Sigh, sooner this time, I guess. Hope this doesn't bore you guys!

Happy Reading! :D :D

Chapter-30

"Nysa?"

Ishani saw her mother get up slowly from the bed, her hand holding the night table as the support. Before she could say anything, Ishani switched on the lights quickly, looking at her mother's black orbs, trying to figure out of what she was thinking. She knew, she was bad at mind reading.

"I need to clear things before this wedding happens."

"What?"

"Promise me that you'll mutter only the truth. If you don't have the courage to accept the reality, I am opting out and you have to resign yourself from the wedding. Understand? And yes, I mean it," she stared at her with a long face which made Ishani gasp slowly, though there was hardly any voice heard from her vocal chords.

"O-I m-mean, I'll try."

"So first things first. What about your bruises and the dressing? I know, you did not slip from the bathroom because there is no sign of that. So, truth, please."

"W-Th- actually, no, but- That's," she stuttered as her head drooped down. Seeing to which, Nysa held her finger to the chin and raised saying, "I'll not say anything. Trust me."

"Ranveer beat me and shoved me aside. That's why," Nysa heard the sniffs coming out from her daughter's nose, the swollen eyes starting to swell again. Surprisingly, the tears were flowing at a fast pace now.

"Why? What are you hiding from me? You said Ranveer was a good chap. After all the details which you gave me a few months back, I thought you made the best choice for the groom. But, things are different here, sweetheart. He hardly looked at my gaze! Did not answer a single question properly. Do you really know that he is the guy for you? Is he really in love with you?"

"Yes! He does love me, Nysa! Trust me! He does! We love each other, a lot that you can never imagine!"

"But that doesn't seem so, darling! Why is he then behaving hostile?" Nysa shook Ishani's hand slightly, which made the latter shiver. She knew she had to blurt it now; there was no escape for her.

"It's because of some…some other reason, Nysa," she replied with a hollow voice which made Nysa to get up from the bed. She rose nimbly and walked up to the desk, taking out the green file. Ishani's gaze followed Nysa's footsteps which made her only gasp in shock. That's why they are called mothers, she thought.

"Okay. So let's say that I have come to know about Ranveer being a guy with bipolar disorder. What's your answer now?" Ishani's mouth went agape, her mind travelling swiftly like the Sleb Stream in the valley. So smooth and so loose. The stream had the crescent moon's silvery shades reflecting on its surface whilst Ishani had them in her eyes. Silvery tears. Her eyes usually have the twinkle when she was crying. But today, was different. The eyes lost them. Lost in the abyss.

"Ishani?" Nysa shook her hard which made her come out from her train of thoughts, slowly realizing that Nysa was already back, sitting on the bed. How did she…she even find about that? The file was silently sleeping inside her cupboard, she thought.

"How-I mean where did you get it?" her voice remained hoarse, no change in the tone. But her tears and whimpered sniffs never stopped. It was only overflowing with the seconds, the air growing intense.

"You had left it in your bed? I took it to see this. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did not know about it back then," she lied only to click her tongue in disapproval, her heart trying to overcome the guilt. She never lied to her. Never. And it's being different for the past two months since she had come to France.

"C'mon darling, too much of lies, already. I warned you, I'll make you opt out from the wedding, do you get it? I am not threatening you, mind that, too." Nysa whispered. She knew how to tackle her.

"No, no. I knew about his mental health, pretty well. Four weeks back."

"And you did not dare to call me? Not even once?" her voice rose from the chasm, which made Ishani quiver in fear. She gave in, blurting out everything. Everything she knew about Ranveer. She constantly hiccoughed, her lips quivering in succession, the bleeding heart wringing in the plight of his and worrying for the after effects. The constant rigging of his demons and suicidal attempts, strange mood swings, erratic food habits, wicked smiles, hearty and snickering conversations, neighing banters, wrecked days of cruel outbursts, shouting at the stars for no reason, bickering along with her for teensy issues, alcohol addiction, sleep rundown, frustrated life. She blurted everything, crying her heart out before pushing herself to Nysa; grasping her for the tightest of embraces she had ever hugged her. Nysa let her hug her comfortably, the tender hands rubbing circles softly over Ishani's back. The spittle came out from her orifice in a sudden flow, the slime from her nose undulating to her lips whilst she whined in pain, the sniffs mounting solider, than expected. Seconds later, Ishani started to heave for breathe, struggling to inhale a molecule of oxygen. Breathing was the roughest chore for her now. She abruptly broke from the hug, wiping the mucus and tears with her sleeve, trying to unclog the block that her nose had made. Her breathes squirmed and creased as she flung heavier, her lungs expanding more than usual. After minutes of doing the same, she found herself in the most unceasing situation: breathlessness.

"Ishani!" Nysa wore a scandalized expression on her mien, her grasp over Ishani shoulder getting stiffer before the former's head drooped down, the breathes almost ceased, sniffs close to mute.

"Nysa," she said, a fainted voice coming out from her chords, "I-I can't- die. I-I can't-can't breat…air…" she said in broken words as she comprehended the statement.

