“I don’t want to enter her room. But when my mind gains the conscience, I find myself in front of her bed. She is lying…possessed with deep slumber. The rise and fall of her chest is indicating her tranquillity. She is in her dreamland where there is no brute like me. Where her angelic heart is not scared of any monster. My vision gets blurred. Surprisingly I feel a pang in my chest. She is happy without me. An angel is safe without her brute. I near the bed and unmindfully perch beside her. She is beautiful. Her face is divine. But what is this? Why is she grimacing her beautiful face? Is she having pain? Having some nightmare? My thought breaks when she unfurls her dreamy eyes. Some seconds of silence. Her eyes fall on me and they change into fear. She lets out a scream and tries to get up. But it is not good for her health. I grab her shoulders and push her to lie down. She flinches and pleads to let her go. Her eyes have fear…for whom? Definitely for me. I have scared her a lot. Guilt rushes to my throat. I softly say I am sorry, I didn’t want to hurt you. My inner God must have chuckled at me. But I don’t care. She is feeble and I have to care.”

Nandana is taken aback for a moment. Her dazed mind is gradually putting all the pieces of the puzzle into places. She stretches her hand to touch his face.

“Aditya…”

Her voice is laced with concern and pain. Aditya glances at her hand and realizes the reason for her fear and worry. There are bloodstains on her hand. Aditya looks at her in surprise, trying to grok if she is hurt somewhere but at the next moment understands the whole thing. He touches his face with his wounded hand. Most probably his face is carrying the blood mark. He immediately tries to hide his injured hand but can’t succeed entirely. Nandana holds his hand and pulls it near to her to examine it properly.

“Nothing…a minor cut. It will be fine…automatically.”

Aditya again tries to pull it back with a lame excuse.

“No wound can be healed automatically. We need to care about it. Otherwise, it becomes a scar forever.”

Nandana softly says, trying to get down from the bed. Her intention is to reach the cupboard for the first aid box but due to the effect of the high dose sedative, she staggers and closes her eyes.

“Be careful..”

Two powerful hands balance her with a yell. Nandana loosens her body and rests her head on Aditya’s chest. She is too weak to even stand properly. Aditya makes her sit again on the bed and reaches for the glass of water kept on the side table.

“Wash…your hand…the…box…”

Nandana meeks out indicating the cupboard with her shaking hand.

“I will…but first you lie down. You need to rest. This stress is not good for your health.”

Aditya says with concern and makes her gulp some water. Nandana can’t defy this time, neither does she have the power. She places herself on the bed again, reclined. However, her eyes are still commanding him to follow her order. A grin of satisfaction and amusement creeps on his lips. After a long time, anyone is claiming right on him. Aditya takes out the first aid box and washes his wound with the antiseptic lotion. But it is not easy to tie a bandage with a single hand. Again and again, he fails.

“Damn..!”

A cry of dissatisfaction comes out of his mouth. Till now, Nandana was observing him. This man always shows his power. Always tries to dominate others but at the same time, he is timid to reveal his vulnerability. Nandana rests her hand on his bandage and slowly lifts her body. Aditya tries to forbid but she blinks her eyes to say that she is okay. Gently she ties the bandage and looks at him.

“Wash your face. You are truly looking like a monster.”

Her lips curve in a smile that passes on Aditya’s lips. He softly asks,

“Did you forgive this monster?”

