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It was a beautiful Sunday morning. As usual, Arohi woke up whispering ''Arjun'' to herself and smiled to it. She wondered why when she confessed that she loved him the way he does, he crushed his feeling so much which made both of them went into a decadence. A complete decadence where Arohi thought there is no way out. Yet she was not angry with Arjun, she knew that he loved her more tha she actually does and is convinced that perhaps his love to her is so strong that is making her refused to accept because of months they lost in touch meant that it was over. Arjun, her best buddy is gone for life, she refused to gulp that and has complete faith with time that since she completely accepted the man for her,she has the right to ask Lord to help him to find his way back to her without hesitation. She got up with a smile, thinking that there may be a day that she will wake up and found him next to her, how sweet will that be to kiss him a good morning and after a shower, to splash her damp hair into him. She understood that this man has made her run head over heels but anyway for the moment, she wanted to help the man to understand that the love to him is not that shallow for him to refuse the truth. An established and blessed truth that made both of them to get best out of life. It was 8 a.m when she ran to the bathroom, brush her teeth,as usual lost in those days they were carefree high-spirited buddies how crazy both of them were and in the shower, she kept rolling out with laughters on what they were doing those days. It is true, it has been the most beautiful year of her life when they were the freaky friends. She took time to realise it was what people termed as love and when she accepted the established fact, it seemed that he is not ready for it. Anyway,she usually sighed, he is a man, a man is made up with ego, as the girl confessed first but then he will surely realise. She gave him the space man usually likes but then he was still of no sign. She wondered whether he was hesitating to get back in touch with her, which is why she took his mobile number from their good and common friend, Salil. Funny enough,yesterday,she forgot the charger of her laptop in the school, it was where she was getting ready to go. She pre-calculated it was an hour trip and when she would be back, she would get her deadline she set herself in her assignment completed with satisfaction. The day was chilling when she get out and headed to the the overground train station at 8.30am. She wore her dirty funny jeans that she styled herself and her long sleeves,plain,v-neck shaped, shirt. As she was feeling lazy to wear her trainer shoes, she set up to the station wearing her white 'Florida soft woodbed' sandals. She was absolutely in a sweet mood and all the way she thought of Arjun, how,if by God's grace,he accepted, they will make great couple or if the wind is blowing to other direction, his love for her is enough for her to set as the trendy entrepreneur. She is far sighted and practical for her to understand that going the entrepreneurial way means she has to forsake her love for her to settle as a family person. What's the point,was her mind debate,to compromise for someone else when life can be cherished in other way. She reached the train station after 15 minutes and she saw on the board that the train will come in three minutes. She took her mobile out and started playing the golf game while she waited for the train. 15 minutes passed and there was neither the trace of the train nor any annoucement of the delay. She felt a little annoyed to see there will be a train in 20 minutes. Well,she did not mind to wait for the other train when she was distracted seeing some helicopters fixed at some particular places. She felt amused with the thought who could think to use this unattractive area for film shooting. She continued to play the game while she waited for the train and she was surprised that the train did not turn up as well,instead,it was now written announced that there is a problem with the rail and the next train is in 30 minutes. She felt that she is wasting her time and so decided to exit from the train station and go to take bus to her school, she needed badly the charger of her laptop. On the way to the nearest bustop, she noticed one bustop's glass was completely smashed down. She did not not think on it until when she crossed the road for her to wait the bus, she realised the road is closed. She continued to walk and she started asking herself question whether there has been a sports match yesterday as everywhere she walked was either burnt down or glass broken, she halted and saw a man was taking picture. She knew he was a photographer for some news cover agents by the way he took the pictures and asked whether there was some sports match yesterday that turned to be from notorious fans. The man smiled to her and nodded positively but he said to her that there are still buildings on fire till some more kilometres away but perhaps she may catch the bus from there. She could not believe her eyes on what she saw on the road. She wondered what a strange coincidence,when yesterday she was returning home,the bus left her a quarter miles away from her actual destination and said that the road is closed and when she had to walk to home. She heard some security officers said that the road is closed because of an accident. She kept chanting that may the one who passed away in the accident has a blessed soul. Today morning is a different state of what she walked in yesterday evening. Cash machines destroyed. Hundreds of shops ruined. Flats are still on heavy smokes. Jewellery shops are smacked. Pieces of glasses are on the street. Dirty words are on the road and there was a crowd. Some were on tears,some were curious and some were just casual. She started asking herself, what has been going on here when she noticed those helicopters on the sky that were actually where the burned buildings were. She once had seen the hooligans move in the bus she had to use to comeback home months ago but they were,in her opinion,only noisy people. What she saw here was a complete mess. Can someone be so crazy on sports,she wondered. She took few of the disastrous pictures too. She could not continue her straight way as the police officers said to her the road is completely closed since one of the building burned is going to fall down. ''Bless the world,'' she prayed. She went to the winding way,still cool, and decided ''why not,she can call Arjun right now as she has to walk a long way.''
