It had been only twenty minutes, yet Giri felt like hours had passed. He sat quietly in the car, contemplating what to do but so far, there was no hope whatsoever. Every passing minute, he felt the urge to just leave and put the incident behind, but his conscious would allow him to do that. He never considered himself pragmatic but when the moment came for him to make a decision, he simply couldn’t walk away.

He took in a deep breath and steadied his nerves before finally taking a step out of the car. The lights at the restaurant were still burning, if he had to act this was his only chance. Every step he took towards the restaurant raised his heartrate. He felt like certain death was watching over him as walked towards the gates of hell.

Sweat poured down his forehead as stood before the gate, looking inside. Two young boys were at the tables turning the chairs upside down, they saw him standing at entrance but pretended they didn’t see him. The cashier finally exited the door beside the counter. Keeping calm face, Giri took one step forward when two men walked past him and into the restaurant. He stopped dead in his tracks and observed the two new strangers. Both were tall and bulked up. They had a shabby attire and a mean look on their faces. Neither of them appeared to be any good news. They greeted the cashier with a smile and began to chat like they were good friends.

Giri swallowed hard. He knew very well he was doomed. However, rather than discouraging him, this made him fearless. Throwing caution to the wind, he walked in.

The cashier’s smile turned upside down seeing the cab driver walking in. His two friends took notice and tuned around to see a short man walking in with a serious face. ‘I told you the girl isn’t here,’ said the cashier.

‘And I know your lying,’ replied Giri.

‘Who is this girl?’ asked one of the friends.

‘No idea. Says a girl came to my restaurant. We haven’t had a customer since an hour,’ the cashier replied.

‘Cut the bullshit. I know she came in!’ Giri said gritting his teeth.

‘So, what if she did?’ replied the friend, ‘do you see her? No? Then she left.’

Bile rose to his throat. ‘Where is she?’ Giri asked again.

The man before his had a huge smile on his face. He grabbed Giri’s shirt, lifting him up a little and said, ‘trying to be a hero? What are you going to do? Call the fucking police?’

‘Ugh! Too much trouble. Let’s just get rid of him,’ said the other.

Shiver travelled up his spine on hearing those words. His hands shook uncontrollably as he grabbed onto his assaulter’s arm. The man’s grip tightened as his eyebrows furrowed. Giri felt a solid punch come his way and embraced for it mentally.

‘Giri,’ a woman called out. He recognised that soft voice immediately. All the people in front of him looked past him with their jaws dropped. He slowly turned around to see his client standing behind him.

The assaulter pushed Giri away, causing him to nearly trip and fall over but he was saved by Monica who grabbed on to him.

‘Is this the girl you were talking about?’ the assaulter said as he stepped forward, ‘he caused a lot of problems for us, you know?’

‘He was just being a little protective,’ Monica said.

‘Yeah? Now he has ruined this hotel’s repuation,’ he replied.

‘What reputation?’ Monica asked looking at him with a cold stare. Giri was back on his feet. He looked visibly shaken. ‘Let’s go,’ Monica said. Giri simply nodded in response.

The tension could be cut with a knife. Giri and Monica felt terror as they walked back to the car but neither showed this in anyway.

The men at the restaurant quietly watch them get in their car and leave. The assaulter turned back and asked, ‘Pandian. Is that her?’

‘How the hell did she escape?’ the cashier asked.

‘No clue. Mallesh and Gana are knocked out. Could she have been with them?’ he wondered out aloud as he walked back in.

‘Nayar, this is bad. She could go to the police,’ Pandian said.

‘So, what if she does?’ he replied.

‘Then why the fuck did you guys let them go?’ the cashier asked.

‘Something is odd about the girl. Mallesh maybe young, but Gana isn’t someone you take lightly. If she did take them out…’ Nayar said.

‘She also broke through a steel window,’ Pandian interrupted, ’no one I know is remotely capable of anything like that.’

‘What are you idiots saying?’ the cashier asked. But neither of them replied, instead they watched the car disappear down the road with a serious look on their faces.

***

Monica and Giri couldn’t have been more relieved to leave behind the dark streets of Kasipuram. The place had etched its mark in their minds that would take long to get rid of. They returned to the busy highway, which was still buzzing with traffic, just as they had left it. Their journey once again slowed down to a crawl but neither of them had any complaints this time.

They quiet sat through the next half an hour as they entered the city of Vizag before coming stop at Monica’s destination, a small logging nestled in the quiet part of the city. The driver proceeded to unload Monica’s suitcase before taking it to the reception. Monica took her room keys from the reception before turning to see Giri quietly standing beside the door of the lodge. ‘Thank you,’ Monica said in a lifeless voice and Giri simply nodded before walking out the door.

***

It was close to midnight and Monica had to be at the office first thing in the morning, yet she found it hard to get any sleep. Finding herself back in a small yet comfortable hotel room did alleviate a little weight off her heart, but it wasn’t enough. So much happened in one short evening that it was hard for her keep track of her thoughts.

She wasn’t sure what hurt more, the arrogance which made her blatantly ignore all warnings, or the pride that she is untouchable, and no living soul can lay a finger on her, or the thought of lying naked in a room with men ready to molest her, or the image of the woman she promised to save, laying on the bed with lifeless eyes. All that could have gone wrong, went wrong and she had no one to blame but herself. It didn’t matter to her that the woman would have taken her own life regarding of Monica’s intervention, she couldn’t save a soul that was right in front of her, and it felt like someone stabbed her in her chest.

She curled up while lying on the bed, grabbing onto her chest, and letting her tears flow out. There wasn’t much else she could do but live through the pain of the night that nearly destroyed her integrity.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi all,

New chapter every other day!

If you like what you read and want to see more, do support me on Patreon! You can also access chapters early on Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/StoryTopia07