Grey shade - shot 4

Ved shot up from ground and stood still. He saw a lady police officer approaching HER with metal handcuffs. The sight caught his breath in the chest. He couldn't understand the reason why cops wanted to arrest her

' just a minute officer ' RR said stopping the cops to progress their actions

He stepped in between HER and the cops. He took the arrest warrant from HER hands and read it. He was shocked and immediately turned her head towards HER.
He glared her for a moment and she stood her ground straight not worried about HER arrest at all.

" what the hell is this, LITTLE BOMB ? " RR asked holding HER arm and turning her towards his face.

She was silent.

" I want answers " RR roared

She was still silent.

" May I know what is the reason behind your stubbornness? " RR spoke with such stern slow voice that it scared a lot of people around him.

Farhad was scared at the use of tone by RR. It only meant he is on verge of anger outburst and mansi was testing it way too much. Farhad just prayed that RR don't take this, in his way, to deal with HER.

Mansi very well knew where her jeeju's tone of voice will take her to. She knew she was pulling the wrong strings out there. But she cannot let this strange truth of her to be out for any damn reason.

She put a stone on her bleeding heart and answered with heavy heart,

"That's none of your business Raghav Rao "

This line shook RR and other family members. RR just left her arm suddenly and looked at her blankly.

' did she say that?

Or

Are my ears ringing ? ' RR thought

Pallavi was too shocked to hear that from Mansi. From the day, she reconciled with Deshmukh family, mansi never called RR as ' Raghav Rao '. She always addresses him as 'jeeju' the way nikhil calls him as.

The day RR accepted, her calling him 'jeeju' he addressed her as ' Little bomb '.

Only at few instances where she feels too much love for her jeeju she calls him by his name, ' The Raghav Rao ' not just Raghav Rao. But it irked her much that mansi had put up a stern cold face and said that name

Pallavi couldn't take this anymore and asked her away ,

" Mansi ! What's wrong with you ? Why are you not answering Raghav ? And what is that line , ha ? "

Mansi just didn't want things to be dragged further. She just wanted get out of the mansion as soon as possible by getting herself arrested. If she has to get her arrest to be done in a smoother way , she has to hurt people who love her like anything.

" You don't have to poke your nose in every matter of mine pallu. That's none of your business too .... Did you get that , Mrs Pallavi Raghav Rao?" She said looking straight into pallavi's eyes, stressing her name in the last.

A slap hit Mansi's face after she said that.

Ladies of the house gasped in horror.

Milind kaka just slapped mansi for her stupid behaviour with her sister and brother-in-law.

" Shut up you ungrateful girl " he said

The slap even shocked mansi for the suddenness coz her baba never did that to her. He didn't even question her when she was dealing with ved in front of everyone in the mansion. He very well knew his daughter but what made him slap was still unprocessed by her mind.

" How did you question your sister and jeeju's care towards you ? " He said faking an anger.

Mansi understood everything.

His baba was making things easier for her. She so thanked God for giving her such a great supporting father.

" If you have dared to do such ungrateful thing to your sister and brother-in-law, I wouldn't be surprised if we as parents would be your next target " he said assuring her more, of the drama he was pulling up.

Pallavi was shocked to listen to Milind kaka's words. Why on earth would he say such words to mansi ?

" Kaka , why the hell are you accusing mansi for such small odd behaviour!?"

" When police officer has come with an arrest warrant to our house, you should have understood how far she has gone with things pallu ....." He said sternly.

" But kaka .... It can be misunderstanding too" reasoned pallavi

" Enough pallu I don't want to hear anything and I don't want to see her stupid face .... Just take her away officers " Milind said turning away his face from Mansi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All the while one pair of eyes were struck on mansi and were not even blinking since the cop drama started.

That one pair of eyes were observing mansi and her behaviour very keenly.

That person could easily assess her next moves and knew that, at all costs can check her game of chess by using his black coins

' wait for my moves miss white Queen '

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lady police officer was approaching HER with metal handcuffs and was about to lock HER hands in it only to hear a voice roaring from behind this lioness.

" Don't you dare touch her ! " HIS voice came in and it was stern and dangerous.

She looked back to see HIM play his moves against her white moves.

She dreaded the worst

Amruta was held at gunpoint by HIM

This was stupidity !

How can someone do that..... ?

She caught her breath in her chest

But one gesture of HIM made things clearer to HER. The smirk on HIS face was the clue.

He's playing this game at mad rate and would take this, much far than anyone would ever expect. She knows HIM well.

HE has held her pawn ( Amrutha ) in HIS hands and expecting HER, the white Queen to move back on her steps.

Impressive move !

' Let's take this game further! I challenge you Mr black king '

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her arrest was his mistake. Only he has to rectify this and so He was doing this.

