Priya paced on the dark street, her feet bouncing and hair swaying as if she was walking on a trampoline. The lurid lights of cheap motels and shady stores vomited onto the street, reflecting dirty poverty everywhere. She caught her own reflection in one of the brown puddles, a white, angelic face unmarred by her surroundings. She came here to track Ohas down, to show him her power after he kept stalking her on his motorbike for days. She was even familiar with his shadow, tall and dark leaning forward on the motorbike, lurking after wherever she went. No longer could she live in fear of him, she needed to find some weakness so she could shoot him down. Perhaps, coming here to his home, she would discover an ailing mother or a lot of debt, something to ridicule and bully him about till she hit his ultimate weakness, Naina.

It was eight thirty in the night and Priya was starting to regret coming here, but she couldn't afford to hire a full-time detective to tail him. The one-hour detective (or rather her car washer whom she had tipped to stalk Ohas) supplied her with valuable information about his residency. Beyond that, she was on her own. God, she hated bankruptcy and more so her parents for leading them down to soon-to-be Buzzfeed's top bankruptcy cases. If her mother knew that she was not spending every waking moment trying to seduce Ahanay and instead was stumbling through this dingy road on a full moon night to take revenge on a local goon for her hurt ego, then . . . That "then" was one of the heaviest words in the dictionary, its heaviness underestimated by anyone who could casually toss an "If" before and suffer the burdened consequences. So she decided to not dwell on it and instead focus on the present where there was a lot of darkness ahead anyway.

As she neared his society, some shops were already closing their shutters while children played the last few games of hide and seek, their mothers passionately yelling at them to return home from kitchens that smelled of dinners and resounded with pressure cookers. Children ran past her, so close that her skirt swished and her heart jumped to her throat. There was chaos everywhere, yet the chaos tied together beautifully into a community. Amidst this, Priya's searching eyes landed on a familiar brooding figure leaning against the wall and lighting a cigarette, a spark of light in the corner of darkness. Quickly, Priya hid behind the two-hundred-year-old tree, its truck fat and strong enough to hide her. Children hiding nearby giggled at her, thinking she had joined their game.

"Dhapa!" A child hit her bum and she flinched, her eyes zeroing in on a chubby little face of a boy smeared with mud and snot. "Didi, dhapa! Dhapa! Dhapa!"

"Hush! I'm not playing your game! Go away!" She hissed almost violently, trying to snatch her skirt back from the clutches of the boy.

"But bade bhaiya said you were---"

"Which bhaiya?"

"Hush! He's stupid," a little girl interrupted, grabbing the boy's ear, twisting it, and pulling him away. Priya was grateful for the little girl, she couldn't risk getting caught after all the efforts that she put in. She peeked from the tree and found that Ohas was no longer there, instead, he was disappearing into a narrow passage next to the filthy apartment building. Without a second thought, Priya followed him at a distance, observing as he went about his night routine, eating biryani at a local restaurant, buying a packet of cigarettes from the local paan shop, loosely shaking hands with some thug like creatures, scowling at innocent residents, the usual. Her favorite part was watching him heartily eat biryani through the oil-stained glass doors, she had never seen a man enjoy food as much as he did. He seemed to be the most relaxed then, off-guard, without a scowl or a wry smile, just ordinary. Human.

Till now, she had found no weakness in him, apart from maybe food.

Priya was growing irritated, restless, and desperate as time passed by. She needed to go home, but at the same time, she wanted to justify her time spent here as fruitful. She couldn't believe that all her efforts were being wasted to witness such ordinary moments of his life. She wanted more. As Priya kept following him with worried thoughts infiltrating her mind, she didn't realize when she had lost track of him and how she had ended up at the dead-end of a street. The minute she turned back, five shadows revealed, men of sizes from medium to extra large. Moles, crooked teeth, greasy hair, disfigured and, scarred faces were all thrown together to form the most monstrous creatures. Even if one or two of them appeared human, she knew it was a deception. Their cruel smiles sent chills down her spine and she stood, immobile.

