"Did I burn you? Again?"

The potency of the moment was at its peak, the shadowed curtains of the small window vouched it, sheathing the duo from the brightness of the day, and although the thatched roof leaked the morning sunbeams inside through the cracks, the fading scent of the night-queen tree beside the window made up for the lost sensuality. Mira and Batuk lay in the single cot, their feet tangled, their fingers entwined, their heart racing, their breaths quickened, and their lips trembling in need of fulfillment.
Yet, none advanced.

The sky outside was growing darker too, and so were Batuk's eyes... with dark desires, untamed under Mira's touch.
Mira too, was feather touching Batuk's soft chest hairs, and as he trembled under her touch, she widened her eyes innocently once again, and murmured the words.

"You... You're scorching... as if, a fever..."
She inched her lips slowly towards his skin where her fingers were, and they trembled while touching Batakrishna's chest.
Batakrishna trembled too, and his hand automatically grasped Mira's cotton saree, the one that had fallen from her shoulder.
"It's... It's searing..." She murmured.

"I told you I'm burning, didn't I?" Batuk breathed hard at the touch of her lips, and when she moved away, his eyes bore deep into her dark orbs, making her gulp in anticipation.

"Does it hurt?" She asked again, and Batuk parted his lips only a little to let the word pass.

"Yes."

"How, how will it stop?"
Mira looked longingly at his slightly parted lips, her heart pounding inside the cage, threatening to break free, and Batuk slowly lifted his body from the side and leaned on Mira, crushing her, caging her within himself.

"Only your love can make this go, this burning fever." He touched Mira's forehead to move aside the loose strands of her hair, and then with his thumb, he feather touched her empty hairline, moving it up along the parting, smearing the invisible colour of love on her colourless crown.
Mira arched her neck to feel the sensation.
"On our wedding night", Batuk gulped, "after I have unsheathed you completely, I'll open my clothes myself, if you want, but then I want your unrestricted, unconditional love, your uninhibited touch on my body, all over, and the carefree ministration of your lips... I won't stop then, and I won't wish you to stop either!" He looked straight in her eyes and saw the fire searing her soul.
"Will you do it Mira?"

Mira moaned inaudibly.
A gush of desire ruffling her insides, and his words were like the fuel. She felt his heat, and swallowed hard by drawing a sharp breath, unable to fathom an answer, and Batakrishna continued to touch her face, her neck, in ways that made her lose her mind.

"Tell me Mira... Will you do it?"

Yes, yes I will... I'll do it a thousand time over, I'll do it now, I'll do it then... You're burning me now, and you've burnt me always, even before I've known you... You've touched my soul Choto Zamindar Babu, you've touched me in ways I never knew I could be touched!

"Nah." She moaned instead, closing her eyes to resist the unbearable sensation that the proximity of his lips were causing in her, his warm breath searing her cheeks, his words realising the dam she had built in her, even before she knew how to built one!
The sky outside had started to break dams!

Batuk narrowed his eyes.
"Then why are you moaning? Why is my touch affecting you? Why are your eyes closed?"
He moved his fingers down her neck, moving south to her unblemished midriff, removing the saree gently from her heaving bosom in process.

Mira's toes had curled up to meet the overpowering seduction, and she let her head fall back, pushing forward her breasts to welcome to touch.
Batakrishna swallowed at the sight.
"If you aren't feeling anything, then why are your eyes closed Mira? Tell me!"

His words weren't registering to her senses, but his voice made thousands of butterflies wage a war inside her body, and when urged to respond she just let out that one single word that she had been accustomed of, all her life.

"Nah!"

Batakrishna frowned at her, and in response to her reply, without any pretence or intimation, he just let his hand move on her clothed breast. His grip found her soft mounds, and the rough squeeze made her whimper for more.
Batakrishna was in no mood of denying her the pleasure!
He squeezed her more with his left hand, while his right found her hardened nub from over the thin film of the saree.

"Nahh..." Mira groaned again, and the contrast of her expression and words made Batuk smirk.
A thunder stuck the earth, somewhere far...

