A cold breeze swept past her neck, leaving behind a trail of goosebumps on Khusi's jacket clad arms. She blew out a breath and it transformed into smoke in front of her eyes,before disappearing in thin air.
"Come - on teachers! Hurry up ! You have got only an hour left before the sun goes down. I need the whole premise ready by tomorrow afternoon," Mr. Agartala, the rudest principal anyone could have ever come across in their life, hollered, his stern eyes slithered from one corner of the premise to another, before he strode back inside the school building.
The teachers grunted in annoyance but they were helpless. Zeniya stood up on her tiptoes and tried to attach the fairy lights on top of the Christmas tree, Khusi standing behind her, covered in thick scarf and an enormous jacket, which covered more than half of her stature, a few glass bulbs and miniatures in her grasp.
"Hey guys!! Look! A snowflake!" Minaskshi's screech sounded irritated to their ears as both of them tried to finish the task in hand as soon as possible and get back under a thick blanket savoring the moment with some warm coffee.
"Calm down Mina," Zeeniya muttered, rolling her eyes but she paid no heed. Minakshi trotted on the field, her eyes twinkling with happiness as she picked up some snow and tried to make a ball out of it.
"How com ... uff!" She tried to throw the snowball at Khusi's direction but the moment her hand was up in the air, her foot slipped and her body went under a thick layer of snow.
Khusi and Zeeniya couldn't help but chortle at Minaskshi's silly tactics. She was more childish than any other kid in the entire school.
With the help of 5 other teachers, it took the trio more than an hour to finish Christmas decorations. But it was already past dusk by that time.
"Hey, you two are coming to my Christmas party, right?" Mina asked, her eyes twinkling with unruly excitement, as she wiggled her eyebrows.
Zeeniya grunted but nodded nonetheless. Their eyes turned towards Khusi who grimaced behind her scarf. She had plans with Yuti, but didn't have the heart to break Minaskshi's hopes.
"Um, I can't promise ... I mean, I will try," she whispered the last part, hoping they wouldn't enquire about her absence.
"Why not? Do you have plans, with your blankets, coffee and hardcover?" Minakshi's teasing tone set Khusi's heart at ease but it didn't last long. Zeeniya's eyes narrowed on her for a second before it rounded in realisation.
"Ohhhhhh ! No Mina, how will she come to our party? She has plans, but not with all the nonliving objects you just mentioned. But with a breathing living human. Specifically her man."
Khusi's cheeks burned with embarrassment as she tried to fight the emerging smile on her lips, but failed.
Minaskshi hooted and Zeeniya poked Khusi's side, making her chuckle, her hands coming up to cup her warm cheeks.
"Stop it you guys! It's just not him. Yuti will also be there!"
"As if that had stopped you." One of Zeeniya's perfect eyebrows shot up, hinting at that time when Khusi and Abhay made love like rabbits.
"Guys please! That was a one time thing," Khusi mumbled, shaking her head to stop her brains from recreating those moments back in her head.
"It doesn't need to be. Don't tell you you never got the urge to sleep with Mr. Handsome hunk of a cop every again?" Minaskshi nudged Khusi's shoulder making her stumble over a little rock before Zeeniya grabbed her to steady her on her feet.
"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Khusi deadpanned, making a zipping gesture over her lips, resulting in Zeeniya and Minakshi breaking out in chuckles.
As the trio strode out the school campus, a small smile grazed Khusi's lips. She was so thankful towards God for sending her friends like Mina and Zeeniya. They were the complete opposites of how her old friends were. They never judged her for sleeping with a man who had a child, nor reacted in the way Khusi expected them to when she had told them about being a divorcee. They were mildly curious about her ex-husband and why they got separated before both of them had gone ballistic and had started cursing Bhaskar.
I am glad that douche is out of your life. You deserve someone much better sweetie.
I wish that fucker rot in hell. Don't let him affect you anymore Khusi. You made the right choice.
Khusi had been stunned with their responses but was also glad to get such understanding and caring friends.
