Within the high walls of the Raybahadur Palace, was a dampness that did not belong to the air outside. Despite the courtyard being open to the elements, the odour and humidity were quite different... The place reeked of treachery and deceit! Upon entering the large iron gate, Satya had noticed that the ground-covering, leading to the entrance of the main building was sparse, and those that grew were the shade-loving flora of broad leaf and juicy stem, interspersed with tufts of grass.
Satyakirth was walking through the grass, alert, yet a little absent-minded, thinking about his mission, his plans to invade the basement of the same house where he was invited to stay. He would need Raimoti, she was the key, metaphorically and literally... But, the question of what he would do after all these was done, was hammering constantly in his ethical senses. How would he tell Raimoti that whatever he did or said... Whatever he made her feel, all were nothing but a facade!
Would the girl live then?

The final rays of the dying sun was bidding it's last farewell to the nature, gifting her his final glory, and Satyakirth closed his eyes once and took a deep breath before crossing the threshold of the palace.

"Dr Sen... Welcome... Welcome once again." The old RayBahadur was sitting inside the hall, as he stood up to welcome him.
"I see that you haven't brought much of your belongings."
He pointed at the single suitcase that he had carried.

"Well, just books and some clothes. My work would make me stay at the college campus mostly." He flashed a bright smile in reciprocation of the old man's enthusiasm.

"Good, good... So doctor, what does 'S' stands for? Pardon the old man, I quite didn't catch your name in the morning."
Neelmoni was smiling at him.

That's because I didn't tell you old man!

Satyakirth smiled too.
"Sarthaki... It's Dr. Sarthaki Sen."

The RayBahadur had appeared to be unexpectedly pleased with him, and Satyakirth was given a room upstairs, left to the spiral staircase, opposite to that of Raimoti's. This seemed advantageous to his cause as without wasting any time further, he picked up his medicine box, leaving the mid sized suitcase in his room, as he slowly knocked at Raimoti's closed door.

"Miss Mukherjee... May I come in madam?
His voice was low and the knocks were just soft taps on the unlatched Mahogany door.

"Would you not enter if I forbid you?"
Raimoti's voice came from inside making Satya press his lips in an unnecessary amusement.

"I have a moral responsibility towards you as your doctor. So, if you forbid, I'd still have to enter I'm afraid."

Satya heard a sharp sigh from inside.
"Then let's drop the pretence, shall we?"
Her words were sharp, yet slow, faintly uttered with an effort.

Satya had pushed the door open, but his eyes weren't prepared to witness what he saw inside. The room was no doubt cleaned, with no scattered papers and the chain of saree was also removed from the window. Everything looked redone, except Raimoti. She was seated exactly in the same way, the same position as he had left her. Her back was rested against the cushioned bedpost, her legs were stretched forward, her hands lay loose on her lap, and her head upward, as if counting the number of petals on the large ceiling decoration.
She still wore his white shirt from the morning, and her feet had traces of clay making the bruises look worse.

"You haven't changed yet?" Satya's tone was gentle as he walked past her bed, and parked his box on the bedside table.
"Your feet needs immediate attention Madam."

He pulled out a bale of cotton and some antiseptics, before walking towards the rear end of the bed, as he sat on its softness, and picked up Raimoti's feet, placing them gently on his lap.
Raimoti didn't react.

"Does this hurt?" He wiped the clot of blood off her feet as fresh blood started to ooze out from the wound at once.

"Who cares!" Raimoti chuckled unmindfuly, as Satya looked up, his eyes on her pale face.

"I do."

"You shouldn't." She let out another deep sigh and looked straight at him, as their eyes met yet again.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because I don't want anyone to care for me... Because I don't want anyone to hurt me again..."

"Why would anyone hurt you if they care?" Satya had finished cleaning the wound as he started to dress it gently.

"Because they always do..." Her eyes had drifted back, staring vacantly at the ceiling, as Satya noticed a small tear rolling down the temple, fading away into her unkempt hairline. A sharp pang of uneasiness had started to take over him as well.

I too have planned to hurt her... first with care and then with heartbreak!

"You're still wearing my shirt, Miss Mukherjee." His words were lightly thrown at her, intended to stir a reaction, but all he got was another sharp exhale.
"Did you eat anything?"

