The night was serene, washed in a silvery moonlight. The full moon of the poornima night followed the creature ,whoever looked at it. The blanket of starry sky was tucked above giving the directions to whoever wanted to reach a destination. But what if the destination is walking with the traveller himself? The ruffling of leaves and the wooshing sound of swirling air was like symphonic music playing in the background.

The jingling sound of ghungroo of Shetukala's anklets pierced the deafening silence of the woods. Lined on both sides by gulmohar trees, the muddy path paved the way for two forlorn souls, one in torment of a broken heart and the other submerged in the anguish of breaking it.

" Shetu! Please ! Listen to me once. " Batakrishna was following Shetukala who was walking briskly on the muddy road , clutching her potli to her chest.

"Please, Daktar Babu. There is nothing left to talk about."

" Please Shetu! Try to understand. Where will you go alone at night?"

" I am alone since a long time, Daktar Babu. I will find some place."
He sighed in defeat.

Shetukala looked behind when he didn't reply, but following her quietly. " Why are you following me? Leave me alone."

"I am not following you. I am going to my own path." He said trying to act nonchalant.

"Please Daktar Babu. Go to your home. Your family would be worried about you." She joined her hands and pleaded.

" We are also your family, Shetu! We were so worried when you left the house."

" Don't give me false hopes, Daktar Babu. I have no family. I had already accepted my fate. Don't push hollow expectations in my heart. When they will break, I won't be able to bear."

"Shetu! Whatever complaints you have, we will sort out at home. Just listen to me once, and come home."

" I cannot come back . It's better we part our ways. You will get nothing by walking behind me. "

" Don't be stubborn , Shetu! It's not safe here. Let's go. Why don't you understand ?" He held her wrist, his voice raising in desperation.

Shetukala yanked her wrist from his hold. " Why don't YOU understand? YOU are the one being stubborn here. Let-go." She said ,her voice rising an octave to match his . She again turned to walk ahead.

" Okay ,I will also not go back. I will accompany you wherever you will go." He said defiantly. Shetu stopped in her track.

"Why are you doing this , Daktar Babu?" She pleaded.

" Because I'm sorry Shetu. I'm so sorry for my behaviour. I.....I should not have yelled at you. I am so so ashamed , I derogated you, used bad words. Believe me , I haven't taken a single breath of peace since I've hurt you with my vile words." He joined his hands , intertwined his fingers.

" You said nothing wrong, Daktar Babu. I indeed am ungrateful." He shook his head , his heart aching listening to his own words from her mouth. "I....I...hurt Boudi. I hurt Dada who wanted nothing but my welfare this whole time. But..... I... how.... how... did it happen?" She looked at the ground. Her hands started trembling. "I just couldn't think of anything that time. Those roses.... those threats....he.....he wanted to hurt Boudi." She looked into his eyes. " Believe me, I .....I know how it feels to live in fear. I just wanted to save her. But I didn't know she would burn.....burn her hands. I am so , so sorry." She hid her face weeping , her knees swayed and she knelt on the ground trembling.

Batakrishna knelt down beside her. " Shetu! Shetu! Don't cry. What- what threats are you talking about ? Why would Dada hurt her? Boudi is his heartbeat. He wouldn't think of hurting her even in his dreams."

She looked at him removing her palms, her eyes wet with tears. " Not Dada, he....he would hurt her. Those chits....they were....threats."

" Who he? What threats? What was written in those cards?"

" In.... in them it was written that.... 'You...you wait, I won't spare you , just two more days.' 'I will punish you so hard, you'll regret teasing me'......and....and...
'You're going to scream like hell for mercy but , I won't be stopping'.....and and many more. I didn't read all of them. " She said in one breath amd stopped to see his reaction. Shetukala had expected his anger, or frustration , but nothing like how he reacted.

He looked at her with his mouth gape open, eyes wide. And then he fell on his back on the ground, laughing like a maniac clutching his belly. " Shetu..... You.....you...." He laughed richly. " Oh my God! ....you thought
...." He started laughing again unable to complete his sentences.

Shetukala looked at him, his laughter hurting her. Has she cracked a big joke? She took her potli and stood up and walked ahead, rubbing her tears.

