-• lurking dangers •-
The phrase every action has its equal and opposite reaction came true in the literal sense the very next day of school. Anagha and Atharva were absent and I couldn't stop thinking just what went down between them and their father after mystery man delivered the letter safely. I just hope whatever I did doesn't have bad consequences. What if they are shipped to the States immediately rather than a few months later? What confuses me more is Yuvraaj's decision to call off the punishment so abruptly. If I remember correctly, he made it look like an irreversible decision, but that evening, he practically dared me to go against his words if I wanted to help Anagha.
Frequently, I feel like Yuvraaj is more mysterious than the mystery man. Oftentimes, his actions make no sense to me. He's like a propelling force that impacts your head and fusions your thoughts. I can't understand him no matter how hard I try.
The mystery man must have a reason that he's doing all of this. His identity is hidden from the world, and maybe, even his existence. Vengeance is a powerful emotion, and a person driven by it certainly has a solid reason to choose this path. So somewhere, I want to give him benefit of doubt.
But Yuvraaj?
His involvement in this makes no sense. Is their past somehow interconnected? Does it have something to do with his ex-wife? Who's Virat Rajawat? How does my father know him? Is mystery man one of Rajawats? How was he in the Rajawat Estate that night? What did he ask me to do to Shourya? Is Shourya's lost memory a result of what I did to him that morning?
I swear, everything's such a mess.
"What's wrong?" The science teacher suddenly asks, focusing on me.
"Huh?" I meet her eyes, my head absolutely empty of the context. Did I do something? Or did I speak aloud?
"You sighed," she mutters. "Did you not understand what I just explained?"
"Oh," I look down at the textbook. "I- I did."
"Sure?"
"Yup," I force a smile on my lips.
She nods and resumes explaining the next concept. This time, I focus on focusing to what she's teaching. We're starting final practicals tomorrow and I'm aware of how much I suck at taking readings and handling the apparatus. I just hope they don't make us sit according to our roll call. Because apparently, and that's how unlucky I am, R is the last surname in our class of twenty two students and it belongs to one and only, Mr. Shourya Rajawat. So if we're made to take practicals as per our roll number, I'll be seated right next to this guy, who tests my patience like that's the sole purpose of his existence.
"Now that I've explained this to you, let's take it to the lab. I'll perform the practicals for you so you can understand the concept completely." She gets up and grabs her stuff. "You know where the lab is. I've to stop by the staffroom for a moment, so go ahead and wait for me." She drops the keys to the lab on the table. "Take these with you." And she walks off.
Shourya picks up the keys and exits the private room. I follow him after packing my backpack. "I've a question," I say in a soft voice, not really keen on making a conversation with him, but his surname evokes a lot of questions in my head. And while I've no hope that he might know something, what's the harm in trying?
"Good for you?" He looks at me weirdly.
I roll my eyes. How come someone so smart can be so dumb sometimes? "I mean, I've a question for you."
He sighs. "What?"
"I don't expect you to answer, so you can say no. I'm just curious."
"Is there a probability I'll be offended?" He glances my way.
"I'm not sure," I shake my head uncertainly.
"Then why cross the line?"
"Well, I said you can choose to not answer."
"What's the point if I get offended? You'll know it's a sore spot for me." The key jiggles as he takes them out of his pockets and unlocks the doors of the science laboratory.
I open my mouth to retort but fail to come up with a response, so I helplessly settle on saying, or rather asking, "Why are you like this?" And I'm not being sarcastic, but genuinely concerned. Did the accident cause him to loose his social skills?
"I'm perfectly fine." He twists the knob and opens the door, nodding at me to enter first. I walk inside, immediately followed by him. The door automatically falls close behind us.
"One can't even hold a normal conversation with you," I say, pointing to his right as he searches for the switch. The dark laboratory floods with bright lights.
"What are normal conversations?" He prods. "Asking if you've had lunch, or wondering if we can hang out on weekends or talking about some movie we watched last time together. That's normal conversation, Esther, not asking a question that might offend the other person and then blaming them for being sensitive." He opens the cupboard to take out the apparatus.
I put my backpack down to help him. "We're not close enough to have such type of conversations," I take the beakers from him and put them on the counter.
