Chapter 23

It was dead of the night. The streetlights were flickering away. Everything was quiet until suddenly the rumbling sound of several bike engines were heard which was accompanied by several rogue male voices shouting profanities.

There was one bike in the front driven by a girl. She was hurt and very disoriented. There was blood all over her torso. Her vision was blurring out from excessive loss of blood. But by sheer determination, she drove the bike as steadily as she could and as fast as she could. She knew help is on the way. All she had to do was to hold these thugs off till then. But it was getting so hard to keep her eyes open.

There were about a half dozen bikes following her. They were driven by all sorts of thug looking guys. They stunk of alcohol. All their eyes were bloodshot as they crazily chased after the girl like she was some meal.

The girl finally lost her battle of consciousness and when she finally lost control, at the speed she was diving, the bike rampaged into the divider between the roads and sent the girl flying.

All the guys following screeched to a stop and sobered up. One of them approached the girl, all he saw was blood everywhere. All of them panicked and fled from there in a heartbeat.

Gautham couldn't fall asleep no matter what he did. For some reason, he felt anxious and his mind was running in circles. He finally got out of the bed and went outside. He kept staring at Sindhu's door for a while and then sneaked in for a quick glance. But his whole being froze when he saw her state.

Sindhu looked so pale. She was struggling in her sleep. Her clothes clung to her due to excessive sweat. She was panting and hyperventilating.

Gautham quickly went near her and shook her awake. Sindhu's eyes flew open and she sat up straight in a start. She was panting for air and her eyes were unfocused.

Gautham rubbed on her arms and caressed her face in order to soothe her as he softly whispered some words of comfort, "Hey, its okay. You're alright. Breathe."

Sindhu took several deep breaths and finally calmed down. Then she focused on her surrounding when her eyes finally landed on Gautham and met his concerned eyes. She frowned in confusion and asked, " What are you doing here?? Did I wake you??" Her voice was slightly hoarse.

Gautham did not answer instead he went to the bathroom and took a towel. He came back sat beside her wiped her sweat. Once he was done, he tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ears and tidied her bed hair. His brows still frowned with concern. His eyes kept darting over her face to make sure she was okay.

Sindhu let out a warm smile squeezing his hands and said, "I am alright Gautham."

Gautham signed in relief and brought her into his embrace said in a whisper, "Thank god. I was just checking up on you when I found you like that. You were struggling to breathe as if you were being chocked."

After a while, he let go of her from his embrace but held her face between his hands and asked her in a serious voice, "Are you really okay now?? You want to talk about it??"

Sindhu shook her head between his hands and gave him a reassuring smile and said, "I never remember my dreams. So it's easier to deal with. All I ever remember is the split second before I crash and it always the same. My bike smashing into the divider and then I wake up panting and sweating."

After saying that, she shifted, gestured Gautham to sit properly and then laid down on his lap. Thus Gautham had both of his legs outstretched out in front of him while leaning back on the headboard of the bed while Sindhu laid on his laps sprawled sideways on the bed. Both fell asleep in the same way.

Gautham woke up early due to the way he slept. His neck was cramped. When he looked down, Sindhu was still sleeping soundly on his laps. He gently rubbed his hands over her head. Then he shifted her on to a pillow carefully. And thankfully Sindhu did not wake up. Once he was out of the room, he stretched his body and several parts of his body cried in pain. He let out a yawn and strolled towards the living room. There he found John sipping coffee while reading the newspaper.

"Good morning John." Gautham wished and sat down to pour a cup of coffee for himself.

"Good morning." John wished back but continued with his paper.

The living room was quiet except for the noise of both of them sipping coffee and John flipping pages. But after a while, Gautham broke the silence.

"Sindhu had a nightmare last night. Does that happen often???" Gautham asked in a grave voice but the underlying concern was not lost. He did not even know why Gautham thought John would have the answers. But he had a feeling that John would have been there with Sindhu through her rehabilitation.