"Oh ho! Look who is here. Your man has come to pick you up." Minakshi's words made Khusi's face snap up. Her eyes halted on a SUV, but her pupils dilated at the man who was leaning on the car. Even the jacket wasn't enough to hide his muscular statute and towering height. Some snow was sticking to his messily attractive hair, which implied he was waiting for Khusi for some time now.
"Ahem, we will take our leave. Go to you man now."
"Shut up guys. He isn't my man," Khusi huffed, but her heart was beating furiously as she approached the brooding OC of Chamba. His gaze was fixed at his mobile screen, the light from it reflecting on the harsh lines of his face.
"Deny it as much as you want. But we all know what you actually want." Before Khusi could think of a comeback, Zeeniya and Mina flee away to another direction, leaving her alone
Khusi approached the gigantic man, her body warming up from inside at just his presence. As soon he felt movements, Abhay's eyes swept me and a natural smile fell upon his lips. Tucking the phone back into his pockets, he pulled her in for a hug.
"Hey, decided to pick you up cause it was getting late." Abhay's deep voice in her ears made Khusi's stomach burst with butterflies. She cleared her throat and ruffled his hair, stepping back from his huge form.
"Thanks a lot. You didn't have to though. It's just 6 pm. I know you're busy with building the case." The final court hearing was in 2 days and they were still lacking an alibi who could prove Nitin guilty.
"Don't be silly. It's the least I could do." Khusi didn't know why but his small actions were slowly breaking the strong walls she had built around her heart. One day, it might just crumble down to the ground.
"C'mon. We have a venture to run. It's our last chance today. Or have you changed your mind?" Khusi's eyes rounded in realization as she remembered what day it was.
"Oh no ! Not in the slightest. C'mon, let's go! We can't be late. It's our last chance," Khusi exclaimed, rounding the car and got inside the passenger seat, without bothering to clean her boots.
Abhya shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. Khusi's moods could change in nanoseconds and he was still not habituated to it.
As he drove the car towards the shopping plaza, a frown marred his forehead, as the consequences of what they were doing played in his head. If anyhow they mess it up, there would be hell to pay.
Abhay parked the car in the farthest corner of the parking lot, to avoid gaining attention from Nitin's goons. 3 of them of them were hovering around the parking lot, the other 2 God knew where.
"Here, put it on. I want you to be connected to me all the time. If you feel even for a second anything is wrong, turn back and come here as fast as possible. I will be waiting in the car, though I shouldn't." Abhay's jaw ticked as he prepared Khusi. A giggle went past her lips at Abhay's tight voice and tensed movements. She wasn't going to a battle.
"Khusi, focus. I am serious. If it were in my hands I would never send you anywhere near those men ag ... "
"Yes, but it isn't. They know you, but not me. So don't stress your big brain into it and keep it upto me," Khusi pacified an anxious Abhay, who was continuously clenching his fist.
Khusi grabbed the door handle to step out, but before she could, Abhay clasped her arm and turned her back.
"What is ... "
Her words died in her mouth as Abhay silenced her with the clash of his lips. She was too stunned for a second to react, but her eyes fluttered close as warmth seeped into her veins.
Abhay's rough palm slided to her nape, the other encircling her waist, as their lips molded together, igniting liquid passion into each other bodies.
Khusi was so overwhelmed with heat radiating off Abhay's palms and his hot breath mingling with her's, that she didn't realize when Abhay had picked her up and now, she was straddling his hips. Heat radiated off her core pressed against Abhay's hardwood.
But she didn't care. Abhay's hands grasped Khusi hips and Khusi grinded Abhay, her arms crossed behind his neck. The noises of smooching and grunts filled the car, the dented window concealing the view from the rest of the public eye as Khusi and Abhay madeout passionately like two horny teenagers.
After what felt like hours but were mere minutes, Khusi realized what they were doing. Abhay was leisurely leaving his marks on Khusi's throat, leaving behind a hot wet trail on her collarbone.
