Secrets And Lies [Completed]

39. hit and run

Song of the chapter is
Soldier By Fleurie

-38-
-Kartik Malhotra-
-Present-

____________

Malhotra Mansion
26 November, 2030
4:30 pm

As I sat in my dad's study, my mind wavered through several layers of worries.

I glanced at the paperweight under my palm and then at the clock as it struck 4:30. Dark clouds gloomed over the Delmore sky like an overbearing mother, coveting any shade of sunlight from peeping through. The rain had slowed down, leaving it's imprint on the single window in that room.

I sighed as my mind played the events of the past few days again and again.

How had I let this get out of hand?

Siya valued promises a lot. She often put her faith and trust in people if they promised to be good to her. She believed in people. And that's what I loved about her.

I was never very big on promises. Alishka had always said, 'Promises are meant to be broken,' and to some extent, I believed that. I believed people only if they could show that they really were deserving of my trust.

But since Siya, I had started looking at the world through a different lens. It was her who had changed me into the version of me that I was today. And I was grateful for that.

The day I had asked her to marry me, I had promised her that I'd be good to her and be deserving of her.

The day we had tied the knot, I had promised her that I'd make sure that I'd be her guiding anchor if her ship ever got lost at sea.

The day that incident happened, I had promised her that no matter whatever happened, I'd protect her from any harm that would ever come her way.

And today, as I sat alone in this empty room, I felt like an utter failure.

Siya....my love, she was going through hell. And there was nothing I could do to help her.

I loathed myself at that moment for being a failure at having fulfilled any of the promises. She had always been my guiding light, then why could I never be hers?

For the past few nights, she had neither slept nor ate properly. I often caught her fiddling with her food until everyone else was done and then she would just throw it out. She would wake up in cold sweats every single night, screaming from nightmares. Her helpless screams made my skin crawl as I would hold her until she was calm.

My heart was in pieces and yet there was still war in my mind.

I needed more than anything to fix this. I needed my Siya back.