I took an another drink of my favourite spiced buttermilk and stood in a corner, watching Karan's cheerful mood from a considerable distance. He was being surrounded by his long lost family and his college friends, including the punk headed Mahira. They were gossiping and exchanging joyous words together and I was giving him the freedom he needed at the moment.

It was after such a long time that we were seeing such a jolly Karan, who was so engrossed in acknowledging the caress of the closest people in his life. He had met me only a few days ago and there couldn't be any stronger reason for me to feel that I was the closest to him. He had his own priorities and I wanted to give him that, I couldn't demand all his proximity only for me.

I didn't even mind that Mahira was now standing so closer to him, her hands skimming the surface of his right arm. All it took me was to have faith in him and respect the genuine happiness reflecting from his delighted face. It was only when I realized Karan hadn't forgotten me in the crowd, he was timely glancing at me over their shoulders and exchanging little smiles full of gratitude.

"Prithvi, did you have your dinner?" I asked the birthday boy when I saw him grabbing a glass of iced coffee from the tray on the corner table next to where I stood.

"Hey! I wonder they didn't announce the dinner yet. I'll have it when they actually do." He answered before taking his first sip off the cup.

"My bad! I thought that the announcement has been made." I apologized formally and I heard him giggle.

He turned to go to join his gang but paused before facing towards me again. "Why are you standing all alone by the way? Aren't you enjoying my birthday party? Why don't you join us, especially your husband?"

"I think I shouldn't because he has his own privacy when he is among his best friends and family. Being a spouse doesn't mean I should get involved in everything he does," I answered, my mouth chirping in a diligent manner.

"You may be right but doesn't it seem so lame sometimes when your husband is being threatened to be snatched away from you?" He asked me, a question which was so authentic and unavoidable.

"What do you me...mean?" I stammered, thinking that he was talking about the mystery of Karan getting targeted by some attacker.

"Don't you see Mahira's closeness with him?" Prithvi's sudden enquiry was something I hadn't expected to be, yet he was saying something which was running inside my aching heart for such a long time. He was reading my heart in such a way as if he had excelled in it.

"But why are you instigating me against your closest friends? Mahira is also your close friend." I was sceptical with Prithvi's interrogation.

"But Karan is closer to me, more than Mahira," Prithvi declared, his eyes clouding with worries. "He has married you with his own consent so he should have been more responsible towards you. He shouldn't allow any other girl to get closer to him now. I won't prefer to see problems in his married life. It will also be an injustice to you."

I glanced over at Karan, who was now seated on a corner stool and Mahira was just standing adjacent to him, leaning over his body at somewhat sixty degrees. I could sense Karan's discomfort with her closeness, his palms clamped tightly to his chest and his knees shaking from the embarrassing situation.

"It is Mahira who gets closer to Karan every time and he doesn't even deny her. What can I do in this? They are best friends since childhood and I don't like to interfere like any ideal wife will have done," I lied, a fake smile playing on my lips. But deep inside, a million boulders were crushing my heavy heart. I knew I was his wife only for a limited time that had an expiry date, the day when the real culprit would be caught.

Prithvi shrugged his shoulders. "I was just giving you a friendly advice because I don't want to see Karan unhappy by hurting you. He was in love with you for the past few years but had kept us in the dark for so long. He married you secretly and declared it in the public which definitely means that he loves you truly. It is the personal life of you and him, I have nothing to do in it. I only wanted to help you out."

"Karan is happy in the company of his friends and especially Mahira's. She is pissed at me because Karan didn't inform her when he got married to me. They are friends since childhood and she has every right to choose a life partner for him. And in that case, I don't fit in her required list at all," I told him. Though it hurt me badly, I had to accept the harsh reality that we were bonded by a conditional marriage.

Prithvi nodded, setting aside the empty cup in his hand. "If you don't feel insecure about them and have faith on Karan, you are going to have a successful married life with him. I pray for you both."

As Prithvi departed, I stood wondering with whatever he had said. He was indeed giving me a useful piece of advice but I denied because of my own certainties. Not a single nerve underneath my skin was liking to see Mahira's closeness with Karan. The way Mahira's arm was snaked around his waist and his seamless laughter at her gullible jokes, I felt as if I was the only fish out of water.

