“Please,” Priya choked as she thrashed more in Priyank’s arms, tears spilling from her eyes.
Priyank took her close to his car, and his driver opened the door for them. He sat inside, placing Priya in his lap.
“Let’s go home,” he ordered, and pushed the button to part the partition between the driver and him because Priya was crying so hard. He didn’t want anyone to hear her beautiful crying voice and see her beautiful tears.
Vroom! Vroom!
The driver turned on the engine and drove off from the place.
Priyank looked at Priya, who was just crying now, doing nothing, all shocked, her nose having little red dots, her cheeks all red too, with her choking in her breath.
He sighed. “Don’t cry anymore, Angel. You’re going to get your asthma attack. Please try to breathe in and out.”
He rubbed her back as he softly wiped her tears with the back of his other hand.
Priya looked at him, her eyes all red, her heart feeling like it got clogged.
Mary’s words roamed inside her head, thinking that now Mary just doesn’t need her and how she pushed her and sent her with this monster.
Is she not her mother?
That’s what Priya is for her?
How easily she sends her off, like she doesn’t know how Priyank hurt her.
And here he is trying so hard to pretend that he cares.
She prefers getting choked, clogged, and dying through her asthma rather than him showing sympathy.
He is the one who snatched her happiness, her Mother Mary.
In her whole 18 years of life, she felt orphaned for the first time. People always call her this, but she today got to know the real meaning of it.
An orphan, without any family, just how she got disposed of like trash.
“Breathe in and out, Priya,” Priyank ordered loudly this time, noticing her lifeless gaze and worsening breath.
He opened the car window and shifted closer to it, allowing her to gulp down more oxygen.
He knew this was affecting her, but for him to acquire her, she needed to endure this pain.
Nothing comes without pain.
She would soon realise that not everyone is innocent; for selfish reasons, anyone can sell anyone off, just like her, so-called Mother Mary did.
Though he hadn’t expected Mary to play the villain, he’s glad she did.
Priya would eventually overcome this pain, and he would ensure it. However, afterward, she wouldn’t dare mention going back. For now, he needed to handle her.
It would take time, but she would heal. She had to because their new life would start today.
“Why?!” Priya cried loudly, her voice choked. She wanted to understand the kind of hatred he harboured for her, to do something like this.
He could have asked for her heart, and she would have gladly ripped it out.
But he had taken her memories, her everything, her loved ones, her one and only family.
This is the love he was talking about before? So easily his life can hurt the other person he claims to love? she wondered, her thoughts laced with bitterness.
‘Mother Mary doesn’t love you either,’ the voice in her head remarked, echoing her own doubts and fears.
She clenched her fist, digging her nails into her palm, a silent expression of her inner turmoil.
Priyank’s expression softened slightly as he listened to Priya’s anguished cry.
Gently, he took her trembling hand in his, offering what little comfort he could muster. “I did what I had to do, Priya,” he began, his voice tinged with regret. “I know it’s hard to understand now, but trust me, in time, you’ll see things differently.”
Priya pulled her hand away, her eyes ablaze with fury and confusion. “How could you?” she whispered hoarsely, her voice cracking with emotion. “You’ve torn my world apart, shattered everything I held dear.”
Priyank’s heart ached at her words, knowing the pain he had caused her. He had underestimated the depth of her attachment to the family she believed she had lost. Yet, he remained steadfast in his conviction that this was for the best, for both of them.
“We’ll make a new life together, Priya,” he said gently, his voice tinged with hope. “I’ll be there for you every step of the way, I promise.”
But even as he spoke the words, a nagging doubt lingered in the back of his mind. Would she ever forgive him for what he had done? And more importantly, could he ever forgive himself?
“I don’t want you in my life. How many times do I need to tell you this? I don’t want to start a new life, I don’t want to take any steps,” Priya screamed angrily, despite her throat aching and her heart racing.
Priyank closed his eyes, not because her shouting bothered him, not because of the pain in her voice.
But because he knew he had to control, and he couldn’t afford to let his anger take over in this worst situation.
Yet, his anger issue persisted. He didn’t want to get over it at all. She had already spoken so poorly about him in front of Mary, calling him names and claiming he had hurt her.
He had hurt her, no denying it. But why couldn’t she understand that if she didn’t provoke him, he wouldn’t even raise a finger to her in anger? He would treat her like a princess.
But no!
She had pushed past his limits and was behaving as if he were the one senselessly hurting her.
“Please… just don’t do this to me. She’s my only family, my one and only person,” Priya begged, gripping his shirt tightly as she struggled to breathe, her whole body wracked with pain.
Priyank opened his eyes as she touched him. “I said breathe, don’t cry. Focus on that only. Leave other things.”
He pushed aside his anger and her words. With her slightest touch, his anger dissipated, replaced by concern for her well-being.
Priya huffed as she inhaled rapidly and loudly, coughing a bit. “You have your own mother. Think how you would feel if someone snatched her from you.”
“My mother would never sacrifice me for others. Your so-called Mother Mary had her priorities, and that’s why she tossed you around, something my mother wouldn’t do.”