Well guys this is an extremely long update and I expect extremely long comments from all of you! You know the only thing which keeps this update form getting shelved is your love to this story! I am truly awaiting your response out here.
As you know this Enigma version is pretty fast paced so expect it to over pretty quickly :)
With lots of love,
You know who!
(the chapter is given below)
As you know this Enigma version is pretty fast paced so expect it to over pretty quickly :)
With lots of love,
You know who!
(the chapter is given below)
CHAPTER 3
A deathly silence filled as the room. He hesitated to took a step towards the women whose eyes screamed accusation. “You did this purposely right?”
After all that they had shared, she hadn’t expected that he would take such a drastic step. “Lis…”
“Why?” her voice cracked and the pain laced in her word hurt him more than her. If only she knew that.
“I didn’t mean it.” He sighed and walked closer to her while the woman turned her head away “I never expected this.”
“You shouldn’t keep expectations from me.” The words came harsher than they were intended. He shut his eyes in his mistake.
“Look… I…” “Enough!” The woman wobbled on her foot and stared at the man who had almost meant something to her. “It was my mistake. Just mine. Where’s the question of trust or even sensibility at this moment!”
Just as she was about to make her way out did he hold her elbow and and pull her against his chest “No one walks away from me!”
“What should I expect after what you did?” She hobbled away while he held her “Please listen to me.”
“Tell me…” and he remained quiet, he wasn’t ever good with words.
He left an exhausted sigh as he noticed her walking towards the door “How ar…” “I’ll manage…”
“The hell you will.” He whispered and her eyes darted to his when he caught her wrist in blatant possession and led her to his car, he swiftly picked her up and placed her inside.
He clenched the steering wheel tight till his knuckles turned white, his senses betrayed him when he had picked up her soft form in his arms. He turned aside to find her pressing her face to the window.
“Itna shauq hai bahar chipakna toh gaari ke upar beitha doon?” He bit it out while she glared at him with equal fury.
He stopped his car in middle of a deserted road and tugged on her arm, brushing away the look of worry on her face he spoke “Listen Sakshi, I never knew that sending you to retrieve a fake passport would end up injuring you. I was there. Trust me.”
“You were there but you failed to keep me fine!” Sakshi bit out and regretted the minute she saw his face harden and mist cloud his eyes. She was being furious and unreasonable since the minute he had offered to pick her up from her apartment for office.
She barely could explain the fact that her injury would lead to her mission getting hampered and being with the man with a temper and sinful heat, Sakshi Anand found herself becoming more like him. She yelled at him for no fault of his!
“I didn’t mean…” “Office’s here.” Arjun whispered and got out of the car and stormed towards the office while Sakshi struggled to get out of the car. She yelped slightly in pain to find him coming back to her, holding her elbow in a startling gentleness. He gently lifted her like a child and placed her back on the ground “The worst thing about me is that, no matter whom I am with - my presence leads to the end of any other person. I could never save anyone.”
“I am sorry Arjun.” Sakshi whispered and held on to him while he frowned and shook his head “Yeh itni asaani se kaise aa sakta hai? Yeh sorry bolna… maafi mangna… It doesn’t work like this Sakshi.”
“I barely make a mistake Arjun, sorry isnt’ too common for me either. Saying the word and meaning it has a difference. I didn’t mean what I said before. The thing is that you were there hence I got shot, if not I would have probably been dead.” Sakshi smiled and felt an anger towards herself.
For the first time in her life she had been distracted during a mission as trivial as the one before. All because her eyes were fixed on his lithe form as he pounced on the gang with a panther like agility.
Since when was Sakshi Anand focused on the hollows of a man’s collar bones, his clenched jaw, intense eyes and chiseled figure and the way his shirt stuck against his ripped torso? Sakshi blinked and stepped away in anger.
If she needed to dig deeper in her brother’s death - in spite of the fact that she was a witness to it - the she needed to stay away from Arjun.
Period.
She remembered how Kapoor had admonished her a week before.
“What! No no… wait, you are asking me to believe that a high intelligence officer who has been in the Emergency Task Force as a disguise and has dodged a bullet of AK-47 is shot by a pistol? What the f*** is wrong with you Sakshi Anand!” Kapoor blasted at Sakshi who looked at her feet and whispered a sorry.
“Kappy love, I think it is fine…” Verma tried to intervene to be shut off by Kapoor “I don’t want to speak to you Verma, so please don’t come in between.”
