Karan settled my hair on one side of my shoulder blades, kissing my hind neck with lascivious vigour. I moaned giddily and he buried his face in the curve of my other shoulder, leaving seductive pecks on the bare skin above.

"I can't get over you anytime soon..." He murmured, his husky voice trailing away with the rise in temperature inside the room.

We both were experiencing unrealized feelings for each other, invisible to the naked eyes. We needed to overcome our attractive emotions to part from each other but the age old theory of intangible force of attraction was acting stronger than a powerful magnet. It was sending silent signals to hold us in a taut fashion, never to lose the boundaries of compassion.

He could read me perfectly, his kissing me on my hind neck would crumble all my hostility towards him and I would reciprocate to his advances. His hot exhale intoxicated my sanity when his lips grazed my neck, my breathing chiming in harmony with his amorous movements. His uninvited interruption to my exasperated mind always succeeded in taking away my resistance, leaving behind wet doodles of his mouth.

His lips worked faster on it's way to get to my lips, the rough pair of thin skin smoothened by the sweetness of our mingle. His fingers were caressing my cheeks tenuously when I interlocked his neck with my arms, parting my mouth for better access.

He whispered against my mouth, his arms a little shaky. "Don't get estranged from me, please. You are becoming my irresistible addiction."

My plush lips crashed against his dry ones just at the moment when he shared his honest emotions. Now that I had become his addiction, he couldn't help but demand me as his amour. I pushed him lightly as I spoke, "We need to move downstairs. The guests are waiting for us."

He nodded his head before wiping his lips with the back of his palm to erase my fuchsia pink lipstick which had marked him. Throwing me an affectionate hug, he whispered, "You look beautiful tonight. I can't keep my eyes off you."

I slammed my palm against his chest, adding my opinion gleefully, "You look awfully handsome tonight. Your girlfriends also cannot keep their eyes off you."

He grinned slyly, looking me in the eyes. "Girlfriends? How do you even know my secret?"

"Cocky much?"

"As long as I'm with you." He answered before securing my slim waist with his right arm as we plodded down the stairs to attend the evening party.

_________

"Everything is planned." I heard Mr. Karthik's gruff voice as he instructed Karan and I, presumed warning before any mishap could take place. "I have arranged close circuit cameras everywhere and a tight security invigilating outside."

I took a sip of spiced buttermilk before saying, "I still hope everything passes by without much drama."

Mr. Karthik moved aside to discuss a few things with his trusted officer Vikram while I took a seat beside Karan at one of the centre tables placed next to the makeshift dance floor. The multicolored neon disco lights were shining above our heads, giving the magnificent hallway of the bungalow after shimmering party atmosphere.

Karan took a glass of Mojito drink to his lips. "Do you think the attacker can act tonight?"

I seized the glass of drink from his hand, chiding him with clenched teeth. "You shouldn't eat or drink anything tonight without my permission. We still don't exactly know the attacker's plans although we are trying hard to prevent it. We have taken almost all the necessary precautions."

"So what should I eat when I am hungry?"

I set aside the glass of the drink before saying, "You will only have the food prepared by Kamal. We can trust him because he's the only one besides us who has been staying in the same house with you."

It was true that Kamal could be trusted since he was the one who was staying with Karan even before we had met him or I came into his house. If Kamal was at all associated with the attack, he could have killed Karan long ago. He didn't have to look for chances or plot huge plans to get him murdered by a serial killer. So we could easily discard Kamal from our suspect list at the moment.

I was merrily enjoying my drink sitting and chattering with Karan when the emergence of an unwanted creature spoilt my good mood. Mahira and her gang reappeared at the bungalow, laughing and giggling while stepping inside through the entrance.

My observant eyes were keenly studying Mahira from head to toe, her grey colored bodycon dress fitting her curvaceous body at the right places, ending just near her waxed thighs. She was wearing her usual pencil heels to enhance her short height and I cracked my knuckles in disdain.

Mahira was accompanied by the birthday boy Prithvi, the other boy Uday and a few more boys and girls of the similar age as them. They seemed to be all belonging from better off families, their apparels and shoes way too expensive. As Karan had previously mentioned to me, they were younger than him, most probably of a gap of hardly two or three years. I wondered how he could befriend them considering that he was older and drastically different in his behavior than all his closest friends.

Karan was twenty eight years old and I was also younger than him by three years. My twenty fifth birthday was only three months away and I had been celebrating it without my parents for the past six years. I didn't know what my future held with Karan but thinking of his presence near me during my birthday celebrations was always a bliss!

