Tum Hi Ho

Chapter 22

Paridhi received Preeti’s call and listened to her best friend shout at her for not answering her call. A minute later she sighed and spoke, “I was sexually assaulted, again” with a deadpan voice. She noticed Darshan sharply look at her but she continued speaking.
“I need you to shut up for a minute and listen to me. I need you help Preeti. I will tell you everything…but just not now…can you just…” Her voice cracked in the end and this made Darshan heart ache with immense pain.
He was himself trying to choke back tears as he took in Paridhi’s pained expression. A moment later, Paridhi took deep breaths and heaved sighs a few times, trying to calm herself. “Preeti, you can see the shoe rack in front of our door right? Open in, inside the green box, there are golden heels.” This time, Darshan looked at her, utterly bewildered about why Paridhi was talking about golden heels at such time. But his confusion was cleared when she spoke again. “….Under the heels, you will find a bunch of keys. They are the flat keys, wardrobe keys and locker keys. I need you to bring my clothes, daily wear, work clothes and casual wear. No need to bring the entire wardrobe. I am sure that you will be able to pack my bag properly. Don’t talk to Nikhil if he is at home. Don’t try to fight with him or anything. Please, for my sake, do as I say. Let me handle this. Things are already complicated. Let me solve them my way. Also, bring all the official documents in the locker, everything related to my work and my personal documents file. Throw in my anxiety pills and iron tablets. I will send you the address, please bring it over. I promise to tell you each and everything. Just do this for me.” Paridhi finished. Though Darshan’s first confusion had cleared, the conversation of Paridhi and Preeti had added to few more questions in Darshan’s mind.
‘Assaulted for second time? Complicated things? Anxiety pills?’ Darshan wondered about just how less he knew about Paridhi’s life. Though, the iron tablets made him realize that she had iron deficiency and that explained why she had fainted that day. Darshan’s chain of thought was broken by Paridhi’s voice.
“You really don’t mind me living with you? What about your dad? What about your friends? What if someone from media came to know about you living with a girl?” Darshan gave her an exasperated look, no wonder this girl needed anxiety tablets. She had really bad habit of over thinking everything.
“No I don’t have a problem, dad is in Ahmedabad, taking care of a few things and he won’t return for a few months and you seriously think friends and media issue is more important than your problem? Paridhi, right now, you are more imp….” Darshan trailed off, suddenly awkward about what he was about to say, but thankfully he had reached his building’s parking lot and pulled over in his parking space.
Paridhi gripped the jacket Darshan had given her tightly, now suddenly aware and uncomfortable of her torn clothes. Darshan got out and waited for Paridhi to get out before locking the car. He took care to walk some distance away from her, careful not to touch her. He knew that anyone touching her, especially a male touching her might trigger her memories of assault.
Perhaps she wouldn’t want anyone touching her. Suddenly, a realization struck him. ‘Assaulted again.’ She had said. This meant she had been assaulted before too. Who? When? Surely Nikhil hadn’t because he knew she wouldn’t have been in relationship with him or agreed to marry him. So before him… So that was why she was always uncomfortable around boys.
That was why she flinched away when someone tried to touch her. His fist clenched as he thought about how much pain she must have gone through to have such lasting effect on her. This assault must be the reason behind her anxiety. He looked at her standing calmly and was surprised at how calmly she was behaving.
This wasn’t normal at all. Any other girl would have been distressed. It seemed like she was suppressing her grief and he knew it wasn’t healthy. It was probably because she must be feeling uncomfortable to cry in front of him. Maybe she would let out her feelings when Preeti was there to comfort her.
Darshan opened his door and stepped inside, pausing to let Paridhi enter. He told Paridhi to sit down and gave her some water which she gulped down in one go. Darshan noticed that the jacket he had given her to cover herself was too big, of course it was too big, it was at least 4 times bigger than her size. It was his size and the jacket kept slipping off her shoulders. “Paridhi, come with me.” He ordered and Paridhi looked at him startled. “What…why?” She tried to ask, but Darshan just motioned her to follow him. He led her to his room and dug in his closet. He searched for a while and dug out his old T-shirt which he had got at the time of Rawstar. Though it was still bigger, it wasn’t as big as his current size and it would probably fit Paridhi. He handed it to her. “You can change…if you want…I mean I noticed that you were uncomfortable and that jacket is quite big…soo….”He trailed off, not really knowing what to say.
Paridhi looked at the shirt surprised. She was actually uncomfortable in the jacket as it was too big and it kept slipping off. But how did he know…? She nodded at him, gratefully taking the T-shirt. Darshan immediately went out of the room to give her privacy, closing the door on his way out. Paridhi stared at the T-shirt for a while, blankly. She had numbed her feelings or rather tried to and she knew sooner or later she was going to break down. She wanted to be alone when she did that. She took a deep breath. Just few more hours Paridhi, get through this quickly, meet Preeti, tell her everything and handle her, then handle Darshan and excuse yourself to some room under pretext of sleeping. Then you can finally breakdown and cry. Be strong for just few hours, she told herself, taking deep breaths. She slipped off the jacket and not knowing where she was supposed to keep it, she threw it on the bed.
She looked at herself in the mirror of Darshan’s dressing table. She was a mess, just like her life had turned into a mess. Her hair looked like a birds nest, her clothes torn, just like her dignity. No Paridhi, don’t think of it now…just breath, she told herself when she began to feel a lump forming in her throat. She took deep breaths to calm herself and managed to maintain her calm composure with great difficulty.
She then discarded her torn top, kept it on a table, not knowing what to do with it and pulled on Darshan’s T-shirt. It was couple of sizes bigger than hers, but it was a lot more comfortable than the jacket. Also, it was a long sleeved T-shirt so it helped her cover the bruises and scratches on her arms. Preeti would have freaked out if she saw those. She combed her hair, wincing when few strands came out and her scalp ached because Nikhil had pulled her hair in an attempt to grab her. Sighing and preparing herself mentally she went out. Darshan was standing in the kitchen, frowning over something.