Suspense Love Story – The Choral
Photo credit: mensatic from morguefile.com
The flight landed at the Dabolim Airport, Rishaan felt uncanny…his excitement seemed replaced by an unknown fear that he found very difficult to decipher.
He heard Diya humming. The eloquence of her hum just kept him mesmerized. He held her hand tightly and stared into her eyes.
“What is it?” his face turned white.
Diya smiled and shook her hand out of his hold “Payback..” she added coldly and cut her eye contact with him and went away.
Rishaan was confused and scared for a moment. Kiara was still asleep. She woke up as Diya passed by her pushing her legs.
“Ouch!” Kiara said “Be careful..” her face turned pale as Diya left humming.
“Rishaan!” Kiara added after seeing Rishaan’s face “Baby where have you lost? Come on….” she asked him to walk forth.
He saw her shiny silhouette gleaming under the sunlight staring at him as she moved. He felt strange, an eerie ran over him. Diya slid out of the door dropping lambent droplets into the thin air.
“Oh Diya!” Rishaan mumbled and was flabbergasted by her sight.
“What?” Kiara asked.
“No nothing, let’s leave…” he said.
“Yeah, I am excited for the night!” Kiara added and they left.
Rishaan was dating Kiara since the past two years. He met Diya and her at his workplace few years ago. Although Kiara joined a few years later, there was a story that the rest two shared, which Kiara wasn’t fully aware of.
They reached the hotel. The sun was upright glistening brightly. The sky was all clear and warmth was spread all over. They had booked two rooms- one for the couple and the other for Diya. As they got down the taxi, Rishaan observed something suspicious. He felt as if someone was following him and his footsteps.
“Am I hallucinating?” he said softly to himself.
They removed their luggage and went into their rooms. Rishaan seemed disturbed. He had thoughts running all over his mind. Every step he took seemed somewhat heavy. Kiara opened the door of their suite and went into the washroom to freshen up. Rishaan was still standing outside the room, in a deep thought. Diya saw him and figured out what he was thinking. She grabbed him from the back and hugged him warmly.
“Oh Diya!” he whispered “I am feeling something strange…”
“I don’t know what is right or what is wrong..” she said and smiled cunningly at his back “I don’t know what is up in your mind, but I know one thing that we both love each other…” Her eyes sparkled.
“Yes,” he added “but, can we?”
“We can…” she said and turned around and kissed him passionately “but…” she continued “I can’t break up Kiara’s heart.”
“I never loved her…” he said after a long pause “…I could never see her anything more than just a friend, but to get away from you I had get intimate with her.”
“And that itched me….” she cried.
“There is something much more to this plot that is hindering our love…” he said “And that makes me insecure to choose you…”
“Guilt of course…” she added slyly.
“Yes, the past that we share….” he added stringently “It flashes at me, haunts me and draws me away from love…”
She closed her eyes in vain and took a deep breath. “You are a mystery….and I don’t know whether I can ever trust you again, but somewhere deep…the spark is still there…” she said coldly and left to her room.
Rishaan went into his and pondered over his life. He rested on the bed and got lost into his haunting memories.
“Why was she humming? Was that a signal for love…or for war? What is she up to…what am I up to?” he thought in his mind “She is innocent…she won’t…I trust her and I will make everything clear tonight….but..but..Why can I feel a strange vibe..” He closed his eyes and laid down on his bed.
It all suddenly grew dark. Rishaan was lying on an arid land, all alone. There was nothing around. He stood up and sat amidst the darkness witnessing its severity. Suddenly the winds started blowing hard and a sweet hum ran all around echoing into his ears. It was growing tenebrous with time and that was killing him from inside. The sound grew louder and louder. The shadows of his guilt were eating up his soul. Suddenly a beam of light travelling with ultra speed flashed in front of his eyes and made him blind temporarily. Some voices pierced into his ears. Some whispers travelled to his soul. A gleaming silhouette scudded before him and then retrieved back slowly whispering into his ears. He grew unconscious and wanted to grab that light, but he couldn’t.
“I am coming!” the soul screeched.
“NO!! ….” Rishaan shouted and woke up.
Kiara was shocked to see him screaming like this. As he woke up she ran towards him and hugged him.
“Are you all right baby?” she was scared to see him perspiring. The look over his face just frightened her even more.
“I am fine..” he said after having some water. “Just had a bad dream…”
Suddenly his sight went over the door which was partially open. He saw the shadows walking. He ran towards the door and to his surprise, he found no one out there.
“What’s happening?” he muttered and rested for a while.
It was the night time. It was the night that they all were waiting eagerly for- ‘The Moonburn concert’. But there was much more for the night. Kiara had planned to surprise Rishaan with a news that she was very eager to tell him. Rishaan’s mood was all off. He didn’t knew what was happening, but he had made up his mind to take serious decisions this night.
Kiara was all set. She had worn a black dress and was up in her sexy avatar. When she was getting ready she touched her belly and spoke to her contemplation in the mirror “I hope it all goes well…”
Diya was dressed up in a burgundy dress and was adorned with light makeup. They all left the hotel at seven and reached the beach location for the superb night ahead. Diya had a lot planned in her mind. She was persistently staring into Rishaan’s eyes, waiting for an appropriate opportunity.
Under the open stars and cold waves, the concert was supposed to be a memory. With vivid lights, setups and people all over, the three became very excited for the night.
With the night passing and the songs booming, Diya observed the way Kiara was dancing. She took her aside and spoke to her.
“What’s the matter?” she asked in a serious note.
“What?” she mocked.
“Come on Ki…I know you better….” she held her hands.
“Well…I don’t know how to say it..” she said “But I suppose I should tell you first..” she took a deep breath and spoke “I am pregnant…. with Rishaan’s child…”
“What?” Diya was dumbstruck.
