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Finally got some time to update. Hope you like!

Moving on... 💃💃💃

"Words in double quotes" - Talking

'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts

(Words in braces) - Telephone conversations

Chapter 14

Abhi could feel the sweat roll off his forehead from fear. After all, it wasn't everyday that you saw a live bear in front of your eyes, that too only a hair's breath away from yourself.

He tried to remain as still as possible. 'Maybe he will think I'm dead. I hope he thinks I'm dead.'

"Abhi, I know what you're thinking. But it won't work." Pragya whispered to him. "How could even think of such an irrational idea?"

"Of course he will know it now that you told him!"

"Firstly, it's not a 'he', it's a 'she'. Secondly, she's got enough sense to figure that out!"

"Grrrrr!" the bear growled as it raised its paws to slash them.

Abhi grabbed Pragya's shoulders and hid her in his embrace to prevent her from getting hurt. He shut his eyes tightly expecting the pain of the attack.

"Bhai no!" Aliyah screamed from where she stood nearby along with Purab and Nitin.

However, at the last moment, the bear stopped as it heard a tiny sound from nearby.

It was the voice of the tiny bear that was in Nitin's arms.

As the bear cub let out a tiny growl, the bigger one turned her head to look at it.

Feeling no pain, Abhi opened his eyes and looked at the bear. 'Eh? She's not attacking? What gives?'

"This is our chance Abhi. Let's make a run for it!" Pragya whisper-shouted to him, trying to pull him back.

"But...but she ain't attacking."

"Yes!"

"But why?"

"Would you rather have her slash your heart out than stop attacking!? She's not attacking. So stop your gibberish and run!"

"Thank goodness bhai is safe." Aliyah said in relief as she saw them slowly edging away from the distracted bear.

"I don't think I can say the same about us." Purab spoke out in fear as he noticed the bear looking their way. "Now, we're it's target!"

"I don't think so." Nitin reasoned. He caressed the head of the cub in his arms. "It's this cub that she's looking at. Something tells me she's the mother of this cub."

Abhi continued staring at the bear all the while he was walking away. He followed her line of sight and gasped as the bear saw where it was looking. "Aliyah?! Shit!" at once, he sprung to action and grabbed Pragya's hand. He made a run to where Aliyah stood with the other two. "Aliyah, run!"

"No! We mustn't run. She just wants her cub." Nitin shouted back. He could clearly see how the mother bear was looking calmly at it's cub. It's anger seemed to fade seeing her baby, being replaced by concern. "I'll hand it over to her peacefully."

"It's an animal! Even if we try to hand the cub over, it might attack us thinking we took it away." Purab reasoned as he kept looking at the cub that was calling out to it's mother. "Let's take the chance and make a run while the big bear is distracted."

"Not until I return it."

"Purab's right Nitin. Let's ge-" before Aliyah could finish her sentence, Abhi reached them with Pragya and grabbed Aliyah's arm.

"Let's run!" he didn't wait for her to respond but started pulling her with him. Pragya grabbed Purab and started her run as well.

As Purab grabbed onto Nitin, he was pulled along with them, the cub still in his arms.

The moment the mother realized that they were escaping with her cub, she roared and charged towards them with fast steps.

"I told you we should return the cub to the mother! Now she's beyond pissed!" Nitin chided as he continued running with them. He struggled to break free of Purab's grip, but he wouldn't let go.

"Dude, you won't be saying the same when it gives you a big autograph across your body with her large paw!" Abhi bit out. "It's an animal. You can't expect it to be reasonable."

"I'm a ranger! I know how to make it believe that I mean no harm. I could have settled the matter!"

"Then why didn't you say so!?"

"Like you gave me a chance whoever you are Mr.!"

"Shut up!" Pragya shouted out of frustration. "Less chit-chat, more combat!"

"It's no use. There's no way we can outrun that big bear! He's huge!"

"It's a 'she' Purab."

"Does it look like I give a damn!? All I want is to be far away from it."

"Now, forget the past and keep runni-aaa!" Pragya exclaimed all of a sudden along with the rest as they felt the ground shift and they rolled down the snow in a heap.

Although Abhi cussed and shouted all the way down, it was indeed a blessing in disguise as the bear now stopped chasing them.

It took a glance at them and than proceeded to retreat.

"Is it really leaving?"

"No. No, it's not. It's going to take the other route here, around the trees." Nitin responded.

"You seem to know this place well."

"I do Miss..."

"Pragya. My name is Pragya."

"Well Miss Pragya, the bear isn't going to rest until it gets it's cub. That was why we should have goven it to her the moment we got to her. And I would have done it if it wasn't for you!" Nitin accused, glaring at Purab.

"Did you see the size of that thing?"