SHE was adamant on not giving away the man who just had a turn over of attitude, moments ago. She will not spoil this.

Two people getting on to their beast modes to save each other.

But the chess board has other coins too .... Even a pawn when reaches the other side of the board becomes a queen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone was shocked to see amruta in ved's clutches.

RR was shouting ," chinu no.... please.... Don't do that " but He did not care.

Police were threatening with their own guns and here Farhad had planned to tackle this from behind.

" DON'T YOU DARE PULL UP ANY FEAT TO SAVE HER FARHAD " HE said warning him without looking at Farhad.

Farhad was shocked to get ved's warning. RR signalled Farhad to move back on his proceedings.

Yet everyone tried to divert ved's attention but his stare was fixed on her

Pallu dragged RR to a corner where they could see mansi and ved on a landscape view. Pallu held his hands with her own palms and pressed them against his own.

RR calmed down at once and followed Pallu's gaze. She was constantly staring two mad people , Ved and Mansi.

None of them were expecting the calm behaviour of two deadly dangerous people in the hall.

The White Queen just stood there with her hands folding watching HIM straight into the eyes.

And the black king had moved his only strong and powerful move - catching up the White's pawn in HIS captive.

But what made Raghav and Pallavi get scared about this spitfire combo was, they won't bend down infront of each other. Never ever !

The game has begun to turn down each other and they were masters in it.

The White Queen snapped her finger and everything went into silent mode.

She saw directly into HER pawn's eyes and blinked HER eyes twice !!

That's it !

The black king fell to the ground.

The White Queen played her 'Move' in a split second that the Black King couldn't even guess HER move.

The White Queen made her pawn the queen for the time being and check mated the black king.

Coz when a pawn reaches to the edge of the other side, it plays the role of a 'queen'

The smirk on Mansi's face said it all.

The White Queen had HER upper hand in the game.

Amruta ran to mansi after using her defence techniques to throw ved down.

She hid behind her queen after successfully completing her order.

" Don't play games with lioness. YOU WILL BE KNOCKED DOWN, MR. LION " she said looking down at ved.

She turned around and said, " I think we should make a move inspector....."

" Of course, Ms. Deshmukh ! But before that let me have a pair of another handcuffs for this man " the inspector said shocking the hell out of Mansi.

" But why inspector? " Asked mansi not holding her shock feeling anymore

" Ms. Deshmukh he has attempted to kill someone in front of a cop. Under section 320 I have to arrest him" he added

Mansi just closed her eyes in disgust

Shit !

Shit !

Shit !

How did I not guess it ?

How foolish it was ?

They dragged him up and locked his hands with handcuffs.

HE succeeded in his plan

HE got handcuffed before HER.

Mission accomplished!!!

The Black King had no one to lose expect himself, so HE did what seemed best for HER and everyone.

He sacrificed his position for ' HIS White Queen ' , the one and only Queen of HIS life.

He repayed her efforts with his arrest and probably repented his mistake of breaking her hopes and trust.

He surrendered himself , not to the cops or law of the country but to the queen of his heart, the one who painted him all white despite the black mark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today HE listened to HIS heart to go for HER at all lengths to save HER.

HE never listened to HIS heart's instincts all these days because he was too blinded by HIS black mark of life.

Today when everything got cleared by HER revelations and RR's gestures, his heart weighed more to him than HIS REVENGE.

There was no more space for black mark to dampen his heart which always tried its way to show HIM the truth of white colour she managed to paint on him.

The black colour was uprooted from its origins and now the white colour started to open up in his veins of blood.

The grey shade he managed to portray all these days slowly started loosing its colour.

The grey shade looses it's black tinge to become white and henceforth grey shaded ved was losing his black shaded revenge to turn into white shade of Love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today the lady officer approaching HER made all the necessary changes in his body , mind and heart.

He had to become black infront of everyone to hide the white love for HIS Queen.

Black king risked it all for HIS White Queen.

And hence his mission was accomplished!!

No regrets !!

He was being dragged by the police inspector and was about to move past HER when a hand stopped HIM from moving further.

Mansi held HIM tight not letting any force resist her from stopping HIM.

' just a minute inspector ' ved said looking at the stubbornness of Mansi.

The moment he turned towards HER, her red eyes brought in the necessary understanding to HIS brain.

He was ready for it.

He just wanted to fuel it to give a last and final touch to their relationship.

The end he wanted would be never granted to him and so he had to snatch it from her.

HE slowly moved his finger across her side of the face near her cheeks and moved down to her chin

She was shocked by HIS audacity in touching her like that. HE never crossed HIS limits of their relationship, however and whatever it was. A well behaved con-man he was, not cheap or filthy like this.

