Kabir’s usual relaxed demeanor vanished, replaced by a sudden, sharp seriousness.
He turned to face Tina, his jaw clenching.
“Tina, is that true?” Kabir demanded, his voice dropping low.
“Tell me, where is Piya? You know she’s entirely new to this town. She doesn’t know the roads, she doesn’t know the people around here! Tina, this is not a joke. That’s really messed up.”
“Exactly!” Misha snarled, lunging forward as her grip tightened on the neck of the heavy bottle.
“Which is exactly why I’m going to smash her head open!”
“Ah, Misha, no! Wait, stop it!” Kabir quickly intercepted her, firmly wrapping his hands around the glass bottle and prying it out of her trembling fingers.
“Don’t do this. Hitting her isn’t going to fix anything right now. There is no point.”
He pushed the bottle safely onto a nearby table and grabbed Misha by the shoulders, looking her dead in the eyes.
“Just stay here and calm down. I will go out and find Piya.”
The shadowy figure in the woods was the very same guy—the blue-eyed stranger who had caught her right before she hit the ground, and the same terrifying man in the black vest who had nearly collided with her during the snowfall, leaving her paralyzed with fear without uttering a single word.
Piya stood frozen, her chest heaving as their eyes met through the dark.
But in the split second it took for her to blink her tear-filled eyes, the man vanished into thin air.
He was simply gone.
She frantically scanned the dense, menacing wall of trees.
“Hello…?” her voice trembled into the silence, but there was no trace of him, no sound of rustling leaves, no footsteps.
Panic surged through her like electric current.
Driven by pure terror, Piya turned and sprinted blindly toward the main road.
Meanwhile, Kabir was out on the desolate road, pulling his jacket tighter against the freezing air as he shouted her name into the darkness. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“Piya! Piya, where are you?!”
Suddenly, a figure burst out from the thick, dark treeline, sprinting blindly toward the street.
Before either of them could react, Piya crashed hard right into his chest.
She let out a terrified gasp, trying to shove him away in pure panic, but he quickly grabbed her arms to steady her.
“Hey, hey! Relax, it’s me!” Kabir said, his voice laced with shock and instant relief.
“Piya, it’s Kabir!”
Piya gasped for air, her eyes wide and wild with lingering terror as she looked up and finally recognized him.
Her heart was hammering violently against her ribs, and her whole body trembled like a leaf in the wind.
“Piya, are you okay?” Kabir asked, his brows furrowing in deep concern as he took in her pale face and disheveled state.
“Why are you panting so heavily? What were you running from?”
Piya opened her mouth, but no words came out; she just kept glancing back toward the pitch-black woods, terrified that the blue-eyed stranger was right behind her.
Seeing her frozen in fear, Kabir’s tone softened, but a hint of frustration seeped through.
“And why did you just leave the party without telling anyone? Do you have any idea how much you scared us? Misha is going crazy looking for you, and everyone is so worried. What are you even doing out here in the dark?”
Before Kabir could press further, he finally registered the sheer terror swimming in Piya’s eyes.
She was shaking uncontrollably, her skin as pale as the winter snow, her gaze still fixed on the dark tree line as if expecting a monster to jump out.
Seeing her in such a deeply panicked state, Kabir immediately swallowed the rest of his questions.
“Okay, okay. Just breathe,” he said softly, gently guiding her by the shoulders toward his parked car.
He opened the passenger door and carefully helped her inside.
Reaching into the center console, he pulled out a water bottle and handed it to her. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
“Here, drink some water. Just calm down, Piya. You’re safe now.”
As she took slow, shaky sips, Kabir watched her from the open doorway.
“She must be absolutely terrified of the dark,” he thought to himself, feeling a pang of guilt for yelling at her.
“Wandering into that freezing, dense forest all alone… no wonder she’s out of her mind with fear. I shouldn’t bring up the woods or ask about the incident anymore. Not right now.”
He gently closed her door, walked around the hood, and slid into the driver’s seat.
He turned the heater on to warm her up and put the car in gear.
“Piya, I am dropping you back to your hostel,” he stated firmly.
Piya lowered the water bottle, finally finding her voice, though it was frail and quiet.
“No, Kabir, it’s fine. Please, don’t take the tension… I can manage on my own.”
Kabir let out a dry laugh, offering a small, helpless smile to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
“Piya, please.
Just let me drop you.
Misha specifically sent me out here to find you.
If I don’t make sure you get hostel safely, she is literally going to kill me.
And trust me, after seeing what she was about to do to Tina with a wine bottle, I am “not” taking any chances.”
Hearing Misha’s name brought a tiny, faint glimmer of relief to Piya’s eyes, and she finally nodded, sinking back into the warm leather seat as Kabir drove them away from the haunting darkness of the forest.