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Chapter-29

Ishani came out from her cloak room, her hands wiping her hair damp hair. She walked through the dressing table sluggishly, her mind blocked over the conversation she had with Yvon a few days back and his predictions faultlessly accurate about Ranveer's conduct. Her mind moseyed nearby when her gaze stopped blinking looking at the file. It was his file. She trod around to the file and took it from the nightstand and sat along with it on her bed, gazing at the file which had the name Ranveer Vaghela printed, in block. She flipped the next page and she saw a number of tests written inside which once again reminded of the meeting with Yvon.

*Flashback*

"Doctor, did you call me?"

"Yes Miss. Glad that you came back, at last. The report was ready long back. I was trying to call you but you weren't picking up. But please, take a seat, first," he offered a seat to her whilst the latter sat with a disturbance.

"The entire report? What does it say?" she slurred slowly, though it was heard by him. She saw Yvon taking a green file with the hospital's emblem and it had the name 'Psychiatry Department.'

"No, not the entire report. It'd take one more meeting with him, Miss. He was too restless, actually. It's not that he didn't answer anything. But his answers should have been even clearer. He answered, but did not share the instances. But yes, it's definite."

"Confirmed? What?" her heartbeats started to thump hastier, her heart pounding to her throat as she felt a strange twinge hit her head. A bomb. A blast. A gunshot. A barrage.

He gave her the report which was a roughly drafted one, which had words thyroid, blood, bipolar. She couldn't gauge the rest of the words. Typical doctor's handwriting, she thought.

"Your fiancé is bipolar. He is suffering from the type two of bipolar disorder."

She felt something break inside her body. It was her heart.

"Oh," she whispered almost to herself after a microscopic amount of time. She coughed twice before speaking, her voice broken and choked, just like her heart.

"So these are the tests to be done?"

"Yes, Miss. Thyroid checks, a normal blood examination to check if the blood sample has higher amount of drugs and alcohol content. And yes, we have to check his Vitamin D level as it is significant in terms of depression. We have a psychiatric nurse practitioner here and she'll take care of the blood tests and all the other tests. Just one thing: You have to convince him; that is all."

"I'll take care of that. What about the medications? When will it get cured?"

"Uh, I am sorry, Miss. Medications differ from person to person based on the blood levels and the thyroid levels. But the saddest part here is that, bipolar disorder cannot be fully cured.

She would swear that she would really die a thousand deaths before she saves him.

"Wha-Why- I- mean- there- must- be- some-"

"Let's see, Miss. I said I'll try my best. I have seen cases which are positive. So trust me."

"Okay, I'll have to go now," she got up in a haste and left the room in panic, her heart impounded to her throat to her mouth, finding it difficult to throw up.

*Flashback Ends*

Tears welled up her eyes looking at the tests reports and the impressions of the meetings and Ranveer's absurd ruckus in the hospital. The next two days of her life after the impended meeting with Yvon changed drastically with Ranveer's hormones and moods back to its peak, her life with him was erratic and eccentric. She had been beat by him thrice since one week. Eyes no more have the twinkle. Lips no more have the smile. Face no more has the charm. Body no more has the feel of touch. Heart no more has the glee or emotions. Yet, it did have one. Pain. Agony. Woe. Misery. Torment. Torture. All the words meant the same but each day passed differently, on altered ranges.

All because of those two questions which she asked, time after time.

"Ranveer, did you call your mom?"

"Ranveer, are you coming for the test? You said you will."

Why did she have to do that? Life would have been better if she hadn't asked the two, time and again. Nysa was coming today and his mood is at its crowning. He came back home drunk yesterday; shoved her to the dining table. The goblet vase is no more bonded; it had broken yesterday, the broken shards pierced into her skin. She saw blood everywhere along with his devilish sneer.

The day lingered fresh in her mind and eyes, even now albeit it was just a week ago. She had pestered him to come and check with the tests which the doctor had prescribed by giving a lame, stupid reason. He never agreed upon for the reason that he was already pissed at her. Dragging him to the hospital was the only option left. And after all the dragging and pain taken by her to get him to the hospital for the tests the only thing she had got in reward was ruthless words. The ruckus he had created in the hospitable cannot be gaged.

