Avneil SS

Her Arms: His only Solace

Anjali gripped Neil's hand, the agony in his voice was unendurable. "I was not even given the privilege to see her face Di, all I could retrieve was this one thing, her most precious possession as she called it." He just said that she died in Vidyut's house and how they found the body, till this minute that incident was crystal clear in his mind. He started to remember that time when he rushed to Vidyut's house.

"Neil! Neil! save me...... Neil...... I'm scared.... Neil ...... please! Neil!...... Neil!" Her scared voice was all he could hear, the voice that haunted every dream of his.

"I lost her, I broke my promise to Neelamaa, I failed them both.... I failed them both.... it's all my fault......" Neil said and shut his eyes, he could not tolerate it anymore, the others did not push him to do so, they did not ask how she died, they don't even want to ask her name, as it was clear from his state that saying her name would cause him more pain.

Arnav was no better than Neil, he was numb. He can see the pure torture Neil is going through, the anguish in his eyes cannot be described, only now did Arnav understood that Neil is just humouring others with his presence otherwise from the way he spoke, he can see that he has no intention of being here and Arnav could sympathise it well, he can't think about going through that, and losing Kushi would be the end of him. The way he was clutching Kushi's hand conveyed his fear. Kushi was crying and she squeezed Arnav's hand in order to assure him but to no avail.

Neil saw how devastated Arnav is and could easily read what is going inside his head, the fear of losing the one you loved is the worst feeling ever and he does not want anyone to go through it not even his enemy.

There was no sound except for the sniffing from Kushi and Anjali. Neil controlled his tears and left from there, no one tried to stop him as no one had the strength to move from their position. After a while Arnav went in search of Neil and found him near the small water pool which his little one favoured. He just sat beside Neil and they both know that nothing is going to change the past or reduce Neil's pain they just had to live with it, but something was bothering Arnav and he had to know the answer. Arnav was the first one to break the silence.

"You said that the pandit's son blackmailed her, if I guess her character correctly she's not the one to give in easily. What's that you are not telling Neil, there's more, isn't it?" Arnav asked.

"I told you that Neelamaa was shot right, dad was the one who shot her" Neil's voice was a mere whisper.

"What! what are you saying Neil? Uncle could never do that." Arnav could not believe what he heard.

Then Neil said everything to Arnav how Vidyut drugged Prakash and made him shoot Neil, how Neelamaa came in between to save him, got shot instead and how he must have blackmailed her with that. "You know Arnav, she always kept others before her, she sacrificed herself for her happy family, to keep me and my family safe, to keep that secret from me. She knows how it will break the whole family to know the truth, even though she lost her only family, her Neelamaa she thought of saving dad instead of herself."

Arnav just squeezed Neil's shoulder, he wished he could do more but he knows he can't help his friend this time other than being there for him. When they thought Juhi was dead it took Arnav a week to convince Neil to come out of his room, Neil had only talked to Arnav then. He recovered, at least he had a motivation and was able to start his life again. But this time there was nothing, his eyes looked dead. Only now Arnav could see how much pain Neil is bearing without the usual mask that he managed to wear around others, he could see the way Neil looked like a person being tortured with every breath he took.

"You both would have gotten along well, she too is like you doesn't show her emotions, don't like to bother others with her problems, level headed, over smart, over protective of those she loves, loving others unconditionally and the last one pure tube light when it comes to romance. But unfortunately, I could not make her meet you, it would have been great to witness you both together, I'm sure you two would have teamed together to torment me. Sometimes I felt that she might be your long-lost sister or something, because she reminded me of you a lot." Neil said to Arnav his eyes staring at a distance and a sad etched smile on his face.