LEAVE HER OR I SWEAR I'LL RIP YOUR ARM OFF

"PRACHI! PRACHI!!" Ranbir screamed, trying to get to the girl and failing.

Ranbir got out of his room, freshly showered, with a newfound flare in himself. He went to the hall where everyone was seated, after freshening up, lifelessly on the couches. Some blaming themselves, some crying, some consoling te crying, and some unbothered.

"Aryan," He walked over to his best friend, disturbing his focus from the mobile he was fidgeting with. The boy raised his head from what he was doing and looked at the other with a disrupted face.

"What are you doing?" Ranbir asked when he registered the frowning expression.

"I was checking the video," The younger boy stated and everyone turned to him, hoping for some kind of lead, so he too raised his voice a notch, "I was checking the video for something, anything. All I found till now was that the video was shot from this mobile. I'm even trying to track the location to which this mobile has been, but, to no avail. Seems like they are in some area that is quite far off from any network."

"I was going to check the room again," Ranbir said and the other three boys nodded, following him silently.

They were scanning the room silently, not conversing once yet connecting over their equal worry for the girls. They had a quick go-through of the room while some of the elders just watched from the sidelines, too cautious to interrupt any of them and be the victim of their wrath. 

"Is this..." Piyush mumbled, his eyes trained on a metal decoration that lay near the window, hidden behind the curtains. 

The elder boys rounded next to him, trying to have a look. Aarav bent and picked up the bronze idol, turning it as dried red liquid made streaks around it. Blood.

They all looked at each other and then towards the door, where the elders stood, silently observing them. They turned completely and Aarav forwarded his hand towards them, letting them see what they found.

"It's probably Shahana's," Vikram spoke silently, "she was the one who came here later and had a visible injury on her."

Aryan took in a sharp breath as he took in the quantity of blood on the mantelpiece and the one that draped down the unconscious girl's face in the video. The intake wasn't much loud but enough to reach everyone's ears. Purab walked to his son and placed a hand on his shoulder but Aryan just shook his head, going back to his searching.

He looked around the place where the blood-covered idol was found and just in a few seconds something caught his eyes. He bent down to see the sticker-like thing, covered in grease, sticking to the window panel.

"Here's something else," he called, carefully trying to get it all off without tearing it.

"It's some sort of sticker," He observed, cleaning the grease off. 

"Wax ornaments?" He read it out.

"Wait, show me." Ranbir asked and taking it and staring at it for a while.

"I know this, It's the same place from where I crystalized the flowers for Prachi's birthday gift. It's the factory that takes special orders." He said, a hope shining in his eyes.

"What?" He asked when he saw everyone looking at him, "There is a more important matter at hand."

"Do you have its address?" Abhi asked.

"I had it delivered to me but the address is on the album's back." He said, rushing out to Prachi's room. He rummaged through her closet to find the thing he desired to but couldn't even get a hint of it. 

He walked back to the hall, crestfallen, "It's not in her room, maybe she got rid of it." He mumbled, rubbing his face.

"Wait," Piyush said before running off in the same direction that he came from.

Ranbir took a deep breath, retracing his hands from his face, skimming through his mobile, hoping to get the contact of the dealer. 

"Got it," Piyush's voice made him look up to see him waving a piece of paper. He took it from his offering hand and checked it. 

Yes, this was the address!

"How did you..." He looked at the boy who just shrugged in response, uttering "Shahana," and it explained pretty much everything.

"What are we waiting for then?" Abhi stated as they all rushed out of the house towards the cars.

"Wait everyone," Piyush called making everyone halt their steps. "Mobiles. Everyone give over their mobiles."

"But why? We might need to call the police or something." Vikram asked but handed over the mobiles nonetheless.

"They could be tracking our mobiles, uncle. They might get a heads up that we are going in their direction." Piyush explained.

"But they need our mobile numbers for it."