But she still chooses to remain calm, even now. Forbearance. Closing the files in haste, she got up from the bed and arranged the files back to its place, looking at her reflection at the mirror, attached with her dressing table. Her fingers now trailed over her temple region, the corner of the same being iron-purple in hue. It was the bruise. She hard-pressed it slowly, yet harsh, trying to take in the pain it always gave. She closed her already swollen eyes, trying to cry, cry harder and harder. More and even more. But the tears never came. Not even a single drop of the salt water. Who knows? Tears are exhausted, too. She felt like she was drowning inside the Salt Sea. Not the natural one. The sea of salty, irrevocable, tears. She opened her dressing table, taking out her rough draft for the first four chapters she had prepared in the past eight days.

"Why shouldn't I come to the resort?"

"Because you should finish the book as soon as possible."

"Why are you not even allowing me to come out of the house?"

No answer.

Half-baked conversations like these have become common now. She had asked the same question for more than twenty times and she still did not have her answer.

Her hands traced over the book once again, leaving a fainted smile. He was controlling her, she finally realized as her lips curved to a collapsed half smile, again.

She now shut the book and kept it back inside, closing the dressing table's shelf. She looked at her reflection again. Her eyes were dull, swollen. Her temple was bruised. Her face lost the colour. Eyes lost the twinkle. Her elbow was bruised. Her left lower arm had the dressing. Her lips did not curve. Her body was warm, warmer than usual and she wasn't suffering from the fever. Nightmares slowed down and still did not make a re-emergence, luckily.

Days became harder.

She now went to her cupboard and took her long, kalamkari printed skirt which had red, black and a few other varied hues along with the flowers. They did not give a fragrance, though. She took her black kurti, a full handed one which travelled upto her thighs. Closing the cupboard after taking her corsets also out, she let her bathrobe flow to the floor as she stood bare, just like how her all her emotions stood naked. Her eyes ran over her carnal spots and her bosom as she closed her eyes once again, the actions of Ranveer disrupting her. After the drunken episode and shoving her aside, he hauled her towards one of the other rooms in the mansion and thrust her back to the bed. He fell over her and started to nuzzle her slowly, the alcohol from his frame and face making her feel nauseated. It was just yesterday she realized how can one's moods travel to any range and destroy the inner self of one.

The way he swayed her carnal spots and her bosom made her shriek harsher. And all she did was to push him aside and bark at him, her eyes rubicund and the blood trickling down from her hand uselessly.

"Moron."

That's what she mumbled and left the room in a rage.

Hours might have been passed down but the filthy memories cannot be etched back. Filth.

She wore her dresses slowly, trying to forget the incidents but filth does not go away easily. She knew Ranveer would be leaving for the resort again and come back drunk again. But she wished to remind him of the day at least once before he left.

She quietly entered the dining area, sitting on the dining chair, opposite to Ranveer who was chomping his food in halves, not chewing properly. She chose to keep quiet until he opens up. Ranveer on the other hand, gawked at Ishani with his mouthful and added a few gulps of juice into his mouth, grinding the food along in haste, trying to distract from the surroundings. An untold amount of time passed and Ranveer was still eating. 12 slices of bread spread with mayonnaise and eight glasses of juice, she had counted. The entire table was clumsy, mayonnaise poured into, bread crumbs speckled everywhere and the juice bottle half opened, half of the juice spilled over. She knew; she had to clean them. After all, she was doing it all these days. The doctor had told her.

"The food habits of the patient will change erratically."

"Nysa is coming over to our place." She spoke after sometime, as she saw Ranveer noticing her.

"So?" he spoke with his mouthful, the bread crumbs tumbling down to the table.

"Nah. Just. Just to remind you. Come home soon and please don't get drunk."

"I'll try." Wow, that was an improvement, according to her.

"She will be deciding the wedding date. So it'd be better if you are present here."

"I have work at the resort. There are lots to do."

"Oh. Why are you coming late these days?" Ishani tried to continue the conversation as she thought that this was the right time initiate it. He was answering back.

"I said I have work. Didn't you hear?"

"Like, what work?"

"There's renovation work going on in the resort," he blurted out as she gave him a 'not-so-shocked' expression. She knew that, anyway. He was lying all these days, after all. Real eyes realize real lies. Though they were red, engorged, they were real.

"Oh. Okay, carry on. But try to be before six, okay? Nysa wanted to meet you badly before the marriage."

"I'll try."

Ranveer left the dining table and washed his hands. Ishani saw his figure receding away from her eyes as he left the main door, without wishing her a goodbye. It wasn't different for the past eight days, too. So she did not take it badly.

