Olivia mentally rolled her eyes, 'What a fool!'
But in reality, as Ankita, she showed an extremely scared expression. Her voice trembled as she tried maintaining a distance between her and Deepa, who closed in on er with a twisted expression.
"Don't come any closer!"
"Why? Why won't he look at me? What spell did you cast on him? Will he notice me if you die? Ha..hahaha. Yes, he will. I just need to get rid of you." She kept saying to herself like a psycho.
Ankita did not notice the bunch of rods strewn on the ground and tripped on it, falling on her back. She scrambled up with difficulty and kept retreating deeper into the alley.
"Deepa. Please... please leave me alone. Look, I've done everything you asked me of. Why are you doing this to me?"
Ankita's voice cracked. Tears glistened in the corner of her eyes.
"Why? I hate you! You're the reason Koushik is treating me this way." She kicked Ankita in the stomach.
Clutching her abdomen in pain, she bent over her knees, crying. Deepa grabbed her hair with full force and lifted her face.
She clicked her tongue and said, "Look at how scared you look."
A creepy smile formed on her lips, "Let me free you from your fear."
She pushed Ankita's backwards and stood up in search of something.
Due to the sudden force, Ankita fell flat on the ground. She held her belly in one hand and her head in the other. Suddenly Deepa's eyes gleamed viciously. She grabbed a broken brick from nearby and raised it above her head, intending to smash Ankita's head into pieces.
"DIE!"
Ankita shrieked and closed her eyes. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Thud.
The brick landed.
Ankita opened her eyes, realising she did not feel any pain. Did she die? Her vision was blurry because of all the tears, but gradually, she could make out the person in front of her. He bent down and helped her up.
"...Koushik?"
After a moment of pause, Ankita leaped into his embrace and started sobbing uncontrollably.
Koushik also hugged back and gently caressed her hair. He was saying something to soothe her but amidst her crying, she could not hear anything. After some time when she had calmed down, she slowly loosened her grip.
"Are you alright?" He asked softly.
He was still holding her, though not as tightly as before. Ankita looked down and nodded quietly. He helped her up and turned around, shielding her with his body. Only then did Ankita notice Deepa, who was lying on the ground. Earlier, Koushik had kicked her hand away, causing the brick to land next to her instead of Ankita's head. Her elbows were bleeding and she was clutching her hip. Probably from the hard fall.
"How dare you?" His voice came like a rumble of thunder.
"I thought the incident of your father getting arrested would teach you a lesson to not bully people. But instead of repenting for your misdeeds, you want to murder someone? Don't you know you can be put in jail?"
Ankita held onto his shirt tightly and looked over his shoulder.
Koushik looked at her with a gentle gaze and said, "Don't be scared. I won't let her hurt you anymore."
Then, he turned to Deepa with a steely voice, "Previously, I only thought of informing your parents about your deeds in school, but now you've left me with no choice. I wish you a happy stay in jail with your father."
But Deepa did not seem to care about all that. She looked at Ankita with eyes full of hatred.
"You b*tch! I'll finish you today."
Saying that, she charged forward. But Koushik grabbed her by the collar in time and yanked her back.
"Don't you dare try to harm her again. Else I won't be as merciful as sending you to jail only." He said through gritted teeth.
His black eyes emitted a rare ferocity. Everything about him looked frightening. Deepa's body went limp. She had never imagined that Koushik, the ever mischievous and flirty member of Antariksha could become this dangerous. Finally, the gravity of the situation dawned on her.
She started crying and begging at his feet, "Please let me go. I promise I won't harm her anymore."
Koushik threw her away, "Please take her to the police station and provide the evidence."
Two women in security uniforms came over and took her away.
After the mess was cleared, Koushik turned to Ankita and held her face, "Where did she hurt you?"
Ankita stood there silently, staring at his face. All her words were stuck in her throat.
"You... knew?" She finally squeezed out her thoughts.
At first, Koushik did not understand what she was talking about but then, he slowly said, "Let's get you home first. You need treatment. We can leave the qna episode for later."
He held her shoulders and gently led her out of there.
When they were almost out of the alley, Ankita suddenly thought of something, "Are Bikram and Rishi also..."
Koushik did not let her finish her sentence, "I messaged our manager to send two cars. They already left."
His consideration left her stunned again. Ankita softly mumbled a word of gratitude and got inside the car. No one spoke on the road but the silence was not uncomfortable. Ankita was looking out of the window while Koushik was staring straight ahead. After a long while he broke the silence.
"I'm sorry. You had to suffer so much because of me." His voice was laced with guilt.
Ankita slowly turned her head and smile, "It's me who should be sorry. I'm sorry for saying such rude things to you. I'm sorry for pushing you away when you only wanted to be a regular friend, not someone's idol. I'm really sorry, Koushik. I'm really a stupid person. I hurt you so much yet you were the one to save me."
A drop of tear trickled down her left cheek.
Koushik hugged her and said, "Let's not talk about this now. I'll send you home. You need to get treated. We have all the time in the world to discuss these trivial things."