Chapter 52 - Life without Eshan (2) (1/2)

|Innaya|

By the time I managed to gain control over my emotions and get dressed the night had only turned darker. The rain finally stopped, leaving behind the imprints in its wake. I wanted nothing but to curl under the sheets so that I could avoid meeting Arjun's gaze. However, I knew I couldn't be a coward.

Sighing to myself, I clutched the tie that I'd wrapped around my wrist. Adjusting the full sleeve, I hid the tie within it. Somehow, having tied his tie around my wrist where my pulse was beating made me feel closer to Eshan.

Arjun seemed to know everything better. He just came once when I was in the washroom, calling me for dinner. It wasn't his duty to look after me, at least not what after I did to his best friend. I failed to understand why was sticking around me, taking care of me when it should be exactly the opposite. He should hate me, curse me, accuse me but he did no such thing.

If he had at least expressed his anger, it wouldn't have hurt much. Right now his eyes filled with disappointment were far more hurting.

I closed the bedroom door behind me as I unwillingly made my way towards the stairway leading to the ground floor. Arjun must be waiting either in the living room or dining room for me. I had made him wait for longer than two hours since he pulled my drenched figure from the rain and pushed into the washroom.

*

”Arjun, where's Eshan?” I heard Ayush's voice and it was lacking its usual maturity. Instead, I felt the anger and worry in it.

My heart skipped the beat. They all must be aware of Eshan's disappearance. Last week I had visualized several possibilities of people confronting me but none of them circled having all of his friends at the same time.

”I don't know.” Arjun's calm voice sounded from the living room.

I had two options. The first one was easy. For it, I just had to turn around and bolt for my room, locking myself inside till they left on their own. The second option was the most difficult one for that I would have to keep my fears at bay and face their anger.

Despite knowing that the confrontation wouldn't be nice, to begin with, I slowly climbed down the stairs. With each step the voices from them were getting clear, so did their faces. My heart began to hammer loudly in my chest. I wiped my clammy palms against my pajama bottoms.

For the first time, I saw what it meant to have brothers at each other's throat.

”What the hell you mean by that?” Barun almost leaped out of the chair he was seating on.

I could easily feel the tension in the room. Each of them was on their last thread of patience. A sudden tremor of cold went through my body and I shuddered involuntarily.

Maybe, it had something to do with standing for too long in the rain. I rubbed my arms, hoping to warm my suddenly cold body.