Swasan SS - Elixir

Chapter 4

Hi! Some more poison and elixir for you. Enjoy!
I haven’t proof read so forgive any typing errors please!
Poison
Never underestimate fire, water, snake and a prince especially the prince, Swara amended her thought. They can turn very very nasty. Her swollen feet still throbbed with sharp strokes of pain after going up and down those stupid stairs for umpteenth times. First she went to retrieve a file, and then her dear boss had forgotten his phone in the conference room. Then she had to obtain data from the IT department, who most conveniently wanted to hand them over instead of e mailing, then after all the torture was done…Sujata Maheshwari had sent his lunch, which Swara had to collect once again from the receptionist! She knew all the while she ran from here to there, that man was watching with that irritating smirk of his. He had planned this, and she had no choice but to obey.
When she came home, which was a miracle that she managed, Swara was almost dead on her feet. She had fallen deep in to her bed and slept almost at once even without changing out of her daywear or having her dinner. This was just the first day, as if from an instinct she knew the worst was yet to come.
And it did.
It was still six am, she would hardly dream of waking up this early but here she was, standing on those throbbing feet because Mr. Sanskar Maheshwari goes for jogging every morning with his PA briefing him about his day; just how sweet!
He came to her once more, finishing his first round, he did not even look a tad bit tired so that she could wish for an escape. He was eyeing her strangely.
‘Are you thinking of briefing me telepathically Miss Bose?’
‘Huh?’
‘Why don’t you join me?’
Swara sighed.
‘I can’t jog sir, I’m too tired.’ She said honestly.
‘Perhaps you’re tired from working for me?’ Sanskar asked hopefully. There was a mocking glint in his eyes.
‘Alright,’ said Swara. ‘Let’s go!’
‘You’re too easy to trigger Miss Bose.’
‘You’re too childish Mr. Maheshwari.’ She muttered to herself and then thanked her stars he did not hear. She had seen the way he yelled at his employees and hardly wanted a firsthand experience.
‘Okay,’ she continued in a brisk tone. ‘So you have a meeting with the project heads of Sharma’s first thing today sir. ‘
‘Hmm,’ said Sanskar nodding.
He seemed to know the schedule even without her narration. This was a procedure that would purely annoy her nothing else, she realized as she went on with the tasks at hand. Her feet were throbbing and pain making her senses dull.
‘Then we have to attend the Maheshwari and son’s board meeting, addressed by…’
‘Mr. Adarsh Maheshwari.’ Sanskar completed the sentence for her, rather venomously. ‘You don’t have to accompany me there.’
Swara slowly processed what he said as she was more confused at the tone he applied for his cousin.
‘Of cause I do sir! It’s a part of my job.’ She objected instantly.
‘Who is your boss?’ Sanskar asked her.
‘You are.’ He shrugged as if saying then-what? ‘But DP sir wants me to…’
‘You can play my lapdog anywhere else Miss Bose, I’m not taking you to that board meeting.’
‘But…’
‘I don’t like yelling please.’ said Sanskar calmly. ‘It’s final.’ His tone still had that hint of venom in it; it was a threat to drop the subject but Swara was not going to back off that easily. Still on the very moment, her feet had decided it was enough torture. Her ankle twisted.
‘Ouch!’
As if from reflex Sanskar caught her waist, before she had lost her balance. Holding on to his shoulders she inhaled deeply, her face twisted with pain. Casting her face in to rosy shadows the sun was rising behind her, dusting the grayish cerulean sky with cherry and gold glitter of sunshine.
Swara opened her eyes slowly, feeling the waves of pain wash over her. He was still holding her, standing firm against her vision, his face outlined with contrasting sunshine. Had she not despised the ordeal he was putting her through, she would have been mesmerized by that sight. His eyes were darker than brown yet lighter than black, traced with the golden light, deep with their expressive emotions and slightly alluring with a hint of unreadable pain. 
*
Elixir
She was sure this was not the first time she had that sight in front of her. The sight of Sanskar’s eyes dazzling against the sunlight. It seemed to bring out a familiar feeling of warmth to her heart as she watched him. He was there to take her home. In her attempts to pace him in another memory that he could not deny form happening Swara had ignored Ragini’s invitation to ride in her car and in silence had taken her seat in Sanskar’s car instead. Had she been a little attentive she would have noticed the glare Sanskar threw in Ragini’s way before driving away.
The Maheshwaris seemed to adore her for reasons Swara could not remember and something, she noticed, was unsettled between Sanskar and his family. He seemed to be an almost outsider to them. She had pushed it off her mind, until they reached their room; there she was reminded of her earlier conclusion once more.
‘Weren’t you here the past few weeks?’ She asked him.
Sanskar looked around trying to spot what gave him away. But then of cause the entire room looked as if no one entered it for weeks.
‘No,’ he said shortly. ‘I have another house.’
‘Then why did we come here?’
‘Er..’ said Sanskar looking around again. ‘I won’t be able to stay around all day Swara. You’d be alone there. Here there is lot of people to take care of you.’
