Willing Escape

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"That is sick di, you can't marry that guy, his parents are fucking insane, forcing a girl to marry their son, so that they can get ownership of a fücking company or shït"

Prachi is walking back and forth, in front of the foot of my bed, on which I am sitting.

She maybe ranting but her words do hit the nail right on the head.

If a nail had a head that is.

"You can't marry him!"

"Ummm......but I am kinda being married off.....to him"

" He must be a wimp if he can't even find a bride for himself. "

Prachi is not really helping with all her assumptions.

I need to get out.

This house is suffocating me right now.

" - you now what di, you can run aw-, where are you going?"

Prachi asks me when I move out of my bed and go towards the door.

" I need to escape from here" I tell her.

" what! Now! But we need to plan it properly, you need money, and clothes, where will you go!"

I roll my eyes at Prachi's nervous rant.

She can be such a fool sometimes.

" I am not escaping as in escaping. I am going out for a walk. I'll be back. I just need to be alone for sometime"

"Oh.." Prachi smiles sheepishly.

"Yeah, oh..."   I move towards the door to leave but turn around to add "If mom or  dad asks, please cover up for me"  giving  Prachi a smile I leave the house. Thankfully, my parents were in their room sleeping, considering, it is eleven o'clock at night.

The sky above is dark, with millions of stars twinkling in the sky.

It is such a rare sight in a city.

I look up as I walk on the empty road. It is really nice.

When I look around, And notice that the road is empty. As in no single car is around. Infact not even a single person is around.

It is not strange, as the place I live in is pretty isolated, only a few houses are there.

And suddenly, I just get this absolutely crazy urge to lie down on the road and look at the sky. You know how they did in The Notebook.

So without thinking about it a second time ,I lay down on the road. With my back flat against the ground, then look up and keep staring.

It had only been roughly five or ten minutes I am not sure, when I hear screeching of tires, I sit up abruptly and turn around to see headlights of a car flashing right into my eyes, blinding me, for eternity maybe.

They were that bright.

"shit! Are you dead- no I mean are you alright, oh god I am so sorr- wait I am not sorry, why are you even lying on the road."
I squint my eyes to reduce the glare of the headlights but my attempt is futile. I can barely make out the person standing in front of me. All I can decipher is that , the person is a he. Well, the deep voice of his, gave it away.

" can you see me?" I ask him.

" of-course I can see you"  he answers as if that is the most dumb question someone has ever asked.

 

" good because I can't see a single thing right now. Turn the headlights off" I snap. I mean, he can see me but he can't see the squint-y eyed glare I am sending his way. Or the glare, I am sending in the direction I think he is standing in.

"Okay. "

And soon I find myself blind again. This time I can't see anything because it is so dark.

I blink a few,- scratch that I blink, a lot of times and then fix the man with a glare.

And unsurprisingly he is glaring back at me.

"I am fine. Your car didn't even touch me. Thank you, for not trampling me with your expensive tires."

His glare dissolves and looks at me concerned. And then speaks to me in a way, an adult would talk to a three-year old.
"So where are your care takers? how did you come by yourself here ?"

"Huh?"

"You don't know? I can drop you, the asylum is not far away, just a few blocks away"

Asylum! He thinks I am mentally retarded!

My confused look transforms into a scorching hot glare.

"I am not insane,if that is what you are implying." I snear at him.

" then what are you doing out here , lying on a road. Wait... Don't tell me that was a suicide attempt you just pulled there! if it was, then it was a horrible one because, with you another man would have to suf-"

He is boring me. And his over the top uptight rants are wasting my time. Time I can spend stargazing.

" I was not committing suicide. I am not insane. I was just looking at the stars" after saying that I lie down again as he is crouching beside me, I notice that he is wearing a suit with tie and everything those rich guys wear to look formal and ......rich.

And if he was not so quick to assume stuff then I would have admitted that, he is kind of good looking. With the sharp angles of his jaw, high cheek bones and the thick and long eyelashes which in my opinion are a waste on a guy. Heck even his skin tone is the right shade of wheat-ish- tanned-brown.

"You can lie down too."

"Huh"

"Lie down."

"No!" His voice drips with disgust, as he makes a face.

" why not?"

"Because it is absolutely dirty. Imagine how many things and humans have pissed and shitted on this road."

"Do you see any poop or pee?" I don't give him time to answer , instead give the answer myself. " no. Then just lie down. What you don't see won't harm you. Pretend this road has been cleaned using disinfectant, mere seconds ago and just lay down."

He looks at me, and gives me a strange look.

" I have to go home"

"What? You have a curfew or something?"

"No"

"Then join me I really need company right now"

He hesitates but lays down without giving any other protest.

