Chapter 2

[MEMBERSONLY]

Thank you so much to everyone for such an awesome response on the first chapter. I know you have many questions which will only increase after reading this update. But I will not answer them now as you will get your answers in the future updates :)

The member who had requested me to write a pure ArHi story without Anjali is Senorita Sanaya

And I hope you like this chapter :)

Also, thank you for your teachers' day and birthday wishes, here on this thread, on the birthday thread, on my scrapbook and in my inbox. If I have not replied to you all, I will do so by tomorrow 🤗

Chapter Two

(2904 words)

The man called ASR drove for several minutes after which he pulled his car on the side of the road. ASR and Aman got out of the car at the same time that a well dressed man and a beautiful, sophisticated looking woman stepped out from behind the bushes. ASR handed over the car keys to the man while the woman came towards the car, opened the door, held her hand as she helped her to step out.

She, the woman, Aman and ASR walked for a few minutes after which they came to a bend in the road which revealed a car waiting for them. They quickly settled in to the car with Aman taking the driving seat while ASR sat next to him and immediately booted the laptop which he had retrieved from the back of the car.

The woman and she settled at the back of this very comfortable car. The woman stretched out her legs and complained "My legs hurt by all this squatting behind the bushes"

"Yeah, you should have been in my place, escaping the bullets" Aman said tauntingly.

"What?? Are you alright? Tumhe lagi toh nahi?" the woman left her seat, leaning towards him, running her hands over his arm.

"I got hit by six bullets and yet I am able to drive this car. I am a Superman!" he said and instantly yelped "Ouch! What was that for?" he massaged his arm where the woman had just hit him.

"Shut up and drive the car" she glared at him and then turned towards her, smilingly widely "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself" Extending her hand, she said with a dazzling smile "Hi, I am Lavanya"

Lavanya was tall, dressed in a white shirt and light blue denims; her hair looked well groomed, her nails were long and painted stylishly, several bracelets rested on her wrist, intertwined within themselves while her fingers adorned several rings. She saw Lavanya bent down to remove her high-heeled ankle length boots, flexing her toes.

She thought about jumping out of the car and tried the door discreetly once. It was locked. No way for escape. Thus she sat silently throughout the journey, observing the trio. ASR was constantly speaking to himself, while looking at his laptop. She realized only later that he was speaking in to the instrument fixed to his ear. Lavanya and Aman spoke in some kind of a code language which she couldn't understand. She understood the words, even though some were in English, but not their implications and the sequence in which they were spoken.

*

As the sun travelled over to the western horizon, their car entered the outskirts of a city and Aman drove further, only to stop outside a modern, tall hotel. It was the kind of hotel that she had seen in the movies, too clean and too classy. Instead of stopping outside its front gate, he maneuvered the car to the back of the hotel, where he parked it smoothly.

She and Lavanya followed the two men to the elevators waiting at the end of the empty corridor. When she had seen these hotels in the movies, she hadn't thought that it would be this quiet over here. It was so quiet that the silence hurt her ears. They entered the elevators which shut with a ping as ASR pressed the number 30'

She instinctively moved closer to Lavanya, as what was about to happen came crashing down upon her. This was it. They would start from here. May be this woman can help her. She looked nice enough. But then she thought of some of the women back at her home' who were anything but nice. She took a small step away from Lavanya and in the next instant the door opened. Her ears hurt with the stillness of the place and the elevation as she rubbed her palms over her ears.

They stepped out in to a well-decorated corridor with a few rooms, spaced out at regular intervals. Aman took the left room, winking at Lavanya where as ASR took the room on the right. She and Lavanya entered the room in the middle, which Lavanya had opened with a card.

The room was not even remotely as neat as the hotel. Lavanya slumped on the bed, which was strewn with several dresses and she moaned "I hate long road journeys". Stretching on the bed once, she got up instantly as she exclaimed "We don't have time! We have to get ready!"

She observed Lavanya as she retrieved a bag from the wardrobe, quickly filling it up with her clothes in a haphazard manner and during this packing schedule she noticed her standing at the door.

"Gosh! I forgot about you! Come here" Lavanya came forward and took her inside the wardrobe which was half as big as her room in her house'. She almost screamed as Lavanya pulled her dupatta, turned her around and started unzipping her kurta.

*

Aman had just taken a long, hot bath when he heard a knock at the door. Still in his bathrobe, a towel drying his head, he opened the door to a tensed looking Lavanya.

