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~~Chapter 19~~
Pia kept down the phone, and hurried to Abhay's room. She knocked on the door, but on gaining no response she opened it slightly and peeked in. The room was empty.
After the marathon games session with her grandfather and lots of growling and muttered insults, he had finally gone off to rest a while ago. She didn't want to disturb him, but this was the third time that Dobriyal aunty had called since they had left for the US. The first two times she had missed both of them, but this time thankfully Pia had been able to talk to her. And she wanted to speak with Abhay now. But where was he...
She looked around the house quickly but there was no sign of him. Ultimately, she was forced to tell aunty that he had probably gone outside for a walk and had handed the phone over to her mother while she continued to search for him. She asked Rishi, who was doing his homework at the table, but he hadn't seen Abhay go outside.
She came outside the house and looked around. It was very dark outside as it was close to 8 o'clock and she couldn't see anyone strolling outside in the square either. Had he gone to the backyard...but it was quite dark there too, the only light came from a very dim bulb. She would have to muster a lot of courage to go look for him there, she thought and sighed.
"What are you doing outside? Trying to scare unfortunate people passing by?"😆
Taken aback, she spun around, and saw Abhay emerging from the dark shadows and walking towards her.
"I wasn't trying to frighten anyone. But you scared me just now!" she said in an offended tone.
"What were you so afraid of?"
"Nothing!" she said, flushing with embarrassment.
"You were thinking about ghosts, weren't you?" he grinned.
"No, I was not! Well...maybe a little," she admitted in a small voice. "Grandpa says -"
"Not that rubbish again," he shuddered.
"It's not just him, everyone says strange things happen here sometimes," Pia said uncomfortably.
"Pia, even if there are ghosts or anything else around right now, you don't have to be afraid at all," he said solemnly, sounding so reassuring that she felt her fear ebb slightly.
"I don't?" Pia asked uncertainly, feeling oddly warm and shy. Was he actually going to tell her that she didn't have to worry about anything because he was there...
"They'll take one look at you and never come back to Dehradun again," he said kindly.
"What do you mean!" she asked indignantly.
"Forget it. Go inside and bring the keys of CHINTEN."
"CHINTEN's keys?" she asked, puzzled. "Why do you need it?"
"I saw some movement inside when I was in my room. Someone must have broken into the house," he said casually.
"What?" she cried out.
"Don't raise your voice," he said calmly, a mild warning in his tone. "There is no need to frighten your family. I can take care of this. Just get me the keys."
"But how did they get in? The front door is still locked."
"Through the backdoor. The fellow has locked the backdoor from inside or I wouldn't have needed the keys at all. I've locked it from the outside now. Whoever is inside will remain there till I've dealt with him."
Terrified, Pia started to feverishly think of all the option they had. A thief had entered CHINTEN...nothing like this had happened before now...what would they do... Abhay was still recovering, and what if the man inside had some weapons, she imagined fearfully. Her grandfather was too old to deal with this and her mother and brother were as powerless as she was.
"We should call someone," she said desperately. "You shouldn't go inside alone. I'll inform our neighbours and we'll call the police too."
"No stranger – neighbour or police - is going to enter my house," he said coolly. "The one inside is going to pay for it anyways."
Pia looked him in despair. Why did he have to be so stubborn all the time...
"Abhay, please don't -"
"Are you going to get the keys or should I -" he asked irately.
Pia sighed. "I'll go and get it," she gave in, defeated. He had made up his mind that he was going to go in alone, and she knew from experience that nothing would stop him now.
"Wait. Get a torch too. If anyone asks, tell them I need something from my room and that the lights in the living room aren't working."
She made her way back to the house and looked at her mother who had finished with her conversation with aunty and was now sitting with Rishi, making him do his homework. Madhu would surely notice if they opened the house….
"Mom, Abhay needs something from his room. Do you know where the keys to CHINTEN are?"
"They are in your grandfather's room, in the cupboard. But wont it be difficult for him to climb the steps," she asked anxiously.
"I'm going with him, mom. I'll take care."
Pia went into her grandfather's room and took the keys from the cupboard. Madhu looked at her questioningly when she picked up the torch from the table, and she told her mother the reason Abhay had given.
When she came out, Abhay was already waiting at the doors of CHINTEN, looking extremely impatient. She went through the gate and joined him on the steps.
"How long does it take to find some keys and a torch," Abhay hissed and held his hand out for the keys.
"I'm sorry," Pia said in a whisper.
Something in her voice and face caused the irritation in his face to fade a little.
"Your family will be all right. I promise they won't even know something has happened," he said quietly.
Pia managed to smile and nodded.
"Now give me the keys and the torch and go back inside."
