While watching the Television, Preeta re-considered Arjun's suggestion. A week ago, he had told her about his interview at a famous firm he had applied for a job in. Talking about jobs and ambitions had led to her mood falling since it had been a while, she had studied or done something academic.

She hadn't thought about her career because of the sudden marriage. In these months, she had taken time to tutoring Kritika and also have been discussing about her further education with her father-in-law who was more than ready to give her the permission for pursuing her post graduation.

Sometimes, reasons like these make her feel so angry at Karan. Because of his insecurities and stubbornness, she had stopped focusing on her career. She wished that things would have been different.

Karan could have been a decent man. If he had approached her politely instead of being so scary and forceful, maybe she would have started liking him earlier. She remembered how he had apologised for beating Arjun that day. But that time, she had been too innocent to even get the concept of liking someone and changing things for them. She didn't care a bit about how Karan was changing himself for her.

She wasn't at fault.

She just wished of things would have been different. Because of this marriage and so many incidents between her and Karan had led to this wide gap between her and her career. She wanted to become a professor. But she had lot more to do to achieve that.

What if she wouldn't have been married right now? She would have been sitting in her class, studying the subjects of her post graduation course. She would have been away from all the extra errands, all extra responsibilities as a wife, a daughter-in-law, a sister-in-law.

But she couldn't deny that she had accepted how her life had taken this sudden turn. She was enjoying this journey and had come up to love it step by step. Her in-laws liked her, they had accepted her as a part of their family and nothing mattered more than this to her.

She was somehow thankful to Karan for giving her such a new world. She couldn't wait to see, what more would come in further years.

She was counting on it.

But Arjun's suggestion of continuing her studies had awakened the determined person in her. She had decided that she would talk about it with Karan. Earlier, she had talked about him for doing a job but he had denied saying she needed to continue her education. But between all these chaos because of Kritika and Malhotra's, they both had forgotten about it. She would simply remind him.

She nodded to herself and switch off the Television. She got up and was about to get out of the room, since it was time for the evening tea for her father-in-law. But before she could walk ahead, her phone rang.

She looked at the wall clock and noticed, it was just five in the evening. Karan had called her just an hour ago. Who could it be?

Walking towards the bed, she picked the phone and saw Kritika's photo on the screen. Not wasting another second, she picked the call.

"Kritika," she smiled.

"Hello. Bhabhi?" Preeta frowned at her shaky voice. She gulped worriedly.

"Kritika? What happened? You sound hoarse. Are you crying?"

A sound of wind blowing came from the speaker and Preeta waited for Kritika to speak. But the sound became loud and she felt as if Kritika was running. She could hear her panting.

"Bhabhi? I am standing at a corner in this ground, near bus stand. You need to come to receive me. There are these guys drinking and staring at me. I am scared..."

Preeta's eyes widened and she immediately looked at the floor searching for her slippers. She started wearing them and looked for the car keys.

"In the bus stand? Why aren't you with Mohan uncle?" asked Preeta while finally picking the keys from Karan's study table and rushed out of the room.

She again heard wind blowing and then Kritika's voice. "Bhabhi! He is on leave. Don't you remember? I called Bhai. He isn't picking up. I have send him the message. But it's getting creepy for me here. You need to come," explained Kritika in a shaky voice and Preeta nodded hurriedly.

"Alright. I am coming. Just stand somewhere in the crowded place. Don't stand alone. I am now getting out of the home. Don't worry and keep talking to me."

"Okay."

_________

"Bhabhi? They are staring at me. All the boys. Three of them. If I stand up from this seat, they make a move to come towards me and laugh when I get scared," explained Kritika while Preeta's heart started beating faster.

She drove a bit faster and glanced at the phone on another seat, put on loud speaker. She picked the phone and said,"Keep on hold. I am calling your brother."

She called for fourth time and Karan didn't pick up the call. She had reached near the bus stand. She just needed to get closer to the ground.

"Bhabhi? You there? They are coming towards me."

She gasped and widened her eyes. "Kritika look around and yell for people if they do something. I am coming in seconds. Don't panic."

She fastened the pace of the car and drove around the bus stand's boundary wall to reach this abandoned ground where street boys used to play cricket in the day. But she had no idea, it would be filled with bad boys and gangs in the night.

In the terror, she called Arjun while driving but unfortunately, he was talking to someone else and wasn't picking her call. It must be an urgent call.

"Bhabhi? Hey..." She heard Kritika's whimper and worriedly called her name.

"Beautiful chick, isn't she? What's your name, sweetheart?" Preeta's stomach churned in fear at hearing one of the man's voice.

She gasped and reached the ground finally. Hurriedly picking her phone, she got out of the car and readied the helpline number to call police on the phone.

She entered through a little street and stood at the boundary of the ground. There were stalls at the far most corner of the ground but only two men were standing there, smoking cigarettes.

She gulped and looked around for Kritika but she was nowhere. Her eyes watered in fear and she ran towards a teenager street boy who was picking empty water bottles from the ground.

"Hey! Have you seen a girl? A bit shorter than me? She is wearing red top and black jeans," she described hurriedly but the boy only shook his head.

"The ground had been empty since an hour. It's getting dark, madam. Only boys come here at night." Saying this, the boy walked away from her, leaving her shocked and terrified.

