Chapter 36
The call with Rajveer ended, but Druve's mind was nowhere near calm.
He lowered the phone and looked at Riya sleeping against him. Only a short while ago, having her there had been enough to quiet everything inside him. Now Rajveer's words refused to leave his mind.
Two years.
Two years for both halves to completely accept each other. Until then, Riya would remain in danger.
Druve looked down at her. The thought of there being even a possibility of losing her again was enough to make his chest tighten. He had only just found her. There was no way he was letting anything take her away from him again.
And the danger Rajveer spoke about wasn't his only concern. Someone had already tried to hurt Riya, and Druve still knew nothing about who was behind it or why.
His fingers moved slowly through her hair as his thoughts shifted to everything he knew about Riya. There were too many gaps. Until tonight, those gaps hadn't mattered to him. Now he wanted every one of them filled.
He knew she'd been in an accident a few months ago. Beyond that, he knew nothing about it.
That wasn't enough anymore.
Druve reached for his phone again and called Arjun.
The call was answered quickly. "Sir?"
"I need the complete details of Riya's accident."
Arjun caught the seriousness in his voice immediately. "I'll look into it."
Druve ended the call and placed the phone beside him. His eyes returned to Riya as he waited. There was no point forming conclusions before he knew what had actually happened.
When his phone finally vibrated, Druve picked it up before the second ring.
Arjun had gathered everything he could find about the accident, and Druve listened without interrupting as he went through the details. He asked questions only where he needed clarification, making Arjun go back over a few points before moving on. He wasn't looking for something suspicious simply because he wanted to find it. He wanted to know exactly what had happened first.
By the time Arjun finished, the picture was straightforward.
A road accident.
Nothing in the available information stood out. There was no obvious inconsistency, no unexplained detail and nothing that immediately gave Druve a reason to question what had been recorded. Everything Arjun had found pointed towards an ordinary road accident.
Druve remained silent after the call ended.
It could have been exactly that.
An accident.
Or someone had been careful enough to make sure it looked like one.
Druve would have been far more willing to believe the first possibility if not for what had happened while Riya was in a coma.
His gaze dropped to her.
The memory returned with uncomfortable clarity.
Someone had entered Riya's room while she lay unconscious. Druve had seen the syringe in the person's hand and reached them before they could inject her.
That hadn't been an accident.
His jaw tightened.
Even now, remembering those few seconds sent a violent chill through him. His body went rigid as his eyes remained fixed on Riya's sleeping face.
He had reached her in time.
Barely.
His arm tightened around her without thought, drawing her closer until he could feel the warmth of her body against his.
Had he been a step too late, that needle would have gone into her.
The thought alone made his body shake.
At the time, he had agreed to protect Riya only because she might have known something about Sruthi. He hadn't known that the woman lying unconscious in front of him was Sruthi herself.
He could have lost her without ever knowing.
Lost his everything while she was right there in front of him.
Druve closed his eyes briefly, his hold around her tightening again.
Riya stirred faintly against him.
His eyes opened immediately.
He loosened his hold just enough not to wake her and watched until her breathing settled again. His fingers moved gently through her hair before coming to rest against her head.
She was here.
Safe in his arms.
But the memory had made one thing impossible to ignore.
Whatever had happened on that road months ago might not have been just an accident.
There was nothing in the information Arjun found to prove otherwise, but after what had happened in Riya's room, Druve wasn't willing to dismiss the possibility.
Druve remained deep in thought, unaware that Riya's sleep had grown restless. Her brows drew together, and the fingers resting against his shirt tightened as the dream pulled her deeper.
Druve was forcefully kissing her, refusing to respond to her resistance. She didn't know what was wrong with him. She only knew that the man in front of her wasn't behaving like the Druve she knew.
Within the dream, her eyes filled with tears. One slipped down her cheek as fear finally took hold.
For the first time, she was afraid.
Even through the haze consuming him, Druve noticed.
The moment he saw the fear in her eyes, something inside him fought its way back to the surface. He stopped. His breathing was ragged, his entire body fighting against the distance he forced between them, but the tears on her face were enough.
He had made her cry.
He had made Sruthi afraid of him.
Druve stumbled back and slammed his fist into the wall. Pain shot through his hand, sharp enough to clear his head for a few precious seconds.
Sruthi flinched. "Druve!"
"Leave."
She stared at him, shaken by the sudden change.
"I'm drugged." The words came through clenched teeth. Even opening his mouth felt like an effort when every part of him was screaming to pull her close again. "I can't resist it. Just leave, Sruthi."
But Sruthi was no longer looking at herself. Her eyes had fallen to his hand.
She immediately stepped towards him and caught it. "Are you mad?"
The instant her fingers closed around his, heat tore through Druve again. His entire body tensed, and he pulled his hand away sharply.
"Don't touch me."
Sruthi looked up at him.
"Leave."
He tried to move away from her, but she reached for him again.
"Let me see your hand."
"Sruthi, leave!"
He caught her by the arms and pushed her roughly towards the door. He needed her outside the room. More than that, he needed to know he wouldn't follow her the moment she was gone.
His eyes landed on the fruit knife nearby.
Druve picked it up.
Sruthi froze when she saw him turn the blade towards his own palm.
"What are you doing?"
Pain had cleared his head once. He needed it to do it again.
Before he could bring the blade down, Sruthi rushed towards him and caught his wrist.
"Druve!"
"Let go."
"No."
"Sruthi, let go."