The next forty minutes was spent uselessly in the cleaning and washing, clearing up the dishes and the table, bringing it back to its original shimmer. Spick and Span. Tired of doing the same old things again and again after every single meal, she felt laborious. And with no one in the mansion, she felt lonelier though she chose to groove herself to the book, trying to avoid all the distractions. Getting back to her room she opened her laptop, scrutinizing the home screen of the same. It was a collage of all the pictures taken by both of them. She gazed at the first picture which had both of their rings showing off its twinkle in the flash, the bands entwined with each other. Smiling at it absentmindedly she looked the next picture which had Ranveer throwing up his arm to her neck, his eyes gazing at her lips whilst she looking at him, the enlaced passion rubbing in the picture, the love pounding from nowhere. She smiled once again looking to the last picture with her kissing the bridge of his nose and him holding her by her waist tightly, the grip stronger than anything in this world. She reminisced the incident once again. They had taken the pictures on the day they returned back to the valley inside the photo booth of the airport. Caressing the pictures she kissed it once again before starting to write the first chapter of Falling Seeds.

She finally took her hands off the keyboard of the laptop, her head rising to the clock after a gap of four hundred and fifty minutes, the pendulum making the slow sound. It was 5.30 in the evening. She placed the laptop beside, putting it off to sleep as she felt herself rest on the bed, her hands and legs stretching in reflex. God, she was so engrossed into writing that she didn't even hear her stomach's growls. Clenching it hardly, she closed her eyes in hunger when she just grasped that she was yet to have her day's breakfast.

"I better go and have some food. I have to start to the airport, too." Ishani got up and trod to the kitchenette, employing the stove into fire. She made the easiest dish possible. South-western Omelettes. She had just learnt the recipe from one of the recipe books and felt it appetizing too. Quickly taking the eggs, onions, herbs and canned beans from the refrigerator, she made a combination of all the vegetables and the eggs, making it stir with a whisk. After a fair amount of time, she decided to pour the ingredients into the now medium heated stove and made the omelettes quickly the steamy aroma of it disturbing her nose which made her only hungrier.

Having it quickly with her hand and checking on the phone with her free hand, she called for Ranveer hoping that he would pick up her call, at least today.

"Hello," she heard his voice after an uncountable number of rings.

"I am going to the airport to pick up Nysa. Are you coming?"

"No." Ishani heard his answer which bland just like the food she was eating.

"Okay, so how should I go then? You have put me on house arrest," she replied slyly, her voice stiff and hoarse.

"Get the other car and now stop disturbing me. I'll come back by seven. Bye." He cut the call abruptly as Ishani took the phone from her ear, looking at the phone screen in melancholy. In these eight days, never did he ever talk with her for more than two minutes and she felt something hollow inside her. Getting up, she cleared the dishes as soon as possible and went inside the room to dress her wound before leaving to the airport.

She reached the airport by the next seventy five minutes as she saw innumerable people standing with the boards and slates, the screen of the arrivals and departures beaming continuously in the flash as she heard the announcements declared by the various spokespersons, mostly in French. She waited silently in the lounge, thinking of how to feign happiness and hide the wound in front of her. Will she ever be able to do that?

Looking at the clock to and fro, she realized that it was already seven and the flight would have arrived. Looking at the other side of the terminal, she waited for the passengers to enter till she saw Nysa from a distance. Waving her hands swiftly, a faded smile on her façade, she greeted Nysa from a distance, the imminent days reflecting before her eyes.

"Nysa!" she hugged her tightly, greeting her with the warmest of all the wishes she could use.

"How are you?" Nysa broke from the hug asking her the same before her eyes went scandalized. She gawked at the latter with a stern expression before she asked, "How did this happen?"

"I just… fell from the bathroom… floor. Slipped, that is it," she lied, stuttering very badly as Nysa gave her a resigned look, thinking of how bad was her daughter in lying.

"Okay," she decided to skip the topic and asked, "Where's Ranveer?"

"He is in the resort. He'll be back, soon." Ishani gave her a reassuring smile but Nysa found it hardly soothing. But she chose not to complain and looked at her engagement ring which Ranveer had given. Her lips now curved for a contented smile before she asked, "Yours?"

"Yes," she gave her a sheepish smile, gazing at the ring as if the time had stopped for her. She felt a soothing effect in her heart whenever she saw the ring. But before Nysa could continue with any other question, she whined, "Shall we leave?"