"But we're close enough for you to ask me a personal question?" He turns with the test tube stands, his eyes locking with mine. I blink at the sudden, unexpected proximity. His faint scent of lavender tickles my senses so strongly that I almost forget we're still in the laboratory and he's my greatest nemesis as of now.
"You don't even know what the question is," I take the stand from him and turn away. He concentrates on safely transferring remaining glass apparatus on the counter before shifting his undivided attention to me.
"What is it?"
I curl my hand around the edge, worried about crossing the line since he already made it clear he's not looking forward to hearing an offended question. But then he stands this attentively, blazer discarded, sleeves rolled up, his hands shoved in the pockets of his dark blue slacks, his light brown eyes, that for some reason never seen to go along with his features, pinned on me with utmost dedication to capture each of my movements.
"Who was Virat Rajawat?"
It's not plainly evident, but there's a change in his body language that I don't miss. His shoulders go stiff, eyes lose that playfulness and jaw slightly twitches.
But he's saved from answering when the teacher walks in, unaware of the tension in the room as she instructs us to transfer the apparatus to the centre table.
"It's okay, you don't have to answer." I whisper, walking past him with the burner and test tube stands. He brings the remaining things to the table.
"Let's start with the second practical. You can get your phones out to record it if you want." She suggests.
"Oh, is that allowed?" I quickly return to my backpack that's stuffed in the rack and get my phone from the front pocket.
"Of course not," she chuckles. "But we've to take advantage of whatever we've access to. YouTube might help you but I feel this will make it easy to remember the practical since you already saw me performing it in a physical environment." She hangs her dupatta and puts on her lab coat and gloves.
I nod, opening my camera and switching to the video option before fixing my phone in a place where it can capture the video perfectly.
"Shourya, read me the title, beta," She glances over his shoulder while getting out the solubles from the glass shelf.
For the next two hours, we go through all the twelve practicals, well excluding the ones that only requires outer observation or overnight preparations. While Shourya helps the teacher in performing the practicals, I note down the readings and observations.
"Alright, we're done here," she finally announces. I heave a sigh of relief but my legs beg for some rest. I didn't get to relax even for a moment for the last two hours. At least he got to sit when mixing and observing the reactions, the two even chit chatted like good ol' buddies while I was busy scrambling to not miss a single reading. "I'll go over the instructions once again so hear me out carefully. All twelve practicals are compulsory. We're excluding the one that requires you to visit the farm. I'm sure you've already received the time table. I'll take in the first batch at sharp nine thirty. It'll be like a lucky draw. You'll pull out a chit and whatever experiment you're assigned with, you've to perform it. And if you fail, you're allowed to exchange it for another chit, again, a lucky draw, and your paper will be marked with negative five." This sounds so unfair. Especially the negative five marking. "An external will overlook your finals, he'll be the one asking you questions, grading your papers. So do not try to act oversmart in front of him. He won't be as easygoing as me." We both nod. This has been repeated to us five times now. "Don't write anything on your answersheet until you get your chit and all we want to see is title, observations and conclusion on it when you sit down for oral after performing your practical. Clear? Any doubts?" We shake our heads. "Great, I've to pick up my daughter from day care so I'm running late. Do me a favour, and please clean up this place before locking it. You can give the keys to Harish Kaka at the gates. He'll keep them for me. Excuse me now, have a great evening." She was clearly in a rush by how hurriedly she snatched her dupatta from hanger, slung her purse over her shoulder and left the lab like a breeze.
"Oh, to be a mother," I lament softly.
"As if you'd know," Shourya mutters, quickly starting the work.
I lend him a helping hand. "I don't. But you see, I've had a mother for the last sixteen years of my life." I reply sarcastically. "So, I might not be a mother, but I've seen one, very closely."
He pauses hearing that, eyeing me blankly which makes me self-conscious. "What?" I question him.
"What's it like?" He hands me the washed beaker.
I turn and place it in the shelf. "What's it like what?" I pretend to not have understood his question.
"To have a mother."
"That's like me asking you what's it like to have a father," I avoid answering.
"You do," he frowns.
"I didn't until two months ago," I reply.
"You're avoiding my question."
"So are you,"
"When did I?"
"Who was Virat Rajawat?"
He falls quiet for a moment. "I didn't know your mother was your sore spot," he shrugs.
