Will Die In Love

Chapter 75

Paro turned around slowly.

It was HIM! ….. Aditya Raj Malhotra.

He stood a few steps behind her, a little out of breath, with shirt slightly creased and dark circles settled under his eyes. 

Adi looked at her for a whole minute without saying a word. After eight long years he was facing her again. Paro noticed his expression but didn’t move. Neither did she lower her eyes. She kept staring back with a steady, cold, and unreadable gaze.

“What do you want?” Paro finally asked, her voice sharp and dripping  with venom, “ What exactly were you trying to do in my hospital, huh? Don’t even think about pulling any move. I’ll shout, and the public will be here in seconds.”

Adi blinked, a little taken aback, as if he hadn’t expected her to speak like that. But then he gave a dry, lifeless laugh.

“Then shout, if that makes you feel better,” he said quietly, lowering his eyes. “Someone who has already been to jail for seven long years doesn’t have any dignity left to be bothered about.”

His voice sounded so flat and tired that more than anything it caught Paro off guard.

Adi looked up at her, “Can I talk to you for a moment, please?” he asked hesitantly.

“No.” Her voice didn’t tremble.

“Please,” he said again, softer this time. “It will only take five minutes.”

Paro looked at him. There were people around. He wouldn’t dare to try anything. And if he did, Paro knew exactly what to do. She scanned the road once and then looked straight at him again.

“Tell,” she said, her tone completely blank.

Something shifted in Adi’s eyes. As if her one word reply had done something he didn’t see coming. Hope flickered, just for a second.

“Can we sit… over there?” he asked quietly, pointing towards a nearby park bench.

Paro raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. She turned and walked in that direction with calm and steady steps.

They sat down maintaining distance in between. For a minute, neither of them spoke.

Then Paro let out a breath, tired of the silence.

“Do you think I came here to spend time with you?” she said, frustration bleeding into her voice.

Adi didn’t move. He kept looking at the children playing in the park nearby.

“Do you know the first time I saw you?” he said suddenly.

Paro looked at him, frowning, but didn’t reply.

“Probably you don’t,” he answered his own question in a low voice.

“ It’s been more than eight years. One evening just like this, I had taken Pritha to the park. That’s where I saw you for the very first time. And from that very first glance… I knew there was something different about you or at least what I felt about you. But I didn’t know what it exactly was.

A whole week passed, and I still couldn’t get you out of my head. Then one day, I opened the door, and there you were. On my doorstep. The girl I had been searching for... was my new neighbor.

I don’t think I need to say it but… my intention wasn’t good at the beginning.

I was the kind of man who got everything he wanted since childhood. I thought you’d be the same. Another… temporary possession. Like always.” Adi stopped and gave a dry, hollow laugh with no trace of humor. “ What a fool I was ! ”