"Yes, after taking the baggage. And we'll select a date for the wedding, tomorrow." Nysa planted a soft, warm kiss on her daughter's cheek, the tenderness of a mother's love giving a comforting effect on her after all the fiasco.

"Is Ranveer still coming back home? It's nine in the night and she should have been here, right?" Nysa asked helping her daughter clear the dishes after their simple dinner. Ishani though heard it acted as if she did not and continued to do the dishes without paying any heed to the former.

"Ishani, I was asking you something!" she raised her voice slightly, her eyes moving in the same direction where Ishani was walking. After a minuscule amount of time, Ishani stopped halfway and looked at Nysa mumbling, "He'll be here."

"But how can he just leave you alone? You were supposed to be working in his resort, right? And what about the butler you were saying about? Where is he?"

"He is coming back tomorrow, Nysa. He has gone to meet his mother," she said thinking about the last conversation she had with Abel, a day back.

"And what about your job at the resort?" she asked whilst Ishani was still thinking about the conversation she had had with Abel, the other day before Nysa shook her hard, asking the same question, again.

"Huh? Well, that's actually," she dragged, gaging ways of how to answer back to the question when she heard the horn sound of Ranveer's car screeching into the Boulevard.

"Ranveer's back," she let go off Nysa and ran to the entrance, waiting for him to come out from his car. As he opened the door, she closed her eyes in prayer praying that he shouldn't have got himself drunk. It was her mother standing inside, at the centre of the hall and not any random person.

She saw him walking steadily, after a gap of four long days. Her features quickly rose up, her lips curving for the brightest of smiles. Quickly treading towards the now tired frame of Ranveer, she gently caught hold of his hands, making sure that her touch was warm and gentle.

"You're back!" her voice choked out from her throat as he let go off her hand form his grasp resentfully, his eyes glancing at her with a grimace.

"Is she there inside?"

"Yes, waiting for you all while. Come in," she tried to catch his grasp again but he shoved her away, stomping inside the hall with a grumpy mien. She followed him back quickly, squeaking to Nysa, "Nysa, this is Ranveer!"

Both of them, Ranveer and Nysa gave Ishani a strange guise before Nysa let her hand towards Ranveer, a confident smile put up over her façade.

"Nysa, Ishani's mother." Ranveer shook his hand with her whilst he gave a smile, faking the charm and smile as Ishani took over the conversation. From the very appearance of his, Nysa hated him. Not hate. But didn't like him.

"Ranveer? Why don't you have your dinner? Both of you can talk with each other, right? Take a seat, let me serve you," Ishani said, moving to the kitchenette for heating the food before Ranveer snapped, "No, no. I am not hungry," he declared and took leave of both of them, resigning to his room.

"Ranveer, we are selecting the date for the wedding tomorrow, if you could wait for some time before leaving for the resort."

"Er, well…I'll see, Nysa. Let me see. If not, you guys can do it for yourself, that's not a big deal," he turned before saying a good night whilst Nysa gave a resigned, disappointed mien, throwing her hands up in the air which didn't go unnoticed by Ishani.

"Nysa, why don't you take some rest? I'll have a look at Ranveer and come back." Nysa gave a stern look, her eyebrows puckered before she got inside Ishani's room, a disappointment seen in her face. Ishani, on the other hand ran through the stairs to check on Ranveer who was sitting on the couch, simply.

"Ranveer," he touched his upper arm and asked; "Could you please have at least some juice before you go for bed? I know, you wouldn't have had anything for dinner."

He shoved her off aside, her frame barging to the floor as he warned; his bloodshot eyes reflected from Ishani's ogles, "Just, get out from this fucking place. Just, just get out. Understand?" he shouted at the top of his voice which made Ishani whimper, the tears coming back to its original force. Salty tears, puffed up eyes. She wiped her tears from the sleeve of her shirt and left the room before mumbling, "Good night."

"And may you have bad night, better than yesterday's." Ishani heard Ranveer shout this to her which made her feel bitten. She wiped her tears in such a way that there was no trace of her crying and went to her room when she saw Nysa taking the right corner of the bed, her favourite place.

Switching off the lights, glad that her mother was asleep, she took the left side when she heard her muffled voice come out, "Switch on the lights, I want to clear a few things before this wedding happens."

"Nysa?"

What did she have to clear? Is this the full stop for their relationship? Bond? Is the tie breaking? Is she going to break ties with him?

Done! Constructive Criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for typos :D :D