FORNEVER | ✓

CHAPTER 22 - DAYMARE

HIM

"You'll never know what happened! I had dinner with Ba..." I barged through the door as Akka stood there with a distraught look.

"What happened Akka?" my smile faded as she looked at me apprehensively.

"Okay, so. I didn't want to alarm you, but Suhaana hasn't been home since I arrived."

My heart skipped a thousand beats at once as I took a swift look at my watch, panic taking over me, I immediately dialed her number.

"Her phone is in your room Siddhanth." She said, pacing the hall, as my thoughts spiraled into the worst.

"I'll go find her." I grabbed the car keys I had just tossed on the coffee table and headed out.

"Where could this girl be?" The sweat beads made me hastily wipe them off of my shirt as I drove in circles around the block.

"Who should I call, where should I go, it's 11 in the night." I kept looking at my watch trying to keep the atrocious thoughts away.

My throat felt dry as I blinked away the tears from my eyes, after forty minutes of desolated attempts to find her.

"Should I call Akka, to report to the DCP uncle?" I wondered just as I caught sight of a silhouette running in circles in a complex four blocks away from home.

I pulled up hurriedly as I stepped out of the car, almost falling face down. I rushed towards the main gate as the guard approached me.

"Let..let me in!" I huffed air as my eyes made sure to not leave sight of the person they couldn't recognize but my intuition could.

"Namaste Sir. It is already way past our closing time, yet our member here who is a young woman is adamant to not leave. She's been running around the complex for four hours now. We are afraid she might crash any time now..." He said as my eyes shot red, creasing my eyebrows. I looked at him as he led me inside, as I ran situating the person who was now across the fields.

"She's...she's hurt..." I murmured as she now sprinted all the way towards me, hoping to pass me by. Hot tears burned my eyes as she kept running as fast as she could, her oversized hoodie cloaking her eyes, she hadn't seemed to notice me as she bolted right through, jostling me.

"...Suhaana..." I jogged after her to pull her into my arms. Alarmed, she tried to protest as she hit my chest.

"Baby, it's me..." I whispered as she looked at me through her hooded eyes, still trying to scoot away. She tried to push me away in an attempt to turn and dash, I pulled her again - this time more fervently.

"Suhaana! Talk to me!" I called out as she tried to break free. I rested her head on my chest cradling her, hoping she would give her pain away - to me. She gave up her struggle after a few minutes as my embrace around her only got tighter. She fought to breathe in, sobbing piteously, drenching my shirt.

"Suhaana...shhh....I am here..." I said softly, lowering my face to hers. I cupped her cheeks as she tried to bury her face into me in an attempt to hide. I hugged her again placing my hand on her head, as she cried, coming undone in my arms.

"Let's... let's take you home."

She fell asleep crying, resting her head against the car's door frame. I kept looking at her every now and then, my head swamped with thoughts and questions.

"Where are you? Where is she?" Akka shrieked on the phone, her voice that of panic.

"She's with me," I informed her as I pulled over as she sighed in relief on the other end.