This angered her more coz she judged him wrong all this while.

SHE felt disgusted by HIS touch and shoved off HIS fingers  with her hands.

" Behave ! Bastard ! " She said pointing her finger to him as a sign of warning

He knew exactly where this was going. He got a confirmation by her warning that he has pulled her wrong strings. That's what was necessary now.

One more string to pull and it will be done.

" Oh ! C'mon ! Wasn't this what you expected to get after pulling up such a drama ?" He said, just to fuel her anger

That's it!

HE got slapped

YOU NEVER CHANGE ! she shouted

He smiled at her and said, " you expect too much from me and that's where the problem comes Ms Lioness " he said faking a smirk on his face.

In sheer anger she held his throat and said

" Don't you dare step up more on my anger chords Mr Lion ..... I can go any length to prove you wrong " glaring him straight into HIS eyes.

He just wanted this last look of HER before they are parted for life.

One last look of :

The lady who barged into his mind and body

The owner of HIS heart

HIS angry lioness

HIS WHITE QUEEN

HER nails were dug deep into HIS skin piercing the barrier of his body to mark herself permanently.

Though she was unaware of the mark she was leaving on him, he was totally enjoying her torture one last time.

" Mansi ! Stop it ! " Nidhi came in to drag her back. She was however shoved off by mansi.

Mansi composed herself to bring down her anger but it did not help after what she heard from him

"Nevertheless, the fact never fades and remains the same that king reigns over black shaded forest and I am the king, the one and only LION " he laughed with his outstretched hands.

She glared back and said holding his collar , " if only I wasn't bound by rules of laws and my profession I swear I would have hunted you down Mr Lion "

He shoved her off by saying,
" Ah ! You wish Ms Lioness ......." And started laughing at her.

She felt disgusted at her helplessness.

He continued, " But but but you can't ..... Rules only apply to white people like you not for people like me. We are free to be black and busted."

" You ..... ! " She advanced only to be stopped by nidhi

" No mansi!" Nidhi said

" Take him away !" She shouted

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" No ! Stop it officer" a voice from the entrance was heard.

Mansi was shocked to see that the voice belonged to her professor, Mr. Bose.

" Professor !?" She blurted in surprise.

"Inspector here's our word of letter on behalf of action taken against Ms Deshmukh" he said showing some papers to the police inspector.

The inspector cross examined the papers. He moved towards mansi and said

" You are free to go Ms Deshmukh " only to receive a shock from her.

Mr. Bose relieved her from the charges of misconduct which was filed by University.

" But sir ..... " she said only to be cut by her professor who said,

" it's not expected of you to do such things Ms Deshmukh......... a medical misconduct ? Seriously ? How dumb can you go for this bastard 's case Ms Deshmukh ? " expecting a answer from her

The statement or say the questioning of Mr Bose shocked everyone in the Mansion including ved.

He somewhere guessed that the reason behind her arrest would be him.

HIS own misleading conduct of pulling up a crime even after being certified clean would put her in judicial problem like getting arrested or being fired from her duties.

But this medical misconduct was not expected at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He fell into a reel of flashback

His White Queen was way ahead of him in all senses and tricks.

She risked her career, her life , her degree and all she could have for getting him a clean chit.

Why ?

Why would she do that?

'BECAUSE SHE BELIEVED IN YOUR HIDDEN PURITY VED !' his heart answered.

No .....

No ...... No ..... no ..... no.......

This cannot be true ..... He shouted mentally at his heart

'OF COURSE IT IS THE TRUTH VED !

TRUTH CAN BE IGNORED BUT CAN NEVER BE DENIED

DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING ?

YOUR NAME HAS A MEANING

VED MEANS SACRED, PURE , PRECIOUS

IT ALSO HAS ANOTHER MEANING VED

VED ALSO MEANS THE TRUTH

YOU ARE THE TRUTH VED !!!! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO CAN BE IGNORED BY THIS WORLD BUT CANNOT BE DENIED

AND A HEART'S VOICE WILL NEVER DENY THE TRUTH, VED

THE ONLY TRUTH YOU SHOULD KNOW IS THAT MANSI HAS ALSO A MEANING TO HER NAME

MANSI MEANS A WOMAN, A VOICE OF HEART , A SPIRTUAL ATTEMPT

SHE IS THAT ONE WOMAN WHO LISTENED TO HER HEART'S VOICE AND RECOGNISED THE UNDENIABLE TRUTH OF YOU VED.

SHE MADE AN ATTEMPT, A VERY SPIRITUAL ATTEMPT TO BRING OUT THE PURITY IN YOU

AND NOW , LOOK AT YOURSELF..... YOU HAVE BECOME SACRED BY MAKING HER YOUR PRIORITY.

