And the wings of the story veiled till now - some to the characters themselves, some from an outside view of them - shall be unveiled here in Veiled Wings - as a bonus chapter/episode for every score of chapters that we complete together!
(Option C chosen)

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VEILED WINGS - I

A connection is not always established when we feel so. Maybe, unbeknownst to us, one has been there all along - since the beginning of time itself, since the beginning of me and you.

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What makes a story special?

Is it the beautiful end that makes every prior happening worth it?
Or the journey throughout that the people help each other through?
Or is it that first moment two people meet - two pairs of eyes laying on each other for the first time - the single moment when you realise your story is about to get entwined with someone else's from now on?

Some say it's the beginning that intrigues the most;
some say it's, above all, the journey that counts;
some say the end is what matters the most,
for all's well that ends well, not the other way around.

Well, I say, there's another patron no one knows about.

And as much as the three of them contribute to the tale they weave together, so do those moments - the ones undiscussed, the ones not talked about, the ones unknown to the characters themselves.

For we never really know when a story began. And only believe the parts we see. But what escapes vision, isn't always non existent.

---

8th October, 2016
Geneva, Switzerland
1442 hours (02:42 pm)

Naye mausam ki seher
Ya sard mein dopeher
Koi mujhko yun mila hai
Jaise banjaare ko ghar

That was the last song he had sung only hours ago. And the concert had been another major success of his career.

Tearing himself away from the suffocating walls of the crowd, he had allowed the roads to take him wherever they could. And after driving for what seemed like an hour or so, here he was among another crowd.

However, only this one did not seem to be as stifling as the previous one always did.

RK walked the streets of October lit pleasantly with warm rays of the sun. The breeze carried with itself faint amounts of chillness that couldn't touch RK beneath his long, grey overcoat. A black muffler was gently placed on his shoulders, hanging perfectly through his neck from both the sides. A thick chain hung in front of his chest with the initials 'RK', the chain almost hidden by the thick coat and the muffler layered neatly above it.

Huge, black goggles covered his eyes, and a beenie of the same colour enveloped his head as he moved through the roads, to be encountered with a colourful sight after a walk of about twenty minutes. Placing his fingers in the pockets of his overcoat, RK slowly began to walk into the flea market spread before him at a distance.

As he was about to enter the dedicated area, his peripheral vision spotted a familiar view. A large billboard at a great distance from where he stood, hosted something up in the sky, large and clear. A still of RK could be seen there on the poster - one from one of his previous performances - with his fingers strumming a guitar and a small microphone attached just before his mouth. The large poster with his face spread all over it stared right at the city from many places, as gestures of welcomes and promotions.

Catching a sight of the poster, RK gently pulled his muffler closer to his face, pulling his beenie a little more over his forehead and adjusting his goggles, before stepping into the populated market.

As he entered the area, he saw open stalls lining up the streets, spread all around as far as the eyes could see. Varying crowds of people could be seen walking from shops to stalls. Children could be spotted there, sparkles evident in their eyes upon seeing everything around them.

There was an atmosphere of liveliness all around. Paintings were arranged neatly in one of the open shops, while one housed books of different kinds. Soap bubbles could be seen in the air at some corners of the place.

Yet there was something so peaceful about it.

Excited people, but ones minding their own business. And so did RK, his black boots slowly moving through the stalls among many others, as his eyes silently scanned everything before him, landing from the people to shops to the items they displayed - clothes, hats, shoes, accessories, utensils - almost with a blank mind.

A light clink from somewhere beside him failed to reach his ears. But a faint sensation around his wrist immediately after that interrupted his silent stroll.

RK paused, reflexively turning his head to look at his wrist. He craned his head slightly, lifting his hand from his pocket to before his face, as he saw some black beads falling to the ground while some hung through broken strings around his wrist, as mere traces of the bracelet he always wore in multiple layers around the same.

He flipped his hand slowly, and the remaining strings and beads fell completely to the uneven ground below. Shaking his head once, RK resumed his leisurely airing without much thoughts.

---

The two metal bangles lightly jingled as they brushed against each other as their owner lay her hand on a pair of earrings hung before her, her fingers sweeping through the object delicately.

Drifting her attention to an object just above it, Prachi then traced her fingers over another pair of earrings looking at her from the stall, before letting it away from her vision as well.

It was a pleasant day. She was satisfied with the peacefulness surrounding her. It was ironic how she found peace at a place meant for the crowd. Maybe peace wasn't after all associated with your surroundings, but the effect they had within yourself. And maybe silence around wasn't always necessary for silence to prevail within you.

Walking slowly in what she wore as a buff duffle coat, dark gloves, brown boots and a beenie of the same shade - the two silver metal bangles in her right hand being the only odd pieces in her appearance - she ambled through the streets, checking out different objects that came in her view.

Prachi then stopped at a stall two shops away from where she had been earlier, checking a blue hat she had seen. Then placed it back and started with her stroll again, before stopping abruptly all of a sudden at the same stall.

It was a bracelet that had caught her eye this time. She stopped for a moment before moving towards it, rubbing it slowly as it dangled in the stall through a thick wire, examining the black object. It was a gothic stringed bracelet, covered with nothing but black beads in multiple layers. Staring at the item for a minute with a blank face, she then let her hands as well as her gaze fall from it as she began moving through the crowd once again.

Absorbed in her surroundings, she couldn't hear the light clink that came from somewhere beside her, as the metal bangles at her side ran swiftly through something. And giving it no ounces of her attention, she continued walking through the busy streets, placing her fingers in the pockets of her coat gradually.

---

RK's cellphone beeped. He was to leave the city in the next two hours.

Giving the place around him a last look, he was about to head back to his concert venue, when something held his attention, halting his footsteps suddenly, and then bringing them towards itself after a slight pause.

He walked upto a small shop sandwiched among the many others, his eyes all the while glued to a certain black object that hung there through a thick wire.

Reaching his destination, he stopped right before the shop, before lifting his right fingers and brushing them across the black beads that lay there, wrapped around multiple layers of strings that held them together. His gaze momentarily flickered to his unusually empty wrist, then back to the bracelet. It looked almost the same as the one he had. The one he had started wearing a few years ago, and had never taken off since then. Until now, when it had broken itself off him, of course.

And without another thought, the bracelet lay on RK's wrist when he left the market only six minutes later.

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That was about it. Just wanted to add a subtle yet meaningful scene, to begin with.

The story would continue from the next chapter. To avoid any confusions, the story is set in the present date, and this here is a tiny flash to a part of the past.

Would love to know your thoughts on the this, if you want the chapters quicker!

Really hope you liked it. Waiting for your feedbacks. Constructive criticism is welcomed as well.

And if you're enjoying the story so far, I'll be really grateful to you if you share it with your friends as well!

Thank you!

- Your Author