21st July

Moving across the kitchen, Priyasha reached the microwave and put the bowl with the cake batter inside it. She had long wanted to try this recipe of Dark Chocolate cake, and today was a favorable circumstance and there's a good reason to bake a cake. It was Abhiraj's Birthday. However, he seemed not to be aware of the fact that she had trespassed in his territory and known something that he would not have wanted her to know. But she did anyway and after she got to know all of that, she decided to break his façade which was creating disturbances in her life and she didn't know how many more lives!

Although she was still worried about the whole Vishwa situation and Abhiraj's involvement with him, since last night it seemed not to concern her that much. It was very much unreasonable, and she was feeling restless because of it. Meanwhile, the news of Kaushik's health was also nagging at the back of her mind. Also, she had decided to relocate to Hyderabad, and all of those lined up complications of her life had her pondering on her success rate.

She set the timer and waited while sipping on her sugarless black tea. She had been gaining weight and now was determined to cut off sugar from her diet.

It was Saturday and her watch told it was 8:35 am. Last night when she came down from the terrace and brought the old photograph with her, she didn't see Abhiraj in the living room or hallway. In fact, she didn't want him to be there. She could not have answered any of his inquiries if he had seen that photograph in her hand.

She had to prepare a special plan for that.

Her phone buzzed, and she noticed a new notification from Instagram. One of those instagrammer whom she followed, had uploaded a photo of him with a scenic background. She double tapped the photo and scrolled down eyeing through the other posts.

Social networking sites, to be precise, waste more time than they make people utilize it.

Actually, there's a trick of how social media work. It either can consume a huge portion of your time or it can be a beneficial deal for you. If you don't get addicted to the social media and make use of it to grow, then only it is helpful. Otherwise, you'll end up doom-scrolling hours after hours, and forget about your real-life. But often people ignore the opportunities and keep their focus centered on entertainment only, that's where addiction comes and it doesn't go away easily.

In fact, social medias were designed this way so that it provokes releasing dopamine or the happy hormone. So that you feel elated watching others' lives while the time spent there could've been the potential time for you to grow and have a return thereafter.

We basically need to learn one thing foremost. Balancing our time. How we utilize our time? How much time we spend on them? Why do we spend time on them? These are some major questions we must ask ourselves before we could turn the 'only-entertainment' into 'a-lot-of-opportunities'.

"Priyasha, come outside. We have guests."

She looked up at the doorway and noticed Abhiraj's freshly bathed frame leaning on the door. He tilted his head and gestured her to go along with him. She shifted her gaze from him and to the microwave. Still six minutes to go.

"I'm coming in five minutes," she said not wanting him to know what exactly she was doing.

"Okay." Abhiraj didn't insist and left.

Priyasha wondered who them guests might be while waiting earnestly for the microwave to let out its beep and eventually when it did, she quickly switched it off and brought the cake out. Checking her handiwork, she was actually quite impressed with herself. The cake looked perfect, well baked and smelled delicious. She covered it then left it on the kitchen counter to cool down then headed to the living room.

There were four people sitting with Abhiraj discussing something serious among them. Abhiraj was quiet and listening to them with acute concentration, his eyebrows knitted in a deep frown, one hand tapping on the armrest, another was spinning his phone. When she reached closer, she recognized two of them. They were the ones from police lock up. An instant grimace appeared on her face. Although she was actually clueless of their arrival and their intention to meet with her, she deliberately proceeded toward them feeling nervous.

Upon seeing her presence, they straightened and focused their attention on her. All greeted each other with head tilts. Once they exchanged that quick acknowledgement, she shifted her eyes on Abhiraj questioningly. Abhiraj noticed that and showed her a seat vacant to his left with his eyes. After settling down, he introduced the men.

"This is Sachin, Vijay,"

She recognized Vijay, noticing the band-aid on his forehead and scratches and bruises over his face and the exposed part of his hands. He was the one who was driving the car, and who took the blows.

"Chetan and Ravi. They came to talk to you."

"Oh!" That was unexpected. She glanced at Abhiraj then turned her attention back on the men.

Sachin shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. "Ma'am, I'm the union leader of Permabell Chemicals, and Chetan here, has come all the way from Jalpaiguri. He works at Permabell's Tea Estate. We're going through a real crisis, because of certain rules that has been imposed on us unjustly."

