APRICITY [Completed] - Chapter 3: Chapter 3
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I made her day hell. I made her run up and down the floors, giving and bringing documents. I made her serve tea and coffee to my staff even though it wasn't a part of her job. I also made her clean my office shelves and drawers.
Though, the view of her perky ass made it more torturous for me than for her.
In short, I tried everything in my power to get her to say no to me. For something. Anything. No to serving coffee. No to carrying that heavy stack of files. No, to running around like a clerk. She didn't. I haven't let her sit down even once since morning.
The bad part is, that I do feel regretful.
The worse part is, that I don't feel regretful enough to let my revenge plans go.
And the worst part is, that she wouldn't just give up!
The same routine continued for 5 days at a stretch. My employees had started whispering stuff about me but I didn't give a fuck. I never addressed her as my wife in front of my staff. So their opinion wasn't an issue.
The problem was that people had seemed to gain a liking for her. No matter how much I pushed her, she never got angry or frustrated.
She smiled and laughed with everyone, except for me, that is. She even shared her lunch with anyone who was hungry but hadn't brought their own, even though her frail form needed it the most.
Blood boils in my veins. Things aren't going as planned.
It is late. Everybody has left. I walk out of my office just in time to see Surbhi get inside the washroom. I notice that she has left her phone on her desk. An idea shifts and forms in my mind. I quickly scan the place to make sure nobody is around.
Then I march towards the washroom. Slowly so she won't hear it inside the cabinet, I close the main door of the washroom and bolt it from outside.
A few seconds later I hear the flush and the sound of the cabinet door opening. She must have noticed the closed door too because even before she washes her hands she jiggles the door and tries to open it.
It doesn't budge. She screams and yells and shouts but no help is waiting for her. Leaving her there, I take the elevator and go to the ground floor.
"Is there anyone on this floor?" I ask the security guard.
"No sir," he replies.
"Alright then lock up. I've checked the first floor. Nobody's there too."
"Okay, sir."
The next morning, I don't know who found her. I just noticed the murmurs going about amongst the staff and the shouts coming from Aditya's office, the CEO of this company before I bought it from him.
I open the door to his office and step inside.
"She's in the hospital because of you," Aditya yells at the shaking security guard.
She's in the hospital?
Then the sensible part of my brain whose voice I have been drowning for way too long speaks.
What else did you expect you fool? That she'll just sleep on the bathroom floor and be woken up by the cleaning staff in the morning?
My mind raced with possibilities. What had happened? How bad is it? What have I done? Did I go too far this time?
Aditya finally notices me.
"Surbhi is in the hospital," he says with a worried expression.
"Which one?"
I run in the white corridor, eager to see her once. She will be okay. She has to be. She's a fighter. I halt in front of the room. The faces I am greeted with aren't pleasant. I try to go past them but they block the entrance.
She told them everything, I realize with a start.
She told her family all about our relationship and divorce.
"Get aside. I want to see my wife," I growl.
"Your who?" Her aunt asks me sarcastically.
"MY WIFE."
"She is not your wife. You are not her husband. You're a devil," Gaurav, her brother, says coming in my face.
"We'll talk about it later. I need to see her first," I say again trying to get past them.
"You need to go away."
A heavily accented voice comes from behind me. A voice I'll always recognize anywhere. Anmol Khurana.
"You don't tell me what to do," I scoff and just then the door opens. Surbhi's mother comes out and says the unexpected.
"She wants to see him."
She is not fine. She has a very high fever and her vocal chords are causing her difficulty while speaking.
Because of the constant yelling, I suppose.
Her nails are chipped and her knuckles are bruised.
Five days.
Just five days in my vicinity and the bruises are back.
But what hurts the most is that her eyes are blank. Cold and completely blank. Earlier, even when she hated me, she had so many emotions swirling in her eyes. Suspicion, anger, disgust.
I'll take anything right now in place of this blankness.
"Surbhi..." I start.
"Don't. Don't speak my name from your mouth," her voice is raspy and frighteningly calm.
"Listen I..."
"No. Today you will listen," she says sternly.
I nod.
"Since the first day we got married, I tried. I tried so hard. To be a good wife. To be a friend you could trust. To be your partner on good days and support system on bad ones."
"But you did not return the feeling. You told me to go away from your life and I did. I tried to be non-existent. Always tiptoeing around you, walking on eggshells. Hiding in another room when you come home and coming out only once you've left."
I did tell her to do it. Fuck! How deep does this mess go? I groan.
"And as if making me feel like a ghost was not enough for you. You wanted to hurt me. Crush me. So you started asserting violence."
"In the start, it was rough grabs here and there. Then you started slapping me and then.." She chokes, the first emotion betraying her face. She quickly masks it.
