I was perfect, I was doing just fine,
But you barged into my life, riving that obdurate illusion of mine.
For all my life, my heart had been searching for nothing certain,
But the beautiful mystery was you, hiding behind that callous curtain.

I was alive once again with your one arduous touch,
Magic of your love was all I craved for and nothing much.
‘Love is the language that every heart speaks,
For love is the ultimate answer that every heart seeks.’

© GS_Stella

----------------------

“Do you have any sort of freaking explanation for this?!”, the Big Boss roared like an enraged beast holding up the shiny piece, that was worth nothing but mere glass, in his hands making her flinch a step back.

Geez! This old man had something really serious against her poor eardrums. He was so hell bent on making them bleed ever since she had returned!

“No! Sorry, Big Boss”, she replied with a little shake of her head in denial and the short and stout old man vociferated again, “I don’t need your bloody sorry, Charlie. I need that pretty damn thing in my hands. This is not why I raised you after picking you up from the streets.”

And that had hit right on the weakest nerve of hers. Being called an ‘orphan’ was something she detested from the deepest core of her heart. She wasn’t someone weak and helpless but the ‘Best One’ in the entire gang. Her palms rolled into fists to the either side of hers as she tried to stop herself from lashing out at the old man and rip his head right out of his body. But she couldn’t. She just couldn’t let a single failure ruin her entire hard earned reputation.

“Just give me one more chance, Big Boss. I promise I won’t let you down this time.” Her firm determination oozed out with every word of hers and he narrowed his eyes at her trying to contemplate what was going on in her mind but even he knew that Charlie wasn’t so easy to read.

“Alright”, he finally said giving his approval, “But this is your last chance, so, make sure not to fail this time. I want the original ‘Crown’ at any cost, Charlie.” Saying that he threw the cheap imitation of the crown on the table and walked right out of the room.

Charlie glared at the artificial crown, picked it up from the table and threw it with all her might against the wall and the next moment it was nothing but shattered shards of glass.

“Why did you throw it away?”, one of the man from the gang asked.

“Because I feel like it’s mocking at me. It reminds me again and again that I failed.”

“But even this one was beautiful!”

“Shut up, Mark!”, she huffed angrily. This was the first time she had failed in completing a particular task and it was all because of ‘HIM’.

Fulminating at all the recent events, she walked right out of the room and every pair of male eyes in the room followed her movements without a fail. And it wasn’t their fault either! Dressed in nothing but black, Charlie’s entire being screamed nothing but enigma. Right from the black hat hiding those silky dark tresses of hers, to the black shirt, jacket and jeans, she was every man’s fantasy. They all knew that whatever lied underneath those black shrouds was something worth to die for but even they knew that Charlie wasn’t someone to mess with for they all valued their lives too much. In her words: ‘She wasn’t a toy to play with.’

And right now she seemed nothing less than a lioness… an absolutely livid lioness. And for sure… no force in this entire world could now save ‘Sanskaar Maheshwari’ from Charlie’s wrath!

But who would be doomed, that was still a question!

---------------------- 

It all started four months ago when the ‘South Lake Museum of Art and History’ of South Lake Union, USA was chosen as the next holder of ‘The Crown of Blue Moon’, a crown glorious enough to leave its spectators spellbound for years to come.

With hundred and one diamonds, and one hundred and one white pearls adorning its sides, the crown was one of its kind but the most striking possession of the crown was the huge 158.23 carat blue diamond that dazzled proudly at the apex of the crown earning it the name… The Crown of Blue Moon.

Ever since it was decided that after becoming the pride of the several other museums in USA, the crown would be sharing its honor with the South Lake Museum, everyone who had their eyes set on the crown went on an active mode instantly, including the gang Charlie was the member of.

Charlie was the best they had, with an absolutely clean track record. She had always done her job in a clean sweep leaving no traces of her being there behind and once she had her mind set on something, she would have it no matter what it took.

But amidst all this chaos what they failed to notice was that a new Head Curator was appointed for the South Lake Museum. He was shrewd. He was arrogant. He was the ‘best of all the bests.’ A PERFECT PERFECTIONIST!