Karan and I were indulged into a romantic relationship without any proper reason of our sensual attachment. We both always got carried away due to some swaying drive which led us into each other's embrace each time.

I confess that I had fallen for him from the very first day, his brilliant blue eyes adding fuel to the fire. I couldn't blame him because he had never tried to touch me in a wrong way without my consent. His only lifeline was my delicate lips which provided him his protective shelter.

It was the first time when I had shared my first kiss with someone, it was the first time when I was falling for someone and it was also the first time when my heart didn't deny to kiss someone so genuinely and passionately, containing all the necessary emotions.

It was never required for any doctor to kiss her patient to comfort him. But it was also true that every patient wouldn't be her husband living with her or distract her mind in such a romantic manner. Other patients wouldn't be showing that he needed his doctor during the dark hours of the day and most importantly, there wouldn't be any Mr. Karthik to unite any other doctor to her patient.

If there was another one such old man like Mr. Karthik found, it would give rise to a couple like us again. Now since I took Mr. Karthik's name, I found him approaching me from the other end of the hallway. He looked into my searching eyes before asking, "Waiting for Karan?"

"No...no.. not at all." I fumbled, trying to hide whatever I was thinking about my romantic relationship with Karan. "I was thinking about the case."

"Am I a dealer in wholesale products?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"What? Aren't you also thinking about the case?" I was again confused with Mr. Karthik's humour.

"I just wanted to confirm what my profession is. You are simply lying to me and I can't even catch you after working in the crime branch for so many years!" He was being freakish with his speech sometimes.

"I'm not lying...um!" My words jumbled up within my mouth.

"You are feeling helpless about something but you want to hide it from my stern gaze. What I can clearly see is that you have your face puckered and you are craving badly for something. You are feeling lonely inside out." Mr. Karthik was an expert in studying my untold expressions.

"Mr. Karthik... I... I..." I tried to steal a glance of Karan once, averting my gaze from Mr. Karthik. It was true that the emotions of really craving for someone was brewing inside my chest daily, a burning desire to hide the emptiness in me.

"I've advised you before to answer to your own soul first. You are a confused creature and I am here to act as your mirror to let you hunt down the confusion you have within you. Why don't you follow that?" Mr. Karthik's voice grew denser with his sensible and meaningful sentences.

"There is nothing to get confused of, Mr. Karthik. I can very well understand what you are trying to hint at. You think I have fallen in love with Karan but it's not true at all. How can I fall for anyone? I mean I meet so many patients in my profession and I can't keep falling for everyone after seeing their pains." I was trying to be firm in my opinions.

Though my feelings always got carried away with Karan by my side, it was because he was irresistible. Falling in love was not my cup of tea knowing the critical conditions of my risky profession. I had to anyhow keep my inner conscience at peace otherwise I would keep falling for every melancholy person I meet in life.

"You won't fall for everyone because you won't be marrying every patient for real. You are already tied to someone, dear... In fact, I have tied you to someone." Mr. Karthik disclosed, clanking his glass of buttermilk with mine.

"You had done it deliberately!" I gaped, trying to digest his words.

Mr. Karthik shook his head in affirmation. "You seem to lose your patience every now and then, my girl."

"Please don't fool around with the truth and tell me why you did it, Mr. Karthik?"

"I only wanted to solve the mystery of the attacker until when I saw you sleeping next to Karan at the hospital, embracing him. I found a hint of your future with him." Mr. Karthik was amused with whatever he was saying, surprising me.

"Oh God!"

"You both are the special individuals of my life and I didn't want to lose this opportunity. Secondly, when I saw something special in the corner of Karan's neck yesterday, I was sure that this relationship which I was trying to build will work."

I shook my head. "It won't work, Mr. Karthik. Once he's cured and the case is solved, I'll be discarded from his house. I'm also sure of it."

Mr. Karthik gave out a lazy laugh. "You are way too stubborn, dear. I'm sure you're in love with him but you won't accept it. Although, I personally feel that you had already fallen for him on the very first day when you were donating him blood."