"Ish-Ishani…no. Darl, wait! Wait! I'll be back, Nysa will be back, okay? Don't stop breathing. I'll be here, okay? Okay? Strong girl, c'mon!" she quickly made her lay on the bed and ran to see her wheezing kit, searching for it like a maniac.

Ranveer's frame turned towards both the sides of the bed, trying to sleep and he knew, sleep will never claim him nor he wants to. He finds sleep too boring and mundane. Throwing the blanket of his aside, he got up from the bed and sat cross legged sloping, his head resting under a cushion. His eyes drooped, whilst his hands were tightly sealed, close to his chest when he heard sounds of flowing water and sniffs from a distance, not so far. His eyes opened in an instant, trying to gauge the sound which was relentlessly heard from his bathroom. His eyes sauntered around the room in a rapidity trying to avoid the noise of the dripping water droplets and the sobs. Closing his ears in tension and irascibility, he got up from the bed irritably and moved aside to the wash to check on the noises. To his shock he saw her, again. The last time she made an appearance was sometime around Ishani's birthday. And why on Earth did she reappear?

"You?" he called at the being who was now taking its form. A frame just with water, only water. She was arising from the shower, after all.

"Yes, me," came a muffled reply before he stormed into the bathtub clenching the apparent shoulders of hers before barging back to his ire, "Why did you come back again? You said you won't make an appearance after I confess my love, right? Why did you come back?"

"To set things right."

"They are already going good, you!" he muttered, his eyes closed in frustration, "Listen, I am going through a tough phase now, please don't make it difficult for me."

"Your demons?" he heard her laugh sardonically, "your demons came back, again?" Ranveer stood still, like a corpse after listening to her before he stuttered, "How-how did you know?"

"Ranveer, I am dying from inside and outside. I just came here for one last time."

"You said the same last time, too."

"This time, I mean it, only on a condition."

"What?"

"Only if stop playing creepy games, Ranveer. Only if you stop that. Don't you ask your inner self? You are no more the real you! Someone's invaded the real you."

"Okay," his reply was bland, trying to figure what that meant. Her statements are hazy, as always.

"Ask yourself, Ranveer. I am dying. Hope you get that. I am dying. I am dying because of you! Won't you save me? Speak up!" he looked at her aquatic ogles which were water in colour realizing that his eyes were ablaze, like the fire. Fire and Water. Water can only save the fire. Fire can only show its blaze from the earth. But only water has the ability to subside the fire. His were fire and hers were water.

"What?" he spoke after an indefinite amount of time, his voice cracked.

"Think from your heart, Ranveer. You did not use it for the past few weeks. Think, think. You'll find a way," he saw her ripping off to shreds again as he shouted her name from his innermost voice, the breathe cracked and creased.

I am dying, Ranveer.

Think, think!

Think from your heart, at least this time.

Words rung in rapidity as he found the entire surroundings swirling to the sounds of water which were still flowing from the tap to the bathtub. Did she even come? Or was it just another phantasm?

No, no. She was here. He has to go now. He can't let her die. She was his, she was his.

His feet directly found its way to Ishani's room, after he felt the air growing sultrier and dry, hot waves kissing the walls and his frame. He barged into the room shouting her name in haste, the vocal cord impending from his throat to the superficial cavity of his mouth. He realized that his heart was thumping blood to its highest momentum when Nysa's voice cracked from the other end of the room.

"You? What happened to you now?" her mien was visibly scandalized; at least that was his observation of her.

"What are you searching for? And what's-what's wrong with candy?" Nysa's eyes widened after hearing the reference made by him for her. Candy. That's what he called her.

"Breathlessness. She is in short of breathe, Ranveer. And I-I am searching for Albuterol," Nysa gave a stupefied gaze to him. She saw him angry and crazy a few minutes back. What was wrong now? Why was he so anxious and panicky?

"Can you please…" he gawked at the entrance of the door, signalling Nysa to make a way out of the room when she remarked, "Ranv- try to understand. Just look at her, chap. She is suffering to breathe, God damn it!"

"Nysa, please. I know what to do. Please wait outside the room for some time, I promise, she'll be fine." Ranveer said in finality the minute she walked outside the room, puzzled of what was he upto. Ranveer noticed her eyes and posture of walking. They were irritated. She was irked and he did not care. He locked the room within seconds of her departure from the room, as he now opened the bed side drawer, taking the menthol oils from it. Quickly keeping it beside, he took a position close to Ishani's who was now panting and gasping for air. He noticed that she was visibly weak and numb. He held her upper arms gently, his eyes closing in reflex as he heard her mutter, her breathe uneven and after lengthy intervals.

"Ran…veer, air, air," she continued speaking incomprehensive words, her tongue rolling and her eyes wandering around the place in panic before he silenced her by keeping his finger over lips.

