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Finally got some time to update.

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"Words in double quotes" - Talking

'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts

(Words in braces) - Telephone conversations

Chapter 19 - Escapade

Laksh could feel the sweat roll off his forehead out of fear. After all, it wasn't everyday that you saw a live bear in front of your eyes, that too only a hair's breath away from yourself.

He tried to remain as still as possible. 'Maybe he will think I'm dead. I hope he thinks I'm dead.' he twitched as he felt a poke on his arm.

"Laksh, I know what you're thinking. But it won't work." Ragini whispered to him. "How could even think of such an irrational idea?!"

Laksh turned to her in frustration. "Of course he will know it now that you told him!"

"Firstly, it's not a 'he', it's a 'she'. Secondly, she's got enough sense to figure that out!"

"Grrrrr!" the bear growled as it raised its paws to slash them.

Laksh grabbed Ragini's shoulders and hid her in his embrace to prevent her from getting hurt. He shut his eyes tightly expecting the pain of the attack.

"Bhai no!" Uttara screamed from where she stood nearby along with Nikhil and Nitin.

However, at the last moment, the bear stopped as it heard a tiny sound from nearby.

It was the voice of the tiny bear that was in Nitin's arms.

As the bear cub let out a tiny growl, the bigger one turned her head to look at it with wide eyes. The way it was looking at the tiny cub, it was obvious they shared a bond.

Feeling no pain, Laksh opened his eyes and blinked his eyes, still in shock. He looosened his grip on Ragini and looked at the bear. 'Eh? She's not attacking? What gives?'

"This is our chance Laksh. Let's make a run for it!" Ragini whisper-shouted to him, trying to pull him back.

"But...but she ain't attacking."

"Yes! That's precisely why we need to take this chance."

"But why isn't it?"

"Would you rather have her slash your heart out than stop attacking!? She's not attacking. So stop your gibberish and run!"

"Ri-Right!" Laksh tightened his grip on her and ran with stealth.

"Thank goodness bhai is safe." Uttara uttered in relief as she saw them slowly edging away from the distracted bear.

"Um...I-I don't think I can say the same about us." Nikhil spoke out in fear as he noticed the bear looking their way. "Now, we're it's target!"

"I don't think so." Nitin reasoned. He caressed the head of the cub in his arms. "It's this cub that she's looking at. Something tells me she's the mother of this cub."

"But we ain't her relatives. She's no doubt pulverise us!"

"I agree with Nitin." Uttara agreed, turning to look at the mother bear. "Poor girl. She must be crying for her lost child."

The ranger looked at the cub. "I know. Now, they can finally reunite."

"Excuse me! We're the ones in danger here!" Nikhil rightfully pointed out to the both of them.

Elsewhere, Laksh continued staring at the bear all the while he was walking away. He followed her line of sight and gasped as he saw where it was looking. "It's going to attack my Uttara?! Shit!" at once, he sprung to action and quickened his pace. He made a run to where Uttara stood with the other two. "Uttara?! Uttara, run!"

"See? He agrees with me. Let's move!" Nikhil grabbed her hand to run away, but she snatched it away from his grip.

"Nikhil, quiet!" she cupped her hands over her mouth to shout. "Lucky bhai, it won't! It won't harm us if we give her the cub!"

"Uttara, run damn it! Run!"

"No! We mustn't run. She just wants her cub." Nitin shouted back. He could clearly see how the mother bear was looking calmly at it's cub. It's anger seemed to fade seeing her baby, being replaced by concern. "It's calming down. I'll hand it over to her peacefully."

"It's an animal! Even if we try to hand the cub over, it might attack us thinking we took it away." Nikhil reasoned as he kept looking at the cub that was calling out to it's mother. "Let's take the chance and make a run while the big bear is distracted."

"Not until I return it."

"Nitin's right Nikhil. Let's ge-" before Uttara could finish her sentence, Laksh reached them with Ragini and grabbed Uttara's arm.

"Let's run!" he didn't wait for her to respond but started pulling her with him. Ragini grabbed Nikhil and started her sprint as well.

As they ran, Nikhil stopped as there was one person missing. Nitin stood there like a statue. But not for long. 'Freaking idiot is walking towards the bear! Ugh!' with a frustrated sigh, he ran back quickly and grabbed Nitin by the collar. As Nikhil dragged back Nitin, he was pulled along with them, the cub still in his arms.

