Sorry for not being here for so long. But last few months brought a major turning point in my career. After months of study I got entrance in MD course in my chosen super specialty. So I was kind of coming in terms with that. Anyways this is the next chapter. Those who still haven't read it in Wattpad, feel free to enjoy or frown.😃
CHAPTER 29
The night was young, yet gloomy and eerie. Half moon rendered ever soft incandescence, playing hide and seek, peeking between the snow laden bunch of trees devoid of green. The ground was sodden and covered up by semi tattered sparkling carpet of crystalline white velvet. Falcon dragged his bruised and bleeding body, warm red imprints of his blotched that pristine purity like a rather inconsiderate entity.
A large rock situated a couple of feet afar from him had captured his attention. He sat on it and along with sat the lines of pain on his face. His tottering fingers touched a contact on his blood stained cell phone. "We- we failed. His surname is Singh... and he was spying on us."
"You imbeciles!" Agni roared in frustration. "Don't tell me they escaped again. I swear I'll kill you if..."
"Freeze!" Someone yelled behind the grey eyed wounded Black wolf, "Drop your weapon. Now!"
"Gonna spare yourself from the trouble, fire guy!"Falcon smirked as he noticed several metallic barrels targeted at him. His eyes got fixed on the men approaching him. "Don't forget to tell your snoop dogg one thing. This is not the end.
His right wrist was raised up to the level of his lips.The cornered rat flashed his teeth and bit off something from his ring. And there was a blunt thumping sound as if a sand filled sack had fallen down. Matthew Ferrell, the agent in charge came running.
He checked the pulse and sighed. Falcon had fallen or rather that pellet of potassium cyanide lent him an easy route to freedom.
*****************************************
"Who am I? A damsel in distress?" Those soft glowing hazel orbs were on ablaze. Swara retreated from the man she had been pining for more than a week. "What am I? A bl**dy quest to stroke the big fat ego of evergreat SSR?"
And those words hurt... a lot. Sanskar knew she would be mad at him, but that acrimonious tone in her voice was not delightful to bear. He grasped her shoulders, being in complete oblivion about the surroundings or that single spectator. "How could you say that, Nymph? You don't know my world stopped that moment when I heard... You are not just anyone for me. I couldn't let you..." he wished to say his life was futile without him. He would do anything to bring her back.
"Die, right? I know you can't let any poor soul get harmed. I'll be grateful forever, Mr Rathore." She jerked his hands off her and hissed. "Just leave me. I need to book my flight. Already I'll miss one day of work."
" Kiddo, please. Don't get him wrong. I'm responsible for all that happened, not him." Sargam then explained how he had pulled strings and coerced Sanskar to back off. He couldn't meet her eyes which were now resembling a pair of cold glacial rocks. "I was scared. That bullet, I knew you braced it to save him. But now I know, it was stupid of me to want you to leave your job or... him."
"It was you then." Swara's voice was unusually calm.
Sargam closed his eyes in mortification. "I'm sorry Shona. Please go back to D.C. Don't join anywhere else."
"Wow, I mean wow!" Swara clapped her hands in derision. "Never could I have guessed, you guys think so little of me. You think I'm a piece of furniture or useless showpiece. You can send me off whenever you wish, wherever you find a place to keep it."
"Kiddo!"
"Don't shout, Bhai! This Swara Bose has led all her life on her own accord." she coughed a bit in exasperation. "Do you think I left Interpol for that stupid drama of yours? Don't confuse my temporary break as the success of your scheme. No man, I repeat, no man has such power over my decisions, my job, my life!"
She began to leave those astounded men behind while Sanskar gripped her hand."You can't leave alone. I'm coming with you."
"To hell with your-"
Her rants went for a vacation as Sanskar threw the tumultuous dame over his shoulder. She squirmed, she screamed but in vain. Her brother did nothing, except being someone treacherously passive. The enamored captor left a backward glance for once. "Suit yourself. I'm taking your car and your sister." He stifled a small smile while his arms wrapped around her frame in a hold that was never intended to be unleashed.
