Batakrishna spun around in a whiplash and hit the hand of the attacker with his boot making the gun fall out of it. He took him aback as he pulled him by his hand and twisted it behind him and with the other hand , he pressed at a specific point where his neck and shoulder meet. The man slumped down limp, and unconscious.

Perks of being a doctor. He knew where it hurts the most.

Mangal was so taken off guard by the change of events that he missed when Batuk took him in his hold again by his elbow and pointed his gun in his mouth blocking his voice.

"I won't repeat again. Where . is . she?" Batakrishna growled angrily. Mangal looked here and there for help, but Batakrishna pressed the gun inside more almost choking him. He gestured upstairs. Batuk looked towards the stairs.

He looked back at Mangal and pressed his German Swiss knife he had pocketed on their last loot, on his throat . A swift slash was heard and he slumped down bleeding. He didn't wait to check whether he died or not. He least cared. How easier would it have been if he could just shoot them but he didn't want to alert when the goons were outnumbering him and Debashish. Batuk just hoped nobody took notice of them , as they were quite out of exposed area. If anyone knew he was here , they would either kill him or move her and he couldn't take the chance.

He looked at the staircase. It was straight in the middle of the hall. Anyone who took keen notice in him would know he is not one of them, since seldom kidnapping goons wore such festive attire while kidnapping .

He walked up a flight of stairs slowly, keeping his eyes and ears open for any signs of life. Downstairs was clear . Debashish gave him no sign yet and was nowhere to be seen. He just hoped he was not in any trouble. Suddenly he saw Debashish crouching behind a door, looking around him alert.

He signed him to tell him that she was upstairs. Debashish nodded and gestured to him to move ahead as he would give him the cover.

Batuk and Debashish stealthily crossed the staircase. Debashish was behind him giving him the much needed hiding, his eyes darting everywhere and his fingers on the trigger. Any danger and their ruse would be blown off, with a single shot of his pistol.

They again went in the opposite direction to find her. Batakrishna's heart was pounding in anticipation as he reached upstairs , discreetly, making a map in his mind as the place was quite large and expansive. As he entered the long corridor opening into various doors one side , and on the other side was a railing which extended till the stairs.

The railing was giving a proper view of the downstairs and thus others could also see and locate him. There was no possible way he could check in all rooms without getting noticed and his back would be exposed. But there was no other choice. Delay of each second was a lost bargain of Shetukala's breaths.

He took out his own gun, and reloaded it, and stepped tentatively into the corridor. He was severely berating himself for not directly calling the police force , or waiting for his Dada. His emotions clearly took over his rational mind today. But there is no use crying over spilt milk.

There was a rustle of movement to his right. He flickered around too late and a masked man smashed his gun from his hand. He felt as if he broke his finger. He made quick movements to check his joints for a fracture. Luckily, they were still intact.

He lunged forward and punched him in the throat, he gripped his hair and smashed his face into his knee. The man was knocked out coughing blood from his mouth and nose. Listening to sounds, another two attacked him and tackled him on the floor.

One of them raised his hand to stab into Batakrishna's heart but missed his aim by a few centimetres and stabbed his left arm. Batuk let out a painful groan and did a brutal headbutt and broke his nose . His free hand gripped the same knife and he plunged it into the side of his neck splurting blood like a fountain.

He stood up in a jerk and pushed the other man into one of the nearby rooms. Gripping his head by his hair at the back of his head , he smashed his forehead into the wall.

"Where is she? Where is she? Tell me." He hissed in anger and paused for his response but the man gurgled a few incoherent words before he collapsed limp on the floor.

Batakrishna let out a deep sigh of exasperation and continued his quest.

After checking a few other rooms and hiding behind pillars , he reached the end of his side of a corridor.

There was no signal from Debashish's side. His eyes caught a room where he saw two men in the corner standing against a closed door which was locked.

Why would anyone guard a locked door.... unless...

His heartbeat raced dangerously. Is she here? Behind this door?

If these men saw him, they would be alerted and he would stand no chance, leaving from here unscathed.

Think , Batuk, think.
Is this situation worth two gunshots?
No!
This is the most wrong time to fire.
He doesn't know if she is really behind that door.

He searched for his pockets. Debashish's warrior kit as he called it never disappointed him. A small whiff of chloroform and they would be soon licking ground.

He took out his handkerchief and tore it into two halves and sprinkled some chloroform on both. Now he just has to attract their attention. He went into the nearest room, and dropped a few things which were already burnt but enough spared to make some noise. He quickly hid behind the door.

