[A week later; The day of Abeer's Art Competition]
A luxurious-looking hall, being booked for a National Art Competition, was decorated throughout its premises. Canvases were hung on the walls and 3D art pieces were kept on mounts, all at considerable distances, along with their respective participant code numbers. Security check-ins were about to begin so the audience would soon be filling the hall. The judges were yet to arrive at the venue. Some of the participants were visibly confident, while some were shivering with nervousness. Nevertheless, all of them were excited about the fact that their artworks were about to be seen by many Art lovers, their families, some art collectors or buyers and most importantly, the judges. It was a huge honour for all of them to be carrying the opportunity to showcase their skills to a wider, genuine audience.
Amidst all of this, Abeer stood there, in the middle of the hall, glancing at each art piece, one at a time. All his competitors seemed to be so much more talented than him in his eyes. That did make him nervous, but he was proud of it too. He was proud of himself for being one of the participants there. He started reminiscing about his journey till there- how he had first presented himself in the university level competition, from where he was selected for the state level competition and finally, he was a part of the national level competition. The journey was great, and greater was his determination to win.
Soon, he saw Muskan and Kartik entering the venue through the main door. They were carrying their college bags, explaining their direct arrival from their University. Abeer smiled ear-to-ear and walked up to them just as they finished their security check-in.
"Hey, you are here! Thank you so much for coming!" Abeer said. He was really grateful as they were the first people other than his family, who had come to see his artwork. "I see your plaster is gone, Muskan. That's great!"
"Yes! I feel so free with no plaster caging my hand. By the way, beautiful venue, I must say!" Muskan turned her head to see all of the hall and was impressed by the pretty decorations and the prettier art pieces on show. "Oh, also. Aashna has sent this for you." She took out a brown envelope from her bag. It was tied up with jute rope and on it was attached a lavender-coloured ribbon bow.
Abeer couldn't wait to see what was inside so he opened the envelope immediately, earning a teasing smile from Muskan and Kartik. He saw the contents and it was as if his jaw was thrown on the floor. With excited hands, he took out some pressed flowers from the envelope. They were the same flowers from Aashna's balcony that he had mentioned to her on his terrace the other night. He was surprised to see that she well-remembered his words and made willful efforts to press them for him. Receiving such a gift from such a person on such a day, was beyond precious to him. "Thank you!" He said to Muskan. "I'll say my thanks to her when she arrives here. Till then you both can-"
"Umm... Abeer, she won't come today... Is what we believe." Kartik interrupted him.
"Huh... What?! Why?" Abeer was perplexed. He remembered asking her repeatedly and her replying that she would surely be present, but she wasn't there, and she wasn't going to be, either.
Muskan replied, "I don't know for sure, but for a couple of days, she kept talking to Girisha on calls. The matter seemed to be something related to Girisha's family shops back at their homes, and I felt it was serious. Then after three days, she decided to pack her bags and leave. I really thought she would be back here for today at least, but it's been four days and I haven't heard from her ever since. I don't know what's going on... but I'm really sorry on her behalf, for breaking the promise."
"Oh no, you don't have to be sorry, please. It's just an exhibition after all. I hope both of them are fine over there." Abeer said in a low tone. He was disappointed after expecting her there, but the circumstances were inevitable, so he decided to let it go. "You both can have some refreshments over there. And then you can even have a look around all the art pieces showcased here. That one's mine, by the way. Hope you have fun! I'll be around here, talking to other visitors."
He saw them leaving for refreshments and thought, 'I had sent a brochure to Abhimanyu as well. I wonder if he'll be able to make it...'
- X - X - X - X - X -
Both Abhimanyu and Drishti were sitting in the living room of Abhimanyu's home, waiting for his father to return from work. He had already told them to wait for him and that he had something extremely serious to talk about.
Once Abhimanyu's father was back home, he handed over his coat and bag to a servant at the door and with a tablet in his hand, walked towards both of them. Abhimanyu and Drishti straightened their backs and looked at each other as they heard his steps approaching them. Before they could read the room any further, Mr Chaitanya Rajput sat with his legs one above the other, on the opposite bright white couch.
"I see that my son is at the peak of his youth, yeah?" Chaitanya Rajput had a smirk on his face while saying that as he stared right into Abhimanyu's soul.
Abhimanyu, whereas, was struggling to lock eyes with his father. "I... Do- don't understand what you're-" He managed to utter with all the quivering and sweating his body was busy doing.
"Oh don't worry! I'm here to explain it ALL to you... both." His father laughed and kept the tablet on the table in front of them so that it was visible clearly to both Abhimanyu and Drishti. He then rested his back on the couch and continued, "I got to know that a lot of information about some families in the town was dug up recently, upon my beloved son's orders. The same son is apparently a regular at some second-rated cafe and has been meeting a lot of new people lately. Your online histories are never deleted, you know that, right? I don't know how but there were a lot of online call logins up there... Must've been by mistake, I guess. And about some exhibition brochures, let me know if your block button isn't working on them somehow. We'll fix the issue... or the people."
Abhimanyu's heart rate kept increasing with every single sentence that came out of his father's mouth. Drishti noticed him severely sweating and shivering out of panic. Her eyes fell on the Tablet screen that displayed all their activities from the recent days, organised neatly and in detail. She gulped and dared to speak, "Uncle, That was-"
"Ah, you're here too. But... Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at some third-class residential building, dealing with bicycles... or maybe on the streets, grabbing your boyfriend's collar to create scenes? Oh, and the park! You both are not dating anymore if I'm not wrong." Chaitanya Rajput was not in the mood to play. By his tone, it was clear that someone's life was in danger that day, or in the upcoming days.
"Dad, please listen to me, I can explain..." Abhimanyu somehow gathered enough courage to speak up for himself. "I... That- The college work requires some socialising... so I thought-"
"SHUT UP!" His dad stood up from the couch and pointed a finger towards him. "DID I NOT TELL YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM MEDIOCRE PEOPLE AND PLACES? WHAT LANGUAGE DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" He hastened his steps towards Abhimanyu while still pointing at him, making him squeeze his body in utter fear. "HOW DARE YOU BREAK THE RULES OF THIS HOUSE? DO YOU KNOW MORE THAN THE ELDERS? IF. LISTEN TO ME. IF." His father snapped his fingers right at Abhimanyu's face. "IF I CATCH YOU ONCE AGAIN, DOING EVEN THE TINIEST OF ANY OF THIS CRAP, BELIEVE THAT YOU AND ALL THE PEOPLE SURROUNDING YOU WOULD BE HURT IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE. UNDERSTAND THAT?" Abhimanyu vigorously nodded at those last words. His father stepped back and loosened his necktie. " Now act smart and break all your ties from the outside world. You better understand the gravity of the consequences of breaking the family rules."
Chaitanya Rajput left the living room to enter his bedroom, leaving behind the terrified bodies of Abhimanyu and Drishti.
___________________________________________
A/N: That's all for today's chapter. Don't forget to Vote!
See you in the next chapter! Till then, Happy Reading <3
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General Fiction*MATURE BECAUSE*: It contains serious, sensitive and triggering topics like self-harm, unhealed trauma, assault, murders, etc. Reader discretion is advised. We are all flawed in some way or another, aren't we? How far can we go into our real persona...
