Batakrishna followed Shetukala to her room. Everyone in the hall had moved to their respective rooms after the incident. He pounded the door  of her room with urgency but there was no response. He was not in a mood for baseless etiquettes. He pushed the door forcefully breaking the latch.
The room was empty but the sound of shower running could be heard. Bath?? This time???
He decided to wait in her room. About half an hour passed by , she didn't come out. Batakrishna got worried. He knocked on the bathroom door twice , but no response.
He called for her several times, still no response. Then he heard a sob.

He knocked it hard this time and the  unlocked door opened.
"Shetu! Are you fine? Can you hear me? I'm coming in. Shetuuu!!!!"

He peeked into the bathroom and saw that Shetukala was sitting under the shower with clothes on, all wet and lost. Her face had drained all the color, making her pale like a ghost.
He ran to her and sat beside her , himself getting wet. He held her shoulders and shook her.
"Shetu!!!! Shetuu!! What happened?" He cupped her face into his both hands."I ....I am sorry. I didn't intend to do that. It ...it just happened. Please forgive me. "

Shetukala looked at him. Her eyes were red and tears mixing into the water still flowing from the shower tap. She had a confused expression on her face. He was asking sorry? For touching her? Who does that? Don't men just do what they want without caring what the girl feels? Then, why is he asking sorry?

"Wh-why are you saying sorry?"

"Huh! Uhmm....I....I ... thought you....you are sad because I ....what we did on terrace. Because of that, you're crying. I'm sorry Shetu."

"You....you don't know?" She asked with a confused expression.

"What?"

"Dada must have told you and Subha di about me , my case . Then wh-why did you touch me? I didn't understand." Her voice was hoarse maybe because of crying.

"I... I'm not understanding. What was Dada supposed to tell me? And why would he tell me about the case? We were just discussing about the behavioural therapy to make you remember things."

"That means you don't know." Shetukala looked at him with a horrified expression. He doesn't know yet Shetu , he will start regretting it the moment he knows the truth.

"What do I don't know?" He said noe getting irritated.

Shetukala removed herself  from his grip and scrambled up to lift herself  but her foot slipped on the wet slippery floor and she landed on Batakrishna , he himself loosing his balance, crashed on the floor on his back. Their chests were touching each other. The water  droplets were falling on batakrishna's face after  tracing shetukala's.  Their eyes fluttered to remove the droplets from eyelashes.
His hands were on her back. Her white blouse stuck to her body like a second skin. He could feel her skin from underneath the cloth.
Her warm breath in contrast to the cold water was hazing his mind.  He grazed his fingers slowly on Shetukala's back , earning a soft sweet moan from her , her eyes were closed and her puffy pink lips parted. He grasped the back of his head and lowered her head towards him. He had just apologised for touching her back then, then why was he repeating the same mistake. His mind asked. But Batakrishna's lips cut off the commands from his mind . As if his hands  have their own conscience, he kept lowering her head. As soon as , his lips touched hers slightly in a feathery touch, Shetukala's eyes opened and she screamed." NOOOO!" She rolled herself from above him to lie on the floor on her back and hid her face behind her palms. She was shivering violently , a strange fear gasping her heart and the cold water was increasing its intensity.

Batakrishna came out of his daze , cursing himself mentally for losing his control again.  He stood up and turned off the tap. The water stopped but not her shivering and sobs.
"Hey.....shhh....shh...."He shushed her . He lifted his hand to touch her  but paused, now was too scared to touch her. He sat nearby her, letting her cry for a few minutes. Her sobs dampened into soft sniffles. 
Shetukala removed her palms from her face slowly and looked at him. His face was guilt ridden and eyes casted down. He had brought his knees to his chest and arms snaked around them and joined in front. He was rocking his body lightly on the balls of his heels. She pulled herself in a seated position and clasped his hands in his. He looked at her. Their eyes locked conversing in their own language foreign to the bodies they  were owned by. Now that the shower had stopped, she could make out the clear trails of fresh tears falling from his eyes. She wiped them with her quivering fingers.
"Da-daktar  Babu! Why are you crying?"

"I hurt you. Isn't it?"

"Me?"