John did not reply right away. He closed the newspaper and looked up at Gautham. Gautham's face eluded gloominess. John signed and said in a defeated tone, "More often than I would like."

"There were times when she would wake up screaming but when you ask her what happened, she won't remember anything. At first, it drove her crazy. Not knowing why you keep waking up in the middle of the night. All that will be left is a lingering feeling of fear but she never really remembered what she actually sees in her nightmares. But eventually, she got used to it." John finished. The helplessness was evident in his voice.

"Just because she got used to it doesn't mean it's affecting her any less," Gautham said and ran both his hands over his head in order to relieve his frustration. The way he saw Sindhu the before night, panting and struggling in sleep, he did not like it. He did not like it one bit. But the fact that he cannot do anything to prevent it from happening again drove him to bricks.

John remained silent for a while, pondering upon something. But after a while, he started talking, "Sindhu actually doesn't remember everything about the accident actually."

"What do you mean??" Gautham asked giving his full attention to John.

"It's a kinda long story. It was not a simple accident... When I first noticed her drinking problem, I said everything I possibly could to make her stop. But when nothing worked, I tried to force her into quitting. And it kinda developed into a huge fight and she stopped coming here and stopped talking to me. But I always had people watch her back because I was afraid she would get into trouble. She was that reckless."

"But she almost always ends up spotting them and she will eventually lose them. So just to be safe I gave her a pendant with a tracker and a live feed camera. In case of emergencies. She would have to press a button and I will get an emergency alert with a location and live feed.

"That day as always she escaped from her bodyguards. She was shit face drunk when she stumbled out of a club well after midnight. And she came across a bunch of bastards"

"Those bastards cornered her into an alley. Sindhu... she knows martial arts. She even participated in some underground fights here. But that's not the point. The thing is, she was able to fight them off. But the fact that she was dead drunk did not help. And one of them had a knife. S-she got stabbed but she was able to escape from them in a bike. But because of the state she was in, she smashed into the divider on the road. And those bastards being the cowards they were, fled the scene."

"When my guys finally reached her, she was practically dead." John let out a shudder just by remembering. His whole being stopped when he saw Sindhu like that on the road that day. He couldn't help but blame himself. If only he had been a bit more forceful and restrained her, things might not have escalated to that extent.

John rubbed his face forcefully bringing himself out of the memories that haunt him till date.

After a while, John continued, "Thankfully the doctors were able to revive her. But when she finally woke up, she couldn't remember the incident itself. And the doctors advised us not to try and make her remember. That it was better if she remembers them naturally. So we just told her she had an accident while she was driving."

"What happened to those guys??" Gautham asked darkness emitted from his whole being.

John's face tightened just from the thought of those guys, " None of them will be seeing the light of day ever in their lives. Even that is going to be as uncomfortable as possible." John said. The suppressed anger was evident in his face.

"Good," Gautham said. And before any of them can say anything else, they heard the sound of someone dragging their legs. Gautham looked up to find Sindhu stumbling towards the living room with her eyes still closed and yawning. Gautham quickly went up to her and guided her to the couch by holding her hands. As soon as Gautham sat beside her, she slumped on his shoulder.

Gautham lifted his hands and put them around her shoulders and brought her flush against his chests. Sindhu shifted slightly and found herself a comfortable spot and let out a pleased sign. Gautham grinned seeing her act spoilt. He caressed her head and kissed her temple. Then he whispered, "Good morning baby."

"Good morning," Sindhu mumbled against his chest. But she kept her eyes firmly shut.

"Stop using him as your pillow Sindhu," John said in a teasing voice.

Sindhu pouted facing John but still did not bother getting up. Instead, she shifted away and laid down on Gautham's lap comfortably. Gautham let out a chuckle and did not say anything. He simply caressed the top of her head and rested his other hands over her shoulders.

John was speechless at Sindhu's childishness. He simply shook his head and left the living room to get ready.