"Ohh! Wait! Shetu ! Shetu! I'm... I'm sorry. " He stood up hurriedly , seeing her going. He walked by her side , walking backwards as his face was towards her. " Sorry , Shetu! I didn't mean to offend you. It's just..... it's so funny." He snickered.

Shetukala stopped and looked at him irritated, " What is so funny in this? Someone threatened your Boudi, and you find it funny?" She spoke harshly.

"Are baba! Nobody threatened Boudi. Dada wrote all this for her. I don't believe it ...you...you read them." He laughed again, but stopped putting finger on his lips, when she gave him a bored glare.

"Dada?" She aksed confused. " Why would he write all this to her? According to what I've seen, he really cares for Boudi. And Boudi also loves him a lot." Realisation hit her." Is this why she burnt her hamds saving the bouquet, because Dada gave it?"

"Yeah! Why else? And as to why he writes such things to her, I don't even want to think about it." He shuddered dramatically, clenching his eyes and scrunching his nose.

" That means she is safe?"

" Yes , obviously. And by the way, even if it was a threat, you should have told us. Not burn the only evidence."

"Ohhh! I didn't think of it that way." She pinched the tongue between her teeth. He laughed at her cute tactics.

"Now, you are coming home right?" He asked her hopefully.

Shetukala remembered his unpleasant words he had said to her in her room. She looked down and shook her head. " I....I can't."

"Are you still mad at me? I'm sorry Shetu! Seriously sorry. I .....I got mad, didn't think of anything and yelled at you. It's.... it's all my mistake. Please forgive me. " He said pleadingly.

Shetukala looked down , fresh tears threatening to spill from her eyes. " You....you didn't even let me say my side of the story. I....I... would have explained you why I did that. But you screamed so loudly, I ...I couldn't say. Also....also....." She had started sobbing uptil now.

"Also what?"

" You....you... even called me....Sh- Shetukala. I felt so bad." Fat tear droplets fell from her eyes flushing her cheeks, as she cried like a baby crying and speaking at the same time, becoming breathless.

"So?" He asked confused.

"So? You are asking me so? You call me Shetu always!!!" She said screaming like a wounded tigress.

Realisation dawned upon his face and melted his heart into a sugary syrup.

Oh Dugga! How could he not cherish her, not treasure her, when she is so ,so cherubic?
Of all the hurtful words, the only thing she is complaining is this , of him not calling her by endearment that he had given to her.
He would be the most foolish person in the whole world if he let a girl like her go.
And Batakrishna Roy Chowdhury knew better.

" Shetu! Shetu! Shetu! You tell me what I've to do. I'll do that. You want me to do sit ups . I'll do that. Wait!"
He started doing sit ups holding his ears.

"I am sorry Shetu , for making you cry.
I am sorry for hurting you.
I am sorry I didn't listen to you.
I am sorry I shouted at you.
I am sorry I called you Shetukala.
I am sorry I didn't trust you.
I am so---" He said each sentence with every situp.

"What are you doing? Please don't." She held his shoulders and made him stand. " I can't see you like this." She looked at him.

"Will you come back?"

Shetukala looked downwards hesitantly. If she denied, he will start again.

"Please Shetu! I'll try my best to mend my ways. I won't repeat it ever."

" It's .... it's not that."

"Then?" He asked confused.

"I....I am not safe for you all. I'm a disaster. You saw from your eyes today itself." She looked everywhere but at him, and pressed her lips firmly so as to control her sobs.

He gripped her chin with his thumb and forefinger and made her look towards him.

"Shetu!" His voice turned husky. " Never ever think of yourself as such. If you are a disaster , you are a beautiful disaster. You have already created a havoc in my heart. There's nowhere I would be than here, with you. If you don't want to go home, I am content here with you in my embrace." He pulled her to himself by her waist by his free hand.
" When you are with me, these woods are my home and this sky is my shelter. When you are not with me, I feel suffocated in my own house.
How easily you wrote on a small piece of paper, what you have for me in your heart? But I am too incapable of expressing what I feel for you, atleast by words."

"Wh-what are you saying? That...that letter meant nothing." She squirmed in his grip.

"Don't say that Shetu! Don't break my heart. If this is your way to take revenge, then I swear it would take my life."

Shetukala gasped and put her fingers on his lips. "How many times I've told you, not to say such things." She scolded. He could not control his smile.