"And then one day you took out your belt and whipped me. You did not stop when I fell down. You did not stop when my back started bleeding. You kept going. And when it finally ended, you told me to sleep on the couch and if you found even one drop of blood on the fabric the next morning then you'll beat me again."
"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry," I choke.
"Then this became a tradition. Making me dip my hand in boiling water. Oh and do you remember that cutter game we played? Or more like you enjoyed while shook with fear."
How could I have been so cruel?
"I did not enjoy it." I don't know who I am trying to convince, myself or her.
"I endured everything Vihaan. I did it hoping that your anger would calm in a few weeks. That you'll start seeing me as a human. But things never came around to it. Despite everything, I was ready to walk away peacefully. You didn't let that happen too. You never signed the divorce papers."
"In the office, I let you push me around, hoping against all odds that we might still have a chance. But yet again, you did the unthinkable. You locked me up in a dark bathroom."
First tear slides down her cheek.
"Why did you do it Vihaan? I didn't deserve this. I never deserved any of it. Just like you, even I had dreams of meeting a man. Someone who would love me, care for me and not call me an ugly hippie."
I close my eyes and tilt my head back. I wish I could take my words back. She's the purest person I know. The only person who cared for me. The realization hit me hard in the gut.
Surbhi Khurana might have been the only person who never tried to hurt me or had an eye on my money.
"You wanted to break me Vihaan? Congratulations! You succeeded."
No. This can't be happening. She can't break. Not now, when I've finally come to terms with myself.
"Surbhi please," I start.
"I. SAID. DO. NOT. TAKE. MY. NAME. FROM. YOUR. FILTHY. MOUTH."
Gosh! I deserve that.
"Please hear me out once. I know what I did was wrong and I'm so so sorry..."
"Grandpa," she cuts me off for the nth time today.
She wipes her eyes and sober up. I, too, stand up straighter. I can't show weakness, least of all to Anmol Khurana. He walks inside and his gaze shifts from Surbhi to me and back to her.
"Throw him out, please. We're done," she says.
"No, we're not," I grit.
"Get out yourself or I'll have to call security," he threatens me.
I have meek chances of convincing her but if I don't try now, then I'll regret forever; even if it means begging in front of the man I hate the most.
"Please give me one chance. Just 5 minutes. Please," I try but she doesn't so much so as spare me a breath. She lies down and closes her eyes.
I know I've lost this battle. Unwillingly, I exit her room.
"We'll give you the money," Anmol Khurana says before he closes the door in my face.
Though, the view of her perky ass made it more torturous for me than for her.
In short, I tried everything in my power to get her to say no to me. For something. Anything. No to serving coffee. No to carrying that heavy stack of files. No, to running around like a clerk. She didn't. I haven't let her sit down even once since morning.
The bad part is, that I do feel regretful.
The worse part is, that I don't feel regretful enough to let my revenge plans go.
And the worst part is, that she wouldn't just give up!
The same routine continued for 5 days at a stretch. My employees had started whispering stuff about me but I didn't give a fuck. I never addressed her as my wife in front of my staff. So their opinion wasn't an issue.
The problem was that people had seemed to gain a liking for her. No matter how much I pushed her, she never got angry or frustrated.
She smiled and laughed with everyone, except for me, that is. She even shared her lunch with anyone who was hungry but hadn't brought their own, even though her frail form needed it the most.
Blood boils in my veins. Things aren't going as planned.
It is late. Everybody has left. I walk out of my office just in time to see Surbhi get inside the washroom. I notice that she has left her phone on her desk. An idea shifts and forms in my mind. I quickly scan the place to make sure nobody is around.
Then I march towards the washroom. Slowly so she won't hear it inside the cabinet, I close the main door of the washroom and bolt it from outside.
A few seconds later I hear the flush and the sound of the cabinet door opening. She must have noticed the closed door too because even before she washes her hands she jiggles the door and tries to open it.
It doesn't budge. She screams and yells and shouts but no help is waiting for her. Leaving her there, I take the elevator and go to the ground floor.
"Is there anyone on this floor?" I ask the security guard.
"No sir," he replies.
"Alright then lock up. I've checked the first floor. Nobody's there too."
"Okay, sir."
The next morning, I don't know who found her. I just noticed the murmurs going about amongst the staff and the shouts coming from Aditya's office, the CEO of this company before I bought it from him.
I open the door to his office and step inside.
"She's in the hospital because of you," Aditya yells at the shaking security guard.
She's in the hospital?
Then the sensible part of my brain whose voice I have been drowning for way too long speaks.
What else did you expect you fool? That she'll just sleep on the bathroom floor and be woken up by the cleaning staff in the morning?
My mind raced with possibilities. What had happened? How bad is it? What have I done? Did I go too far this time?
Aditya finally notices me.