And that’s what had cost them their golden chance of having the crown in their hands! Each one of them failed and that was all it took for Charlie to lose every bit of her cool.

----------------------

Two months later…

“Sir, we are ready!”

As soon as Sanskaar was informed he stepped out of the office buttoning up his tux. Walking down the flight of stairs, he stopped at the planar junction of two staircases that went to the ground floor from either of the sides.

Holding the railings with both his hands, he looked down as twenty people lined up in front of him, very much the same way subjects line up in front of their king because that’s what he was… The King. And the South Lake Museum of Art and History was his kingdom.

“Welcome interns.” Just two words from him and everything went silent. “So, I hope you all know why are you here.” Everyone nodded their heads in agreement but his face still remained emotionless. “Good! I’m Sanskaar Maheshwari, the Head curator of this museum and the in-charge of your training for next three months. So, from today onwards you are to abide by the rules of South Lake Museum and if everything goes well then by the end of coming three months you’ll be a member of SLM family. And at last before you all go to your respective departments, I want you all to know two things. First, while you are here, there is no scope of any mistake… and by any I mean any… so, in a nutshell, I hate the word ‘sorry’ and the second and the most important one… I just totally absolutely detest…”

“SORRY, I’M LATE!”, he was cut in by a loud holler and every head present in the premises at that time turned around to have a look at that one person who dared interrupt the Sanskaar Maheshwari!

“… late comers!”, Sanskaar completed his sentence as he narrowed his eyes at the petite structure trying to make her way to the front. And he disliked her instantly! Not even a minute of meeting and just in three words this girl had already done both the things he absolutely disliked.

Finally making her way to the front she bowed down in front of Sanskaar to pay her respect. “Swara. Swara Bose, Sir!”, she finally uttered breathlessly looking up at him as if she had run a marathon and what Sanskaar did?!

He ignored her… completely!

“Everyone… You all can go to your respective departments. Further information will be provided there itself. And you…”, he finally pointed at Swara and she was alert the very instant. “I think you can leave. We don’t need lethargic people like you here at South Lake Museum.” He completed leaving Swara dumbfounded and without any other word he turned around to leave for his office.

What the bloody hell!

“Oye Hello! Excuse me, Mr. Curator”, Swara shouted running up the stairs to catch up with him. How could he just send her away rejecting her internship? “Hello!”, she shouted again but that very moment her left foot was on the edge of the topmost stair and with an earsplitting scream she almost fell backwards only to get her arm caught in someone’s tight grip!

“Careful!” She opened her eyes to his voice as Sanskaar steadied her up, back to her feet.

“Ah! Umm… Thank you!”

“Are you always like this?”

“Huh!”, she was caught off guard by the unexpected question as he stared down at her emotionlessly.

“You may go”, he said once again before turning back at her and she held his hand immediately. “Wait a minute”, she spoke and everyone gasped. Shocked and confused, Sanskaar turned around as he looked first at Swara and then at her hand that was still holding his.

“Do you mind leaving my hand?”, Sanskaar whispered slowly and cautiously trying not to lose his cool as Swara kept looking at him innocently. “I’m not leaving you unless and until you tell me why should I leave?”

“Because you are lethargic as well as clumsy. A deadly combination indeed! There you have my answer. Now leave my hand and get out of here”, he pulled his hand forcefully out of her grip and instantly Swara was on her knees holding his hand all over again. “Please. Please. Please, don’t make me leave. My mother will kill me. She already thinks that I’m good for nothing. Well, it’s not that I do anything other than sitting all day and eat whatever I like. But still it’s not that I’m not good for anything! Even my brother got selected in medical college. And my dad… Oh God, my dad! Don’t even ask about him. He’ll get me married to that ‘chomu’. Well, his name is not chomu but you know he looks like…”

“STOP!!”, Sanskaar finally screamed bringing Swara’s rant to an abrupt pause. “Just stop! Will you? I have no interest in knowing what your chomu looks like…”

“He’s not my chomu. He’s…”

“Shut up, Swara! And get back to your feet.”

“Why? Is your heart fluttering?” She smiled tilting her head to her right and Sanskaar furrowed his eyebrows at the unexpected question, “Excuse me?”

