Unhinged

Chapter 20

Riva's vision became blurry, her brain slow. She couldn't understand what should be her next step? She kept watching Shashank and Sharanya lying in each other's arms.. She didn't understand how she was feeling about it? Was she angry? Was she sad? What was it that she was feeling?

She couldn't take it anymore and turned her back towards them. She just closed the door, locked the flat again and walked away!

Riva was walking aimlessly. She didn't know where she was going. For many hours she was just walking. She was far away from campus on an unknown road.
She could hear her phone ringing but she didn't even look at it.

She wasn't crying. She wanted to but she couldn't. She wanted to scream but she couldn't. For her, the world had stopped spinning. It was still and the only moving thing was Riva herself. Only she was the one walking.. Walking away from the truth..

Shashank and Sharanya were the two closest people to her. If anyone would've asked she would've died for them! That's how much she loved them.. Especially Shashank! Shashank was love of her life.. The only man that mattered to her. She had her life planned with Shashank.. Marriage, kids, house, family.. All her imagination was shattered in a minute..

But for how long she was going to walk? Walk away from truth?

It was early in afternoon when Shashank's phone rang. He opened his eyes and looked everywhere. Sharanya was still asleep. He made himself free from her arms and picked up the phone.

"Haan Rachit" Shashank said.

"Bhai abhi tak so rahe ho? Riva ko phone do jara wo utha nahi rahi hai" Rachit said.

Shashank furrowed his brows "Riva yaha nahi hai.. She's at her home, remember?"

"What? Usne mujhse kaha tha she's going back to surprise you. Subah tak pohoch jani chahiye thi wo.. Aayi nahi abhi tak?" Rachit said "Main bhi nikal gaya hoo. Pohoch jaunga ek ghante me"

Shashank heard this and felt a big knot in his stomach. He immediately stood up.

"Umm.. Wo nahi hai yaha.. I'll check if she's downstairs" Shashank said.

"What do you mean downstairs? Tum kaha ho? Hamare flat me nahi ho?" Rachit asked.

"Nahi. I'll call you later" Shashank wore his clothes in hurry and came out of the room. He remembered not closing the door of the room but now it was closed. But flat was still locked. He saw Riva's luggage on floor.

Shashank understood what had happened. But he had to make sure and for that he needed to find Riva. He ran downstairs to check in his flat. But it was locked. Shashank grabbed his hair in frustration. This wasn't supposed to happen! He knew how vulnerable Riva was.. He feared for her life now.

He took his car and decided to look for her. He toured whole campus, he checked the college, all their usual hang out places but she wasn't there. He was continuously calling her but she wasn't answering.

Shashank stopped the car and took a minute to accept what had happened. He was frustrated that Riva had to find everything like this. He regretted what he had done.. He regretted not telling her everything.

Shashank kept his head on the steering wheel and took a deep breath. He needed help to find Riva. He couldn't ask Sharanya because they both were out of the question now. He knew Riva would never answer their phones so he decided to come clean before Rachit.

It had been an hour since he talked to Rachit so Shashank figured out that Rachit might be around. He called him.

"Rachit" Shashank's voice was shaking