Naina saw a figure standing by the window through the crack in between her eyelids, it was Ohas peering through the curtains while gritting his teeth.

"What happened?" She asked, groggily getting up and moving towards the window.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep," he said, flinging the curtains shut, but he flung them with so much force that they swung in the air and Naina momentarily caught a glimpse of a familiar someone.

Then his voice, deep and distinct echoed, "Let her out, you motherfucker!"

Woah. Woah. Nobody should catch the CEO swearing like that, especially the night right after the protest. Naina quickly scrambled to find her chappals, sleep snapping out of her body in an instant. Before she could rush to the door, Ohas grabbed her arm, pulling her back. "You don't need to go."

"Then who will go? You? He'll break your nose, he took judo classes as a kid!" she said hurriedly, not realizing that she was talking to another equally competent fighter whose hands were bloody from the most blood-curdling, blood-thirsty fights. Ohas seemed to take it as a personal challenge as he went after Naina, flexing his muscles as they rushed down the flight of stairs. The minute their feet landed on the ground, Ahanay came striding towards them like a bullet cutting through the air and swung his fist, punching Ohas squarely against his nose.

"Fucker," Ahanay swore, shaking his fist and waiting for Ohas to recover so they could fight fairly.  

Ohas recovered quickly, blood trickling through his nose and smearing on his pearly white teeth as he smiled. "Always wanted to do this."

"Glad I started then, huh?" Ahanay smiled back, both men resembling absolute psychos.

Naina was so shocked that she couldn't move, only shout frantically, "What? No! Nobody's glad! Take your punch back, Ahanay, say sorry, take deep breaths, meditate, remember Gandhi, Buddha, God, whoever. Just stop!"

"Keep quiet," both said in unison.

"Aren't you guys fighting over me? Do I not have a say then?"

"No." They looked at each other, their smiles widening as they leaped towards each other like cheetahs, both unable to hold each other's weight and falling roughly on the ground. They swapped in hitting each other, their strengths identical that it seemed as if they had a mutual understanding to take turns killing each other. Sometimes it was Ohas, sometimes Ahanay in bruising their hands with blood and swearing equally bloody words. But all the time their faces bled a dark red like the deep color of rotting roses, their eyes fierce and their smiles dry.

"Must be nice to have two men fighting over you," Priya said, walking from Ahanay's car, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.

"In movies, yes, not here! They'll kill each other and it'll be on me!" Naina said frantically, not once mentioning how she felt her heart sink at every punch that Ahanay took. Rushing towards them, she shouted, "What are you doing here, anyway?! Come help!"

"It's more fun to watch them kill each other," Priya said, recovering quickly from the wince when Ahanay cut Ohas' lips with a hard punch.

"God, stop hitting!" Naina tried to pull Ahanay away, but he swung his arm back and his elbow accidentally knocked her nose. "Ow!" Neither of them paid any attention to her, making her cry out, "You both don't care a damn about me! Continue fighting!"

Huffing, she held her nose and took a place beside Priya, taking the cigarette that she offered and tapping it with Priya's. "Cheers. I didn't know a well-to-do girl like you would smoke."

"I don't. It fell out of Ohas' pocket," Priya said, tapping Naina's cigarette to return her cheers. "Seeing two men fight over you makes me want to kill you more." Naina wasn't listening to Priya, her attention was focused on Ahanay just like Priya's attention was focused on Ohas. "This will all end with your end."

Naina caught the last few words and briefly turned to her. "What? What are you saying? What were you doing in Ahanay's car this late?"

"Fucking."

"I don't believe you."

"Good. You shouldn't." Just then a group of unruly men came running towards the fighting duo like ants running all over a piece of sweet, greedy and chaotic. It took eight men to just separate them by force and Naina was horrified to see either of their faces, black, blue, and red. The most irking part was the confident smile that was still plastered on their faces, even as they spat blood.

The four men holding Ahanay suddenly shook him and asked Ohas, "Tell us boss, should we just finish him off?" 

"Try," Ahanay growled, his eyes fleetingly connecting with Naina.

"No! Nobody's trying anything here!" Naina shrieked in response, looking at the crowd of protestors that had gathered around them. "We should take our protest for tomorrow!"

"Why?! We can just finish him right here and get our property back!"

"Yes!"

"Agreed! Kill him!"

"Throw him in the nullah!"

Naina could feel hot tears stinging her eyes as she helplessly ran towards Ohas. "Please calm them! You know we can't kill him!"

"Why not?" He smiled wryly, his eyes full of vengeance.

"We can't! Come to your senses---" She spun around to face the howling crowd, knowing it would take seconds for them to chop his body into pieces. With blood pumping in her nerves, she screamed, "You can't kill him! You will all go to jail!"

"We don't care!"

"Hell yeah, we don't!"

"Ohas." She turned back to him again, tears already escaping her eyes. "Please. Please, save him. I'm begging you. You know this isn't a fair fight. He's one man. There's so many of you!"

"She's not wrong," Priya said, serenely walking towards them as if she was walking from one temple to another. "You couldn't kill him on your own and now you're relying on these poor people to do your job."

"I can kill him in an instant if I want to," he bellowed, suddenly moving closer to Priya.

"Then you do your job. Don't put it on them," she said smilingly.

By now, Naina was addressing the crowd again, "You all cannot kill him! We will never get our home this way! Think about it!"

"What are you saying, lady! We shouldn't trust her, she is his wife!"

"No longer," Ohas said, stepping forward. This man could barely open his swollen eyes, yet he spoke with such a commanding and authoritative voice, "They divorced. She's mine now."

"Motherfucker," Ahanay swore, trying to break free, but three more men caught hold of him.

The faces in the crowd looked at eacother h uncertainly and taking advantage of their indecisiveness, Naina said, "Yeah, I'm on your side only! I want to get our homes back as much as you do. So please leave him, this isn't the way we can get our home back. If we kill him now, we will go to jail. Who will take care of our family then? Think! Think about your children! Who will feed them?!"

That rational thought rippled through the irrational crowd, disturbing their rigid irrationality.

"Leave him," Ohas spat, his eyes landing on Ahanay. "Go back home. We'll fight fairly tomorrow." The men reluctantly let go of Ahanay. "All of you, leave!"

The crowd slowly disbursed, their reluctance showing in the slowness of their pace, dragging their desires to kill Ahanay with them. Before Ohas could confront Ahanay, Naina stepped in front of him and pointedly said, "You go home too. Tomorrow, like you said."

He took a glimpse of Ahanay who was coughing blood on the ground and finding pride in being the bigger person, he left (with Priya following him).

Naina ran towards Ahanay, to hold him, only for him to push her away with a look that pushed her entire soul out of her body.

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