"They had Shahana's mobile, and most probably still have a hand over Prachi's. They can easily get our numbers from her mobile." Piyush responded. "And moreover, Aryan said that they don't have any cell network in that area, so it won't be of any help at all."

And so, complying with the young boy's reasoning, they agreed.

"Purab, Aryan, Ranbir, you go to in one car." Abhi ordered "Aarav Piyush and I will take one. Vikram, you know what to do." He then turned to his wife, whose eyes had not ceased shedding tears of mixed emotions.

Fear, Anger, Guilt, Helplessness, Tension, everything overlapping each other. But still, the most dominant was the dread she was feeling for her girl, "Calm down Pragya, I've done enough mistakes in my life," Her husband reassured her, cupping her face and wiping away her tears as he had been doing the entire night, "I've hurt you enough, I've wronged you enough, I've broken your heart and trust plenty of time, but trust me this time as I say that I will bring our daughter back safe."

"Wait," Aryan called as he stood in front of the car, his one hand opening the passenger door of Ranbir's car. "What is this?" He asked.

Ranbir turned to look at him and understanding dawned upon him. He walked over to where the other boy was standing, wordlessly moving past him and leaning into the car. He shuffled for a bit before pulling out a suitcase. 

His suitcase.

"Ranbir," Pallavi gasped in surprise, "You- you were going to-"

"There was no way I would have married Rhea, it was a better option." He stated bluntly, and no one dared to say anything to him. Pallavi wanted to, but a hard stare from Vikram stopped her.

They all settled and drove off to get the girls.

"LEAVE HER!" Ranbir screamed, punching hard against the metal door. His eyes burned with rage and stung with unshed tears as he looked at the unconscious girl through the crossed and twisted iron wire fence.

They had just reached the factory and broke into the darkroom. The scene was the same, Prachi was tied to a chair while being still unconscious. But there was way too much change between the clear screen of the camera and the present, for they are separated by a fence and a glass wall beyond it, which most probably was blocking away their voices.

The other side wasn't just the girl alone, there was a man, most probably in his late twenties. sitting across the unconscious girl, whose eyes were covered with a blindfold, making sure to keep her from seeing anyone, if she wakes up that is.

The man held a sharp knife in his hand, turning it skillfully around in his fingers. Showing off that those hands were completely familiar with it. The half riped-off hem of Prachi's Kurti, which reached just under the side rib, put Ranbir's veins on fire. While blood dripping from the slash-cut across her left calf drowned his heart in a dark void. 

Her body was covered with injuries, and that was without counting the ones that were present in the video.

"I didn't think you'll reach here." the man said, his voice.... amused?

"Not this fast at least." he continued, turning his head towards them showing his face the first time since they reached there. His features, though older, were oddly familiar. But not enough to pinpoint how so.

"Why are you here?" the abductor asked, looking genuinely curious. 

"Leave her," Ranbir repeated in a quiet whisper.

And even though it had been revealed yesternight, and unconsciously witnessed numerous times before, the intensity of his love and care shocked those around them. What shocked them more was how blind they have been so long.

Ranbir wasn't doing something new. He has always been like this for her. Always, he had been this protective, caring, and in love. But this was the first time they were witnessing it in the right light.

And it low-key gave them chills to see him like this.

"No seriously, why are you here? You were going to marry the younger Mehra girl, then why are you wasting your time and energy? See, this one has been booked, you go, enjoy your own wedding and leave her."

"Don't objectify her." Aryan banged his hand on the fence.

"See, what do you want?" Abhi tried to reason out, "Please leave my daughter, I'll give you anything."

The man walked back towards Prachi, looking down at her with persuaded lips. His contemplating look changed to denial in a couple of seconds as he looked back at the men.

"Is there anything that can replace this?" He asked lifting Prachi's face with his hand.

"LEAVE HER OR I SWEAR I'LL RIP YOUR ARM OFF!!" 

"Ooooh! Such protectiveness over just some girl. Just wait, I don't have anything to do with you or her, the one who has is here, ask him for yourself."

