Rooh: his replaced bride

24.

                                               R O O H

Jiya: Meet me in the auditorium

I stopped in front of the auditorium after I received a text from Jiya. The auditorium is cleaned because we had a function last evening and it's empty like usual. She is standing in the middle of the auditorium.

When I saw Jiya, she was already looking at me. Her eyes weren't sparkling like usual, they had a tint of fear in them. No doubt Jiya isn't a bitch. She is one, but this look on her face is something that I am seeing for the first time. Is that look really for me?

I turned around to check if she's actually looking at me or someone else, but yes, it's me. Trisha grips my hand, making me look at her. “Rooh, don't talk to her, she looks pissed already.” No, she is scared.

“I need to know why she called me here.”

“Okay, but I am waiting outside.” I nod before I walked towards her while Trisha left us alone. Jiya's hands are folded near her chest and her eyes are still on me. “Stop staring at me Jiya."

She didn't utter a word for 30 seconds straight, but then she finally decided to break the silence. “Do you know what the problem is with people like you, Rooh?” Her lips curled into a half smile before she spoke ahead. “That you are so much into showing people your weakness that they know what you crave" What is she talking about?

“You were never an attention seeker, yet you would always have people around you, though you never wanted them around you– you always did that even in the school.” She added. Wrong, if I would be one. I would easily have the attention of my parents.

“What do you mean?”

“You have a crazy lover, don't you?” My eyebrows got straight, and I felt as if my soul left my body and came back. How did she get to know about it? No one knows about it except Trisha. “How do you–” she cuts me off.

“Someone threatened me that they will kill me if I bad bitch about you, do you want to see someone interesting, probably what your stalker did?” She chuckled. Your stalker? Huh, she is saying as if I feel so grateful to have a freaking stalking behind me. I feel so happy that a Psycho is behind me, ready to kill me.

She slipped the sleeves of her shirt till her elbow and my eyes widened after looking at the white bandage, it had a little red on it. “Jiya-" Words didn't make their way out of my tongue as I felt like my throat dried. She covered her hand again and looked at me.

“I was once your friend, so a suggestion for you. Stay away from everyone because he–he won't leave you until he traps you inside.” She walked past me, but I stopped her.

“You saw him?” My words were more like whisper but enough for her to hear. I turned towards her, her back facing me. “No, it was dark all around when I saw him, he was wearing black. I couldn't see him but his voice–it was familiar.” Jiya is bad at recalling voices and since we hear hundreds of voices on a daily basis, it's hard to recall them.

“I am sorry-" A tear slipped down my eye. I didn't expect Jiya to forgive me, and she stood up to my expectations by walking away saying “You're pathetic.”

Jiya is like this, if you expect her to hide, then she will do exactly the opposite, like she did now. If it were someone else, they would hide and never show me their face, but it's Jiya, she is entirely different but now that he is hurting people around me, I feel like running away but again–he is my Stalker he won't let me live peacefully until and unless one of us is dead and I–don't intend to die so early not when I have started to find happiness in people around me. Around him.