"Yes. I shouldn't have touched you without your permission. I came to ask for forgiveness , but ended up doing the same mistake again." He looked down.

"You.... you are saying this because you don't know about me. In fact, I'm sorry for my behaviour outside there. I had thought  that Dada told you about the case , that's why you were not looking at me. You might have thought that I...I am..." Her voice broke and warm tears appeared flushing her face. 

"Shhhh....." He kept a finger on her lips and pulled her in the warmth of his embrace , making her burst out into loud sobs. He kept rubbing her back to soothe her.
He pulled her face by the back of her head to make her look at him.
" You think I haven't noticed what you're about? How you try to push people away because of whatever happened in your past that you don't like to talk about? You think you're not worthy enough?" His knuckles started caressing her jawline. " I don't know what you are ashamed of, but let me make this one thing very clear. No matter what your past is , I will never ever look at you being any less. You are beautiful not just by face ,but  by heart and soul too. Whatever that has  happened may have broken your self confidence but couldn't rip you of your innocence which is deep embedded in your eyes."

His voice turned husky. "Have I ever told you how beautiful your eyes are? They are like an abyss , I fear to look into them for I might fall into that bottomless  depth. But still , I can't stop myself from reacting to the magnetism they exert on me."

Shetukala felt being treasured for the first time in her life. No one has ever looked at her in this way. With so much love and as if she was a very valuable thing he was holding. His touch was gentle like caressing a precious  jewel. His eyes held admiration , an awe. His words emanated respect, and above all she could feel the truthfulness being poured from his mouth into her ears. The truth that she still was worthy of what he wanted to give her.

But will this admiration and respect remain when he will actually come to know of her past?
She pushed the thought back. She wanted to live for once in his arms, breathe in his musky cologne which invades her mind and fogged her senses taking her into the clouds of lightheadedness. She wanted to feel what he wished to give her , accept  his hand , love him and be loved by him.

Love!!! Realisation dawned upon her.

Love???? Is this word acceptable in her life? Will she be accepted in the world of love? With her scars, her demons , her impurity?
She wanted to take a leap of faith with him, from the cliff of uncertainty into the sea of love and leave  herself free of all the shackles believing that he was there to catch her, to hold her , to save her, no matter what. Just once. Just once.

Her lips having a mind of their own found their solace in between his. Their lips revelled into the kiss again and again and again but this time it was slow, translating the love he had for her , through the tender swirls of his tongue in every nook of her mouth. Giving her the warmth and affection she is worthy of and absorbing her pain into himself.
She readily accepted him shedding her first layer of reluctance , for everything he wanted to give and wanted to take, completely vulnerable. For what felt like an eternity , they broke the union of their lips.

"Let's get you changed or you'll catch cold." He said in a deep voice.

Shetukala nodded her head and tried to stand up. But her drained energy was defeated by the gravity making her fall  "Shetuuuu!!" He held her. Batakrishna put an arm  below her back and another in the hollow of her knees and lifted her up. Instinctively, her arms encircled  her neck and she put her head on his shoulder.

He laid her on the couch. Now that the haziness of the proximity cleared between them, he noticed that  her saree on the shoulder had loosened leaving her blouse exposed to the mercy of his eyes. The wetness made it almost transparent leaving very less to the imagination.
He quickly averted his gaze.

"Uhemmm...." He cleared his throat. " You....uh...." He gulped ."You get changed. I'll also go." He paced out of the room without turning once and almost sprinted to his room, and locked it superfast. He sat down with his back touching the door, taking fast and shallow breaths. His heart was pounding as his mind relayed all the moments that happened in last two hours.

How the events had taken a drastic turn. Today he had seen a ferocious fire in her eyes, an intimidating possessiveness and the flames emanating from her lips melting his own, making them one. 
But what scared him to the depth of his core was the pain in her eyes, dark, unfathomable as if a strong calling for someone to pull her out of the agony.
Will she ever tell me what happened with her?
The though of something painful happening with her seared his heart. He felt guilty himself for not being there to save her, to support her from whatever she had gone through.
He must have been there. But he was not. He was not....when she needed him the most.  

***
"Aanchooo! Boudi! I have ...aanchooo ...given the driver .....annchooo....his salary...." Said Batakrishna wiping his nose. Bondita looked at him with worry.

