Hi!

How many of you thought you met the hero in the 1st chapter? Ha! Seems like you haven't, but you will meet him here. Pritvi, is a man of secrets and he has tragedy in his blood. But touch his family and he'll show you, just how lethal he could be.

No need to say more! Please do enjoy!

CHAPTER TWO

The Devil

Pritvi

Trust is something that you earn in a life time and lose in seconds...

"No comments!" The curt reply seems to have cut itself into my tongue. Its bitterness curling itself around my senses as the flashes finally begin to develop a throbbing behind my eyes. Pushing through a crowd of reporters is never the sweetest walk in the world, but if you had been Pritvi Raj Maurya for twenty-nine odd years of your life, you would learn to endure it just the way I had.

Criticism is the most favorite weapon of modern society. The one weapon that they can use without a restrain to claw at someone they find unworthy to share their privileges. According to the valued opinion of this social circle I have never been the deserving the Maurya. Too bad, my dad would not give their thoughts a penny while naming his heir.

I cannot blame them, when some of my own had qualms with the decision as well. I could still picture the bitter look that crossed Sushant's face when dad announced it, or the way he greeted me through gritted teeth. Things had not been smooth between us since long, but perhaps tonight had been the last nail on the coffin.

The pressing crowd, hungry for the story of the week does not let me follow my brother, who had long vanished into the parking lot. In the back of my thoughts, I knew he had long driven away using the other route out. Still, I would have liked to chase him instead of lingering amidst these fake well wishes.

The disgust in his eyes bothered me.

"So, that's why you let go," had been his words. I know what is going on in his head. Sushant believes this is some kind of a deal between dad and me. He believes I had extracted my price of letting him have what he had desired for long, by making dad name me his heir. For a moment I wonder if that had been Dad's idea all along. Perhaps his throne had been too little a price in exchange of the peace of his home, a treasure that I never intended to steal from him in the first place.

My brothers and I had never been rivals, as the world at large expected us to. Our family fortune was never a matter of war, but things have long changed. Standing now, in the half-deserted parking lot, having arrived just in time to catch Sushant's taillights winking in good-bye at the farthest exit, I wonder if we would ever retrieve what has been lost. I rake my fingers through the hair I had already messed a couple of time as my thoughts turn a shade darker. The world thought I was winning, but in reality as I stood stranded in the parking lot, all I could feel was a sense of loss. I was helplessly watching as the most precious people of my life slipped farther and farther away from me. The past year had opened a chasm between Sushant and I and cut into the time we spent with each other. Indirectly it has pushed me further into the abyss of work and snapped the rapport I had once shared with Saket; my youngest brother.

My mobile starts to buzz. Almost blindly I reach out for it and answer the call, hoping for another tasteless congratulation only to be confronted with a rather shocking set of words.

"What? Where? How?" Is all I could manage before reining in my senses. "I'm coming, yes, yes, right away."

There is no time to spare another glance at the exit from which Sushant had vanished a moment ago as I run to my own car in a blank rush.

The panic takes time to stir, waiting for other senses to clear up. Saket was in the hospital. Saket had been in an accident. Saket, was in danger and I couldn't reach him fast enough. I have never been a fan of speed. But, tonight I realize how annoying it could be when you can't have the speed you desired. All I could think of is my brother, probably fighting for his life and surrounded by strangers while I was wasting my time away in a useless celebration of a hollow victory.

Fear, settles in next. Perhaps it had been a deal after all. A deal not with my father, but with fates. In exchange of what I have been given tonight, they had taken two of the most precious people in my life; Sushant and Saket. Reflexively I hit the steering with my fist, extracting a pit of pain to divert my mind. These thoughts were not taking me anywhere.

But...whispers that traitorous voice in my mind. You don't deserve any of this for real. They belong to Sushant and Saket. They are the true Mauryas. Not you... If you're taking their place, that means...that means they have to go. Right? Right? RIGHT?

NO! I snap at it mentally. That's the most horrible thought I've had in a while. I bite my lip as I run through the corridors in that god awful hospital. It's a terribly crowded place unlike what we've been used to. Saket would not stay here another minute, I make a mental note as I hurry along the directions the reception had given. My brother deserves a lot more than this.

He is in the ICU and I manage to repeat all the necessary information to my dad's PA just before I reach, not having courage to contact them myself and share the ominous news. He had been asking me a question and I was in the middle of answering it, but I could no longer remember what he had asked or what I had been saying.

As I had imagined my brother was not alone, but there was someone waiting in the bench outside, currently succumbed into an uneasy sleep. For a moment, I watch her, noting her appearance critically. She is too fragile for a lifeguard who had saved Saket, too unfamiliar to be one of his friends. She has her head leaning back on the wall behind her, a little tilted to the left allowing the light to cast a shadow over her face. Her hair was neither black nor brown and very windswept. She was pale, her hands even whiter as they fisted the front of her blouse in reflex to whatever dream that she was having. Behind her closed eyelids, her eyes rolled furiously, her lips trembled and a lone tear tickled down her face, shimmering for a second as it caught the light from the corridor.

Something is very wrong here.

**

Myra

It was a sad dream. But I could no longer recall what it had been. The images lost in my fitful subconscious, I was left grasping at the ends of a bitter sorrow that I could neither understand, nor forsake. My eyes burned behind their lids and watered, as I gulped a knot of restlessness and gasped trying to ease the burden on my heart.

I was yet to open my eyes and my senses were returning. Only for a split second I wondered where I was. Then the bitterness returned in its full glory. In my stupid immaturity to follow something written in Dida's book, I had just caused harm to someone.