"Hypocrite you are!" He bit his own lips.
"You're enjoying every bit of my touch, you're relishing the way I'm kneading your soft body... But still you won't admit!" He looked passionately at her love-flushed face, her closed lotus eyes,  and then gave her softness a hard squeeze, and it made Mira open her eyes immediately.

"Ahh!"

"You like this, don't you?" He asked, and Mira gulped at his sight, biting her lower lip hard to defeat the sensation rising in her body.

Batuk held her lower lip in between his thumb and index and moved his lips forward.
"I can do more to you Mira, and I know you won't resist... So marry me!"

"Nah"

"Liar!"
Batuk growled at her response, and then left her face and ran his fingers through his hairs in frustration.
It was indeed frustrating, and yet there was an alluring madness in this chase.
"Tell me you don't love me? Tell me you feel nothing when I touch you like this?"
He urged her, gravely and Mira turned her face away.

I do, I do a thousand times over, but this acceptance would mean an end to everything that you've hold dear, everyone whom you've loved... And so, I don't Batakrishna...
You are my Krishna, my redemption, and I'll live with your touch forever!

Mira was crying, and Batuk's hard expression softened at the sight of colourless pearls dripping silently from her eyes.

He sighed.

"I've a way to... to know if you love me or not, even if you don't tell me..."
He smiled lovingly at her, and then with his knuckles he wiped the tear trail form her temple.

"How?" Mira looked at him in confusion.

"I'm a very, very naughty one Mira..."
He smirked, and Mira nodded her head slowly, her face now trapped within the cup of his hands.

"I know."
She muttered.

"So, even if you don't tell me, you body would reveal if you love me..."

"How?"

Batuk raised an eyebrow and bit his lips again.
"Well, when you love someone, and your body feels it, it gets happy, and this happiness makes you wet."

"Wet?"
Mira narrowed her eyes quizically.

"Wet, in... in between your thighs..."
He lowered his mouth to her ears and hushed the words and Mira immediately covered her flushed face and tried to push him aside.

"Issh!"

"What ish? You're lying to me, and I've a way to prove that you're..." He held her wrists and moved her hands aside, and Mira kept pressing her eyes in shame.
"Do you... want me to... Check?"

His words were measured, seductive, and suddenly Mira felt the same inside her body break, releasing desires down her core.

"Nah!" She swallowed.

"Have you ever imagined how it would feel to have me down there? I've seen you, but I want to see you completely, and I bet you're extremely beautiful down..."

"Issh... Chi..."
Mira now pushed Batuk with all her might, a violent push, and Batuk rolled down her body and started to laugh.
Another thunder... And Batuk tried to hold her back, unsuccessfully.

"What Chi? After marriage what do you think we'll do? Sing songs?" He chuckled the words and Mira covered her face with her hands and sat upright, quivering convulsively from all the ecstasy that her body was experiencing.
"I'll see how long you can push me away like this, with that flood down south... Your eyes tell me you want to eat me up, and your mouth, well... This 'Nah' of yours will soon change to a moan , I swear to..."

Batuk couldn't complete, as Mira's violent whimpers made his teases stop midsentence.
"Mira?"
He called her.

"Stop... Just stop... Batakrishna Babu... Not anymore... Just stop for god's sake!"
She slowly moved away, and then left the cot, her body trembling like before, tears running profusely, and Batakrishna sat on the bed, dumbfounded at this sudden change of weather inside the room.
The sky has started to grow darker already!

"What happened?" He frowned in confusion, and then stretched his arms at her, but Mira moved away further.
"Sorry if I've crossed my boundaries." He looked away in apology, and Mira broke into another fit of silent sobs.

Batuk too got down from the cot, silently.
"I... I don't understand, what happened suddenly?"
He tried to move closer, but Mira had already sank down on the clay floor.

"You don't understand... You don't understand anything Batakrishna Babu, this dreams, this wedding that you talk about... It would never happen... We can never be together... No one would agree, no one would accept" he looked at him with her reddened eyes and suddenly Batuk felt the fire brewing inside his mind once again.

Not again Mira... For heaven's sake...  Not again!

"How many times have I told you I don't care! I don't care if anyone approves or agrees, I love you Mira... And, I will marry you!"

