Next day 7am found them on a boat towards Grande Island Reefs. Kavita had met them at Benulim jetty directly. Sanskar and Laksh knew of a local scuba club that they had contacts in, who provided them with the gear and arranged the boat for them. One of their scuba experts was with the four of them, just in case.

They all suited up and got the equipment on, with the expert's help. Laksh was keen to go into the water first. Sensing Swara's apprehension, Sanskar decided to follow in the end, right after Swara, so that he could watch over her if needed. The expert, Paulo, had jumped in middle of the order, to keep an eye on all of them. He knew Sanskar and Laksh for a few years now since they made it to their holiday home at least a couple of times each year, but he wasn't sure about the girls.

Laksh took the lead in charting the course under water at Suzy's wreck, which is where they had been diving. They had planned to dive down to the depth of about 8-10 meters that day, and not try the advanced sites, considering they were there with Kavita and Swara. But Kavita had taken well to the dive and was following Laksh, almost matching his pace. Swara was keeping her movements gentle and small. Sanskar slowed his pace down considerably, to match Swara's. With the distance between the two groups increasing considerably, Paulo, signaled Sanskar indicating that he would move a bit close to the other group, since they were too enthusiastic and he was worried about what they could pull in their quick movements. Sanskar nodded.

Swara was taken in by the sight in front of her. She was gently trying to extend her hand, almost coming close to touching some of the fishes. Sanskar went close to her, directing her when it was okay to touch some fishes, and pulling her hand back when she went close to touching the likes of Lionfish. She was looking at them wide eyed, tapping Sanskar's hand to draw attention to some of the colorful species that she saw. Seeing her excitement, Sanskar joined in, pointing her to some colorful ones he came across like Angelfish, Sweetlips, Scorpionfish and Parrotfish.

In her excitement, Swara moved ahead quickly passing a rock, catching her breathing value against it. Her movement sprung a leak in the value, releasing air from the pipe in rapid bubbles. Swara saw the bubbles, as did Sanskar. She panicked. Starting to breath through her nose for a second, starting to stream/fog her mask. Sanskar quickly tapped her mask, signaling her to keep her eyes on his, with the aim of reducing her panic. He tapped her mouthpiece reminding her to breath only through that so that it wouldn't hamper her mask or her sight. He held his hand on the leak for a second, as he processed his next steps. She nodded, her eyes still wide in panic.

He didn't have much time to think. He tried to look around for Paulo, but he was no where in sight. He couldn't leave Swara alone and search for him. There was only one option he could thing of. But he hadn't tried it with anyone, not even Laksh. It was risky, it needed him and the other person to know each other well and match their paces, as they looked at emergency ascent. Both he and Swara differed in their level of expertise. They had never dived or even swum together for him to be sure that they could match their pace, but right now, they didn't have any option.

He looked back at her. Pulling his mouthpiece out, he took hers and inserted his in her mouth. He tried to breath through hers. He knew that while he could use hers still for a few minutes, he couldn't risk it more than that, as there was a chance of drawing in water instead of air at some point, risking asphyxiation. Swara widened her eyes seeing him breath from her tube. She pulled the mouthpiece out and inserted his back in his mouth, signaling him not to use the other one. He guessed she knew some of the basics about the breathing values then.

He signaled his plan to her, indicating to her that they would take turns with his mouthpiece and that they need to ascent quickly. He took one deep breath, and inserted the mouthpiece back into Swara's mouth, indicating to her that they would start moving now. Their initial movements where awkward at best before they found some semblance of pace. Swara was still in panic mode and he knew it, but she had kept it still slighty under the lid to help him with the ascent. It was a miracle in itself. He wasn't sure he would have been able to do much if she hadn't had some semblance of understanding left in her.

As they rose close to the surface, he realized they were running out of breathing gas. Panic and deep breathing did that to their supply. The mouthpiece was in her mouth. He was almost out of air, feeling the burning start, when she pushed the mouthpiece into his mouth. He took a quick breath even as they broke through the surface of water.

