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Arnav emptied the glass in one swift swig, filling his mouth with the golden liquid, which now hardly was able to sting his insides, before gulping it down. His eyes ached with lack of sleep and in spite of all that alcohol that he had been consuming all through the evening, he was surprisingly in control of his senses.
Intoxication, enough to keep the ghosts of smoke away from his mind and yet in check to not interfere with his strong hold on his revolver. It was just a matter of time.
When the screams and hollow painful cries of mercies rose, each different and then mingling into one, brought to life, materializing into slithering creature's, that crept all over him and once again it was another sleepless night for the encounter specialist Arnav Raizada.
He got up in one quick restless motion from the chair he was sitting on, his bare torso gleamed with a sheen of moisture in the moonlight filtering in the room while his harsh face was visibly taut.
Tightening his jaw, he jerked out a towel and wiped his chest. No sooner had he thrown it away that the shrill ring of the phone cut through the stagnant air and he picked it up only to be met with silence. He waited for a few seconds when a female voice who was trying too hard to control the quiver in it was heard.
Expressionless, he listened.
"Arn..Arnavji.." When he didn't respond, she continued. "Its Khushi. I need to meet you. There was a lead that Bauji had got. He had to meet you for the same but.."
Before she could continue further with her voice that had already started breaking, he stated, " In an hour. Usual place."
He knew her as the sober girl, in her twenties, who was the daughter of his late ally and retired constable. In spite of age having caught up on him, he was still sharp and had a network that reached every dark corner of the nauseating world. With Arnav's relatives that were either dead or living wherever that he never wished to know, Shashi Gupta came the closest to what he thought a family would be like.
Yet the warmth, the security, the feeling to fall back upon someone had gone away the moment his mother s' breaths were snatched away. By the very man who was his father. Whatever happened after that was easy to bear for a 15 year old when all he did was make himself numb.
Indifferent, unfeeling to the tremor that could have rose as he took hold of his bat and hit the him till he fell to the ground, the loneliness that could have crept up as he was held and thrown to Bal Sudhaar Grah for his reform, from a vile son who killed his own parent's.
And now 17 years later, he indeed had come a long way. Only to find himself still at the same place emotionally, as he was when he took it all in alone.
If it not for Shashi, he would have long let himself walk in on dangers without a care, for he had nothing behind to look after. But the old man had found him in his worst once late night, only to never leave him again. He used everything to drive him away but it seemed he was on a mission to make him his son that he never had. Though, he never admitted it to his heart too, he had lessened his dismissals for Shashi. And now he was glad he never let him near himself.
Following on gangster turned MLA, he had gathered enough evidence against his two henchmen. There were certain procedures to be followed now when he was in politics, to nab him or to search his bungalow. Bowing down to pressure wasn't him.
What he couldn't deflect was when a testimony of one of the gangster who had been forever ingrained in this world and had been arrested long back framed him. Allegation against Arnav Raizada was held two months ago that he had carried out many jobs at his behest.
Now serving suspension, he was under investigation. That also meant no power, man or that which came along with his post, rested with him. Making him an easy target to weed him out.
And in all this Shashi stood his ground silently by him while they both searched and gathered clues that could help him restore back his place first. The price of which Shashi had to pay when his dead mutilated body was found in a dingy narrow alley that even animals hardly frequented.
As his head swirled, he puffed out a dense wisp of smoke and threw away a stub of cigarette. He had been waiting for past 10minutes for that girl and there was no sign of her in this dead of the night. He shook his wrist so that the dial of his watch came up for his view and his ire rose when he saw it was now close to eleven.
What was the need for her to get out of the home at this hour? He was convinced that whatever made him think for her well being was because it was still his job to look out for people and because she was Shashi s' daughter. And not because of the knowledge that part of the heart that could never dominate over him had - That the woman held a soft corner for him in her heart.
Over time, she had only become more attuned to him even though it was overtly clear that he had never given her as much importance when he didn't spend as much as a glance on her. Yet it was questionable how he was aware of her changing degrees of feelings for himself.
He rubbed a hand over his tanned face with force, once when in the next instance he halted it over his mouth as his ears caught onto the sound of someone behind him. With one hand on his revolver that was tucked in the waistband of his dark jeans, he pivoted slowly on light feet, not to make as much as even the grainy chunks under his shoes rustle amongst themselves to raise even a slightest noise.
His eyes strained themselves in the pitch darkness but he found no one. He turned his head and could make out his jeep that he had parked a distance away from here.
Contemplating on calling Khushi, he immediately gave up the idea that could have risked alerting whoever was present nearby about her. Just as he took two steps, running footfalls resonated in the silence and he made a dash behind it on an instinct. No sooner had he turned the corner that he caught a glimpse of the dark form that he could make out from the rest.