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

A bike stops in front of a roadside Dhaba. It’s quite late but this place doesn’t care about the night or the silence of the surrounding. In fact, the hustle-bustle increases here in the late night. Sometimes the honking of the lorries and trucks comes from the highway. The divers stop their rides and get food and drinks. Right now, around 7-8 people are there, mostly having food sitting on the benches. There are two people on the bike. One of them gets down and removes the helmet. A well-built but rough-faced person whose eyes are moving around like a hawk. It’s difficult to guess if he is alert of being caught or he is searching for someone. He strides straight towards the Dhaba counter and orders some bread and Chicken curry. Along with this, he doesn’t forget to show his urgency. On the other side, his partner is waiting on the bike, ignorant that a black Innova stealthily stops near him. The back seat window glass rolls down and the barrel of a revolver peeks out. The click sound of the safety latch alerts the bike rider but it is too late. Before he could turn and notice, a deafening gunshot shatters the silence of the night. The bike rider jerks a bit and falls to the ground. The bullet efficiently punctures his neck. The hand holding the revolver disappears inside the car and it whizzes away. Within a moment, all the people of the Dhaba gather around the spot where now a dead body is lying in a pool of blood. Everybody is mumbling about the murder. Amidst this, some smart people decide to call the police. However, when the owner of the Dhaba and some other customers try to look for the other person who was with the victim and got down for buying the food, they can’t find him anywhere. It seems that he has vanished like camphor. Within 15 minutes, a police jeep reaches the spot. One police officer of the team examines the body and interrogates the witnesses but no clear statement comes out as nobody has seen the shooter nor they have noticed the number plate. The officer scoffs in dissatisfaction and takes out his phone.

“Sir, one of those goons whom we were suspecting of Nandana Basu's kidnapping case has been shot dead. Our informer informed us about his movement and according to him, he came in a highway-side Dhaba with another fellow. But after that, we got a call from this place about this murder. Surprisingly, his companion has not been found anywhere around. Some people of this Dhaba told that someone shot him from a black Innova car but as usual they didn’t remember the number.”

The officer states the whole thing. His forehead is lined with annoyance. He instructs his teammates to call the ambulance to take the body as an initial investigation is done. Simultaneously, he replies to the call conversation,

“But Sir, we are again standing on the dead end. This goon could have been our lead as I said earlier that I doubt some influential person is behind this kidnapping. These kidnappers were just following someone’s orders. In fact, this kidnapping is not for money or rape. Otherwise, her family will get any ransom call till now but as I know her family’s financial condition, no kidnapper will think to extort money from them. On the other hand, if it has been done for rape and molestation, we would have got her until now…dead or alive.”

His explanation is confident and clear. After listening to some instructions, he cuts the call. Until now, the ambulance has come and the body has been cleared. Within some minutes, the place becomes as normal as it was. It is truly said life on the highway never stops.

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

Aditya is driving to the outskirts of the city. He has to visit a place for an important purpose. This is, in fact, the way of his farmhouse. He has seen the place many times but never thought that someday he has to visit there. All because of Nandana’s weird demand. Aditya wobbles his head with a nonchalant smile. He ruminates on last night’s incident when he asked her the question.

Flashback:

“Did you forgive this monster?”

Nandana places her impassive eyes on him and utters in a stern voice,

“Should I?...So easily?”

Both keep on communicating with their eyes for a while and eventually, Aditya breaks the silence,

“No…but you should give this brute a chance to mend his mistake.”

“Okay…I am giving you the chance but you have to find out the way. You scared me with your mercurial temper now you have to make me happy with your pampering.”

Nandana’s eyes are dancing with jest. Aditya squints his eye. Pampering is the last work he can do. If there had been any other person instead of Nandana, he would have laughed and waved away the thought. Or he would have become angry to hear this. But her jesting eyes challenge him. He bites his lips and retorts,

“Pampering? I don’t know why you girls love this word so much but okay, I will try. But in my style.”

Present time:

Aditya stops the car in front of a pet shop. There are lots of puppies, fish, birds, rabbits, guinea pigs and even turtles. Aditya steps inside. Last night he contemplated a lot about how he can pamper Nandana because as he understood her in such a short span of time that, she is not a girl who likes expensive gifts. Rather she values small things in life. Aditya is roaming inside the shop. The shopkeeper is trying to attract his attention to the puppy’s cage. Suddenly, two bunnies grab Aditya’s eyes. Without wasting time, he buys the pair and settles in the car. The moment he is about to start the engine, his mobile rings. Aditya keeps the bunnies on his lap and swipes the green button.

“Hello…”

Ayan’s voice vibrates on the speaker.

“He is dead..but Rajesh ran away...Don’t worry, Sir…Pappu will find him out. And one more thing, Sir….he caught two of them. Should he bring them to the farmhouse?”

Aditya’s jaws tighten. He strokes the rabbits and says in an arctic voice.

“Bring them…it’s been a long to play with mice…Let’s enjoy the night.”