She took her basic usual Nokia 2100 out again and search for his name before she clicked the call icon.
Tring. Tring. It rang.
She came to the way where the police officers advised and she was surprised that the road is closed too.
''What is happening,dear Lord'' she asked herself.
''Hello'' she heard on the other side of the phone.
''Hey Arjun,'' she greeted.
''Arohi'' Arjun responded
''Shukar hain naam to abhi yaad hain,'' she joked
''How are you?'' Arjun asked
''hahahaha, well mate, I am fine, I am walking to the next bustop for me to catch a bus to go to school,i forgot my laptop charger there.'' Arohi said chirpily.
''Alright.that's a beautiful surprise.'' Arjun replied casually.
''Wohooo, I am happy you like it,'' she replied back happily.
''How are you,buddy?I thought something may be wrong between us which is why we lost the usual touch'' she said it. She had to say it at once.
''It's not that,''Arjun managed to say
''Arjun, there is a complete mess where I am walking, has there been any match round here?'' Arohi diverted the topic
''Where are you?'' Arjun asked in a concerned tone.
''High street'' she replied
''Nopes,there was not any match yesterday night.'' Arjun replied.
''really,then what is this'' she pondered and shared to him.
''Arjuuun,i need to hang up,they are going to ... I love you a lot, remember that always.'' Arohi added when she saw two men infront of her with petrol bombs.
''Hello..aarohii..'' Arjun tried and he realised the line is disconnected. He was surprised,what was happened. He started feeling concern,he typed in the search engine of google about where Arohi is and he found million of news about a riot occured there yesterday.
''Arohi' he sighed. He fell for a moment his heart skipped a beat. He called her number back and her number is unavailable. ''damned.'' he sighed. He started to look more precise what caused the riot and he found out to be some mafia business that went wrong. ''Jesus,'' Arjun sighed. He called Salil and asked him if he knows about it and tried to contact Arohi. He is three countries' distance away of Arohi and he started feeling afraid. He loves Arohi but he was not prepared for that confession last time. He fell that she might expect a change in their relationship and as he did not want to hurt her feelings, he signed out slowly, though it is painful. Yet the sudden cut of her call is making him growing with concern of whether she is in a problem,especially when the site he read the news clearly said there are still some signs of vandalism after the riot.
''I can't reach her'' was the text he received from Salil. ''Oh dear God,please take care of my Arohi'' Arjun prayed when he called the travel agency and booked an urgent flight. He will live a dead body if the girl who loves him so much got knocked out innocently. Though he moved on, trying to feeling the sooth when she was not in his life, and is successful but he knows the truth is she is here for him. He did not find the importance to tell his parents the cause of his flight. He dropped a text to his beloved sister,Rashi,about he is going to look for Arohi. It is a three hour flight between these two countries, he least cared,he needs to see her safe and sound.
He never felt so worried like he is before. ''Did he take her for granted?'' he wondered in the flight seat. ''In the Lord she has faith to, please take care of my love.''he continuously prayed in his heart.
''Sir,will you like any drink?'' asked the air hostess to him.
''No,thank you.'' he replied. ''How can he drink when the beats of his life seem to go missing.'' he realised.
''Dear Lord, I promise I will say to her that I love her,please take care of my Arohi.'' he continued to pray.
He said to Salil that he was coming and he was the one who come to pick him up. He did not bring anything with him except his bank card and mobile phone. He knew he can get anything here and he had his old local sim that he changed again. He tried to contact for Arohi from the number and now he is getting that the number does not exist. He feared. There is a drastic change from the voicecall message he was getting 3 hours 10 minutes ago and the number does not exist. Even Salil had the news channel station on when they are going on the way to the nearest place that is unaffected of the riot. Salil informed him that all what he heard when Arjun was on flight was on looting and those firemen who are reducing the power of the fire.
''If that's all the news,' Arjun said, ''then there is something that is missing.'' he added.
Salil agreed to it. They were driving on the maximum speed and reached at that place in twenty minutes. They parked the car at one of their friend's and they started running where Arohi said she was lastly. Arjun can hear the echo of ''i love you a lot'' in his ears and started to inquire what happened really.
