"Its futile to separate two souls which are destined to be together."

~•~•~•~•~

'Gauri', Svetlana peeped in the room. Gauri looked at her smiling, 'Svetlana aunty!! Hi!'

Svetlana's face twisted in a scowl, 'Do I really look like an auntie Gauri??'

'Pfft..', Gauri giggled, 'No no.. Its not about your looks, I call you auntie because you're Tej Uncle's girlfriend.. If he is my uncle, then I should call you auntie, right??'

'I'm happy to see your chirp back again, for a moment I thought that you have really changed into frozen heart', Svetlana patted her back.

'They deserve some cold shoulders', Gauri looked away, making a poker face.

'Has Omkara really got kidnapped?', Svetlana asked worriedly.

'Yes and may I ask you why are you so worried of him when you get scared witless at his mere sight??', Gauri raised her brow.

'Umm.. Is that important to share?', Svetlana averted her gaze.

'I'll not mind if you had a history',

'Actually, I was his fiancée once. I myself had approached him when I went to cover one of his exhibitions',

'You were a reporter?',

'Yes. Afterwards our Chief Editor sent me to take his interview, and needless to say, I fell for his fake chivalry', Svetlana sighed, 'He soon caught a whiff of my attraction while he was showing us his manor and marvelous portraits of different women, they were so lively, and foolish me, I accepted immediately when he asked me for a date. We went out together for sometime, then he proposed me, and, since then he locked me in his manor. I mean, just like you were. I had learn those stupid aristocracy and had to leave my job too. I was beaten up whenever he was angry at anything.. I still have nightmares of them. But, all my nerves broke when I found about his basement cellar. I saw a girl there, all tied up, but the scariest part was, he used to spank her daily and I heard her screams hiding. One day, the girl couldn't take more of his punishments and obviously, died. I knew, it would take some time to dispose the corpse, so I made a run for the backyard and took the first cab to Mumbai', Svetlana paused to inhale.

'So, why are you with Tej uncle?', Gauri frowned.

'I somehow managed to get a job, but one day, I came to know that Dandi had inquired in my older news station about me. I got scared and planned to hide. I knew, the perfect place to hide is right under his nose. I took the job of head housekeeper here, and developed a relationship with Tej, I mean, he got to know about my past with his son and he was kinda jealous you know?? You'll notice, the relationship between a father and a son, if stranded, it is always a competition for domination and sexual jealousy, just like how it is between a mother and a daughter.. Though it is based only on our animalistic instincts only.'

'Whoa, so, this is why you are so scared of him', Gauri cackled forwarding her hand, 'My rival', she smirked.

'Yo!', Svetlana shook hands with her.

Going out, they saw that Ansh was playing chess, well learning to play chess, and Rikara was her teacher. He was scratching his head furiously, clueless of the different ballots and their steps. Their game was often interrupted by Ruvyan, who was randomly picking up those ballots and chewed on them, and Bhavya was pulling out those ballots forcefully from between his gums.

Its good for Rikara that she is not putting pressure on her brain, worrying about him, Gauri sighed and walked away forlornly, mumbling an inaudible 'excuse me'.

The fact was, she didn't even exchange a glance with anyone of the Oberoi Mansion, not that she was avoiding them, she was royally ignoring their approaches. Not to mention, Shivaay and Rudra had started to feel a very slight pang of resentment in their hearts.

*****

Back to Omkara

'Boys! Get ready, we've located master's mobile phone's last location!', Dandi exclaimed, 'This is our only chance. The kidnappers most probably don't know about us, so they would keep him somewhere near the location.'

'Good deduction Dandi, I wish I could come', Ranveer sighed.

'Its okay, Dandi, you have to find brother Om at any cost! I know Gauri is perfectly alright and safe. I just want my brother!!', Priyanka whined.

'Yes Miss Prinku', Dandi hurried out.

*****

'Get up!!',  He was hit with a splash of freezing cold water again.

'Grr.. You're gonna regret this-,' Omkara snarled.

'First, stand on your own feet, monkey groom', one of the many men laughed.

'Urgh!!', Omkara stood on his swollen feet, wobbling.

Two men pushed him in another room. The room looked like an abandoned store room. The room actually was terrible with feeble ceiling, casts of cement fallen from it and the walls were blackish, aged scrapes of paint falling off them. A lame try was done to make the room room presentable, with decorations of flowers and fairy lights, but it looked like as if an old granny was caked under thick makeup.

In the middle of the room, there was another man standing beside a setup for wedding. A priest was babbling Holy Mantras, and Naynika was proudly sitting there, angularly with the priest. She was decked under heavy red bridal lahenga and tons of heavy jewelries, her face was shining in a thousand watt smile.

Them men pushed Omkara beside her with his hands still tied. He dropped his head and sat beside her like a spent out robot.

'Open his hands', Naynika whispered to one of the men as soon as the priest asked the bride and groom to stand for the holy walk around the fire, 'He is still under the effect of tranquilizers.'

A man hesitantly cut the rope tying his wrists and the next moment he regretted it as an iron-like fist landed on his nose like a lightening.

'Awwk!!', the man fell back.

The other men charged towards him immediately. He, in an inhumane reflex, gripped them by their neck each and slammed them like the  washermen slammed the bundles the clothes on floor to wash them. Kicking and punching the bloodied figures mercilessly, when they were rolling and whimpering on the floor, accepting defeat. When he was sure that they won't wake up soon, he cornered a bewildered Naynika like a hungry panther.

'No.. No.. No.. The drug cannot be worn off this easily', Naynika shook her head.

'I'm not that respectful towards women that I'll not raise hand at them', Omkara lunged at her and tore of the sheer veil from her head. Gripping her hairs in a tight fist, he dragged her the floor till the fire. Pushing her head in the lolling plumes a bit, he took out her head, 'This! Is for hitting my Gauri.'

He repeated the task for quite sometime, barking, 'This! Is! For! Bullying! My! Girl!!'

He kicked straight on her face roaring, 'This is for fucking drugging me! What do you think, that a legal dose of tranquilizer will lull me!?! I already take them on a regular basis you bitch!!'

Pushing her head into the fire for he last time, he hissed, 'And remember, if I see you again before my eyes, I swear, I'll not claw out my own eyeballs, rather I'll claw out you from the face of this earth.. You'll no more be here to grace the litter of earth more.'

With that said, he stormed off the broken cottage. The moment he stepped in the man made alley, a car stopped abruptly before him. Before he could curse the seemingly blind driver, Dandi came out and hugged him tightly.

'I'm fine Dandi, for the first time I'm happy with your performance. Now, its time to meet my Gauri and Rikara', he got into the co-passanger seat and Dandi revved the engine.

Nothing to say, enjoy the climax..
Happy reading,
With love,
Sarani.