He swore loudly as he realized who it was, her dupatta flaying behind her. He shouted," Khushi!" and she came to a standstill, her entire being writ with a relieved shock. Marching on quick steps, he held her elbow and spun her to face him, her feet stumbling, as her hands sought to hold the wall nearby in an attempt to not collide with him. Little success there though.
As she held onto his forearm, he irately hissed," What do you think you were doing? Is this some kind of a sick joke for which you called me? Because if it is Khushi, I am warning you, the consequences won't be good." And he jerked her forward, her dupatta that was already about to fall, slithering away.
She instantly winced as her senses assailed with smoke and alcohol smell. "You have been drinking too much." she spoke out tensed, calming her fraying nerves.
"None.of.your.business."
She looked up at him and for the first time in a week, her heart was at peace. It was beyond her comprehension how someone who himself was so at unrest could make her feel so.
"This was no joke. I.. I was scared. I thought its someone else since your jeep wasn't around when I saw you from afar." At his scrunched eyebrows that demanded to explain more, she continued. "My home had been broken in this evening. No one was there. Though I think whoever it might be, wasn't someone who did for robbery. It has to do with Bauji. But.. He couldn't have found anything. I have a few documents and CD's with me Arnavji. I wanted to give you these." She searched his eyes, which had toned down their anger a bit.
He roamed his eyes all over her face while she shifted away her gaze from him when his silent scrutiny started overwhelming her. His gaze followed the path of her neck and then lower still. Her kurta s' neck had slid lower with all her running and heat fell over as dominoes on the skin that his eyes touched. She hesitantly glided up her hand and taking hold of the fabric pulled it up, all the while not looking up at him.
And as suddenly as he had caught her, he left and stepped back and without missing a beat, said," Sit in the jeep." A decisive statement surprising enough to make her forget all her emotions that had taken hold of her and looks at him. "Sit. You are coming with me to stay at my house." He repeated.
"What? I can't..I don't want to impose on you. Please don't think that you have to do this. And then what will people say?"
"I am not doing this for you or Shashi. You hold all the evidences now that will eventually help me; I am just returning the favour. And I know you too are in danger now. It's my duty to save you. And about the last part, I don't care."
"Par.."
He took hold of her wrist and pulled her behind. Initially holding back by a fixing her soles on the ground, she gave up as if she never meant to resist. Feeling of belongingness had knocked, and how much so ever fleeting it felt, she took it.
*************
Four days had passed and if anything, she savored the feeling of knowing that he was around. On the contrary he had remained aloof even more now. Staying out on most part of the day and wasting himself in the night in his room.
On one occasion, she had the urge, the naive belief that she would take him out of it putting in that faith when she took hold of his glass and snatched it away from his hands only to hear the crash of the bottle next, a splinter of glass cutting her arm.
"Stay away from me! Who do you think you are? That you'll do all this and have me dance to your tunes? I am not the one you should be doing it for, understand? Didn't I realize why Shashi did what he used to? He knew he wouldn't last long and saw a security in me for you right? I wonder why though.."
She had pushed him away. He actually thought so or his anger was driving him to hurt her by saying so, she couldn't make out. But that he must feel that it was for some benefit, that she was staging all this care wasn't fine with her.
And hence in spite of a strong need to jerk him, tell him that she wants to stay here for as long as time expands, to hold him in her embrace and soothe a bit of whatever his heart and mind were caught up in, she turned on her heels and left the room.
And now again, she couldn't help but wait for him to return in spite of the all the unconvincing plans she had made to leave him as he was and go away if that's what he wants. It was later than his usual time to be back at home. She hadn't expected him to call her up or something but she fervently wished that he would perhaps just for the sake of it.
The niggling uneasy feeling that flared in her insides this evening grew more prominent.
The doorbell rang just then and impatiently was kept on ringing. She rushed on quick feet towards the door, trepidation hammering in her chest at such urgency while she peeked out from the keyhole and with quick fumbling hands opened the door only to have her breath hitched.
Pushing her aside with his fine arm he came in, his bloodied arm was all she could make out amongst the order of packing her luggage.
As he walked on quick unsteady feet, she cried, "Aapka to bahot zyada khoon beh raha hai..!" It wouldn't do to cry, she told and held herself. He wouldn't like it. " Hold this against it. Please for once listen to me! The bullets' still there!" She quivered. He was one she had to latch onto, howsoever he was. She wouldn't let him be harmed. "Why do you have to be so? Let me see it ! "
"Khushi, " he breathed in deeply, for once trying to address her calmly, her eyes wide and moist on her face as she stilled. "They are coming for me. I want you to listen to me, follow me till I leave you at somewhere safe. And you are not being given the option to argue."
She didn't resist much after that apart from pleading, demanding him to help her tend to his wound. They had to get out of here first. She will not let him leave after that. Police and their concerns be damned. Yes, she was selfish. If not him then someone else will come up to fight. It will go on but not him once if he goes.
**
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
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