Her confused static eyes made him laugh...a full laughter.

"Why do you look so confused?" He asked.

"Because you are talking in riddles." She answered.

"No, I am not! I asked a very obvious question! Can't you guess about why I used to get your photographs?" He asked.

Shreya tried to think again. Of course she couldn't! She didn't know him! So, it wouldn't be some one sided love relationship! Nor had she heard about him. So, he obviously couldn't be related to her relatives.

Then she joined the lost dots. He was a terrorist. And she was a common citizen. And from what she had seen from the movie 'Holiday', she came to the conclusion.

"I will not go against my country and....and... kill innocent people." She said firmly.

"What??? From where did you get this idea that I'd allow you to enter this mess! God! Shreya!" He laughed.

"Then? What is your reason of having those photographs and keeping me here! "

She noticed him thinking something while he looked at her. She realised that he gets an almost unnoticeable frown when he thinks hard...or that's what she thought.

"How about I show you rather than tell you. " he said confusing her again.

Before she could ask anything else, there came a knock on the door.

"Come." He answered.

There came an elderly woman with a tray of food and juice.

Shreya looked at him confused again. He was serious when he said he would bring packed food. The tray had packed sandwich and a small juice bottle that appeared to be sealed.

"Are you serious? " The words came out of Shreya's mouth before she could actually prevent it.

"About what?" He asked bringing his phone out to make another call.

"About all this? Are you really going to keep me here without no reason!" She asked.

"I have told you the reason."

"But still! I want to see my family. I miss my home."

"Shreya! I am doing this for your safety and you should follow my instructions to keep your family safe as well. I am sure that your parents will be really tensed if they get to know about the things the Intelligence were about to do to you!"

"They will be much more tensed when they get to know that you have me in your house."

"Don't worry about it. I have taken care of it."

"What do you mean!" 

"As I said; please don't worry about it! All you need to know is that you and your family are safe till you obey me. I don't want you to feel like I have kidnapped you or forcing my plans upon you. I request you to follow up with me and trust me, you will thank me later."

"I highly doubt that, Sultan." She said and he met his eyes.

She noticed the same frown on him before he became normal and pointed at the tray of food.

"Now that the food is packed, I believe that you will have it. And when you become satisfied that I won't poison you, we can eat together. Our chef is really good!" He announced with a smile before going towards his work desk.

At this moment, Shreya realised something. She isn't a stupid girl. Instead, she is the kind of person who solves the matter instantly. But, in front of him, it was as if she had submitted to him. Sultan had a very good control on convincing people according to his wishes. He wasn't even raising his voice at her and she was already believing him...doing what he wanted.

'Is he hypnotising me or what? ' She thought, but immediately contradicted. She knew she was perfectly in her senses. Maybe the tone in which he was talking to her or perhaps his calm demeanour, automatically made him trustworthy.

But she again reminded herself that she was sitting in front of a terrorist who was responsible for killing God knows how many! 

She glanced at his direction again and saw that he was looking at her with questioning eyes.

"Eat, Shreya." He said and this time she felt slight irritation in his voice. Maybe he was getting annoyed at her, she thought.

To prevent the after cause of it, she took the sandwich in her hand and peeled off the plastic wrapper. The woman who brought the tray had soon left, so she knew she had to behave as she was still cautious of being alone with Sultan.

She took a bite and her stomach grumbled making her realise how exactly hungry she was. After having the food as well as the juice, she felt full. she looked at his direction again expecting him to let her go back to the room where she was or anywhere....away. Instead she found him engrossed in his work typing so quickly on his laptop. The only sound now in the room was the sound of hitting keys. 

Now that his attention was on his work, and Shreya had nothing to do, she took her time looking at him...analysing him. She concluded in all that he was a handsome man. He had slight facial hair that made him look more manly. His clothes looked even more perfect on him and the way he carried himself made her believe that he had a good upbringing. 

'What made him a terrorist!' She thought. He could easily pass on to become an actor or a model! Then why? She wondered.

"You are staring!" She heard his voice slicing through her thoughts and she realised that she was indeed staring at him. 

"Sorry! I was just thinking something!" She replied nonchalantly. 

"And that included me?" He asked with a pretty smile. 

She only narrowed her eyes at it making him laugh.

"You have lost some sense of humour, Shreya. You were so bubbly in the college days." He said and soon realised that he had slipped.

And Shreya wasn't stupid to ignore it.

"College! So, you know me from college! Were you in my college?" She asked.

She could clearly see him hesitating as if fighting his thoughts. Then he stood up and approached her again.

"I thought of telling you this later. I didn't want to scare you. But, now that I have slipped, I think I should tell you the answer for the question you so desperately want. " he said while walking towards her and sitting  on the floor on one knee looking at her intensely.

Shreya's heart picked up pace again and she could feel her fingers shaking.
After a short silence, he took a deep breath and said.

"I am trying to protect you Shreya. I couldn't sit here knowing that you were unsafe with those cruel people. " he said cupping her hand in his. He could feel her shivering hands and knew she was scared. Slowly, she pulled her hands away from his and tried to maintain distance.

"That wasn't my question, Sultan. I want to know the reason why you are protecting me." She asked.

He gulped before lifting his right hand and touched her cheek lovingly...caressing it like he always wanted. He still wondered and thanked as she didn't slap his hand away.

"I love you Shreya. And I have been crazy for you since college days. Never had the courage to ask you during the college days. And when I was settled enough to ask you, I couldn't. The circumstances in which I was stuck, held me from even approaching you. So, I had to convince myself from just seeing your photos. " by now he was chuckling. "I know I might sound craz..." he couldn't even finish before his left cheek stung a little. His eyes closed as he realised what just happened.

Nor could Shreya.

"I knew this would happen. " he mumbled enough for her to hear, making her dumbstruck.

She just slapped a wanted terrorist.