Tum Hi Ho

Chapter 20

Paridhi wanted to hurry home as she knew Preeti could be coming anytime now and she also knew Nikhil would come home early. Nikhil had called her after she had sent that message telling her how happy he was that she had finally agreed to do it his way. He had said that though he had a lot of work and an international videoconference, he would try to get home early.
After the shoot got over, Paridhi started walking towards the main road to look for a taxi or autorikshaw. She had hardly taken a few steps when she heard footsteps behind her. She felt someone grip her elbow and she was suddenly pulled backward. She turned around, startled, but relaxed when it she saw it was Darshan.
Wait, it was Darshan and he was holding her arm. She tensed up again as she realized how close they were standing. Darshan must have realized the same thing at the same time because he released her instantly and stepped backwards. “I…err…where are you going?” He asked her, running his hand thought his hair and then rubbing his neck.
Paridhi had always found this habit adorable. But this wasn’t a moment to melt at his cuteness, she scolded herself mentally and maintained a serious face. “Home.” She said and turned around to get away from him. But she was stopped again by Darshan who had grabbed her arm.

“I…will..errr…drop you home. Just wait until I change.” He said and before Paridhi could protest, strode away towards the vanity. Paridhi stood there, bewildered and fuming at his behavior. This was really driving her mad. Why did he have to act like that? She was perfectly capable of going home herself, her home was just 10 mins distance away from there.
But no, Darshan had to make her wait. As she stood there fuming, she realized that she was going to have to tell Preeti about her decision to get married with Nikhil’s plan. She knew Preeti was going to be angry, but she also knew that Preeti would support her every decision as she had always done. 10 minutes later Darshan emerged out of his vanity.
Paridhi was cursing him mentally as she knew she would have reached home by this time. She walked behind Darshan as he walked towards his car and got in without a word. She placed her phone on the dashboard as she dug out an envelope from her purse and gave it to Darshan. Darshan frowned as he took it from her, wondering what she was giving him. But he took it when he realized that it was pay cheque.
He threw it in the glove compartment and started the engine. The ride was silent and short one. But the tension between them was so thick that neither could handle it. Darshan raced his car like a maniac and they reached near Paridhi’s apartment in record time despite traffic. Paridhi too jumped out of his car hurriedly, as she couldn’t take it anymore and strode off without even glancing back at Darshan.
Darshan stared at her retreating form until she disappeared, then drove off. Paridhi opened the door with her key, assuming that Nikhil would be still at work. But she was surprised to see him sitting in the living room, waiting for her. “Hii, you are home early today.” She said as she removed her shoes and placed them on the rack. She turned around to find his standing close to her. She jumped in surprise and took a step back.
“Thank you for agreeing with me darling.” Nikhil said and Paridhi suddenly got a whiff of odor that strangely felt like alcohol. Nikhil took a step towards her, invading her personal space and Paridhi noticed that he reeked of alcohol. She involuntarily took 2 steps back as she started to get a bad feeling. “Nikhil? Are you drunk?” She asked and Nikhil grinned. “Nai yaar…shadi ki khushi me dosto ne thodi si pila di.” He slurred and swayed dangerously. Paridhi was completely confused.
He had been the one to force her to keep the relationship secret and now he had went ahead and told his friends about marriage without even talking to their parents. This was really odd. She tried to sidestep Nikhil, not wanting to handle him while he was drunk, but Nikhil caught her hand.