Priyasha looked at them curiously trying hard to decipher why were they inclined to tell her everything about Permabell.

Sachin continued, "You must have heard of Kabir Nanda, who was involved and was the legal culprit with the money-making scam in the year 2012. But as his allegation never got proved, he's now inclined toward the chemical plant of Permabell. He wants to close the plant altogether and build a residential city there and Deb Shahab agreed to his proposal and if this takes place, thousands of workers' lives will be on the stake."

Priyasha sat back listening to them profoundly. She still didn't understand why were they telling her these issues.

Chetan took over from Sachin after he paused. "Then there's the problem with the tea estate. The daily wages prevailing to these tea plantation workers are lowest in the industry. Where Kerala has been giving a daily wage of 310 Rs, our workers are getting the half of it, which is a terrible amount and hence been degrading their household condition day by day. Children are suffering from malnutrition. They don't even have the minimum facility of toilets in their houses. They had to defecate and urinate in the open which certainly isn't at all hygienic."

Priyasha grimaced at the information.

"As per the latest wage notification of our state government, the minimum wage of the semi-skilled agricultural workers, considering all the difficulties of livelihood, has been fixed at 244 Rs. Therefore, it is natural for the plantation workers to have, if not the same but more or less, that amount. Moreover, the crisis of permanent workers is decreasing and those who haven't yet got the permanent-ship they had to do extra work for that arbitrarily decided wages. This is a similar scenario in the chemical plant too."

She nodded listening to all they had to tell. Finally, she said politely, "I never knew of the situation so far. It is a terrible happening that is taking place both in the hills and the city. But I do not understand, why do you have to tell me of all people this information?" She glanced at Abhiraj who sat there with a clenched jaw and a scowl. The usual.

Sachin answered, "The situation at the hill can only be solved with political interference. As though the workers are on the verge of a strike, the union doesn't want that considering the consequences. Thus, we have been pushing the advisory committee for further meetings and settlement with the employers' association to increase the daily wages. Otherwise, a strike will certainly break out soon. As for the issue of the chemical plant, Vishwa Senapati is an infamous and renowned personality in the whole southern zone, as you might have known."

Priyasha winced at the sudden utterance of the name of Vishwa.

"Senapati is a rival of Kabir Nanda, who is basically from Uttar Pradesh. Both of them are reluctant in losing their grounds and as Senapati has a personal-professional rivalry with Nanda, he agreed to help us out by just one meeting with Roy Sir." He shifted his stare at Abhiraj, Priyasha followed his stare and glanced at him.

"Roy Sir has been dealing with these issues since last two years and when the issue of residential city came into view he had to seek for an extra hand. Senapati and Roy Sir decided after their meeting that Nanda needs to be forced out of Bengal at any cost. All the legal paper work that has been done so far in Permabell, Senapati managed to make a copy of each with the help of Aslam. Aslam has a big, but mediatory role in this whole situation."

She exhaled a shaky sigh remembering Aslam and Abhiraj's fight at the book fair's parking lot over her.

"In return Senapati made a deal with us." Finally, Vijay opened his mouth. His raspy and a little struggling voice made her snap her head at him instantly. "You."

Her heart sank down at the revelation. Now the reason was clear to her. Vishwa loved his little brother, and when Romeo wanted nothing other than her, Vishwa couldn't help but to acquire every possible way to get to her.

She looked at the four of them then glanced at Abhiraj. He was frowning and clutching the armrest tightly. She looked back at the four of them, they all looked between apologetic to compelled.

After an uncomfortable silence Ravi said, "It was as per the foolproof plan so you could receive a little more security. We never wanted to give you up. Just was buying time to get our work done before the time comes that'd compromise your safety. It has always been against our moral. We even offered Senapati other than what he asked for, but we aren't sure why he demanded and kept insisting on you. Roy Sir, indeed, looked for another way around. He never once let Aslam know about our plan. He would have gone straight to Senapati if he knew it. Although, now he knows."

Vijay took over from Ravi and spoke softly, "Although, we don't know what will happen next now that it all seems to have fallen apart, we promise to keep you safe in any situation. It was Roy's decision to let you know everything, so we have come." He pleaded thereafter, "Please don't get mad at us. We never meant to harm you or your friend."