"I'm coming with you," she said softly.
"No, you are not. You're going back home."
"If you don't let me come, I'll go inside alone," Pia said firmly.
"That should be fun to watch," he said sarcastically.
"I will not let you go inside alone," she said angrily. "And if you don't listen to me, I'll make a commotion about the thief."
"Keep your voice down," Abhay snapped furiously. ""All right, you can come inside. The rats in the drawing room will be glad to see you."
"You can't scare me with that," she said coolly. "Shaurya uncle had told me there were no rats in your house, remember?"
"Very well. Believe him, don't believe me. But don't blame me when they come to eat your feet in the dark."
"Don't say that," Pia wailed. "Because I'm coming with you, no matter what."
In the short pause that followed, she could have sworn he was grinding his teeth in anger.
"Fine," Abhay said finally through clenched teeth. "But stay behind me and don't come in my way."
And he turned the lock.
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"Wait!" Pia said swiftly, hit by a sudden inspiration.
"What now," Abhay spun, frustrated.
"We could go by the terrace door. Our terraces are connected, aren't they?"
"And I suppose your boyfriend is waiting on the other side to open the terrace door from the inside for us," he said coldly.😆😆😆
"Oh….I forgot," she said in a small voice. "All right, let's go in."
"No, maybe we should wait here and see if you get any more brilliant brainwaves," Abhay said acidly.😆😆😆
Mortified, Pia looked at her feet, feeling tears prickle her eyes.
"One tear…and you'll regret it," he said in a flat tone, and turned towards the door. Pia swallowed the lump in her throat and climbed up another step, and the tinkle of her anklets seemed to resound in the stillness.
"I should take the anklets off, shouldn't I?" she asked suddenly. "What if they hear me?"
"It doesn't matter, they are ones who shouldn't be here. I don't want the light on only because I don't want your family to see anything nasty that happens here," he said unperturbedly.
Pia felt another frisson of fear and sighed glumly…..so he fully intended for something nasty to happen to whoever was inside.
Grinning as he turned away, Abhay turned to the door again and pushed it open noiselessly. He stepped inside casually and Pia followed close behind him, trying to adjust her eyesight to the darkness. But he switched on the flashlight right away and as the narrow beam of light came alive on the walls of the living room, she peered around nervously.
"Maybe you just imagined it and there's no one here," she whispered hopefully.
"Maybe you should just go back if you are such a coward," he retorted, not bothering to keep his voice down and looking around with a frown.
"I am not a coward," she said indignantly.
Then a slight scrabbling sound came from somewhere in the corner of the room. She jumped in fear, caught of his hand tightly, and crouched behind him.😆😆😳
"Yes, your courage is quite awe-inspiring," he said dryly.😆 Pia glared at his back and let go of his hand right away…..but didn't budge from her safe spot behind him.
Seeing that she had not accepted his final offer to flee, he turned around and locked the doors from the inside. Pia, who had almost run up against his back when he had swung, squirmed uneasily as the lock clicked shut, feeling foolishly self-conscious.
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After swiftly scanning the rooms and the kitchen on the ground floor, Abhay moved towards the stairway, followed by a very nervous girl.
Pia had been chanting the Hanuman Chalisa in her mind since they had entered the house, trying to have some courage. But as they moved up the steps, she was getting panicky again. There had not been anyone below, so if Abhay was right about the intruder, the man must surely be upstairs. Her hands had already been cold, but now she felt as though they were turning into ice.
As they reached the middle of the steps, she stumbled slightly. Abhay instantly caught hold of her upper arm to steady her. It was a fleeting contact and he immediately withdrew his hand….almost as though he had scalded his fingers, she thought gloomily.
As Abhay passed by the switchboard at the top of the steps, he flicked on a switch and the landing was flooded with a dim yellow light….which revealed a man who was evidently hurrying out of Abhay's room.
Pia gasped in fear, and the man stared dumb-founded at both of them, looking as shaken at the meeting as she was.
"So you were going to leave without meeting me," Abhay enquired.
The question seemed to have roused the man out of his shock, and displaying remarkable recovery, he whipped out a gun out of nowhere and pointed it at the boy and girl. "Move away from the stairs. I don't want to kill anyone, just let me go."
"So you'll fire if I don't move?" Abhay asked interestedly, moving slightly as he asked so that Pia was completely sheltered from the gun's direction.
The man swallowed nervously and gave a shaky nod.
"Abhay, let him go," Pia whispered frantically.
Instead, as she watched in dismay, he began to walk towards the man. Before he walked out of reach, she grabbed hold of his arm near the elbow in panic.
"What are you doing!" she asked, terrified.