"I lost her two and half months ago. She is my sore spot." I nod. "And you're still not answering my question." Yes, I'm a hypocrite when it comes to personal space.
"What question?"
I breathe out tiredly. "Who was Virat Rajawat?" I ask for the umpteenth time.
"Why do you want to know?"
"I'm curious."
"Who told you about him?"
"Just overhead his name." I reply, omitting the truth. "You're never going to answer me, are you?"
Surprisingly, he does. "He was an illegitimate first son of Abhimanyu Singh Rajawat. A result of my grandfather's illicit love affair with his secretary."
"O-Oh," I whisper, unable to form a coherent response. "Is- Is he no more?"
"Your turn," he commands.
I chuckle awkwardly. "Are we playing twenty questions?"
"If that's what you want to call it," he nods. "I'm waiting."
"Uhm, bittersweet, I guess? Like any other relationship." I shrug.
He tears his gaze off me, staring into the distance. A thick silence prevails upon us and I stand nervously in front of him, wondering how long until we go back to normal.
"You'll be able to clean the rest, yeah?" He asks, and doesn't even wait for my answer before he's grabbing his backpack and walking up to the door. "See you tomorrow. Bye." And he's out of the laboratory, leaving me gaping like a fish at his exit.
It takes me an hour to get the laboratory back to how it initially was. Agastya swears at me like a train because I made them wait for thirty minutes. On our way out, we stop at the school gates to hand the keys to the security guard and then drive back home.
After dinner, I'm summoned to my eldest brother's office and I think I might have a faint idea of what it is about this time.
"Did you do it?" He asks bluntly.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He smirks, nodding in response. "You made things easy for me."
I frown.
"Anagha and Atharva ran away from their house." My jaw drops. "They are right now in Delhi with their mother, who's currently filing for a divorce against her husband."
I sigh in relief. Thank God, they're fine.
"After what you've done, I'll have to assign you a bodyguard." He states, taking me aback.
"Wh- Why?"
"Well, Mr. Saxena will soon see his downfall and because of his failed plans, he's defenseless now. One who has nothing to lose, can go a little crazy. You need to be kept safe." He shrugs, walking back to his seat.
Wheels start turning in my head, trying to figure out the implications of his words. "You made me do this intentionally," I shoot an arrow in the dark, but when he looks up, his icy cold eyes fixed on me, the doubt cements into a conclusion. "Why?"
"The man your friend was betrothed to comes from a very powerful background. If he had joined hands with the Saxenas, it would have created a direct link between them and the Rajawats. Which is not good for us." He shakes his head, turning to the glowing screen of his computer.
"Then you could have just directly told her or asked me to tell her? Why so much drama around it?"
"I couldn't have spoiled Mr. Saxena's plan without openly declaring myself an enemy of Rajawats." He continues to explain further.
"So you planned this through me?" I ask him.
He nods.
"That doesn't make sense."
"I needed a valid reason to destroy the Chairman's closest aide. I know for sure, he'll try to avenge me by targeting one of you. And the weakest link will be you, Tara."
I furrow my brows. "So, he knows it was someone from our family who gave that information to Anagha?"
"Yes," he confirms. "But he'll be doubting you since you were closest to his daughter and son. He'd think I used you to ruin his plans. I was the only one, apart from the Rajawats who knew about this alliance. But nobody except him knows that. In fact, he wasn't sure himself. Now he'll be, he'll just have nothing to prove it. So what does a man in his situation do? Try to achieve justice himself. To bring my deception in light in front of the Chairman, he'll try to use you as a means to blackmail me."
"You could have done all of this without involving me,"
"I was going to." He nods. "But then all of the things that might happen in the future wouldn't make sense to you. No matter how hard I try to keep you safe, people like him will keep trying to challenge me. You needed to be mentally prepared. There are dangers lurking around at every corner, Taranya, targetting you and your brothers. I promise you until I'm alive, I won't let anything happen to you. Because of this, you'll have less questions to ask. You'll know why it happened." He interlaces his hands on the desk. "And you also needed to be punished for what you did."
"So, the mystery man already knew?"
He nods, then abruptly stops. "Mystery man?"
"The guy with the mask," I explain.
"Oh," he murmurs. "Yeah, he- he did." He shakes his head in disbelief.
"I'll be safe, right?"