“Ayy, where are you going? Now that you have agreed for the marriage, come give me a nice hot kiss.” He said, pulling Paridhi towards him and Paridhi screamed. “Nikhil, nooo. Stop it. You know I am uncomfortable.” She tried to wriggle out of his grip, but this made Nikhil angry and he tightened his grip around her waist. “Why? Why do you always run away from me? You don’t even allow me to touch you. Why? Don’t you love me?” He shouted at her and leaned close to her trying to kiss her.
“Nikhil no. Please don’t do this. You know what had happened 10 years ago. Please….I can’t…” Paridhi struggled and averted her face, now on the verge of breakdown. No, no, no. This can’t be happening. Not again. She applied her whole strength and pushed Nikhil away from her. Maybe he was surprised or maybe he was too drunk, he stumbled back.
As he recovered his balance, he glared at Paridhi and tried to catch her again, but Paridhi was so mad and frightened that she slapped him hard and tried to run to her bedroom. But somehow, the slap sobered Nikhil a little bit and he quickly caught her before she could reach her room and gripped her tightly.
“You bitch. How dare you slap me! Ab me tujhe dikhata hu asli mard kya hota hai.” He spat at her and dragged her to her bedroom. He threw her on the bed forcefully and before she could recover from the hard fall and get up, he had removed his T-shirt and jumped on top of her, caging her between him and the bed. Paridhi had started to cry.
Nikhil was about to tear her top when suddenly the bell rang, followed by knocking at the front door. Nikhil was shocked at that and taking advantage of this distraction, Paridhi pushed him, somehow managed to get out of the bed and reached the living room. But Nikhil was right behind her. He caught her just as she reached the living room.
Now utterly helpless, Paridhi screamed at the top of her voice. “LEAVE ME NIKHIL. HELP, KOI BACHAO MUJHE !” A moment later, she could hear Darshan’s concerned voice through the door. “Paridhi? What happened? Are you okay?” For Paridhi it was a ray of hope. Struggling against Nikhil who was desperately trying to cover her mouth, she screamed again. “DARSHAN HELP ME…PLEASE….SAVE ME!” “Parii…!” Darshan shouted from outside and began kicking the door. When kicking didn’t budge the door, he slammed his shoulder against the door 3 times and the door gave way. He burst inside, his heart hammering in his chest and sick with worry.
The scene in front of him made his blood boil with anger. Paridhi was lying on the ground with Nikhil on top of her. His one hand was covering Paridhi’s mouth and second hand had grasped both Paridhi’s hands above her head. He was trying to kiss her on the neck and Paridhi was whimpering. Half of her top had gotten torn in struggle and she was crying.
When she looked up at Darshan and met his eyes, the fear, helplessness in her eyes made Darshan want to kill Nikhil. Without missing a beat, Darshan pulled Nikhil up and punched him hard on the nose. He punched him in the gut making Nikhil double over and kicked him. After Nikhil fell down from the pain, he turned towards Paridhi, who was standing in a corner, shaking and shivering, trying to cover her body with her hands.
Darshan averted his eyes elsewhere, not wanting to make her feel bad and removed his jacket. He took a step towards Paridhi, but Paridhi who was still in shock took a couple of steps away from him, so he extended his hand and motioned her to take the jacket. Paridhi stared at him, wide eyed for a moment, then she nodded and slowly took the jacket with trembling hands.
She started to wear it and Darshan turned around. He then turned to Nikhil who had gotten up and felt a surge of anger again. That bastard had dared to touch Paridhi, his Paridhi. He suddenly pushed Nikhil up to a wall, holding his collar and banged his head against the wall.

“Asli mard wo hota hai jo aurat ki ijjat kare, wo nahi jo jabardasti kare.” He spat in Nikhil’s face then backed away, breathing hard. He turned towards Paridhi and the anger in his eyes made Paridhi flinch. Seeing her react this way, Darshan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, Paridhi could see only concern, fear and something else that she couldn’t identify.
“Are you okay?” Darshan asked her and she nodded. Darshan was so angry with the situation that he wanted to beat Nikhil up again. But he had to take care of Paridhi first. He looked at her and found her staring at Nikhil with fright, as if afraid that he was going to assault her again. No, he couldn’t leave her there with Nikhil. He stepped forward and extended his hand. “Let’s go.” He said and waited for her to take his hand.
He was afraid that she would reject him after how he had been behaving with her for days, but she looked at his eyes, as if searching something. She then nodded and slowly raised her hand and took hold of his. Darshan looked at Nikhil, trying to decide whether he should call police or not, but seeing Paridhi’s condition, he decided to first focus on her. He helped her sit in the car as she was shaking and pulled out of the parking lot. Taking her away from Nikhil and keeping her safe were the only things on his mind. After a few minutes of silence, he glanced at Paridhi to find her staring at him intently. “Tum thik to ho na?” He asked, worried and she looked away from his.
A moment later she spoke up, “Thank you. Thank you for saving me. If you hadn’t come at the right time….I don’t…I can’t even imagine what would have happened.” Paridhi sobbed. Anger flared up again in Darshan and he tightened his grip on the steering to control himself from going back and beating the shit out of Nikhil.
“It was my duty Paridhi. How could I let you get hurt? Agar tumhe kuch ho jata to me… I mean, as a human being it’s my duty to help women.” Darshan stopped himself in time from revealing his feelings and tried to keep it casual.