My shrill cry reverberated against the walls of the entire bungalow, right arm dripping in blood and throat almost running dry with the thought of bullets hitting Karan. Gushes of blood were oozing out of my wound but I wasn't sensing any pain. I was ready to die but Karan should be sound and safe.

Kneeling down, I skimmed my hands across the floor of the dark corridor in the hope of finding Karan with the wave of a magic wand. The broken pieces of food plate cut across my fingers with the touch, scattered right where Karan was standing earlier.

I started weeping bitterly for having failed in my expedition and not being able to protect the LOVE of my life.

Mr. Karthik was right. I had already fallen in love with Karan and the dreadful horror was drenching me in guilt for not being able to save him. The fear of losing him helped me to realise the unending love I had deeply developed in my heart for him. I took longer than expected but had finally realised it. I wanted to scream out to the world that I only loved this man, I loved Karan!

"I love you, Karan. Please return to me." I muttered inaudibly under my sobbing breath.

A life without a love was a house without a window. Breathing without love was painful, and I died almost a hundred times in the last couple of minutes before the lights to the bungalow came to life again.

My sore eyes weren't able to stretch open their eyelids but when it opened, it saw two worried figures running towards me from the two opposite ends. One was Mr. Karthik who had rushed up the stairs chasing the culprit and the other one was KARAN. He came running from the opposite end, the one that led to the door of the backyard. Surprisingly, both were carrying guns in their hands.

I threw my trembling arms at Karan when he knelt down and clinched me against his throbbing bosom. I could exactly feel the rapid hammering of his heartbeat at the side of his chest, his hands encircling me like an armour.

"Preeta, you just scared me!" He murmured against the fragrance of my open hair, kissing the side of my head.

My tears and the blood from my wound were soaking into his blazer, yet he didn't seem to mind. He caressed my head and shoulders, indicating his presence and that he had escaped unhurt.

"Karan! You are alright? I... For once I thou...thought I lost you..."

He kissed my forehead to recover my poise before rubbing the pad of his thumbs across my cheeks to wipe the tears trailing them. "I'm alright, you see. Nothing's happened to me... Oh Preeta, you've hurt yourself!"

He seperated from me, an urgency to withdraw as he took my right hand in his and tied his white handkerchief around it to cover my leaking wound. I was staring at him with passion, a self made realisation of gazing at the individual who was my beloved now. It felt so different because I was seeing him again after realising my love for him.

Lifting me in bridal style, he walked across the hallway towards the sofa where the crowd were gathered together. His forearms held me in place as he marched, his eyes never missing my sight. I could tell people's stare were completely on us, especially Mahira's glare but I wouldn't want to deny Karan for his closeness and caress for me.

He helped me sit comfortably on the cushioned sofa before speaking in a raised voice, "Sir, I am taking her to the hospital for treatment now."

"No!" I grabbed his upper arm. "The bullet didn't pierce my arm through the centre, it passed sideways. The wound isn't that deep and I'll treat it later. Just narrate me the sudden incident now."

"We were unsuccessful in catching the culprit again, Preeta." Karan's expressions were upsetting me, making me impatient.

Mr. Karthik cleared his throat while informing me, "The attacker was hiding across the corridor in that particular corner. It distracted you by throwing that petty stone and then shooting at Karan. You stood up before the bullet could hit him and it touched you sideways. I shot at the masked man soon after and Karan ran through the back door to catch the culprit. I followed the attacker but it disappeared through the balcony. Lights turned off and again on, and we lost track of it."

"But Sir, I didn't find any of the securities guarding outside. I waited for long but no masked man came out of the bungalow. I hurried inside only because of Preeta. She was bleeding..." Karan embraced me again, his eyes clouding with worries.

"What is happening here? How can you carry guns, Karan?" Mahira came rushing towards Karan but shooting death glares at me.

"I gave him a gun to keep himself protected and it has a licence. Do you have any problem?" Mr. Karthik asked her in his own amicable attitude.

"I have been carrying my gun since ages because I have money, power and enemies. You never know who's waiting to ruin you." Karan explained Mahira, a seriousness in his voice.

The other guests were turning impatient because of all the chaos but they were prohibited from leaving the bungalow. I knew Mahira wanted to yell and dance horribly to attack me with her words, but she was trying very hard to control herself from annoying me. Karan's concerns for me was pulling the confidence out of her.

"Unless the police investigation is completed, you all can't leave this place." Mr. Karthik instructed the guests strictly before barging outside to check on the securities.

"You didn't find the attacker leaving the place, did you?" I asked Karan and he shook his head. "Do you think the attacker can be anyone among the guests?"

When the gunshots happened, we couldn't keep a track of any person leaving and returning to the hallway in the span of a few minutes. We had only a single option left, to check the CCTV footages. The attacker was clever enough to choose the same raised platform in the hallway to hide where I had taken a shelter earlier.

Mr. Karthik reappeared with officer Vikram, followed by the security members who seemed to be too drowsy in contrast to their responsible duty.

"These people were lying unconscious in the corner of the garden. They were most probably intoxicated," Vikram said, crossing his arms across his chest.

One of the security members spoke this time, "We only took sips of some soft drinks and I don't remember what happened after that. I don't remember how we fell asleep..."

"Did anyone spike their drinks in the disguise of a waiter?" I asked with whatever idea of investigation I possessed in my brain.

"It can be possible because any outsider wouldn't be able to spike their drinks so easily." Vikram nodded his head.