"I'm not hungry." Her words were soft and lifeless.

"A little food would do you good... Else, I'll have to feed you an injection."

A soft chuckle left her lips.

How she looked like a fresh dew drop when she smiled like that!

"Injections are scary..."

"They are indeed! And you know what's scarier? To have dark circles under those beautiful, killer eyes of yours!"
Satya had spoken the words in spontaneity, without thinking.

What's happening to me! What was I thinking!

His words had made Raimoti to look at him once, her gaze lingering a little on his eyes before it slowly moved down to his chest, fixated on the small embroidered butterfly on his shirt.

"Only if my eyes could kill...
I'd have stood infront of a mirror,
And killed myself a thousand times.
Only... If my eyes could kill!"

You amaze me Raimoti... With every word you utter... Everytime!

"You have a way with words Raimoti... It's... It's fascinating!"
His hands were busy dressing the wounds bruising her sole as Raimoti wiggled her legs a little.

"Are we on first name basis now? What are we... Best friends?"

Satya couldn't help but smirk at her words.
"We can be, if you want!"

"Oh... So my father has given you the marriage proposal already? Wonderful... But, I just want you to know that I love someone else."

Satya stopped his work and raised an eyebrow at her quizzically.
"I wasn't aware I was going to receive a marriage proposal... Thank you for alerting me."

Raimoti looked a little embarrassed.
"Sorry... I thought..." She murmured softly before looking down on her lap once again.
"But, he will soon... He always does."

The air inside the suffocating room was getting lighter, as Satya finished his medical work on Raimoti's feet. He had moved them back tenderly on the bed as he walked past to reach the bedside table once again.

"So... What do you suggest? Shall I accept?"

"What?" Raimoti asked unmindfuly.

"The marriage proposal! The Princess along with the kingdom?"

"The kingdom along with the princess you mean!" Raimoti chuckled in a subtle derision.
"It's always the kingdom first, doctor... Always!"

Satya smiled.
"What if I say I'll be contented with the Princess alone... And I'll take her far away with me, away from all the sorrows in the world!"

"Not that easy."

"How would you know if you haven't tried."

"I have tried... It always backfires."

Satya didn't reply. He prepared the syringe and checked the needle silently.

"And, here I thought you would spare me the needle."
Her words had made him smile again.

"I wish I could... I'll be torturing you a little tonight, I'm afraid."
He sat beside her on the bed as Raimoti stretched her left hand at him with a drawn face, the long sleeves of the loosefit shirt rolled up to her elbow.

"I need your arm, not your wrist... No matter how much you are in love with this, but the shirt needs to go off now."

Raimoti's eyes brushed a sharp glance at him, gauging the implicit pun behind his words. It was very rare that people would understand her puns, her sarcasm, and the presence of mind in this young doctor sitting infront intrigued her a little.
She slowly started to unbutton the shirt and Satya helped her to remove it from her body, the flexing of muscles made her body writhe in pain.

"You seemed to have bruises all over... Why didn't anyone made you change clothes." Satya felt bad at the state the woman was sitting in.
She was Raimoti Mukherjee, Neelmoni Mukherjee's daughter, someone he should loath, but before all that, she was his patient, a woman in pain!

"There isn't anyone to do so."
Raimoti looked away, hiding a tear, and trying to pull her tattered saree to cover her endowed bosoms.

"And female attendents?"

"None." She nodded her head.
"Baba has sent them away... All of them... It's only him and his tails hovering all over the house..." She paused. "But no one comes up here."

"Your father has tails?"
Satya pressed his lips in amusement, as he pulled out a pair of medical scissors and ripped open the frayed sleeve of her blouse.

"He had fangs and claws too... You should be beware."

The needle had pierced her soft white skin, as Raimoti pressed her eyes shut and squeezed Satya's arms with all her strength.

"You weren't wrong about the claws though... Is it hereditary, Miss Mukherjee?" He chuckled, pulling the needle out as she realised the intended pun in his words once again. She quickly left his arms and leaned back on the bed-rest slowly.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry... I'm stronger than your claws... You are welcome to try your fangs on me too!"

His voice was grave and his eyes were intensified on hers, as her scared eyes slowly looked back at him, sharing the heat of the moment.