As expected , a man entered the room. He smothered him with the chloroform-doused kerchief and within seconds , his motor functions crumpled onto the floor.

He peeked outside to see the other man who was as predicted looked restless without his partner but didn't move from the door. He took the gun from the former man's hand and threw it towards the guard just at his feet.

The guarding man looked puzzled and bent to pick it up. In the nick of time, Batakrishna lunged towards him in a flash and pinned him to the ground with his side of face pressing harshly against the door. His hands were gripped by him rendering him unable to move. A swift whiff of anaesthetized cloth and he also lost his consciousness. Batakrishna let out a deep sigh.

The path was clear. He searched his pockets and found the keys. He fumbled with the lock for a few seconds as his hands trembled in finding the right key from the ring of keys . Then he stood up straight , closed his eyes and tried again with much mustered patience and after a torturous trial-and-error method , the lock clicked open.

As soon as he threw the door open, he froze. He didn't expect her to be in very good condition but her condition on the ground lying unconscious still tied to a chair clenched his heart in a tight fist. He swallowed thickly, a painful lump in his throat and dashed towards her.

"Shetu! Shetu! Wake up! Shetu! Wake up!" He shook her with urgency but she didn't budge. He opened her ropes hurriedly and pushed the chair back. He pulled her head on his lap, making her lie straight. He checked her breath and his face color drained when he realised she wasn't breathing. He checked the pulse.

No pulse!

His hands froze as blood swooshed to his ears pounding against his eardrums making him deaf to any sign of life. His heart palpitated as if someone was mercilessly beating the batter head of a drum with a thick stick.

No! No! No! This can't be. This can't be! It felt like a deja vu. His dream can't come true. No! Not gonna happen! Did they feed her something or hurt her?

He removed her head from his lap on the floor and checked her for injuries. With much patience this time, he leaned his ear over her chest.

There ! There! Yes! A pulse! Weak, but present nonetheless.

Without wasting one more millisecond, he pressed on the centre of her chest with one palm over the back of the other hand, and started chest compressions. As an unconscious habit, his mind started counting the 30:2 rule.

Don't break the rib. Please don't break the rib! He chanted ,being cautious with the pressure.

He quickly tilted her head back and pulled down her chin to open her mouth and pressed his lips on hers.

Each puff of air was pushed into her lungs with the hope of breathing new life into her, just like the Prince Charming osculating the kiss of rejuvenation into the Snow White to wake her up from the deadly and deathly slumber of nightmares.

Batakrishna remembered her words just the day before when they had sneaked into his room, hiding from the prying eyes.

"Daktar babu! Shall I tell you something? But ...promise ...promise ...you won't laugh at me." She said breathlessly as she pulled back from the kiss.

"Ohkayy!" He said amused and his eyes twinkled.

"Before I met you, I felt like I was just existing." He nodded, encouraging her to speak more. " But now when you.... when we....I mean...." She shifted her gaze to her feet and pink dust coated her cheeks.

He tipped her chin towards him, making her look into his eyes. "Now, what?" He smiled curiously.

"Now, when we ki-kiss," she closed her eyes, and then took a breathy pause, and opened them again, confining him into her deep orbs, " I feel more alive than ever. Like....like you have literally breathed life into me. I don't know how to explain but....It feels like .. like how to explain.... Am I making sense?" She looked at him with an innocent expression with her hopeful doe-like eyes, as she let out her cute ramble, just like he liked.

"Like life has found its true essence and it's not just about surviving but also making each and every moment worthy?" He said still imprisoned in her eyes.

She nodded gleefully.

"Okay then. Let's make each bit of this life more worthy and not waste it with our lips apart for even the shortest distance." He captured her lips again taking her aback as he himself felt more alive with each caress of her lips.

Her bluish lips stayed apart as he compressed more. He realised he was crying, when his tears fell on her lips and he tasted the saltiness on them when he leaned down again on her face to give mouth-to-mouth.

"Please! Please! .... Plee....ase Shetu! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. " He prattled with choked sobs as he continued his compressions. " I'm sor- sorry . I failed you. Please please wake up , Shona. Don't punish me like this. I.... I... love you so so much. I can't lose you." His voice caught in his throat as the fear of losing her whiplashed on his heart and wrapped around itself like a spiky whip
and eroded its surface before unwrapping itself, oozing out the blood from his heart.

"You can't do this to me, okay. You stupid girl ! Don't you dare Shetu! You know I don't like such jokes." He yelled at her. "Are you listening to me? You stubborn, stubborn woman! This is the last time I'm telling you, if you---"

A few more compresses and she gasped loudly, and her breathing resumed with shallow haggard breaths.

