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Hey, readers here's a new part. Listen to this song while reading this chapter.
Fire on fire by Sam Smith given in the media box. It's just given there for the song. You can use any other app as well.

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As soon as he is out, I use the rest of the water to wash myself as best as I can. I wear the salwar pants and put on the cloth like before and make my way to him. His grey eyes meet mine as I make my way up to him.

"Come sit here." He says patting on the side of his bed.

I make my way up to him and rest myself on the very end of the bed. He moves behind me and I can feel his presence towering over mine.

Is it this man or some underlying disease as to why I frequently experience tachycardia?

His fingers lightly trace the sides of the gash on my back as I wince. His fingers retract immediately. But as he applies the ointment on my skin, goosebumps breaks out all over my skin making me momentarily close my eyes at pain and pleasure. Wrong! So wrong! My insides scream. I sink my teeth onto my lips as the ointment stings. My only mistake is to open my eyes as our eyes immediately meet in the mirror in front of me. My breath hitches as his eyes stare back at me probing my soul. His eyes look down momentarily taking in my lips, currently trapped between my teeth.

Strange. Isn't he?

Why is he so tender?

His fingers keep on moving as the sting continues but our eyes never leave each other. Somehow he attracts me like a moth to a flame.

Look away.

I can't.

You will just burn like a moth.

I notice in our reflection, his pupils dilate pulling me in as if hypnotized. His hands previously busy with ointment comes up on my bare shoulders encasing them. His eyes never leaving mine, his head dips down as his lips touch my bare neck and I unintentionally give him an open access by tilting my head to the opposite side. It takes me a moment to realise that the soft, warm thing touching my shoulders is his lips as he is raining feather-light kisses on my bare shoulder as his hands move down my shoulder to my arms, his knuckles slightly touching my breasts on both sides separated only by a thin cloth.

Move away. Feel repulsed at his touch.

A little bit more! A little bit closer!

I notice our reflection enchanted. My lips parted, eyes wild and my wet hair pushed to one side cascading down the sides of my breasts as his head is dipped down in the crook of my neck, his slender fingers enclosing my arms. I resist closing my eyes as he continues scouring my neck with his persistent lips. Something aches deep within me. Some so foreign. His mouth reaches my ear as he caresses it, swiping it with his tongue.

Oh, Basheer...

"Basheer..." I realise it's my own voice that calls his name.

Something snaps in him as lips renew their assault on my neck leaving tiny marks behind. I take in the view of small purple bruises forming on my neck as my eyes fight to stay open. Instead of feeling repulsed, something foreign clenches my gut igniting fear and pleasure.

Wrong, so wrong! Stop this Nehali.

But, before I can say anything, a voice interrupts us breaking the moment, "Sahab! What will you have for breakfast?"

That one sound and the trance breaks. I realise my folly as our eyes meet in the mirror.

I am utterly embarrassed again.

It seems I am more often ruled by hormones these days ending in embarrassmentt.

"The usual and same for Sahiba!"

Sahiba?

Me?

He must have seen the shame and regret in my eyes as he moves back, sighing, rubbing his eyes to lower the high blood pressure, then scours through the first aid box before putting a swab of cotton and sticking it with a surgical tape on my wound.

"Raise your hands." He commands, lacking the heat and warmth from the previous moment.

Someone starts kissing you and you let him? What is wrong with you? Acting like a whore on your second day here?

I obey him, still slightly buzzed, faintly aware that my breasts are on full show.
His reflection in the mirror shows his adam's apple bobbling as puts on my bra carefully so as to not touch the wound. Then, puts on my salwar.

" Go to your room and get ready. Get down within five minutes," he says.

I nod as I make my way to my room, without looking back. I sit in front of the mirror analysing what just happened. My emotions are all over the place. So much in just twenty-four hours. What bothers me more than the fact that I am kidnapped and in Pakistan is. . . . . . totally off the point.

He was so tender!

He wasn't supposed to be.

They, aren't supposed to be.

All those faces marred with agony, from the day of the ambush, my uniform stained in blood and dust. All because of them. How can I ever have good feeling for them?