The moment the mother realized that they were escaping with her cub, her calm face changed into one of rage. She roared and charged towards them with big leaps.

"I told you we should return the cub to the mother! Now she's beyond pissed!" Nitin chided as he continued running with them with Nikhil pulling him. He struggled to break free of Nikhil's grip, but he wouldn't let go. "I can still do something. Let go!"

"Dude, you won't be saying the same when it gives you a big autograph across your body with her large paw!" Laksh bit out from beside them. "It's an animal. You can't expect it to be reasonable."

"I'm a ranger! I know how to make it believe that I mean no harm. I could have settled the matter!"

"A ranger? The heck!? Then why didn't you say so!?"

"Like you gave me a chance whoever you are Mister whoever-you-are!"

"Shut up!" Ragini shouted out of frustration. "Less chit-chat, more combat!"

"It's no use. There's no way we can outrun that big bear! He's hu-uge!"

"It's a 'she' Nikhil!"

"Ragu, does it look like I give a damn!? All I want is to be far away from it."

"Now, forget the past and keep runni-aaa!" Ragini exclaimed all of a sudden as she felt the ground under her break. She, along with the rest, screamed as they felt the land slid and they rolled down the uneven slope in a heap.

The bear which was chasing them managed to slow his gait and prevent itself from falling. It looked down towards them with gritted teeth.

Although Laksh cussed and shouted all the way down, it was indeed a blessing in disguise. They groaned as they got up to their feet. However, they felt relieved as the bear now stopped chasing them.

"Hah! You can't get here without hurting yourself, can you!?" Laksh raised a fist towards the bear as if taunting it.

It took a glance at them and growled. It looked to the side, growled once more and proceeded to retreat.

Ragini smiled in relief as she looked above to see it go away. "I-Is it really leaving?"

"I guess so. Phew!" Laksh grinned. "All's well that ends well."

"No. No, it's not." Nitin's words made all of them turn to him. He looked around once and nodded to himself, as if assuring himself. "It's going to take the other route here, around the trees." Nitin responded. Being a ranger he knew the forest well.

Laksh raised an eyebrow at him in question.

Ragini voiced the question he was wanting to ask before him. "You seem to know this place well."

"I do Miss...?"

"Ragini. My name is Ragini."

"Well Miss Ragini, the bear isn't going to rest until it gets it's cub. That was why we should have given it to her the moment we got to her." he turned to glare at Nikhil. "And I would have done it if it wasn't for you!" he accused.

"The heck!? I saved your life!" Nikhil shouted back. "Did you see the size of that thing?"

"It's a 'she' Nikhil."

Nikhil turned to glare at Laksh. "Do I look like I care? All I know is that we need to be far away from it. Far, far away! Let's go!"

Nitin, however, wouldn't move. "No. I'm not leaving this place until I return this cub to its rightful owner. I'm the ranger of this forest and I've got my duties."

"Nitin, it's dangerous!" Ragini stressed.

"I'm willing to take that risk."

"You shouldn't!"

"I shall!"

"Say, mind the intervention, but where did you meet this guy?" questioned Laksh out of the blue.

"He's the one who provided us with aid when we needed it so desperately. He helped heal Nikhil." Uttara explained.

"It was nothing. Just doing my duties."

Ragini looked over her best-friend in worry. "Are you alright now Nikhil?"

"Yeah Ragu. There's a bit of weakness, but apart from it, I'm fine. At least I'm glad you didn't get into any trouble."

"I was in trouble too you know." Laksh piped in. "So glad you asked about my well-being too." he sarcastically added.

"I knew you would survive. Even the bear wouldn't want to eat someone as ugly as you."

"What did you say to this 60kg of handsomeness Nikhil!?"he smirked and ran a hand through his hair. "You're just jealous."

"Ugh! You two, quiet down!" Uttara interrupted. "Bhai, Ragini? You both are okay right? Nothing bad happened I hope."

At his words, Ragini and Laksh looked away. It was obvious something had happened. The tiny blush that covered their cheeks revealed that many things had happened. However, the cold of the snow made Uttara think it was because of the cold.

Uttara gasped as she remembered how they ended up in the forest. "Udip! He was the one who lured you to the forest, didn't he Ragini? What did he do?!"