"Shh. Close your eyes, I am here, okay? C'mon, be a good girl," he whispered to her slowly, taking the menthol oils from the bed, lubricating his hands with them. Making sure that her eyes were now closed, his hands now made a soft, tender contact with Ishani's chest region, the oil applied all over her torso and the regions surrounding her bosom. His hands travelled gradually to the sternal line, making sure that the effect of the oil is functioning properly on her frame, providing her with the best of massage. Her pants and gasps with the sweat droplets frozen over her body like the icicles of a wet leaf; he was trying to arrest her with the attention. After an indefinite amount of time, Ranveer's hands separated from Ishani's unexposed parts, his back finding its way on the fluffy cot, clogging close to her frame. Laying his hands over Ishani's waist, he noticed her features now calmer; quieter than he saw her, a few moments back.

"Ishani," he whispered after an infinitesimal amount of time, his voice choking as though there was a fire broken out inside the room. Yes, there was a fire that had broken out in the room and it was from his ogles. He gawked at the still Ishani who was breathing peacefully after a gap of six long minutes, he continued, "Why did you have to do so much? Speak up!" he shook her hand slowly to see if she was responding to his call.

He waited for the rest of the time until the crescent gave a shimmering light to her face. It was past one in the night, he had figured it out. It's been one hour since the incident and there has not been a single; not even a single response or a blink from her side. Maybe she was sleeping, maybe she was not.

Minutes later, he heard the sounds of someone slamming at the door when he realized that he had sent Nysa out of the room for giving a soothing treatment for her. Taking his hands away from her waist, he got up quickly from the bed, opening the door to see an irked Nysa.

"Didn't you hear me crashing at the door?"

"I am sorry Nysa, actually…"

"It's-it's okay," Nysa chose to retreat from the verbal fight before her eyes saw Ishani's sleeping posture, not the lopsided one, surprisingly.

"Hey, what happened to her? Is she-she okay?" her voice suddenly changed before Ranveer snapped, "She'll be fine tomorrow. It's just another day of her breathlessness."

"What? Did she have them earlier, too?"

"Yeah," he said in a muffled voice, "Last week. She was crying and crying and suddenly the breathlessness. So I just applied the menthol oils over her frame," Ranveer said, his face being caught off guard by Nysa. She shook her head in reflex and embarrassment and shrugged her shoulders, mumbling, "Okay, get a good sleep for yourself, chap."

"Y-Yes, sure. Good night! I'll try to be there for tomorrow's event. I've got a meeting with the investors and the engineers. So," he dragged. Nysa getting the situation managed, "We'll discuss about it later, boy. Get back to bed. I'll take care of her."

Nysa got back to the room and locked with the latch tightly, or that was what he assumed after the sound that was heard from the door. He quickly settled to the couch that was near the dining area, taking a place opposite to the home theatre system. He sat cross legged for sometime, thinking about the past few hours of his day, or rather night. He changed positions continuously, finally settling down with his knees buckled up with his chest, his chin unswervingly above his knees, for support. He realized that his hands were rubbing circles along his femur bone, thinking about something which even he couldn't fathom.

She had come to meet him again with a strange entry, emerging from the flowing water and taking the shape of a female with the same water. Perfect cuts and curves. Yet, her face was still hazy, albeit he figured it out long back that it was her. Why did she come back again? Why did she say that he was the reason for her death? Why did she have to reprimand him for being so heartless? Why were her earnest eyes, the aqua ogles misty? Why was she insisting on the same line think, think?

So may questions and no answer. He felt his heart sync with his emotions and the surroundings before he decided to think over something.

The newfound fear.

Why was he feeling so low today? Was it because of Ishani's health or his own disgusting deeds? Why didn't she question him, not even a single time? Why didn't he ask her if she had food? Why didn't he call her for the past one week? Why was he so self-occupied and enclosed in his own cage of dread and stress? Why didn't he share anything with her? Questions rung up into his mind just like a Cheetah running, trying to hunt for its food in the deserted land, taking the life out of it.

What was wrong with him?

He sat back cross legged now, the legs now tightly entwined along with each other whilst his hands travelled around his now grown hair, thick dense auburn hair. It's been weeks since he had his last haircut. He got up in aversion and walked upto one of the mirrors inside his study, taking a glance of his tattered, worn out face. He realized that he had put on weight, real weight. His hands sluggishly made contact with his outgrown stubble and cheeks, which were now visibly chubby. Chubbier than he had last seen himself in the mirror. His eyes looked scandalized within seconds, mien turning into a ghastly reaction before he turned his face away from the mirror in disgust.

He looked sick!

Seconds later, his eyes once again looked back to the mirror in reflex, trying to gage the amount of filth he had been carrying along with himself in the past few days. Filth and only filth; that was what he was carrying with himself. He noticed that his hair was now outgrown just like his stubble which was now grown four and a half inches since the last trim, he measured. His eyes were swollen and the lips were dry and he credited that to his insomniac activity. It's been 56 and a half hours since he had a sound sleep yet he was still fresh, or that was what he thought. He was looking like an owl: bulged eyes and big ones. His cheeks and neck was blotted up, giving him a shabby look.

No, no, no! I look sick! Nauseating! My face! It's just-just sickening!

He limped on the floor abruptly, his feet cold and damp. He realized that his hands were wet, too and all thanks to his cold feet and sweat pull. He brought his knees close to his chest, this time even closer before he heard the demonic sounds, again. No, he cannot take another episode of it.

And it invaded his life, yet again.

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