Author

******

Whistling to his tune he entered the dark cell, to be precise, the dungeon he prepared especially for her.

He found her sitting in a corner with her head buried in her knees.

"What a sight to watch! The fierce young lady is scared?" amusement was visible in his eyes but that couldn't stay for long as she looked up at him and said fiercely, "Not even in your dreams." Her bitter tone didn't go unnoticed by him which only made him furious.

No one had ever dared to talk back at him but that girl he had been trying to break from past one month was not giving up. He was himself surprised what kept her going? Why was she not succumbing to him? Why?

All those questions were only making things worse for him, but he had come with a very different and heinous solution.

Chuckling at her he said, "You are very stubborn. I haven't seen anyone like you, this brave. Alas! This bravery of yours will not last for long. Because I am going to do something you might never have imagined."

"What will you do? Kill me? Rape me? Or hit me like every other day. Can't you see I am still alive after your tortures? You can't do anything, I am not destined to die yet." She screamed. Fire blazing through her eyes.

She wasn't scared of him.

"Your overconfidence is quite amusing. And little girl, I rule this empire, I write the destiny of my prisoners and yours has already been written. You want to read the first chapter?"

She didn't reply to him, because she knew it was only a waste of time and patience. She considered him a monster which he was but the deeds he was about to commit next were more than monstrous which she was unaware of.

"Bring her in," he shouted from the cell and two of his men brought a woman who was in her thirties.

The girl was shocked to see the only person who use to help her, in that state.

"No, no, no. What have you done to her?" she screamed. The fierceness leaving her and fear started creeping in.

"I haven't done anything yet but I will." He said before he laughed maniacally.

She became the spectator of the most heinous deed and that was the starting of her doom. He found a way to break her in all terms and was more than ecstatic to see her in that state.

******

Dhruv

******

"Muffin." Shaking her I called her name but she didn't wake up. I was terrified and her state had brought me out in a cold sweat. I had to wake her up anyhow.

"Muffin, please wake up. Please."

"Muffin," I shouted. That was when she opened her eyes. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and I immediately pulled her shivering form in my embrace.

"Ssshhhh. It's fine. I am here with you only." I continued telling soothing words to her but she didn't stop shivering.

I rubbed her back and my hold tightened.

"Calm down love. Please, calm down. Your Dhruv is here with you. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." Her breathings were heavy and I could hear her heartbeat going wild.

After a while, she started to get normal but was still trembling. Pulling back, I cupped her cheeks and made her look at me.

"It was a nightmare, just a nightmare. That which is real is me, you, and us. We are together and that's the immutable reality." She closed her eyes and her lips quivered. I embraced her again and caressed her hair.

I had made Saavi sleep after lunch and suddenly my phone rang. It was Arjun, so I went out of the room to talk. I didn't even realize that we talked for more than twenty minutes and Saavi was all alone in the room.

I was returning to the room while still talking when I saw her shivering. She looked terrified even when her eyes were closed.

Concluding that she was having a nightmare I tried to wake her up.

Leaving her even for a second was not fine. She had accustomed to my presence and without me by her side things would always get out of hand. I should have been glad about it, but I was not. I wanted to make her strong just like she was before but it takes time to build castles.

"Dhruv? You there?" I heard the voice on my phone. I realized I had forgotten to disconnect the call. I was hoping for Arjun to not have t heard anything.

Picking up the phone I said, "Yeah, sorry got busy suddenly."

"Ok, it's fine. By the way, when are you coming back from Russia.?"

"After two weeks."

"Okay. Take care and see you soon."

"Yeah, you too bro." Although he didn't ask anything still, I knew Arjun and I was certain he must have got suspicious.

"Muffin," I called her after I kept my phone aside. When she looked at me I asked her, "Want to have dinner?" She denied eating.

"You need to eat, love." I didn't get any response from her, so I decided to first divert her mind.

I picked her up in my arms and took her to the home theatre and played Tom and Jerry. It was just a small step to divert her mind. I knew it won't help much but still an attempt doesn't hurt.

At first, she was reluctant to watch as she had buried her head in my chest, but slowly she moved her gaze towards the screen and started to watch the show.

"You liked it?" she didn't reply but I was okay with that. She was upset and I didn't want her to do anything which she didn't like, even if it's a reply. I had decided not to pressurize her for anything.

"Muffin, I am very hungry. Can we go and have our dinner?" she nodded that time.

Picking her up again, I went to the kitchen and made her sit on the chair there while I was thinking about what to cook. I asked her if I should cook dish A or dish B or dish C, I meant I gave her some of the options but her reply didn't come so with disappointment I decided to cook Paneer Capsicum with stuffed Kulcha while I gave her my phone to play.

She was not interested in playing at all, as she was looking at me with her curious eyes. So I started to narrate some more incidents of my childhood.

