Forbidden Desire

CH 8 || Modern Alice In Wonderland

Aahir

******

Had I known waiting for something or someone was a vapid task I would have f*****g obliterated the concept of time. Unequivocally, I was restive, but for her to get cozened, I had to be patient. She was to join the office after two days. I wanted her to start working from the next day itself, but, no way was I going to have her even a tad of suspicion regarding the job. I aspired for her not to slip out of my hand before I could even catch her.

Sitting in the private lounge of Euphoria, along with my friends, I was letting the cocktail travel through my throat. My psyche was wholly wrapped with her thoughts when I heard Reyansh, “What’s going inside of your mind?”

Lined formed between my brows and stared at my friend in bewilderment.

“About what?” I asked, having another sip.

“Aahir, she isn’t the kind of girl to be messed with. It might be your biggest mistake, knowing her identity.” Reyansh was not in favour of me using Aditi as bait. Neither of my friends was aware I had multiple reasons to go behind her. I was never scared of anybody. Moreover, her being out of my league had dragooned me more into going after her.

“That’s why I want to mess up. Maybe I want to commit the inevitable mistake.” Tight-Lipped, he heard me. Both of them were mindful that pulling me back from the goal I had set in my mind was inexorable.

Reyansh didn’t utter anything later, nor did Arvik, who wasn’t against any of my plans. Although, I could still make out Reyansh being skittish, not so apparently.

Soon Arvik indulged us both in a conversation regarding an upcoming press meeting. I wasn’t interested though. I was not present there, at that very moment. 

I was reminiscing the moment when I had first seen her; when I almost drowned in those hazel brown eyes. They weren’t less than a window to her soul. I wanted to peer into them but I wasn’t allowed access, yet.

I had never thought such a thing about someone in the past, not even once. I had to stop those unabating and obstreperous thoughts before they could ruin me. Razing my foes had always been my intention and she, well, she was no less than an enemy.

While recalling our past encounters, heedless to what my friends were conversing about, my eyes reached up at the entrance. Time stilled for a crumb when I saw her, walking in.

She was there. 

For a split second, I thought I was having illusions of her until she stayed there. No illusion lasts that long. 

My gaze cruised her figure.

She was in black jeans and a redshirt. The buttons of the shirt were undone, giving me a vivid sight of her black tank top. 

‘f**k! She looks so delectable.’  I mused, licking my lips, the yearning to taste her soared.

 Her hair was left open. Strain lines marred her enchanting face. She seemed troubled, her eyes wandering here and there. Finding a way up to the staircase she tried to move that way to the private lounge.

Her path was blocked by my security men leaving her stunned.

“Ma’am, you can’t go that way.” One of the guards said.

“Why?” She kept on looking over her shoulder at the entrance. It was facile for me to discern she needed a place to hide.

‘But from whom?’  I wondered.

“It’s a private area. No one is allowed except those who have the card to access the area.”

“What The f**k!” Damn the way she cursed. I wanted to kiss her, bite her lips harshly. To her chagrin, she wasn’t allowed access. Disappointed, she gazed at the private area before dispersing herself into the crowd. 

After her, two men familiar to me entered, but I was pondering over why they entered my bar. Those men had never appeared at my place before. I noticed her hiding from them as she instantly wore a mask and covered her face with her hair. She left her shirt there and was only in a tank top. 

She walked past them and they failed to spot her until she was near the door. I didn’t want her out that way in front of them. Grasping the gravity of the situation I clutched the glass tighter.

“Aahir, we are asking you something.” Arvik tried to get a load of me with his vocables. My attention entirely on the woman who was out of my sight. Placing the glass back on the table tab I got up.

“See you guys, later on.”

“Where are you off to?” Reyansh queried.

“To mess up.” I took off the bike keys of Reyansh before announcing, “I am taking your bike.”

“But…” Before he could stop me I was already out. She was in her car, being chased by a few men on the bike. They belonged to a biker gang. Their identity was known to me ever since Reyansh had competed with one of them in a bike race. Defeat couldn’t be tolerated by them and they tried to hurt my friend. Arvik and I had to step in to discipline. The consequences weren’t very conducive as they all landed up in a hospital for a month. They were all rookies and creating such trouble was their old custom.

She was leading, but was not that far, in her grey coloured SUV. It was easy for me to decipher she was unconscious where she was heading as she was on the way to the dead end.

The biker gang ahead of me was throwing cans of alcohol on the vehicle she was in. That caused me to sped up excessively. 

 A lot of people were gonna die.

My fury was working as the fuel, driving me up to the edge, so that I could surpass those trying to trouble her. Only I had the right to distress her and no one else.

Outdoing all the bikers, I skid the bike in front of her car. She had to apply brakes. It was sudden. She was terrified, and I despised that look of hers. My eyes wandered over to the ten bikers I had to make sure to beat the s**t out.

