YOUR PERMANENT TENANT

CHAPTER 2

The next morning was a headshot for her. Her grandfather had called her. A family member from her house called her for the first time in these whole four years.

The phone was buzzing in her hands simultaneously trembling her hands. She was too baffled as to what to do next. Whether to cut the call or leave it to ring until it cut by itself.

An annoyed Anant woke up beside her hearing the noise arrow-heading his eardrums. "Cut the call, Vaishu!" His stuffed voice came out under the pillow which was tightly pressed against his ear.

He irately sat up when she didn't hear him. His forehead frowned seeing the panic condition of the female sitting beside him. She was not a person to be found in such a condition.  She was bold, brave and sharp unlike him.

Before asking her about the trouble his eyes landed on the screen flashing the name over it. His blood boiled in fury. Crushing his teeth he snatched the phone from her hand, when it made another attempt of noise, hit the end button and dropped the phone on the nightstand of his side.

Vaishali looked at him with questionable eyes, questioning nothing.

"You don't need to be in contact with such heartless people. Negativity spreads quickly. Just close your eyes and sleep. It's not even six." He stated in a breath with utter boldness and pulled her to his chest to make her close her eyes.

Vaishali lay frozen for seconds in his arms when he was patting the back of her head, then she clutched him tighter to her body making herself ball in his embrace and hiding her face in his warm chest. Soft cries escaped from her mouth pouring water into his chest.

He was unnerved by the situation. It wasn't like he had never seen her sad or cry but not like this... with him.

Many a night he had seen her crying silently on his balcony at midnight. He would back hug her and she would stop trickling tears but now...she just came to him to cry. It was more painful than the times she had said they have nothing between each other.

He remembered the night when for the first time he had met Vaishali. 

It was a random weekend when he was dragged to a bar by his old friends on their get-together evening. They had forcefully emptied four mini glasses of some brand of alcohol in his gut. But whatever it was it had burned the entire inner tissues of his throat ruining his taste buds. He could see Ravanas in his friends, each one of them having multiple heads.

Immediately he left the suffocating environment which smelled like an incredible cologne but taste like a rotten egg, if he was able to eat bricks.

On the way out from the bar he stumbled on something near the exit point and quickly held up a cold thing for support. He looked up and found he was clutching two cream-bathed hands. A slim and tall girl standing in front of him in a red short dress which was reaching up to the point just above her knees. Magically all the extra backgrounds blurred and split in different dimensions like a tiny particle dancing in the kaleidoscope but she was concentrated in one body only. He was not lying but he had never seen a female before with such paranormal beauty. Like she was an outcome of some black magic. Possibly her own shine was magnifying her beauty or the nauseous alcohol in his stomach was doing these things in his favour. Her hair was a little ruffled but shining according to the colourful lights falling from the background. Her lips were plum and velvety. Those decorated eyes hidden behind her lashes were welled up and were matching the colour of her dress....the thing which disturbed him.

"Are you - are you, okay?" He asked trying to stabilize his legs and not dozing off. "Are you crying because I hit you? But trust me, It was an accident."