Touch Her And... (Completed)

Chapter: 56

"She seems totally lifeless. So unlike her. Will you please care to tell me what really happened?" Pihu asked Manik. They were standing inside Teressa's kitchen. Manik looked at her from the corner of his eyes while shoving the empty food containers into the dustbin. Pihu kept on cleaning the table.

"Few things are way too hard to believe, so I think it's better if you know only this much that Dev bhai and Triss seem to have very strong feelings for each other but somehow my brother managed to mess that up, bigtime. Now he's on the verge of loosing his 'once in a lifetime' chance and we can't really let that happen." He finished.

Pihu's jaw dropped and her eyes were close to coming out of its sockets, as if she was watching a gruesome murder unfolding right infront of her eyes.

"That's.... impossible. Mr. Nagpati could never.." She was about to complete her sentence when Manik intervened.

"I know, it was equally shocking for me. But truth is always harsh."

"And I thought you liked her." She muttered, absentmindedly.

That took him off guard. So in an attempt to act smart he left a nervous laugh and said,
"I.. I don't like her that way. I never did. It's absurd." With that he immediately turned around to leave.

"Damn, you like her." Pihu confirmed. She was a smart one. Observing Manik and drawing the conclusion was one easy task for her. And Manik knew it. He had seen her long enough to know how persuasive she could be.

He released a defeated sigh and said,

"That's not even important anymore Pihu. Their lives seem to have bigger issues to deal with. And I would appreciate if you keep this to yourself. Please." Turning around, he pleaded.

"Who said I won't? But now it's even more confusing to me because that brother of yours, sitting outside with Triss, is also ogling at her. It seems, they only needed one arrow to take the three of you down. Gross!" She said, feeling amused at her realization.

"Wow, that was helpful." Manik stated, giving her a sarcastic smile.

¤¤¤¤¤

"Here, have this, it'll help with the headache." Rik said, handing Teressa a pill.

She threw the pill inside her mouth and drank some water.

"Thank you for dropping Nilu. Did you take the food with you? I ordered for his father too. You should speak to him sometime, he is a very nice person you know." She said, suddenly feeling a little more tired.

"You find everyone nice, don't you? Don't trust people that easily Teressa. They will always take advantage of your kindness." He said following her into the bedroom.

"You might be right, but sometimes trusting people is important Rik, very important. Because when they take advantage at least once, you get the confidence of striking them out of your life forever." She smiles.

Ritwik widenedhis eyes to her reply and said,
"That's frightening. Anyhow, I think you should sleep now. I'll stay here for tonight." Ritwik said, tucking Teressa into bed.

"Obviously not Rik, you would return to the mansion. Pihu is here. Even Julian aunty will be returning tomorrow. Do not worry about me anymore. Please." She pleaded. Her head kept aching, her eyelids were getting heavy. She needed rest but she couldn't. Every time she closed her eyes the same image of Dev overpowered her subconscious.

"We'll see about that. For now, you close your eyes and try to get some sleep. Okay?" Rik asked.

She nodded.

"Before I fall asleep, where are Manik and Pihu? Take Manik with you when you leave, okay? He was tired as well." She whispered and finally closed her eyelids.

He was looking at her wounded forehead. It pained him seeing her that way. So broken, so weak. It pained him seeing her mourning over Dev. She was undoubtedly too good for both of them. The way she cared for everyone, the way she always put everyone before herself, he knew non of them could ever be worthy enough to have her. She was selfless, the stark contrast to both of them. Because he knew, the only thing they had in common was undoubtedly the overpowering selfishness. And that changed everything. He never underestimated his brother. Dev was powerful, shrewd, domineering, all in all, as evil as he was. But this time she will be his and only his.

And now that his works were done he needed to hurry. He needed to take her away before anyone else could intervene.

¤¤¤¤¤

It was 3 AM in the morning. Dev kept pacing around his room. He couldn't   eat, neither could he sleep. He needed her. The mere presence of her brought peace to his life. Whatever the outcome might be, he decided to go and see her. He had to.

So he put on his black hoodie over his dark blue polo shirt and didn't bother to change his grey track pant at all. He closed the door behind him and moved towards the stairs. He was hurrying down when his eyes fell on the very end corner where the last room of the first floor was situated. Ritwik's room. And surprisingly enough the lights were peaking out of the closed door.

He was awake.

"Finally you got some time to come back, after all." He said to himself and started heading towards Ritwik's room. He wanted answers. He needed to know why he was crossing his boundaries so deliberately.

Within no time he was standing right infront of the door, banging on it. But the man inside didn't budge.

"Be intelligent brother and open the door this once, if you don't really want to create any scene. And if you still don't want to, then I have to break it down on you." He warned menacingly.

With that said he got ready kick the hell out of that damn door when it opened and out came Arjun.

"What the hell were you doing inside Rik's room?" Dev asked.

"For research purposes." Arjun answered plainly.

"Research inside my brother's room on his absence? Sounds interesting. Now, tell me what's going on inside?" His jaw clenched as he asked turning his voice deeper and huskier.

"It's about time, you should come in." Arjun answered gesturing towards Ritwik's room.