Chapter 43
"Mitisha? I mean Madhu?" Madhu looked up in surprise as Karan called to her. She was walking towards the restroom, her head down and her mind lost in the aftermath of everything that had happened the previous night. Manorama's words, Rishabh's words, her refusal, her lie and Rishabh's coldness since then were all creating havoc in her head. And then, the way Rishabh had just walked away from her a few minutes ago, leaving her in the lounge had sent chills through her body. She couldn't say anything to him, yet she could feel his pain in his hatred and that was killing her.
"Madhu, right? Where's Kundra?" Karan said, looking around and instinctively Madhu took a step back in fear. Her heartbeat increased rapidly as she realized she was standing all alone in front of none other than Karan Mathur. The memories of that hotel and the party from where Rishabh had rescued her took over and Madhu immediately felt nauseuos.
"Isn't he..."Karan stopped as he noticed the deep fright on Madhu's face and realized the problem.
"I guess I should say sorry to you, bhabhi."
"Bhabhi?"
"Oh I guess you guys didn't marry yet." Karan said, noticing the lack of sindoor and mangalsutra on Madhu. By now he understood Madhu was a traditional girl - even in London, she was dressed in a traditional Indian suit - so she wouldn't not wear a mangalsutra if she were married.
"Well, the hurry that Kundra was in that night, I was pretty damn sure he would take you to the wedding altar first thing next morning. Looks like he is still slow at making his move as he used to be in B-school. Emotional fool."
"He's not slow, neither is he a fool." Madhu immediately protested, bringing a small smile to Karan's face.
"You must be planning a big wedding...don't forget to invite me, ok?" he continued.
"Wedding...no...Rishabh and I...uh..."Madhu struggled to put together words. Rishabh wanted to marry her back then?
"Is there a problem Madhu?" Karan asked, holding Madhu lightly by the shoulder watching her lost in thoughts, but with his touch she visibly flinched and took a few steps back.
"I am sorry" Karan said, recognizing the fear in his eyes "I know what happened between us...how I treated you...I am sorry. I didn't know that you didn't want to be...umm...there. I had no intention of forcing you. It's true that I liked you when I saw your photo and asked for you for my pleasure...but that's just something I do. I am no saint, but then, everybody I am with knows the deal too. When Kundra came to me that day...and told me...at first I didn't want to let you go...not without having you."
"Why did you, then?" Madhu suddenly asked
"It's not like I let you go easy. I took Kundra's London project from him...in fact that's why I am here so much. But it wasn't about that. I may be an asshole, Madhu, but even I know love when I see it."
"Love?"
"Yes, love, and not just any love. Love like that is rare, Madhu. That day the love I saw in his eyes for you...he was ready to give me anything...he would have given his life had I asked him. And I see the same in your eyes. Both of you are so lucky."
Madhu stared at Karan dumbstruck, but he continued.
"In fact this reminds me, I think I should apologize to Kundra for lying that day."
"Lying?" She asked monotonically, continuously surprised by this conversation. Rishabh had refused to talk about how he convinced Karan that night, and Madhu's best guess was an exchange of money. But now that he said it, Madhu remembered suddenly that Karan had called her bhabhi even that night - a fact she hadn't noticed in her hysterical state of mind.
"I said that you and I spent the previous night together."
"What? But we never...how could you..."
"I was just riling him up, and I also wanted to see how much he wanted you, so I...I don't know what he told you, Madhu, but he and I were always at odds with each other at Harvard. I liked annoying him. But he didn't even flinch or think twice - he wanted to take you and marry you even after I told him that lie. That's how I knew."
"He loves me too much" Madhu muttered, more to herself than to Karan, as tears streamed through her eyes.
"Madhu, please don't cry. Women's tears always make me uncomfortable. Listen, if you want, I would say sorry to him right now. Where is he?"
"Lounge...actually he went to talk to the airlines..."
"Okay. My flight is already calling for final boarding. But here, give him my card and ask him to call me. I anyway need to talk to him about some business. I can't handle expanding into London and India all by myself."
"But..."
"Please stop crying, first. I am so sorry for what I did. But I want both of you to be happy together now. Come here bhabhi, I'll give you a hug. That's the only way I know to console anyone anyway." Karan said and gave Madhu a light hug, stepping forward. Madhu wanted to protest, but realized it was a simple friendly embrace and the momentary comfort was welcoming.
"Take it bhabhi. Otherwise I will think you did not forgive me. Ask Rishabh to call me." Karan said holding out his card as Madhu stepped back after the brief hug.