"Of course," he assures. "A bodyguard and your mystery man will always have their eyes on you."
"He's not my mystery man!"
"He should never be." Yuvraaj concurs. "Now you may leave. You're starting your finals soon. Focus on them. Leave the rest on me."
I put my trust in him and return to my bedroom, deciding to make my upcoming my exams the centre of my attention. I've so much to cram up in such a short period that I can't afford to waste my time.
When I get assigned with a personal driver, nobody questions. Agastya is starting his final exams, and his schedule contradicts ours. The twins get their own personal driver as well, since we're in different batches and none of us want to waste our time by waiting for the other on the exam day after we finish giving our paper.
On the third of March, we begin our final exams. I almost forget all about the possible danger on my back while studying my ass off for the first exam. And as days proceed, nothing as Yuvraaj predicted happens.
Well, not until the last second exam.
We're on our way back home after my geometry exam when I notice the driver slash bodyguard constantly checking the rearview mirror.
"What's wrong?"
"Please put on your seatbelt, Princess Taranya. We've got a tail on us." He states, holding the gear shift as if he is prepared for something huge.
Panic flows through me and I quickly put on my seatbelt. My head whips over my shoulder and sure enough, I see a black car chasing us. Before it can catch, our car picks up the pace and races down the road like a flash.
The first time I had such experience was in Agastya's car, but this is scarier since we're on a busy road, during the rush hours and there are hundreds of cars around. I feel shoved left and right every time he swerves the car to avoid slowing down or crashing. When we hit the bridge overlooking the river of Jaigarh, someone on a bike, geared up in all black from head to toe, rides beside us. He nods to his right at my driver and I see the latter nod, my hand clutching the seatbelt like my life depends on it. Just as the bridge ends, the car swerves, following the biker's lead, which I assume is the mystery man.
I clench my eyes tightly, holding back the screams of fear as I feel myself rattled like a rag doll. And then I hear the sound of gunshots, eliciting a gasp out of my mouth. Several of them go out at once, alerting the crowd around us as cars stop, sirens go out and people start to scream. I stare through the windshield aghast.
To avoid getting shot, he leans left and right, tilting himself along with the motorcycle. I even see sparks fly from his back tyre everytime he pulls it straight, releasing a robust, throaty growl from the exhaust.
"Put your head down, Princess!" The driver commands me.
I duck my head in between my legs, shaking and trembling crazily.
To my disbelief, the car speeds up even more, brewing nauseating feeling from within my chest. I try not to cry, but this is definitely not what I had expected when Yuvraaj said I might have a potential target on my back. I didn't expect it to be this loud, exhausting and terrifying.
And literal.
A loud boom startles me and I whirl my head over my shoulder, my eyes widening in shock when I see the car tailing us getting flipped over after crashing into a truck and rolling like a toy.
But two bikes emerge from within the smoke with a roar, and I find the bodyguard take out his gun from the dashboard. He monitors the wheel with one hand, shoves his head out of the window and aims a shot directly at the bike on the left. It propels out of control and goes spiralling into the next lane.
The mystery man takes down the other and at the end of the tunnel, we're finally safe.
My brows furrow in concern when I see his bike constantly losing control before he eventually slows down. Our car passes him and I turn around on the seat, realisation dawning on me when I see him cradling his arm.
"Turn the car!"
"Princess-"
"He's hurt! Turn the fucking car!" I bellow.
The car turns around.
When it comes to a slow halt, I throw the door open and rush up to him just as his body goes limp. My arms go around his shoulder, struggling to hold him up while my bodyguard takes the control of the bike. We lower him to the ground and carry him to the side of the road. I push up the shield of his helmet, revealing his hooded ebony eyes.
"Can you breath?"
He slowly blinks at me.
Before I can react any further, a black car comes to stop beside us and a familiar woman steps out. Yuvraaj's secretary.
"Rudra!" She rushes up to us, crouching to his level. "Are you okay?" He nods softly. She orders my guard to take him to her car and gets inside after him. "Head back to the palace, Princess Taranya." She commands, pulling off the car back into the busy road.
"We must go," I hear the guard say and nod, following him back to our car.
During the drive back home, one name echoes in my head like a broken record.
Rudra.
We finally know his name! Yay!
But do we really?
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to vote and comment. Makes my day.