But he impatiently shook his hand free and walked up to the man calmly until the gun's nozzle was just a few inches from his chest.
With every step he had taken, the thief's sweaty face had turned paler, but he had not made any attempt to fire the gun or launch any kind of attack.
Now Abhay stood opposite him, staring with ice cold eyes….unblinking. And the man's condition became pitiable….with shaking hands and sweat pouring down his face.
Pia looked from one to the other…..her heart thudding like it was going to explode any minute now.
Then Abhay lashed out lazily with a hand, knocking the gun out of the intruder's hands. The man jumped to grab hold of it, but Abhay hit him hard on the face, and Pia clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a cry.
Unrelenting, he caught the man by the scruff before he fell down and then dragged the struggling man effortlessly to his room and flicked on the light.
Abhay surveyed the wreckage of his room with rising fury. The cupboard was open and its contents lay littered on the floor. But his eyes were searching for something ….something invaluable…
And then he saw it…thrown by the side of the bed….a plain wooden case….
It was open….and empty.
Abhay hauled the man to the middle of the room, pulled the man around to face him and slapped him hard….so hard that blood spurted from his mouth. Pia, who had hurried after him to the room, gasped in horror.
The man staggered and Abhay pulled him up again violently.
"Where is it?" he demanded icily.
"I – what?" the man choked.
"The gold chain in the case, where is it?"
"I don't know," the man pleaded. "I didn't take anything."
Another blow landed on his face and his cheekbone cracked.
"Stop it! Don't hit him!" Pia cried, rushing forward to intervene. Abhay turned towards her, and she stepped back fearfully at the sheer rage in his eyes.
"Get out and go home if you can't watch," he said coldly. "I'm already paying your family 10 times what this pigsty is worth as rent, should I pay extra for you to stay out of my business," he asked ruthlessly.
Pia flinched as though he had struck her too….it would have been kinder if he had….Anything would have been kinder that what he had just said….. She looked helplessly at the groaning man who had staggered back to his feet, and then slowly turned around and walked out of the room, fighting back tears.
She was climbing down the stairway, and was almost in the middle of it when there was small movement and some faint sound beside her, and suddenly, a coarse hand clamped itself over her mouth. And she felt some sharp pressure near her neck. Instinctively she bit into the flesh of the hand. The man grunted in pain, caught a handful of her hair, and slammed her head against the wall. Her cry was smothered in the hand on her face, and then in a daze of pain, she felt herself being dragged back up the steps, into the room.
Abhay, who had stiffened at a sound in the corridor, had flung down the limp man to go and investigate. And now he swung around to see a second stranger stride into the room, half pulling Pia in front. One hand clutching her hair cruelly, the other holding a very polished knife to her fair neck. There was a bruise on her forehead, and her eyes were half-shut and watery with pain; she seemed barely conscious.
Appearing almost blinded with rage, Abhay moved towards them. The man immediately pulled her hair back further, lifting her head and exposing her fair throat, and held the knife to her throat.
Abhay came to an abrupt halt.
"Let him go, your highness," the man said in a low voice, watching the white-faced boy staring at the knife. "Let us both leave peacefully."
"Let go of her," Abhay said icily. "Or you'll never leave this place at all."
"I'll leave her once we are out of this house," the man replied flatly. "We have been warned not to hurt you, your highness. But I have no such hesitation with regards to the girl. Her life is of no value."
Pia had been fighting to stay conscious….she heard the words that were being said but was finding it hard to think. His highness…why was this man calling Abhay that….She heard Abhay say something and then the man yanked her hair back viciously once again. And the shock of the attack, more than the actual pain, finally claimed her…..and everything went dark.
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Pia opened her eyes and grimaced at the harshness of the electric light in the room. She was lying on a bed in someone's room. What was she doing here…
And then she remembered…..
She struggled to sit up, and immediately felt another small wave of dizziness overpower her. She fought it off with every bit of willpower she had. When she could open her eyes again, it was to see Abhay walking slowly towards the door, his back to her. But he was walking in a manner that suggested that every step was painful, and his shoulders were hunched. Had they hurt him somehow.
"Abhay." It came out as a feeble whisper, and she was sure he would not have heard her. But he froze at the door step and turned around swiftly to see her sitting up and trying to get out of the bed.
Tears of relief blurred her vision. He was safe. But she felt a jolt at the sight of his face. The bandage on his forehead had become bloodied, but it was the whiteness of his face that alarmed her. He was looking at her as though he could scarcely believe his eyes.
"You're ok. I was so scared. There was no one in the room" she croaked, feeling like she could breathe again now that she knew he was fine. "What happened….those men…where are they…have they gone," she asked desperately, as she lowered her feet to the ground and stood up unsteadily.
