by Jisha Rajesh
He was amazed at first as he saw a complete transformation in her. He had never noticed anything except respect in her eyes when he saved her from falling prey to those eve-teasers at the disco. But now, her eyes were glowing with a naughty sheen. Though he had met her several times in the past, it was for the first time he was noticing how ravishing she was. As she was busy admiring the antiques, he took time to study her and all the possibilities that this night and the future held for the two of them. The girl was young, beautiful and naïve, which made her an easy prey. And he was the only heir to the huge fortune of his business tycoon father. He could lure her with the charms of an extravagant lifestyle or simply stupefy her emotionally on the pretext of a loving heart. And if it didn’t work out both ways, he will force himself into her house where she lived all alone. He smirked as he thought there was no way she could escape from him. It was getting difficult for him to wait and he got up and walked over to her. She smiled yet again as she saw him approaching.
“Your house is so beautiful,” she said as she could hear the flames of desire roar within him.
“But it is a pity that I have to live all alone here,” he said in an almost teary voice.
“I am so sorry for you, Aryan,” she said as she placed a hand on his chest, keeping her eyes locked on his.
“Ayana, I can’t take it anymore,” he said as he came so close to her that their bodies almost rubbed against each other, “this terrible loneliness is killing me.”
“I am always there for you, Aryan,” she said without even taking the time to blink.
He pressed her close to him in a tight embrace.
“Thank you, Ayana”
His hands almost immediately curled around her slender waist and he picked up her up in his arms. And before she could know, he had put her down on a large cozy bed. He sprang by her side on the bed in a flash. Ayana’s heart was rocketing but still she managed to maintain her calm and smiled at him.
“Let me do it for you,” she said as she saw him unbuttoning his shirt.
She slowly unbuttoned them one by one and then pulled it down his back. She let out a terrified scream and jumped far from him, shivering like a leaf.
“What happened, baby?” a dazed Aryan asked as he held out a hand to her.
“You are a bloody murderer!” she screamed pointing a shaking finger at him, “The star mark is there.”
“What?!”
“Yes, it was you who attacked Varun in my house.” She gulped down to wet her parched throat. “Varun had hit the attacker with the wand of the angel and you still have the mark on your back.”
Aryan’s face darkened and he dragged Ayana to him and pinned her down on the bed. He pulled strings out of the curtains hanging by the side of the window and tied her hands and feet to the bed. She screamed pitiably for help. He drew out a towel from his wardrobe and gagged her. Ayana struggled to break free from her bondages along with letting out muffled screams. He laughed at her vulnerable condition and his laughter echoed in the room like the roar of a monster.
He got up from the bed as she gave up her struggle and burst out crying. He poured himself a drink and carried it to the bed. He sat by her side and took a sip from it as his hands caressed her shapely curves. His eyes danced in amusement as he saw her wince on being jittered by his touch.
“Yes, I killed her,” he said and removed the gag when he saw her surrender, “What do you expect me to do? She took my father under her spell and snatched him away from us. My mother was forced to live the life of a widow all her life even though her husband was alive. She was the one responsible for shattering our family. We would have led a happy life if she hadn’t torn us apart. And I know I have done the right thing. I plucked the thorn called Shanaya out of our life forever. What wrong did I do? She had to pay for the tears my mother had been shedding all these years. I have fulfilled my duties as a son, that’s all.”
“It was your father’s fault,” Ayana shouted as she couldn’t hold back while the monster kept accusing poor Shanaya, “he kept her in the dark all this time. She would have never married him if she was aware that he was already married and had a family. She is not the kind of woman who will snatch from others to fulfill her wishes. She believed in giving and has led a life of benevolence and compassion.”
“Yes, I agree that my parents were forced to marry each other, much against their wishes. But they would have reconciled with fate and accepted each other if this concubine of a woman hadn’t stepped in between them.”
“Don’t you dare to utter such words for the lady I worship!” Ayana momentarily forgot about her helplessness and her furious eyes bathed him in the vitriol of rage.
He glanced at the intoxicating drink in his hand and smirked at the inebriating girl lying helplessly on his bed. He thought of the day when he had intruded into her flat in search of the manuscript. How mad he had become with passion when she had fainted in his arms that night. He was so lost in her alluring charms that he had almost forgotten about the manuscript. He would have satiated himself with the wine of her youth there itself if a knock at her door hadn’t brought him to senses.
“I am going to do the same with you as well,” he said as he bent over her and whispered in her ears, “but only when I am done with you baby!”
“No! Leave me!” Ayana cried as she struggled with the ropes. “Let me go!”
“What’s the hurry, baby?” he said as he removed a strand of hair from her face, “the show is only about to begin.”
“Don’t think that you can wash your hands off the crimes that you have committed that easily and walk free.”
