The Girl With the Red Scarf | ✔️ [DriKshit]

Found and Lost

DRISHTI'S POV

When the train reached New Delhi the next day, it was five minutes past seven on my phone's homescreen. The  railway station was bustling with people - Indian travellors, foreigners and vendors selling their items, and though this was a scene similar to the Mumbai Railway Station, I felt very unfamiliar, unprepared. I felt far away from home. I felt helpless. I knew no one here, I had no where to go.

Shutting out all the negative thoughts, I got up and proceeded towards the queue that now descended through the open train doors. Okay, Drishti, so you just need to find a ticket counter and book a ticket for Kalka on the earliest train. But on second thoughts, it would be too late when the the night trains reach Kalka and finding somewhere to stay at a place that I have never visited, that too alone in the night hours would be a huge trouble. So, in that case, I will have to stay overnight at the station - that will be safer. And then I can go to Kalka on the first train that leaves in the morning. And from Kalka, to Shimla.

I alighted from the train and made my way across the busy platform.
Most of the people were visiting their families, who had come to pick them up at the station. I spotted the family that had travelled with me. They were now accompanied by an older looking lady, who was talking with the small girl animatedly. I smiled to myself. My life could have been perfect, just like that, but I destroyed all of it myself.

One mistake. One wrong choice. And I am repenting, will be repenting my whole life. But repenting is not what I regret. Losing my loved ones is what I fear the most. I don't want anyone else's life to be destroyed just by choosing my happiness over their security.

The other thing I regretted - not leaving a farewell for Divya. But I do not deserve the opportunity to bid her farewell, after all, I have destroyed her life too. At least, Sikhar is a good guy, she will be happy for the rest of her life. And Rakshit - Rakshit will find someone worth loving.

I filled my plastic water bottle at a tap on the station platform and then proceeded towards the waiting area, my heart abnormally heavy.

The waiting area was almost deserted with just an elderly couple sitting in a corner. The man was asleep, his head hanging at an angle to his body and the woman was reading a magazine, her spectacles resting on the bridge of her nose.
Most people preferred sitting outside on the platform upon the wooden benches, hence, the waiting areas remained void.

I sat down on the opposite corner and pulled out my phone. Thank god that I have been smart enough to charge it on the train, afraid of not finding charging sockets on the next trains.

I felt my stomach rumble - they had provided food on the train, but I hadn't felt like eating. I had set my tray down after a few bites. I was also devoid of sleep. For the entirety of last night, I had kept wondering if Rakshit was asleep, if he missed me, if he was thinking of me. Cause I couldn't stop thinking of him.

Rakshit - 38 missed calls.
Divya - 21 missed calls.
Sikhar - 12 missed calls.

The other members of the family have also tried calling me throughout last night and this morning, but I had picked none of their calls.

I rested my phone on my lap and buried my face in my hands. I wanted to hug someone and just cry, but I had no one, no shoulder to lean on, no pillar to hold for support. I wished Rakshit were here.

I laughed silently at my own stupidity. Rakshit would never come here, I betrayed him and his family, how could he be here? He is Rakshit Shergill. For him, there are no second chances, no second thoughts.

I wondered if someday he would forget me. Of course, he will! With the amount of pain and suffering I have given him, I have earned a rotten piece in his heart. I will never be the memory that he fondly remembers and smiles upon, but the memory that makes his heart wrench in pain and -

~ "Buttercup, you know, I knew from the very start that it was me who you loved and not that bastard Rakshit Shergill. Come, I will take you to our wonderland..."

I felt a strong smell overpowering my nostrils and before I could comprehend what was happening, the world around me turned pitch black.

                                  ~

RAKSHIT'S POV

I ran at top speed, weaving in through the evening time crowd on the New Delhi Station platform. It has been half an hour since the Mumbai - New Delhi Rajdhani Express arrived on Platform number nineteen, and with each second that passed, my anticipation grew, threatening to take over my speed. Sikhar, Divya and I had taken the first available flight to New Delhi and it landed just an hour ago.
The distance from the station to the airport wasn't much, but the traffic had delayed us. I told Divya to stand at the gate and ordered Sikhar to run and check at all the ticket counters, shops, vendors - everywhere, while I checked the waiting rooms and washrooms.

I decided to start at the waiting room adjoining Platform nineteen. I made my way through the crowd, when, suddenly, my eye caught a flash of red. I stopped dead in my track, almost bumping into a fat lady coming from the opposite side.

I stood at the side of the waiting room and peered in. There were a total of five men in the room, all of them clad in black from head to toe. Two men held guns to the heads of an elderly couple, who fearfully looked in the opposite direction.

I dared to peer a little further. On the opposite side, one of the men in black was carrying a woman in his arms, the pallu of her red saree dangling freely. The other two men in the room stood guard, keeping watch on the platform crowd.

As the man carrying the girl turned, the girl's face shifted and hung down to the opposite side, revealing her sharp features.

As my heart sank, I realized that the girl was Drishti and the man carrying her was Akash.

But before I could react, all of them formed a tight line and moved out quickly, the last one keeping his gun pointed at the elderly couple, who looked like they would faint any second.

Akash had been playing Drishti. He wanted her to run from home so that he could... And Drishti had done exactly what he had wanted her to do.

I called Sikhar immediately and explained to him the situation as briefly as possible.

~ "Sikhar, listen, I am following them. You make some excuse and take Divya home - no need of telling her anything -"

~ "Bhai, how will you go alone? Plus they have guns and stuff -"

Sikhar's voice poured with nervousness.

~ "Sikhar, my life resides in Drishti. If anything happens to her, I will die automatically - and here is a chance to end Drishti's perils, for once and all. Here is a chance to show Akash what hell looks like, 'cause he has made Drishti's life no better than it."

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Will Rakshit be able to save Drishti before it's too late? Or will this be the end of #drikshit?