The Abyss Called Love

Part 9

"Preeta, is everything's alright?" asked Sandeep.

With her fingers pressed against the junction of the wrist and forearm on the outer aspect, Preeta checked for the pulse of the unconsciousness woman. Her fingers trembled and her throat had gone dry.

"We should take her to the hospital, Sandeep. Her pulse rate is high. She might go into hypovolemic shock if we don't treat the blood loss," said Preeta.

"Do you realize what happens if we do that?" Preeta's eyes narrowed and darted towards Sandeep. "Media will use this to sling more mud at Ashna and Aniket's relationship. He will never come back if it looks like a publicity stunt to him."

That was the last thing his unconscious friend would want: more distance from her husband. Given her fragile mental state, Sandeep did not dare to imagine the consequences of earning further disdain from Aniket Rawat.

"You care about his opinion on this, Sandeep? Seriously?" Preeta let out a wry chuckle and shook her head. "I am a doctor and my patient's life, who is also my friend, matters more than man's opinion, who only pushed her into a hole for me. If he wants to throw a fit, so be it. I cannot just let Ashna dwindle into nothingness because of that."

"Listen, I say let's not take her to any major hospital. Do you know any trustworthy private clinic? They are less likely to leak the details and if the media gets to know about the admission, we say it is just a routine checkup," said Sandeep.

Preeta contemplated over her response, pondering over the consequences of their decision. She could not dismiss Sandeep's concerns, and while she looked out for the immediate necessity of her friend, damaging the marriage on rocks further would do nothing to improve her friend's health.

Preeta nodded, pulling out her phone and dialing the number of her friend who owned a private clinic.

"Ashna Agarwal hospitalized after anniversary; Husband Missing!" read the headlines a few hours later, along with the notable mention in the running banner at the bottom of the screen, adding fuel to fire which was burning their marriage away.

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Confusion.

He had never experienced the emotion at its profound best like at that moment. Her touch, her kisses, her moans, and her love - they spread the fragrance of passion in his raging mind. He could not help but play those perfervid moments on a loop.

What would he answer Kriti if she learned their intimacy was only to get his retribution from Ashna? He did not know what to answer when she questions the reason he had accepted her proposition two months after rejecting it.

His mind shrugged away the guilt. His dear friend knew the torment of love and of betrayal. She would understand his reasons, which forced him to turn up at her doorstep and seek solace in her arms.

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Loyalty.

The quality of his, which ensured that she could never free herself from the intricate web of his love. A web so strong, she could not escape it, even if it was to save her sanity.

Along with his loyalty, her heart had broken into many shards, which pierced right through her conscience. She knew it was her proposition that had paved the way for his infidelity, but she knew she was not the first one to offer carnal pleasures to the man. He had accepted no one's advances towards him in the past. Then how did he stumble on his path of fidelity?

Was it their friendship that allowed him to think that his actions would erase her agony and help her move on from him, and compelled him to accept her condition?

Or the urge to procreate was so potent and Ashna's aloofness to his emotions so rigid he resorted to the option he had disregarded?

Or was the loyalty a facade which she had failed to see through?

Multiple theories made their way to her brain, but the answers to every question plunged her deeper into sorrow. The first theory brought upon a tumultuous wave of regret to her conscience, and the second one caused bile to rise her throat and sympathy to churn her insides, but the worst was the third and the last one.

The basis of her attraction to him had been multiple things, but the foundation of her love was always his loyalty to his love who left him conflicted and she could never confess that to him, fearing his disappointment and disbelief for placing his love towards someone else as the base of her love for him.

She felt nauseous and taxed as the third theory wrecked havoc on her brain and heart. She prayed for her last theory to remain just as a theory and never turn true.

Kriti picked her phone and ranged the one who knew everything about her situation with Aniket.

"Shipra, he came last night. He... he accepted my condition and fulfilled it," she spoke, exchanging no pleasantries on the hardly pleasant morning.

Shipra's eyes turned into saucers as she deciphered the meaning of her friend's words. Aniket had finally looked away from Ashna? What caused such a drastic step?

"Are you okay, Kriti? Shall I come over?" she asked without a moment's hesitation.

"No, it's fine. You have a surgery later this evening, right? Don't come over."

"But-"

"hat happened to him? He looked back onto that road he had abandoned months back. Did Ashna do something obnoxious again?"

"I have plenty of time till the surgery, Kriti. And no. I did not hear of anything she had done. Aniket keeps me in the loop about everything that happens in their life, but Aniket did not speak to me since last week," said Shipra, knowing something was off.

"I will break down if I see you, Shipra. Why is so tough to understand him? I want to know his feelings about all this. He did not answer me when I questioned him last night," she said, and before Shipra could muster a logical answer to placate her worries, the doorbell rang.

"One minute. I will check who is at the door," said Kriti, straightening herself up and glancing at herself through the mirror to see if she was presentable before she opened the door.

Silence rang in the house and reverberated in Shipra's ears. It had been longer than five minutes since Kriti had said that she would attend the door, and Shipra wondered if her friend was alright. She stood up to pick her car keys up.

"Hello Kriti? Where are you? Who was it on the door? What happened?"

"Aniket has made his feelings very clear, Shipra. He sent me a contract. A contract for being the surrogate mother of his child. It states he-he can take legal action against me if I try to meet him or our child."

"What? How-"

"How did he expect me to sign such an outrageous contract? What does he think of me?" she spat, letting tears roll down her flushed cheeks.