"Abhay, stop ... uh, we have to ... ahh ... get this done ... "
Abhay knew he had to stop, but couldn't bring himself to. Khusi sweet smell had taken over his senses, and now neither his hands nor his lips wanted to seize.
"Abhay." Khusi fisted his hair and tugged them lightly to break their haze, which resulted into a sexy growl escaping past Abhay's lips, making Khusi clench her thighs.
"We will get this over with back at home," she whispered suggestively in his ears nipping his earshell, making Abhay squeeze her left asscheek where his hand was currently resting.
"Damn, you better hurry up inside." Abhay's guttural voice weakened Khusi's resolve to leave but she knew she can't be childish. This had to be done.
As Khusi sat back in her seat, a huff left her mouth as she felt wetness slithering down her vaginal walls.
Her gaze lazily went back to Abhay who was adjusting his hard on, his lips puffy pink and his hair dishevelled. How one human can look beyond sexy was still something Khusi couldn't decipher.
She strolled into the shopping plaza, picking up a basket on her way in to look persuasive and released her hair from the messy bun for it to flow freely over her ears to conceal the airpode.
It didn't take her long to spot the person she was looking for. But before she could go for her, her eyes stilled on the two bodyguards who were casually pacing around her, their eyes vigilant.
Khusi had to wait for several minutes, going around in circles around the shelves before she found the perfect opportunity to approach Diyasha. She was reading the label of a supplement infant food, when Khusi picked out a can and handed it over to her.
"Here, I use this brand too, and their composition list is really healthy and good." Diyasha, still oblivious to the person, quickly kept back the item on her hand and grasped the ones Khusi was offering, a smile breaking on her face.
"Thank you so much. I had been trying to find the best one, because honestly he doesn't eat much. So I need to look for the healthiest option available. But I get confused with so many options ... "
By the time she was done rambling her gaze went up and her words died down in her throat, the smile on her lips vanishing in thin air and dread took place over her features. Quickly dumping the contents in her cart, Diyasha inspected her surroundings trying to look for her bodyguards and tried to hurriedly slink away, but Khusi blocked her path.
"Diyasha, I need to talk to you."
"You don't know what you're doing. If you're even slightly worried about your safety, walk away right now. If they find you talking to me, you will not be walking out of this plaza alive," she gritted, her limbs shaking as Diyasha tried to run past Khusi. But Khusi wasn't worried about her safety anymore. It was about a child, and his future.
"Don't you want your nephew to live a normal and happy life?"
Diyasha had stepped a few meters away when Khusi words halted her steps. Her body tensed, eyes widened. Khusi knew she had hit a nerve.
"He suffers hell in that house, Diyasha, and you know that. His mother is practically absent and his father ... he molests him," Khusi whispered the last words, her voice shaking.
Diyasha eyes shut in rage and disgust at herself, her fingers curling into fist on the shopping cart.
"You think I don't know that How that child comes to me every night, crying and begging me to take his pain away? How I put him to sleep, after giving him painkillers almost every night?" Diyasha's words were barely audible to anyone but Khusi, her throat cracking at the intensity of her helplessness, tears seeping down her cheeks.
"Then why aren't you helping him?" Khusi pleaded, her molars grinding against each other.
"Because I can't!" Diyasha gritted, her face turning red with every passing second.
"You can ... " Khusi tried to reason but Diyasha wasn't listening to her anymore as she shook her head.
"No, you don't understand. David had been my solace, my will power to live and continue with my life, my pillar of support in my darkest days, after I lost ... He is my child, not just my nephew. But if I try to expose the horror his father exposes him to, to the world, he will be taken away from me. And I will die. A slow painful death."
"What are you saying Diyasha? You think Nitin Joshi will hold any power after being sentenced to prison!?"