"You couldn't wait till tomorrow now, could you?" he smirked at her as she glared at him.

"It's not always about you, Aman" she said as she entered his room and shut the door after her.

"ASR is going to kill me" she whined, while she twisted the ring on her left hand with her right hand.

"What happened?" he asked as he looked at her nervous form.

"The girl...she..." she started to speak when her eyes turned wide as her eyes fell on ASR who had just risen from the couch he was working on, whom she had unfortunately not noticed. He was not in his room but Aman's. Shit!

"What's the matter Lavanya?" he asked striding forward "What happened to the girl and why have you left her alone?"

"ASR..." she started but fumbled again as she saw him glaring at her.

"ASR, the girl has several marks on her back and hands...some are red, most are black and some are yellow too...one or two are bleeding" she said in a rush. She saw ASR's jaw twitching and Aman picking up his cell phone from her peripheral vision.

"Bloody b******" ASR muttered under his breath and then said "Get a doctor-A female doctor. Get her examined completely and tell me that ***** hadn't lied to me" Turning to Aman he said "Call Dr..."

"I have already called Dr. Nandini. She is on her way"

ASR nodded to him in acknowledgement while he instructed Lavanya to be with the girl and ordered her to not leave her alone.

*

She sat on the bed, a towel wrapped around her as she waited for the girl Lavanya to come back. Lavanya had been shocked to see the marks on her body and had quickly covered her up with the towel. She couldn't decide whether the fear that reflected in Lavanya's eyes was of genuine concern or a deal gone bad.

She did think about escaping this room before Lavanya returned. But she had pulled the card cum key from the small slot box next to the door, taking away her means of escape.

Lavanya returned back after two minutes and continued to pack hastily. She kept a huge, wide bag aside on the dressing table and the moment she zipped her bag after putting in everything, someone knocked on the door.

Another woman in her early 50s entered the room with a bag in her hand. Lavanya stepped in to the balcony while the doctor examined the girl, keeping her fingers crossed. This girl was important to ASR and since she was a part of it just to help him around with the girl, she didn't want the girl to be hurt.

Lavanya looked back in to the room as the doctor finished her examination and enquired "Doctor is she a..."

"Yes. She is unharmed and there are no traces of any struggle in those areas" The doctor used euphemisms in Khushi's presence.

Lavanya let the breath out that she didn't know she was holding as she thanked the doctor while accepting the medicines from her. The moment the doctor left, Lavanya opened the small refrigerator in the corner of the room and removed a cold sandwich and a bottle. She handed those to her and asked her to consume them quickly.

She was a bit surprise at the sudden presence of the doctor and felt extremely shy and nervous while she examined her. Also now when Lavanya offered her food, she couldn't help but eat it as she was very hungry. After she was done, Lavanya gave her some tablets which she was apprehensive to have. She knew she had no option but to have them and only hoped that she would stay conscious.

Half an hour later, they had exited the hotel where a different car waited for them. This time there was a driver in a perfectly pressed white uniform who drove the car. Aman sat next to him while she sat between Lavanya and ASR.

The medicines, instead of knocking her out as she had feared had actually taken away all her physical pains. She rubbed her back slightly against the seat and felt no pain. She smiled a genuine smile first time in days. Was she dreaming?

She looked to her right to find Lavanya now dressed in a knee length beige skirt, revealing her long smooth legs, with an off white shirt, her bracelets and rings still in their respective places. She looked to her left to look at ASR who was dressed in a three piece, well fitted suit in different shades of black. Then she looked at herself and couldn't help but marvel at the clothes Lavanya had picked up for her. She admired her skinny jeans and the ruffled, soft pink top that fell loosely on her torso and relaxed every time she felt the smooth insides of her shoes.

Her happiness came to an abrupt end as the car stopped outside a huge structure. It was only when they entered inside the building did she realize that they were at an airport. The fear returned to her manifold...

Was she being taken to some foreign country like that girl back at her home' by these well dressed up people? She had heard that the people who dealt with international' girls belonged to the crme de la crme class in their business. She didn't pause at the fact that she didn't have a passport to travel abroad.

But her fear of the foreign land was short lived as they entered the flight which took them to Delhi. She was travelling in a flight for the first time and was pleasantly surprised as the air hostesses treated her very kindly. In fact since she had left that place, she was being treated kindly by them and others around them. She sat next to Lavanya at the window seat while Aman and ASR sat on the other side of the aisle, both engrossed in the laptop. Were her fears baseless? Are they angels and not devils as she has been assuming?