Karan saw the approaching group and stood up from his seat to welcome them. Mahira accidentally tripped on her heels while rushing to reach our table to hug Karan, knocking an empty chair obstructing in her way and losing her balance. I suppressed my laughter before forwarding my helping hand in support, pulling her up from the floor. But like a betraying bluffer, she took Karan's hand in hers when he came to her rescue later.

Mahira was up on her limbs and used it as a chance to intentionally hug him. "Hey Karan, thank you for saving me."

She stretched her calf muscles to drop a kiss on his cheek, smirking at me slyly. I felt embarrassed and hurt at first, the veins in my chest constricting from the pangs of deliberate pain. But my heart triumphed with joy when I witnessed Karan moving his face away from her, freeing her wrist from his helping grip.

"Preeta helped you first so you should thank her. I came later," Karan said, gently separating from her.

From the treacherous look Mahira was giving me, I could tell she was plotting to murder me instead of Karan. I didn't want to heighten the dramatic tension anymore and instead intervened willingly, "You don't need to tell a thank you. I did what anyone else in my place would have also done."

Before she could lash out at me, Prithvi and the group scurried toward us. Karan took Prithvi in a warm embrace, wishing him for his day. I forwarded my palm towards Prithvi, shaking gently. "Happy birthday Prithvi, may you live for longer years."

"Thank you Mrs. Luthra, I mean sister-in-law." Prithvi chuckled with a playful smile while Mahira, the danger herself was grudgingly staring at me.

I wondered if the culprit were really Mahira, she would also get me murdered along with Karan. But the way she always tried to get cosy with Karan, could she really think of killing him for ancestral properties? The mysterious case was becoming more engaged and complicated with every new development.

"Cut the cake, Prithvi," Karan declared while heading towards the centre teak table. I took to Karan's right side while the intervening intruder Mahira had her arm snaked to his left hand. Whenever my observant eyes were falling on her, she was giving me murderous look each time.

The cake was cut by Prithvi and he fed Karan at first, followed by all his best friends. Mahira lunged in to take an another piece to feed Karan but in vain. Before she could accomplish her pitiful desires, Karan had pulled me closer by my waist and shoved a piece of the chocolate brown almond cake into my mouth.

Mahira's temper had aggravated by now, her cold black eyes fuming with rage. To add more to her distress, Karan took to smearing a little whipped cream on my cheeks with his lubricious fingers. What happened next was that I saw a blazing Mahira crushing her unwanted piece of cake in her palm before stomping her feet and walking out of the crowd without uttering a single word.

_______

The rock songs began playing in the loudspeakers, the DJ sporting their popular music and everyone moving to the dance floor. Karan took me by my hands, proposing me for a dance with him. It was a proud moment for me because he was honestly fulfilling his promise which he had made on the very first day when we had a fight due to Mahira and I was ready to leave the case. He had promised not to allow anyone blame or insult me again.

His one hand clamped to my curving waist and my one hand on his left shoulder, the fingers of our other palms interlaced together for the ball dance.

We both started shaking our legs to the disco numbers, the ambience around the makeshift stage calming down when the music turned slower and soothing.

The gentler tune of the music was fusing with our entwined bodies, suavely picking up the moves along with us. Our submerged bodies were verbally speaking what we often failed to express with our tongues. Our feet synchronised with the rhythm of the beats, and our sober eyes matched the more we were peeking into each other, driven by the heat of musical dance of our limbs, directly affecting our hearts.

He embraced me instead of the music, an unusual action as compared to the other dancers on the floor. He interlocked the spaces between the fingers of my right palm with his slender ones and kissed the top of it lightly. I could feel his soul, it seemed as if he didn't care whether the world saw us or the darkness engulfed us. He wanted to prove that he was able to feel our enticing obsession even if we were in the middle of a big room full of audience.

We came out of our trance when the music ceased. Karan stood frozen in his place for a couple of seconds with his arms wrapped around my waist when he saw a smiling Sameer heading towards us on the dance floor. I could feel his hands tightening around my skin, his body tensing from the view of the approaching figure.

I pulled away from Karan to let Sameer hug his brother, an action already known to me.
Mr. Karthik and I had earlier planned for this family moment to take place because Karan was completely fit without more complications to his wounds or his mental health.