Kapoor sighed and looked at an embarrassed Sakshi who gulped at the fierce gaze. “I d…”
“You got distracted right?” Kapoor walked close to Sakshi who shifted uncomfortably, Kapoor changed the course of question on seeing her turn tense.
“Your double got a foot injury right?” Kapoor asked while Sakshi nodded “Don’t forget to keep that in mind. How’s your hand?”
“Fine…” Sakshi squeaked and sighed in relief when Kapoor walked out and Verma passed a sad look.
Sakshi stormed off rapidly unaware of Arjun staring at her.
The next thing Sakshi knew was being pinned to a wall while Sakshi threw him an incredulous look yet shut her eyes at his proximity.
“We need to discuss more on the Shekhawat case and I need to draft a report.” Sakshi whispered while Arjun frowned “You are so wonderful in lying aren’t you?”
Sakshi’s eyes snapped open at his words “What?” she asked and to his horror he bent down and grabbed her ankle and twisted it slightly “No pain Miss Anand!”
Sakshi stammered at her lie being caught, for the first time she felt tears dwelling in her eyes when Arjun told her that she disgusted him.
She was lying, her feet was fine but the hate in his eyes was…
Painful…
“I didn’t lie…” Sakshi said and Arjun stopped on his tracks. She wiped her tears and gulped.
“Lie… lie to gain his trust, his sympathy… you know he feels for you. Lie to get his…” Sakshi’s heart whispered to her...
“No Sakshi what are you thinking of! This is the best wedge which can be created between you and him” Verma warned.
“Why should I lie?” Sakshi took a difficult breath as Arjun walked towards her with confusion in his eyes.
“Then how could you walk normally?” Arjun crossed his arms and stared at her.
“He’s listening to you… lie Sakshi!”
“Shut up… no Sakshi, let this create a barrier!” Verma tried to yank sense in Sakshi.
“I have a weak ligament with momentary shifts of pain and relief. I had torn it when I had gone to catch hold of a bite for the paper. I also go for physiotherapy classes… I felt better so I tried to walk normally but then at times it does hurt.” Sakshi looked away while Arjun shook his head and placed his hand on his hips.
“You aren’t serious… is it true?” Arjun asked and Sakshi felt a jolt of anger in her.
Anger on herself for actually lying to Arjun for selfish reasons.
“What do you think? That I die for you! That I can go to any extent to just get your favour and feelings for me! You mean nothing for me Arjun and I won’t justify myself anymore! BYE!” Sakshi shouted and stormed towards her cubicle.
At one end Arjun was in shock to have received such an answer and he really thought if it was indeed nothing but a lack of judgement. A strange feeling of negativity filled him when he recalled her bursting on him.
He didn’t want her to hate him.
Sakshi sat in her cubicle, staring helplessly at the ceiling. She wasn’t supposed to lie only to be in the good books of Arjun yet she did it. She lied and she saw regret on his face. Damn it! Why was she screwing up her life?
She didn’t want to fall in love with him and be selfish enough to make him feel the same!
~*~
“Who are you?” Sameer asked, refusing to read the hurt in her eyes.
“An ETF Officer.” Ayesha whispered, gulping the pain which rose like bile in her throat.
“Liar, wherever you are not there in the office something wrong goes around. You seem to know every information even before we happen to know it. So why are you here Ayesha? Wait… is that even your name?” Ayesha flinched at his words laced with sarcasm and bit back a soft cry of the broken woman in her.
Sameer’s eyes widened slightly as he noticed Ayesha’s sagged form take in a powerful posture. Ayesha flipped back her hair and took a deep breath in “Mr. Rathore, you must have noticed that when I was not in the office, something good happened to the society?”
“No don’t mistake me for a vigilante of sorts.” Ayesha took a pause “Everyone in the ETF is allowed to do a continue a certain sector of their work even after being an officer in ETF. As far as I am concerned, on one hand I was an officer - on the other, Nadia still existed. That’s all Sameer…” Ayesha’s voice cracked as she lied at the end.
Sameer’s grip on the gun faded as her words made sense to him.
“Why didn’t you ask me? What was the need for this! This nice behaviour, gentleness, behaving like someone much more than a friend. Why did you need to show me something I wanted to see?” Ayesha whispered and sniffed harshly to control her emotions.