“Well, an absolutely beautiful girl is sitting on her knees in front of you. I can understand, it’s natural for your heart to flutter. But don’t worry I’m not proposing you. You’re not my type.” And there she went on with her rant all over again and Sanskaar eased the creases on his forehead with his fingers.

“Aren’t you going to say something?”, Swara asked on getting no amount of satisfactory response from him. But Sanskaar turned to his assistant, Karan, and sighed heavily, “Kahan se dhoondh ke laye ho isse (From where have you found her)?”

Karan chuckled and Swara glared at Sanskaar feigning anger. “She has applied for the internship all the way from India. Apart from her we have two more Indian interns… Mr. Siddharth Kashyap and Ms. Ragini Malik. But both of them are American residents. And if I may add then… she’s very good and one of the top scorers of the entrance test. I think we should give her a chance”, Karan said coming Swara’s rescue and she smiled at him gratefully.

“Alright, fine. But keep this in mind… one mistake and you’re out of here.” With that warning he leaves and Swara nodded her head like an obedient child.

----------------------

One evening while taking the stroll around the museum, Sanskaar noticed someone inside the restricted area of the third floor of the museum and without even giving it a single thought he hurried over there.

It was the only place in the entire museum with extra security features and was reserved only for the extremely important items ranging from antique to unique. The whole area was surrounded by thick chains and inside of it every item was kept inside special bulletproof glass chambers each with a secret password of its own. And being the Head Curator of the museum Sanskaar was the only one who knew all the passwords and had them written in a secret diary and no one knew where it was, except for him obviously.

But what had him running was The Crown of Blue Moon, which this time was the real one kept in there, unlike the fake imitations like the previous times!

“Ms. Ragini Malik, is that you?”, Sanskaar asked the moment he reached near the restricted area and was finally able to make out who the person was.

“Oh! Yes… Yes, sir”, she stuttered hurriedly.

“Can you please come out of there? Even the staff members are not allowed to get in here”, he said eyeing her skeptically as he noticed her inspecting each and everything in there, her eyes lingering on the crown a little longer than expected.

“Oh! Sorry, sir. I thought we were allowed. I was just admiring the special features of this place”, she replied with a smile and Sanskaar smiled too returning the favor.

“Thank you so much!” That was all he said before giving one look at everything and guiding her back to the staff quarters. But even then he couldn’t ignore the queer feeling tugging at his heart almost threateningly.

----------------------

“Sir, do you like pizza?”

And that was all Sanskaar could take before closing down his file and banging his pen on the table much more harshly than intended.

“No, Miss Bose! I don’t like pizza… and will you please stop bothering me?! This is fourth time you have come to ask me a question in last thirty minutes”, Sanskaar huffed annoyingly and all Swara did was smile at him way too innocently.

“That’s because I care for you, Sir”, she replied with the best smile she could muster, “and how could anyone not like pizza? That’s the most pristine thing ever created by the mankind.”

“Ms. Bose, what is your department?”, Sanskaar asked out of blue and Swara narrowed her eyes, “Museum guide and public handling department. Why, sir?”

“Is your first report ready?”

“Sir?”

“Aren’t the interns supposed to submit a report every month? Which means it’s time to submit your first report now.” And now it was Sanskaar’s turn to smirk and Swara humped.

“Is it one month? Already?”, she asked it disbelief and Sanskaar chuckled seeing her expressions. He didn’t realize himself but he had started enjoying her senseless banters much more than he thought. Not having her around gave him the feeling of missing something significant.

“Yes. It’s one month already, so, just go and bring your monthly report.” He was enjoying her dismay way too much for he knew what was about to come next.

“But…”

“I said… I want your report, Ms. Bose.”

“Fine!” With one angry glare at him she went to bring her report. Returning hardly five minutes later she handed him the file and as he read the report she kept tapping her foot against the floor nervously, looking at him anxiously.

Only God knows what bomb he was about to drop on her now! But he was going to… for sure! She could tell already.

And he did!

“It’s all wrong. Get another file ready.” With that being said he threw her file right in front of her before turning back to his previous work without noticing the open-mouthed shocked Swara.

The nerve of this man! First he asked for her file out of nowhere and now he had the guts to reject her file. Just like that? He even dared to insult all the pizza lovers!