"Surbhi is in the hospital," he says with a worried expression.
"Which one?"
I run in the white corridor, eager to see her once. She will be okay. She has to be. She's a fighter. I halt in front of the room. The faces I am greeted with aren't pleasant. I try to go past them but they block the entrance.
She told them everything, I realize with a start.
She told her family all about our relationship and divorce.
"Get aside. I want to see my wife," I growl.
"Your who?" Her aunt asks me sarcastically.
"MY WIFE."
"She is not your wife. You are not her husband. You're a devil," Gaurav, her brother, says coming in my face.
"We'll talk about it later. I need to see her first," I say again trying to get past them.
"You need to go away."
A heavily accented voice comes from behind me. A voice I'll always recognize anywhere. Anmol Khurana.
"You don't tell me what to do," I scoff and just then the door opens. Surbhi's mother comes out and says the unexpected.
"She wants to see him."
She is not fine. She has a very high fever and her vocal chords are causing her difficulty while speaking.
Because of the constant yelling, I suppose.
Her nails are chipped and her knuckles are bruised.
Five days.
Just five days in my vicinity and the bruises are back.
But what hurts the most is that her eyes are blank. Cold and completely blank. Earlier, even when she hated me, she had so many emotions swirling in her eyes. Suspicion, anger, disgust.
I'll take anything right now in place of this blankness.
"Surbhi..." I start.
"Don't. Don't speak my name from your mouth," her voice is raspy and frighteningly calm.
"Listen I..."
"No. Today you will listen," she says sternly.
I nod.
"Since the first day we got married, I tried. I tried so hard. To be a good wife. To be a friend you could trust. To be your partner on good days and support system on bad ones."
"But you did not return the feeling. You told me to go away from your life and I did. I tried to be non-existent. Always tiptoeing around you, walking on eggshells. Hiding in another room when you come home and coming out only once you've left."
I did tell her to do it. Fuck! How deep does this mess go? I groan.
"And as if making me feel like a ghost was not enough for you. You wanted to hurt me. Crush me. So you started asserting violence."
"In the start, it was rough grabs here and there. Then you started slapping me and then.." She chokes, the first emotion betraying her face. She quickly masks it.
"And then one day you took out your belt and whipped me. You did not stop when I fell down. You did not stop when my back started bleeding. You kept going. And when it finally ended, you told me to sleep on the couch and if you found even one drop of blood on the fabric the next morning then you'll beat me again."
"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry," I choke.
"Then this became a tradition. Making me dip my hand in boiling water. Oh and do you remember that cutter game we played? Or more like you enjoyed while shook with fear."
How could I have been so cruel?
"I did not enjoy it." I don't know who I am trying to convince, myself or her.
"I endured everything Vihaan. I did it hoping that your anger would calm in a few weeks. That you'll start seeing me as a human. But things never came around to it. Despite everything, I was ready to walk away peacefully. You didn't let that happen too. You never signed the divorce papers."
"In the office, I let you push me around, hoping against all odds that we might still have a chance. But yet again, you did the unthinkable. You locked me up in a dark bathroom."
First tear slides down her cheek.
"Why did you do it Vihaan? I didn't deserve this. I never deserved any of it. Just like you, even I had dreams of meeting a man. Someone who would love me, care for me and not call me an ugly hippie."
I close my eyes and tilt my head back. I wish I could take my words back. She's the purest person I know. The only person who cared for me. The realization hit me hard in the gut.
Surbhi Khurana might have been the only person who never tried to hurt me or had an eye on my money.
"You wanted to break me Vihaan? Congratulations! You succeeded."
No. This can't be happening. She can't break. Not now, when I've finally come to terms with myself.
"Surbhi please," I start.
"I. SAID. DO. NOT. TAKE. MY. NAME. FROM. YOUR. FILTHY. MOUTH."
Gosh! I deserve that.
"Please hear me out once. I know what I did was wrong and I'm so so sorry..."
"Grandpa," she cuts me off for the nth time today.
She wipes her eyes and sober up. I, too, stand up straighter. I can't show weakness, least of all to Anmol Khurana. He walks inside and his gaze shifts from Surbhi to me and back to her.
"Throw him out, please. We're done," she says.
"No, we're not," I grit.
"Get out yourself or I'll have to call security," he threatens me.
I have meek chances of convincing her but if I don't try now, then I'll regret forever; even if it means begging in front of the man I hate the most.
"Please give me one chance. Just 5 minutes. Please," I try but she doesn't so much so as spare me a breath. She lies down and closes her eyes.
I know I've lost this battle. Unwillingly, I exit her room.
"We'll give you the money," Anmol Khurana says before he closes the door in my face.
End of APRICITY [Completed] Chapter 3. Continue reading Chapter 4 or return to APRICITY [Completed] book page.