Gehraiyaan.

Chapter 31

Meaning of certain words:
- Akka : sister in Tamil.
- Aiyo Kaduvule : Oh my God in Tamil

×

I stood amidst an ocean of people, who inched closer to me with a blank expression smeared on their faces, as though they're about to nibble me alive.

As the circle grows smaller, my heart pounds uncontrollably underneath my ribcage. "You lied", someone accuses, and I look around, perplexed.

"YOU LIED. YOU LIED" everyone chants in unison, almost tearing me down. "What are you talking about? I didn't lie", I press my palms against my ears and squeeze my eyes shut.

"YOU LIED", the chants grow fierce and loud; I almost have trouble breathing. My chest tightens and vision blurs, forcing my world to spin around, literally.

Out of nowhere, Darshan emerges from the sea of a thousand people, holding a knife, and unconsciously, my hands crawl over my tummy, concealing it. "Why did you lie?", he questions in a dead-serious tone, pinning me down with a death stare.

"I didn't lie about anything", I whimper. "Why did you lie about your name? You're not Sasha! Why did you change your identity?", he paces closer to me, tightening his grip around the knife.

"YOU DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE", he literally spits on my face, and stabs me to death.

I shudder out of - what I'd call - the deepest sleep of my life, drenched in sweat and gasp for breath. Disorientated, I look around with my eyes flung wide-open. My fingers run over my tummy and when I feel that there's nothing there, I let a heavy breath out and shut my eyes for a moment.

Fuck. That felt so real. I felt that stab in the pit of my stomach, and my heart is still racing in my chest. That was one of the most retarded dreams, ever. Why on Earth would Darshan stab me to death, because I'm hiding behind Sasha's identity? I mean, I'll make sure he won't even find out, in the first places.

Blindly, I fetch my phone from underneath the pillow, and run through the endless list of notifications, through my squinted eyes.

If you ask me about the downside of running a business, I'd say - it's the calls and messages that keep coming, literally any-goddamn-time of the day. Most customers have absolutely no sense of timings; I've had uncountable incoming calls in the middle of the night, but with time, I've simply mastered the art of sleeping through every single one of them. Amidst the ocean of notifications, my eyes catch the messages from 'DR - Singer'. Well, that's how the real-Sasha had sent it to me, and I saved it the way it was!

DR - Singer : Hey. I hope everything is good with you :)

DR - Singer : You'll be coming tonight for the Mehendi function, right?

DR - Singer : It would be great if you'd be there, because I need everything under control.

DR - Singer : Just make sure you don't mess things up, alright? This has to be perfect.

Me : Good morning, Mr. Darshan. Unfortunately, I'm struggling with high fever right now, so I won't be able to make it to the event. But don't worry, a member from my team will be there only to keep things under control :)

And that's when I had to run to my go-to person for the slightest inconvenience in my life. Meenakshi Saravanan. She works for me, in my restaurant, but she's more than just a staff for me. She's more of a younger sister to me, even though I've never told her that I count on her as one. She fills the void of Tia and Rani to some extent. She was just as lost as I was, when I stepped on the US grounds for the first time, and thanks to that - we clicked. She's ten times more awkward than I am, and she's the definition of a nervous-wreck. We're not that close in terms of sharing our sorrows, and life stories, but there's this undeniable connection between us.