"Relax Uttara. He didn't get far with his intentions. Laksh got there just in time to save me from Nikhil and his goons."

Nikhil let out a frustrated sigh. "Great. Just great. More goons!" Nikhil exclaimed, kicking the snow in anger.

Laksh and Ragini felt a dreadful sensation in their hearts. "What...what do you mean by more goons?" questioned Laksh with hesitation. Honestly, he didn't want to hear their reply.

"Why don't you ask your dear sister?" Nikhil bit out.

"Uttara? What does he mean?"

Uttara looked at him sheepishly. "Well um...you see...the fact is...um well..."

"She told me that she had arranged the goons for you and Ragini, but they mistook it and thought she and Nikhil were the ones who were you. Basically she hammered her own thumb." Nitin explained helpfully. He blinked as he noticed Uttara glaring at him murderously. 'Why is she glaring? I was just speaking the truth since she can't seem to explain properly.'

"You don't know when not to speak, don't you?" Uttara gritted out.

"What!?" Laksh and Ragini chorused in disbelief.

Uttara looked down and fidgeted with the end of her scarf. "Well um...I just...I just thought that when the actors that I had hired would act like they want to harm Ragini, bhai would come and save her. He would play hero and Ragini would finally admit her feelings for him. I just wanted you two to admit your true feelings for each other. That's all!"

"How could you do such a thing Uttara!? Do you even realize how risky an idea this was?"

"But bha-"

"There isn't any 'but' that justifies your rash decision!"

Uttara looked down in shame. "I...I'm sorry bhai. I shouldn't have done that."

Nikhil's eyes softened as he looked at her sorrowful face. After all, she didn't want anything bad to happen. She just wanted her brother and Ragini to be happy. That's all. "Laksh, please. It was just her good intentions that got her into this mess. Don't be so hard on her."

"You mean...you mean you knew about the plan too?" Ragini accused.

'Oops. Great going Nikhil. You plunged yourself into the mouth of a lioness. He gulped "I um...I may have known...a tinsy bit..."

"NIKHIL!"

"Okay, okay! I knew the whole of it." Nikhil finally admitted, seeing the combined glares of both Laksh and Ragini. "Ehehe...knowledge is a tricky thing, you see." he let out nervously.

Laksh smacked his face in frustration and flopped down on the ground. "Okay, let's sum it up. We've got a bear on our tail who won't leave us since now it knows we got her cub. Then, Udip and his goons maybe out there looking for me and Ragini. And now, there are people after Uttara and Nikhil too thinking they are me and Ragini, who no doubt will chase us when they learn the truth. And on top of that, we're lost in the jungle."

Ragini sighed in misery and sat beside him. "Yeah, that's about it."

"We're doomed, aren't we?"

Ragini nodded. "Yep."

"Oh come on!" Nikhil patted both of them on their backs. "Look on the bright side! We're all together now. Nothing could go worse now!"

Suddenly, they felt the environment go dark as the sun hid behind the approaching dark clouds.

"Nikhil! You jinxed it! If it rains, I swear I'll beat you up!" Ragini shouted at him in anger.

"Ugh! If I never agreed to the deal, I would be in my cosy office, sipping my coffee. All this happened because I agreed to make this film." Laksh screamed into the open air. "I said this once, and I'll say this again and again! I hate, hate, hate acting! Dad, I'm never ever going with your crazy ideas, I mean it!"

#Elsewhere#

"Aa-acchoo!" Ram sniffed as a sneeze left him. "I wonder who's talking about me."

"I wonder too." little Swara responded distractedly as she got into the vehicle.

She, Ram, along with some other crewmen were about to go on their search for the others in the forest.

"Excuse me. Are you Ram Maheshwari, Uttara Maheshwari's father?" spoke a voice from nearby.

Ram looked over at the man who was approaching him. "Yes. Yes, I am. And you are?"

"Good morning Mr. Ram. I'm the manager of the actors that Miss Uttara hired."

"Eh? Actors?" from the corner of his eyes, Ram saw Swara gulp. He turned to look at the eight year old with a glare. "You know something about this, don't you?"

"Ehehe...knowledge is a tricky thing you see."

"Enough. Spill the truth. Now!"

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To be continued...

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~ 🌹 Mona 🌹