"What do you mean by that? Who is concerned-"

"I am."

That Voice. That unforgettably irritating and skin clawing, wicked voice drew the attention of everyone.

"I am the one concerned." Out came the one creep that had taken it to be his life motto to make Prachi's life hell, by stalking her, threatening her, defaming her, kidnapping her, as well as going to the extent of trying to burn her alive when she refused to accept and reciprocate his 'love'.

"Sanju?" Everyone chorused.

"Bhai." the said person merrily exclaimed, hugging the unknown man and suddenly those 'familiar' features were recognizable.

The same reptile-like eyes filled with viciousness and the same buck-like lips twisted into arrogant smiles.

"See, I got you what you wanted, as always." His elder brother uttered proudly and the younger one laughed cheerfully.

"What are you doing here?"

"How did you get out of the jail?"

"How dare you come back?" Were the questions fired at him. 

"Calm down" The man laughed tauntingly, "How am I going to answer the questions I could barely distinct." He moved to stand right in front of them, arms held behind his hands. "Okay so as per how I am out of the jail, your own daughter, not this one, the other one, and your sister dearest got me out of there. They asked me to kidnap Prachi on Dussehra and take her away with me." 

"But this, this girl, she refused!" He exclaimed, "and how can I let something I want, to be someone else? So I, with a stone over my heart, tied her in the Ravana Idol. If I couldn't have her, so how could this Ranbir have her. Oh, how foolish I was," He turned back to the girl, walking towards her and squatting in front of her, "I-I am so sorry Prachi, I was so stupid. how could I be so stupid?"

He softly ran a thumb over her bruised knuckle, "But I was your fault too you know? Why do you want him? What do you see in him? What is it that he has and I don't?

"I have money, property, every luxury that he could ever give you, so can I."

"They do this brother," The elder brother of the boy reassured, laughing slightly, "These girls like to say no because they like to keep the boys on their toes."

"No, no. No Bhai, my Prachi isn't like this, she isn't like any other girl." Sanju gushed.

"No girl is like that." Purab commented.

"Wait-" Sanju stopped, noticing the red thick liquid coming from her leg, "What, what happened to her? How- how did she get hurt? I specifically asked you to take care of her!"

"We to do what we had to. She was trying to run." His elder brother replied.

"But what if it scars?" Sanju stood up, exaggerated.

"It can be a major nerve that is damaged and you are worried about Scar?" Aarav ridiculed.

"Don't you say anything," Sanju got away from Prachi and stood in front of the boy. "It was your fault. So difficultly had Prachi being torn away from this Ranbir. I thought that now is my chance. I would get Prachi now that he was not there any longer," He jutted his thumb towards the other boy, "But no, you had to enter out of nowhere."

He would have continued, but Prachi's blind shuffling got his attention.

"Prachi," Ranbir breathed, "Prachi?" he spoke louder, "PRACHI!" He rattled the fence, pausing and interlacing his fingers with the iron wire, not caring when the rusted metal pierced his palm,  he saw Sanju remove something pea-sized from his ear.

"Prachi, PRACHI, PRACHI! Are you okay?" Everyone screamed, trying their best to bring down the restrictions and get to the girl.

But, despite the rattling of the iron and the screams of her loved ones, the girl didn't even turn towards them. It was sure then, that the glass wall was, indeed, soundproof. And the thing Sanju removed from his ear was an earpiece.

The transparent wall drowned their voice, while the blindfold saved her from seeing them. She twisted and turned, whimpering when her injuries pained. 

"Prachi, Prachi, Prachi," Sanju happily said, holding her hand while she flinched back at the unfamiliar touch. Cowering back into the chair, her lips turned into a sneer as she recognized the voice.

"Sanju." She spat, her jaws clenching as a pain shot up her leg and she became aware of her injury.

"Oh look, see Bhai, how she can recognize me just by my voice?" Ssnju smiled, "Kya yehi pyaar hai?"

"No, this is the disgust I have for you!" Prachi snapped.