Where is Arohi?
Arohi was right, the place was a complete mess, what happened that she is unreachable.
They started to show her pictures to the persons and asked if they noticed her. Replies were negative.
Arjun dared to ask the photographers and Salil asked the reporters on her. One of the photographer replied to Arjun ''Oh that girl,she was standing infront of me and she walked away with two men. The men were tall,they seemed to be of caucasian ethnic groups and the girl seemed to know them for a while.''
Arjun is now sure that she is in deep problems,it has been only a year she has been to this country and her new friends are their classmates. The caucasian guys? He remembered he read that even the gangsters that began the riot belong to the same ethnicity. ''OMG'' he sighed,''Arohi,my love, your Arjun is coming, please fight till then'' he whispered loudly.
''Did you notice which way they headed?'' Arjun asked.
''They noticed towards the North end'' the photographer replied.
''Thanks a lot,'' Arjun said and signalled Salil that they needed to get a go.
The North end was exactly where they parked their car, may be their friend there might help them to know whether there is a cliche in that area.
Their friend,Mikha'il worked for the top rated agency about tracking the illegal stuff in this country. They knew he is ethically bounded that he can't say a word about his work, but what they needed is the whereabouts. As Mikha'il could not say by words,he asked them to bring a paper and pen, he will write it and asked to burn this after they used it. Both guys nodded because they do not want to make their friends sacked out.
The paper read:
''tracking at st joseph street,rumour of den,third house at the left corner of odd number digit begin and end with the same digit,suspection of the den,about selling of young ladies age between 16-23 to the other corner of the world. drugged and raped before sold to clients.prostituting.Case not yet opened though,will from next week.''
Arohi! Arjun,sighed. ''She is in danger,'' he said to Salil,''I need to rush there''
As the streets were winding and compacted, they borrowed the motorbike of their friend's neighbour in exchange of their car and fastened to there.
Arjun and Salil were looking to which house number that Mikha'il said. They finally saw it 55 was the house number of that street. They could see there were few guys around the corner and Arjun identified the two men who were described by the photographer. He asked Salil to lend him his googles and swapped shirts, he rolled one cigarette from his pocket and said to Salil to try to enter this house from the paralell street. He rolled his cigarette and walked to these men,they looked to be drugged at the moment.
''Guys, anyone of you have match light?'' he asked.
''Who are you?'' the guys asked him.
''Chill guys, I am from Merchil'' Arjun replied.
They identified him to be one of their clients. Arjun was saved when he manufactured that name. ''In all God's grace'' he thanked innerly.
Salil,peeped from the garden of that house and thankfully there was no one there. He began to look at the windows when he saw unconscious Arohi in a disastrous state. He hopes really that Arjun can go in because he realised there were only her. He was really angry as Arohi does not seem to be in her normal stage.
''I was on holiday here,I thought if there is any woman I can hand on.'' Arjun asked smartly.
''You are lucky dude, we just brought one here, she was trying to stop us to pump bombs on the riot street when she did not know it was pumped to take ladies away. She was so beautiful that we realised we did not need to bring more ladies''one of the man replied.
''mate,i need now the lady for myself,i mean those drugged ladies can't satisfy me.'' Arjun tried to appear the dirty man.
''Lucky dude, as the girl will be waking in 2 hours. normally we drugged them before they are sold,but for this woman, you will have to pay 10 times of the actual gold price.'' the man seemed to gulp him.
''deal.'' ''can i check the girl?'' Arjun asked.
The two men brought him inside when the three remaining men spread on the street,in alert if anything went wrong from outside.
Salil was happy to see that Arjun walked in the room with the men and Arjun locked the door. Salil peeped in from the window. The men were taller than them but they definitely know where is the man's weakness. The two men tried to remove their guns but before they started firing, both Arjun and Salil ran to them and seized the gun.
They smashed the men together, knocking their heads hard and then punched them on their navels before gave them a knee jump in what they know to be man's weakness.
The men were unconscious and Arjun asked Salil to call Mikha'il to raid here with his colleagues which he did. Arjun went to untie Arohi. He realised that the men lied to him. She was already drugged and raped.
Tears rolled down his eyes. He could not believe that the chirpy girl who called him became a product of the beasts of the world. He was feeling guilty of why did he not run to her when she confessed the love she was reciprocal. She was going to take her charger again, she least knew,it would have been the worst day of her life.