Getting off the bike, I walked to her. I opened the door but she scooted farther. The mask from before wasn’t on her face anymore.

“Get away from me. You have no idea whom you are trying to mess up with.” She had a voice of fury, like a storming night. My eyes lingered on her lips. If not for the wrong timing and the helmet I was wearing, I would have kissed her senselessly, knocking senses out of her that in the end, all she would have remembered was my lips on hers and nothing else.

Hurriedly, I removed her seatbelt before I pulled her to me holding her arm. She was resisting, perceiving me from the gang. After I pulled her outside I made her stand near the bike I was on formerly. She was still trying to get out of my hold.

“Leave my hand, jerk.” Another cuss word of her. I would soon be teaching her a lesson for cursing me.

“Glad you got that b***h. Now get her to me.” The head of the biker gang said. Only if my gun would have been with me, I would have shot right into his mouth. 

“Didn’t you hear?” He yelled.

Making a first move was not in my favour. I had to be calculative of my act because of two pertinent reasons. First, I was unarmed while the gang wasn’t, second, I had a woman who was no less than a time bomb. 

“Who are you? You don’t seem to be from our gang. Are you someone from the rival team?” Someone from the enemy team had finally stated the truth. Taking out the helmet over my head, I wore the glasses I was carrying. My face was already covered with a mask. It all happened in a matter of a few seconds.

Leaving her hand I gestured to them to come to me.

“Go teach that bastard a lesson.” The head of the rival team clamoured at one of his faithful dogs.

The moment one of them was near me all I had to do was punch him for him to knock out. After him, came three, altogether. At first, I kicked one in the balls and then broke the arm of another who was about to put a knife inside me but the third one had moved ahead and held her hair in his fist. She was feisty as she stomped on his feet with her pointed heels.

I grabbed him away from her and broke his arm. I punched his face till the blood started to ooze out. 

How dare he put his filthy hand on her. That woman belonged to me.

She was terrified with all the blood but all I recalled was he had touched her. His act coerced me to break his limbs. I twisted his arm before kicking on his back.

Four were gone and six were left. Out of six, three ran away, one had peed in his pants in fear, no way he was going to deal with me. Then left the two. Both of them were armed. It was time to show a glint of my skills to those assholes.

The head of the rival had his gun pointed at me. I wasn’t frightened of him. He was a noob in front of me. He was sinisterly laughing like a maniac. As luck would have it, I had pulled the revolver out of the pocket from the one I had broken limbs off. I fired at the leg of the one standing behind the head of the team. While he was astounded and attempted to help his partner, I took advantage of the situation. Snatching his gun out of his grasp I blootered my foot over his crotch. 

“Oh, f**k!” Agonizing in pain, he cupped his balls before lying straight on the ground in front of me.

Bloody Bastards.

I thought the game was finished but I was too early to judge. The turnabout of events I had to face when I took a gander at the spot I had kept her safe.

She was still near the bike but not alone. She was a captive in the hold of the one who had run away a few minutes ago. His hand on her waist while her ankle twisted and her mouth shut by his palm, abstaining her from making a sound.

“Let us take her and we won't hurt you...” He needed to be hunted down. Scorning at him I muttered, “Seems more blood is left to be splattered.”

“Keep the gun aside.” He screamed. 

 I had to be quick at that moment. I hated every bit of the fiasco we were stuck in. 

Without wasting any second, I kept the ammunition on the floor. His gun was then pointed at me, my hands raised in the air.

One of her hands which was liberated from his grip was moving to her jeans pocket. She took out a knife and stabbed it in his hand. The revolver fell and she slid it to me with one of her legs. Forthwith, I took hold of the weapon and shot him in his arms and leg making him fall.

She fell on the ground too in shock. Blood seeping out of her ankle and her arm. She was trembling. I ran to her before I pulled her to me. She was scared, trying to look into my covered eyes. Bending to her ear I whispered, “Breathe.” My words, more like a command, were obeyed by her.

She took a breath of relief before collapsing in my arms. Rapidly, I called my security team head.

“Hello, Damien, You need to clear some filth.”

******

Aditi

******

Some feeble voices were transmitted to my ears, deranging my nap. Over and above that, the dazzling radiance falling onto my face wasn’t helping at all. Drawing up the curtains the preceding night didn’t call up to my mind.

Wait! When did I even sleep? 

A sweet aroma of chocolate cookies filled my nostrils. Lazily, my eyes fluttered open. When I attempted to sit, I felt extreme pain in every other body part. In any case, I was at long last, able to get up. My body screamed, the pain endeavouring to make it out of my system. 

I scrutinized my surroundings and found myself in a room different from mine.

‘I didn’t even drink last night, so how come I ended up here with this severe headache?’ 