"Haan yehi pyaar hai." Sanju replied himself, ignoring Prachi's comment. 

"You talk to her Sanju, I'll go and check the arrangement." The elder man left.

Prachi huffed impatiently and Ranbir could practically see her rolling her eyes behind the blindfold.

"Why did you bring me here? I thought you considered me dead." Prachi asked normally.

"Oh I am so sorry for that, Prachi, I was angry so I just acted under my impulse. I didn't mean to hurt you." Sanju pleaded.

"That's something new." Prachi scoffed.

"Me acting on impulse?" 

"No, someone not wanting to hurt me." Prachi answered, taking in a deep breath.

"Who hurt you?" Sanju stood up angrily, "Tell me who hurt you?"

"It's none of your business." Prachi snapped, struggling to get her hands free and failing. 

"You seem different," Sanju asked.

"Yeah, I'm tied to a chair and blindfolded."

"No, you are behaving differently." Sanju smiled, "You've never talked to me this long and this well.

"Maybe the effect of that thing they used to knock me out."

"Whatever it was, I'm loving it." Sanju replied shamelessly.

"Bhai," Another man, more like a scrawny boy, entered the room. "The preparations are done."

"You head first, I'll be right there with my Prachi." Sanju replied.

As the boy left, Sanju again knelt in front of Prachi, softly untying her feet first. Piyush on the other hand gathered everyone's attention by pointing at a small trapdoor on the right of the room, foolishly left to be seen by naked eyes. And even more foolishly held close only by a rusted lock.

They all moved to it, trying to open it quickly. They hit it twice or thrice with a metal mold lying there, thanking heavens that the room was soundproof. Their enthusiasm flattered when the lock refused to give in, hanging there proudly. 

They turned to look at the girl and see that the brainless toad had moved to Prachi's Hands. 

"We don't have enough time," Piyush said, panic evident in his voice. 

"Move aside," Aryan said, picking up a thin wire he saw there and bending it masterly. 

He quickly kneeled in front of the door, holding the lock sideways and trying to pick it.

"Shahana taught you this?" Piyush asked as he looked back at Prachi and Sanju. 

"Uh-uh, I taught this to Shahana." Aryan replied.

"And how do you know how to pick locks?" Purab asked.

"Quick Aryan," Ranbir urged.

Sanju has been too soft, and in the unfavorable condition Prachi was in, he had actually forgotten how firm and headstrong she was. Just as she felt the restrains on her hands vanish, she kicked Sanju with her non-injured leg as strongly as she could. 

Sanju gasped and stumbled back a couple of steps. Prachi stood up quickly, her hands, though sore, flying up and behind her head to open the blindfold. She was still fumbling with the knots through the pain shooting in her head and arms when her hands were jerked away from their work.

She struggled with the hands on her wrist as well as she could. The quick boost of adrenalin she had wearing off and the weakness coming back. She pulled and pushed and trashed her arms around in hopes of at least loosening the grip of her forceful onesided lover, screaming a chain of curses at him.

Just as the grip on her left hand loosened, she gathered all her power and with an estimate, threw a blind punch at him, which fortunately and unfortunately did hit him. 

Fortunately for it hit him somewhere right on his face, causing him to lose his grip on her altogether. And unfortunately, it hit with such a power, causing Prachi's wrist to bent at a weird angle, causing a pop to emerge from it and a sharp pain shoots up her arm.

She withdrew her hand to herself, cradling it to her chest and holding it there with other hand. Before she could understand anything, or think of her next steps, someone grabbed her from her waist. 

The fact that her dress was ripped was then registered to her when the hand of her captivator fall on her skin, making a disgusted and terrified feeling run in her veins. 

Before she could try to free herself or anything, she was pushed to a side, the hands on her were torn off her skin. Yet the nails left some scratches under her ribs. 

