Chapter 22

22 The Night Visitor

Nivritti closed her eyes and breathed loudly for a few seconds calming herself down. She could not stop thinking about Kyung-Soo. She shook her head violently and stopped thinking about him completely. She then finished washing her dishes, cleaned her kitchen and took out the trash.

She sat on the couch with a thud and let her head fall on the headrest. She had a hectic day today and was ready to sleep. But she was waiting for her phone to ring. She knew that Apeksha would call her any time now. She waited for a few more minutes and then facepalmed.

She destroyed her Indian sim then how would Apeksha call? She didn’t even have her number. She cursed herself for being an idiot. On one hand, she wanted to call her and tell her about her new number but on the other hand, she didn’t want to distribute her new number.

She wanted only a few people to have that. If she would give the number to her sister, it would slowly reach her relatives and then her friends and then to one person she never wanted her number to reach.

She was in a dilemma about whether to call her sister or not. She knew that her mother would start imagining all kinds of accidents that would befall her just because she could not get in touch with her, and Apeksha would fuel that fire, for sure. And the moment she would call them, they will rebuke her.

She started biting her fingernails thinking about what to do. It was late night in Korea, but it was still before bedtime in India. She knew she was required to talk to them daily and if she would miss a day, they will unleash the whole country’s police force after her, if only they had such power.

She puffed her cheeks and exhaled a big puff of air and reached for her phone. She looked under recent calls and searched for “headache”. Then a thought appeared in her mind. Her number would inform Apeksha that she was in Korea. The +82, the South Korea country code will tell her where she was.

She inserted her fingers in her hair and pulled her hair with frustration. She could not decide on what to do. Should she call her sister or not? Then it struck her like lightning. She could video call her on “Swipe”. It will not display her number, just her Swipe ID.

Again, to be more private, she activated the VPN on her phone which was included in her new sim plan and then called her sister.

.....

The moment Apeksha saw Nivritti, she started berating her, “Where were you? Why I could not connect to your phone? Why did it say switched off? Why was your phone switched off?”

Nivritti was quietly listening to her. After Apeksha was done shouting, Nivritti calmly asked her, “are you done, Question queen?”

“No, I am not,” shouted Apeksha. “Tell me why you were not picking?”

“Because I never got your call,” replied Nivritti, stoically.

“What are you talking about?” questioned Apeksha.

“I bought a new sim, a local sim,” answered Nivritti.

“Why? The old sim was working, wasn’t it?” Apeksha was concerned.

“International Roaming charges were a bitch,” replied Nivritti.

“India has the cheapest rate when it comes to the internet. I know for a fact that wherever you are their internet rates are higher,” educated Apeksha.

“Yeah, but I am not only using the net services, I have to make calls too, and that’s expensive,” explained Nivritti.

“Bullshit!” shouted Apeksha.

“Language, or else I tell mom,” warned Nivritti.

“Sorry. Do you have any idea how worried I was when you were not picking up your call?”

“I knew it. Mom and you are the same. Always with negative thoughts. What did you think? Was I hit by a car or did I fall down the stairs?” taunted Nivritti.

“You died because your dumbass forgot to breathe,” scolded Apeksha.

“Do I have to laugh now? Ha ha, ha ha,” laughed Nivritti, sarcastically.

“Sarcasm??”

“What do you think, headache?” teased Nivritti.

But before she could reply, their mother shouted, “Ritti!”

“Yes, Mom. How are you?” said Nivritti, sweetly.

“Where were you? We tried so many times to call you,” screamed her mother.

“Mom, chill. I just got a new sim. It took time to get activated,” replied Nivritti, coolly.

“Give me the number,” shouted her mother.

“No, I am not giving the number to anyone except in my office. If you want, video call me,” Nivritti put her foot down.

“I will not give your number to anyone,” pleaded her mother.

“Not even Seema aunty?” taunted Nivritti.

“Why do you run away from her?”

“Because she is always ready with a picture of a boy for me to get married to and I am sick of it,” replied Nivritti.

“And what is wrong with getting married?” asked her mother.

“Heartbreak, mom. Heartbreak or did you forget?” Nivritti raised her voice.

“He called you on your phone, didn’t he?” her mother understood everything.

“Excuse me!!” Nivritti was shocked.

“That’s why you got a new number,” exhorted her mother.

“No, Mom,” lied Nivritti.