Sometime later, after the food had been served and eaten, she fell asleep and missed the sight of the aircraft landing on the galaxy of stars on earth' as the plane landed in Delhi close to midnight.

The journey from the airport to the place where they had gotten her to was not very long. Her face was pressed to the window as the roads zoomed past them with Aman driving the car at a high speed while Lavanya sat next to him, her hand on his thigh.

She turned towards her left to peer at ASR. He hadn't spoken to her yet. He spoke only to the two in the front and that also in rapid tones or mostly muttered instructions to them. She couldn't comprehend how were these two able to understand him while she couldn't even make out a single word of what he said!

After driving for a couple of more minutes, Aman navigated the car in to a winding driveway, stopping outside a palatial home. ASR stepped out, came to her side of the door and opened it for her. She stepped out gingerly as the cool wind brushed against her face.

"You know what you have to do with the money, right?" ASR questioned Aman who answered instantly.

"Yes, ASR. First thing in the morning..."

"Why don't you two stay the night here?" ASR asked Aman who had already started the car.

Eyeing Lavanya once, he said with a mischievous smile "I think we will go to my flat"

He sped out of the driveway as Lavanya shouted a bye to them and she was left alone, standing outside the steps leading in to this palace, with ASR.

So this was it? First prepare the lamb, only to slaughter her later.

He pressed the door bell and the door was instantly opened as if the resident was waiting on the other side of the door for their arrival. The door opened to reveal a woman in her early 70s, smiling so warmly that she forgot all her worries that instant. ASR entered the room muttering a tired "Good night, Nani" as he climbed the single flight of steps in the left corner of this wide hall.

"Welcome home, bitya" the Nani said as she took her in a bone crushing hug. After several minutes she broke from the hug and said "I am Devyani. But you can call me Nani"

She showed her to her room saying that she will talk in detail in the morning. She was led in to a grand room which opened in to a pool on the other side of the glass sliding doors. A minute later, a man clad in a simple orange kurta entered with a glass of warm milk which Devyani made her drink.

She changed in to PJs which she selected from the thoroughly stacked wardrobe after which Devyani tucked her in to the bed, placing a kiss on her forehead.

The warm milk, the lovely woman, the long journey and the soft bed and the equally soft blanket drifted her in to a dreamless sleep.

*

She woke up after several hours but didn't dare to open her eyes. Yesterday didn't actually happen, she never left that hell, she never went in to a hotel, never dressed up in those clothes, never sat in the flight, never came to the home to that wonderful Nani and she never met those three people who had changed her world over night.

She shifted inside her blanket, sinking deeper in to the quilt. This was not her room and she was certainly not dreaming. She didn't have this good an imagination to feel the softness that now enveloped her. She opened her left eye to the inside of a four poster bed with pink, netted, frilly curtains. She sat up slowly, wincing slightly as her back hurt, but still got on her knees and opened the curtain before her.

Her eyes fell upon the glass doors and she marveled at the pool and the garden around it. She wasn't dreaming and her belief became stronger as she saw ASR walking from the poolside towards the glass door. He knocked on it once, seeking her permission.

Her eyes misted at his gesture. In the past year, people had just barged in to her room while this man sought her permission to enter the room in his own house.

He smiled at her affectionately as he opened the curtains around her bed and asked with his eyes if he could sit on the bed. She nodded weakly while he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Good morning. I hope you slept well" he started, to break the ice, to which she bobbed her head in the affirmative, hearing his deep voice address her for the first time.

"This is going to be your home from now on until you decide that you want to leave it. You can stay here as long as you want and do whatever you wish to. You have complete freedom to do so. Don't be scared of anything or anyone. Lavanya will come after you are done with breakfast and she will first take you to a doctor to take care of those mar..." he stopped mid sentence and then continued "She will then take you out for shopping. Buy whatever you want. Don't hesitate. If you want to chuck out all the clothes out of that wardrobe and change it with an entirely new wardrobe of your choice, you can do that too" he stood up from the bed, slipped his hands inside his pockets as he said shrugging his shoulders "Feel like home" He turned back to the open glass door he had previously entered from, turned around and said "By the way, I am Arnav Singh Raizada and you are in Shantivan, Delhi"

He shut the door after him, leaving her happily surprised.

A 28 year old Arnav Singh Raizada had just won mind, body, heart and soul of a 13 year old Khushi Kumari Gupta.