"So , you're saying you don't feel anything for me?"

"N-no!" She averted her gaze.

"You---"

They both looked upwards, as the calm environment of the night, suddenly turned into a stormy one. The dark, grey clouds started coalescing together in the sky covering the beam of moon, making the nightsky look darker. The roaring of clouds increased, and so the rustling of leaves in strong wind.

Shetukala freed herself from the grip, and turned her back towards him, bracing her pacing heart and relieving her breath she realised she was holding. "It's ... it's about to rain. We- we should---"

Batakrishna pulled her by waist crashing her back to his hard chest. "I will not go anywhere without taking my answers, and nor will you." He whispered in her left ear, touching his lips to the helix of her pinna.

He parted his lips and breathed a warm puff , jolting her, but Batakrishna held her tightly enough to not let her escape.
"Aahh! Plee-please stop!" Shetu moaned.

His right hand gathered her soft hair and brought them forward on her right shoulder, thus exposing her back to his mercy. "Tell me Shetu! My touch doesn't create a thunder in your heart, and I will stop."

She had worn a red cloth as a makeshift blouse, and tied a thick knot at her lower back, thus leaving her upper back bare. " Noooo!" She said almost in a moan as his touch enticed her.

The birds and rodents in the trees had hid in their shelters anticipating the upcoming rain. But two lost hearts stood in the middle of a mud-caked path, when it started drizzling.

The blue water droplets from the navy blue sky, sieved through the Gulmohar tree on them, along with the crimson striped flowers.

" Tell me, your heart doesn't palpitate like crazy when you are in my arms, and I'll stop." When Batakrishna nuzzled the side of her neck, Shetukala's left hand gripped his arm on her waist while the right one clenched her saree tightly.

"N-no!.....I... I don't.... Aahh!" She whimpered when her skin soon felt the sensation of his wet , soft lips on the junction of her shoulder and neck. He placed open mouth kisses on her bare shoulder, encircling its rounded contour towards her back and reached her nape of neck. His right hand fingers traced the prominences of her right shoulder blade sending delicious shivers down her spine. His lips moved downwards peppering her spine with quick kisses. The sandalwood fragrance of her hair , mixed with the petrichor of rain when it hit the dry soil, was hypnotising like an aphrodisiac, starving him, tempting him to relish her.

He turned her towards him slowly, displacing her hair back to their original place, and tilted her head backwards by grabbing a handful of her hair in his fist. " Tell me I don't cross your mind the first thing you wake up nor the last thing when you sleep, and I'll stop." His lips started drinking fiercely the water droplets on the creamy skin of the front of her neck, swallowing the elixir of her intoxicating beauty.

"Aahh! N-nn.... Aah!" She let out a raspy whimper when he nibbled her jawline in between his lips, from the angle of jaw to her chin and she held her suspenders with all her might, feeling her ripped muscles through the thin white shirt he was wearing. He pulled himself back a bit and and looked at her, she was breathing via her mouth, and her eyes were closed. Her wet eyelashes dripped pearly droplets on her cheeks.

Her dark pink ,plump lips parted as if making space for his. " Tell me your lips don't yearn to emrace mine whenever you see me, and I'll stop." Without a second thought, he smashed his labials on hers, with an extreme hunger. He pulled and fondled her full lower lip between his lips and while hers worked on his upper lip. It wasn't long when he plunged his ravenous tongue inside her mouth to ravish her taste. Her fingers in his scalp tightened the hold on his locks, anchoring herself to him to prevent from crumbling into a heap at his torture.

They pulled back to inhale the much needed oxygen they  took granted for. She looked into his eyes, her chest heaving like a see-saw , and spoke against his chin breathlessly, " Ye-yes... I....I also...." Her words hung in the air as her eyes rolled in the back of her eyeball socket, and she slumped in his arms.

"Shetu! Shetu! Shetu! What happened? " He patted her cheeks in soft slaps to wake her up but in vain. He checked her pulse and pupils and sighed in relief. He urgently lifted her up in his arms bridal style and walked towards the motorcycle where his bike was parked.
On the way, he kept calling her, but she didn't respond. Her neck was cradled in the hollow of his neck, while her arm loosely hung in the air.

He reached his motorcycle in fast steps and took his emergency kit , juggling with the handle of it while she was in his arms.
He looked at the temple which was closed now, and the heavy downpour didn't give him a fair option to lie her down on the stairs in the open.