YOU HAVE BECOME A PRECIOUS SOUL BY PUTTING YOURSELF ASIDE AND THOUGHT OF THE PERSON INFRONT OF YOU, YOUR HEART'S VOICE, YOUR QUEEN, MANSI

MANSI ALSO IS ANOTHER NAME FOR GODDESS SARASWATI.... SHE IS ALWAYS IN WHITE AND THAT'S WHY SHE IS YOUR WHITE QUEEN, VED "

No words were left for ved to say anything after a grand eye-opener moment which was made by HIS heart.

HIS heart showed him the path of truth

His eyes welled up looking at HIS Queen.

He couldn't be more thankful or say grateful to his stars for sending HER into his life

He so wanted to move past everyone and take her into a tight hug to thank HER for all that she did but the reality struck HIM!!

She was the White Queen and he was the Black King. No history has a record of the union of two opposite coins of a chess board

She was just :

A perfect competitor for him.

A worthy opponent he could have on board.

But both cannot give each other a place to stand beside them.

Not possible at all !

HE just closed his eyes in disgust.

HE was so close to claim his happiness but cannot have it due to reasons unexplained

He opened his eyes and said

I owe you one, dear mate

'PROUD OF YOU VED !' his heart stated

~~~~~~~~~~~~

She bent her head down in front her professor. She was not guilty of her deeds but was ashamed to look at her professor's eyes. She just couldn't.

" I expect an answer Ms Deshmukh" professor bose said raising his voice a bit.

" I'm sorry sir I'm afraid I don't have one !" She said not lifting her head up.

" Stubborn lady ! " Prof bose said

" You very well know that I was , am and will be such a lady professor !" She said

Prof Bose hit her head slightly and said,

" I'm afraid that this would be the last mistake of yours that I would be able to forgive Ms Deshmukh " lifting her head up by pulling her chin so that he can see her unwavering eyes.

" Thank you professor for the faith and forgiveness but I'm afraid that it would be my last " she said

" What do you mean by that, Ms Deshmukh?" Prof Bose asked in confusion

" I am resigning Dr Bose " she said shocking the hell out of people around her once more

" But Ms Deshmukh....... " He tried to speak only to cut off in mid-way by mansi.

" I beg you professor not to convince me on this issue coz I have made up my mind " she said not meeting his eyes.

" Is it because of this bastard ?" He asked STRAIGHT away pointing to ved .

Mansi silenced herself. She did not answer

" Well Ms Deshmukh ....... I have my version clear about your desicion but I have to tell you something ..... Divya had once asked me to convey her thanks to you for giving her the amazing idea of writing letters. I couldn't convey it you as I had an emergency to attend to. But when I came to know that you reopened her case and joined the dots to this bastard's case I mentally noted to convey this to you "

Prof Bose moved close to ved and said

" She never had a black spot in her whole career and you just made it possible. I am surprised that she spared you even after you turning out to be so grey. May be.... may be that's the only REASON why she is such a gem of a person. I'm proud of her. I really hope you realise what she has done to you though I don't have any hope from you."

" I'll take a leave Ms Deshmukh. Got to go " he said leaving behind everyone rooted to the ground.

The officers took him away and ved stopped at the entrance, turned back and said,

" Well ! Well ! I must admit Ms Burnett , you played well "

" Good bye Ms Burnett"

SHE heard him say that word ' Ms Burnett ' and tears made their way to the eyes of the White Queen

That word flashed all her memories with him ..... Beautiful moments of them which had a special place in her heart

Unknowingly she registered HER Black King in her mind so much that she can't either erase HIM or HIS traits

The tears were flowing down uncontrollable

She only managed to say,

"Oh god ! I hate you Mr Stewart "

Change is the reason a person moves ahead in life. It is necessary for a person to understand the process of change very well.

What one doesn't know is, there is always a chance to change.

Change is inevitable how much ever one tries to avoid it. But that realisation only strikes when someone does something drastic and it results in guilt and then people understand change.

That's how change works on you, if you ignore to embrace it.

His ignorance in the light of black, made him forget the grey state he was in and appreciate the white state for which he was certified.

He ignored every single beauty of life that's why he lost HIS beauty of life.

The two people who watched the end of their relationship turned to each other and said,

" Let's do this! "

************** To be continued************

I'm sorry guys for the longest chapter though I said last two shots will be small.

So sorry that you have to bear with me

I hope I didn't disappoint you guys 😅😅😅

Would be awaiting for your response

See you soon with last shot ( this time for sure ) 🙈🙈🙊🙊

Thank you for all the love ❣️

Writer_Ak signing off!! ☺️❤️