Priyanka's Fear.

In his bathroom, he paced back and forth in frustration. The back of his hand was bleeding already. He hit them right, at the mirror in front of him.

Karan wishes he never went to the slums.

His phone was still with that dancer of a girl. She was supposed to call and let them know that she was at the place, they scheduled to meet. Keiran called him seven minutes ago, saying that she already left the dancing house. He asked around, but nobody was willing to show him, her house.

Karan walked to the bed, picking up his Samsung phone. He unlocked it and dialed the line of the Missing iPhone. It was switched off. He was about to smashed his phone at the wall, when the door opened, leaving him with no choice but to fling it to his bed.

"Oh...Lord! Please don't tell me you are about to throw it to the wall?" His mother entered the room. She stared at his left hand.

"I... wasn't..."

"I heard about your missing, phone" She noticed that his hand was bleeding. Sawarasti quickly went to check if the cut was deep. "Don't tell me that, you did this to yourself again?"

"No, mother. I will take of it" Karan lied. He did not want her to worry about him. She already had her own bag of troubles to deal with.

"I will get the first aid kid" Sawarasti moved to the drawer and brought out a first aid box. She kept each in all the rooms in the house, in case of these accidents. But it seemed Karan needed more than five first aid kits in his room. He kept on hurting himself saying it is an accident.

Karan watched his mother clean it and tied it up with a bandage. He wished she would not have seen him like this. "Is Keiran back?"

"No dear. He went to pick up your grandma" She returned the kit to the place, and she found it. "Her friend invited them for dinner."

A smile escaped his lips. He knew how those dinners ended. Many times, his grandmother had taken him to her friends' house in the evening. She usually tells him that they were just friendly dinners and catching up on the old times, but that was not the case. It was a trick to pick wives for them.

"I hope he makes it home alive today," He told her.

"Why not? He will" Sawarasti understood what he meant. His twin was going to reject the girl and Grandmother would not take it likely with him. "I think you should also pick a girl from grandmother's collections. You need to get married."

"Goodnight, mother" Karan took his hand away. The conversation was over so she did not have a choice too.

"Sleep well, my baby."

He went to his bed to lay down after she was gone. His mind wandered back to the scene. The dancer girl was talkative..she humiliated him in public, thinking she would never be seen again. The world was a small place. Dehli might seem big but it was as small as a neighborhood. They were going to meet someday. He would show her what it was like to be humiliated.

A knock came on the door, interrupting his thoughts. It seemed like he could not find peace even in his bedroom "come in."

The door opened and Koran walked into the room with a smile on his face. Karan was glad to see him at last. "The big man is resting. I hope I'm not disturbing."

"No, brother," He told him as they hugged. "You came at the right time. Welcome home."

"Thank you. I brought a surprise for you."

"What us that, Koran? I don't like surprises and you know that."

"You will like this one" his brother answered, bringing out the phone from his pants pockets. "Here is the lost phone "

Karan was speechless as the phone was handed over to him. He stared at it for a few minutes before switching it on.

"A dancer gave it to me. I wanted to ask who is she? Koran demanded.

With his eye still fixed on the phone, showing how irrelevant the question was to him, he answered "She is nobody."

*****

She looked at his face then his legs and wondered if she was daydreaming again.

Priyanka slapped her cheeks gently, but found out that she was still wake standing in front of him.

The car was quite different from the one that brought her home, although they were of same color.

Atharva was the man who visited them. Why did come back after so many years of pestering her life? Had he come back with the same intention, he had three years ago?

He was the terror that she feared in the slums. Ataruva had asked for a hand in marriage, three years ago. He was obsessed with her that she had no choice but to run away from him.

"Hello, sweetheart" came a deep voice. His eyes were filled with a darkness that no one understood. On his hands were different tattoos. Instead of a shirt, Ataruva wore a vest.

Priyanka took a glance at him again. She hasn't changed a bit except for the expensive car and chains on his neck. He still carried that aura of a criminal.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, clenching her fists.

"Oh...mine...The cub has turned into a lioness" Ataruva turned behind and mumbled to Kamala. It was loud enough for anyone to hear.

Priyanka wondered if it was a compliment or an insult. He was one of the most notorious criminals that she had ever met in her life. The last time, they spoke of him in the neighborhood, he was arrested for smuggling drugs into the country. Why did they release it?

"I don't want to see you, Atharva" she found herself screaming at him. One minute she thought it was a summer season for her in this world and the next minute, winter appears from nowhere. "Just go away, I don't want to see you."

"I will," he was shocked to see that the little girl whom he watched growing up a few years ago was sending him away.

How she was able to do it still remained a mystery to Priyanka.

Atharva smiled and drove away. It was better if he stays in his world forever. She was not part of his life. He was a thug and her father, who sat up there, wouldn't be happy if she engaged with such people.

"Look at him, Mother" she pointed in the direction, he went. "He has come to frustrate my life again."

"Forget about the man. I told him that you are not getting married anytime soon."

"Why? He will think I want to marry him."

"I will never hand you over to him" Kamala assured. "He came to see Krish."

"Hmmm," She nodded at his sudden love for Krishna. Where did that come from? "How's Krish doing?"

"There is no problem as of now. His doctor will be coming to check on him, tomorrow. Please stay at home so that I can introduce you to him" Kamala told them.

"I will mother."

They entered the house, together. Kamala was too tired so the both of them went to bed. Krishna did not wake up in the night to complain that a part of his body was hurting. He did not faint too. This was a great relief to her.