A thought clicked in his mind, and he hung the emergency kit on his shoulder and took her to a few steps beside the temple.

A hut was in sight, with a dimly lit lantern hanging outside the window.

He stood her on her feet, holding her by waist and knocked the door strongly.
"Debashish!!! Debashish!!! Debu!!!! Open the door."

His knocking stopped when he saw a lock hanging on the latch of the door. " Dammit!"

He lowered her on the ground and seated her supported by the wall.
"Shetu! Shetu! Just a minute okay." He patted her cheeks again as she started shivering violently.

He took a stone from nearby and hit the lock with heavy blows. The lock broke open on third hit. He lifted her up again and kicked the door open.

The hut was modest, with a small kitchen space, a small wooden shelf with some clothes and yellow pages bundled, and a single cot.

He took her to the bed, but then refrained from settling her on it. Rather he crouched down, and supported her limp frame against his left thigh and held her by her shoulder.
His free hand rummaged in the emergency kit as he made a dilute sugar solution in a cup and held it to her mouth. When she didn't open it, after repeated prodding, he encircled his left hand around her shoulder and pulled her lower lip with his fingers, and dropped the solution slowly in the vestibule of her lip. He brushed away her wet hairs from her face. "Shetu! Shetu! Shona! Open your eyes!"

After a few minutes of the giving the remedy, her eyes fluttered open drowsily.
"Wh-where...." She drawled away as her eyes closed, teeth chattered and her body shook convulsively. She
tried to snuggle into him to take in as much as heat as possible.

Batakrishna panicked at her tremulousness and he picked a dry cloth from the shelf probably a towel and dabbed her face and hair with it.

"Shetu! You .... you are cold. Can you ch-change your clothes." Shetukala looked at him with half opened eyes and nodded feebly.

Batakrishna helped her stand away but her knees swayed, and he held her back.

"Wh-where are my clo-clothes?"

"Yes, your clo- " His eyes widened," I ..... I think I left them on the road. Your potli!" He facepalmed.

"N-n-now!!! " She stammered wih cold as she rubbed her arms to wend off cold.

He shuffled in the shelf. "There are only shirts and trousers here."

"I.....I am f-fine."

"No...you are not! You will soon fall ill if we don't get you changed."

Batakrishna searched the room to find something useful, when his eyes fell upon a trunk below the cot. He crouched and pulled it. It had a few black clothes in it. Batakrishna knew what those were for. To make turbans, Krantikaris used to hide their face in the dark of night.

"Can you use it?" He showed one to her.

She nodded bashfully.

" Okay. I'll wait outside. You change."

"B-but it's raining outside."

"Uhmm....Is it okay if I just turn my back? I .... won't look back unless you say to."

"Hmm." Shetukala moved towards the bed and kept the white sheet.

He heard the shuffling of wet clothes behind him. The thought of her changing clothes just behind him wasn't helping much. The coldness in his body was yearning for heat, either of clothes or--

"Daktar Babu?"

"Y-yes? You need something?"

"M-my blouse... it's not is not opening. It got wet. C-can you help me?"

"Me?" Batakrishna gulped. " H-how?"

"By opening the knot?" She said as if asking.

"Oh......ye-yes. I'll he-help." He rubbed the back of his neck with his palm nervously.
" May I turn?"

"Yes!"

Batakrishna turned to look at her, standing with her back turned towards him. She had wrapped the cloth on her lower body, the thin cloth clung to her bottom leaving very less to imagination. He gulped visibly. Her upper body had only the red wet blouse contrasting with the color of her fair skin. He walked to her in slow steps.

" You...You didn't even dry yourself. How careless?" He took the towel , trying to ease the tension between them and wiped the water droplets from her shoulders.

He tried to open the knot of the blouse with his fingers, but the wet knot wasn't giving any leverage to his cold fingers.

"How much time?" She aksed hesitantly.

" I'm... I'm trying. It's so tight." He tried to pull the knot with his teeth, as his nose touched her back, she trembled. The knot opened . As he removed the cloth, he saw a black mole on her unblemished skin. He subconsciously traced it with his finger making her shiver.
"Shetu! " His voice became thick with desire. " It's.... it's beautiful, just like you."