"I... I love someone else."

"So?"

"So... I think you should stay away from my fangs and claws." She gulped nervously as Satya inched a little closer to her face, his hands touching her forehead gently, as he removed a few strand of hair with a gentle finger brush.

"You have a little fever. And there are bruises on your forehead too, Raimoti... Why did you do it?"

His words had a gentle tenderness to it, an earnest question, and Raimoti couldn't help but burst out into tears. Her eyes had started to rain uncontrollably, as jets of her salty emotions started to dampen Satya's heart as well.

"Shh... Shh... It's done... It's done... Not anymore Raimoti... It's all over..."
He touched her shoulder with a compassionate stroke, as she jumped into his chest, all of a sudden, almost throwing him off guard. She had thrown her arms around his neck, clutched his shirt, soaking his heart with her tears.
Raimoti had needed a shoulder to shed tears, perhaps some solace too, but at that moment, Satyakirth was willing to give her even more... perchance his heart along with his soul!

Human emotions are complex. When our words fail us, when we see so much more than can ever be explained, that sense of love that hits us in a nanosecond... that's when our emotional intelligence leaps far beyond that which speech can ever accomplish. That's when we feel safe with another, love them for as "forever" as we are and will be. And it's that love that wakes us, shows us our best selves, opens such wide vistas of imagination and reality combined.

Raimoti's sobs had slowly subsided in Satya's arms, as he wrapped her dearly in his strong protective embrace.

"Finding happiness isn't that difficult, Raimoti." Satya's hands were caressing her head, as he spoke slowly, trying to make every word count.
"I lost my parents at a very young age... I found happiness in serving people."

Raimoti didn't look up. Her face was still buried in his chest, but her grip had loosened up a little.

"You too should do something that you like... Perhaps poetry..."

He felt her muscles tightened at once under his touch as she slowly detached herself from his body, a little thoughtful this time.

"Does he love you back?"

"What?" She murmured unmindfuly.

"The one whom you love... Does he reciprocate your feelings?"

Damn Batuk, and I'm so mad at you for hurting this gem like this! How she still waits for him!

"Probably!" She looked away.
"I wouldn't know..."

"Then isn't it futile to keep waiting?"

The room had felt silent once again, as both of them sat quietly, each engrossed in their own chain of thoughts.
Raimoti was still sitting with her matted saree barely covering her torn blouse, giving away the artistic beauty that her body possessed.
Satya was about to say something, but before he could conjure words, he felt her touch on his hand, as she pulled him a little closer, her eyes examining the cuff of his shirt carefully.

"What is your name?" Her voice was a little composed.

"Sarthaki... Sen."

"Is that your real name?" Raimoti's eyes were looking up straight at him.

"Why do you ask?"

Why was she asking this?
Did he give himself out to her in anyway?
Or, was he holding back a little too much!

Raimoti chuckled a bit.
"So how is Batuk Babu doing?
Did he give you an account of how I had molested him?"

The air had fell silent once again, the old suffocation had claimed it's occupation back. Her question was still ringing in his ears, and Satya didn't reply, infact he couldn't, for a moment.
Raimoti was quiet too. Her eyes still fixated at the cuff of his shirt, and the small embroidered alphabet on it. Her eyes had teared up once again.
She had been fooled, yet again! And the moment she realised she had misinterpreted his actions, his words, his expressions for the past two hours... as if he'd been speaking a language she couldn't understand... that moment her words seized to speak her heart, a tale of her broken self... Her tattered heart had broken again... yet, it was a good breaking... the type that leads to healing and new ways onward; sometimes, the loss of words says more!

"It's his shirt you're wearing... I've seen it before." Her voice was breaking.

"Batuk Roy Chowdhury is doing well. Happy... And probably it's time for you to stop pinning for him as well." Satya had raised his head, looking straight into her eyes.

It wasn't the moment to lose this game... It's now or never... One slip and he would be away from her heart forever, and so would his mission!

Raimoti chuckled carelessly.
"Who told you I'm pinning for him?"

"You told about loving someone... One-sided... So I thought..."
He was still seated infront of her, on her bed, his heart thudding in anticipation... But, suddenly it felt so wrong to him...all of it!

