The Guests. #1

x Poetic Justice x

Ileana

Aditya lead me to his car that was parked a few miles away from the damaged jeep that we had previously arrived in. I looked at the shattered glass, and the plentiful of bullet holes scattered around. The jeep was a complete mess, like myself. Aditya opened the door for me, guiding me slowly inside. The walk back was silent, as he didn't say a single word. We sat in his car, again not saying much. We drove away back to his apartment in silence, as I took the chance to close my eyes and breathe.

When we arrived, Adi prodded me to get up. I woke up, as he offered his hand. I took it, as he put his arm around my waist, walking me towards his apartment. As we made it to the elevator, I tried to mumble anything to get rid of the arkward silence. We were on his way to his apartment, when Abhimanyu waltzed right past us. He turned to us smiling, but his face dropped at the sight of my bandage. He also noticed Aditya dragging me along. Aditya grunted under his breath, probably not in the mood to deal with another person in his way.

"Ileana! Are you okay?"

"She's fine. I'm taking her to rest. You will get all the news in the headlines tommorow."

"Did your grandfather hurt you?"

Aditya was losing his cool.

"She's not in the state to speak right now. Look Abhimanyu, I think you've done your job saving her. But this time, she doesn't need you, okay."

Abhimanyu's stance changed, as he walked right up to Aditya. Even I was surprised to see him so fierce, since I've only seen his sweet side uptil now.

"Caring for someone doesn't come with an expiry date. I will always look out for Ileana, no matter what."

Aditya scrunched his fists to the side. Their eyes looking into each other, as if they wanted to tear one another apart. I decided to intervene.

"Ooouch!"

Aditya turned to me, as he went at me.

"Ileana, what's wrong?!"

"Let's go inside. Abhimanyu, we will talk soon. I promise."

Abhimanyu looked at me with concern, yet his expression changed at the sight of Aditya and I. He could see that I had made my choice. Unfortunately that choice wasn't him.

"Sure."

He respected my decision, as Aditya left everything behind to escort me into his apartment. When we finally made it inside, Aditya dragged me to his room.

"Wait. I'm okay."

"No your not. You need to be in bed."

"No. I'm fine. I did that, so that I didn't had to witness a boxing match right in front of me."

"What? You were faking it. Off course. You always have to fake everything around him and then leave me feeling like a fool."

I sighed. As much as I wanted to disagree on that. It was true. Aditya sighed, looking at me softly. He walked up to me, cupping my face in his hands.

"I can't lose you, Ileana!"

His eyes saddened, as he held onto me for dear life.

"What do you mean? I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere."

"No, you are fine. But.."

"But?"

He looked extremely worried. Was there something that Aditya was hiding from me? And the way Tara told him to tell me everything. What was that about?

"Adi, what is it? What else is there for me to know."

Aditya lowered his gaze, closing his eyes. He licked his lips, as he opened his eyes, looking at me intensely.