Mr. Karthik really possessed some sort of magical wands, I mean he could easily read a person's mind and confidently said that I was in love with Karan. For an instance if I believe I am in love, I am not ready for a relationship. Love was something which always made a person weak with emotions.

What if Karan didn't love me in return? I'd never experienced how love has it's growth from the roots, how it can make the beloved flutter with joy and how unrequited love changes into the successful ones.

But I'd heard numerous cases of breakups, divorces, suicides, some of them even becoming my patients too. I'd also seen how men in the army cantonments longed for their lovers and regretted for not being able to meet them. If I look at my own case, I was due to divorce Karan. This one word was terribly holding me behind.

I was maintaining silence as I couldn't make up anything to respond him. He himself continued, "Think on it later and you'll get your answer. Let's discuss about the case. Do you feel the attacker will do anything tonight?"

"I can't guess anything, Mr. Karthik. But just tell me, why are you allowing Karan among his friends even without us around him?" I asked him since I wasn't sincerely liking the fact that Mahira was spending time with Karan.

"My boy is completely fit now, Mrs. Luthra. He's also carrying his gun with him so he is capable of protecting himself," Mr. Karthik replied with an amusing grin and I reciprocated with an another amicable smile.

________

The announcement was made for the dinner and the group except Karan got themselves busy. Mahira was insisting him to join them for food but I heard him denying her. His denial filled my heart with joy and as he joined me in the next minute, Mahira scowled at me with her evil eyes before exiting with other friends.

"I'm feeling hungry, Preeta," Karan stated, glancing at the tables around us.

"Then you should head over to the kitchen with me," I instructed and we walked into the kitchen together, his warm hand clutching mine and giving me goosebumps.

Kamal had already cooked dinner for the family members, including mine. He had laid them out on the table top of the kitchen and left for his restroom. I busied myself in arranging his plate when Karan used it as a chance to steal kisses from me.

As usual, he was irresistible!

He tilted my head poured sharp yet delicate kisses on my plush lips. He wasn't gentle with his moves this time and whispered, inhaling my fragrance deeply. "I am hungry. This will neutralise my hunger."

Every time he kissed me, I felt my world stopping by us and that we both were the only ones who were rotating around the earth on it's axis. Sometimes, I could feel the ticking of the clock stopping by us yet our heart beating on their own. I wondered if I could freeze the time in it's place, I would have him forever with me to kiss and touch me the way he always did.

Our short mingle dwindled quickly as I held the dinner plate in front of his mouth. He pouted his lips before complaining, "You always interrupt me."

"It's because you are hungry," I said in a serious tone to tease him.

"But I was already getting my morsel." He pointed at his lips while I thrust  the Aaloo Paratha into his mouth. 

"Let's get back to the hallway and have our dinner with Mr. Karthik. He has been staying all alone," I said and carried an another plate for Mr. Karthik in my hand.

We were walking together across the hallway when a stone hit my leg and I paused in my position. There was a golden foil paper wrapped to it, activating my doubts again. I crouched on my knees to pick it up only to find it blank. Somebody must have surely played a prank with me.

And then...

There was a loud gun shot...

The plate which Karan was holding fell from his hand behind me and I dropped mine too, being fear-stricken.

Before I could acknowledge what was happening, there were more gunshots. Struggling harder in confusion, I managed to stand up on my limbs when a bullet pierced through my right elbow sideways and blood oozed out of my wound.

Horrified for the welfare of my husband when I couldn't find him around me, I yelled, screamed and wailed, every fear grasping me. "K-a-r-a-n."

In the next moment, I found Mr. Karthik chasing a masked man. But before our old man could get hold of him, the attacker had disappeared through the balcony. The lights to the Luthra bungalow were put out all of a sudden, leaving us in total darkness.

I stood there frozen in the dark and holding my hurt elbow, the cold floor shuddering my lower limbs. Fresh warm blood was oozing out of my wound but I wasn't feeling any pain.

My cause of agony was to only see Karan once, if he was alright or...

__________

To be continued...