Reckless Rival : An Indian college romance

Chapter 9

The punching bag swayed and shook every time he drove his fist into it, but his anger did not fade. The loss of the race the previous night was hardly the reason, but the fact he lost because of the distraction she caused.

"Rana," Ved called out from the entrance of the training center. "What the heck happened last night?"

Rana did not respond. He didn't want to share how everything about his rival affected him. The way she sat on the bike facing him, how scared she looked, and more than anything, how angry he was that she went on the bike with his nemesis.

"Rana?" Ved insisted. "You almost took a girl on the race. We never do that."

"I asked the girl to get off just before the start. I don't want to talk about it. It's one race." He grit his teeth as he drove another punch.

"You know I'm not asking about the race." Ved looked pissed and concerned at the same time.

Rana kept punching the bag. "I don't want to talk about her either. I'll deal with her."

Ved was about to speak but stopped when he heard the door open, and Abhi walked in. Rana kept punching the bag like he didn't want to talk to anyone. "Abhi, talk to him."

Abhi looked at Rana, who had stopped punching and was looking at him. "You good?"

Ved jumped in before Rana could respond. "He is not, and you know that. Why are you asking him that question?"

Abhi raised his hand. "He can handle it himself."

Rana nodded at Abhi and then looked at Ved. "I'll deal with her."

"They don't belong in Simha, so why are they all here suddenly?" Ved was visibly angry.

"This Varma girl is definitely here with a plan, and I need to make sure I upset every one of her schemes." Rana was outraged.

Abhi looked at Rana. "Don't let her get under your skin. First, the boxing match and now the race." He took a step closer. "Not worth losing your cool. You have the championships coming up."

Rana knew his older cousin was right. He had let her too close to him. He was still under the influence of her charm, and he needed to break out of it. "Got it."

If she was sent to mend relationships or, worse, get back at his family by enticing him, she was in deep trouble. The audacity that the monster had to send his daughter to Simha after what he had done to his family was unfathomable.

As Rana practiced, he decided to push away all thoughts of her. In due course, he will deal with her the right way. She will get what she deserves, especially for sneaking into his life as she did.

*****

The corridor was empty, there was absolutely no one around, except for the occasional beep of the monitor that surrounded his father's bed, and there was an eerie calmness that engulfed him. It had been a while since his father had the accident and yet he was still in the hospital.

He didn't want to ask his mother because she was busy in the office, and when she came home, she was barely there before she left for the hospital. She would take him from time to time, but his father looked the same.

The doctors gave his father a lot of medication, but he was still sleeping. It was unlike the time he had fallen sick and had recovered the next day.

"Daddy, wake up." His voice was soft, so he didn't wake up his dad suddenly. His mom had told him Daddy had to sleep to get stronger and come home.

He looked around to see if anyone else was there in the room, and surprisingly, he was all alone. He walked closer to the bed and peeked at his father. He looked at the man on the bed with white bandages wrapped on every part of his body, and he did not look human.

He appeared like a robot in white. He looked around at the machines and wondered if they were making him stronger by converting him into a machine as he had seen in a movie.

Was this man even his father? There was nothing he could see that told him the still figure in front of him was his father. Did the ambulance people make a mistake? What if his father was still lying on the side of the road where the accident happened in a pool of blood waiting to be rescued?

Rana's eyes shot open, and it took him a moment to figure out he was in his room on campus. It was dark out like the sadness that had cocooned him for years, and it was now threatening to come back.

It had to be because of her. She needed to go. Not be in his sight. If she didn't get out of his sight, then he would make her, and it won't be pain-free. He lay on the bed, his chest heaving from what he saw in his sleep.

Unable to fall back asleep, he sat up, unable to push away the feeling that was starting to consume him. The fear of what would happen next. The unbearable thought that he might never be able to talk to his dad.

Every one of those emotions invaded his childhood until his mother intervened. She was so busy taking care of her father that he was separated from his parents and grew up with his grandparents.

The anxiety and anger became the only emotions he had, and he had become a problem child at school. He would beat up kids and destroy their things for absolutely no reason. It was an outlet for his emotions is what the pediatric psychologist had said when he was taken to the hospital after getting into a fight with a student four grades ahead of him.

He was brought back from his grandparents after his father returned home. But that angered him more because his father laid in bed for years, then sat in a wheelchair, and only a few years ago started walking with a walker.

His mother had turned into a machine between taking care of his father, the businesses, and him, a child with deep depression and anger-management issues.

Years later and after hours of training in martial arts, Rana was social again. He was homeschooled, his only interaction with kids being with his cousins, Ved and Abhi. His best friends.

Now, just when he had started to figure out his life and focus on things, a conniving rival showed up to trick him? No way in hell.

I'll show her hell.