Salil felt bad too because he knew what has happened to her will never be erased. Mikha'il raided the place,the other guys and the beaten ones were arrested.
''Please don't bring the media.'' Arjun said to Mikha'il. ''I am going to take her with me where she belongs,''he added.
Arjun removed his shirts and covered her. Salil helped him by bringing water and first aid box that he found in the kitchen to heal the bruised. Salil,being a forensic doctor,said to Arjun he would bring the collected drugs in his lab and analysed what was she pumped in. Arjun nodded and asked him that he would like to be alone with Arohi for a while.
Salil and Mikha'il walked away when Arjun untie Arohi and brought her in his lap.
He texted Salil if he can borrow his car when Salil left and asked him to come to pick them up after 15 minutes that he did. As Salil had his equipments in his car also,he realised that Arohi was pumped with the same drug that guys used in the disco bars and the girls are not aware of anything what happened to them. Arjun was angry because Arohi does not deserved this and secondly he was relieved that it was not hard drugs that would make Arohi addicted too.
Arjun asked Salil to drop them to his old flat,where he used to stay and asked to call her relatives to let them know they are together,Arohi will return at their place after a week as they are doing froup work on their assignment. Salil obeyed and exited telling Arjun to take care both of yourself and her.
After two hours,Arohi woke up. She felt a strange head ache. Last she knew was that two men abducted her. What happened then? She saw bruises in her.
'''Nooo'' she screamed when she realised what has happened. ''I am no longer worthy for Arjun now.'' She said tearful. ''Why me?'' She felt so weak and shattered. ''Dear Lord,I still have faith,I need help to continue to survive.'' she added.
Suddenly she realised she was in Arjun's flat. She was confused. She stood up and she saw Arjun infront of her. She was in agony.
She has no longer guts to see him and she has no more desire for them to be together. What has happened to her, will never be erased,he was right to be in his country. She turned her back to him.
Arjun understood that she could not face him. He understood the mental agony of her and he promised himself,he would not let her to shatter. He loves her and he knows,it is not the right time to say it,it might appear to be a pity.
Arjun walked towards her and hug her from the back,just like they once did infront of their lecturers carefreely. That day,Arohi turned again to hug him but today Arohi was still in tears. Arjun turned her face to him. Their eyelocks scenes,Arohi remembered, how soothing it was then,a remedy to all the problem and it did not change. With blurred eyes,she still found solace in his eyes.
''Arjun,'' she finally broke the silence down,her tears were flowing down her cheeks.
Arjun puts his index in her lips for her not to talk more than that. Arjun could not bear the pain in her eyes as he can see how much she loved him. How much effort she was doing for him to comeback but he thought distance was best option then. What a fool,he was.
''I am sorry,Arohi,I left you.'' Arjun said with blurred eyes too.
Arohi was silent because she does not know what she wanted to hear.
''I love you.'' he continued,''please forgive me, it is because of me,it all happened,if i had guts then, we would not have seen this day.''
Arohi in turn put her index in his lips and nodded for him to stop talking. She felt a moment of blissful when he accepted he was in love with her like she knew it. These words were so melodious to her that she felt a heal of her pain.
''It has already happened now,'' she said as she had no words on how to continue.
Arjun bent to her lips and kissed her.They completely lost themselves in that kiss when Arjun realised that he might not be able to control himself,he stopped and looked at her eyes. She was so beautiful.
''Purify me,Arjun'' Arohi whispered to him.
Arjun always respected her ideas about being physical after wedding, he was surprised for her to surrender to him but he understood the reason too.
Arjun obeyed because he knew that it was a way for her to forget.
Arjun took her in his arms like a baby and kissed her while he walked to his bedroom.
He could not keep his eyes away from her, she is an angel for him. He was already shirtless.Slowly, he lied her on his single bed when she closed her eyes. It is okay for him,it was her first time and he will make sure she is alright. Slowly he unbuttoned his shirt he had on her and he lied on her. His hands are carressing her hair while he was kissing her. He took her hands and kissed it before he made her wrapped him. He did not need anything,he felt complete.
He whispered to her continuously that he loves her and slowly Arohi was feeling confident and opened her eyes to see the love on her eyes. She smiled and she hope that Arjun was not annoying as much.
''Thanks,'' Arohi said
''for what'' Arjun asked
''to be in my life'' she said
Arjun replied to her ''you are my angel and I promised,I will never leave you.''
They smiled before they both closed their eyes for the sweetest sleep they ever had.
Strangely the aftermath destroyed her life in a way but also she gained her other half.
*******************************The end***********************
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