"Aannchooo....boudi....as you said......aanchoooo.... I've kept the candle stands in the store .....aanchoooo....room." Said Shetukala with her nose clogged and a nasal timbre in her voice. Anirudh was finding this very funny. He hid his smile, when Bondita frowned at his chuckle.

Subhalaxmi was looking at this strange coincidence. " You both were fine tomorrow. Then what happened that you both got cold at the same time. Am I missing  something?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

Shetukala's cheeks turned the color of her nose, red.

Batakrishna looked away in embarassment and let out a nervous chuckle. " Wh-what are you saying Subha? Yesterday was a cold night....I ...I mean cold day. Maybe that's why we caught cold." He rubbed his neck sheepishly.

Subhalaxmi and Bondita looked at each other and knowing wide grin  split their faces. "Ohkaayyyyy.... If you say so. Now you both will have to drink that bitter kaadha" They said in unison and snickered. Batakrishna flinched his face in disgust at the name of kaadha.

***
It took a few days for Shetukala to keep apart her jealousy from Subhalaxmi and focussing on the treatment strategy.
Subhalaxmi seemed to be a very sorted and soft spoken person. She could easily gauge someone's expression. She finally extracted the whole statement for the first time since Shetukala had come, at the same time helping her fight with anxiety.

"Shetukala, Subha is here to help you. No need to hesitate. Just answer her questions honestly okay. If you are not comfortable with any question, just tell straight away. But remember the more we know the details of the case , the more we can help you. Okay. " Anirudh explained Shetukala. She nodded .

"So Shetukala, tell me from the very starting whatever you remember from that night." Asked Subhalaxmi. All her happy go lucky demeanor morphed into a serious one, giving vibes of pure professionalism and sincerity.

"I.....I...was on the floor. My.....my clothes were torn and dishevelled. Four ,no no three....men...were..."

"Four or three?"

"I....I can't remember clearly..."

"Okay. And??"

"They were ho...hovering over me...They looked very very scary .... They were laughing. I....could hear my voices screaming no's and don'ts and then I cried a lot, a lot but they kept laughing.  And then they.....they op...opened their pants, belts falling on the floor one by one of all of them. They started making wierd noises and my screams increased in volume....."She became breathless and started weeping. Subhalaxmi walked upto her and rubbed her shoulder asking her to continue. " Th-They were hu-hurting me. Not like beating but putting their...."She gulped. "...into me."She shuddered at the memory and started crying in breathless sobs.

Anirudh's fists balled in anger at the cruelty this  innocent girl had faced.

Subhalaxmi held her hands in gentle grip, her own eyes moistening. "Wh-what happened after that?"

"I...I....felt as if I am falling into a well and a very sharp pain tugged in the back of my head. And then everything turned dark."

"Did they hit you on head or pushed you?"

"I .....I don't remember."

"Do you remember their faces?".

"I...I...do." Her hands trembled.

Aniruddh showed her the sketches of two men." Police is on search for them. They are only two right now. She can't remember the face of the other too, if they were two or one maybe. As soon as any of them are caught, we can enquire them." Subhalaxmi nodded.

"What happened before you saw them?  Where were you? In your house? Outside?" Subhalaxmi asked.

"I-in my room."

"From where did they enter? From door, from window? Who all were present in the home?"

"I...I don't remember where they entered from. But maa and Baba were downstairs and I...in.. in the room."

"You can go now."
Shetukala nodded timidly and left the room.
"Things are quite vague." Subhalaxmi said  to Anirudhh. "We will have to dig the roots of that incident."

Anirudh nodded. " This incident took place in her home. 
But her house is completely burnt. In  investigation we had found two skeletons , one of a man and other of a woman. We can go there if you want. But I didn't find anything worthy there apart from that."

Subhalaxmi nodded. " I guess we have to find everything from the beginning."

Subhalaxmi had a hunch there was much more to this incident.  Something that only Shetukala knew. Whether she was hiding it deliberately or she didn't remember it, was a mystery.

Do give your honest opinions on this chapter. Thankyou ❤️😘

My Rain-lover  readers, I hope you enjoyed this shower scene for now.