It's just the sudden turn of events that I am so overwhelmed.

Must be it. Cannot be him.

I need to be in control. I will execute my plan today as planned. His kisses certainly won't stop me.

I comb my hair, tying it into a loose ponytail as it is still slightly wet from the shower as I plot my plan. I take the dupatta to fold it into nice little pleats pinning it to one side. I put on the smallest pair of earrings and a little bit of lipgloss and I am ready to go. When I make my way downstairs, he is already there with a plate that consists of parathas and some curry with a small glass full of milk tea.

My side contains the same thing. As I look at the curry closely, I realise its meat.

My shackles raise up immediately as I identify it as meat. Not a single doubt about it being anything but beef.

How dare he insult me?

"What is this?" I ask pointing to the meat already sure about what it is.

"Siri paya." He answers nonchalantly.

"Is it made of beef?"

"Yes." He answers gulping another morsel.

Bile rises to the back of my throat and red hot fury courses through my body ready to burn the man before me.

What more can I even expect?

Having brought up in a strictly Hindu family where cows are worshipped as Gau Mata( mother), beef has always been banned in our house.

How would you feel eating your mother all cooked and served? That's what I feel now.

I stare at it for some more time before sneering, " I can't have those. We don't have beef".

" You expected it to be beef. Did you not?"He asks, mildly irritated.

I stare at him surprised. What does he even mean?

" I know where you are from. It's mutton. You can eat it. Surely mutton and beef don't taste the same."

Slightly guilty at my presumptions, I stare at him some more contemplating if I should apologize. But then decide against it. He could have just said no.

As we finish our meals and we are about to set off, he grabs me by the shoulder and turns be back as his fingers work on unpinning my dupatta.

"What are you doing?" It comes out high-pitched, as I try to pry off his hands.

He unfolds the dupatta and then wraps it around my head.

Who wraps a dupatta like this in the summer heat?

"Don't you see the women here?"

Why should I go through this torture now?

" You are not in India. Many males will come to the hospital. They won't understand where you are from or who you are. They won't respect you dressed like that."

Respect me?

Are they themselves respectable? I sneer internally.

But it's better to listen to him otherwise I will be drawing unnecessary attention to myself and the small bite marks on my neck.

We reach the hospital at sharp 10 o'clock.

Do doctors come in this late?

I wonder looking at the brown wrist watch Basheer had given me before leaving.

"Your shifts will vary. Since today is your first day you will just go through the introductions. Meet the staff. Tomorrow, you will start with your shifts. "

" How will I call you?" I ask.

Will I not be getting a cellphone at least?

"See the man at the reception? You will tell him to call me."

A landline.

My plan immediately takes its final shape.

I don't need to borrow a cellphone. I can use the landline.

I smirk internally but act annoyed.

" Do I not even get a cellphone?"

"Come let me introduce you to the Doctor In Charge here."And then he strides forward without so much as a backward glance.

Successfully ignored yet again!

Bloody White Ghost!

Urghh!

I eye the landline as I contemplate my plan.

I will come back to you.

Wait for me, sweety.

If I can call back home at least they would know I am alive and taken captive and then they can find ways to bring me back.

Home isn't far away I hope.

Maybe just a call away.

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Author's Note:

Couldn't wait until morning for this! Enjoy! After our book reaches 200 reads I will post the pictures of Basheer and Nehali. So share amongst your friends. Stay safe. Much love!

Sahiba means a virtuous, good woman.

Gau - Cow.

Mata- Mother.

The reason behind calling a mere cow a Gau Mata is that the first milk a baby drinks after their mothers stop breastfeeding is cow milk. Do you know the cow milk we all so often buy and drink without realizing that this was meant for her child that's deprived of its share on its mother's milk for it can deplete the entire milk stores of it's mother, leaving nothing for us.

Cows are said to convey human emotions, they can feel human pain and cry when their family is in pain. A mere animal with so much that makes it stand out among others.

I am not chastising you for your beliefs but before you make fun of someone like Nehali for their beliefs , think. Use your God gifted brain. Thanks.