“Yes, and I wanted to surprise him today…”
“What?” Diya couldn’t get over the fact and she walked away into the crowd away from them both. Her mind stopped working. She couldn’t think about anything but the past.
“I need to stop them..” Diya spoke to herself “And I know how…before things get any worse.”
She ran towards Kiara and drew her aside.
“Hey…what’s the matter?” Kiara shouted to meet up to the noise.
“Listen Ki,” she took her aside, away from the noise “Listen carefully to what I am going to tell you now…”
Meanwhile, Rishaan got lost too into the crowd. Suddenly he heard the same voice again. He felt someone walking towards him deeply. He could sense the smell and the noise. He turned around and gasped.
“Diya!!” he saw her in desperation. The love in his eyes was visible.
Way back long, about six years ago, Rishaan was twenty three and had newly got a job in a software company. There he met Diya. Diya was soft spoken and a woman with great courage and respect. She possessed beauty as well as brains. Her velvet brown hairs and dark chocolaty eyes were just heart throbbing. She had won Rishaan’s heart. Rishaan was head over heel in love with her. It took her time to answer his proposal, but at the end they both made up a great pair. Their love was very strong, as people said, but suddenly the plot of their love story thickened and they got separated. They almost didn’t talk for a year, but then after by mutual understanding became each other’s best friends as they portray to the world. But deep down, there lies a secret that no one knows which was responsible for the drama.
She saw deep into his eyes.
“Yes!” she said ” I am back..” she rested her hand over her stomach and stopped humming the sonorous choral.
Rishaan didn’t know what to do. He closed his eyes and hugged her and kissed her on her head. Unfortunately, Kiara saw the incident and was shocked.
“I already knew there was something fishy around…it’s time now” she spoke and ran away.
“You still love that choral which I composed for you that very night…” he said into her ears.
“And I still can’t forget everything that happened that night…” she said.
“I am sorry…” he whispered “And you know that..that I did it out of naivety and now I am feeling guilty for it…”
“But I don’t..” she said “Instead I have grown even more strong now…I think it’s high time that we stop acting now and get back to our real characters.” she looked down and wiped her tears.
“Good” he kissed her. She couldn’t resist his touch, but after a while, she pushed him away.
“It still hurts…” she said holding her abdomen “Not physically but yes, it hurts me mentally.”
“But you accept me don’t you?” he said staring in to her eyes constantly.
“Life is a gamble…” she said “Our actions drew us into this drama… how long can we hide the truth but? At the end we have to live with it and move on…right?”
“Yes, and it’s time now…” he said. The DJ upped the volume. He went closer to her.
“Knavery gives one many advantages..doesn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” he asked her “Aren’t you over it?”
“You haven’t learnt a lesson yet…” she slapped him and left him alone.
“Wait…” he ran and dragged her back close to himself. He held her tight in his arms close to his chest and her face facing his. “But you can’t lie to yourself…” he kissed her fervently.
“Ughh!” she yelled “I ain’t gonna fall into your traps again…”
“Do you really think I was playing pranks with you?” he gazed deeply “Do you still don’t think that I am serious?”
“No one can read minds..” she laughed “I can’t read yours nor can you read mine.. time tells you your position” she added wickedly and laughed loudly.
“Do you even know what you have done?” she added “Kiara is pregnant”
His eyes grew red in anger as well as guilt.
She entangled herself from his arms and went to the bar and drank beer.
Meanwhile it made Rishaan more afraid. He didn’t knew what was going to happen next. Every step he took, he felt as if the darkness was drowning him inside. The somberness of his guilt overshadowed his reality. Every inch the sound of the music and the people scared the heck out of him. He was broken. He cried aloud and fell over the soft sand.
All of a sudden a cold hand rested upon his shoulder. He was dashed by its touch. He turned around and saw a lady in black. It was Kiara.
“Oh dear!” she said and gave him a hand while the other resting at her back. He stood up and she hugged him and condoled with him.
“I am so sorry” he apologized to her and kissed her on her stomach. “I need to tell you something…” he said slowly.
“Shh….” she shooed him and hugged him tight “Just stay quiet for a while…Let’s not discuss anything for the moment and enjoy the night, the music and the waves.” She rolled her right hand over his back soothing him while her left was still behind her back trembling to death.
There was silence for a while. The music was soaring and the couple were aside romancing under the distant beats. Kiara was broken. She didn’t know what she was doing.
“I know what you did to Diya…. How recklessly you killed her fetus with your legs..but now that I know…it makes me feel bitter….” she firmed her grip over her left hand and shouted aloud.
“Ahhhhhhh” she dragged her left hand which had a knife from back and stabbed it hard into Rishaan’s back.
“Ah…” Rishaan’s eyes remained wide open as he bled. His eyes grew red and he pushed Kiara aside forcefully.
“You bitch!” he screamed in pain and dragged the deep knife from his back in pain. Kiara was fallen into the sand with her hands red. She was helpless. They had come very far away and no one else was around.
“No..” she shouted as he dragged himself towards her. He pounced on her and recklessly kicked over her abdomen in a will to kill the tiny life inside. Kiara was in a deep pain, but he kept on pressing his foot over her stomach furiously. He was bleeding badly.
Kiara had lost hope. She started humming the same choral that Diya told her.
“Ughh!!” Rishaan shouted out aloud and held his ears as he was feeling guilty.
“As it was planned..” a distant shadow whispered.
“Tfff..” There was a sharp sound heard which echoed all over. The music stopped and Rishaan fell down over the sand. A bullet passed through his heart and he died. Kiara saw a shadow walking away from them humming the same choral. She knew who it was.
Diya laughed aloud endlessly as she left into the darkness.
“And here the choral ends….” she exclaimed and walked off smoothly into the unknown.
–END–