Priyasha exhaled the air she didn't even realize she was holding. "I don't get mad at someone for someone else's deed."

She averted her eyes at Abhiraj and observed his frown. "I understand the complications. I am not mad at you."

They all relaxed after she said that.

Abhiraj finally cleared his throat. "Okay then. We can wrap this up here. You may leave now. I'll join you in an hour."

She glared at him then contradicted his words. "No, wait. I'll be right back."

She headed toward the kitchen processing each of their words inside her head and wondering about the terrible situation the workers now were stuck in. She wasn't sure why did Vishwa agree to their offer. Considering the businessman and the head of a mafia gang that he was, it was not at all acceptable in his reputation that he would agree to offer his assistance only for her in return. He could have just kidnapped her and things would have been over. Then what was reason?

The cake now had cooled. She placed it on a plate and decorated it with chocolate chips and chocolate sauce, then placed the plate on a tray and started for the living room. Perfect!

It felt still awkward that she had made a cake for someone who had been deceptive to her since the beginning.

She felt a little relieved now that they had company otherwise it'd have been more awkward if it were only the two of them.

When she entered the living room with the cake, all of them including Abhiraj stood up and instantly fell oddly silent. Abhiraj was flabbergasted and his mouth fell slightly open. She went straight in front of him and placed the tray on the table, gesturing for him to sit down with her eyes and smiled at the others. "It's his birthday."

They all smiled back learning that and wished him. Ravi and Sachin clicked some photographs quickly. She did too. Abhiraj's facial expression was indescribable. His face had taken a shade of red from suppressed anger but he attempted hard to remain stoic before others. She anticipated what might come after the men were gone. However, for that briefest moment, she ignored the nagging warning at the back of her mind and concentrated on the present. The cake was cut and tasted delicious. Just like she had expected. Everyone praised her baking as she thanked them.

They gossiped while eating the cake and to make the ambience lighter. She inquired to know who was the player who portrayed the traffic constable and everyone burst out laughing except Abhiraj. When she learned it was Jai, she too joined them remembering how serious the policeman at the police station had become when he learned one of their men was involved in that conspiracy. She was missing Jai so much in that moment.

It is a nice feeling when you do good to others. In a way, it's selfish too. Because when you do good to others it actually earns you self-happiness in return. Giving someone happiness releases the feel-good hormones in our brains, that ultimately broadens the powerful pathway to personal growth and happiness for a lifetime. When you do good to others, it highlights the humility inside you that plays a major role in making new friends or positive and healthy relationships. The endorphins that release inside both the helper and help-seeker's brains, boost the happiness for both. It ultimately creates pleasure inside-out of each individual linked to that altruistic activity.

The men bid farewell after the celebration and promised her they'd be there if she ever needed their help. She appreciated their offer and invited them over for some other time. They thanked her for the wonderful time before leaving.

Then the argument began.

Abhiraj closed the door and turned in her direction. His livid eyes were everything she'd have preferred to stay away from at this moment. Even it appeared more dangerous now than Romeo's scarred face. He swiftly moved forward, ensuring she didn't get time to back away, held one of her hands and dragged her straight to the kitchen.

Once they reached the kitchen, he released her hand and turned away from her putting his hands on his hips.

"Why did you?" He asked, trying hard to keep his composure and refraining himself from shouting aloud.

"I wanted to."

"You have no right."

"Did you have any right?"

He ran a hand through his hair. The temperature suddenly dropped a degree and the ambience turned serious immediately. She played with the fork that was lying on the counter and waited for his comment which rolled out of his mouth coarsely after a short. His voice rising with each word that snapped out of his mouth as he said, "It is a serious issue with you."

"So is this."

"You shouldn't have opened it!" His voice boomed across the kitchen as she shuddered visibly at the intensity. He turned toward her swiftly and slammed his hand on the counter with a loud thud causing the utensils clanked with each other. He roared, "How dare you? How... dare you?"

She shivered as she backed away. Not once had she seen him like this enraged until now. He was fuming, literally shaking from anger.

"You have no right interfering with my stuffs!"

She stepped back, then paused and stopped herself from chickening out. She took a step forward and said calmly, "Stop yelling. I certainly have that right. The thing is, I have the full empowerment over you since it is never fair that one of us would get benefits back-to-back and the other could not demand the same. And since, you get to decide what I should or should not do since I've moved here, from now on the same applies on you."