******************************************************
"You called me, dad?" Laksh joined Nakshatra near the makeshift shooting range after dinner. Couple of lanterns were suspended from the branches lending their amber flashes of light as far as they could reach.
Father and son both seemed to possess identical pairs of dark black orbs unless someone would focus his gaze under some kind of strong powerful light. Then he could have found them as circles of russet brown with radially arranged rays of charcoal black. Russet was that reddish brown shade of wood from where fresh new leaves were supposed to sprout into life, whereas charcoal was charred remnants of burnt and dead timbers. Unfortunately there was dearth of radiance in their lives. A great portion had been snatched by higher forces, whereas the remains were discarded by themselves by their spirally downward activities. So they had nothing to show, except plain obsidian darkness.
"I know about your fascinations, son." Black Wolves chief came straight to the point. "And you know I can do anything for your peace. You'll get what you want, even if that causes uproar among our folks. But are you sure you want her?"
Laksh's jaw hardened as her wedding chain and vermillion flashed before his eyes. His gaze fixed on the red bullseye point on the aiming board. "Never been more sure about anything in my entire life."
"Even if she keeps hating you to the core?"
"You don't get me, dad. I want Swara, not her feelings. I want her every moment, even if that moment is stained by her tears."
Nakshatra sighed. He knew this obsession of Laksh was beyond repair. Bracing himself for the future anarchy he patted on the back of his adamant son. "I am not strong enough to see your distress, Laksh. Just buck up and get back to the business. I have appointed someone for your cause. Trust your father for this once. You'll get what you want."
******************************************************
"Stop the car. You don't even know about the roads here, damn it." The pitch and volume went higher as she spoke those words.
"But I know everything that concerns you, Nymph." Hr pushed the brake that resulted the car jerking to a halt. How could coherence get permission to stay when such an enthralling picture she had made before his eyes? The half moon peeking from above left a soft glow over right side of her face. While the other half had a mysterious shadowy aura of sadness. "I know, the wetness of your tears can sear my soul. I know now, whatever happens, I can't live without you."
World came to a standstill, clock ceased to tick. The promenade of a busy street was far from being a conventional romantic place. There was traffic, there was noise. Regular office goers were on their way to home after a long day of wearisome work. Yet Sanskar couldn't feel a moment more perfect to open his heart to her. For every visage around them had blurred. Each wave of sound had dived below audible level.
Nothing else mattered. Except her, him and their synchronized togetherness.
His parched vision travelled to sip from his personal source of elixir, drop by drop, and found the circle of bruises around her neck. Not to forget the brick red stains of dried blood on her wrist that had pierced his heart.
Transfixed and afflicted, he moved towards her, driven by his inner self. Her lips were moving, perhaps forming a stream of heated words. But his ears shunned them, much to his convenience. The glove box was opened, her hurts were tended through sting and salve. His strong taut hands lifted her wounded one as if he were about to offer his arduous ode. And he did, indeed.
And his lips brushed her palm, finger by finger. Their eyes met, his caramel ones turned restless having delved in those hazel pools drowning in oceanic droplets. He leaned more and more into her personal territory. Her breath got faster and deeper as he drank those liquid pearly potion, warmth of which raised the temperature of his already blazing veins.
Swara's state was no different than his. His one simple smile had enough power to sweep her off her feet, and here he stood so close, so passionate, so giving yet demanding at the same time. It was too good to be true. His lips now were travelling along the nooks and crannies of her neck, leaving miniscules of minty gusts of wind along her beauty bone. She was on the verge of losing herself, forgetting the humiliation, ache and anger he had inflicted on her.
Until the things got too far.
***********************************************
His fingers knotted strands of brunette around them, buried themselves deep in their silky soft allure. How foolish he had been! How he was supposed to live his entire life without her? He felt irresistible urge to compensate for all the moments he had lost with her. And he began the atonement of his sin, with a trail of passionate, sinful kisses along her nape.