Sameer stammered as he tried to speak, so clouded was he by his emotions that he didn’t understand that she didn’t reveal enough of information. He was sure that Ayesha had been leaking the messages but now as he tried to re analyse what he had observed, Ayesha had done nothing wrong.
Another lack of judgement, after Rawte.
“Ay…”
“Don’t even take my name Mr. Rathore!” Ayesha yelled and yanked the gun off his hand. “You have every right to question me as the Chief of ETF, but you had no right to… kiss me” hot tears poured out of her eyes.
For the first time Ayesha had felt alive, she had begun to accept the little person in her who died years back. She wanted to feel and live… but her dreams were crushed brutally.
She was still the brutal merciless Nadia and the emotionless Ayesha.
“You just proved that all men are same. What was the need for this?”
“I… dd.. don’t know why I kissed you.” Sameer confessed while Ayesha chuckled “Yeah… I just know why you did so? A temporary rush of lust? Knowing you, now, one thing is clear. You’re one of those guys to run away if you stay with a girl through the night…”
“It wasn’t lust Ayesha…”
“Oh don’t give me the love thy enemy crap. You did consider me an enemy right?” Ayesha threw the gun away and took wobbly steps towards the door.
“To even think I loved you…” Ayesha whispered and bolted out of his house.
Sameer Rathore had made the biggest mistake of his life.
~*~
“Hmmm…” a guttural moan left his throat while he worked on her pliant form. He didn’t pay heed to her shifting or her soft little whispers. A ring on his cellphone brought him back to reality.
Sikandar shot up, looked below to find Ingrov in a tousled mess and digested the bitter feeling which crept up his skin.
For the first time he had been dragged towards a woman, just because she was young and so like… her.
Still resting atop her, he picked up his phone and chatted with his right hand man.
Ingrov opened her large eyes and peeped at the powerful man before her who was rattling off in a strange language. She gulped a little and tilted her head slightly.
It was fearful to admit but it was true, she had begun to feel.
It had been six years in this disgusting line where every man was a parasite, except the man before her. She received fresh food and clothes. She was not experimented and he never brought men home to feast her… with them.
A tear rolled by as she recalled her bitter past but she brushed them off and let affection take a place in her heart as she gazed at his features. A few flicks of hair touched his forehead. A droplet of sweat trailed from his prominent Adam’s apple till his hard torso.
Ingrov didn’t complain, the man before her was sheer perfection. She never bothered that he was the most dreaded. She was fed daily, was allowed to sleep, was not clamped and wasn’t stuffed up.
She felt like she was in a domestic relationship. He went, did his work… came back home at night and slept off.
Sometimes with her.
Ingrov smiled at herself, she wouldn’t mind living with this man for the rest of her life. He was an escape for her.
“Off.” he said and shook her shoulder slightly as Ingrov came back to reality. She crawled out and put on her discarded robe… she was used to him isolating her whenever they were together. She was surprised to not find disgust but guilt etched in his eyes.
If only she could removed the immense sadness from his eyes.
Sikandar stared at the ceiling and let the rare moment of self introspection hit him.
What if he had never met Arjun? What if he was nothing but a simple sports coach with a teacher for a wife? What if they were nothing but simple humans?
He closed his eyes and recalled his dead wife’s smile towards him. Her soothing caresses and the times when life was good.
A beep broke his dream and he checked his message.
Life was a boring routine, deals would be sanctioned and he would knock down those whom he thought as a threat. Casinos weren’t of his taste and girls were never good enough. Except the one with him.
He only waited for the right time - the death of Arjun Rawte.
Till then he could, relax.
~*~
“Four years back… hmm checking…” Kapoor searched through various files while Verma coughed slightly.
“You seem to be in a bad mood.”
“Mind your own business if you can?” Kapoor snapped back and Verma nodded sheepishly.
“Okay, so Arjun’s had a pretty boring career. From the past four years, the information I got was boring - the usual knocking down some great criminals, espionage activities - he’s just a normal great cop. However…” Verma put on a little smile as finally Kapoor seemed to give some attention.
“However…” Kapoor tapped the table impatiently,
“Wah wah Kappy, over there Ayesha is tutiya dil and over here you seem to be sad and depressed kya Kapoor Kapoor connection!” Verma laughed to be whacked by Kapoor.
“Done?! Now if you can please cut off the crap.”