He scowled at first. But when her words settled in, his expression changed to that of surprise. She was surprised as well that since when did she gain that courage. But lately, she didn't feel threatened around him. It was still beyond her understanding how subtly she had developed a feeling of being protected around him.

He stood there stupefied and his mouth opened but words didn't come out. She averted her eyes and bit the inside of her chin. She knew he was trembling from anger inside but could not find the proper words to put together. A while later he tried, "You- you don't know what I am capable of...you...you have no idea what I can..."

"Beat me up and break my hand in pieces. I know." She shut her eyes as the words left her mouth before she could hold her tongue. She mentally slapped her.

Wrong choice of words!

When she finally opened her eyes and glanced at him, his expression had turned beyond furious. She sighed but continued, "You'll do no such things and I am sure about that." She gazed in his enraged eyes. This man needs anger management, she thought.

Suddenly, he grabbed her upper arm firmly that it started hurting, and she feared it might leave bruises there later. His grip was much stronger than she had expected. "You...you have read my diary?" He dangerously gritted his teeth as he pulled her to make her look in his eyes. His knitted eyebrows and clenched jaws looked outrageous but she didn't feel particularly afraid.

"Ow!" She winced in pain, "Leave my hand Abhiraj! You're hurting me. Yes, I've read your diary, so what?" She held his gaze looking straight into his eyes, his galaxy eyes that had taken a shade of inferno at present. "Why are you acting so weak?"

His eyes widened at the word and he pushed her away. "Weak?" Closing his eyes, he ran one of his hands through his hair. "I am not weak! And I don't care what people think of me!"

Priyasha rubbed her hurting arm as she said quietly, "Yeah, the usual manly arrogance. I get that. But wait. I still have something for you and I am sure you're never going to forget about this birthday gift."

She walked up to the refrigerator, on top of which she had kept the envelope. A frown formed on his forehead as he watched her movements cautiously, half fearing what else she had dug out of his past.

She walked back and held out the envelope. Looking at him she said, "Go on now."

He was at first curious, and quizzically gazed at the envelope. Then slowly he took that and opened it up, then instantly froze once he discovered what was there inside it.

"They don't deserve to be locked in a mere packing box, Abhiraj," she said softly.

He threw that on the kitchen counter and grabbed her chin and gritted his teeth. His voice dangerously low. "Why did you?"

"Are they hurting the big man?" She mocked, despite knowing she shouldn't.

He leaned forward, and she winced at their close proximity. "I don't want to talk about them, besides..." He paused, then whispered in a threatening tone, "You did a big mistake messing with those stuffs."

She stared in his eyes, they never failed to captivate her. She knew he was growing impatient because of the inexpressible frustration and feelings he had locked inside him. He was deceiving his nervousness and vulnerability relating his past with the dark cloak of hatred and anger.

She touched his fingers where they had made contact with her chin and spoke softly. "You shouldn't be afraid of your past. They give you strength to fight. Don't be afraid to expose it. Otherwise, it will only scare you more. It'll make you weak. You should fight against your fear, Abhiraj."

His brows furrowed as he slackened his hold on her chin slightly but still held his position. His whole body had tensed up.

"Your mother had loved you with all of her heart... she still does. She doesn't deserve to be forgotten."

"Don't!" He warned.

"Release the tension, Abhiraj. Even if you try, the memories won't ever leave you. So just man up and deal with it. Don't. Just. Run away." She forcefully plucked out his hand from her face and threw it down.

His eyes moved along with it.

"Look at me," she demanded, and he obliged. "You need to be easy on yourself. Make peace with yourself. Once you do that, others, those who are engaged with you will also find peace and mind my word, you will be the one who will provide them the happiness they need." She folded her hands in front of her and waited for his reaction.

They stood there looking at each other. The burden of her words settled in his head when he finally averted his gaze.

"You know... nothing about me."

"Then tell me."

Abhiraj looked at her again, searching for anything to hold on to then leaned on the kitchen counter against his back, pressing one of his hands on it and running another through his hair. After a few moments of silence, he started quietly, "Since she died, it was all about hatred and violence." He shut his eyes. "I was alone, broken, unloved, never had a friend, something like, an unwanted creation by God. Is that even possible?" He looked at her.