"Have you completely lost your mind?" She struggled to take the knife from him. "You're not cutting yourself."
Druve looked at her, his breathing growing heavier with every second she remained this close.
"Then get away from me."
Sruthi stilled.
"Please."
For the first time that night, there was no force behind his voice. Only desperation.
Sruthi slowly took the knife from his hand and placed it away.
Druve stepped back immediately.
"Go."
She didn't move.
"Sruthi."
Instead of heading towards the door, she stepped closer.
Druve shook his head. "Don't."
She stopped in front of him and looked at him for a moment before leaning forward and kissing him.
Druve froze.
His hands remained at his sides. Even with every nerve in his body reacting to her closeness, he didn't reach for her.
"Sruthi…" he managed.
She placed her index finger over his lips.
"Shh."
Then she kissed him again.
This time there was no fear behind it. No resistance. She had stopped him from hurting himself, stayed when he'd repeatedly told her to leave, and now she was the one closing the distance between them.
The last of Druve's resistance finally fell away.
What happened between them after that was their choice.
That night, they made love.
Morning light filtered softly into the room when Sruthi woke.
For a few moments, she simply lay there. Then the events of the previous night came rushing back, and she closed her eyes again as heat spread across her face.
She blushed harder when she tried to move and felt the slight ache in her body.
Sruthi glanced towards Druve.
He was still fast asleep.
She carefully slipped away without disturbing him and reached for her clothes, only to realise they weren't close enough to grab without moving around the room. Druve's clothes, however, were within reach.
After a brief hesitation, she pulled them on and headed into the bathroom.
The hot water helped relax her aching muscles, and by the time she finished bathing and changed back into her own clothes, she felt considerably better.
When she entered the room again, Druve hadn't moved.
"Druve?"
No response.
Sruthi walked towards the bed and reached out to wake him, then abruptly stopped.
Her face turned crimson.
She knew exactly what was underneath that blanket.
For several seconds she stood there, debating whether she really needed to wake him immediately. She tried calling his name again, keeping a safe distance this time.
Her phone rang before she could decide what to do.
Sruthi picked it up.
Within seconds, every trace of embarrassment disappeared from her face.
"Dev?"
Her brother had been in an accident.
He was in the hospital, and she needed to come immediately.
Shock gave way to panic almost instantly. Dev and Druve were the only family she had. The thought of something happening to either of them was enough to send her thoughts into chaos.
She hurried back to the bed.
"Druve, wake up."
She tried again, but he barely responded. Whatever had been given to him the previous night was still affecting him, keeping him in a deep sleep.
Sruthi looked anxiously at the time.
She couldn't wait.
Deciding to let Druve sleep, she booked a cab and hurried out, intending to contact him once she knew Dev was all right.
In her panic, she forgot to leave a message.
By the time she reached the hospital, her phone had died. Her entire attention was on Dev, and charging it didn't even cross her mind. Druve had been asleep when she left; she believed she could speak to him later.
She never imagined there wouldn't be a later.
She never knew that would be the last time she saw her Druve.
And she never knew that one forgotten message would leave him with a completely different understanding of that night.
Had she left it, Druve would have known she hadn't walked away in anger.
Had Druve woken before she left, they would have gone together.
But neither happened.
The universe was determined to erase its flaw.
Once Dev was out of danger, Sruthi finally allowed herself to relax. By then, an entire day had passed. She charged her dead phone and switched it on, only for Druve's message to appear among the notifications.
He had already left.
He wouldn't be reachable for the next two months and had specifically told her not to try contacting him. He would speak to her once he returned.
Sruthi stared at the message, her worry quickly turning into irritation.
He left?
After everything that had happened between them, he had simply left without even seeing her once?
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard before she deliberately locked the phone without replying.
Fine.
If he could disappear for two months without a word, she could certainly survive without replying to one message. Once he returned, she would make him beg for at least two days before she forgave him.
Who leaves their love after everything that happened without even saying goodbye? Just you wait, Druve. I'll have you begging.
A month passed.
College without Druve was painfully boring. It was only after he was gone that Sruthi realised just how much space he had quietly occupied in her everyday life. She had no other close friends. Druve had always been the person she talked to, argued with, spent her free time with and automatically looked for throughout the day. Without him, everything felt strangely empty.
One morning, while getting ready for college, Sruthi opened the cupboard and her eyes fell on her sanitary pads.
Her hand stopped.
For several seconds she simply stared at them.
Her stomach dropped.
Her period was late.
The thought that followed made her hands begin to shake. That night with Druve—they hadn't used any protection. With everything that had happened afterward, Dev's accident, the hospital and Druve suddenly leaving, she hadn't even thought about it.
Could she be pregnant?
Tears gathered in her eyes almost immediately.
If Druve had been there, she could have told him. She could have panicked, cried or said whatever was running through her head, and he would have been there to face it with her.
But he wasn't.
And the thought of telling Dev terrified her.
She was pregnant before marriage.
Sruthi quickly stopped herself.
She didn't even know that yet.
There was no point frightening herself before she had confirmed anything.
Instead of going to college, she went to a medical shop and bought a pregnancy test kit. She couldn't bring herself to take it home, so she found a public restroom and took the test there.
Waiting for the result felt much longer than it actually was.
Sruthi stood staring at the test in her trembling hand, silently hoping she had scared herself over nothing.
Then the result appeared.
Two lines.
Her eyes filled with tears.
She was pregnant.