****
Blood froze in Madhu's veins as she saw Rishabh fall on the ground. She had seen a car enter the airport road right at the end where Rishabh was walking in, and seeing guns in their hands, she had worried and screamed his name and ran. She was only six-eight feet away when he fell, but the sound of the gunshot had created an immediate panic and people around them were running in all directions. The man with the gun in his hand was right behind, but Madhu couldn't see his face, nor did she register his next move. All she could see was Rishabh falling and disappearing within the maddening crowd of people, cars and luggage trolleys, seconds after the man with the gun had fired an open shot.
"Rishabh" she screamed again, but the scream was caught in her throat. The paralysis lasted a second or two, after which she leapt straight towards Rishabh who was lying on the ground, in the process colliding herself with a car door and hurting her head.
"Rishabh, open your eyes. Rishabh please..." she screamed in panic as she knelt next to him and held his head in her lap while jerking him to get up.
"I can't live without you Rishabh. Nothing can happen to you. I love you more than my life. You cannot leave me alone. Please please don't leave me alone. Rishabh I am sorry...please..."Madhu begged, hysterically, even as the frenzy around them increased, creating a near-stampede. All blows from the passing crowd hit Madhu as she had covered Rishabh's body with hers, but she neither cared nor noticed anything as her heart sank and her tears dropped non-stop.
"Rishabh..."she screamed again as she frantically looked on his body for a wound, and then suddenly Rishabh opened her eyes and brought a breath of relief to Madhu.
"Rishabh..." she called again, a slight smile on her face as his eyes met hers. "he gunshot...you ok? Are you hurt? Rishabh where is it..."
"I am ok, Madhu" Rishabh said to comfort her as he tried to sit up. He felt the back of his head with his right hand and saw blood. He had either slipped or was shoved in the frenzy that followed with the gunshot and hit his head quit bad, but he wasn't in any other pain, which meant he was fine. His eyes roamed around in an effort to understand what was going on and he saw one of the bodyguards who had just reached them hovering over, protecting them.
"Sir, we need to move to get some cover. This seems to be a shootout." He told Rishabh, and Rishabh noticed the police jeep that had just arrived and had policemen standing with guns in their hands.
He nodded to move,but Madhu was hugging him tight and weeping so bitterly in his chest that she was his first priority.
"Madhu...bas...I am not hurt. The shot didn't hit me. I am ok. We need to get up though." he softly said to her, his earlier anger nowhere in the picture. Finally, Madhu looked up into Rishabh's eyes.
Gently, Rishabh wiped Madhu's bleeding forehead with her dupatta as he tugged her to get up.
"Manav?" she asked, panicking as soon as her brain registered the scenario and the fact that Rishabh was ok. She looked back in the direction where she had left him minutes ago, but she couldn't see him any longer.
"We have Manav. The other bodyguard was taking him to the car parked on that side. Sir we neeed to move" The bodyguard chimed in while he continued to push Rishabh and Madhu to move to a side. Rishabh looked at him and nodded, grateful that his express instructions of saving Manav first, then Madhu and then him in any emergency were followed well. He squeezed Madhu's hand as they both slipped a few feet somehow and ducked behind a nearby cafe counter. It wasn't all safe, but at least it was out of the open area.
A second gunshot rang through right then, and that is when Rishabh saw what was going on. Most people had run, laid flat on the ground or entered cars. Three or four people who looked like gangsters on the run had guns in their hand and were speeding in their two cars, with the police giving chase. One had jumped off his car and apparently fired the first shot in the air - at least that's how it seemed because RK couldn't spot anyone hurt on the ground. Now that the police were on the airport road too and there didn't seem to be a way straight ahead as this road was a dead end , another abandoned his car and jumped off too.
"Manav" Madhu panicked and looked at Rishabh, then at the bodyguard. "Go save him, please. He's alone. What if he..."she choked.
Rishabh saw Madhu's anxiety and realized her biggest fear. She couldn't live if something happened to Manav, that he already knew, so he subtly nodded to the bodyguard.
"But sir...you...and madam"
"We're ok. Go to Manav and make sure he is in the car...out of here if possible."
"But what if someone happens to ma'am?" He asked, confused, because his primary job was to protect Madhu.
"Rishabh's with me. Nothing will happen to me. Please go."
"Go...but go safely. And call me or signal me when you're assured he is safe. Come back only if it is ok to come back. I don't want anyone to get caught up in this crossfire." RK instructed and the bodyguard crawled out, using his well-trained instincts to take a covered route to go over to the other end of the terminal where Manav should be.
"Madhu, are you ok?" He asked after a few seconds as Madhu's grip on RK kept tightening. He patted her back to calm her down and gradually, she looked at him.
"I..I got scared...you...what if someone happened..."she whispered as their eyes met.
"Shhh..."he wiped her tears and held her close.