“You don’t have to protect me,” said her mother, concerned.

Nivritti closed her eyes, shook her head, opened her eyes and smiled at her mother. “How do you know these things? How did you figure it out?”

“I am your mother,” replied her mother. “You always change things after your encounter with him.”

“I know, I know, I run away. I am best at that,” shouted Nivritti, annoyed.

“I didn’t say that.” Her mother exhaled deeply and continued, “leave it, did you eat?”

“Yes, Mom, was just about to sleep.”

“Okay fine, go, rest and take care of yourself.”

“You guys too take care. Give my love to dad. And don’t worry about me. I am fine,” assured Nivritti.

She blew them a kiss and disconnected the call. Now she was content. She talked to her mother, and no one was wiser that she was in Korea. Now, no one in India had her number. She was tension free.

She yawned and looked at her laptop. She placed it back in the bag alone with all the papers she brought from the office. She double-checked all the locks, switched off the lights and retired to her bedroom.

“Little Women” was resting on her night table. She wanted to read it but was tired and she had to wake up early to reach the office early. She checked her alarm and placed the phone on her night table. She laid out her dress for the next day and jumped on her bed. She lay on her stomach, grabbed a pillow to her side and let herself in the arms of sleep.

Hours went by, she was so tired that the moment she let her head fall on the pillow, she was asleep. But soon her sleeping position caused her arm to fall asleep. The funny sensation in her arms woke her up from her sleep. She shifted on her back and went right back to sleep.

But the next moment she heard her doorknob turning. But then she realised that she never heard the keypad beeping. It meant only one thing, her sleepy mind was playing tricks on her. She groaned and grabbed the pillow closer.

She was halfway to again go back to sleep when she felt a cold hand caressing her cheeks. She tried to ignore it thinking that her mind was still playing tricks on her. She swatted the hand away and went back to sleep. But she could feel the hot breath on her face.

She realised that her mind was not doing anything, someone was inside her house, inside her bedroom. She opened her eyes, and the rug was pulled from under her feet. A handsome face was close to hers. Kyung-Soo was staring down at her.

She opened her mouth to scream but instantly Kyung-Soo placed his palm over her mouth and silenced her.

“Shh... shh... shh,” he shushed her. “You will only listen, I will talk.” He sat next to her and lowered his face even further.

Nivritti suddenly slapped him on the face. That made Kyung-Soo remove his hand from her mouth. She swiftly kicked him out of the bed and jumped out of bed and started running away.

Before she could exit the room, Kyung-Soo picked her up easily with one hand and threw her against the wall. His large body enclosed her completely. She again threw her arm at him, but he grabbed her hand, twisted it behind her back and pulled her closer.

He just kept staring at her with anger. For a minute they both kept looking at each other without speaking a single word. Kyung-Soo slowly moved his other hand behind her neck and inserted his fingers in her soft hair. He grabbed a good chunk of hair and pulled her head back.

She groaned with pain but never removed her angry eyes from his face. He could take it no longer. Her anger was making her hotter. He placed his lips over hers with urgency and started sucking her lower lip.

He let go of her hand and ran his hands all over her back. He kept sucking her lips with passion. Between sucking he would bite her lips hard. He was not ready for the tongue action yet. He was busy playing with and teasing her lips.

Nivritti wanted to push him away but was too into the kiss. She wanted more. Slowly her fingers ran all over his chest and then she wrapped her arms around his neck. Kyung-Soo was sucking her lips as if his life depended on it.

She moaned and groaned in his arms making him kiss her more. Now he was ready to dance with her tongue.

“NK!!” she exclaimed.

“Who?” said the man.

“Kyung-Soo stop playing. Give me more,” urged Nivritti.

“I am not Kyung-Soo,” said the man.

“What?” She opened her eyes and looked at the man. He was Kyung-Soo. All tall, all handsome, standing before her. But the next moment her eyes widened. The handsome face started changing into a rugged one. The clean-shaven face changed into a face with light stubble. The height of the man decreased by a few inches.

“I am not Kyung-Soo but you very well know, who I am,” laughed the man.

Nivritti pushed the man away as far as she was capable of. She started hyperventilating. She could not scream, she could not run, she just froze, unable to breathe. The man she was running from was standing before her.

He moved towards her. It took him an eternity to walk up to Nivritti. He moved his hand in her direction and before he could touch her, she woke up screaming.