Maryada FF: Vidya-Gaurav (p. 30) - Page 15

Chapter 39: Moving Walls

"Gaurav?"

He heard her slight voice, calling out to him tentatively.

"Vidya?" He said as he reflexively tried to pull his hands out of the steel around his wrists.

"Gaurav? Is that really you?" she asked again, her voice louder than before.

The wall that she was chained to suddenly moved again, startling her and making her grab onto the chain above her as the unexpected motion jarred her.

"What are you doing?" he yelled out to the voice that wouldn't reveal itself.

"What do you think I am doing? I am bringing her closer to you of course."

He looked back at Vidya's wall, confused now. The wall had been on a rotating hinge before; now it seemed to be attached to no such hinge as it moved forward, seemingly sliding towards him.

"I am pretty proud of that wall, you know. My own design. Cost an arm and a leg to build it that way... many, in fact…" The voice boomed and ended on a morbidly humorous note that only the speaker found amusing.

He heard what the voice said, but his attention was completely on his wife. She had a death-grip on the chain extending upwards from her wrists and her entire body had gone rigid as she tried to ease off her heels as much as the chains of binding her ankles would allow so that her feet wouldn't drag on the floor with the movement of the wall.

"Stop it!" he yelled out. But even as he said it, the wall stopped, now about twelve feet away from him.

"Vidya…" he called out softly and she raised her eyes to his, still on her tip-toes and hanging on to the chain. He saw her lips part on a forceful exhale as she released the breath that she had been holding in. Before he could say any more, she turned her face into her shoulder, her hair falling over to cover her face and block it from his view.

He tugged on his wrists again and felt the unyielding hardness of the metal before forcing himself to take deep breaths.

"Vidya, look at me…" he tried again in a soft voice.

"She is a strong woman, this wife of yours. She is just startled. Give her time. She is alright." He heard the voice again and looked up around the room, the rage finally boiling over.

"Shut the hell up! You don't know shit about my wife!"

There was silence from the other end, but his outburst made Vidya look up from her shoulder, finally easing down from her tip-toes. She looked at him, her eyes limpid with the remnants of her earlier panic. He held her gaze without blinking, willing her to absorb his strength.

"Why don't you let her go now? She was just the bait to get me here, I know. She has nothing to do with this, nothing to do with my father. She was just unfortunate to get married into a very screwed up family!" he said quietly, still holding her gaze, but speaking to the voice that watched them intently.

"I won't go." She spoke up now, not looking anywhere else other than him.

"Vidya…" his tone was cajoling.

"I won't go without you." She repeated, cutting him off before he could say anymore.

"As romantic as that sounds, don't you think its an incredibly dumb idea? If you leave here, you may at least be able to get him some help." The voice interjected now before he could answer her.

"If you thought that I would actually be able to get him help, if you thought that there was even the remotest chance of that happening, would you really let me leave?" she asked now, looking up.

There was a slight laugh that came over the speakers before the voice said, "Hmm… So, what you are really saying then is that you admit that I am smarter than you. That there is no way that you would be able to outthink me."

He had been watching his wife all through the exchange and saw now that she turned back to look at him. "Yes, I would not be able to outthink you."

There was a moment of silence, but then he heard the voice again, "You know, Perseus, your mother really did find your Andromeda. You would be a fool if you ever let her go. Especially for that harlot Salome."

His eyes widened in surprise at the last statement, but it was no more than the surprise that was reflected in hers.

"Her name is Salome." He heard her say quietly, still looking at him, and his chest constricted painfully that she had had to find out this way.

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Awww...poor gutsy Vidya! CUP seems like one of those horrifying hitman types...😆.

:O

That was a short yet fascinating update! Update soon! :)

had gone for vacation, now I had the treat to read all four chapters in one go, and all of them were very interesting and intriguing, can't wait for next one.thanks again.

Chapter 40: Moving Walls – Part 2

"Her name is Salome… yes. So, you know about your husband's old lover then? But do you know what she does for a living, my lovely Andromeda?" the voice asked, just as the picture of the painting hanging up in Gaurav's parlor surfaced clearly in her memory.

She heard her husband growl and look up, pulling at the shackles that bound him with force.

"Perseus…. Tsk, tsk, tsk… You have not been forthcoming with your wife, have you now?" There was a laugh that came through at the end and Gaurav tugged even harder on the steel around his wrists.

"She is a jezebel…a prostitute… a wh**e. A woman who sleeps with men for money. The oldest profession in the world. Your village is not so remote that you don't know of such women?"

Gaurav's entire body was now violently struggling against its restraints.

"You have to admire your husband for it, don't you think, my little virgin? Not many men go and willingly fall in love with a woman who most citizens of polite society would consider essentially untouchable, except of course those who pay her good money to enjoy her pleasures." There was a derisive laugh at the end of this statement.

Her husband howled with rage now and she could see trails of blood starting to run down his forearms and feet as the metal cut into his skin with the force of his struggle.

"Stop. Don't say anymore. Please…" She called out to the voice, unable to watch him hurt himself this way.

She was surprised when the voice ceded to her request, saying no more to incense her husband; it took still more time for Gaurav to finally quiet down and drop his head back against the wall.

"You were lying before. You do know my husband. You know him well." She said finally, looking up, knowing that the voice was still listening.

"Yes."

She looked at Gaurav to see his reaction, but his eyes were closed and he gave no indication that he had heard the response.

When she waited and heard no more from the voice, she got to the heart of the matter. "Why have you brought us here?"

This time, no answer came… She waited several minutes and just when she was about to repeat her question, Gaurav opened his eyes.

And then she did not have to repeat, because the answer came readily.

"Your husband is my bait. He is going to draw his father out for me. SSP Brahmanand Jhakar's favorite son, shackled to a wall in steel in an underground cave. It sounds like a B-grade Bollywood plot, doesn't it? J'adore! The part where he is forced to watch his beautiful and wet wife for eight hours continuously is solely to titillate me. I want to see how long he will resist you. There is a little timer that will start on both of your walls in about… thirteen minutes. Your wall will start moving again, Andromeda, but I won't scare you anymore. It will move so slowly that you will hardly feel it. And before you know it, say in about five hours, you would be at hand's reach of each of other. But of course, you won't be able to touch; the shackles are sort of a bummer that way… but it heightens the anticipation, you will see…" there was a brief laugh again at something that only the voice found humorous while she merely waited for it to continue.

"But not to fret… in two more hours after that, you would be able to touch… the walls will be so close to each other that your bodies will have to be in direct contact, everywhere…"

The voice stopped there and did not continue… and so she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"It is going to crush us to death, isn't it?"

"Yes, that it will… this is not just about titillation after all. My reputation is not what it is for nothing, you know. Business is business. But, don't worry… You won't die for at least another eight hours… Unless…." The voice paused dramatically now.

She looked at Gaurav and saw that he was no longer pretending disinterest; he was fully alert, holding her gaze and listening intently.

"Unless your father gets here in time to rescue you both, of course."

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Hello. I am new to your ff and I must say that I am comPletely hooked to it. I just luv it. I finished reading all the parts in like 1 hour. Wonderful writing. Can I ask you something... Are your mallu?

Originally posted by: stars1234

Hello. I am new to your ff and I must say that I am comPletely hooked to it. I just luv it. I finished reading all the parts in like 1 hour. Wonderful writing. Can I ask you something... Are your mallu?

Oh cus I am a mallu too... And in one of your FFs you put a mall song so ya... When are you gonna update again I can't wait

Originally posted by: stars1234

Oh cus I am a mallu too... And in one of your FFs you put a mall song so ya... When are you gonna update again I can't wait