"It's a 'she' Purab."

Purab turned to glare at Abhi. "Do I look like I care? All I know is that we need to be far away from it. Far, far away!"

"No. I'm not leaving this place until I return this cub to its rightful owner. I'm the ranger of this forest and I've got my duties."

"Nitin, it's dangerous!" Aliyah stressed.

"I'm willing to take that risk."

"Say, mind the intervention, but where did you meet this guy?" questioned Abhi.

"He's the one who provided us with aid when we needed it so desperately. He helped heal Purab."

"It was nothing ma'am. Just doing my duties."

Pragya looked over her best-friend in worry. "Are you alright now Purab?"

"Yeah Pragya. There's a bit of weakness, but apart from it, I'm fine. At least I'm glad you and Abhi didn't get into any trouble."

At his words, Pragya and Abhi looked away. It was obvious something had happened.

Aliyah gasped in realization. "Nikhil! He was the one who lured you to the forest, didn't he Pragya? What did he do?!"

"Relax. He didn't get far with his intentions. Abhi got there just in time to save me from Nikhil and his goons."

Purab let out a frustrated sigh. "Great. Just great. More goons!" Purab exclaimed, kicking the snow in anger.

Abhi and Pragya felt a dreadful sensation in thier hearts. "What...what do you mean by more goons?" questioned Abhi.

"Why don't you ask your dear sister?" Purab bit out.

"Aliyah? What does he mean?"

Aliyah looked at him sheepishly. "Well um...you see...the fact is...um well..."

"She told me that she had arranged the goons for you and Pragya, but they mistook it and thought she and Purab were the ones who were you. Basically she hammered her own thumb." Nitin concluded helpfully.

"You don't know when not to speak, don't you?" Aliyah said with a glare towards him.

"What!?" Abhi and Pragya chorused in disbelief.

Aliyah looked down and fidgeted with the end of her scarf. "Well um...I just...I just thought that when the actors that I had hired would act like they want to harm Pragya, bhai would come and save her. He would play hero and Pragya would finally admit her feelings for him. I just wanted you two to admit your true feelings for each other. That's all!"

"How could you do such a thing Aliyah!? Do you even realize how risky an idea this was?"

"But bha-"

"There isn't any 'but' that justifies your rash decision!"

Aliyah looked down in shame. "I...I'm sorry bhai. I shouldn't have done that."

Purab's eyes softened as he looked at her sorrowful face. After all, she didn't want anything bad to happen. She just wanted her brother and Pragya to be happy. That's all. "Abhi, please. It was just her good intentions that got her into this mess. Don't be so hard on her."

"You mean...you mean you knew about the plan too?" Pragya accused.

"I um...I may have known...a tinsy bit...okay, the whole of it." Purab finally admitted, seeing the combined glares of both Abhi and Pragya. "Ehehe...knowledge is a tricky thing, you see." he let out nervously.

Abhi smacked his face in frustration and flopped down on the ground. "Okay, let's sum it up. We've got a bear on our tail who won't leave us since now it knows we got her cub. Then, Nikhil and his goons maybe out there looking for me and Pragya. Now, there are people after Aliyah and Purab too thinking they are me and Pragya, who no doubt will chase us when they learn the truth. And on top of that, we're lost in the jungle."

Pragya sighed in misery and sat beside him. "Yeah, that's about it."

"Oh come on!" Purab patted both of them on their backs. "Look on the bright side! We're all together now. Nothing could go worse now!"

Suddenly, they felt the environment go dark as the sun hid behind the approaching dark clouds.

"You jinxed it! If it rains, Purab I swear I'll beat you up!" Pragya shouted at him in anger.

"Ugh!" Abhi screamed into the open air. "I said this once, and I'll say this again and again! I hate, hate, hate acting! Dad, I'm never ever going with your crazy ideas, I mean it!"

#Elsewhere#

"Aa-acchoo!" Raj sniffed as a sneeze left him. "I wonder who's talking about me."

"I wonder too." Bulbul responded distractedly as she got into the vehicle.

She, Raj, along with some other crewmen were about to go on their search for the others in the forest.

"Excuse me. Are you Raj Mehra, Aliyah Mehra's father?" spoke a voice from nearby.

Raj looked over at the man who was approaching him. "Yes. Yes, I am. And you are?"

"Good morning Mr. Raj. I'm the manager of the actors that Miss Aliyah hired."

"Eh? Actors?" from the corner of his eyes, Raj saw Bulbul gulp. He turned to look at the eight year old with a glare. "You know something about this, don't you?"

"Ehehe...knowledge is a tricky thing you see."

"Enough. Spill the truth. Now!"

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To be continued...

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~ 🌹 Mona 🌹