His arm brushes mine as he joins me on the road and turns his head towards the sky.
A moment of silence passes before he breaks it.

" This is crazy"

I smile and add " I am crazy"

He snorts. "So you finally admit it."

"Shut that trap" I roll my eyes.

"Do you do this a lot?" He asks after a while.

"What? Lying on road?"

" yeah lying on roads and looking at the stars."

I 'hmm' out my response "Hmm.... I love stargazing. But lying on roads, no. Infact, this is the first time I have done this."

" I can guess why you love it so much. Stargazing, I mean. It is kinda therapeutic."  He breathes out.

"Ah, huh"

"So why did you decide to do it today, out of all days?" He questions.

" What?" I turn my head to look at him.

"This 'lying on a road and looking at these bright stars'" he moves his hands around to gesture to the sky above and then to the road we are lying on.

" why would I tell you, you are nothing but a stranger afterall."

Don't get me wrong I am all for making friends and well I was the one who offered him my awesome compay but that doesnt mean I am going to be all forthcoming. he is a stranger, a boy, more like a man, and it is eleven pm at night.

Not a good idea even if his car is pretty amazing.

Especially if his car  is amazing.

"well I am a stranger who did not drive his car over you and is wasting his precious time here with you when the said stranger can be home, sleeping after a really tiring day at work."

"touché" I laugh. Can't argue with that now.

and even if he murders me, it is not like anyone will care.

"So tell me, stranger to stranger"

Makes sense, it is not like I will see him again, and I can rant and get it out of my system.

"Fine. But on one condition, you would have to tell me about yourself too"

"tell you what?"

"I don't know, rant about your problems or something. Just tell me about yourself so I have something to hold against you." I joke and my words have the desired effect as they make him laugh and believe me, his laugh is pretty sexy, and..... I'd shut up now.

"Deal. Now start."

"Here is the thing, a few days ago, I got a marriage proposal from a rich family but you see that can't happen"

"why not?" he interrupts.

"I was getting to that , as I was saying, that can't happen because, I am-  was, already engaged so I turn their offer down but my fianc- ex-fiancé turns up at my place and leaves me for some bundles of cash."

"ouch....!"

"way more than that 'ouch'...." This time he stays silent. I can feel his gaze on me, his head is turned towards me but I don't look at him instead keep my eyes above, on the stars.

I want to look at him , but if I do that, I am afraid the tears would fall, and he'll see it.

"I loved him, I thought he loved me too, he said so, and he was so good, caring, fussing over me all the time. The ideal boyfriend. But now you see, I am getting married to some super rich billionaire guy, who is still fücking non-existent as I have not even seen his face yet and the marriage is in two days, his father is doing all the stuff."

A few drops of tears have escaped my eyes, but I am way past the stage to care.

"That is messed up" I give out a bitter laugh at his words.

"my thoughts exactly "

A short moment of silence , which I think was for the respect of my dead life, later I ask him to start with his life's story.

He tells me how his life is pretty plain. To which I had replied with "just tell me so that I can pity you."

The way you are pitying me right now, I didn't add.

He revealed, he have two younger sisters, one is his real sister, the other is his half sister. His mother died in an accident when he was very young, I felt sorry for him although, my situation was pretty much same now, but even if I was drunk I'd have the brains not to say that to him. Whatever shady business my dad was involved in, does not need broadcasting.

He is a business man and takes care of the family business by himself.

"- I am planning to settle overseas, in a month"

He finishes telling me about himself.

"I really pity you, that was so boring."

"Yah. Poor me. I dont have hot billionaires proposing me to marry them.."

His words were supposed to be a joke and I took it that way and laughed at him.

"Totally, lying on this road is probably the most adventurous thing you have ever done"

His silence makes me look at him, to notice a barely there blush on his cheeks.

"Oh my god, it is true."

and i burst out laughing.

"N...no, I have done many adventurous things."
I look at him with barely concealed mirth.

"I am sure you have"
After that we just lay there me looking that the sky.

"You know, I love looking at stars. Looking at stars is like travelling in time. When you look at stars, the view you see is from millions of years ago."

I look at him to see if he is paying attention or not, and see him looking at me.

"How?" I know he asked me that for my benefit because I want to tell this to him but instead of pointing it out to him,I continue.

"These stars are very far away from us. It is so far, that the light these stars are emitting takes millions and trillions of light years to reach us. So when we look at them we are looking at the star from millions of years ago."

" where did you learn this from?"

" internet "

" should have guessed "

"But you didn't"

"Hmm....."

I like this.
Whatever it is.

I am surprised, I am not running away from guys, and these new feelings considering, I just got the biggest betrayals of my life a few days ago.
That too from the significant men in my life.

My dad. And Amar.....