"Oh Dugga! Thank-you , thank... thankyou so much." He stopped his maneuver and took her head in his lap again and bent down on her face and peppered her whole face with soft feathery but urgent and impatient kisses.

He smoothened her hair behind her ears and patted her cheeks.
"Wake up Shona! See, I've come. I've come. I won't let anything happen to you." He caressed her right cheek where dried blood chips were stuck to a wound.

Her eyes fluttered open. Her face was laced with utter confusion as she took into his appearance. "Who?" She looked around as she realised she was in her old room." What happened? How did I get here?"

Batakrishna felt as if the whole world crashed upon him in a single moment.

Did she hit her head and forget everything? Oh Dugga! Now what would I do?

"Shetu! Ami Batakrishna! Tomar Krishna! Don't you recognise me? What happened ?" He said cupping her face in his palms.

She sat up in a jerk.
"Don't play with me, okay. I know you are not real." She shrieked and tried to push him.

" Shetu! Please don't shout. Please!" He held her in his arms to stop her from moving but she fought to come out of his hold.

"No, you left me to die. You don't love me. You are.... You are..." She panted breathlessly. "You left me." She let out a helpless whimper.

She looked here and there in panic and stood up with wobbly legs as hours of lack of movement numbed her legs. "Is he also here? I saw them. They are all here. You are not here. It's a dream .Bad ! Bad dream." She patted her cheeks harshly to wake up herself from the nightmare. She held her head in pain as her neurons seemed all jumbled like a messed up ball of wool and she lost the sense of time.

How is it possible? How is she here? How is Batakrishna here? Were 'they' really here or was it a hallucination?

"Shetu! What happened? Listen to me first." He held her shoulders to restrain her but she pushed him harshly by her hand, which resulted in a slap on his face.

Batakrishna was dumbfounded as he touched his face where she had just slapped . It was not supposed to be as painful as he felt considering the impact was not that hard.

"No! No! No! Not again. It can't happen again." She blabbered as she remembered her culprits bringing her here and touching her indecently. She breathed in relief as she checked her clothes and all seemed to be in place.

Her surroundings started rotating as she held her head and fought with the confusion engulfing her like a blue whale all at once.

"Kala!" A sound brought her back from her misery as she froze listening to her name which only a certain someone called her. She turned slowly and the rug was harshly pulled from under her feet, when her black eyes met a pair of hazelnut ones.

Debashish felt as if he was hit by a train of emotions as he saw Shetukala standing in front of him in flesh and bone, all real. Before he could say anything, she ran towards him stumbling, crossing the few steps between them and jumped into his arms.

He was so taken off guard with the force of the overwhelming feelings and the strong impact of her unrealistic touch , that he almost lost his balance as she jumped on him, her feet just brushing the floor, but he handled them both in time as his hand spontaneously gripped the door behind him.

Batakrishna's eyes were as wide as saucers when he saw the sole love of his life hanging from his so called friend's neck. He felt it really to be bad day of his.

Whose face did he see first in the morning?

Not even a quality slap for him and earth shattering hug for Debashish? What in the holy hell !

They are just friends batuk! Just friends! Yes, just friends!

No matter how much he tired to convince himself , a ball of fire rose from his belly rapidly increasing in size and ascending upwards burning his gut en route, it lingered in the middle causing the most painful heartburn and ultimately lodged straight in his throat burning and choking him to the point that his eyes poured hot tears.

If Debashish could know what Batakrishna was feeling , he would have said that he mirrored the similar burning inside his own gut.

But Debashish was on a different track right now.

Debashish held her tightly in his arms, holding her weight, squeezing her skin convincing himself of her existence. His mind chided him that she was not his now, but he pushed the thought back for once. For once , he did not want to believe that she was someone else's . It's not like he would take away her choice. But for this instance , just for this fleeting terrestrial moment, he wanted to feel her presence in his life , in his mundane , measly, humdrum life, and wanted to dwell in the bliss that she is really, really here with him, safe, sound, and above all alive.

When one loses a loved one, he/she goes through five stages of grief. And Debashish had experience in all , first hand.

1. Denial: For several nights he had denied her death, standing in front of the hospital for he didn't know how many hours and days, pestering the staff to give the correct information.

2. Anger: He had thrown his things in his room, thousands of pebbles in the river, cried , swore , hurt himself when he couldn't digest the fact of her death.

3. Bargaining: He couldn't remember the number of times he had fought Maa Durga and imagined the scenarios playing in front of his eyes when he would have been at the spot and maybe , a sliver chance that he could have saved her and himself died in exchange.

