06
HAUNT ME, LOVE ME

tw: description of an anxiety attack in the last part of this chapter

April

"Aasthaaaa!"

"What?" She snapped up her head, annoyed by the deteriorating quality of the papers she was correcting. Her eyes landed on a familiar face- Pravishth, her colleague.

"Can you arrange me two tickets?"

She rolled her eyes at the request, scoffing.

"Last time I checked, I was a professor," she started, "And my husband was a cricketer- not some event manager,"

It didn't feel weird calling her almost-former husband, my husband.

"Oh come on, help a friend, help a friend," he whined.

"Why do you want tickets, Pravishth?" She asked, raising a brow. "Last time I asked you to tag along you said you'd rather watch the Kardashians than sit in a screeching stadiums full of fanatics who'd kill you if you don't hoot after someone hits ten runs in one ball,"

That rendered her colleague speechless as he swallowed.

"Good grief, you're directly quoting me now?" He asked, rolling his eyes. "Samjho na, ladki ka chakkar babu bhaiyya,"

Aastha scoffed, keeping away her red ink pen. He sat down on the chair in front of her, a grin plastered on his face.

"Bhai, teri life set hai toh meri life bhi set karde,"

She glared at him, burying herself in the bundle of papers again.

"I'm busy,"

"Fine, I'll just text Abhishek," he said. "Hopefully he isn't mad at me anymore," he muttered under his breath but Aastha heard him, ears perking up.

"Don't text him," she quickly said. "My husband's busy unlike someone," she shot a glare at Pravishth who shrugged, he couldn't care less about Aastha's childish remarks when IPL tickets were at stake.

"I'll do it," she resigned to her fate and he victoriously smiled.

"I knew you'd come around," he smugly commented, walking away. Aastha sighed,
shaking her head. She focused back on the topic at hand, correcting some awfully written history papers.

_____

"Sharma! Bowling kar," (Sharma, bowl!) Ishan said, taking position. Abhishek just nodded, and Ishan's mischievous grin wavered.

"Abb hum recreate karenge aapke guruji aur humare Yuvi Paa ki sabse aitihasic moment!" (Now I will recreate your teacher and my favourite Yuvi Paa's most iconic moment) Ishan commented, yet Abhishek remained silent, just shaking his head.

Ishan sighed, as they continued practice for the next few hours. In an uncomfortable silence. Without cracking jokes every second. Without challenging each other in little quests to establish their superiority.

While the real reason of Abhishek's demeanour shift was concealed from the world, Ishan knew. He knew why Abhishek had quietened down, he knew why he seemed fatigued almost all the time, why he would zone out while someone talked about his family— his wife.

Ishan knew everything, and still couldn't do anything about it. He felt helpless, watching from the sidelines as his friend lost himself a little more, every single day.

The day was slow, as Abhishek navigated it rather horribly, being reticent with the people around him, eating just for the sake of it, blasting some English pop music in his headphones— it wasn't bad-sounding nor was it good enough to make him think.

"Good night mate," Travis drawled, hands tucked in his pockets as he made his way back to his hotel room. The two had been taking a silent stroll on the lawn. Abhishek simply nodded, turning on his heels.

Back in his room, he simply lay on the bed, not a single sleepy cell in his bed. Yet, he shut his eyes, trying to summon sleep.

"Congratulations," he mumbled. For completing another day of sun.

_____

3 months ago,

"Abhay,"

"Ye-yeah?" He stuttered, heart thudding in his chest as he saw her walk out of her room.

"About yesterday night-

"I'm sorry, I really am," he guilty mumbled. "I didn't mean to accuse you like that— I was out of my mind-

"I think you're right," her voice was a broken whisper and he paused, registering her words. "I'm screwing us,"

"Aastha- sunn, mein chutiya hu," (Aastha, I'm an idiot)

"Abhay," she weakly protested, "This...everything's too much for me," a confession. His heart skipped a beat.

"I'm going Abhay, jaane de mujhe," she said and he immediately extended his hands, trying to reach out but she stepped back, his hand brushing hers. "Please," she begged. He blinked.

"No, this is- this-

Aastha felt her heart clench at the sight of him. Only he could make her feel so much. Only Abhishek.

"Aastha, we'll figure it out," he whispered softly, engulfing her in a hug. She almost melted, almost gave in to the need of crying in his arms and complaining about everything- but she didn't. A few tears escaped her eyes as she parted the hug, shaking her head firmly.

"It's not working Abhay," she said it like it needed to be said. Like he needed to finally hear the truth. "I'm leaving. There's...there's this house Prateeksha has in Thane, I'm going to live there,"

Abhishek felt like his head was spinning at her declaration.

"Okay," he whispered, trying to ignore how his heart was pounding uncannily fast, how Aastha suddenly seemed blurry as he saw black spots all over. "For now, right?" His voice didn't lose hope.

Aastha's heart broke. Again.

"Okay," she whispered, "For now,"

"We'll...we'll work through this," he somehow managed to speak coherently, the walls an inch close to suffocating him.

"Maybe we need some space," his hope managed to be a little contagious, "Maybe,"

"Maybe," he said, heart still pounding in his chest like that was its normal speed.

The conversation paused. Abhishek's palm gripped onto the steel glass which had some water he'd been drinking before Aastha had come. He chugged it down, the cool liquid calming his racing nerves. He sighed in relief as the darkness which had eloped him for a few seconds disappeared. But his moment of relief was broken as he registered his surroundings.

The darkness took away his Aastha.

Abhishek woke up with a jerk, his heart gripped with a fear. His breathing was rugged and he quickly put his palm over his heart, in a bid to calm himself.

He was used to seeing Aastha in his dreams. They were always momentary and dreamy. But, today...he felt like he relived the nightmare. His throat was parched, the similar dizziness returning.

And in the next few moments, Abhishek was hugging his legs close to his chest, as his heart finally crumbled, fragmenting into unstoppable tears. He sobbed, the heartache unbearable.

First time in three months.

He had allowed himself to feel the pain of losing his entire world, the only love of his life, his Aastha.

Abhishek couldn't understand what was happening to him as his head throbbed, vision was blurry, the world around him spinning while sobs left his lips. With trembling hands, he clutched onto his phone, somehow dialling the one person he could think of.

His mother.

"Abhishek?" His mother received the call, and her voice seemed to instantly relax the man.

"Mummy," he replied meekly, worrying her. It was 2:19 a.m. and her son had called her crying.

"Abhishek, kya hua?" (Abhishek, what happened?) she asked, concern laced to her maternal voice. She couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

"Mummy," he gasped, "Sab khatam ho gaya," (Everything's over)

She was his dream. And now, her memories haunted him, leaving him with nightmarish nights.

Once again, story DOES NOT relate to the real lives of our face claims.

Also, the friends and family will be a part of the story, since I feel that a marriage is very much affected by the people around the couple. (No gold digging, obsessed for years people though unfortunately 😞)