“Woah calm down yaar! Okay, so I found something interesting… not related to Arjun but to Samrat, someone within had leaked the information to Rafiq’s then right hand man about Samrat and his whereabouts.”
“Good work Verma, so it’s an officer - good we have solid proo…” Kapoor stopped abruptly and coughed.
“What?” Verma asked.
“Have you checked why the ETF Delhi is asking for a Chief replacement? See what happened to our man right there!”
Verma nodded and set to work, was the Chief of ETF dead…. but how?
Kappy blew a breath of relief as Verma walked away.
A gaze on the paper and anyone would have been shocked to his wits to know…
That Arjun had leaked the information of Samrat’s whereabouts.
CHAPTER 4
A soft hum lulled in the air as Ingrov walked around his house, polishing every bit of dust. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she cooked up a meal for herself. Secretly leaving a piece for him in the refrigerator.
She had long known that he would hate any open gesture of affection hence she would try to cover up her actions. Mostly they would go unnoticed or he wouldn’t know it was her.
No one was allowed to come on Sikandar’s house at a repetitive basis. Ingrov gazed at the machines with a childlike glee, they automatically wiped his floor and sucked the dust. Man and his inventions!
She gently made up the bed, changing the bedsheets from black to red, knowing very well he wouldn’t notice any of the change. He wouldn’t notice that she was wearing a pretty lace dress and had styled her hair to seek his appreciation.
It was the second time Ingrov had cried in her life… for she didn’t look nor feel like a prostitute anymore. She was a woman.
The apron tied around her waist made her unsung wish come true. She knew he loved to be perfect, thus she set upon the task of perfecting his house… which was nothing more than an extra swipe or dust.
That was when Ingrov had made the biggest mistake of her life.
In an attempt to brush off the stubborn stain on a door’s handle, she never realised when she had unlocked it and stumbled inside an old room. She clutched her dress, petrified as an loud alarm rung.
Rage blazed through Sikandar when he heard the alarm.
He stormed through his office and paced towards the east wing of the house. He knew someone had broken into his room… little knowing that that room held the key of his heart. It collected his evidence of weakness.
He walked in to find Ingrov on the floor, dusting her knee when she knocked a picture frame down. She bit her lips in fear when she noted the possessed look in his eyes. “How dare you!” He barked while she begged apology.
“I dd...didn’t know. Was cleaning, fell by mistake. So.. AAH!” Ingrov screamed as Sikandar jammed her fingers in between the door “Sorry, this is a mistake too. Haven’t you heard that curiosity kills the cat?” He watched her with a morbid expression as she screamed and begged forgiveness and claimed innocence every time he jammed the door.
She fell to his feet for mercy while he let her go, just to attend another important call. Ingrov crawled on the floor, her throat sore from screaming when she felt her hair pulled by him. Within a few minutes she knew that she was being dragged to his room.
Hell broke loose as he ripped apart her clothes, a sadistic pleasure seeing her disoriented, scratched and bruised. She touched his weak nerve and she deserved it.
He paid no heed to her red, displaced fingers nor her pleas. He shoved her into his closet and brutally cupped her jaw “DARE YOU COME OUT.” Ingrov nodded tearfully and clutched her throbbing hand as he locked her inside.
He broke a hole in the closet so she could breath. Fear could only be felt when a person would be alive.
That’s the best about fear.
He walked out of his house for a quick meeting with the drug lords. He groaned on how boring his day would be.
He returned home precisely twenty three hours later.
Cracking his knuckles he walked towards the security room to check the CCTV footage. No one would have guessed that he had broken fingers and had abused a woman by his calm demeanour.
That’s what defined Sikandar, he would torture first.. question later. His level of torture depended on the level of the person before him.
He cracked a can of cola and scanned through the footage to focus it on Ingrov. A small frown settled on his forehead when he watched her smile and work through his house, so innocently.
A muscle leaped in his jaw when he realised that she had indeed been cleaning the door handle.
A few minutes later, he had be rewinding and replaying the time she fell into the room.
A soft growl left Sikandar’s mouth when he realised that she hadn’t even known what’s in the room - there had only been a difference of ten seconds between her falling and his arrival. She hadn’t even unlocked the second security door of the room.
Sikandar fisted his hands to control what seeped in his heart, agony… He wasn’t supposed to feel any of this. But then he had never been wrong before. He tried to gulp the bitterness which filled his mouth and the loath which he felt.
Which he knew she would have felt.