The anomalous fact was I wasn't in my clothes even. All my body was covered with was a loose grey tee and my underwear. A whiff of hard fragrance from the cloth I was in seemed to be familiar.

It wasn’t my cloth nor Vidyut’s. I tried to move my leg and felt a twinge in my ankle. Removing the duvet to see what was wrong with my leg, I found my ankle sprained.

‘When did I even fall?’

My left hand had a white bandage sheathed over it. 

‘What’s wrong with me? What did I do?’

The voices that had broken my sleep were still there, coming from the outside of the room. I presumed their owner to be the female staff of my house. Anyhow, I carried my wounded body off the bed and walked to the door. I opened the door only to be exposed to a whole new world.

I was not in another room but a whole new house.

“Good Morning. How are you feeling now?” A lady in her fifties stood in front of me, staring at me lovingly. Her grey hair pulled up in a bun. Her clothes were neat and decent. She was accompanied by three girls of my age who were giggling, whispering to each other, eyeing me in between. 

Scared, I closed the gate on the lady’s face.

‘What The f**k! Where the hell am I?’  I muttered. The worst possibilities of what could have happened crossed my mind. I wondered whether I slept with someone.

‘No, no, no. That can’t be possible or did I?’

‘No, Aditi. For God’s sake, stop thinking shit.’ 

Recomposing, I walked into the washroom to inspect my body, whether there were any hickeys or something. I sighed in relief when I found none.

Pressing my temples, I cast my mind back to what had happened to me. Then I remembered, I was on my way to capture the picture of Aahir Arya but found some men trying to molest a girl. I helped her and unfortunately became their prime target. A mysterious man, out of nowhere, had appeared, like a knight to save me. That was one hell of a scene.

‘Yes, the mysterious man.’

‘Did he bring me there? Is it his house?’

The prospect of those queries was more likely to be true. Even though I tried harder I couldn’t recall a bit after losing my consciousness except for his voice, “Breathe.”

Thinking about it I shuddered. There was something about his voice that I was able to be poised. His voice was gruff yet it pacified me. 

But the primary concern for me was my attire.

‘Who changed my clothes?’

‘Was it him?’

But then I thought, if he would have changed my clothes he would have tried to take advantage of me, after all, no man can be sane seeing a woman naked until and unless he is a saint or not interested in women.

Feelings of dubiety had inundated me. My every query could have been answered after I had gone out of the room. I freshened up, wanted to take shower but there weren't any clothes so I had to drop the idea.

I wore my jeans which was the only material there that belonged to me and walked out of the room. When I descended the stairs, I followed the voices that redirected me to an enormous dining hall. 

“Amazing!” I was mesmerized by the interior. The owner had a great taste in every object I descried. The girls from before were probably the female staff as I found them arranging breakfast on a huge table. Everything was magnificent there, except me. All at once, I felt out of the place because of the state I was in, injured and worn out.

The lady from before was advising the staff. Hearing footsteps she glanced at me. The warmth radiated from her eyes and her features softened seeing me. She walked to me and held my fiddling fingers. 

“How are you? Are you feeling fine?” It appeared as if she knew me. She was cordial as compared to my mother-in-law.  

“Yeah.” She was being so nice to me and I felt like a spoiled brat for closing the door that too in her face. I had to apologize for my discourtesy.

“Sorry, I... I didn’t mean to shut the door on your face like that.”

“It’s fine. You were startled as expected. Come let’s have breakfast.” She tried to take me to the table but I had to leave. I wasn’t having my phone with me to check up on my husband. There were chances, he would have called. I just didn’t want to be the reason for his stress.

“No, no. I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I am sorry for troubling you. I don’t know how I ended up here, who brought me. I…” Putting an end to my prattling she said, “Let’s have breakfast first.” She was reluctant to let me leave.

“I don’t think I can. I am sorry. I have to leave.” Limping, I walked to the door which I discovered guarded by three seven feet tall men. They didn’t seem in the mood to let me out.

“You can’t leave until you have your breakfast.” The woman had followed me to the door. She motioned me to follow her to the meal table. While following her, I was roaming my eyes to find an alternate route. When I found a glass door open I ran in the direction with my crippled leg.

I hadn’t covered half of the distance and the door was closed. Three female staff stood there with their arms crossed.

“You can’t leave until you let us treat you.” I turned to the woman stupefied. 

“You are our guest and we don’t let guests leave without making them feel better and happy. Also, you are one of the special guests so we can’t let you leave yet. Give us the chance for hospitality, please.”

That was quite an outlandish way to treat someone. I pondered, ‘Am I the modern Alice In Wonderland?’

Escaping would have been easy, had I been healthy. With no alternative left, I had to tread on the heels of her.

******

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Shrishtee