"M.y.....My ...dad was killed",I choked out the words as tears brimmed in my eyes unable to wrap my head around the harsh realization.I slumped on the
coarse sand beneath as I hugged my limp body.

"The hell, are you saying", Adi knitted his brows in confusion, holding my shoulders to raise me up worried at my state.

"Yes, I have a strong hunch that my dad was killed the same way as the old man", I raised my head towards him,
"I know it's difficult for you to believe me now, but everything that is happening around me is pointing out
towards the same thing", I said staring at his concerned face.

"But that happened before 17 years Ira"
he said kneeling before me holding my
shoulders, "Why will they kill your dad
without no reason"? he wondered trying to connect the dots.

His eyes widened for a second with sudden realization, "Are you implying
that he knew about the place"?.

"It's more than that Adi", I said. "I believe that dad knew every mysteries
about that ruined place and it's locations.I feel that he was protecting it against some evil forces" .

"Ok, now let's move forward on your
beliefs itself. We have to start this journey by finding the location of that place you see in your dreams", he said
standing up and dusting off his pants.

"Now, get up. We have to go before the vileman returns home and see us going
through his library", he extends his hands towards me referring to his grandpa funnily.

"Ok", I place my hand in his large one
standing up.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

We come to stop in front of the huge old money decor mansion, which exudes
wealth and class without being too flashy or ostentatious; painted in white and earthy palette shades.

We walked through the tall iron gates, to the pavement covered with bed of grass on either side.The garden was well maintained with lots of bushes and shrubs. There were groves of trees bordering the mansion same like grandpas mansion but this was huge.

The grand mansion,intricate architecture, elegant chandeliers, high
ceilings and sweeping staircase left me in awe.

"Wow, this surely looks like a house made for royalties", I said seeing around awestruck by its grandeur.

He laughed at that, "You should thank grandpa for it, I'm sure the oldman will
be on cloud nine, hearing praises
about his beloved possession", he said
referring to the mansion.

We were cut short by the ear-muffling,
loud music coming from one of the many rooms.

"Aw, Who is that?", I asked him covering my ears from the booming noise.

"That's my crazy sister Hita", he said dragging me into the huge library with thousands of book.

"Now, it takes almost a year to go through these vast books", I said passing by the racks of books arranged
carefully.

"What are you doing there"?, I asked Adi who was standing on the stairs.

"I'm searching for those books woman",
he groaned, not able to find the particular book. "I have seen grandpa
using those old books before, I never
knew they might come in hand one day to me", he said clearly annoyed.

"Hold these", he handed me a pile of ancient books.

"Huh!! slowly. These are heavier than me", I huffed trying to balance those heavy books.

"No doubt, they are heavier than you",
he said scanning me from head to toe
with a light smirk playing on his lips.

"Thank you", I said sarcastically placing them on the wooden desk. "Now if you
have finally finished sizing me up with your eyes , you can help me in finding the book".

He finally moved towards me, with a
smirk still on his luscious lips.

Ah!! focus on the work Ira.

"I remember the dead old man saying, there was only one book with detailed information about the temple structure", Adi voiced out.

"Yes, but we can still hope to find something that connects us to the dreams I had and can lead us towards the place", I said going through the worn out pages of the books.

"These are really old and pages have paled, it's really difficult to make out
the writings", he said staring at the book, at the same time my hands came to stop on a particular page of the book.

"Adi, this is the same serpent I saw in my dreams and near our home", I said
showing him the large golden-white serpent on the paled page.

He took the book from my hands carefully and turned the pages, there were various kinds of maps and blueprints laid out there.

"This is the blueprint of Bhairavi temple", he said grazing his thumb on the complex map.

"Are you sure about it?, I asked staring at his stoic face.

"Yes, but here they have shown four entrances to it, but it has only one main entrance as we all know", he said rubbing his tensed jaws.