Her shoulder hit a wall, and her injured leg unable to take on her weight anymore, she slid down the wall, her strong cover wavered and sobs broke past her lips. She cowered into a corner, backing flat against it. Her knees pulled up and her left hand lying in her lap, no longer caring about her vision. 

     Just as Prachi punched Sanju right in the face, two clicks were heard. One from the other side of the wall, and one from right in front of them. The lock has been picked. Aryan hastily opened the trapdoor and ducked under it. Ranbir rushed and followed his lead, emerging in the next room. 

He straightened to see someone holding Prachi while her face contoured emotions of pure fear. Ranbir saw red and headed straight towards him, grabbing his nape, he pried him off the terrified girl, rage ringing in his ears, and landed a hard punch on the man's eye causing him to stumble back and fall.

He could have, would have, beaten his fair share of goons that rushed after hearing the commotion in the room, but his main focus was Sanju. He looked around to find the vile creature being thrashed by the father of his girl, as the others handled the rest.

Thinking of her, he looked around to find the girl for whom his heartbeat, sitting in a corner, still blindfolded. Sobbing and tears streaming down her face. Her knees held up in front of her as a shield.

He sprinted towards her, but as she senses footsteps advancing towards her, Prachi picked up something lying next to her and threw it towards him. The others, having finished their business, joined him, scaring the girl more and Prachi started throwing things right and left in her panic-stricken state.

The others halted, but Ranbir, determined to get to her, moved ahead regardless of her futile attempts to save herself. He reached her and dropped to his knees in front of her and, with much difficulty, held her hand. 

She tried to pull her hand back but he overpowered her strength and pulled her instead. His heart felt relief when her head hit her chest and without wasting any other second, he wrapped his arms around her despite her blind pushes. 

Just as his arms coiled around her body, Prachi froze. But it took her just a single moment to reciprocate the gesture. Ranbir let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when Prachii melted in his arms, new, fresh, relieved sobs erupted from her chest as she fisted his shirt in one hand. Her tears soaked his shirt, quenching the fire that was burning in him since her disappearance.

Her sobs shook him, body and soul.

After what felt like an eternity, and just a few seconds at the same time, Ranbir's eyes landed on her bloodied calf and he remembered her injured hand that was trapped between her chest and his. Sticking to her chest still and most probably crushed between the two of them because of how tight they were holding each other.

He, knowing the injuries and the pain afflicted by them because of the numerous times he had withstood it with his football career, with great difficulty, convinced his heart to let go of her. He withdrew his arms softly from her back and backed a bit to take her injured wrist in his hand. While with the other, he slid the blindfold off her eyes and over her head.

Prachi whimpered due to pain and slowly raised her eyes, blinking a couple of times to adjust her eyes to the light. She looked through wet eyelashes to look at the face she craved for so long right in front of her.

Ranbir looked at her when she whimpered to see her already looking at him. Her eyes spoke a thousand words and still not saying what he wanted to hear. But the relief and love oozing from them were enough. For now.

"Shahana is here." Came Piyush's voice from the next room. They looked up to see everyone looking at them. Except for Aryan, Aarav, and Piyush, who went looking for Shahana. 

"Prachi?" Abhi whispered.

Prachi looked up at him and Ranbir, understanding her unsaid words, helped her up. She had just gotten to her feet when her footing gave away and the world swayed in front of her. A black, senseless, dark void engulfed her conscious and she went limp in Ranbir's arm.

A/N:- Hey Blossoms, How are you all? Enjoying the hot choco weather? Well, here is the chapter you'll have been waiting for. And to make it up to you for the delayed update, Four thousand words it is.

Do share your views on how you found it. Make sure to comment and vote. Inline comments are most welcome. 

Also, the new fiery Prachi we are seeing in the serial is making me so proud. You go gurl and slam that harridan out of the house.

Quick question: What do you think would be your favorite part of Hogwarts?

My Answer: I would love to get a chance to go to the Astronomy tower, even though I'll pass out looking down from it. Yup, Acrophobia is in full force here.

Lots of Love,

Simran