"Pray Sheharzaad, my eyes won't settle at you before the date changes," he straightened himself not before giving a peck at her forehead.
"Will you stand by your words?" she asked, "will you let me go if you weren't able to catch me?"
"I will," he replied and took off his wrist watch before passing it to her.
"You will need it. Now start your hunt," he said and left.
....
There was this wrist watch on which she had her eyes on since the moment she came into her hiding place. Just an hour was left for the clock to turn to 12. The place which the guard had told her about, she had been hiding there. The hotel was too big that it would take almost a week if you were to go and search through each and every nook of it. And no signs of anyone finding her appeared until now. An hour was left. For her freedom.
Every minute was agonizing, mentally torturing for her. Every breath, which she so laboriously took, made her feel he was around her, watching her. The ambiguity of situation was a pain to her heart and mental health. She didn't know what she was waiting for.
Was it her freedom?
Or was it her doom?
Would he find her?
Or would he not?
She felt like, on purpose, he gave her a time limit. To torture her. Mentally and emotionally. Each and every minute.
To make sure, every breath she took would be filled with uncertainity. She would live with hope and die with dread every elapsing second. And she knew, as if he was aware that when the time would come close, how her limbs would itch, how her breaths would be fastened, how the sweat of terror would trickle down her body and how painfully she would wait for the ordeal to come to an end. That might be the reason he had let her go in that lobby despite catching her. To teach her a lesson, to carve this in her mind that even if she was far away from him, he would be the center of her every thought. He would be the one possessing control over her mind.
A complete, utter control.
And he was successful in his mission.
The bead of sweat popped on her temples and traveled all the way down to her throat. She heard voices. Footsteps. Coming near her. Slow and assured.
Striking of boots that she heard like the one she was habituated to hear.
The door of the room opened and her breath hitched.
A whistle was what she heard then in the eerie silence that was killing her.
Him.
It was him..
No doubt it was him...
"Come out, little lady. Time to come face to face,"
Her hands clasped against her mouth to shut every kind of voice. Her teeth were about to clatter when she fastened her hand under her chin and shut her mouth up to suppress every type of voice.
"Oh so do you want to play hide and seek,"
All for nothing?
All for nothing!
All for nothing!!
Every fear filled moment she spent here, it was all for nothing!!!
"Come out, come out," his voice was playful as his footsteps receded from where she sat.
"If I found you on my own, then," he let the warning hang in thin air. She peeked through tiny space between the two boxed and found his back towards her and next her eyes saw the wide opened door.
Abruptly, she stood up, making him turn towards her and she dashed out of the room.
And already she felt him following her.
...
The terraces of each floor of the hotel were closed due to construction purposes. And that was the place she came to. The balcony of 5th floor. There was no one. Only the starry sky above her head. There was no railing on the edges of the terrace that so easily someone could fall. It was an ideal suicide spot.
Suddenly the door busted open from where she came, revealing and she began to take hurried steps away from him.
"I don't want to marry you!" she cried out, "I don't want to marry you!"
He began to take slow steps towards her.
Flashback ends
She drew in a sharp breath. Fading in and out of consciousness. Through the window she could see the darkness of night. It was 10. She wanted to sleep but the thought that he would be coming wasn't letting her.
Anxiousness had her hands clammed as she rubbed them against the sheet to clear the sweat. Next with difficulty, she reached for the glass of water to chug the liquid down.
The beep beep sound of the machines was maddening. She wanted to get rid of all the tubes that were attached to her body. All the plasters and gauzes that covered her. From her legs, to her arms, ribs, neck.
She wanted to walk and go out of this room. For a moment, she thought, she was hearing screams, her own screams in her ears while her eyes tried to detect patterns on the spotless walls. She wanted to breathe openly but only a limited amount of oxygen would go in with every breath. So occasionally she would suck in sharp breaths, creating a whistling sound in the silent room where only the tick-tock of the clock could be heard.
And in that silence, she heard a creaking sound. Every hair on her body stood up, when the door opened and her eyes like a bolt of lightning moved towards the door.
He stood there.
And a tear dropped through her eye.
...
Her fingers were intertwined with his as with shocking eyes, she pleaded him. She stood at the edge and at the verge of falling. The moment he would release her hand would be the same moment she would die.
She tightened her grip of her hand that he noticed.
"Were you not talking about killing yourself?" he asked, referencing to her gripping hold.
"Please, please, pull me up," With terror dancing in her eyes, she pleaded. Her body shook with tremors and she wasn't able to look down given how low the ground was.
She was scared of heights.
"So now kill yourself," he was about to leave her hand when she shrieked, holding him tightly for her dear life.
"Ah! Please, no! No! don't leave me!" Her heart thudded wildly in her chest. Placing his one hand under her waist, she pulled her up to him as now their breaths mingled.
"Did not I tell you, Sheharzaad?" He moved her head up, "did not I tell you, the only escape from me is death," Was all he said, when he snatched his hand back. Her eyes widened. Her mouth hung open. He stepped back. She lost her balance and fell down, "If death comes, then you're free," He uttered
But he forgot to mention, whose death would it be?
His or her?
In the pool was where she had fallen into. But the impact due to height had her bones break. That was the reason, she now understood, he cornered her to a certain area of the veranda and a certain floor of the hotel. So that, even if she would fall, to the most her bones would break.
....
He sat beside her. She apparently looked calmed but she was trembling on the inside. In a complete state of panic. She wanted to scoot away from him. No. She wanted to run away from him- but she stopped in the middle of this thought. The idea quickly evaporating from her mind as she looked towards her hands on her lap.
'No. I don't want to run.' She thought.
She didn't think, it would be that easy to entertain the thought of running away from him now.
He took her hand and removed the gauze from it, revealing her hand. Her ring finger had now healed a little and the ring of blood had now turned blue from the sides. She couldn't find it in herself to snatch her hand back when it was in his hold. It only shook.
He placed a kiss on her hand and she closed her eyes, tightly. In loathe and in contempt.
And she felt a metal piece around it making her open her eyes, quickly. Only to realize, she was wearing the same ring she had thrown away.
"This is the consequence of throwing this ring away, Sheharzaad," he spoke, "next time, I found your hand without this ring, I won't hesitate to do something worst than this. Are you getting me?"
She nodded, quietly, "it won't happen again,"
"And I ask again, is your answer still a no,"
Quickly, her eyes averted to him with fear in them, "No. I...I...I agree to marry you," She sealed her fate.