He didn't answer, and continued to stare at her, some colour returning to his handsome face, which was showing both shock and relief. She found something troubling in his motionless posture and had a strange feeling that he hadn't heard a single word she had said.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" she asked anxiously, and started to rush towards him. But before she had taken more than a couple of steps, he moved with astonishing speed and covered the distance between them in a second. And in an action that turned her rigid with shock, he strode right over to her and seized her in a crushing hug that drove the breath out of her body.
Astounded and caught totally unawares by this unforeseen moment, she stood with her hands immobilized by her sides, her chin resting on a broad shoulder, feeling emotionally powerless to say or do anything as propriety demanded.
"Abhay," she whispered, with an involuntarily tremulous voice, trying to bring in some sense. But at the sound of his name from her lips, he only tightened his embrace further, as if he was afraid of…and didn't want to hear her say anything rational. The strength of the grasp startled her, and still she didn't try to disentangle herself, feeling an inexplicable concern and warmth mingle with confusion and alarm. She wanted to break away from the embrace, but her heart and limbs refused to cooperate with her. He would have to let go of her…it was the only hope she had.
Then he muttered something, though the words were muffled as his face was buried in her hair. She only heard a couple of words…..
And then she understood.
"I'm okay," she said softly, "I'm not hurt, really". And rapidly, all the unexpressed fear, anguish and relief, experienced in the past 15 minutes seemed to engulf her, and hot tears once again clouded her lovely eyes, and began falling freely. She had been fighting with herself to keep her hands by her sides so far. But she couldn't battle anymore….she didn't want to…and slowly and uncertainly, she finally gave in to her heart's diktat, and returned his embrace.
Why couldn't these strange men leave him alone….why were they hounding him like this. Every time he stepped out the house and she had to be away from him, she feared for him. The fear had taken the form of a constant ache in her heart, and had become part of every waking minute that he was out of her sight.
After a timeless moment, he relaxed his hold slightly and drew back, but he still didn't pull away from her. He gazed down at her flushed countenance, guilt overshadowing his face at the tiny bruise at the side of her forehead…. One hand came up and traced it delicately. Something about the gentleness of the touch filled her eyes with tears again.
"Don't cry," he muttered
"I'm-I'm not!" she whispered, lowering her eyes.
He sighed, and then bent his head and rested his warm forehead against hers, with their noses touching lightly and eyes closed. The action felt disturbingly natural….as if they had always been standing like this…. like this was how it was meant to be…
Then the old clock in the room chimed with a tiny sound and broke the silence….and brought in awareness….And the fragrant and fragile web that had woven around the two individuals in the room seemed to shatter.
Both of them froze instantaneously.
Then Abhay's arms around her loosened and he pulled away from her. And without meeting her eyes, he turned away towards the window, looking into the silvery night outside.
Feeling extremely confused and blushing uncontrollably, Abhay stood wringing her hands in nervousness. She looked at the clock. It showed a half past eight. Had they really been inside the house only for 15 minutes?
"Mom must be waiting…we have to go back," Pia murmured, staring down at her toes, while a guilty pink coloured her cheeks.
He didn't say anything, but turned around and walked towards the door. As he walked past her, in an unexpected and casual move, he caught hold of her hand wordlessly. And without meeting her gaze, he gently led the astonished girl out the room and down the steps. It was only when they stepped into the courtyard that he finally let go of her wrist.
"The lights are still on in the rooms….and you haven't locked the door also," she said hesitantly as they opened the gate into PRASHANT.
"I need to go back," he mumbled. "I'll just leave you inside and go."
"Where are those men, Abhay? And did you get the gold chain you looking for?" she asked uncertainly, not wanting to infuriate him again, but needing to know what had happened.
"I've locked the men in one of the rooms," he said vaguely. "And the chain was with the second man." Abhay sighed in relief as they entered the house.
"Your forehead! What happened?"
With the unerring instincts of a mother, Madhu's eyes had fallen on the bruise on her forehead the instant they had stepped into the house, and now she was hurrying over to her daughter.
"I-I dashed against a door on the ground floor because there was no light," Pia said quickly.
"I'm sorry," Abhay muttered in her mother's direction.
"It was just an accident, wasn't it? Why are you apologizing for that, Abhay?" Madhu asked in surprise. "Come with me, Pia. I'll apply some salve on it."
Pia turned around as her mother shepherded her inside, and uneasily saw Abhay exiting the door. Why was he going back….what was he going to do with those men….
Outside, Abhay took the cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.
"Be here in 20 minutes," he said woodenly when the call was answered. "I have two packages that have to be delivered to someone."
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