Not-So-Girly-Girlfriends #MissionDesi #YourStoryIndia

#11

Alisha
Shatabdi express is a train which you get in every 6 hour intervals. And our flight to Ladakh was supposed to be after a 4 hours. Hence we had decided to take a flight to Delhi and now we have like 9 hours to kill.
We used the railway's free wifi to recharge our phones via Internet and then ended up searching the  list of places to go about and we did justice to that list as far as possible.
So now we sat in the Delhi airport waiting for our flight. This flight is not something we would like to miss.
My phone started to ring. I picked it without even checking. I was so freaking engrossed in a arranging my passport and ticket in my purse. Lame, I know.
"Where are you?" Said a harsh voice from the other end.
"Excuse me," I said. I checked the screen and found out that it was him. That asshole.
"Don't ever say that when I question you. Where are you now, is what I asked. Answer me."
"I'm at the Delhi airport."
"Where are you heading to?"
"Ladakh."
"Well you're not going there tonight."
"What?"
"You heard me. You will be leaving with me tomorrow. To Ladakh. Cause I would like to accompany you."
"You're messing with me, right? This is a joke?"
"Do you think I have enough time to joke around? I'm a busy man, but I'm making time for my future wife here. Least you could do is appreciate my fucking efforts. I'll be picking you and your bunch of hooligans from the airport. Take your bags and wait out.
"It's a best friends trip. You are sabotaging it."
"Outside the airport. Now."
He said and hung up.
"What's wrong," Zara asked. She was the only one beside me since Vicky and Myra were gone to buy something to eat.
"He's here.. To pick us up.."
"What did you just say?"
"He is here to pick us up."
"Whose 'he'?"
"Jay."
As soon as I revealed the name her hand went to her forehead and started massaging it gently. As if it was the perfect reflex after hearing that name.
"And we're going?"
"How can I say no?"
She looked so annoyed. "Frankly speaking Alisha, I don't like the guy you're getting married to. I never thought your taste is so bad," she said. As if I do like him, is what I want to say but then again, how can I?
Vicky and Myra returned with a few sandwiches. "Let's go," I said taking my bag.
"There's still half n hour left for the flight," Myra said.
"You guys can go ahead to Ladakh," I told them.
"And leave you with him," Zara said. I still have no idea why she hates him so much. As if she knows everything. Wait a minute, does she?
"He is going to be my husband. We're engaged," I told her.
"He isn't your husband already. And I'm not okay with leaving you here with him. Whatsoever."
"Whats happening here," Vicky asked all confused.
"Her fucking fiancé is here, is what is happening. And he is here to pick us up," she said as she headed to the enquirer desk. Myra rolled her eyes and her hand hit her head. Vicky also did a face-palm. Is it the perfect reflex to express our emotions at his arrival?
We got our bags back and headed outside the airport where we found him in an Armani suit resting his back on an Audi doing some shit on his phone.
"What in the world are you wearing?"
"Track pants and a loose t-shirt," I told him. He bit his lips as if to hold back whatever comments he had to tell.
"Sit in the car," he told us. "We would have caught this flight but the seats were full, which is why we couldn't get on."
"You're coming to Ladakh?" Myra asked while the both of them were stunned.
"Is that a problem?" And he really wasn't asking or confirming. He was pissed and his voice clearly said that he wouldn't take 'yes' as an answer.
"No. Not at all," Myra said, as if she was scared or something. I'm sure she now gets why I listen to this bitch of a man.
"Good, cause I would've come even if you had any problems," he said and put on his glares as he drove away from the airport.
He took us to a fancy hotel where we found that he had booked four rooms. Three rooms which were joined by a common hall and one room separately.
"Why don't we eat our dinner in our respective rooms. I'm sure we're all tired and would go to sleep as soon as it's done."
We all nodded and turned. "Where are you going, Alisha," he asked which made us all stop. "Don't you see all your girlfriends have got their own rooms but you? You're sharing one with me."
I gulped down a huge lump. This cannot be happening. "It's a best friends trip, she's joining us," Zara said. Why is she fighting so much?
"You've had her for a lot of days. Can't I have her to myself for one."
"You're gonna have her for the rest of your life. Can't we have her for a few more days?"
He seemed extremely annoyed. "Alisha?" He demanded.
"You girls carry on. I'll see you.. Tomorrow.. Morning..." I said hesitatingly, trying to figure how many hours I will be there... With him.
Zara gave me a pleaded look, which begged me to not to do this. She knows. She definitely does.
I then turned around to keep my bag away from theirs so that it can be taken to Jay's room.
They all gave me last look for me to change my mind but I couldn't do much. Jay then placed his hand on my waist and forcefully took me away. We then came to a halt in front of the room. I'm so scared. I want to scream, shout and most of all run away. What is going on in his head? What does he want to do with me? Why this?
Is it what I'm thinking it is? No. I can never submit myself to him. I cannot do that. What if he forces?
The room was unlocked and he pushed me in, breaking me from my thoughts. I took a step in and he went in past me after closing the door shut. He went to the side table and filled a glass of liquor and added 2 cubes of ice and took a sip and then looked at me. "Oh, do u want some? You love to drink, don't you," he said. I shook my head. "So now you're playing innocent."
He then gulped down the rest of the drink and then got rid of the suit and then loosened his tie. He was unbuttoning his shirt while making his way to me. His eyes hovering over my body. "What, what are you doing," I said mustering some courage while taking a step back.
"What I should have done long ago," he said. I took another step back to be stopped by the door. He had a grin pasted on his face as his body came just an inch away from me. I looked away, and closed my eyes shut. My knuckles tightly shut. "Don't do this," I told him. Firmly.
"You don't get to tell me what to do," he said.

