After talking with Rhytham about his future plans for a while, Saksham stood up and then walked back towards the balcony and jumped out. Looking at this, Rhytham's eyes opened as wide as bull's eye as he rushed to the balcony and looked down. As he looked down, he just caught a glimpse of Saksham's back before he blended into the darkness. He patted his chest and took deep breaths. Whatever happened today for him was more than what a normal human brain could process. He felt that if he didn't get rest soon, then his brain might just crash from all the overload of information and the subversion of common sense.
He locked the balcony door and slowly walked towards the kitchen. He filled his glass with water and drank all of it in one gulp. As he felt the cold water running down his esophagus, his mind became calm. Even if he felt that all of this was impossible, he still had to believe it. He had experienced the power that shouldn't belong to a human. He has seen the mysterious power of the devil itself. What other choice did he have if not to accept and work for the devil? In fact, as a straightforward person, he had been living with a motto to treat others as they treat you. Leaving aside the fact that it is the devil itself, he had saved his life. So, he had already had it in his heart to repay that heavy debt to the devil, and working for him is the best way he could repay him.
Rhytham washed his face and then went towards the bed. As he closed his eyes to sleep, he unconsciously started thinking about the plans Saksham told him. After tossing and turning for a while, Rhytham fell asleep after counting to 420 sheep.
______________
Saksham pulled off the hood as he walked towards his home slowly. The plan to recruit Rhytham went better than expected. Although Rhytham was an oddball, acting all weird oftentimes, he could see that Rhytham was a capable person. Everything written about him in the system was true. As Saksham thought about this, he pulled up the Bio-data of Rhytham. Yes, this is something Saksham discovered recently. He found out that the information he had gotten from the system with 1 EP can be seen as many times as he wants. Even the bio-data of the people he had used 1 EP for, could be seen as much as he wants.
Name: Rhytham Tyagi
Occupation: Local Gang Leader, Servant Of The Devil (Self-proclaimed)
House Location: House no- xx,
Plot no- xx
Gyan Khand-3
Indirapuram
Personality: Cold, responsible person, Straightforward, loyal, Man of his words, Smart.
Description: After the "devil" saved his life from goons of Akshat, Rhytham felt very grateful towards the devil and readily signed a pact with the "devil" to work for him as his servant.
After reading the newly updated description, Saksham couldn't help but smile wryly. 'This man really took the devil thing seriously, huh?' thought Saksham. After checking if there is any other thing updated in his bio-data, Saksham closed the window. He put his hands in his pocket as his thoughts grew distant again. The chilling winter wind made Saksham tremble as he walked quickly. He really wanted to go and jump inside his bed as soon as he reached his home. With this thought in his head, Saksham's pace of walking increased.
Just a turn before his home, Saksham paused suddenly. He looked ahead and saw an unexpected person. He saw Anitha standing not far away, looking at him with her hands on her waist. Saksham saw her and suddenly remembered the scene in the afternoon. His original happy mood took a turn to the worst again. His feet became heavy as he walked slowly towards Anitha. For some reason, Saksham wanted to avoid Anitha. But he knew that ignoring her was impossible for him.
Before long, he stood in front of Anitha. The atmosphere between them was silent. Feeling the awkward atmosphere, Saksham thought that he should probably say something. As he was about to open his mouth, he felt as if a pair of tongs had clamped on his right ear. Saksham suddenly cried out in pain.
"Argh!!!"
Before he knew it, he was beginning for forgiveness from Anitha.
"I am sorry, Anitha. Please forgive me! I won't do it again, I promise!"
Anitha kept silent for a while before she opened her mouth and said, "You also said this the last time and you still left me alone and went home yourself again. This time, I am really not going to forgive you."
"That was really my bad. I really, really won't do it next time. I swear! Give me one last chance, please!" Saksham cried out pitifully.
Maybe she couldn't stand his pitiful wails, the grip on his hears became weaker and Saksham took this opportunity to escape the evil tongs of death. Softly caressing his right ear, Saksham pitifully said, "You really don't have to pull it so hard, you know. I really might become deaf because of that."
Anitha snorted and said, "Who told you to ignore me and leave me all alone once again."
"But that was because you were with that g-��
Saksham stopped as he realized what he was going to say next. He didn't dare to look at Anitha's eyes now. He simply looked down with a bitter smile at the corner of his lips. He once again felt his chest tightening as his breathing became disordered. He had many words to say and at the same time, he didn't have any words. He wanted to ask her about the boy who was with her in the afternoon, and at the same time, he was afraid of the answer from her. So, he was really entangled about this.
After not hearing any voice coming from Anitha, Saksham became disappointed. He didn't understand what he was disappointed about. But he still felt disappointed and his already bad mood became even more depressing. All the memories about Anitha from his childhood surfaced in his head. All the plays and the promises surfaced one after another. Not knowing when Saksham's eyes became wet.