"But he won't be. He is powerful, and I know this. You don't know how influential my cousin is and how many connections he has. I have seen people dying mysteriously for looking at him in the wrong way. You think I will survive ... "
Diyasha's rambling came to a screeching halt as Khusi grasped her palms into her own. With a reassuring squeeze, she said, "I don't need to know how much of a devil he is, Diyasha. But what I have gathered from your words, David is like a son to you. And if you care even an eon for him, you will be on our side tomorrow and will stand as a witness to the cruelty Nitin exposed to his child."
Diyasha shook her hand, a defeated look coating her face.
"Think of it like this. If he is powerful, so is our justice system. Maybe he hasn't been proven guilty before because he had been one step ahead everytime and whenever someone tried to take him down, he took care of it . But he won't be expecting you there and he won't get enough time to deal with you."
"And what if ... " Diyasha tried to bring up another excuse, but Khusi shook her head and cut her off.
"There could be countless negative outcomes if we go 'what if' Diyasha. But there could also be the outcome where you get the custody of David."
Diyasha's eyes rounded as if it was something she had never considered. But the second it came, it went away.
"Even if I do manage to prove Nitin guilty, I will never get David's custody. How will I, when the man I work for, will cut off all my allowances?" she scoffed, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
"That's something we need to worry about later honey. Right now, our main focus should be on rescuing David and throwing your cousin behind the bars."
Diyasha was staring blankly at the wall when Khusi sensed movements through her side eye. She quickly put up her hoody and took a few steps away from Diyasha, delving into the products on a shelf.
"Ma'am, are you done? We need to leave as soon as possible." One of Diyasha's guards spoke as Diyasha took several cereal packets out of the shelves.
"Yeah, just give me a minute." The guard walked away and Khusi took it as her que to sneak beside her, her face still hidden behind the hoody.
Diyasha was just about to walk away when Khusi pushed a piece of paper in her palm and whispered, " Call me if you get a change of heart and really care about David."
Diyasha quickly shoved it inside her jacket's pocket and sauntered away, her shopping cart's wheels emanating screeching noises.
A sigh of exhaustion escaped past Khusi's lips as she cracked her knuckles and neck.
'Now, I need you to come back to me. I am done waiting. We are going home right now.' Abhay's husky and heavy voice rang in her ears through the airpode as a shu smile tipped up her lips.
"Yes sir," she mocked and chuckled lightly as Abhay's grumbles sounded from the other side of her airpode.
She was just about to walk away when her gaze stalled at the figure standing on the other side of the shelf, his cold eyes fixed at her. Her feet came to a halt, and her throat dried in nervousness.
"You never give up, do you Ms. Mukherjee? Even after so many failed attempts and life threatening incidents, you're still hooked on saving a lost case?" Mr. Agartala's nefarious voice ricocheted around the corner they were standing, his stance and features as malicious as his words.
"I am not exactly the type to give up easily Mr. Agartala. You do know that already, don't know, given the fact I am still surviving in this city for the last 8 months." Khusi wasn't scared or nervous around the rude principal anymore. For her, he was more of a grumpy man in his early 40s whom fate had always treated in the wrong way. So much that he has turned bitter.
He scoffed as if Khusi's fierce outward appearance is a subject of mockery for him."Seen enough of your kind. Good luck for the trial, which I might say, will be failing miserably."
His words were enough to ignite Khusi's nerves on fire, but she curled her fist and took a step away from him, worried that she might slap him if he stood there for another second.
'One day I am going to smash this man's face, I tell you Khusi. Do I need to come there?' Abhay's voice resonated in her ear, but she mumbled a soft no.
"What is your problem with that little boy, huh? Don't you want to see your student happy and healthy too?" Khusi's words were coated with rage as she spit them at him, when Mr. Agartala tried to walk away.
His steps stilled but his next words were only audible to him, as he walked away the next very second.
"I don't have a problem with his existence. My problem is that he has taken the most precious person away from me."
~ • • • • • ~
Super late on this update 😬 but I wish you all A very Happy New Year, lovelies 😘💖
Vote and Comment, 🌟💬
if you're liking my story. 😇🥰
See'Ya 💫❤