Immediately after breaking through, he took his mouthpiece out. He took her mask off, to help her breath easily. Swara almost jumped on him and hugged him tightly around his neck. He took his own mask off, and held her close. That had been one hell of experience and it had scared him too. He hadn't been sure either of them could come out of it okay. They held on to each other for a long time, forgetting their surroundings, when Paulo, Laksh and Kavita emerged some distance away from them, swimming towards them.

"What happened? I lost sight of you" Paulo said reaching them first before Laksh and Kavita

"We had an accident. Swara's value sprung a leak" Sanskar said, still holding on to Swara

Laksh's eyes widened and he swam quickly to them. Placing a hand on Swara's back, he tried to pull her towards him, to console her, but she had a death grip around Sanskar and wasn't willing to let go at all. Sanskar gave a small nod of reassurance to Laksh, telling him it was okay.

"Lets just get to the boat quickly" Paulo said pointing to the boat that was a few feet away from them.

Sanskar tried to pull Swara away a bit to help with swimming, but she wasn't willing to let go. Laksh and Paulo tried to talk to her, but it felt as though she had gone deaf to their voice. Finally, they tried to help Sanskar take off his cylinders to make it easier for him to swim. Swara on the other hand, wouldn't move her hands off from the hug, to allow them to take hers.

Sanskar slowly swum them both to the boat. Laksh, Kavita and Paulo had already gotten on board the boat. Sanskar kept murmuring softly to Swara all through out their journey back to the boat, to calm her down. By the time they reached the boat, she allowed the others to take her cylinder off her back, but wasn't okay to let go of Sanskar just yet, hugging him back tightly again.

"I am going to gently hoist you on to the boat" Sanskar told her "Okay"

She gave a small nod letting him know she understood. Sanskar gave a small nod to Laksh and Paulo who were ready to haul her on board. Sanskar hoisted her up a bit holding her waist. Laksh and Paulo, quickly grabbed her shoulders, pulling her onboard. Sanskar got onboard after her, to find her seated with Laksh on one side and Paulo on the other, almost in a shock. He knelt in front of her.

Kavita got him a towel quickly, which he wrapped around Swara. Paulo got into motion and got some more towels for all of them. Sanskar nodded at Laksh, who nodded back, letting him know he would handle it from here. Taking a towel from Paulo, Sanskar sat on the opposite side of the boat, staying focused on Swara. Kavita sat next to him. She asked him if he was okay. He gave her a distracted nod, staying focused on Swara.

Sanskar's heart had been beating at a thundering pace. He felt a constriction in his chest, seeing Swara in her state. He unzipped his suit partially, pulling off the top half, to reduce some of the constriction and to help him breath easy, but it did nothing to calm down the fear of what Swara had been through, which was causing the constriction.

Seeing Swara not reacting and becoming a bit catatonic, he walked towards her again. Looking at Laksh and Paulo he asked "We need to get her to react, right?"

Paulo nodded "We don't want her going into shock"

Sanskar looked at Laksh, and found his brother feeling a bit out of his depth. Realizing he had to step in now, Sanskar directed his attention to Swara.

"Swara" Sanskar said softly, touching her arm once to draw her attention to him "You are okay now. It is over"

She didn't respond, just looked at him blankly. Deciding he needed to change his tactic, he said "Do you want to go for a dive again" Her eyes widened in fear but she didn't speak "If you don't want to go again, you have to talk to me. Tell me you hate it. Otherwise we are going again, right Laksh?" Sanskar said turning to Laksh who only looked at him confused. Shaking his head, Sanskar looked back at Swara "So what do you say?" he asked

Swara tried to speak, panic rising in her again, but no words would come out of her mouth.

"You want to go again?" Sanskar asked "Okay" he said "Paulo, lets get ready"

That was when Swara hit him. It was almost a reflex action as she hit his arm.

"You have to do better than that if you don't want to go down again" Sanskar told her

She hit him again and again, finally letting a few words slip in her anger "Hate you! Hate you!" she said as she started to cry.

For her size, she hit hard and it hurt, but Sanskar heaved a sigh of relief as she reacted. He looked at Paulo once, who nodded at him, relived himself, before Sanskar turned to Laksh. Seeing Laksh confused still, he signaled Paulo to get to his brother while he calmed Swara down. Paulo took Laksh over to the other side, getting him to sit with Kavita, who was herself a bit taken aback with everything that was going on. Paulo sat down with both of them, talking to them to bring back things to normalcy.