At this time, Saksham felt a soft feeling his chest. That soft and warm feeling spread through his entire chest. This strange feeling and the soft touch brought Saksham out of his daze. He found a pair of hands clutching behind his back and a trembling, soft body leaning on his chest. His eyes widened as he realized that Anitha had hugged him. But before he could even open his mouth, he felt something was wrong. His chest felt wet for some reason. Another strange thing was that Anitha's body was trembling while the wet feeling at his chest region grew. After a moment of daze, Saksham realized that Anitha was crying.
The girl he grew up with never cried in front of him. There had always been a gentle smile on her face. There was always that softness in her eyes but never tears. But then…why are there tears in her eyes today?
Saksham immediately panicked as immediately asked, "What happened Anny? Why are you crying? Please, don't cry. Don't cry, please."
But his words didn't work at all. Instead, the trembling grew even more intense. Saksham felt guilty about making her cry. He couldn't think of any way to make her stop crying. His mind went blank for a while. But then, he heard a soft crying voice that pulled him out of his daze.
"I would…never…leave you. Why..don't you understand…Do you know…how hurt I was when you left me with that strange look in your eyes in the afternoon? It felt as if you were looking at a stranger…I was so hurt that it felt like I couldn't breathe…And then…you left me all alone and left…why? Am I not good enough? Don't you trust me?...why Saksham?"
"…I…"
Saksham became speechless for a while. No words came out of his mouth. In the end, a bitter smile formed on his face. The guilty feeling of making Anitha cry was replaced with bitterness and anger. He looked at the trembling Anitha and the raised his right hand and then,
SLAP!
Anitha's body suddenly stopped trembling as she heard this sound. She raised her head slowly to look at Saksham. At this moment, She once again heard it.
SLAP!
Under the faint light from the street lights, Anitha saw Saksham��s right cheek was as red as a monkey's butt. But the strange sound didn't stop yet. This time she saw it with her own eyes. She saw Saksham raise his right hand slapping his own cheeks with his whole strength.
SLAP!"I…don't understand. I…am a stupid f*cker! I let my inferiority take control of my sense of judgment. I have always failed to understand that I have been hurting you. I failed to understand you. I…have failed me."
With each sentence, the sound of the slaps grew even louder. But Saksham still gritted his teeth as looked directly into stupefied Anitha's tear-filled eyes and said hoarsely, "I promised you that I would become your knight and protect you at all times. I promised you that I would always keep you happy. I promised you that I would never leave you alone. But…I broke all the promises."
As if feeling that slaps were not enough, Saksham punched himself right on the cheeks. With each sentence, Saksham punched himself with all his strength. If you think that Saksham used his powers to not feel any pain, then I can assure you that Saksham was very well feeling all the pain from the punches and the slaps, but he knew that the pain he felt on his cheeks could never equal to the pain he made Anitha suffer.
He realized that the feelings he had for Anitha were even more intense than his feelings for his own life. He could give up on his own life but he could not give up on Anitha. That's what Saksham was feeling now. So, the pain was just a stimulant for him right now to confess his true feelings out.
Saksham's voice suddenly grew small and weak, "Anny…can you please…forgive me one last time? I won't make any promises…because from now on…I will be making everything come true, not leaving things for the future. I will make you the happiest woman there is. I will never leave you. And I will never let a single tear escape your eyes. If I fail to do any of the things I said, I want thunders to fall on m-"
Before Saksham could finish, he found that there was a finger pushed towards his lips. He looked at Anitha and found that her tearful face was full of smiles. She shushed him and said gently, "Don't say it. What will I do if you are no longer in this world? I will be all alone, so I forgive you. Now, don't forget what you said. If I find you slacking even a bit, I am going to pull your ears until you become deaf next time. Understood?"
Saksham saw the familiar gentle smile and the tenderness in her eyes and found that his vision was getting blurry. He touched his face and found that it was wet with tears. The more he tried to stop them, the more they fell. The sadness, guilt, regret, and pain he felt, everything suddenly poured out as Saksham started to wail loudly as he hugged Anitha tightly to his chest. He had never realized how much he cared about Anitha until he saw the tears in her eyes. But now that he understood, he was never going to let that feeling go.
Anitha also snuggled in his warm embrace happily and patted his back gently. She spoke in a gentle tone as if coaxing a child, "There, there, don't cry anymore."
And although his wails had stopped, Saksham's tears didn't stop. Call him crybaby all you want, but as the last teardrop left his eyes, something changed inside him for better. The change was good and bad at the same time. Saksham doesn't know that because of this change, he would almost destroy the world but that is a story for a different time.