Her heart started drowning in horror and she didn't know what to do. Suddenly, her phone rang and it was her mother-in-law calling her. She cut the phone and stared at the already typed number to call cops.

Her hands were shaking and she needed to be sure before disturbing the cops. This was her only option now. She didn't even realise when Kritika's call had been cut and now, she wasn't even picking up. She let out a sob and was about to press the green button for call but suddenly she heard a familiar voice.

"Preeta?"

She raised her head at the direction where the voice came from and widened her eyes at the man. She gulped in shock.

"Prithvi."

She saw the young man only nodding and walking ahead near her to give her a look of concern.

"What are you doing here? Why are you crying?"

Preeta stared at Prithvi and realised, he had come as her saviour for this trouble. It was a sign of god and she shouldn't back away because of their personal matters since it was a matter of Kritika's safety for now.

She sobbed and stepped closer to him. "Prithvi. Kritika, my sister-in-law. She was here alone. Some boys are after her. I don't know where she is. I reached here late. What if they took her? I can't found her..." she choked out the words hurriedly making Prithvi's face turning serious.

He blinked and stared at her crying face. Preeta sniffled and pleaded him with eyes. "It's alright if you don't..." and she started running away from him to search further at the place for Kritika.

"Wait. Preeta," yelled Prithvi and Preeta stopped while wiping her tears. Prithvi reached her with his friend who was here with him for a smoke after a long, hectic day at office. They both were in formals and parked their car near the ground. They were walking towards the stall, to grab an omelette but all of a sudden, they caught a weeping Preeta in the middle of the ground.

"Look. Don't worry. Just call her and come with us. We will look for her alright," said Prithvi softly while looking at her and Preeta nodded helplessly.

He started running and gestured for her to come after them. He jerked his head for his friend to look at the other side of the ground which was totally empty and had a green belt of trees till the another corner of the ground.

It had turned dark already and they couldn't find Kritika, nor she was picking up the calls.

Preeta was extremely terrified and even now, Karan wasn't picking up her phone. She cried in fear and shook her head.

"She isn't anywhere. What should I do? What if they had taken her? I won't be able to forgive myself ever. Oh god, how would she be..." she kept on rambling until Prithvi held her hand and shook his head.

"Stop. Just think, where she was when she had called you. Where would she run from that place?" He asked confidently while looked around for his friend who was checking on the stalls and trees in the darker side of the ground.

Preeta swallowed and looked at him. "She said, she was seating on a seat. Our driver is on leave and Karan wasn't picking her calls. So she must be waiting for the local bus. I had checked there before coming. She wasn't there. Before cutting the phone, I had heard her telling about the boys coming to her."

Prithvi widened his eyes. "Wait. Bus stop. There's a shortcut street behind that stop. She must have run there since, the road is a busy one. So instead of running on the road, she must have went to that silent street which is unfortunately not a good thing for her."

Preeta's lips trembled as she checked her phone again. "I need to call my father-in-law and even Kabir."

Prithvi frowned at her. "First, come check for her at that street. You can call them while running. Come. I won't leave you here alone and stop crying."

Preeta flinched and lowered her eyes when he gave her a look of concern. With a nod, she finally started running towards the bus stop and sobbed when she saw, Kritika's phone lying there under the seat.

"Oh God, she was here."

Prithvi looked around hurriedly and noticed the road was too busy since the traffic was too much. She must have gone to that street only. Not wasting anymore time, he held Preeta's wrist and started running towards the street behind the stop.

It was dark and Preeta was afraid in uncertainty. She kept on wiping her tears and clutched the plates of her saree to run faster. Her eyes widened when she heard a sobbing voice. She immediately exchanged a worried glance with Prithvi.

They quietly ran towards the end of the street and peeked at the turn. There she was Kritika looking horrified as ever. In front of her, were three well-built men in late thirties.

"Lord," Preeta whispered terrifyingly and Prithvi only shushed her by putting his finger on his lips.

"Quiet."

"We need to go."

"No, they are three. We are one. They have glass bottles of beer in hands. We need to work cleverly. Do you have pepper spray or something?"

Preeta shook her head helplessly. "No."

Prithvi sighed,"Isn't any of your men are coming? Your husband or his friend?"

Preeta gulped, "No."

Suddenly, they heard one of the men laughing. "Look, we just want some fun. Come with us to this club. It's fun and we will leave you then."

"Please. Take the money if you want. I have a laptop too in my bag. But please let me go," sobbed Kritika while looking at the men.

The men seemed to think about her deal but then, one of them smirked. "But what's the fun without some candies here? I want some kisses."

Kritika's eyes widened and so of Preeta and Prithvi. She stepped back while clutching to her shoulder which Preeta thought was aching. She could see a scratch on it.

The scenario turned worst when the men started stepping ahead towards her. "We would leave you after that. C'mon. You are too cute to let go without some sugar."

Kritika shook her head, looking horrified. "No. Please. Stay back."

The men only laughed and continued stepping making Preeta's heart freeze.

Suddenly, a loud voice echoed in the street making the men stop and look at the intruder.

"Haven't you heard the girl? Stay back or I'll make you."

_________

Who's the intruder?