"My love is probably one-sided, but it's not for him... I thought I'd be able to find my lost love in him... But I've never been so wrong in life."
She pulled the cloth covering her body a bit up, sheathing herself a little conservatively infront of this familiar stranger.

"So... Sarthaki Babu? Why are you here? Is it that you are intrigued to see the woman who had molested your friend? Is he your friend?"

Her words had a sharp sarcasm in them, and it touched his heart directly.

He had hurt her, and now he'll have to fix it for her too, as soon as possible!

"He is a junior from college... I had gone to his house to see his ailing brother. And, yes... This is his shirt... Mine had clay on it, needed a wash." He paused, his eyes fixated at Raimoti's pale beautiful face.
"And, he didn't tell me anything... Just that you love poetry... And Miss Mukherjee, I don't believe you can molest anyone."

Raimoti had a way through honesty, she could look straight through one's heart, weighing their soul in the scale of fairness. She turned her face towards him, content with his honest words as her eyes continued to scrutinize his face, probably for the first time since they met.
Satya had stretched his hands, holding hers.
"I'm sorry, Miss Mukherjee... I should've told you."

Raimoti didn't reply. Her eyes were still searching his face, reading each and every feature that he was made of.

Her eyes had travelled down his face, gazing at the bare strong chest through the unbuttoned gap of the shirt.
She was blushing, suddenly aware of the bewitching magnetism that the man infront was blessed with.
He was handsome... from the depth of his eyes to the gentle expressions of his voice. He was handsome from his generous opinions to the touch of his hand upon her own. He had the kind of face that would stop you on road, filling your core with the urge of turning back just once, to relish the beauty once more. His eyes were ocean green!
Although people often speak of the colour of eyes, as if that were of importance, yet she felt that his would be beautiful in any shade. From them comes an intensity, an honesty, a gentleness! Perhaps this was what it meant by a gentleman, not one of weakness or trite politeness, but one of great spirit and noble ways. What he was, what was beautiful about him, came from deep within; and suddenly it made her want to feel how his lips would move in a kiss, how his hands would follow the curves of her body.

Raimoti shook her head in denial.
"It doesn't matter whether it was consensual or not, the fact that I'm a woman, and he is a man, makes him righteous and me the devil. Even if it wasn't a molestation, the society would call it so, and so would he!"

Satya's hands had moved up to her cheeks, as he held her chin up slowly, banking in the little courage that her eyes gave him.

"You can never molest anyone, you are too sophisticated for that... " His green orbs had an unsaid sensuality on them, and Raimoti didn't fail to recognise the look.

"Then?" She hushed.

"You may want to rewind the incident in your mind, and stop blaming yourself... It wasn't molestation, it was something else..." His face had inched a little closer, as she felt her heart thudding as well, in unison, along with his.

"What?"

"You can call it as 'Seduction'!" His face was now dangerously close to hers as his mouth parted to speak again.
"Batuk is unworthy of your charms Raimoti... Forgive him!"

"Forgiven."
Raimoti gulped the word, her eyes too drawing close upon his, her rapid breaths quickening the pace of her heartbeat.
"And you?" Her lips had breathed out the words, as she saw the naughty smirk on his face turning into a dark overcast of passion.

"It's not very easy to seduce me Madam." His lips were smirking.

"Same!" She whispered.

And, it was then that the idea had struck in Satya's mind, an idea that wasn't a part of his plan, an idea that was potent enough to jeopardize everything... Everything!

"Do you want to play a game Miss Mukherjee! A dangerous game... Let's see who can seduce whom, and the one who wins would get to take whatever they wish from the other...deal?"

Raimoti swallowed hard as her lips parted a little. She leaned a little forward, almost brushing her mouth with his ears as she hushed the word in the most bewitching voice that Satya had ever heard in his life...
"Deal!"

And, he realised that it's going to be a tough game, a very touch one!

........................................................

So while describing this two and their emotions I just couldn't hold myself... I just couldn't fathom where to stop, so I just went on and on I guess.
Let me know whether you liked it or not.

I'm not very confident as how this chapter went... I wrote it entirely on emotions... Looking forward to read your comments... And for these chapter, I'd need a little more than one sentence.