Sikandar had gloated on the glory that the difference between him and Arjun was that the latter was unethical.
Today there was no difference between either of them.
~*~
Today there was no difference between either of them.
This was the thought which loomed in Arjun’s head as he compared his impulsive behaviour and its effects.
He didn’t know what had set him to send Sakshi off to a mission which would hurt her. He himself knew that it was dangerous. He knew that she wasn’t wearing any bullet proof jacket, he knew it all along.
He knew that they weren’t going to catch hold of those who made faux passports but rather come across terrorists who did such work.
In spite of knowing everything, he sent a journalist in place of an encounter specialist.
Hadn’t he known how much Sakshi meant for hi… for the team? Yet he sacrificed her… why?
Sikandar had known how much Roshni meant for Arjun, yet he sacrificed her… why?
What was the difference between the two if each time the woman of his life got sacrificed for a crazed passion of jealousy, arrogance and play?
Woman of his life… how did Sakshi fit into it? The thought which troubled him more was that he knew that he cared for Sakshi, he knew he was treading on dangerous waters.
Shame and guilt coursed through his veins. Shame that he hadn’t even avenged Roshni’s death but had developed sinful feelings for another woman. Guilt because the other woman’s life was desolate due to him.
There had always been another reason why Arjun quietly accepted the blame of Roshni’s death, it at least made him feel good that he was paying for his sins. Even though it wasn’t about Roshni’s death, it was of Samrat’s.
His suspicions were confirmed when Sakshi told him that Samrat was murdered… thanks to him - that, she never knew.
His thoughts were broken by the shrill ring of his phone “Sakshi here, apparently the drugs we found in the garage are being manufactured in Rumal Soya Factory. Can I pick you up?” Her hesitant voice sent waves of uncomfortability in Arjun.
“Y.. yeah. How are you?” Arjun spoke, unaware he had been clutching the sterling silver locket of Roshni’s.
“How do I sound?” Sakshi spoke softly, her finger twiddling with her hair lock. “Hmm… better.” He said and released a breath.
“Better…” Sakshi whispered, both confused if it was a statement or a question.
~*~
Sameer yawned and moved it a bit to find a nestling warmth beneath him. His eyelids fluttered open to find Ayesha sprawled beneath him, her tanned skin a sharp contrast to the white sheets of his bed.
The previous one week had been hell for him. The last thing Sameer would ever imagine was of Ayesha to acknowledge him, forget about a conversation.
Sameer trailed his finger down her spine in affection, recollecting memories of the past. Ayesha turned around, facing him. With a frown on her face she stared at him and fell back to sleep, too lazy to even pull the blanket.
They weren’t on their best terms, yet, but they couldn’t do without each other. It had been four days back when Ayesha had walked into his cabin with a bunch of files in her hands.
“How are you?” Sameer whispered while Ayesha stood stiffly, passing the files to him.
“As good as you let me be.” Her caustic reply didn’t go too well with him but he let her vent out. Ayesha cared to notice the sudden loss of vigor and the dark circles of his eyes. He was punishing himself.
“Did you feel for me? Like honestly…” An abrupt question from Ayesha surprised Sameer. He bent his head down guiltily and nodded. She muttered a good and sat on the visitor’s chair, waiting for Sameer to sit down as well.
“Something told me you wouldn’t have suspected me if…” Ayesha shook her head and passed the files “Someone has been deliberately using my name for something else. I don’t know… from these documents I still have been doing illegal activities… why didn’t you say anything?”
“I knew... you weren’t a betrayer. I can’t afford to make the same mistake twice.” He sighed and stared at her lost face “I ruined everything between us, right?” Ayesha blinked back a tear and cleared her throat.
“Someone has bugged the ETF, we don’t know who it is. So the thing is that, you believed I was in fault because it was made to look like I was in fault.” Ayesha kept her hands to herself, not wanting to reach out to him when she wanted to do nothing but keep him close to her.
She just wanted peace and the confidence of someone. Not that of a sister’s - she did have Sakshi… but of that special someone’s.
Four days later she ended up in his house as the two were trying to crack the case. It was then she got to know about his Delhi transfer and it was then when she told about what Sakshi had learnt about the ex Chief of ETF Delhi.
He had been assassinated, and he had been the most respected of them all. Fear had caught her heart because Sameer literally looked like the next in line.