‘Sanskar?’ She said suspiciously. ‘You’re not going to leave me here and vanish are you?’
He laughed nervously.
‘Why would I?’ Then he added in a serious tone watching her expression. ‘You should not depend on me Swara, everyone here loves you.’
‘I don’t know them,’ she pointed out.
‘You don’t know me either,’ Sanskar shook his head.
‘But I used to right?’
She held his gaze for a moment, demanding for an answer, hoping he would stop making her feel unwanted. She remembered his eyes shimmering in the sunlight once more, they no longer shimmered. They were deep and dull, burning in silence. He was in pain, she could see that.
‘Yes,’ he said slowly. ‘You did.’
*
Elixir
Swara seriously could not remember anyone who made her feel this way. But that was not much saying as she had recently lost her memory. Lakshya Maheshwari belonged to a different league of annoyance. She did not know how Sanskar handle this man in his office but at home he was ‘downright unpleasant’.
In the morning she had noticed how he rudely snatched the seat Sanskar was going to take at the breakfast table and sat beside her instead. All through the day, he was giving her a strange look that she often wondered whether he had also lost his memory as to what relationship they shared. His eyes were glossy as if he was pained and he kept throwing dark looks at Sanskar as if he was the reason.
In the afternoon he announced that they were having a party to welcome Swara back home, like seriously, why should he be celebrating?
Then there was Ragini, who had taken it as her personal mission to make sure she had no more than two minutes of discussion with Sanskar. She would pop up from anywhere and launch in to an inquiry of her health, how she was adjusting and all that. Although she was not even half as unsettling as her husband, her concern irked Swara. She seriously wanted to talk to Sanskar and ask him if he was alright. He looked pretty annoyed and frustrated himself.
Sanskar had vanished by the evening and Swara was confined by Ragini who had offered to help her getting ready for the party. She had no good feeling about this.
And she had been right.
Sanskar was nowhere and Lakshya was pestering her for a dance. She agreed, more so to make him stop tailing her. He had gripped her hand enthusiastically and moved to the silvery spotlight shining in the marble dance floor. The soft tune started and they circled slowly.
‘You remember me don’t you?’ He asked after a moment. Swara raised her eyebrows. What did he think? She would pretend to lose her memory for fun? ‘I know why you’re doing this,’ he continued as they stepped to the beat.
‘Why?’ She asked him, not even trying to keep her annoyance out of her voice.
‘Because,’ he said wisely. ‘You want him to suffer for what he did to us.’
‘Who are you talking about?’
‘Come on Shona,’ he said titling his head. ‘No one can hear us here. I know this is a plan, you made for revenge. He deserves exactly this; I’m not blaming you, but why punish yourself by staying with him?’
Pain, throbbed against her forehead as her neurons crinkled with a burning sensation. Something, a flash of a scene and a wisp of a voice brushed against her memory.
‘You said you loved me.’ It was her own voice. ‘Were you lying then?’
There was a pause as she stared in to his eyes; they blinked, breaking the eye contact.
‘Yes.’ Sanskar muttered. ‘I did love you, but that was before you had decided to crush my heart beneath your feet. I have no more feelings for you. I couldn’t just let you hurt me and run away unscathed.’
She blinked to the present scene, where Lakshya was staring at her intently.
‘I’m right aren’t I?’ He said again. ‘You’ve planned this?’
Her lips trembled as she took a step backwards from his arms. He had been annoying earlier, now his smile looked repulsive. Sanskar’s words were still ringing in her mind.
‘You helped Lakshya break me. How could I not return the favor? I took your help in breaking him, there, that’s it.’
Believing you were someone’s elixir and revealing you were their poison is the most venomous of all feelings. Suddenly every pause in her conversations with her husband seemed to scream, every time he averted his eyes seemed to burn her soul. She had broken him for another and still he was here, letting her break him further.
Hell, she was falling for him and here he loathed her.
Swara stumbled further backwards, her gaze still capturing Lakshya’s startled look laced with tears, until she hit someone very solid. He gripped her elbow and turned her around, with a touch all too familiar. His face was full of concern yet she could not hold his gaze.
‘What happened?’ Sanskar said anxiously.
Swara blinked and looked at him. How can someone mask their hurt so well, or hide detest so deeply. Exactly how much deeper had she cut in to his heart? How much had he bled in silence? Before turning his heart in to stone against her repeated blows? When had she turned so evil? Would she ever be able to repent?
‘Swara you’re scaring me,’ Sanskar gripped her shoulders and shook her slightly. ‘Will you say something? What happened?’
She took a long breath that burned her lungs as she remembered that vivid dream once more. He had been lying when he said he did not love her. In her dream he had been confessing her that. Now it made more sense. She could not remember all she had done, but from the way her brother in law made it sound like, she was sure she deserved no forgiveness. Still he had forgiven her.
‘Stay with me,’ she muttered before throwing her arms around him and gathering his warmth in to a tight embrace. Uncertainly he put his arms around her, holing her firm and safe. There still breathed a hope of finding peace if not peace itself.
*
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