Preeta followed Kritika's shocked gaze and gasped when she, herself recognised the intruder. She hadn't expected if she would ever see this young man nor she ever wanted to. But this time, she was helplessly thankful to him for even standing out for Kritika.
"Leave the girl," said Pawan Malhotra calmly while controlling his anger by clenching his jaws and fisting his hands aside.
He humorlessly smirked at the men, noticing that they were underestimating him and his courage. His blood boiled when one of the men started laughing at him.
"Little boy, this is not a play for you. Turn around and play cricket over there in that ground. This girl is our case and no one needs to teach us about handling her," replied the man while glaring at Pawan who only shook his head in response.
Preeta gulped and stared at Shrey in shock. She was so keen on observing the scene until Prithvi muttered,"What the hell he is doing here?" She saw him moving to get up and immediately held his arm.
"Where are you going?"
Prithvi let out a humorless chuckle and looked at her in disbelief. "He is my brother, Preeta. He fights and beats his juniors. But those heavy-bulky men there, are out of his league. I need to handle this scene now," saying this he removed Preeta's hand from his arm and gave her a blank look before getting up.
Till this time, Kritika was staring at Pawan in disbelief and had almost lost her sanity. It was so unbelievable to see him standing here for her when more than a month had been passed since their break up.
"C'mon, pretty girl. We have a deal, now. To the club we want, and we will leave you then," the same man spoke while gesturing for her to come closer.
She only shook her head in response. "No, please. I beg you," she obliged but the man only laughed.
"To the club and you will beg us for more," the man laughed with two of his friends. But their laugh was immediately silenced when Pawan tapped his cricket bat on the road while anger clearly redenning on his face.
The man shook his head while glancing back at his friends. "Boy, I told you to play your game there. Turn around and run while swinging your bat. Alright? Now, fuck off," he yelled at Pawan who only shrugged his shoulders.
"Of course, that's what you need to note. I am warning you old-timers to run away from here or I'll swing this bat right at your wrinkled asses. Good deal, erh?"
Prithvi's eyebrows raised and didn't came out from behind the wall. He had planned to startle the men and bring advantage of his presence to escape Kritika and his younger brother. He was actually frustrated for this boy to suddenly appear in this street fight. This was a serious case of bulky men kidnapping a girl.
Pawan didn't need to interrupt if he was alone here. Prithvi clenched his jaws in anger. He couldn't imagine how alone and helpless Pawan was, if he wouldn't have been here. Now, he needed to just wait for the right time to make his presence known.
The three men started digging glares at Pawan and ignoring his rant, two of them stepped ahead towards Kritika. They didn't wait and grabbed her arms when she made a run for escape. The third men stood there, waiting for his move.
Pawan's gaze shifted at Kritika and something in his heart twitched at seeing her tear-stained face. She was shaking her head, wriggling and even crying because of her bruised shoulder. The man weren't caring about her arm and were painfully manhandling her.
Without wasting anymore time, he gripped his cricket bat tightly and stomped towards the men. With a growl, he hit the man who was ready to defend himself as he crossed his hand and doged his attack. But taking this as an advantage, Pawan suddenly and immediately kicked him between his legs making the men stagger back in pain and suddenness.