"And then Arjun got angry with us for clicking that picture of his. You know Namit and I still have that picture of him." The food got ready while I narrated some of the embarrassing moments of Namit and Arjun.

I placed the food on two plates and took it to the dining hall with Saavi.

I made her eat the first morsel and when I was about to eat she held my hand.

I was confused but let her do whatever she wanted to. She took the bite from my hand and removed the capsicum from it and ate it.

I was astonished. I never liked capsicum when I was in school and it was known only to my close people. When Sheela Aunty used to make me eat them, Saavi used to take them from my plate so that I don't get Aunty's scoldings and at the same time I didn't have to eat them.

'Does she remember everything?' I pondered over.

I was in shock just staring at her and within no time she ate all the capsicum from my plate. Tears welled up in my eyes but I blinked them away.

Smiling at her I asked, "Do you remember that I am not very fond of capsicum?"

I was pinning my hopes on her reply only to be crushed down when she shook her head.

I knew I was there, in her memory but she wasn't accepting the truth. She was trying to escape reality.

I didn't say anything and fed her the food silently. I didn't mix the medicine in the food, instead, I mixed it the milk which I made her drink before going to bed.

She was laying her head on my chest like always but I felt she was scared to sleep because of the nightmares. I made her lay on the bed and hovered her petite form. Caressing her cheeks with the back of my hand I said, "Muffin, I promise you this today. I will never let anyone hurt you, never. I will punish everyone who is the reason for your this state." She was only staring at me. I closed her eyes with my hands and kissed her forehead.

I asked her to sleep but she was hesitant, terror-stricken.

"Muffin, just close your eyes for once." She shook her head vigorously.

"Just trust me, please." It was tough. I didn't know what was that nightmare about but I was sure it was something terrible. I tried and tried and tried but she was adamant.

"Muffin, I am here. If you want you can hold me and I won't leave but first close your eyes." Finally, she agreed. It took a lot of consistent attempts to make her agree.

"Now, just listen to my voice, okay. You are sitting in a garden surrounded by colourful flowers. You have a paintbrush in your hand and the canvas placed in front of you. The cool breeze is soothing you. The whole serene is calm and peaceful. You can hear the melody of the running water of the lake and the birds chirping."

I tried to make her forget about the nightmare and was somehow getting successful in it. I had researched a lot about Saavi's condition and how to heal her and that was one of the ways, diverting her. Her breathing was normal and I stopped talking when I felt that she slept.

I kissed her eyes and her cheeks and pulled her to me. After wrapping my arms around her I too went into a deep slumber.

******

Kiaan

******

I was looking at my watch now and then, waiting for him.

'Where is he stuck?', I thought.

"I am so sorry. I had a meeting to attend and couldn't postpone it." Arjun said while sitting in front of me in the cafe where I was waiting for him.

Rolling my eyes at him I said, "Dude, there is a gadget named phone, which is by the way used to communicate."

"Ah! I forgot," he said rubbing the nape of his neck.

"Where is Hredhaan? Wasn't he supposed to come too?" Arjun asked.

"He said he won't be able to make it as something urgent came up."

"Well everyone knows what that urgent thing is.." Arjun stated the fact which Hredhaan was not ready to accept.

"Of course, there is only one urgent thing for him since the last few days and that's..." I couldn't say further as Arjun completed it, "Shruti Saxena."

We both laughed at our stupid friend who was being stubborn and not ready to accept his feelings for Shruti. He was just too scared to take a leap of faith. He says he hates her but that's a white lie that anyone could notice with their naked eyes.

"By the way, You were right. Something is going on with Dhruv." Arjun started with the topic for which we both decided to meet.

"See, I found this," I said and showed my findings to Arjun.

"Does Dhriti knows about it?"

"No, she doesn't. I tried to ask her indirectly but you know how she is. She would have started to suspect if I would have asked her directly. I didn't even tell Namit about it. I don't want to disturb them during the one vacation they are having after all the chaos."

I didn't want to mess up my sister's life, she was finally back to her old cheerful self, enjoying her days with Namit. That was a much-needed vacation they were having and it was better if they were not made aware of the troubles going on.

"You did the right thing. They need this vacation, after all, they have suffered a lot. Ok, now coming back to Dhruv. You won't believe what happened today."

"What?" I asked, curiously.

Arjun narrated everything to me and we both couldn't come to the conclusion after hearing each other.

"It's something big, otherwise he wouldn't have to hide it, at least not from us," said Arjun.

"Exactly. Let's deal with it then."

"I will be free at 1 tomorrow," Arjun said after checking his schedule.

"Fine then. Let's meet at our usual place tomorrow and then let's all 3 of us deal with it our way." Hredhaan's place was our usual hangout place and we had to tell him too what exactly one of the Ace was hiding from us.

We both left the cafe bidding our byes to each other hoping that everything we have speculated or found comes out as wrong and we find my brother and our friend in a good state.