“Well,” he said as settled down on the bed beside her and turned to her contemptuously, “who is going to punish me? That ACP beau of yours?”
Aryan burst out laughing and rolled over the bed for a while. But as soon as he reigned the fit of laughter, a surge of vengeance took over him and he pounced upon Ayana like a wounded tiger.
“What proof does he have against me even after investigating for so many months?” He smirked as he wiped a silent tear that escaped from the petrified eyes of the girl who was choking beneath his weight. “I strangled your darling Shanaya with these hands. And then I carefully cleared off every piece of evidence.”
He slid down by her side again as he saw her face become cyanosed out of suffocation. Ayana opened her mouth widely and sucked in air.
“You must be wondering why I am telling all this to the girlfriend of the police officer who is on a hunt for me?” He gagged Ayana’s mouth with his hands as he watched blood rush back to her face. “Because I will never let you blurt out even a word of what you have heard right now. You are not going to see him ever again.”
Ayana screamed with all her might but her screams were instantly muffled by his hand placed over her mouth.
“But you don’t have to worry. I am not going to let you go so easily.” His atrocious eyes penetrated through her horrid ones. “You are here to stay with me. And we are going to lead a ‘happily-ever-after’ life.”
Ayana bit his hand making him wince and take his hand back.
“That will never happen,” Ayana hissed.
“Oh really,” his sarcastic eyes challenged her, “who is going to save you from my captivity?”
The door sprung open and they both turned a dazed face towards it. But they flashed entirely opposite reactions to the intruder. Ayana’s face became flooded with relief and tears of joy flowed down her cheeks wile Aryan’s face became ghastly pale.
“You are under arrest for the murder of Mrs Shanaya Kumar,” ACP Varun Patel said pointing a revolver at him.
Soon, the room was flooded with armed policemen and Aryan had no option but to surrender. His gaze landed on the two of them who were in plain clothes and he instantly recognized that they were the same guys who had attacked Ayana in the disco.
“So, everything and everyone was a part of a well-planned trap,” Aryan muttered under his breath as his furious eyes
grazed through them on the way to the police van.
“Are you okay, Ayana?” Varun asked as he hurried to cut off the ropes tied to her limbs and poured a glass of water for her.
“He nearly killed me,” Ayana said as her shivering hands took the glass from him.
“I wouldn’t have let that happen.” Varun held her to him and then cupped her face after they disengaged. “Me and my team were constantly keeping a close watch on you, throughout the whole mission. And I must say, it was really a bold thing you have done today.”
“I am ready to do anything and everything to get my Shanaya Ma’am’s culprit punished.” Ayana turned her fiery eyes to him.
“My brave baby!” Varun smiled and cuddled her again in his arms.
“Thank you, Varun, for being there for me.”
“I will always be there with you Ayana,” Varun added with a naughty wink, “but on one condition.”
“What?”
“You will have to marry me.”
“Well,” Ayana said with a mischievous smile, “I feel pity for girls like me.”
“Why?” Varun was taken aback.
“If all the policemen in the town start demanding marriage in return of security,” Ayana threw her hands up in the air, “then what will all those poor girls do?”
“They all will end up securely married!”
Ayana buried her head in Varun’s chest as they burst out laughing in each other’s arms.
Chapter – 9 - Add an Epilogue
Ayana wiped off the sweat from her hands with her handkerchief and rubbed them together nervously while waiting outside Sujan Kumar’s cabin. She was done with her work on Shanaya’s manuscript and was about to hand it over to the publisher with whom Shanaya had signed the deal of her book when she received a call from Kumar. He asked her to meet him before giving the book for publishing. Several ominous thoughts clouded her mind as soon as she hung up.
‘What business does he have with the manuscript?’ Ayana thought as she flashed a nervous smile at Kumar’s beautiful receptionist. ‘Maybe, he doesn’t want the manuscript to get published. As the story is based on the true incidents of his life, he may consider it a potential threat to his reputation.’
‘No, I will not let that happen,’ Ayana’s face turned pale and she gulped down heavily, ‘I have to get it published at any cost. After all, it was Shanaya Ma’am’s last wish and the last masterpiece that she has penned.’
A phone buzzed at the reception and Ayana was jolted out of her reverie with a jittered gasp.
“Mr Kumar is ready to meet you Ma’am,” the receptionist repeated her well-practiced lines with an awkward smile as her eyes fell on Ayana’s ashen face, “you may go in now.”
Ayana masked the turmoil churning inside her with a smile and walked in to face the music. She found him sitting on chair with his back turned to her as she pushed the door of the cabin open. The chair of the managing director of the Vohra Group of Enterprises was a gift to him on his marriage with Shanaya, the only daughter of Prakash Vohra who owned the whooping 2000 crore business empire.