The icy wall around her was about to melt away. But a cold gust of hailstorm from the past left her frozen.
"Those moments were nothing but few moments of passion, I didn't mean anything else, Nymph."
A new wave of furor and shame washed over her. She hated herself for drowning into that momentary weakness. Her facial muscles hardened, her usual careless smiles were long forgotten and she pushed him away. Contempt and vindictiveness took over her soft musical voice. "You need me, because you find me attractive . A friend with benefits, that's my place in your life, isn't it?"
Outrage, guilt and unrest, yes, that trifoliate sword of those emotions struck Sanskar really hard. His armor had fallen before his warrior princess long time back. This time he incapacitated her between his arms and drew his most potential weapon, his heart. "Dare you utter those filthy words for my Nymph." He hissed under his breath.He traced her face, looked at her with all his love. "Mera jaan hain woh. You are my life."
No Swara, you can't be weak.
"Wah Mr Rathore. I admit, you can go any length for your job. So what if it includes playing with people's emotions? You are keeping them alive, hai na?" Her hazel pair of sky no more contained mere pitter-patter of rain. They had thunder, they had lightning. "You pushed me too far, Sanskar. See those two buildings over there? They stand side by side, but still there is so much gap between them. Whatever you do, you can't cover that distance."
Sanskar glanced at the rows of Edmonton skyscrapers, particularly at those two almost identical commercial towers she had referred to earlier for a brief period of time. Then his visual intensity was back on hers. "Sometimes you need to go few steps backwards to run and take a leap of faith."
"I'm afraid you went back too far this time. This distance between us is too vast to reach for the other side."
"Don't underestimate me. I'm an special agent, remember? I know how to fix hook on the right place, grab the right cord and hang on forever." Challenge was announced from his side, although as a whisper to her ear. "You never know, one fine day I'll sneak inside and win back my lost kingdom."
"If I want something for you, will you give me?" She held his hand.
A flicker of hope illuminated the desolate dungeon inside Sanskar, his ice queen was melting. He cupped her face between his hands. "There's nothing in the world I can't give to you. Everything that is mine, is yours already. What are not mine, I'll find them from anywhere, from heaven or earth, from high above the sky, or deep down the ocean."
"Go away, please."
"Nymph, I-"
"Give me distance, that's the thing I want. I can't stand this turmoil anymore ."
Sanskar's smile faded, his hands dropped from her face. Like a zombie he retreated to his earlier position.
Suddenly she began to clap. "Wow, you never disappoint me, Mr Rathore." she had a rueful smile playing on her lips. "You just did the same thing you had done before. You again ditched me. How can I trust you again? Tell me! You will be a coward every time, not a fighter. I don't need a sore loser as a friend or anything he claims to be."
"You want me to be brave? Then I promise you, I'll fight every damn adversity that keeps me far from you. Be it your brother, be it destiny or be it yourself. I promise you, very soon you'll be mine, and I'll be yours." A steadfast determination came over him. That kind of brazen boldness that had not been seen even in the most dangerous mission of him. "And not as friend. You are too precious for that. You are my prayer, at the same time, my sinful desire. You are sanity, yet again you are my madness. You are serene. You are siren. You are hope. You are dreams. You are everything good that happens in my world."
"I'm leaving my heart bare for you. Don't resist me this time, Nymph." He hushed her and keep his fingers on her lips. She hit his chest in protest as Sanskar's lips were barely one inch from him. "Right now you have anger, I know, perhaps even a little bit of hatred for me. But all you have given me were eternal bliss and thousands of reasons to fall in love with you. Yes Nymph, I love you... I don't know the exact timeline, but I just do. I forget everything when I look at your eyes. Sometimes even that ultimate truth... I can't go on, I can't live without you."
And he sealed the deal of confession with a ravenous, earth shattering rampage on the territory of her delicate pink petals. His heart roared like wild animal, basking in the drunken celebration of freedom. His lips triumphed with an upward curve and engaged themselves into another tug of war.
Little did he know, the war had just started.
*************************************************
