FLASHBACK 6 MONTHS AGO

It was a usual day for Rajveer. Dapper in his business attire — an all-black suit that made him look effortlessly charming and devilishly handsome. He slid into the backseat of his darling Lamborghini Huracán, just like him. His assistant, Samar, handed him his schedule on a tablet with, "Sir, here's today's schedule," with practiced ease and without an extra word.10 cars came out of the Rajvansh mansion: 10 BMWs and one Lamborghini Huracán in the middle. The BMWs commanded attention, but the Huracán screamed luxury without even uttering a word. Everything was going as practiced, but then something came...

TRAFFIC JAM OF MUMBAI 

The cars came to a halt. Rajveer looked up from his tablet in the direction of his assistant. He didn't need words — never did. One look was all it took. One look is enough. "It's a traffic jam problem, sir," he replied curtly, short, and professional.

Rajveer hummed in response. After a minute he said, "I am inside the temple in front. Call me after all this is done."

His assistant replied immediately, "Yes, sir."

He came out of the car, stepping toward the ancient temple of Mahadev — under the open sky. Unguarded, embraced, unbarricaded. Mahadev sitting under the shade of an old banyan tree which had witnessed, had seen, had endured many. So many souls got broken, and so many got built. 

As Rajveer made his way toward the Shivling, he felt a sudden change in the aura. The serene silence got broken by the faint sobs.

 His eyes turned toward the girl sitting in front of the old Shivling. Her white anarkali  spread around her like a withered flower broken but still beautiful. Her hip-length raven-brown hair was cascading down her shoulders, catching the soft sunlight and gleaming like golden threads. Her hands were joined in prayer. He didn't even get a glimpse of her face, but still felt a sudden pull within himself — like she was the north pole and he was the south pole of a magnet, desperate to get pulled and crash into each other.

Each other. Then!!Came her voice — slow, desperate. Just a whisper that he must have missed if his whole focus was not on her. But that voice... one word.

"Kyo" was like accusation, question, desperation, salvation, concern, and curiosity. All of that was in that one word. But for But Rajveer didn't go still because of that. He didn't go frozen in his place because of that word. His heart didn't skip a beat because of that. His body didn't go numb because of that word.It all happened because of that voice. That fragile whisper that he heard, because he knew that voice. It was the one that haunted his nights. It was the one that always played in a never-ending loop in his mind... It was the one that had made him restless.

t was the same voice that gave him tranquility and tremble.

It was the voice that had been stitched into his very soul.

It was the one he had been finding desperately.

It was that, it was like that.

Yes, that was her voice.

The one that haunted his dreams like a nymph.

Always. It was that voice that he had heard thousands of times. One he now knew by its rhythm, like a melody. 

That was the same line she used to whisper in his dreams — the one that haunted his nights like a sweet nightmare. That was the voice his soul had been longing to hear for decades. It was the...The 'Kyu' was like an accusation, a question. Why did only she have to suffer the sweet nightmares that haunted her nights? That

"Kon hai wo" was the question whose answer she wanted so desperately — to know the blurry figure, the divine figure in her dreams who came as a ray of light and disappeared like the shadow of a ghost.

And the "Kon hai aap" was the question to the divine figure who emerged in her dream. A live divinity who left her with nothing but the strong aching inside her that haunted her nights. Her voice again echoed in the serenity, but this time with desperation — like a man who was thirsty, trying to get water to quench his thirst. Her voice again in the serenity, but this time with question and accusation:

"Kon hai wo, bataiye hume"

"Humare saath aisa kyu ho raha hai"

"Hume ek jawab chahiye"

"Hume jawab dijiye "And before she could complete her sentences, she fainted. But her body didn't touch the ground.

It fell into strong, steady arms.

Rajveer, who had unconsciously walked near her, immediately dropped to his knees and caught her in his arms like an ardent devotee to his deity. His arms wrapped around her like a protective shield. Her head rested on his chest. Then he took in her face with a storm of emotions.

In the sunlight, her fair complexion glowed like divinity. Her eyes looked red and swollen from the hours of silent breaking, telling the story of her suffering and breakdown. Her long, wet lashes rested on her cheeks, soaked from tears. Her cheeks were flushed — beautiful, chubby cheeks flushed from hours of crying, with dried tear marks from the silent tears. Her soft, plump, rosy-pink, heart-shaped lips parted slightly, as if she was going to say something.

And in that moment, filled with serenity and calm, he got his tranquility. He admired her as a "Musafir" who got his "Manzil" after wandering for decades. And just like that, they met each other under the open sky, and in Lord Shiva's watch, who smiled somewhere, witnessing a fragile flower of love bloom with his ardhangini, Parvati.

His assistant's voice rang in his ear: "Sir, the car is ready."

At first, his assistant was amazed by the sight in front of him. He thought to himself, "A girl in the boss's arms? Am I dreaming?" Rajveer came out of his trance and looked at his assistant. He commanded in his practiced, cool tone, like always:

"Take this girl to the hospital and find out what problem she has, and solve it as soon as possible."

He didn't want to leave her, but he had to. Because he didn't want any distraction or attraction in his life towards anything or anyone else.

FLASHBACK END

Rajveer muttered to himself:

"I tried to stay distant from you, but destiny has its own plans. You came to my house, to my sanctuary, like a soft wind that seemed harmless and yet stirred a storm inside me. That storm now craves for your one sight, one look, and that one smile that stole my heart months ago. Just wait. I know you will hate me for this, but I had to do it — to make you mine, and you'll be mine forever and ever, like you are." His words felt like a vow that he was making to himself. A vow from someone who has been craving something for decades.

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and that all for today

and that for today .

BY-BYY 

YOUR AUTHOR 

                ~ Strawberry 🍓(✿◡‿◡)