FF: Caught (ArHi) THREAD 2 LINK POSTED! - Page 10

Part 3

Dasya leant back against the chair, his head resting back, as he gazed up at the ceiling, the day's events flashing past his mind. He remembered the way her lehnga had flared up behind her as she skipped down the street, her hair bouncing at ever step, her kohl-filled eyes taking in the details of the shop, her disheartened expression when the shopkeeper refused to lower the prices, her creamy skin like a contrast against the dirt of the street. But Dasya knew better. The black mark in her history would haunt her forever would give her nightmares, and would make her parents distrust her.

His face pulled up into a ugly smirk as he swept his hand over his face. His thoughts drifted to ACP Arnav Singh Raizada. One of the very few policemen in the force who were noble in their intentions, and honorable to their job. He was one of the very few people who had refused to be sold to Dasya in exchange of money and security.

As Dasya got up, and slowly made his way towards the chicken coop, the grains of food in his hand, the girl's face kept flashing through his mind, making him clench his fist. The punch thrown by ACP had become a memory deeply engraved in his mind, and he vowed to get revenge one way or another. But he would have to be careful. Tread slowly.

Opening the door, he fed the chickens, petting them and stroking their feathers. The mother hen sat on the eggs, providing it with her warmth, and Dasya smiled a soft smile. He pet the chickens, and fed them food and water when the door opened and his most trusted worker stepped in, his sunglasses perched on his breast-pocket and his shirt tucked into his pants. There was no hair on the bare scalp of the man, a scar ran across from his forehead to his lip, and his cross-eyed look made many people uncomfortable to look at him.

But not Dasya.

Dasya had taken a liking to Ved the moment he had set his eyes on him. The ugly features on the man had made Dasya sympathetic, and he had trained Ved to be the most loyal and most trusted employee in his field of work.

Dasya did not turn to acknowledge him, however Ved knew that he was given the permission to continue.

"Jagdish will be buying the drugs this Saturday from Andheri at 3 am sharp. He says that he will go by the name of Chetan" Ved explained, looking at Dasya's back, as he crouched down to let the hen peck the food from his hand.

Dasya hissed as the hen pecked some of his flesh, and watched as the blood trickled down his palm.

The reddish brown thick blood against the pinkness of his palm. The only part of his body that was fair and a contrast against the black skin that he had been bestowed with, and often teased and discriminated upon by his own mother.

He pushed the hen away roughly, before turning around and sucking the blood off his hand.

"Change the time to 12 am. I don't want my men roaming the streets in the middle of the night, when ACP has his men patrolling the streets" Dasya explained, as his top lip got stained with the blood he had just sucked off. He pressed a thumb to the wound to stop the flow of blood and made his way to the door.

As he pushed it open to go out, he turned to look over his shoulder and ordered Ved, "Keep an eye on Khushi Kumari Gupta"

With that said, he walked out, leaving Ved to make the calls and get the work done.

********

Khushi sat on her bed, her hands folded over her stomach as she stared blankly ahead. The day's events kept repeating through her head, and the harsh reminder of her past caused the guilt in Khushi's stomach to escalate.

She had almost ruined someone's life with her stubbornness. She was glad she had been sent away to get her mind straight again. She had foolishly thought that the little crush she had harbored had been true love. And he was a married man. Someone who could not love their own wife, would not know how to love anyone else.

Khushi wrung her dupatta around in her fingers, as the loose salwar she wore, allowed her skin to breathe in the humid night.

Her sister had long fallen asleep, the rhythmic breathing, a comforting sound to Khushi;s ears.

However Khushi was finding it hard to let sleep prevail her. Her memory kept flashing through all the events in her life, kept showing her Dasya's face, Arnav's face. It kept presenting her past to her again and again.

She silently got up from the bed and made her way outside. She stared at the phone on the table, and looked around, seeing if anyone was awake.

She could not call from here. The call could be traced, and her family could wake up.

Khushi determinedly went back to her room, quietly opened the window, sat up on the ledge, flipped her legs over, and jumped down, crouching down low, so the impact to the ground won't be as loud, and her sister won't wake up.

She looked up through the window to see her sister still fast asleep, and she closed her eyes, silently thanking Devi Maiya. Grabbing the change in her hand, she ran down the street to the pay-phone at the corner. She quickly slipped in some change into the slot on the machine, and waited for the dial tone. Quickly punching in the numbers, she waited for the buzzing of the mobile phone ring.

She was glad he had a mobile. That had been one of the ways she had stayed in touch with him while she had been back in the village. And now she was glad as she could call him without the suspicion of his wife.

She heard a click, and the machine clanged as the change was accepted when the call got through.

"Halo?" The deep voice reverberated from over the phone, and Khushi clutched the phone tightly to her ear her breathing escalating at hearing his voice after so many weeks. Swallowing hard, she licked her suddenly dry lips and spoke up,

"Hum" She said quietly. Clearing her throat she continued, "Hum...Khushi" She heard the sharp intake of a breath over the phone, and she could faintly hear the music in the background, indicating he hadn't gone home yet, and was out with friends.

He was silent for a while, and she heard shuffling of feet. Thinking that he might be finding some place private, she held the phone close to her, waiting for him to speak,

"Khushi?" He said disbelief seeping into his tone.

"I just.." Khushi's voice broke as the guilt started weighing her down, his wife's face flashing through her mind, "I called up to apologise" She said, and a tear slipped past her eye.

"Khushi-" He started, but Khushi cut him off,

"Nahin, let me finish. I called up to apologise for trying to win your heart when you were already married. I am not that kind of a girl, and I got swept up in the fantasies I built for myself. Even though Sarita had no idea, I still apologise to her" Khushi said, as tears made their way down her cheeks and she held the receiver close to her hear, hearing him breathe at the other end listening to her.

"I want to remove you from my life from here onwards, and I hope you do the same. You will never hear from me again" Khushi's voice broke, and as she heard him protesting at the other end, Khushi quickly put the receiver back, disconnecting the call.

She leant against the glass door of the cubicle, and let out a sigh of relief. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and she thanked her Devi Maiya for giving her the strength to do the task.

Wiping off the tears, Khushi sniffed and made her way back home,

Slipping in through the window, she laid down on the bed, letting the quilt rest up to her chins, and succumbed to a deep sleep, glad to have put the past behind her.

********

Arnav stepped into his apartment, putting his police hat, wallet and keys on the counter. He went to the bar and poured himself a strong drink. His knuckles still ached from the punch and he clenched and unclenched his hands a few time to gauge the damage.

Grabbing the glass, he moved to the big window on the far corner of the living room, looking out and seeing the lights of the cars whizzing past in the middle of the night. His phone was resiting in his pants, and his shirt was unbuttoned, revealing his chest. He opened the window to let the breeze in, and inhaled deeply.

Feeling the shirt fluttering behind him at the breeze, he casually leaned against the wall, sipping slowly on the drink as he gazed outside.

His thoughts kept wandering back to the incident that too place today, and he felt a small tinge of security and comfort at leaving his number in her phone. He took another sip of his drink and felt the tension in his shoulders leave him.

It had been just two encounters, however Arnav found that he could not make the big kohl-filled eyes leave his mind ' the eyes of a girl named Khushi.

PART 4