The Elite Bride ( I was enchanted to meet you, princess )

《 48. Not you, Jaan 》

A surprise waiting for you all tonight at 7 p.m. sharp.

J A N A K I

To assure someone else and to assure yourself are two totally different things. For calming him, I assured him that I will be waiting for him but I couldn't assure myself much. You can boldly say that yes nothing will happen but in reality you might as well be shit scared. That was my case now. I was legit scared of two things. One, that bastard banging on my door would reach to me and I will be in the clutches of the goddamn enemy and two, Raghav.

I was scared of him. He begged me to not stay away and alone especially with enemies like Rahul waiting to pounce on me, but I did the exact opposite. I shut my eyes as I was afraid of his wrath. I hated the fact that when I distanced myself from him to collect my thoughts I was cornered by one of these stupid enemies I have made in my career and now instead of giving me space he is forced to come to my rescue. He was on the line. He was there, Janaki. He will come don't think about the person outside but only about Raghav.

I clutched the phone in my hands and using my shivering hands I turned the flashlight on. They had cutoff of the lights and thank god I didn't have nyctophobia but that doesn't mean I am not scared of being in a dark and unfamiliar room all alone. Using that light, I warily made my way towards the washroom. Raghav said that it was safe since it had triple locks and I was thankful that I had chosen this hotel.

I swiftly rushed to the door of the washroom once I was in less than a foot distance from it. I entered it and just as I was about to use the flashlight of my phone to find the lock, my phone died. 

"Fuck." I whispered in the dark.

Now everything was pitch black, I could only hear my uneven breathing and the giggle of my bangles as my hands were shivering. In the distance, I heard the sound of opening of a door. There was no way it was Raghav, he just left from the palace. And it would take at least twenty five minutes for him to reach here. Shit! It was the stranger.

Panic struck me. First, I turned the knob and locked it by clicking on the button. One down. Then the second was a deadbolt lock which I figured as my fingers brushed with the cold steel of it. At last, I got on my tiptoes  as it was a huge door, I stretched my arm to reach towards the latch, finding its handle I hurriedly slid it into the opening but as I couldn't see it my finger got stuck along with the latch and I had to bite on my lips to prevent myself from shrieking due to the pain. I stood stationery in that position with my arm stretched towards the latch, my finger stuck in its opening putting my entire weight on my little toes. If I undo the latch now to release my finger, there is a high chance that I would invite trouble.

I could hear heavy footsteps approaching the door from the other side. Closing my eyes I waited for the impact. Possibly a gunshot to get me to open the door. Or bursting the door open. But nothing happened. I furrowed my brows in confusion. So it was a threat to scare me but no harm was to be caused. My tongue poked my inner cheek as I sweating profusely, bleeding from my bruised finger, and waiting for the either the threat to take me away or my man to come to me ASAP. I wanted one of the things to happen as I was growing tired in this uncomfortable pose.

The footsteps were heard again but now they were retreating and fading in the distance. So the job was done. I relaxed my posture against the back of the door. Once I heard the main door to my suite closing, I quickly undid the latch and keeping my pointer finger away I again locked the door.

Standing on my feet again, I brought the finger to my lips and blew some air on it. The tears which I had tried my best to keep at bay, escaped my eyes. I silently slid down the door and sat on my knees, choking on a sob. This was all happening because of me. If only I had listened to my husband, I wouldn't have been in this situation now. All alone, with a bruised finger and feeling threatened. After a long time, I once again felt alone. I felt like the Janaki before she had met Raghav. Lonely, tired and living for the sake of it.