dated for about 2 years. He just changed overtime, and I wanted out. He was so mad and aggressive all the time. I was always worried about what he would do out of anger and I didn't want to live in fear like that so I tried to break it off." 

Miheeka and Shriya nod at me to continue. "He was so obsessive wouldn't leave me, he even showed up drunk to my house in the middle of the night and caused a huge mess with my entire family. I told him so many times not to get involved with the wrong people and to control his anger but he never listened to me. It got worse when he started following me everywhere, I even had to change my number for him." 

I take a breath and continue. "It got to the point where he would show up everywhere, and he even came up to me a few times, but I would just ignore him." 

"Last I heard he was in jail for something, and that's when I was finally able to move on and live in peace, but now with him coming back-" before I could even finish, I feel my lip quivering. 

Miheeka pulls me into a hug and I feel myself letting go. I sob into her shoulder and feel Shriya hug me from behind. 

"I'm just scared that he's gonna come back and just," 

"Shhh," Miheeka rubs my back.

"Let it all out," Shriya whispers to me.

Miheeka's Pov:

After a few minutes, Anushka starts to calm down and pulls herself together. 

"Thank you, that felt better to finally tell someone," Shriya and I nod at her. 

"You can talk to us, we need to figure out a way to stop this guy," I smile at her slightly. 

"Are we going to tell your parents," Shriya asks her? 

"No way, last time they were so panicked and I hated seeing them like that," she jumps up and shakes her head. 

I speak up, "Wait guys since we are confessing, I have a confession as well."

Anushka and Shriya look up from where they were sitting. 

"So my parents have me set to marry this guy, a friend's son. I am not against arranged marriage or anything, but this guy is bad. He's not a cute bad boy bad. Like genuinely a bad person. He goes to pubs and hooks up with random girls every day. And my parents think he is an absolute angel. I tried talking to him about this but he said he likes me and accepted the proposal. Everyone is waiting on my decision right now. I don't want to disappoint my parents but at the same time not ruin my life." I say in one breath. 

Shriya and Anushka both look at me with wide eyes. 

Anushka puts her hand on my shoulder, "Miheeka, don't marry for your parent's sake, do it for your sake. At first, yes they may be upset, but when they see you happy with whomever you marry in the future, they will be glad you did what you did," she finishes by giving me a small smile. 

I get up and grab my purse. "Ok, guys I need to leave. Thanks. And Anushka, don't hesitate to call me when that bastard is bothering you. I will give him a taste of my medicine." She smiles at me and hugs me. 

"See you," Shriya calls out to me as I leave the room.

Thank you all so much for reading... let us know what you think!

-Ag and Sv