"I think the attacker is an insider. Karan didn't find anyone leaving the bungalow after the gunshots. When the guests had entered the house, the attacker had to also enter with them. The securities were intoxicated later after the main gates were locked by them. The attacker must have bribed one of our waiters or itself disguised into it to fetch the drinks to the securities. We should rummage through the CCTV footages to find out more about it." I advised them.

Karan grazed his eyes through the monitors of the cameras and nodded in disbelief. "I can't believe this. The footages have been destroyed!"

Karan scanned his eyes around the crowd seeking for any unusual individual but confirmed to us that nobody was missing from the list of invited guests. It could be possible that the attacker was still present inside the bungalow and listening to our discussion.

"What if the attacker has escaped through the main gate after destroying the footages, taking advantage of their intoxication and electricity outage of the bungalow?" Mr. Karthik asked us, gazing intently around him.

One of the security members spoke, "No Sir, the gates and the walls are secured with passwords and electrocuted wires respectively. It'll be difficult for the attacker to escape. Also, when the lights were put out, we had already regained our senses. We didn't find anyone there except for Karan Sir."

"Karan had already ran outside when the power cut took place. The attacker must have used it to it's advantage to return to the hallway immediately in it's original form, out of the mask," I stated with valid reasons.

Karan rubbed my shoulders. "My guardian angel is right. Can we all just move aside to discuss? I don't think it's advisable for the guests to listen to all our discussions."

We walked across the hallway before standing in a corner, Karan leaning adjacent to me and Mr. Karthik on my right. Vikram and the security members were keeping an eye on the guests, who were now grouped together with expressions of terror on their faces.

Karan took a deep breath before saying, "If this is at all true that the attacker is among the guests, we should start searching around my house including the luggage of all our guests who were invited tonight. The gun and the mask must have been somewhere. Remember that the attacker couldn't move outside the house to discard these items."

"Why not search the guests in person too?" Mr. Karthik said, glancing over at the crowd again.

"I don't think the attacker will take the risk to keep the gun with itself. It must have utilised the time duration of the power cut to change it's dress and hide the gun. Coincidentally, it was wearing the similar hoodie jacket like Vikki's, the same one with a bluish dragon imprint on the back which I had seen earlier at the hospital too." I narrated, enlisting the important point. "I had somehow managed to take a glimpse of the attacker tonight when Mr. Karthik was chasing it."

As the three of us agreed to search the entire bungalow and rummage through every corner of the walls along with the belongings of the guests, we didn't know when our hunt escalated to midnight. My wound had started hurting greater than before, worsening with the passage of time.

My right arm had started bleeding bit by bit which caught Karan's eyes immediately. He gently took hold of my wrist, pulling me away from the search expedition. When we had reached his room, he settled me on the couch and hurried to get the first aid kit from his cabinet.

He snuggled beside me on the couch and began cleansing the already clotted wound. I felt a sharp rise in pain around the vicinity of the wound when he applied the antiseptic and he pulled my head to rest it on top of his shoulder to ease my discomfort. After he was done applying the ointment and wrapping the bandages, his engaging brown eyes stared at me with concern.

The innocence his face contained was admirable, proving the purity of his heart to me. I was feeling proud that this was the man who I fell in love with, the caring husband who was dressing the wounds of his doctor wife.

Throughout the past few weeks, it was only I who was performing the same set of tasks for him. From bandaging to medicating, these used to be my duty. But today it seemed as if we had interchanged our places and he was taking care of me. It was he who I adored, respected and loved with all my heart.

As he completed, our soulful eyes met and he raised his eyebrows. "Why are you staring at me like that? You've got wounded because of me. The bullet thankfully didn't pierce you in a dangerous way but the first thing in the morning tomorrow, we will be going to the hospital."

I was silently listening to his husky voice that sounded like a sweet melody, mesmerised by his caring charms. I suddenly felt the urge of holding him in my arms. The realisation of love for him had rekindled my affectionate desires of fondling and kissing him. He was becoming both my strength and weakness at the same time.

I cupped his cheeks lightly even though raising up my right hand was hurting me. I had Karan with me and I exactly knew what I needed to do. His comfort was all I required at the moment and the beating pain of my arm seemed negligible.

"Kiss me Karan." I whispered against his lips.

He gave me a pale smirk. "Are you kidding with me? It is only me who has always tried stealing kisses from you."

I didn't waste even a single second to answer him and interlocked our lips quite rapidly. This was the first time I was myself going deeper into the kiss and he was diligently supporting me. I didn't care what was running inside his head for me, whether he was also in love with me or longed for me. I was only wanting to feel his feathered touch at the precious moment.

He slightly pushed my right hand downwards to straighten it so that it wouldn't hurt me. Instead, he took the initiative to cup my face while we swiveled our tongue with each other, kissing away the need of the hour. After a few minutes of fondling, our hearts has already begun pumping more litres of blood and we parted, gasping for breath. Holding me in close proximity and brushing my hair gently, he murmured, "Do you feel better now?"

My heart thumped with joy upon realising that he could read my mind. He knew that kissing him would make me feel better. He was such a gentleman when it came to caring for the one you honestly feel for.

"I do." I replied and snuggled into his warm embrace again. He kept hugging me until I felt relieved from the pain and our pace of breathing slackened.

No other comfort in the world could give you the most enormous, satisfying and needed pleasure if not snuggling into the solacing arms of your beloved!

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To be continued...

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A/n:- Leap and last chapters are on the way.