Achilles' Heels: An IPKKND FanFiction

Chapter Two: Disappeared

Khushi walked soundlessly to the front door; the beautiful front yard of the house she had entered blurred in the background. She noticed the doorbell hidden within the stone façade and tried to raise her hand to it, only to discover that her hand had stilled in the mid-air. She took a deep breath and forcefully pulled it upwards. She had to muster up the courage to ring the door.

It's Arnav on the other side, her resolute mind recalled.

She felt her heartbeats steadily rise as she put her finger on the bell and paused despite herself. She thought about the reasons behind her hesitation, but it drew a blank. And in that moment of uncertainty, her heart warned about the consequences it'll have to suffer again if the person who owned the house was not Arnav. Try as she might, she wasn't able to shrug off the possibility that this was an vain chase.

She wasn't ready for another blow, another setback in her pursuit - she had had enough of them lately and she was tired. But she knew that if she gave any more importance to the raging conflict in her mind, she would simply retrace her steps back and away from this house. If she did, she would never know if she had found Arnav.

She let out a sigh, frustrated. She had started to get increasingly annoyed at herself for believing that this wasn't him, for questioning her wits for even considering such a possibility.

But wasn't he declared dead all those months ago?

Yet hadn't her heart refused to believe the reports?

She felt a breeze caress her face as the sky darkened further. Her hair flew against her rounded but worn face. She pulled them aside and tucked them behind her ears. She heard as the rustle of the leaves around her got prominent; she saw a few yellowed leaves fly towards the porch and into her hair. She softly pulled them out as she waited for the wind to die. With time, she heard the patter of the leaves from the garden fade into the silent night as the wind tangled within the branches of trees around the fence. Her eyes followed the trail of a few leaves along as they found their way through the mesh.

She thought of fixing her hair before she rang the door. And then her heart did a flip. Didn't the wind feel oddly familiar?

Adrenaline pulsed through her veins at the feeling that rushed through her; her heart drummed with it. And then as suddenly as it had come to her, the uncertainty about the house being Arnav's sounded naive to her.

Nonetheless, her mind continued to debate her heart. What if he really was dead as they had forced her to accept? But then how would she explain the feeling of familiarity that lingered in the air long after the breeze had died?

She had fought back her tears that pooled to her eyes at the thought of never being able to see him again. She did not want to cry. Because she knew he hated the sight of her tears. He hadn't been able to stand them. He had told her in as many words. After that day, she had reminded herself of this every time she wanted to cry. She knew she wouldn't hurt him this way. She couldn't hurt him by crying even if he wasn't around her. Because deep in her heart, she had always believed he was alive, and with that came an obligation to honor him - by not slumping, not falling weak. Her innocent mind had only believed that he had merely left them and wasn't dead like everyone said.

But then why was it so difficult to accept that she was finally here? Closer to him? Wasn't this all she wanted?

Because he was close. She knew it. She couldn't care less what her brilliant mind thought, because her heart knew it. And that was all that mattered. A decision, yes, a decision was all she needed. She felt her finger press the doorbell with the slightest of the pressure. Her heart had decided what it wanted. The hell with the mind!