4. Depression: For months , he couldn't remember the dates, the time of the day, the orientation of his place. He was so submerged in his sorrow that the forgot that food is necessary for human survival until he collapsed with exhaustion.

5. Acceptance: As time flew and his life started passing by in vain, he braced himself and finally gave a meaning to his life in the terms of freedom fight, the only thing , the only fire that drove him to go forward and not look back.

But now when she was here , in his arms, he could feel her breath on his skin, as a sign of her life, he didn't know how to behave. He forgot how a person should behave when they meet someone they had lost and then find again at unexpected times.

At several lonely, depressing nights when he was waiting for his release in jail, thousands of words crowded his mind , like what would he would say when he would meet her, what he would explain her, how he would handle her. But to his dismay , the moment never came and now when she was here and he could feel her weight on his neck, he didn't know what to say, what to explain, how to react.

Her tears fell on his neck, as she cried silently. Debashish who was uptil now numb as if crushed under freezing snow in minus temperature for eons, felt his cold, numb body melting under her warm tears.

Was it brutish of him to say that he would sell his soul to see these tears rather than that spine-chilling smile of hers which still haunted his sleepless nights?

Her tears washed his skin of the burden of guilt , of remorse , of helplessness and cleaned him of his never ending misery. This was supposed to be about her , about her feelings, about her life, then why was he being selfish and just thinking about himself.

He looked up and the answer stared in his eyes.

Batakrishna!

Yes, because now she has someone who will take care of her, will handle her and will worry for her.

His mental monologue ended when Shetukala separated herself from him, leaving a cold void in him which he knew would never fulfil.

"Deb!" She croaked as her throat clenched. "Are you.... are you....real? You are here? " She asked as she touched his face to assure herself, sending a shiver down his spine at the slightest touch.

Debashish felt as if he lost his voice and just nodded as far as tears rolled down his cheeks as he took into her appearance and tried to memorise her face to wipe away the last memory of hers, which was painful to remember.
"Are you hurt?" She shook her head in negation.
"Di-did ....you ever miss me?" He asked with difficulty.

" I.....ummm....maybe sometimes in dreams, but I.... I forgot about you." He chuckled sadly.

She was as cruel as he remembered. Sheer cruel innocence dripped from her voice.

"Did you miss me? " She asked in return.

Debashish shook his head in negation. " Not a bit." He gave a watery but teasing smile.

Because I never forgot you, Kala. You were always on my mind. I never needed to miss you.

"Debbb!!! " His words earned him a light punch on his shoulder which sent his heart in a frenzy, just like the olden days, or maybe with more intensity now.

"Shetu!" Batakrishna interrupted as he felt he had entered a sappy novel whose writer was suddenly more interested in the second male lead than the actual hero.

Shetukala looked at him with a jerk, then she turned towards Debashish, then again at Batakrishna.

She moved back a few steps, and raised a finger in air and pointed it at them alternatively.

"Daktar babu?" She asked pointing at Batakrishna. He nodded vehemently, making her aware of his much ignored appearance.

"Deb?" She turned towards Deb and pointed her index finger at him. He nodded, still feeling inarticulate.

" You both here? How?" She touched her lips with her palms in surprise and realised the mistake she just made.

She did not just slap him!!!

She rushed towards Batakrishna and he readily accepted her in his arms to soothe the burning sensation of his heart.

"You are here, for real. I'm so .. so sorry. I was .... I was mad at you that..... you didn't save me, even when.... when you had promised me to be with me always. I thought you are a dream.....I....I... " She said between choked sobs as she caressed his cheek with her soft hands.

" No, no Shetu! I would never ever leave you. I was not in the room , in the first place. It was Mani Kaki." He rubbed her head as finally his heart was at solace.

She pulled back and looked at him puzzled. "You were not there?"
He shook his head in negation. " I'm so.... so ... sorry . Please forgive me. I didn't intend to hurt you." She saw his left sleeve was doused in blood and his arm was still bleeding. She gasped loudly and tore the corner of her saree and tied the small piece of cloth around his left arm and hugged him again murmuring muffled apologies.

" Oh my my! Look who we have here?" Three of them stood frozen as they turned towards the door when they heard a gruff voice.

"Shetukala! Aren't you going to introduce us to your new lovers? I must say, this hoe never gets satisfied with one man. What a strange kink! " He laughed and Shetukala felt like someone sucked out all the air from her lungs when she saw him again.

Ahem *clears throat sheepishly* . I know I'm very late. But please don't hold that against me and tell me honestly how the chapter was. Thanku 💜

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