He was grateful and didn’t shy away from crying at her concern and care. Their caresses turned to heated kisses and before either knew, each had laid a claim on the other.
“Morning…” Sameer traced the shell of her ear while Ayesha stared at him. Apprehension flooded on her face, did they do the right thing?
Ayesha closed her eyes and rested her palm on his nape, waiting for him to speak further.
Sameer Rathore would never forget the expression on Ayesha’s face as he poured out two words
“Marry me?”
~*~
“Yes?”
Sakshi flustered when she bumped into Arjun.
“Oh, hi…” The duo stood awkwardly, not knowing what to say to the other. In spite of himself, Arjun gazed through Sakshi, taking in the way she dressed and set her loose locks. He closed his eyes and turned aside. Each time he felt for her, it was no less than a sin for him.
Arjun was tired in this abyss of mystery and suspense. His brain failed him… his systems worked against him all the time. More than killing Sikandar, Arjun wanted to ask.. why? He was just a normal police officer and she was just an ordinary teacher. He had never done any harm to Sikandar himself, he didn’t even know how the man looked like.
Yet he was punished in the most brutal way a man could ever know. Life had an ugly way of paying off deeds, Arjun wouldn’t claim of being honest but the fact that Roshni had paid for his sins still hurt him.
“Arjun…” A soft murmur and a delicate hand on his shoulder, Arjun stared at Sakshi - careless that he was giving away his feelings too fast. Sakshi often reminded him of Roshni, in every manner. The way she used to chirp, talk about flowers, gush on kids and her penchant for Indian wear. Arjun accepted that he was selfish… he wanted to know what healing felt like if it meant to be with Sakshi.
His eyebrows furrowed on seeing her dressed in a white kurti. He hated the colour white, it always sent him forewarnings of something terrible. Sakshi gasped a little but stayed mum as Arjun trailed his fingers over the intricate work of lace on her kurti.
Blushing against her will, Sakshi found herself to be closer to Arjun. The immense sadness in his eyes pricked Sakshi. There was always a reason why she pushed him to live and break the shackles of guilt tied around him.
Because she had never been able to do the same.
Only a dying man would tell you how precious life is.
Arjun took in her features, trying to find out from where did she find her strength? Her happiness seemed like a colossal pillar which supported her every time. He knew she beckoned her to him, whenever she gave him a chance to break free.
He knew that giving himself a chance out of the wallowing guilt would help him give Roshni justice, but then he knew better to live when the love of his life had died. Sakshi cringed at the raw pain in Arjun’s eyes.
She would do anything to remove the pain from his eyes. Anything.
She scooted away from him and sat on her scooter, trying to control her haphazard emotions. Her heart thrummed loudly when she felt him sit behind her, the frown never leaving his face. Sakshi shook her head and caught their reflection in the mirror.
Arjun broke away from his chain of thoughts when he heard a giggle, to his surprise he found Sakshi controlling her laughter and Arjun flustered to a deep shade of red on realising what had happened.
In his trail of thoughts Arjun didn’t realise that he had ended up wearing Sakshi’s pink helmet.
“Ok Sakshi… hey! Don’t take a picture!” Arjun growled and tried to snatch her phone while Sakshi denied vehemently and wiped the tears which leaked.
“Pp… pink helmet!” Sakshi laughed and caught her stomach as the situation settled in. An embarrassed Arjun was a treat for her and Arjun couldn’t resist her infectious laughter. He turned his head aside and spared a moment of laughter for himself.
Oh God, when had the days become so devastating that he would end up in a pink scooter, behind a lady and wear a pink helmet? Arjun laughed on catching his own reflection in the mirror and removed the helmet and dumped it on Sakshi’s head.
Her smile ceased as she caught the traces of laughter near his.. sinful mouth. She was too lost to berate herself for her wayward thoughts. “Wonderful…” Sakshi said, breaking his laughter. “What?” “Your smile, it’s a beautiful gift Arjun…” Sakshi coloured as she praised him.
Arjun’s smile reduced a bit on her open expression but he still held her gaze. She coughed a bit and drove her bike, casting shy glances to the man before her every now and them.
She knew she was being so wrong in this, but she didn’t want to be bound by rules. She didn’t feel anything sinful towards Arjun, she knew it was more than affection and she accepted that.
She stopped her scooty near the warehouse and paused to look at Arjun. Her heart hammered continuously against her chest as she found him gazing at her. A tumulous mix of emotions and cause her to step towards him.