“What’s wrong in it? What do I need to change basically?”, she asked controlling her anger and Sanskaar shook his head without even looking at her, “I’m not the one to tell you this. Go and ask at your department. You can leave now.”

What the hell does he think of himself?!

Swara was livid and there was no way she was going to let go of the things so easily. Holding the file in her hand she went to the other side of the table, pulled his swivel chair back, stood in of him and shoved the file in his chest but what she failed to realize was that the shove was harsher than she expected as the chair tumbled and lost its balance taking Sanskaar all the way down with it.

But as the hindi proverb goes : ‘Hum toh doobenge sanam, tumhe bhi le doobenge.”

Sanskaar did the same! As he went down, he held onto Swara. Well, it wasn’t to pull her down as well, rather to get some support against the fall. But not being able to take the unexpected force, Swara too went down with him and the mishap happened!!

Falling wasn’t as shocking as was the outcome. With their hearts beating crazily against each other, eyes wide opened almost ready to bulge out of their sockets and lips against each others, both of them had lost their first kiss, all thanks to an accident.

Swara was the first one to overcome the shock. Giving one look at his shocked face, she picked up her file and ran out of the office after muttering a ‘sorry’ leaving him the way he was… tumbled upside down!

Sanskaar touched his lips slowly not even realizing that the pain in his back was going to take days to heal for he was lost way much deeper in his own dreamland!

----------------------

“Sir, we have a news that we need to deal with urgently.” Sanskaar looked up from his file as his assistant Karan came in his office.

“What is it Karan? You look tensed.”

“Sir, I have been told that the gang that tried to steal the Crown of Blue Moon last time is on it again and maybe… Well, maybe… I’m not sure about it…”

“What is it Karan? You know you can tell me anything?”, Sanskaar grew anxious on finally noticing Karan’s distressed features.

“Well, according to our resources… the thief that broke into the museum three months ago, apparently her name is Charlie, has entered the museum again. And this time she’s one of our interns”, Karan finally blabbered out and Sanskaar was taken aback.

“That’s… that’s insane, Karan. How could it be one of our interns? They all have been accepted in here after proper background check.” He was still not able to believe it and it was even more shocking as to why a thief would do an internship, prepare reports and learn everything like everyone else.

“But our news resources are trusted ones, Sir and even you know that.”

Sanskaar nodded his head taking a deep breath and got up from his chair, “Anything else?”

“They said that this Charlie has a golden streak of highlight in her black hair and that’s all. No one knows anything else about her.”

“Then how is it possible to find her like this?”

“I… I think I know who it might be”, Karan muttered catching Sanskaar off-guard.

“Really?”

“I… I think it’s Ragini Malik”, Karan said giving Sanskaar another shocker.

“What?! But how come you are so sure? We can’t blame anyone just like that.”

“But who else could it be? No female American intern in here has black hair leaving only two people… Ragini and Swara. It’s not Swara as she has no golden highlights. So, it’s obvious that it’s Ragini. She wears a hijab all the time. None of us has seen her hair yet.”

“Wearing a hijab is not a crime, Karan”, Sanskaar sighed. All of it was too much to take it.

“I know it’s not. It’s their tradition, their relation and I respect all the Muslim women for that but we don’t even know whether she’s a Muslim or not. Maybe she’s wearing it just to hide her hair.”

Karan tried to reason and Sanskaar’s mind went back to the evening few days ago when he saw Ragini in the restricted area. A huge part inside of him told him to agree with Karan but still he couldn’t confirm the suspicion without any strong evidence.

“Alright. Let’s…”

“Sanskaar…” And there she was again! Sanskaar huffed and rolled his eyes, “What is it now, Ms. Bose?”

“Ms. Bose? Will you still call me Ms. Bose?” She asked feigning anger. “What am I supposed to call you then?”, Sanskaar asked folding his arms across his chest.

“I called you Sanskaar. Shouldn’t you call me Swara after we kiss…”

And the next moment Sanskaar’s palm was on Swara’s mouth shutting her down efficiently. He took a deep breath before turning towards his assistant, “That’s all we have for now, Karan. You can leave.”