" Hey, stranger?"

I smile and hum out a response. I had closed my eyes a while ago, and keep them closed as he speaks.

" how about we go on a date today"

"It is tonight, and no."

"What! Why not? And it is day considering it is 12:30am"

I don't even bother opening my eyes to reply him.

My tone, off handed.

" because, I am engaged. wow time flies. I think I should go now."

I sit up and stretch my hands skywards and stand up.

When I look down. I notice that he is also standing and looking at me like I punched him or something.

Well I did punch down his ego.

" you don't even know the guy, you said so yourself."

I look him straight in the eyes and say " I don't go out with strangers."

But I give him a small teasing smile, just to let him know I am joking.

I am in a mood of eating ice cream anyways.

" we can fix that then..." I see the smirk of his coming before it even graces his lips. "..... Hi , I just wanted to say that I now kinda like you. So go out with me. By the way My name is Karan...."

Some kind of a bell rings in my head but what are the chances I'll meet-

"....Karan Singhania."

-my future husband on a street at midnight.

" bye" is my fantastic response and I start speed walking, away from him.

Please don't come after me, please don't come after me, please don't come after me, plea-

"Now, what did I do?" Before I could go far , he grabs me by my arm and turns me towards him. I don't look at him.

"I...l f...for...got to feed my P..pet sister" I shut my eyes.

Pet sister?

I don't look at him but I know he is amused. The amusement is fücking dripping from his voice.

"Pet sister? That is new"

"P...pet sister? I meant my pet's sister." I think I just messed it up more.

"Okay, if you don't wanna go on a date with me right now just tell me so that I can woo you into going out with me. Please stop with these shitty excuses."

I look up at him, then jerk my arm out of his grasp. And uncontrollable anger consumes me.
" does the name Ridhima Gupta ring a bell to you?"
He falters for a moment before opening and then closing his mouth.
" yeah. She is your to-be wife. Do you know who she is? How she looks? No! Because your dad fixed it up for you. You are so uninterested in her that here you are asking a girl you know for only an hour, for a date." I fume and as I reach the end of my speech I realise I had started yelling it out to him. And I am breathless when I am done.

Karan BLOODY Singhania has his jaw on the floor.

"How do you know that? I remember I didn't tell this to you."

" Nice to meet you Karan. I am Ridhima Gupta, by the way."

"Damn you are hot" he remarks and now his eyes check me out from head to toe, shamelessly.

I had noticed earlier he was checking me out , subtly but now he was not even trying to be subtle.

I cross my arms across my chest, self-consciously.

" I am going." I turn around and start to leave. But he stops me again.

"But why are you so mad at me?"

Really?

I don't give him a reply instead raise my eyebrow at him.

" oh! You just got out of a horrible relationship."

" how about your dad forced me into it. And broke my said relationship"

"Think about it this way- if you married that guy, you would have done a huge mistake because he would have betrayed you at some point. And ours is an arranged marriage."

" ours is a forced marriage"

" so are you in for that date or not?"

" what!? ofcourse not!"

" why?" If his voice wasn't as deep as it was , then his whiny tone right there would have sounded like a small child who didn't get the toy he wanted.

" because you are a cheater. You were cheating on me. "
" how? I didn't cheat on you. I asked you out on a date. How did I cheat. "

"You cheated on me by asking a stranger out in a date."

" but you are that stranger. How does that make me a cheater"

" you were cheating on me with me."
"........ That makes absolutely no sense. "

"It does. You just can't comprehend it"

" why are girls so complicated.!!!!" Karan looks above at the sky with arms raised.

He looks so confused, exasperated and frustrated that it is actually cute and I can no more hold the smile back.

He runs hand through his hair and his eyes catch my smile and freezes for a moment and then an incredulous look plasters itself on his face.

" you were playing me all this time. "

"Not the first time. But after that yeah."

" that was not funny."

" it was. "

" you are a sadist."

"I think u need to go now."

His frown makes me explain him.
" it is late, my parents will find out, if I don't go."

"What about our date?"

" some other time." I give him a smile and he returns it.

" Ridhima.?" I stop walking and turn around to look at him down on his knees, at first I got worried that he fell and got hurt. But the small hopeful smile his lips are curved into reassure me.

" will you marry me?" He asks me.

I give him a confused look.

" I am marrying you..." I reply.

" I mean will you marry me willingly?"

I walk closer to him. And get on my knees too.

" honestly? No. I would not marry a guy whom I just met an hour ago. But since I am already forced into this marriage. I will willingly marry you because you seem like a nice guy."

He gives me a small smile. I smile back at him.

And then even after my numerous protests he ends up dropping me at my house.

Well this willing escape cleared my mind.

Oh it cleared it very well.

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