This was disaster, what could happen would be disastrous. But something told her that she wouldn’t be able to meet him again. “Thank you… for allowing me to help you out and for letting me do what I want.” She referred to Arjun accepting her views and giving her privacy when she needed them the most.
“You don’t have to…” Arjun said softly, he too was growing aware of their sudden proximity “You see Sakshi, I might have lost the reason to live but that never gave me the right to shun you down just because you brought happiness to m…” He stopped his sentence abruptly as he noticed Sakshi’s widening eyes.
“I did make you happy?” For a second Sakshi wanted to forget everything, the fact that they were here on a case, the fact that she had to go undercover very soon, the fact that she wasn’t the one to provide a happily ever after, etc.
Arjun nodded his head slightly, his gaze darkened when he realised Sakshi - unintentionally - had alternated looks for his eyes to his lips. Her wide pupils told the same story.
She felt for him just as strong or maybe even more. Neither knew who came closer but Arjun didn’t know why he didn’t stop Sakshi when she brushed her lips on the corner of his lips. Embarrassment screamed through her cheeks and Arjun gave into sweet temptation, by imitating her.
Whether it was months of suppressing desires or the yearn to be relieved, nothing could provide an answer as to why did Arjun and Sakshi steal a warm long kiss. There was no clash, no fight, no resistance.
However, realization dawned on Arjun when Sakshi stifled a soft moan into his mouth. He broke away, gently and stared at her with… shock. His fingers touched his moist lips in disbelief, a similar reaction occurred with Sakshi as well.
He opened his mouth to speak when Sakshi stopped him “Don’t say anything… let this be.” Arjun closed his eyes and held her shoulder “Sakshi I don’t want to lead you on… you are a wonderful woman, one of the best I have ever come across…”
“Then why not a chance?” She whispered, knowing she was facing a losing battle when his eyes hardened. “No Sakshi… I didn’t know what happened between us. No don’t look in shame. It wasn’t something shameful… it happened, but it wasn’t love either.” He spoke, guilty for making her feel weak.
“Why don’t we wait for some time Arjun? What if we…” “That is not possible Sakshi. Roshni… she’s always the one for me.” His heart pained to find the lost look on Sakshi’s face.
“Am I not worth the love of anyone?” She hiccuped while Arjun wiped the tear “Sakshi, that person is not me. I will never love you. Period. But you are wonderful and one day you will get a deserving man.”
“But…” “No buts Sakshi. Just understand damn it!” He glared and shook her shoulders.
“You feel nothing for me?” Sakshi stared at his eyes while he grimaced “NO.” He answered.
She touched her lips and gulped as the gravity of the situation removed the blinds of infatuation from her eyes. It was her decision and she made the biggest mistake of her life.
“But I do lov…” She croaked and found herself bearing his wrath “DON’T SAY THAT! I HAVE NEVER LOVED YOU AND NEVER SHALL. NEVER. Do you get that? Please stay away from me, forever.”
Arjun never knew how deep the words impacted Sakshi, yet he couldn’t understand why the words stung him more. He cooled down and turned behind to find that Sakshi had gone…
He spotted Sakshi afar, walking a bit differently towards the warehouse. Her stiff posture gave away her emotions.
If he hadn’t felt anything for the woman as he claimed, why is that when the factory blew up with his team did he find himself hollering with just one name.
Sakshi
~*~
Flames licked the remaining pieces of board and flesh. The unconscious lion lay on the floor, his fingers curled around a melted bangle.
He sniffed his nose and felt nauseated as he saw the dead bodies. Never had he thought would he have to face such a scenario.
But what disgusted him was the slight hushes which he caught on? Karan spat his glass of water as he heard some men in uniform state that the ACP was in charge of the death of his team mates.
His eyes widened as a senior inspector throw the file ETF was working on regarding the organ scam and drugs into the dustbin.
A hidden anger bubbled in Karan as he was determined to get his ‘Shera’ out of the soup… why he had developed such a strong bond for a stranger was another day’s story to tell.
He told the constable that he never knew drugs were at his place, the constable smiled and placed a lakh rupee bundle into his hand.
The only thing his crush and friend, Simran, heard was ;
omg...so shocked but sakshi is alive right?
ReplyDeletewow 2 updates ll read soon
ReplyDeleteOMG!!! I hope Sakshi I s OK!!
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