Giving them a knowing smile, Karan left the office and Sanskaar turned back to Swara glaring at her but as usual she remained unfazed.

“What the hell do you think you are saying?”, Sanskaar whispered gritting his teeth and Swara pouted, “What did you do?”

“That wasn’t a kiss Swara! It was just an accident. You can’t go around telling everyone about that.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“Just forget about it!”

“But that was my first kiss”, she said with a broken voice and Sanskaar almost lost himself as his eyes fell on her quivering lips reminiscing that soft touch all over again. Oh, how much he wanted to feel those lips against his all over again! But he couldn’t! He couldn’t kiss his subordinate. That would be highly unprofessional!

“I’m not allowed to kiss you, Swara.”

“Then can I kiss you?”, she asked taking a step towards him and he stepped back, “No, Swara. You can’t.”

“Why? Am I that bad?”

“No, it’s not like that. I just can’t.”

“Aren’t you tired?” Sanskaar narrowed his eyes at the yet again unexpected question, “No! It’s just morning right now. Why would I be tired?”

“Because you’ve been running across my mind the whole night!” And there she was back to her usual self again. Sanskaar rolled his eyes, “Gosh! Did you just hit on me with a cheesy line? You do know that you are an unusual piece, right?”

“I know!” Swara replied with a chuckle and ran out of his office but not before placing a soft kiss against his cheek.

----------------------

“Ms. Malik, can I talk to you for a moment?”, Karan called out Ragini as she was having a look around the museum for preparing a report for her Museum maintenance department.

“Sorry, Mr. Bansal but I have something important to do”, Ragini walked ahead ignoring him but Karan was hell bent on finding the truth about her.

“But Ragini, it’s really important. I really need to tell how I feel…”

“I have no interest in knowing how you feel, Mr. Bansal”, she quickened her steps and trying to hold her back Karan’s hand went on to her hijab unintentionally and the next moment it was pulled back revealing her dark auburn hair… with no streak of highlights!

(A/N: Guys, here I don’t intend on hurting someone’s religious feelings but in case I did, then I apologize sincerely.)

Taken aback, Ragini raised her hand but controlled herself right before she could slap him. “Have you lost your mind? I said I don’t want to listen anything. Don’t you dare come near me again”, she roared at him and walked away angrily snatching her hijab right out of his hands.

But Karan couldn’t avoid that nagging feeling about her. Ever since day one, he had felt something unusual about her and there was definitely something that she was hiding.

----------------------

Ever since that day Karan had been keeping an eye on Ragini. Even Sanskaar became a bit alert about the whole situation and here Swara’s unique antics had successfully made a special place in Sanskaar’s heart. Though he never thought that he would get bothered by a girl so much, but he did because of her… way too much and as the time passed her place in his heart started becoming more and more prominent. It didn’t take too much of his effort to realize his feelings and now he just couldn’t wait for her internship to end, so that he could ask her out!

But was Swara going to wait? Nah!

With the rhythmic knock on his door, Sanskaar smiled knowing who it was! It had become her recent habit of knocking his office door with the tune of a new bollywood music every time.

“Sanskaar!”, Swara exclaimed his name popping her head opening the door slightly.

“Yes, Swara?”

“Are you busy?”

“What does it look like?”

“Well, I have something to tell you. Can I?”, she asked coming in fiddling with her fingers.

“What is it? Are you alright?”, he asked as he got up from his chair and stood before her.

“I… I…”

“What happened, Swara? Is something wrong?” Only the thought of something bothering her bothered him as well.

“Um… I… think… I think I love you! Phew! Yeah! Finally I said it. Can you believe that? You know… I was so nervous. I thought I won’t be able to say it but see… I did. I’m so proud of myself.”

“God, Swara! Shut up!” As Swara was busy in having her victory dance, Sanskaar was busy admiring what a unique piece she was who could talk so much just after confessing her feelings.

“What? Aren’t you proud of me?”, she asked narrowing her eyes at him and Sanskaar chuckled, “Yes, I am. A lot.”

“Well, now that I have said it… Do you have some raisins?”

“Excuse me?! No, I don’t!”

“Well, then, can I have a date?”

“What?”