"You'll die if you do!"
Mira raised her hands up, joined at him in a plea.
"In Dehradun... A woman, a sadhika... She told me I'm meant to be a widow forever..." She rubbed her eyes and cried out loud.
"And if... If I ever marry, my fate... my black fate would kill the man!"
She finished her words and threw herself at his feet and Batuk moved away promptly.

"That's superstition!" He gritted his teeth.
"I don't believe you."

"But I do... Please Batakrishna Babu... I beg you... Don't torture us like this!"

"Torture?" Batuk now growled in unsubdued anger, fire spitting from his mouth as words, and Mira continued to sit on the floor with her helpless pleas.
"See how I torture myself now?"
He moved two steps back and then walked out of the door at once, Mira got up and ran behind him.

"Stop Choto Zamindar Babu, stop, I beg you... The thunders are growing louder, get inside."
She begged in tears.

"Let them... And I pray that they strike me down, end all my affliction at once!"
He slipped his boots on and walked straight through the porch, down the small courtyard to the bamboo barricade shaped as a gate.
The sky too welcomed him with an unwelcoming thunder.

"No... Batakrishna Babu... No..."
Mira ran behind him, and then when another thunder struck the earth with its sky piercing growl, Mira reached out for Batakrishna's arm and pulled him back towards her with every ounce of her strength and power.
Batakrishna almost fell on her.

"Let me be.." He glared at her,
"Let me be dead, in anyway you'll be a widow if I am..."

Mira was crying, but she didn't let him continue anymore, as lifting her toes up, she reached for his face, her arms around his neck, pulling him down to meet her lips.
Batakrishna closed his eyes, and Mira sank her soft lips in his, making him melt in the power of her love, calming him, soothing his scorched heart with tenderness.
The kiss grew, and before they both realised the magnanimity of the moment, the dangerous potency of their affection, their bodies aligned with each other's, both sinking deep in each other's embrace.
Batuk's hands were caressing the small of her back, her spine arched, and Mira's hands had hold his neck, running her fingers through the soft hair that she loved so much.
Both lost, both rescued, until another loud sound broke their love trance.

Another thunder, No...
This one was the sound of a sharp metallic clanking, as if hundreds of utensils had falling from a mountain, but in reality it was only one large rice plate, and a few brass bowls.

"Chi chi chi chi... Good Hells Break, and beyond!"
Romila Ganguly was standing at a near distance, and evidently had brought a plate of food to tame the rich Zamindar's fanciful appetite in return of some handsome favours, but the preposterous sight of the doomed widow witch sinking her lips into the young landlord's mouth made her lose her senses for a moment. She was shaking.

"This is.... This is sacrilege... Sin... A blasphemic Sin!"
Promila Mashi screamed, as her raging steps made her reach at Mira in no time, grabbing her hair and pulling her away from Batakrishna.
Batuk resisted.

"Leave her."
He too pulled at Mira's arms, and the more he did the more Promila's violent grip on Mira's hair became tighter, threatening to rip them off her skull.
Mira screamed too.

"Maa go..."

The thunderbolts were growing bolder in the eastern sky, and it's rage had covered the bright sun already, making an overcast of blueish grey, envelope the nature in its outrageous grasp.
Batakrishna stepped infront and stood in between Mira and the woman, breathing fire.

"Leave her!"
He growled, his fists balled and his eyes a red ball of rage.

Promila was taken aback.
"Outrageous... This is... This is unacceptable... I'll... I'll tell the entire village!" She huffed. Her hands had already let go of Mira's hair, and the poor girl ran at once to hid behind Batakrishna's lean strong frame.
Her heart was pounding, her breaths were short and tensed.

Batakrishna growled again.
"You'll do no such thing!"
He raised his arm forward to guard the woman's way, without touching her, and his demeanor made Promila shrink in fear.

"What will you do?"
She swallowed and threw the question at him.

"I'll marry her."

Promila gulped again, not prepared for such an answer, as her eyes now fell on the gold wrist watch on Batuk's left hand.
Batuk too noticed the same.

"Mashi, I'll marry her anyway... Once we go from here... You telling the entire village won't make much sense." He tried to reason, his voice much softer," but if you agree to keep your mouth sealed, I'll give you this", he opened his watch and held it up infront of her eyes, a befitting bait!
"Pure gold...Rare! Could buy the entire village with it."