Sanskar on the other hand, gently held Swara's hands in his, stopping her from hitting him. "It is going to be okay. We aren't going down there again" he kept on telling her gently "You are safe now. You are going to be okay"

It wasn't much and it didn't make her stop crying. He sat next to her and patted her back gently as she rested her head on his shoulders. They reached Benulim in 20 minutes. Sanskar asked Kavita to help her change, while Laksh who had now snapped out of it, went to bring the car around. While Sanskar couldn't let anyone know this, he was in no state to drive himself, worried still about Swara.

His Mom, Badi Maa and the rest of the family surrounded Swara when they reached home and heard about what had happened. Both Laksh and he got an earful for risking Swara's life. For once, Sanskar felt they deserved every word of the anger coming their way. His Mom took Swara to her room, to help her shower and relax, while the others went to theirs. Kavita's maasi insisted that she get back home immediately, panicking herself on hearing about the incident. His Badi Maa arranged for the driver to take her back, while the two boys were still facing the firing line.

As Sanskar entered into the shower, the reactions that he had kept at bay, kicked in. He took a deep breath even as his hands shook a bit. He let the water run over him as he touched his forehead against the titled wall, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. Belatedly, he realized that it wasn't because of any panic or fear on his behalf, it was because of seeing Swara in the state that she was in. It was because Swara could have died. It was because there was a chance, he might not have been able to save her.

The atmosphere in the house that day had been subdued. Swara's parents were expected to fly in a few hours later. Sanskar couldn't find Swara anywhere. He guessed she must have been given a sleeping pill and made to rest for a while by his Mom and Badi Maa. He wanted to go and see her, check if she was okay, but he held himself back, despite his deepest desire to do it. She was in the room next to his, he could be quick, but somewhere, he wasn't sure it would be appropriate. He decided to go off for a walk, away from the house and away from Swara. He ran into Laksh and Uttara who were quietly talking in the veranda. Adarsh Bhaiyaa and Parineeta Bhabhi sitting with them, talking to Laksh about what happened. Sanskar did not want to discuss he incident again, so he walked away from there.

Sanskar wasn't sure how long he was walking, but it had been few hours at least. Sunlight was dimming by the time he started to walk back towards the house. As we walked closer to the house, he saw a figure sitting on the beach in the sand, slumped. Something made him feel it was Swara. He quickened his pace towards the person. As he came closer, he realized it was Swara. She was sitting in the sand, slumped crying her heart out.

He ran to her and sank in the sand next to her. He hesitated for a moment on how best to help here, before he chuckled all the formalities and pulled her into an embrace. She pushed back for a second, before something changed in her, almost as if she recognized him, and she hugged him back tightly

"You are safe, Swara. Nothing is going to happen to you again" Sanskar whispered to her "I will keep you safe. I promise. I will never let anything happen to you again" he kept murmuring to her, as he rubbed her back to sooth her fears. He wasn't sure what made him promise her with those words, but they felt right to him and he knew he wouldn't let her down "I promise" he whispered again, even as she clutched his T-shirt tightly in her fist. "I wont let you down"

After a long while, she calmed down enough so that her crying had reduced to muffled whimpers now. His T-shirt was a bit soaked with her tears by then. He pulled her away from him a bit. He wiped her tears gently with his thumbs, as he looked at her. Her eyes and face reflected a vulnerability that ate at him and made him want to create a protective cocoon around her that would always keep her safe.

Somewhere along the line, her tears stopped, but he was still caressing her cheek with his thumb and she was looking intently at him. His eyes were drawn to hers and also to her lips, for a second. Without planning to, he inched closer to her face. As if sensing his eyes, she titled her face forward, and gently closed her eyes. For a brief moment, they were in a completely different world, one where they were cut off from their surroundings and the upcoming relationships.

Sanskar leaned in and captured her lips in a gentle languid kiss that had him feeling more at peace then he ever had, and yet feeling more alive than he ever had as well. She melted into him and into the kiss, as he pulled her closer, wrapping her into his arms, holding her close to his heart, without breaking the kiss.

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