Someone cleared their throat once again.

Opening my eyes, I found myself looking into the most tantalizing gaze I had ever held. It is neither blue no gray, but a whirl of both colors like a stormy sky, a look weary and energetic at the same time. I do not know who he is, but his gaze makes me uncomfortable and inquisitive at the same time. There is worry and perhaps a bit of panic, but in a blink it is all gone and replaced by a measuring look of judgment. I rise hesitantly, my hands reaching into tie up my already messy hair, and his eyes follow my movements with a icy precision of a scientist observing an insect.

He does not say anything; neither a greeting, nor a question. Although it lasts only a moment that silence is sore. I gulp again. His eyes narrows at that and he opens his mouth to say something just as a woman appears in the far end of the corridor, her shrill voice already reaching us.

"Pritvi!"

The man jerks out of whatever trance he was in and turns to look at the woman. She is middle aged but still exceptionally beautiful. However, her eyes are red and her lips tremble as she rushes past me in to the young man's arms, ignoring me as if I was a part of the wall decorations.

"Saket! What happened to him?" She weeps then, letting the man (Pritvi, I assume) to pat the top of her head soothingly.

"He'll be alright," he mutters to her, or rather to himself."He'll be fine, Mom." The mother and the son continue to rock each other, muttering words that I could no longer hear until finally a doctor disturbs us.

"Mr.Maurya?" He calls the man and that attracts my attention. Family! They are his family! Suddenly the little corridor seems airless as I take in the two people a few feet away from me in a new light.

The good looks seems to run in their family. Although I'd not have guessed this man was his brother. They were so unlike each other. They were both tall, but Pritvi had a frame of an athlete, his shoulders broader, arms stockier and his complexion somewhat tanner than his brother. Not to mention those scary eyes. I shiver a little involuntarily as I realize they were upon me once more. It takes an effort to pull myself back into the conversations and realize the doctor had been explaining his condition to us.

"...therefore I'm afraid he has slipped into a coma," the words register with me slowly, as my mind reels with shock. Words like 'head injury', 'damages,' 'chances of this being a suicide attempt as the police believes,' hung around me.

"But of cause since he had been out with his girl friend and all, I'm sure they would rule out the suicide attempt theory soon..." the doctor continue to say.

"Girl friend?" The eyes of the mother who had been weeping in her son's arms snap to the doctor at that. "Saket's girl friend? Who?"

Involuntarily I take a step backwards, cursing myself mentally for not correcting those women when I had the chance. Taking the ire of another woman who thought I was the root cause of her trouble was impossible for me now.

"Why..." the doctor looks around as he replies. "There she is, hadn't left the patient's side for even a second. Since you haven't met, I guess they were yet to share the news with you."

I stop as my eyes collide with those stormy pair. There is something unreadable brewing in them now and it seems to hold me where I was. The mother untangles herself from Pritvi's embrace and steps towards me. I flinch unconsciously as she reaches out. Okay, this is going to get ugly. But the next moment I find myself wrapped in a warm embrace.

The unknown woman embraces me with so much of familiarity that I almost choke with emotion. It had been a while since I've been hugged like that. She smells of some rich blend of flowers and unknown undertones, but her embrace feels like home. I sink into her warmth as my eyes start to water and she pats my head just the way Dida would have done.

"I'm sure this is not the way he wanted us to meet," she mutters, her voice muffled against my hair. I stiffen in her embrace. This woman believed what the doctor had said. I pull myself away. Deceiving this lovely lady would be too much of a guilt on my conscious.

"Actually I –"

Pritvi beats me into it, his eyes narrowed critically.

"Mom, honestly, do you believe this?"
Although he is right and is saying the words along the lines of what I had to say as well, his tone makes me want to throw something at him. This Pritvi and Kamini could be chums if they were to meet and chat. He has that exact condemning tone as he speaks, as if he believes everything associated with me is tainted. His mother turns to give him and incredulous look, her eyebrows slightly raised.

"Pritvi! How can you talk like that...?"

"No,mom I'm just saying that we just met her," he elaborates awkwardly. "Don't you think it's too early to believe in her? I mean Saket should have told us something..."

"He did," to the utter bewilderment of both of us, she says. "I talked to him this evening, to share the news of your appointment," she sniffs. "And he said there was someone he'd like to introduce to me." And she wraps and affectionate arm around me, pulling me closer to her side, as if we were ganging up against the clueless Pritvi. "I'm sure, he was talking about her!"

Pritvi's expression is priceless. For a moment, I feel like pulling my tongue at him, in a juvenile joy of winning this round against his judgmental nature, but in the next second, I remember he was right in his position. They should not believe anything I was saying. I was the liar here.

Pritvi says no more, and folds his arms. There is something rather closed off about his posture. His expression is guarded and for a fraction of a second I dare to look into his eyes and get my suspicions confirmed. He is not convinced, if possible, he looks even more suspicious about me than before.

In that minute we part, as I was pulled over to sit with Saket's mother whose warmth and affection I am unable to refuse and Pritvi continues to discuss Saket's condition with the doctor. But our eyes (and most probably thoughts) remain on each other. In the days to come I would be watched, analyzed and understood. There was no way of escaping those stormy gray eyes. In that moment, with an uneasy tangling feeling in the pit of my conscious, as if I had just buried some deep dark secret in there and he was digging it up, I realize he had me marked.

**

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Signing off for now, will be back with a chapter soon,

Love,

Sakura