Her Innocence, His Obsession

Chapter 12

Diya always felt peace whenever she was at the temple, it was an escape from her reality. She loved the smell of incense and camphor as she lost herself in the melodious chanting of the Vishnu Sahasranam by the priest. They always chant the glories of Lord Sri Kishna during this time. Her mother was talking with some of neighborhood aunties as she quietly sat in one corner of the temple while gazing at the idol of Lord Krishna while some children were playing at the side of the temple. On the other side of the temple, she immersed herself in the Krishna Leelas, where another priest was narrating the stories of Krishna's birth, when the all-knowing omnipotent pretended like he was a baby, putting his baby foot in his mouth, successfully managing to put everyone in his trance. This was Diya's heaven. After a stressful day at work, she needed this escape and without a care in the world, she meditated, away from the watchful gaze of the man who was standing barely five feet away from her. 

Rudra was careful this time. He made sure to dress in religious clothes, in a dhoti, so as not to catch the gaze of his love's mother or any of the other people in the temple. He already knew that his Diya was too absent-minded to even catch him so he wasn't too concerned about her. Despite his efforts to become a part of the crowd, he still became the center of attention due to his good looks and dominating presence. Everyone saw the young man's gaze on Diya and thought with jealousy that she must be either his fiance or wife. Little did they know, that beautiful girl, clad in a yellow, traditional, silk dress, would consider that her worst nightmare. The moment Rudra laid eyes on her simple but beautiful elegance all the anger, pent-up frustration he had throughout the day flew out the window. Yes, he hated the fact that his own darling called the security on him and kicked him out of her office without even giving him a second glance, but even her anger was beautiful in his mind. 

Unknown to him, his legs started taking him near her. Suddenly, he was blocked by a crouching figure who only came up to his shoulders. He realized his worst nightmare became true - Diya's mom was standing right in front of him with a judgmental look. "Did she notice me staring at her daughter? Krishna, please save me" he prayed. He just wished that he could just have some alone time with her, when he can get it through her head that he was more than a stranger. He would be her life but something keeps stopping him each time. "I see you've changed" the woman said. "You've come to a temple, that too in a Dhoti, Not bad, young man, I'm proud of you for throwing aside your arrogant attitude and coming to the temple this way" she complemented and Rudra went on cloud nine. She smiled at him and walked away, but her words left him with a huge sense of relief which he couldn't explain. He was glad she didn't notice him. In his happiness, he forgot about his love who was sitting right in front of him, who noticed him by then. Diya stared back at him with immense fear. She was lost for words and was terrified about what her mom would think if she caught her with him. She would be blamed despite having no fault of hers. "Besides, that shouldn't be my concern. This man is crazy" she thought to herself and made an attempt to walk away from him.

As if he could sense her thoughts through her eyes, before she could leave, Rudra quickly dashed up to her with his dominating presence, the piece of cloth across his chest was almost falling off, revealing his six-pack. While all the girls younger and older swooned at him, Diya was only terrified, as he quickly grabbed her soft wrist and squeezed it with his large hand. He made sure to not squeeze too tightly since she knew she was too delicate and gets hurt and injured easily. She was not the kind of person who can endure pain but she was struggling to get out of his grip and had a look of distress on her face. She didn't care who was looking at them. She just wanted to leave at this point and get as far away from this man as possible. "Please, just hear me out" Rudra asked, no begged her. But no matter what he did or how softly he said it, she still had that look of fear on her face. "What do you want from me? What did I do to you to deserve this" she asked. Rudra proudly replied "I want you. I want all of you just to myself." He had a crazed, possessive look in his eyes as he told her this, still holding her wrist, now pushing himself very close to her, almost touching her. "I don't have anything to give you. Please leave me alone" Diya replied, almost crying. Seeing the unshed tears in her eyes and his love being unable to control them, Rudra almost became lost for words and doubted himself. He hated himself for doing this yet he couldn't help it. Suddenly, Diya saw her mom right behind Rudra and gave a strong push. Rudra still stubbornly refused to let go of her, but seeing her gaze on someone behind him, he let her go and turned around to look at them. He realized it was her mom. She suspiciously approached them, looking at her daughter with accusing eyes and asked through her suspicious eyes what was going on between them. 

Diya, too afraid and fearful, didn't answer anything and just stared at the floor. Rudra took this as a chance and tried to protect her by saying "Hi auntie, I was just talking to her about a job offer at one of the hospitals I work in. I found out through my sister that she received an offer there and was just discussing how to manage everything." Diya was now mortified. Her mom didn't even know that she was a prodigy and finished studying medicine even before she graduated from high school. Besides, she was currently pursuing IT. It would have been believable even if he said something along the lines of getting an internship offer at Infosys. Unknown to her, Rudra didn't even have a sister. He was a spoiled single child who didn't have any siblings, but if need be, he just decided to get his maid or employee to act as his sister if he needed to convince her mom. He would do anything for his love.

Diya's mom now had enough, tightly grabbed Diya's hand and left from the place. Rudra had half a mind to push her away and take his Diya into his arms, while comforting her wrist, now showing red marks due to her own mother's grip, but he refrained. When he grabbed her, he made sure it was extremely light and she wasn't hurt in the process but he couldn't believe her own mom could treat her like this. Promising himself, that one day, which will be inevitable real soon, he would take her away from everyone and only treasure her and keep her happy with himself, he watched as the mother and daughter left the temple, especially the daughter as she almost tripped over a piece of wood and he put his hands forth as if to catch her from the fall. But Diya, caught herself, and, as always, left, going uncomfortably away from his watchful gaze, to her relief.