The Unventured Passions

Partners in Crime ❤️

"Lochinvar!"

The night was dark, with only a slice of moon playing hide and seek in the mid-sky, and barring the chirping of the crickets, there wasn't another noise to sheath the loud thudding of Raimoti's heartbeats, and a bloodied corpse of a police constable lay a few feet away.

Raimoti gasped at her own words, her eyes widened at Satyakirth's face in disbelief, as if trying desparately to draw an outline of his silhouette in that darkness.

"You are my... " Raimoti mouthed the words, but couldn't complete, as she pressed the shawl close to her heaving bosoms, frantically trying to calm her palpitating heartbeat, inhaling a known fragnance from it, and Satyakirth sniffed a tear back and nodded.

"I am... Princess..." He tried to smile helplessly.
"Your Lochinvar!"

It's wasn't a shock, but it felt as if someone had shaken her to the reality, yet it felt bleak. It felt as if she was sitting at the bottom of an ocean, with none to pull her to the surface, it felt as if numb, silent! The whole world seemed to have suddenly faded infront of Raimoti's being, and suddenly everything was like an ocean, yet not the ones full of life and colour. And her ocean was a million shades of grey the same as those old-fashioned photographs.

"Raimoti..."
Satyakirth called her, for the second time, and she gulped her thoughts, letting herself surface to the reality.

"How long have you known?"
She was quiet, but her eyes had an earnest urge in them.

"Long enough..." Satya sighed, "You told me yourself about that night, under intoxication, and I tied the ends."

"And why didn't you tell me?"
Raimoti's words were calmer, and Satya felt another kind of sting in his heart.
He knew he atleast owed her these answers.

"I was waiting for the right time."

"The right time?"
Raimoti let out a suppressed yell, as very slowly she got up from the ground, clutching the shawl to her body, and inched closer to him.
"Is now the right time, Satyakirth Sen?"

Satya looked down.
"No... But, tonight I realised if I don't tell you this now, there might not be a next time."

"So you decided to enlighten me..."
Raimoti added, and sighed softly.

"So it's never true... That night, and everything I felt... And everytime I mentioned about that night, and my mystery lover, you probably had just laughed!"
Raimoti's voice quivered once, but the jets of emotions flowing from her eyes were uncontrollable.

"No Rai... Not for a moment."
Satya had pulled her by her arm, making her fall on his strong chest, and the intensity of Raimoti's whimper increased.

"Then what?"
Her voice choked.

"All my life I've dreamt about a free country... I... I have never known, or wished anything for myself... Until you happened..." Satya touched her chin gently and raised her face.
"You scare me Raimoti Mukherjee... You make me dream of a life beyond all these... Beyond my duties... My responsibilities... You make me want to live."

"Then live." Raimoti had parted her lips, only a little, and looking at those quivering red petals, Satyakirth smiled with a profound sadness in his heart.

"I wish I could... But... But, I can't let you sacrifice yourself... Your safety would be my motivation, my last solace."

"I thought we are partners."
Raimoti sobbed, her hands had clutched the back of his shirt, as she clung to his neck, feeling the warmth of his body.

"We are... We always will be... But, this is where we part Princess."

Raimoti suddenly felt Satya's muscles stiffening, and he held her shoulders, pulling her apart from his body.