He didn't realise when he knelt down on the floor and captured her beauty spot between his lips. She gasped loudly. " Aahh!!" Her reaction pleased him, earning her a few peppered kisses on her waist. His warm tongue on her cold skin sent a buzz in her body. She shivered partly due to hid ministrations and partly due to cold.

Batakrishna came out of his daze  when a thunder struck outside and stood up clearing his throat.

"Da-daktar babu! You should also get changed or you'll get ill. " She said as she clutched the remaining cloth to her chest.

" No, I'm ...I'm fine. Debasish is very leaner than me. His clothes wouldn't fit me."

"Why don't you use the similar cloth and wear it like a dhoti?"

He remembered what had happened last time he wore dhoti in her vicinity, but still complied as the thought of wearing wet clothes all night wasn't pleasing. "Oh-ohkay."

Shetukala kept her face towards the wall lying on the bed, while Batakrishna changed his clothes.

"Shetu! You can turn now."

Shetukala turned to see him, his toned torso captivating her eyes. Her veiny arms and ripped muscles made her gulp. His broad shoulders were luring her to cling onto them. The V of his lower abdomen disappearing into his black dhoti, locked her gaze.

Batakrishna cleared his throat, and Shetukala looked away turning profusely red instantly at being caught red handed gawking him shamelessly.

"It's a heavy downpour. I think we will have to stay tonight here only."

"Dada and Boudi would worry."

"We can't do anything other than waiting for morning ,in the present moment."

She nodded.

"Eat this." He took out a small biscuit packet from his bag. " Your sugar level had dropped down. You didn't eat anything from morning , right?"

She shook her head.
Batakrishna opened the packet and touched a biscuit to her lips. She ate it quietly.

"Where are we?"

" This is where a ...umm... a friend of mine lives. I guess he had gone somewhere."

"Oh!"

" You should sleep now. You need rest."

" And you?"

"I'm fine." He said as he sat on the foot of the bed.

"The bed has some space. You can sleep here."

" Uh, no. It's fine."

" You will fall ill if you don't sleep. We can manage. I won't be able to sleep if you keep sitting there."

" Ohkay." He moved further onto the bed, and laid down. The bed was small but just enough to fit two of them. Shetukala tried to create a distance between them and shifted. As soon as she reached the edge of the bed, he pulled her towards him.

"Do you want to fall or what? If you're not comfortable, I can move out."

"No, no . I didn't want to make you awkward."

"I am anything but awkward by your presence."

Silence lingered in air, as their eyes met. Her skin shone golden under the yellow hue of the lantern lit in the hut. Various emotions swirled in his deep , dark eyes like a black satin. His gaze roamed all over her face, and fixed on her lips. He swallowed subconsciously.

"Shetu!" His voice was coarse with emotion. "When you left the house, I realised I was thinking of you a lot. And I began to wonder how long you had been on my mind.
Then it occurred to me,
since I met you, you'd never left. Please tell me I'm not alone suffering in the matters of heart."

She lowered her gaze.
"I....I....feel wierd. Daktar Babu."

" Tell me. What do you feel?"

"My...my heart beats very fast whenever I'm near you. I don't even know when I hold my breath in your presence. You make me restless but calm me at the same time. My emotions are all over the place. I don't know what is happening with me. It ....it scares me."

"Does it feel wrong?" He caressed her cheek.

"I'm worried because it has never been felt so right." A drop of tear fell on the bridge of her nose.

" Your tears hurt me." He wiped the drop from her nose with little finger.

" Your goodness hurts me."

"Huh?"

" I....I.... don't deserve whatever is happening between us. I'm not worthy of you. You deserve someone who is not damaged. Because , I am too broken, too shattered to be put up together."

" If it takes me a lifetime to gather your pieces to mend this broken angel in front of me, I would spare my whole lifetime doing that happily."

" You dont know my past."

"I want to live with you, in my present. And plan with you, my future."

"We are not meant to be together. We should not---"

Batakrishna claimed her lips in his into a possessive kiss. A kiss of belonging that screamed into her throat, that ',you are mine and I'm yours.' and didn't brook any argument.
He flushed her more into his bare chest, trapping her legs in between his.

