Durga Prasad held Laksh by his shoulders.

 "You don't understand! If he finds out it will be dangerous. Don't you understand how risky this is? You have to leave," he said firmly. 

Worry was seeping through every word Durga Prasad had said; even as he shook Laksh to put some sense into him.

"Please don't ask me to leave. I promise I will be safe. Please let me do this. Please!" Laksh pleaded

"If something happens to you..." Durga Prasad uttered, looking at Laksh

"Nothing will happen. I will be careful," Laksh promised

Durga Prasad sighed. He looked at Laksh quietly for a minute. "You promise me that you will be careful?" he asked quietly

"I promise," Laksh assured

"If I see you take even the slightest amount of risk, I will pull you out from there and send you away," Durga Prasad said firmly. 

Laksh nodded solemnly. 

"Fine," Durga Prasad said letting go of his shoulder reluctantly.

***

Laksh had come back in time for dinner. 

The expression Swara had thrown him, during dinner, made it clear to him that she was planning to visit his room in the night. 

He gave her a discrete nod letting her know he would wait for her.

Close to midnight, there was a knock on his door. 

He quickly opened it to have the bundle of energy that was Swara, hug him tightly. He had barely been able to close the door to avoid anyone seeing them in this state.

"We did it!" she exclaimed happily, once she pulled out of the hug

Laksh shook his head. "I see you are happy finally. The things I do for you Swara," he said.

They walked over and sat on his bed 

"So now are you going to let your father know about us? I have solved one problem for you"

Her face fell at this. "I cannot. Not yet"

Laksh sighed. "Swara," he said pulling her face towards him so that she was looking into his eyes. "Can you please tell me what is going on here? Are you really serious about us?" he asked

"Laksh! How can you even think that I am not serious about us?" Swara asked him surprised

"What am I supposed to think when you aren't even willing to let your father know about us?" Laksh reasoned

"Laksh, it is not as simple as that," Swara tried to explain

"Why not?" Laksh countered

"Because my Baba has someone in his mind for me and it isn't as easy to dissuade him of that," Swara sighed

"What do you mean he has someone else in mind? Has your marriage already been fixed? Why did you never mention this to me before?" Laksh asked pulling his hand away from her.

Swara held his hand. "He hasn't. Nothing is fixed. He just wishes for it"

"Who is this person?" Laksh asked still not looking at her

Swara sighed. "My childhood friend, Sanskar."

Laksh's stance became a bit rigid.

Swara tried to explain, "He hasn't even been around. Neither I nor Baba has met, seen or heard from him in years or even heard of him."

"If you haven't heard from him in long, why is your father so adamant about this relation?" Laksh asked firmly

"Once Baba gets something in his mind, he takes time to be persuaded otherwise. I know I can change his mind; it will just take some time," Swara pleaded

"And what about you? What do you feel about this Sanskar?" Laksh asked looking at her critically

"Jealous?" Swara teased.

Laksh clenched his jaw. "Is that your way of avoiding answering the question?" he asked plainly

"No," Swara sighed, "Sanskar was my best friend when we were kids. There was never anything remotely romantic between us. We were too young for it. I have never even seen him since growing up. You are the one I met and fell in love with," Swara said sincerely.

Laksh nodded. "Sorry," he said softly kissing her forehead. "It was just a bit too much to take in one go," he explained

Swara nodded. She gave him a quick hug and left before someone realized she was out of her bed.

***

Laksh woke up with a start. 

He was breathing heavily from the nightmare that had woken him up

Even before he could recover fully, there was an urgent knock on his door. 

He kept the glass of water he was drinking, aside and rushed to open the door.

Swara ran into his arms the moment he opened the door

He quickly closed the door and locked it.

She had clung to him, but he could immediately realised that this wasn't one of her happy hugs; she was scared. 

He ran his fingers through her hair, calming her down a bit. He pulled her back and got her to sit down on the bed, before getting her some water to drink. 

She gulped the water quickly, even as he patted her back to avoid choking.

"What is wrong Swara?" he asked softly, holding her face in his hands

"I...I..." Swara stuttered before taking a deep breath, "I had a bad dream"

Laksh sighed in relief. "It was just a bad dream, Swara. Nothing to worry about. It is done now. You are awake"

"I was so scared," Swara said softly

"I know," Laksh consoled her, "But I am here now. You are safe. All is well." 

Swara nodded, hugging him close.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Laksh asked softly. 

She shook her head. 

"Sometimes it helps to talk," Laksh suggested

Swara sighed. "It was just voices. Lot of voices. Fighting"

"What were the fighting about? Was that something scary?" 

Swara shook her head

"Was that all you saw?"

Swara shook her head. "There was also a man's hand on a desk."

"What about the hand? Was that scary?" he asked only to get a negative response from her. "I am confused. What scared you then?" he asked

"I don't know. Somehow it is linked to Sanskar," she said softly

"Sanskar? How did he come into this? What in this made you think of him?" Laksh asked perplexed

"I don't know. I really don't. For a moment I thought I was in a cupboard," Swara said. She seemed a bit disoriented

"Cupboard? Swara you are not making sense. How are the fighting voices, the hand and scary cupboard dream related to this Sanskar? Did he lock you in the cupboard?" Laksh asked

"Well no. I don't think so," Swara said. "I mean he did lock me in once, but I don't think this was related to that"

"What do you mean he locked you in a cupboard?" Laksh asked his eyes wide at what he had heard. "Was he your friend or a bully? What if something had happened to you?"

"No it wasn't like that," Swara tried to explain, "Sanskar wouldn't let anything happen to me"

"And yet he locked you in a cupboard where you could have suffocated? That is not what friends do!" Laksh exclaimed annoyed.

"No you don't understand," Swara cut in, "Sanskar would never hurt me. He was just teasing me"

"Teasing! Right! What else has this Sanskar done. Has he pulled anymore tricks?" Laksh asked scandalized

"Not really," Swara said with a small smile on her face, "He did dare me to eat a bug once"

"You didn't, did you?"

"It was a dead bug," Swara reasoned seeing Laksh's expressions. "He dared me!" she said as if it explained everything.

"I don't want to know more!" Laksh said throwing his hands. "Dead Bugs! Cupboard!"

"It wasn't a real bug," Swara explained.

"What do you mean?" Laksh asked.

"It was just one of those chocolate ones. I realized it after I ate it"

"So he let you eat what you thought was a dead bug without stopping you?" Laksh threw at her.

"Laksh you don't understand"

"I don't want to understand. I don't want to know or hear anything more about this idiotic friend of yours," Laksh warned

Swara sighed but didn't fight him anymore. 

Laksh too calmed down after that 

"Look, lets forget all this okay. Are you feeling better? You aren't scared anymore, right?" he finally said.

Seeing a positive response from her and her normal state, he helped her leave the room, before anyone else saw her. 

They had already tried their luck with her coming there twice in the same night. It was best not to try it further. 

He gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead before seeing her out of the room.

He closed the door to his room and strode to the bathroom. 

He turned on the shower, not bothering to take off his clothes, letting the water drench and cool him down.

"Sanskar!" he uttered as his let some angry gasps of air, out.

"I have spent a long time keeping you away from this world. I cannot let you return to protect her and ruin everything," he said quietly. His words downed out by the water and yet imprinted clearly on his mind 

"I will do what I need to, to protect the plan."

Durga Prasad's face popped in front of his eyes.

"I am sorry. I know you will never approve of what I am about to do," he said in his mind to Durga Prasad.

"I hope you will forgive me for this, but I need to dig up some old skeletons. I need to risk this for the sake of the plan."

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