"It is a deep question, to be honest." She shrugged. "God doesn't unlove anyone. To him everyone is equal, everyone is individual souls. Actually, we all are the parts and parcels of him, and are parts of his big plan. We might not be able to understand his plans at times but when he unravels his plan, we get to comprehend the fact that why it didn't work out earlier. In fact, there's a solution for this, only one to be precise." She shifted her weight from one foot to another and continued, "When a child grows up, he needs constructive engagement, similarly, we also need constructive engagement in spiritualism. Virtually, when a particular plan of ours gets disrupted, we get temporarily perplexed for being unsure of what to do next, but the ultimate plan of God teaches us to find another way out, only to serve him more because that is the highest motive in reality. If our consciousness always gets redirected to God, then it helps us to achieve the freedom from emotional entanglement." Priyasha paused momentarily before adding, "There's an eternal abode and God loves us so much that he always creates some major ups and downs so we could finally redirect our focus on the eternal abode. Once we reach there, nothing will be able to make us suffer the sufferings as we do now. That's how much he loves us, every one of us. We can't even imagine the love he has for us, my heart hurts only thinking about that."

He stared at her incredulously. Perhaps trying to decipher the meaning of her apparently incoherent thoughts. But they were not actually incoherent. It just took some inner reflections to understand their meaning. A minute later, he scoffed. "No way I'm going to believe on that, even though I'm impressed by all of it the way you've put up." He turned his head away. "However, that's a false and unreasonable theory. Absolute Lie."

"Why would I tell a lie to you?"

"Maybe you hate me, that's why."

"I don't hate you."

As a response, Abhiraj shifted instantly and stood up straight before her. "If you don't hate me then what exactly do you feel about me?"

Priyasha gasped at his sudden demand. She wasn't expecting such a question at this moment so she ignored it altogether which was a major feat. She turned and picked up the photograph. Her eyes lingered on it for some time. "Your mother was pretty. Beautiful lady."

"She was, yes," he whispered back.

She put that down on the counter and immediately shivered due to his hot breathing that fanned the back of her neck. He was behind her. So close. Her breathing hitched and caught in her throat while she bit down her bottom lip. He grabbed her shoulder gently then slowly turned her around before tipping her head up with a finger beneath her chin insisting her to look at him. She did so and stared into his galaxy eyes. Someday they would hunt her down, she noted down. He traced her jawline lightly. It was an excruciating feather-touch that made her shiver. However, this time she didn't cower or pushed him away. He gazed at her pert lips that wavered at their intimacy. She shivered realizing how close they actually were.

"Breathe," he whispered as she obliged feeling mortified. Soon her breathing became uneven as he came closer and lowered his mouth. She could feel his warm breath on her bare skin. They were excruciating. Her heart started racing against her chest. She felt unbelievably exposed and caged at the same time under his intense gaze.

"Tell me, what exactly you feel about me?" He whisper-asked again and she felt tingles all over her skin.

She was having trouble to think properly. Her tongue seemed to forget how to speak. Goosebumps erupted throughout her skin. "Abhiraj..." She shuddered. "We shouldn't... please!"

He interrupted her. "You said you've full empowerment over me. Why did you say that?"

"I-" She was suddenly at a loss of words.

He was standing very close to her yet their bodies weren't touching. How was that even possible? "Please..." she whispered and felt him exhale calmly before he stepped back shaking his head.

"I - I'm sorry," he blurted out. His breathing was labored.

She too fought to regain her composure as she looked away.

"I... should go," he said then picked up the photograph that was the main reason for the entire unwelcomed but expected argument. Her heart tripped over playing somersaults inside her chest watching him pick it up.

She watched him as he circled the counter and proceeded toward the door but stopped right before leaving the kitchen.

"The cake was delicious and whatever that is left, you aren't getting another piece from that." By saying that he left the room.

She smiled shyly which was odd, and to the contrary, shook her head proudly at his compliment. 

~~~

Author's note: Responsibilities must not ruin your inner self. And with The Velvet Healer, we are entering into a new era of Priyasha and Abhiraj's life. Hopefully, you'll love them a lot by voting. I'll request you to follow me if you're enjoying this story. We have three more books in this series. So, make sure you get the updates from me. Help me reach 400, please. :)