I'm glad it stopped. It took a lot of time. But it stopped. He hit me, slammed me, slapped me, but it stopped. And I'm glad it did. As he closed his eyes shut and went to sleep, I covered myself in the sheets and and headed to the washroom. Turned the shower on and stood still as the water washed away his touch. His every hungry kiss.
But I was broken down in the first hit. I looked at myself in the mirror. My forehead had a bruise. The corner of my right eye had turned blue. It was the impact of his slam when I fell straight on the floor, my head hitting the corner of the drawers directly. My whole body hurt. I was unstable. I took a towel and wiped off the water. I looked at the clean me with all the bruises. He wouldn't stop kissing me. He wanted to have sex with me. It felt more like rape. Just when his hungry eyes left my bare neck and his hands were about to take off my shirt, I punched him the face. I punched him so hard the he lost his balance and he fell. For a few seconds he was frozen. He never would've thought I could do something like that. Well these hands have years of experience punching guys like him. But then came the change of plans. His intention was no more to rape me, but to torture me. Punish me. So that I could never dare to do something like this ever again. So he slapped and hit me. And that went on until a while. Then he felt drowsy because of all the drinks he had. He slammed me one last time on the bed. I didn't shed any tear. Nor will I shed any tear now.
I changed into my clothes. Applied some make up to hide all the bruises. It did a pretty good job. Rest I managed to cover with my hair. I then re-packed my bag. No matter how many loud noises I make, this guy is not going to wake up. I took my bag and left a note by the side table.
Try to follow me and this bride won't ever show up at the wedding. That's a warning.
-I don't need to mention a name.
I set my stuff together and though it was hard for me to walk, I ran away. I went to the girls room. Their room was unlocked. How fucking careless to sleep with the room unlocked, just that they weren't sleeping. They sat in a single room, their faces really dull. As I entered, all their faces lit up. "Al," Zara screamed as she hugged me. "What took you so long! Did he do something to you? Are you hurt? Are you wearing make up at 12 midnight?"
"Enough. We're going out now, pack your stuff. We're going To Ladakh," I told.
"How?"
"There are flights to Ladakh in every three hours. Last flight was ours, it was at 9:45. Next flight is at 12:45. We can still make it. And we need to go now. It's a one hour flight. We can still stargaze all night.
And so we did. We rushed to the airport, literally ran through the checking, pumped with adrenaline, sitting in a seat was so hard. All the bruises and all seemed to hurt a lot less. Just being away from him gave me relief.
Glad to have had sweaters outside we pulled them on. Ladakh is fucking cold. A few minutes away, in a small camping area, Myra had a thin mattress in her bag, big enough for all of us to sleep on it. We laid it on the grass, and took the blanket Vicky kept in her bag for emergencies. And pulled it over us. And the show began.
All of them shined, as if a child had dropped dry glitter on the sky by mistake. All of them so free and independent. But the moon stood alone. Demanding attention. A strip of green and a strip of yellow, and stars on top of them. How could have God thought of these all? How vast could his imagination be while making this universe.
Myra removed her phone and opened the app she had downloaded to stop constellations and we tried searching a few. It was fun.
I looked above and then back at them. Hoping that they didn't notice the bruises. I faked a smile. They did that too. Nobody said much, we just stared at the sky again. When the darkness started to fade away and the sky became a lighter shade of blue, we sat straight on the mattress
"Stargaze all night," I said.
"Completed," Zara said, not at all convinced with my normal behaviour. She definitely knows something.

A/N a very lengthy chapter for all of you. I've been trying to update since a while but I wasn't sure. I had like three versions of this chapter ready and I just had to choose which itself was a hard task. But here this is. I hope you'll enjoy reading. Suggestions? Questions? All are welcome :)
And we are 11 targets through, now only a few left :D
So please read, vote, comment!
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-xoxo