"Please forgive me, Karan. I have always misinterpreted your kindness and blamed your duties for no proper reasons. I know whatever I am today, it is just for you and your efforts. You are the light of my life in true sense, brother." He apologised, his palms folded and eyes drooped in guilt.

Karan's eyes were filled with remorse and he fumbled out of grievance. "How did you have this change of heart, Sameer?"

Sameer regretted. "If doctor Preeta hadn't shown me the right way, I would have missed the chance of begging for your pardon in my life. I've realised my folly, brother. I may be your cousin but you've done things for me which even elder siblings fail to perform. You will not be troubled again because of my father anymore. I have cleared his misconception already and he has forgiven you."

"I don't believe. So many years of misconceptions cannot be cleared in just a single day." Karan denied before trudging back next to me.

"You don't need to trust me. But if my father forgives you himself, will you believe me?" Sameer was truly explaining everything, his eyes full of concerns.

Through the dark corner of the dance floor, Mr. Dushyant emerged. He was already included in our plan of uniting the family after every truth was revealed before him. He came to know how his little son was looked after by Karan in the childhood and how he himself suffered to impart Sameer a better future. Not only these, he was also told how Karan worked hard to bear the expenses of the rehabilitation centre even after being left to the footpath without a penny.

"Uncle!" Karan crouched behind me, trying hard to go unnoticed.

I grasped his little finger, consoling him. "Don't panic. He will not harm you."

Mr. Dushyant's softened voice caught Karan off guard as he stood rooted in his place. "I am perfectly fine now, Karan. I have always considered you the reason behind my sickness because I was not in my senses. We had lost our money and property, and I was mentally traumatized. If you hadn't been there for my baby boy and for me, we both would have perished. You didn't allow him to beg in this harsh world, you didn't let me die from my illness but you did everything what your sense of responsibility told you."

"Uncle please..." I could see the moisture appearing in Karan's sea like eyes as he took a random step forward, trying to believe if his uncle was for real.

Mr. Dushyant caught hold of his palms. "But what I did, Karan? I was all this time sending you horrible calls to scare the hell out of you. I was deliberately doing it because I knew of your illness. I wanted to punish you by affecting your brain!"

Karan had lost his voice temporarily as he squealed in a low tone. "Do you forgive me now?"

"I don't think I need to forgive you because you were never at fault." Mr. Dushyant shook his head. "You were a little boy when you had hit me. I discovered your illness at the rehabs one day and when Sameer cane over to meet me, he informed me how you were into gambling and earning in millions. I realised my son's hatred for you and took him as a cue to ruin you. I told him that you were the reason why I was at the centre. I took your number from him saying that I would speak to you to refrain you from gambling."

"But you did it to threaten him, isn't it?" I enquired this time, latching my arm with Karan's right hand.

Mr. Dushyant agreed. "I wanted him to feel what I was going through for these many years. Whenever I used to receive my own triggers of psychosis, I used to send him threatening phone calls."

"Weren't you getting cured? How could you receive those fits frequently, Mr. Dushyant?" I asked in confusion. "But the number of days you stayed here, you didn't receive any triggers. How was it even possible?"

"Because I used to often skip medicines at the rehabs and usually spat out whatever worst sentences I could over the calls. But here, you all were taking care, feeding me the medicines minutely and keeping an eye on me so I didn't find a chance. Lastly, I gave up doing it when I found my son beside me and I was living in my own house, the bungalow which was once mine." Mr. Dushyant was grieving over his own sins.

Mr. Karthik, who was listening to our conversation all this time interrupted, "Karan, forgive your uncle now. He is already lamenting for his deeds. You shouldn't forget that you all were affected by destiny."

Mr. Dushyant took the first step to embrace Karan, followed by Sameer. We stayed there as a silent audience admiring the beautiful reunion of a long lost family. Karan first glanced up at us and when we gestured him to accept everything, he reciprocated to the resentful hug of his closest relatives.

It was a momentous victory for us, for reuniting the family and also making efforts to find out whether Mr. Dushyant or Sameer were really involved in the killing. If they weren't, we could consider them forgiving Karan in the most honest way possible. Family matters were thus resolved but the attacker's mystery was still haunting us. The murderer hadn't shown any hint of it's presence at the party.

I stood at a little distance admiring Karan's cheerful and satisfied face after a long time. His terrible fears were wiped out and he was finally out of his dreadful past. This was the only joyful Karan I had always wished to witness from the innermost core of my heart.

_________

To be continued...