"Where is Veer?" growled Bhavya. She harshly pulled back Swetlana's hair and hissed, "Tell me right now or else I know how to inflict more pain on my guests."
Om and Rudra looked at Bhavya interrogating Swetlana as they sipped on a strong cup of tea. The woman was a tough nut to crack. But now that Shivaay was somewhat better, they both had all the time in the world to sit and watch the spectacle named Swetlana unfold.
"You will never know..." she chuckled.
Bhavya picked up a stick and hit Swetlana's leg causing her to shriek in pain. "Bol de. Veer won't come to rescue you here. Fucker has run away."
"Yes Shweta jee..." Rudra mocked her. "Tell us all your secrets. What were you planning with Veer? And why?"
"Over my dead body!" Swetlana screamed.
Om who was until now sitting quietly lost it. He threw the hot tea on her, partially burning her hand. Then he roared. "Don't tempt me. We are not here to play."
"Fuck you and your family!" Swetlana cried as she squirmed in the chair.
"Oh you wish," Rudra rolled his eyes. "Now before we kill you for sure, why don't you be a good girl and tell us Veer's whereabouts along with the nasty plan you both charted?"
"Why should I?" she asked.
Rudra smiled along with Bhavya. "Because if you don't, then Bhavya will do this."
Bhavya waved a small vial in front of Swetlana's eyes. "Do you know what this is? This is same exact poison that Veer gave to Shivaay Bhaiya. What I am planning to do is to take a few teeny weeny drops from it every day and inject it into your body...what say? Sounds like a kickass plan right? Nothing much will happen. Maybe your teeth will slowly fall off. Your lungs might fail, your kidneys might fail. You can puke blood. Maybe you will go blind."
"Yes. Imagine dying a little every day for some idiot you just met or some family you plan to ruin. What a sorry end...tut tut!" Rudra hung his head low.
"Guys!" Om said irritatedly. "Just take the gun and blow her brain out. This skunk needs to die."
The memory of Shivaay's lifeless body flashed in front of Rudra's eyes. The seizures, the flatline, Pinky and Anika's faces, his own pain and the emptiness he felt with Om. Rudra's clenched his fist. He took the vial from Bhavya's hand, pierced an injection in it and took the minutest amount of liquid out. And then, in a swift move, he stabbed Swetlana's arm with it. He smiled when she screamed in pain.
"That will be too easy. I want to relish every scream, every grunt, every moan of her. Only then will I feel good."
****************************************************
"Wh..." Shivaay tried to speak but grimaced in pain.
"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up, Shivaay?" Anika scolded him softly. "I will tell you everything. You just keep quiet."
Anika could see his lips curling up ever so slightly from behind the mask. She smiled in response. Her first honest, straight from the heart smile after sixteen days.
Shivaay had just finished a small glass of fruit juice. Anika never thought that Shivaay having juice would make her happy but here they were.
She leaned in and kissed his cheek. She felt him smile more. Annika felt him trying to move his hand under. She pulled his hand up and let it stay on her back whilst she embraced him for the umpteenth time.
"I love you so much..." Anika whispered. "You really have no idea."
"Whath?" Shivaay moaned.
His words were still coming out slurry. Neither could he say more than a word at a time. Not that Anika needed Shivaay to say anything to understand him. She laughed. "I know, I know. I know you have an idea. I also know that you want to know what happened to you."
Annika raised her head and straightened a little. Looking in Shivaay's tired yet questioning eyes, she told him, "All that stress took a toll on you, Shivaay. Your heart malfunctioned."
Shivaay's brows knitted slightly. "Re..."
"Yes, really!" Anika interrupted him. "Do you think I will lie to you? And please, I know how irresponsible, careless you have gotten. You don't want to take medicines. You don't eat on time. You want to work. You also want to fight the world on your own. Saari musibaato ka tokra toh tumko hi uthana hota hai. What else do you think will happen? You will poop rainbows?"
Unable to even formulate one single word, Shivaay glared at her. Or tried. Because to Annika's eyes, it looked like a child throwing a temper tantrum.
She rolled her eyes. "Tsk. Don't show me that tadi. Save it. By now you should know that it does not work on me. And if you want to know why are your muscles this weak, then well. Because of your malfunctioning heart, your brain got less blood. Then you are smart enough to know what must have happened. I don't need to say it aloud."
Anika didn't want to lie to Shivaay but she didn't want him to know about the poison just yet. She knew that once Shivaay got to know about it, his brain would go into an overdrive. She didn't want that risk. Anika thanked God that she had read enough medical articles by now to lie confidently to Shivaay's face. She would come clean to Shivaay later.
Partially done with her monologues and mostly because his head began to pound like crazy, Shivaay closed his eyes. He didn't understand half of what Anika said. Neither did he have the energy to ask her anything else. He sighed.
"Take rest baby..." Anika tried to tame his oily hair. "We can do this later. We have a lifetime to do that. Sleep now."
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Bonus update for the day. Just wanted to thank all of you for the comments and reads. I am a little pressed for time so not able to reply to all. Will do that soon.
Also, someone messaged me saying that my writing reminds them of hiddenenigma1's writing. Whilst, I haven't got the opportunity to read her work yet (I have downloaded her book on Amazon but haven't read it yet), it surely is a compliment.
I did interact with her on DMs and she had some amazing insights with regards to this story and story writing in general.
I had not thought of a body or a climax in a story, but now I am thinking about it. And it involves all the characters.
It was something that I would have never thought about. I absolutely love the grace with which she thinks of the story's characters. I only decided to extend this story after that valuable interaction with her. So if you are reminded of her, it is because I have listened to her.
I would also thank @Shivikabest. You were my first commenter and I am glad that you could connect with this story.
@DirectioNox_ Thank you for the cover yet again. Means a lot! DMing soon.