"There's nothing that can convince me to stay away from you, Shetu! Not even you." He said dangerously hovering over her. " I don't know what your past was, I'm okay if you don't want to share. If you want to, then I'm all ears. It's your choice. But, don't let your past have power on your life , Shetu. You have all the freedom to do, to choose , to feel whatever you want in your life. Just remember, whatever you choose should make you happy."

" What if I say, you make me happy?" She grabbed his shoulders.

"Then choose me." He kissed on her cheeks, his lips memorising the minutest details of her face.

"I don't want to spoil your life." She said breathlessly.

" Your presence itself makes me want to live more," He kissed on her chin. "breathe more," , on her neck, "steal more time from life." He dipped his face into the crook of her neck suckling the skin, and leaving purplish red marks of love on her.

" Ahh! ....You will regret after you know what I've hidden." She said in a  painful moan.  Her heart beat drummed like a raging woodpecker's blows on a tree.

"There is nothing in this world that can make me regret for choosing you. On the contrary, if I ever let you go, I don't know if I'll be able to survive ---"
This time she captured her lips and clenched his hair tightly in a painful grip, as if punishing him to even talk of such.

" You love making me cry, don't you? " She said breaking the kiss.

"You would run away if I tell you what I would love to do!" He gazed into her eyes sharply as if he could peek into her soul. He took her hand and brought it down to his crotch making her feel his raging hard on. " This is what you do to me, Shetu!" She gasped at the feel of his length and retracted her hand as if burnt.

He chuckled and nibbled softly on her neck , moving downwards towards her chest. " Let me see you, Shetu!"

"Wh-what?" She looked at him horrified.

" Let me drink the whole of you with my eyes, then my lips." He whispered on her lips, looking into her eyes.

"Hmm.." She nodded her head absent mindedly when he sucked on her skin just below her neck.

He very slowly unsheathed her softness , as if testing the water with every inch the cloth slipped downwards. Her pale skin was a sharp contrast to the black of the cloth.

His eyes flashed with utmost passion as he took in the elegance of
her perfect spheroids. Her pert rosy buds were hard, screaming her own desire, surrounded by dusky halos. His throat parched in the sudden need of an intoxicant , the source of which lied beneath him.

As the cold wind touched her pristine zone of the body, she realised her vulnerability and she hugged him to hide herself. But the action backfired, as the unexpected collision of their bare bodies felt like several explosions going on in their body and she trembled in the strange sensual feel. He hugged her tighter relishing the feel of her skin against his. Her soft curves were ripping her hard ridges , ironically.
After what felt like an eternity, he tried to move away, but she didn't give up yet.
He looked at her face, splashed in crimson bringing red roses to shame.
" Shetu! Look at me." She opened her eyes. "You don't have to feel ashamed. Your body is exquisite. At least don't hide it from me."

He pulled himself up and caressed her rounded flesh with his fingers, making her shiver. His soft caresses soon escalated to intense kneading.  In a frenzy , he wolfed down the other free globe, showing her stars in the back of her mind. "Aahh!  Batuk Babu! It.....it feels....so..."  She couldn't complete as he kissed and sucked and kneaded them mercilessly, unable to get enough of them.

Finally, he pulled himself to catch and this sudden cut off of pleasure brought Shetukala's feet on ground from cloud nine, and she toppled over him with force and slumped over him in defeat. Her quick heaving of the chest gave the idea of her exhaustion from travelling to the seventh heaven, and she trembled like a dry leaf. " I....No.....no..... don't.....I....."

" Shhh....shh......it's fine. It's fine." Batakrishna hugged her in his arms protectively and pulled a thin blanket on themselves , as they drifted into the sweet world of dreams where there was no haunting past.

The rain has always fascinated the human mind . Whatever your mood is, the rain feels the same way. To a miserable person, it is like overwhelmed clouds crying their hearts out. To a happy one, it feels like sky celebrating his victory. And for those who are in love, rain is like booze showering from the heaven inebriating the already 'high' souls as they stand under the cerulean umbrella of sky, drenched in love , drenched in passion.

Listen to the beautiful song attached.

This is the longest chapter I've ever written. More than 5 k words. The heavy downpour since 3 days has motivated me to write this chapter.❤️❤️❤️

I would love to know your views.
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Do tell me your favourite scene/lines via inline comments. Waiting!!! Thankyou 😘😘😘😘😘😘