“With you! Our first date! Tonight”, she finally spoke her heart out and took Sanskaar by surprise.

“Swara, are you sure about this?”

“I have never been so sure of anything else in my life as I am of this particular thing”, she said with a smile and the silent fire in her eyes warmed Sanskaar’s heart like nothing before. This moment couldn’t have been anymore perfect, so, without wasting any more time he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer and the next moment his lips found hers in a passionate embrace. Ever since their accidental kiss one and a half months ago, he had been dying to kiss her again. Swara could feel every bit of his feelings in that kiss and reciprocating him back she wrapped her arms around his neck standing on her tiptoes as both of them devoured each other with that sweet yet agonizingly passionate kiss.

Pulling back, Sanskaar smiled, “Was that another one of your cheesy lines again?”

And that earned him a whack in his chest, “Did you just insult my lines again? Do you even know how much effort it takes to think of such lines? If we are going to be together, then start respecting them from here on.”

“Alright. Alright. I will. So, you asked me out on a date! Where are we going then?”, he asked her pulling her even closer with both his arms around her waist.

“That’s a surprise, my darling Curator. Just go back to your house and get ready. I’ll message you when the right time comes”, Swara whispered leaning closer and Sanskaar smiled at the endearment.

Nodding his head he agreed to her and giving him one last peck on his lips she left and a few minutes later he left too, to get ready for their highly anticipated date.

----------------------

Sanskaar looked at his mobile phone for the umpteenth time waiting for Swara’s message ardently but as it got two hours above their decided time, he started growing anxious and as he was about to call her, he received another call.

“It’s gone!”, came Karan’s voice from other side as if he was about to die any next moment.

“What… What’s gone?” All Sanskaar could do was pray silently that it wasn’t what he thought it was.

“The Crown of Blue Moon. It’s gone.”

“Gather everyone including the interns.” That was all he said before storming all the way to the museum.

----------------------

“I said it was Ragini!”, Karan shouted with frustration as everyone gathered on the third floor of the museum, right in front of the restricted area except for Ragini. No sign of breaking anything hurriedly. It was all done way too perfectly and it wasn’t hard to realize that whoever it was knew the password. One wrong password and all  the alarms would have gone off but nothing of that sort happened.

Throwing a quick glance at the worried faces of everyone around what Sanskaar noticed made his heart skip several beats at the same time. “Wait a minute, where’s Swara?”

“She should have been here only. I called everyone”, Karan replied and reality hit Sanskaar like a whirlwind. Without wasting even a single moment he ran to his office.

Opening his locker, he searched for his diary but all he could find was a sheet of paper. Picking it up, he let out a frustrated sigh as he read it…

‘My darling Curator,

Well, I love you but I love my job a little bit more!

If you are reading this then I guess you’ve realized that I’m gone. You know I can’t help it. A work in Charlie’s hand ought to be done no matter what. You know how much hurt I was when I had to remove my precious highlights for you all. Well, never mind! You all must be wondering where Ragini is! So, let me tell you… Isn’t my subordinate wonderful? You guys almost believed that it was her while she was fetching opportunities for me.

You know… I still wish we wouldn’t have met like rivals. It really felt good to have someone care for me. I wish maybe we could meet sometime again in the future.

Love,
Charlie aka Your Swara’

And Sanskaar couldn’t understand how he should react at this. Whether he should get angry on getting fooled? Or mourn on losing the one he actually loved? Or should laugh at the whole situation? He wasn’t so sure!

But ever since that day he had been searching for her! Not only to retrieve the crown back but also to make sure that this time she loved him more than she loved her job. Because for sure, he wasn’t going to let go of her no matter what it took! Moreover, he had several questions that she was supposed to answer!

---------------------- 

A/N

So, what's coming up next? An epilogue, obviously!

An epilogue is coming up for the story guys. I won't leave any of my stories incomplete. So, please don't worry. I just need a bit of time owing to my bad health. Even I wrote this part under the effect of medicines. I'll be giving the epilogue in two or three days.

SwaSanClub If you guys wish to you can judge the story only on this part or you can consider the epilogue too. That's completely your wish.

So, see you all soon. Till then stay blessed and happy reading!

With love,
Stella ❤️