‘Money was the reason,’ Ayana thought as she walked forward into his cabin, ‘that may have drawn him like a firefly to the brightly burning flame called Shanaya. But unfortunately, in her case, the firefly has annihilated the fire. She had to pay the price with her life for the terrible mistake she has committed during the inebriation of her youth!’
“Good morning, sir,” Ayana said gulping down her repugnance against the villain who was cheating on her the entire life.
“Morning,” Kumar said in a feeble voice and waved a hand towards a chair. “Have a seat please.”
Ayana was taken aback when he turned his chair to face her. He seemed to have grown a decade older since she had last seen him. His hair had turned grey revealing bald patches underneath. His face was a conglomeration of wrinkles and dark circles had appeared below his eyes. His salt-pepper beard gave a weary look to his face. Even the captivating charm of his eyes also seemed to be a bit subdued.
“Ayana,” he said as he drew a deep breath, “I never read any of Shanaya’s books when she was alive but I have read this one. And as you know, in the last chapter of her story she has posed a question ‘why has all this happened to us? And where did things started getting messed up?’ I want to answer her queries. I want to tell her things that I have kept from her, the entire life out of the fear of losing her. I am telling those things to you on her behalf as I know she must always be somewhere around the two of us as we are the ones she had loved the most.”
Kumar’s voice stumbled over a lump and he closed his eyes as he tried to fight his tears. His tears rained over the fire of vengeance burning fiercely inside Ayana and extinguished it. Ayana’s heart again filled up with pity for the broken man.
“Years ago, I was forced by my parents to marry Sharada. More or less, she was also suffering from the same plight as mine and was married tome much against her wishes. Both of us were not ready at all for the obligation that was forced upon us in the name of family honor. Our dreams were crushed under the burden and both of us felt suffocated to death. Still, we tried to cope up with the calamity that had befallen on us and make a compromise with fate by hanging on to our relationship. A couple of months after my marriage, an appointment letter from the Vohra Group came my way. It was my dream to join the Vohra Group. Along with landing my dream job, I met my dream girl as well. Shanaya reciprocated my feelings and we grew close to each other within a few meetings. I decided to draw a curtain on my unhappy marriage and made up my mind for filing a divorce petition as I was sure that Sharada also wished to walk out of the alliance. But when I reached home, I found that my parents were on cloud nine out of the ecstasy of becoming grandparents. I broke down as I realized that it was already too late. I spent many sleepless nights brooding over the issue. Neither could I convince myself to remain adhered to an unsatisfying marriage for an entire lifetime, nor could I let go of Shanaya who had already started weaving dreams of a future with me.”
Kumar halted to take a deep breath and looked straight into Ayana’s eyes as he resumed.
“I loved her and only her,” he said, “And hence I decided to go on for life with the girlI was madly in love with. Sharada didn’t object as my presence in her life didn’t matter much to her. But it was Aryan who paid the penance for my fault, if you can call love a sin. He was deprived of the family life he always yearned for and held Shanaya responsible for that, who was completely unaware of even his existence. His hostility towards Shanaya grew along with him. He started brewing plans to eliminate her from our lives so that he can have his family back. And in the bargain, I lost everyone I have loved.”
Kumar broke into tears and Ayana held out of a glass of water to him.
“I can understand, sir,” Ayana said wiping her own tears, “And I am sure Shanaya Ma’am can also. She would have already forgiven you for everything. She has always loved you a lot, in spite of everything.”
“I have also loved her as much, Ayana.”
Ayana smiled through her tears and patted his hand to comfort him. Kumar drew a deep breath and slid back in his chair.
“Aryan is punished with a life sentence,” Kumar said as he recovered, “I am waiting for his sentence to be over. I accompany Sharada whenever we visit the jail to meet Aryan in order to make him feel that his family is back together. We have decided to make another compromise with destiny and give our marriage a fresh start, for the sake of Aryan.”
“That was a good decision Mr Kumar,” Ayana smiled, “it will definitely help him heal.”
“But it is also a fact that Shanaya was and will always be my soul mate,” Kumar drew a deep breath and said, “I need a favor from you, Ayana.”
“Please say it, sir,” Ayana eagerly jumped forward, “I am ready to do anything that comes within my power.”
“I want you to add whatever I have told you as an epilogue to the story,” he sighed, “Because I believe
the story will be incomplete without giving Sandeep a chance to present his side. The world must know that Muskan’s Sandy was not cheating on her. He had to do all this only to have a happy life with her. He had always loved Muskan and only her—truly, sincerely and beyond all limits.”
“Definitely, sir,” Ayana said as she rose from her chair and ran towards the door before yet another silent tear spilled out of her eyes.
*The End*
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