"Where are you going, baby?" One of them spoke, which one, she didn't dare meet his eyes. For she suddenly felt detached from her own body, knowing that it was out there, for them to leer at. Her woman's body felt like a burden now. She wanted to get rid of it so they would back off too.

Without saying a word, she started walking towards them with weak legs and eyes downcast, her heart pounding loud against her chest and her eyes already tearing up. Her mind forcefully carried her body forward, dragging it sideways to avoid contact with any of them. Perhaps, if she ignored them and walked casually, they would let her go too. Perhaps, they weren't going to harm her. Perhaps, they were . . .

"Where are you going, you can tell me surely, baby?" One man stepped forward, blocking her way. She took a step back and before she could shove her hand inside her purse to get her phone, the man plucked the purse out of her arm. "Oh, let me see what you have here!"

Priya was never trained to deal with situations such as these. Despite her parents being cruel and largely indifferent, she had lived a sheltered life. After all, she was the honor, the jewel of their house that was to be protected and safely given for marriage.

Still, Priya couldn't say a word, but she stretched her arms and when the man moved the purse further away, tears started involuntarily streaming down her pretty face.

"Oh no, why are you crying, baby---"

"Enough," a familiar voice cut through the tense air. "Leave. All of you!"

The men glanced at Ohas and seeing the grave expression on his face, they pretended to lazily give in and walk away. Priya who had stood there in fear, immobile, now wiped her tears furtively and squinted through her hazy vision. How the hell did he find her?

* * *

Ohas had noticed the white figure, bright like a candle, elegantly crossing the society gate and never melting into the surroundings. Instantly, he knew it was her for he had become familiar with the way she moved in the past few weeks that he had stalked her. Whenever she was alone in any street, she would walk alertly that it almost appeared as if she was jumping like a rabbit. Otherwise, in crowded places like these with everyone's eyes on her, she would stride confidently like a model.

Yet her steps were always a little too wide as if she was not only uncomfortable with the place but herself. As if she was perennially looking for an escape. He knew that this woman (albeit half his body strength) was dangerous, if not psychotic. Despite her discomfort and anxiety, she had the sort of determination that seemed to have seeped deep into her bones. And Ohas was a tiny bit disturbed by this determination and what she could do to Naina.

He had sent the little boy to catch her hiding behind the tree for he was slowly finding this rich, psychotic girl amusing. And as he noticed her stalking him, he teased her, taking his time with his dinner and stopping by ever so often to shake hands with strangers. It amused him to see her try and hide from him, to see her determination fail.

As Ohas pocketed his fingers and strode through the narrow lanes, right after the turn around the corner store, he could no longer feel her ghostly presence behind him. Did she give up? He checked his phone, it was close to eleven. That was it? She lasted for less than three hours.

He was going to head home now, but something itched him to find out if she was still looming here. Maybe, he should hunt her down and caution her against troubling him? No, he shouldn't waste time on a pathetic woman like her. But, he could do with a beer today. After all, that woman had made him tour their entire colony today and he was thirsty. So he turned around, to get the beer.

That was when he heard voices coming from the dead-end of the street and he saw the events unfolding in front of him, the group of men who hung around late to drink and smoke up had found a new shiny toy to play with. At first, Ohas was going to leave her to the misery that naturally awaited her, but he was curious to find out how a determined woman like her would break. Would she scream or wildly throw punches at them?

To his surprise, the woman did nothing. Instead, the moment her purse was taken away, she started crying mutely. He could have never imagined that stony face shed tears like a child, for her to break so easily. Blood rushed to her face, filling her pale face with life. There she barely stood, her angelic face helpless and crying out for help, her weakness cracking through all the stony facade. There she barely stood, looking ordinary. Human.

Ohas found himself stepping forward and speaking pointedly, "Enough."