Two days! It had been two days since she is held captive in a cell. It wasn't a typical torture cell, but a simple four walled room where she got three meals a day and comfortable clothes to wear. But the reason for her uneasiness was that she wasn't allowed any type of interaction with her family. She wasn't even allowed to see them! The only talking she had was with the investigating officer regarding her whole life story. She knew why they were asking her all about her life. They were seeking for some kind of connection that she might have with Sultan.

In these two days she had developed intense hatred for this man named Sultan. Because of him she was away from her family. Because of him she had missed two very important lectures that she had to give in the university. And because of him only, she had to face such worse humiliation by the various investigating officers and their questions.

The door opened finally and she expected her routine supper. But instead came a man with the guard uniform on.

"Miss Shreya, Mr.Garg has ordered your release. You are free to go to your family now. " The guard announced.

"Oh! Thank God! I thought they were going to keep me here forever! " she replied.

The guard strangely smiled at her comment making her smile back.

"If you could please follow me!" He said.

"Yeah! By the way did they find him?" She asked curiously.

"Who?" He asked.

"That person named Sultan!" She elaborated.

"Uhh!! I don't know. I am just following orders. " he replied hesitantly.

"Oh! " she said.

When they reached out of the building, two gate guards stopped them. The guard who brought her out showed some papers to which the gate guards approved suspiciously.

Shreya smiled genuinely at them though. She knew they were just doing their work.
"Please get in." He asked her.

"I can go by my own!" She suggested.

A panic filled expression crossed his face before he managed to shield it well.

"Oh no! I have strict orders to take you to your home safely." He said.

"Thank you so much!" She replied gratefully and got inside the cab. 

The interior of the car was strangely hypnotising. Within ten minutes of the drive, she started feeling dizzy. She tried...really tried to not sleep, but after really great efforts, her eyelids accepted defeat and succumed to a deep sleep. She could feel the thumbing of the engine for a while, but after some ten minutes more, she slept. 

.

.

.

"Where the hell am I? " Shreya wondered when she stared at the ceiling that had a beautiful chandelier. Her home did not have any such thing. And it did not take her enough time to realise that she was not at her home. 

Hospital? She thought.

But hospitals does not have chandeliers either. 

With great effort, and her head still dizzy a little, she took a seating position. Her eyes fell on the bedsheet. It was her favourite colour, maroon. Looking at her right and left, she studied the room. It was a very big room. She did not believe it to be a room either. It was like a terrace covered with four walls and a roof. 

But, she had to praise the decorator of the room. It was beautiful...typically made for the female gender. 

Snapping herself to reality real quick, she was about to ask herself again about where she was, when one of the two doors opened. She looked at the door with wide curious eyes. A man stepped inside. He appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He had a bowl in his hand. And he had yet to notice her. 

And when he did, he froze. 

Both remained silent, waiting for the other to speak. 

And finally the stranger spoke, with a charming smile. 

"Hi!" He greeted. 

Shreya narrowed her eyes in partial fear and confusion.

"W.who are you?" She asked directly. 

The stranger walked towards her with the same content smile and placed the bowl on the table. Her eyes unintentionally went towards the bowl and she noticed that it had cornflakes with milk. 

It was her routine breakfast.

How the hell did he know about this? She thought. 

Without her offer, he sat on the bed. 

"I am sorry. " He said making her even more confused. Her mind wandered to all the weird circumstances to which he would apologise. Did he do something to her....With her? She wondered.

"Why?" She asked meekly. His aura was dangerous. He scared her. And the distance between them was not helping either. 

"I couldn't bring you here soon. You had to survive two days with those dim wits. " He explained, with no hint of anger or frustration. It was now that she noticed that his voice was unbelievably soft. It was calm and composed as his posture. And he spoke so sweetly and clearly....Each word came out of his mouth as if taking their time. He was in no hurry....at all.

Who is this man! She wondered again.
"If you want to freshen up before having breakfast, then please use the bathroom over there. " he suggested pointing at the other door.
"All the required things are there." He added looking intensely.

"Who are you?" She asked again.

He smiled again at her question.

"I thought you would ask about where you are right now!" He commented, playfully. Here her heart was going crazy with fear and he was making funny comments!

"Who are you?" She asked again but with a little stress.

He tilted his head to the left slightly and replied.

"People call me Sultan."

Silence.

It was like a slap for her. How could it be?

"What??" She asked. He looked different as compared to the photo that was shown to him.

"You are lying! I know! I was shown the photograph of this guy named Sultan. And it is definitely not you." She contradicted.

Her energy made him smile again.

"How did this guy, whose photo was shown to you by that lady cop looked like?" He asked.

"He....He had shoulder length hair, fair complexion, a round tummy and...and he looked like forty years old! " she answered. 

"And I don't look like him?" He asked.

Shreya narrowed her eyes again. Did he behaved in this manner with everyone or was she an exception. Because he was continuously asking stupid questions and making sarcastic comments. This is not how strangers talk. He was conversing with her as if he knew her all along!

She did not answer him in return in fear of what he would do. She had to be patient until she gets to know his real intention. What if he would hurt her later? What if he was appearing to be soft and composed.

"Don't be afraid of me." He stated like it was perfectly natural. He could clearly see the fear and hesitation in her eyes.

She met his gaze at this statement. But meeting his intense gaze, she looked down again.

"I will answer for all the why, where, when and how, later. Before that, I would love it if you would have something in your system and get fresh. Please." He suggested with a smile and stood up.

He turned around to leave when she noticed his physique. He was well built for a normal man. It appeared as if he was in military force. He even had that military  haircut. He wore decent professional clothes. White shirt and black pant.

He looked the opposite of the person she saw in the photograph. He was an attractive man. Either this man was lying about being 'Sultan' or the Intelligence had wrong information. She went with the former suggestion.

Before he could exit, she managed to
ask again.

"Where am I?" She asked.

The stranger man turned around as soon as he heard her.

"Safe." He answered after a short pause and left.

Shreya felt her current position as what happens in movies. Well the past two days did look like that at least. 

Her eyes went towards the bowl of food, but she thought against it. Any sane person would do that. What if it was poisoned or worse, drugged. What if .....There were so many what ifs.

She quickly and stealthily stood up from her place and ran towards the window like a thief does. Yes, she looked like a joker right now....but who cared. It was not like anyone was seeing her.

She opened the window that itself looked so grand. But, when her eyes looked out, she almost had a heart attack...literally.

She was some twenty floors above the ground and from this super height, she could see around five dozen men guarding the place with freaking guns in their possession. She could clearly see the vast span of sea and the beach from that height. It was a beautiful place but right now, it scared her.

"Where the hell am I?" She whispered in shock!

She quickly closed the window. Jumping out of it was like suicide. And she was a rational girl. There was no meaning of escaping from this route. She will have to follow the normal exit door to get out of here.

And her only way was the strange man whose physical presense scared the life out of her. He looked so unusually calm. She had never expected kidnappers to be like that.

But then she thought, 'was she really kidnapped?' Or was she here because of some entirely other reason. Maybe she had something of this man....or may be this man had some misunderstanding like the cops had!

Shreya caught her head in her grasp. There were so many questions running around. And she just wanted to calm down.

Taking the same route back, while tip toeing, she sat on the bed. Thinking....thinking and thinking....

While on the other side, next door, the stranger man who declared himself as 'sultan', was seeing her every action on his phone. It made him laugh when he saw her tip toeing like that. She really thought she was alone! But, he liked her ignorance. After all, he had waited for this day for so long!

And now she was here....near him....with him...