"May be they have closed the other three now or nobody might be knowing the existence of those", I said kneeling infrent of him, who was sitting on the couch.

"Well, they have written everything over here", he showed the lines below those pictures.

"This seems to be some unknown language", I said my brows furrowed.
"Wait a second...... I have seen this type
of writing in the inscriptions on the walls of the cave before", I grabbed
the book out of his hands, hastily turning the pages to find anything
else that I can connect with
my mysterious dream.

"Slowly, you will tear those poor pages",
Adi said amused by my actions.

"I know", I mumbled still turning the pages frantically.

"Hey, just a second. Stop", Adi took hold of the book and turned back the previous pages.

"What happened", I asked annoyed.

He stopped at the particular page, staring at it intently.It was the picture
of overflowing wealth. It had invaluable ornaments of gold, diamonds, pearls and other precious stones shining brightly.

"What's this?" , he asked bewildered by the picturesque view.

We stared at those in awe. There were statues made of gold, crowns, coins,
huge thrones and ornaments.

They seemed like something I have seen before. My heart felt the pull
towards it. A sense of protection rose
through me. A need to protect it from
any harm.

Why is my heart so restless now?

But something caught my attention in the midst of my incomprehensible thoughts. The glittering crown amidst
other valuable things.

This was the same crown I tried touching that day, before the ferocious snake appeared on it, not letting me to touch.

"These are all images from past, maybe
from historical era", Adi huffed turning the pages.

"No, these all are very real. They are present even today", I said staring at him.

"Nonsense, these are worth trillions of dollars woman, there is no way we can find these even today", he snorted at me eyeing me as if I'm mad for believing they exists.

"It's true Adi. I know it's hard to believe,
but they are found in the same ruined place", I said.

He laughed out loud at that. "Don't tell me we are going on a treasure hunt or something like that now", he raised his
hands snickering.

"Ow, you can laugh as much as you want, but this is the truth" , I glowered at him twisting my lips nastily.

"Oh, don't make the faces now, you look
like a constipated kid", he sneered.

"It's not funny", I said keeping all other books in their respective places except this particular one.

"And who said I was joking", he smirked moving towards me taking slow calculative steps.

How I wish to slap away that smirk off his handsome face.

"What are you trying to do now"?, I asked clearly confused as he walked towards me cornering to the desk.

His smirk widened as he stood in front of me with his hands tucked in his pockets.

I suddenly became aware of our nearness. My heart was flipping and beating so loudly that I'm sure that he could listen in the silent room.

Why is my silly heart racing like this?

He slowly bent forward, causing me to arch my back leaning on the desk.

"What am I doing?", he asked innocently bringing his face so closely that there was only a hair strand gap
between our lips.

I gulped slowly as my gaze involuntarily flickered towards his succulent lips. Suddenly the large room appeared to shrink in size.I fisted my hands tightly at my side, not trusting myself at the moment.

"Hmm", he mumbled lowly raking his intense gaze on my face with mischief dancing in his eyes. "Why is your heart beating so loudly Ira?", he whispered in my ear, making sure to graze his light
stubble onto my cheeks.

I closed my eyes tightly at the tingling sensation that erupted in my body, with his slight body contact.

"You are making me insane Ira", he groaned in my ear suddenly tugging me towards his hard chest.

I gasped out loud with my eyes wide open. His wide arms came around me hugging me to his warm chest.

"Adi.......", I tried to wiggle out of his hold making him to wrap his arms tightly around me.

"Shh...........don't". He warned me tugging me closer to his body. "Let me hold you", he whispered.

I slowly let out a breath and closed my eyes enjoying his warmth. I lifted my hands to hug him back, but a terrified voice reached to our ears.

"Holy moses!!!!, bless my innocent eyes".

☆☆☆☆♡☆☆☆☆

Dear readers, hope u liked the chapter.
Pls read ,vote and comment.

Sorry for the late update. I assure you this won't be repeated and updates will be regular as promised before five days a week.