The gold watch was shining, and so were Promila's greedy orbs, as very slowly she raised her hand and held her palms open to welcome it. Batuk chuckled inaudibly, and then exchanging a quick glance with Mira, he kept the watch on her cupped hands.
Promila grabbed it at once.

"Take this and go... And, if you open your mouth, I'll tell the police you've stolen it from me."
Batuk warned, and Promila smiled fondly at the new loot.

"I won't..." She grinned.

Batuk exhaled, and then he held Mira's arm to pull her to the front.
"Where's her son?"
He asked.

"Who's?"

"Mira's? Where is MeenaRani and Awniruddha?"

"Kashi."
Promila murmured, her eyes fixated on the water, closing examining it's glorious beauty, and then she turned around to leave, her mind playing a thousand ways to play with the precious possession in hand.
She could wear it, she could sell it and be rich... Yes, she'd sell it for sure!

"Kashi where?"
Batuk asked again, a little louder, and this time it made the woman turn around.

"Somewhere... I don't know. Meena Didi said she'd take the boy far... Far from this witch's eye, and the day the white policeman threatened her on the telephone, she took the boy and left for Kashi."

"Do you have an address?"

"I don't..." She smirked, and then raised an eyebrow at Batuk, and then at the fearful face of the girl standing beside.
"But if you need anymore answers, you'd have to give me more... Your... That ring perhaps..." She gestured towards the ring on Batuk's little finger, a precious sapphire casted on white gold, and Batuk glared at her in disgust.

"Leave!"
One more thunder roared on earth, matching the intent of the command, and Promila shuddered at the intensity of the sound.

Promila had indeed left, and Batuk turned around to face the lady now standing with spark of hope in her eyes, staring at him expectantly.

"My son is in Kashi!"
She gasped, and a big drop of new rain fell on her head, on her colourless parting, then another, as both together ran down the empty hairline in unison, forming a wet trail to her nose.
Batuk smiled and cupped her face.

"Yes... And now, I'll go and get him from Kashi..." He sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the gradual drops of rain falling on his face now.

"Kashi is easy... It's like second home" He smiled.

"How?"
Mira wiped her face and looked at him once again, the rain making it difficult to keep her eyes open.

Batakrishna too was feeling the torture of the falling raindrops, a sweet torture, and he inhaled the petrichor sharply before running his fingers through his dampened hair. His eyes automatically closed at the sensation.

"Kaka has spent his long four years in Kashi", he recalled fondly, "like a hermit... Until my father found him... Lost, demented..."
He held Mira's hand and walked past the bamboo barricade of the hut.

"But that's before I was born... He never told us what had happened to him, or how was he in Kashi... But then, he was, and he knew everyone..."
They crossed the porch and Mira walking up and pulled a dry gamcha for him.
Batuk held her wrist instead, the sapphire ring on his little finger sparkling a little too bright.

"This too was with him, this sapphire ring, and he gave it to me when I was born, on my nameday."

Mira looked at the ring and smiled.

"It's a lady's ring."

"May be." Batuk smiled too, with a slight shrug, as he let Mira reach to his head to dry the dampened hair with the cloth.
He was enjoying every bit of it!
"Dada said this was the only thing he had on him when he came home... And, then slowly as he recovered from..."

Another loud sky tearing thunder crushed the earth, louder than all others, and it made Mira shudder to the core with its violent intensity.

Batuk tied her in his arms at once.

"Shh... Shh... It's alright... I'm here ". He patted her head, his lips muttering soft mothereses for her, and Mira let her head rest on Batuk's dampened shirt, feeling the warmth of her skin, the beating of his heart.

I know all would be good... I know... Because you're here, right here, my world, my protector, my handsome Krishna... My...

"Choto Zamindar Babu..."
She mouthed the words, smiling, and unaware of the dialogue in her heart,  Batuk just hummed to her call.
"I'll cook for you." She murmured, burying her lips in neck now, drawing breaths from his masculine musk.
"Will you eat?"
She asked.

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

Again,
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