Gently, he put his finger on Madhu's chin and looked her in the eye. This wasn't the right moment or setting but Rishabh couldn't wait any longer. His belief in what his heart had always told him was back and his doubts disappeared but still he wanted to hear it to heal the pain of longing that he had borne for so long. He had heard it in her fear, and he had heard her words when he had slipped and she had held his head in her lap, but he wanted to hear it again and watch her saying it.
Several more gunshots were fired and screams heard, but despite all the life-threatening commotion around, the world seemed to have stopped existing for two souls who only recognized each other. Two pairs of eyes bore deep into each other, filled with nothing except immense love as time stood still. As the words left Rishabh's mouth in but a small whisper, Madhu intertwined her fingers with Rishabh's right hand that she had been holding.
"Madhu, do you really love me?"
No longer capable of lying, Madhu nodded her head but before she could say anything, a human body fell over the cafe counter behind which Madhu and RK were hiding. Immediately, they felt blood fall over them.
Snapping into reality as the gunfire neared, RK pulled them both to the other end of the counter. Still, they were exposed from the side facing the road, so he covered Madhu with his body and gestured to her to move further towards their right to hide behind a large hoarding. With his head ducked, he couldn't see the whole scene to know what exactly was happening but this seemed a safe bet as it would protect them from any unintentional bullets which apparently were flying around in the main terminal zone between the road and the main gate. Crawling on all fours with RK covering Madhu's body at all times, they sneaked behind the hoarding.
"Rishabh Kundra?"
****
"Who are you?" RK panicked as the man in front of him held his gun out and pointed it at both him and Madhu and said aloud his name. Instinctively he pulled Madhu closer as he realized the mistake they'd done slipping behing the hoarding, only to walk straight into danger as one of the gangsters was already hiding here from the police.
To his surprise, the man in front of him - the guy RK had seen jumping off the car later - gave out a small laugh.
"Whoever made this world, I love his sense of humor." He said as he pulled Madhu by the wrist.
"Leave her or else.." RK protested and pulled Madhu away, making him turn the gun to Rishabh's forehead.
"No. Don't hurt him." Madhu screamed, stepping in front of Rishabh. "Let us go, please. We will not come in your way. Don't hurt us." Madhu pleaded.
"Haye true love. Demands no less than your whole life. Today, it's time for both your lives to end. Ha, such poetic justice. It's because of you that I am in this mess with this police, and now you will only help me slip out of here safely. And then, I will peacefully kill both you and this chit of a girl. What's your name? Madhubala right?" He said, moving the gun from Rishabh to Madhu's temple.
"Who are you and how do you know us?" RK asked, anxious.
"You don't know me? You don't know Sultan dada and yet you went ahead and created all this mess for me. I should have known it was a mistake letting this girl go when you came to buy her. Tony said you were really in love with her and desperate for her. This love you know...saala...always creates trouble. I also got caught in its game. I thought...true love...let them live. Plus I was feeling bad that my men beat you up brutally. You see, it was a mistake. You asked me for a loan to pay me only." Both Madhu and RK looked at him quizzically, so Sultan explained.
"Via Tony. You remember Tony, don't you darling?" He asked Madhu and she flinched. "You see your lover here wanted to buy you off us. Us as in Tony - he was the manager of that business, bloody traitor. Firoust he asked me for money as a loan, then he suddenly refused because apparently he arranged the money from elsewhere. But you see nobody gets away with just ignoring Sultan dada like that. So I asked my men to tell him that you cannot insult Sultan dada and waste his time without a cost. But they got carried away and beat him a bit too much, and also stole his cash and brought me. When Tony called me later that night and I realized it is the same man, that's when I understood what happened. Honestly, I felt bad for him, broken, hurt and desperate as he was. And like everyone in this world who gives importance to love, I was amused by you two lovebirds and told Tony to let you go because we already had the money. Stupid mistake, Sultan. I should have kept the money, beat him or kill him and made more money off you. Then nothing would have happened. But no, I pitied you and let you go. Instead of shutting up and enjoying the freedom, you two went and gave police all evidence against Tony."
"How do you know?" Madhu asked, shocked.
"I have my sources. And that traitor Tony cut a deal with the police two days ago - me in exchange of his freedom. Since yesterday, police has raided 5 of my businesses and today they caught up to me. They want me, dead or alive, but I am not going to let that happen. You two are going to be my hostages and will escort me from here. Then I will punish you for what you've done. Now Walk." He screamed at Rishabh, twisting his arm so hard it broke before gesturing him to move towards the exit nearer to the road.
"Come Madhubala. Walk ahead. You are the reason for all this, you know. You will get your lover killed for yourself as well. Today, your story is over." Sultan roared, pulling a second gun to point at them both, as they all emerged from behind the hoarding.
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