His dark blue eyes met mine, a color which appeared in the oceans of the fantasy tales. He rolled his light indigo eyes and it took me a few seconds to come back to the reality. Those eyes were sharp and full of emotions which were abruptly conversing something, but out of my comprehension. I was able to only see the half of his face which was turned towards me and was instantly pulled into the admiration. What it would be like in the future when he actually stood before me like a stout gentleman!

I turned the other way round. I didn't want to visualise someone who I was supposed to get married to, of course not in real but I would be asked to stay with him together. The rarest thought of the deal was getting the heck out of me as I wasn't prepared for such an encounter. I was lying on a hospital bed with blood smeared all over my white dress and he was feebly staring at me. I had never expected the first meeting with the rich tycoon to be so awkward and embarrassing.

Mr. Karthik's words disturbed me once again. "First impression is the last impression."

Now I know my first impression wasn't good on him at all. I was also worried for Mr. Karthik's plan and feared if my actions had disappointed him anyhow.

"Is she the one who gave me a new life?" I heard Mr. Luthra speaking for the first time so near me, appalling me again. Though I had earlier heard his voice on television but this was something different. He was speaking live before me with a gap of only a few feet between us.

His voice was trembling because of the weakness he was inwardly experiencing from the gunshots but it sounded like a soothing melody to my ears. His voice was neither gruff nor smooth, but kind of wheezy from which I could conclude the state of his aching body. The illness was preventing him to speak in a flat baritone.

"She is but she's not what you think. She was here for a different cause but got stuck in donating you blood." I heard Mr. Karthik's cold voice.

"Then what for?" Mr. Luthra spoke again and I fixated my eyes elsewhere. I wasn't able to get my brain to peace as Mr. Karthik was responding on a serious note and Mr. Luthra  kept on enquiring more about me.

"I'll explain you everything once you are out of this place, Karan. Please know that she's a reputed doctor who is assisting me to help you out of everything. She also needs to pretend in front of the public that she's your long term estranged girlfriend who is back in your life again." Mr. Karthik explained, getting nearer to him.

A sudden feeling of extreme scariness clinched my heart, the fear of how Mr. Luthra would react upon listening something very dramatic and insensible kind of a proposal. Mr. Karthik always had peculiar ideas stacked up in his sleeves, but this time he was trying hard to pair us as characters of a real life movie to catch hold of the culprit. A man of nearly fifty years of age was behaving rather strange and surreal.

"Are you out of your mind, Sir?"
Mr. Luthra's undertoned voice turned heavy. I was thankful that he wasn't too quick to explode upon knowing the idiotic reasons.

"I know you will find it unimaginable but you know how
my ideas have been in various
cases... And this time I found no
better idea than this. Believe me,
I trust this girl and so I want you
both to act till I get hold of the
culprit's neck." Mr. Karthik tried
to explain him.

"Will it be a drama? But I can't
agree unless I converse with
the girl personally." I heard Mr.
Luthra struggling to take a quick decision, yet his temper was dwindling for the time being.

Did Mr. Luthra say that he was
going to talk to me personally?
What would he do or ask me?
Were I liable to answer him in the first place?

I was here to help Mr. Karthik in
his expedition being a doctor by
profession and ended up donating him blood. Instead, my blood was running through his veins and so he was liable to answer to my questions.

"We'll do that in your bungalow
since this hospital is not safe for
discussions. For the few days you
are here, please pretend that she's your girlfriend who is a doctor too. She donated you blood at the right time and you should at least give her a chance to prove herself for the task." Mr. Karthik stated diligently, his meticulous tongue had always been able to convince everyone to his silly propositions.

I turned my head and saw Mr.
Luthra nodding to his proposal.
It was thus made a temporary deal and I knew that I had to go to his bungalow later. It was a huge mansion where millions of people were waiting to get an entrance and I was getting it simply in exchange for my blood!

After the short conversation, Mr.
Luthra preferred to sleep while
I was allowed to feed on some
energy drinks. As time passed by
resting on the bed, the nurse took me away later and helped me change my blood-stained outfits into cleaner hospital clothes.

_________

I left the hospital room in the
evening and found Mr. Karthik
waiting for me at the lounge. He
came over to me and helped me to sit on a bench. I assured him that I was quite strong to help myself. He smiled at my confidence and took the other seat beside me.

"Do you want to say something?" I asked him, sensing the impatient expressions over his face. I was aware of the fact that the morning incident was still perturbing his brain.

"Ms. Arora, you are quite innocent sort of. You hurried all
the way to save your would-be
client and ended up donating him blood. But yet, you didn't utter a single word regarding the meeting at his bungalow." He began to tease me again.

"I am not innocent but kind of a fool. I agreed to help you out and fell into the trouble myself. I could have caught hold of the
murderer if I didn't rush to save Mr. Luthra. I collided with the doctor and paid the compensation." I exhaled aloud.
"But wait, how did you come to
know that I was in a hurry to save him?"

He chuckled before folding his
arms. "I was informed by the
receptionist as soon as I entered
the hospital at seven. I found out
that you were breathing hard and nearly tripping on the stairs while rushing to meet Karan. Your actions proved that there was something wrong in the entire ordeal."

I shook my head before narrating the entire doubtful incident of the two suspicious men to him, including the situation of how I decided to donate blood to Mr. Luthra. "I love donating blood and encourage others to also do so. You never know when your blood will be utilised by someone in need. But why will I have to go through more screening tests organised by Mr. Luthra, I mean why the hell does he want to talk to me personally or get to know how I am as a person? Why should I tell him?" I was totally irked and I knew Mr. Karthik could easily realise it.

"You are being skittish without
any reason. It is just that he is an
undercover agent and he can't
trust you without knowing you.
Believe me, he is a man of a heart of gold. Once he gets to know who you are, he will do anything to protect you." Mr. Karthik wanted to convince me again.

"Even I have proximity issues.
I also can't trust to stay with a
stranger at all. I agreed because
I believed you. Similarly he
should believe you too." I directly reprimanded, being adamant as I always were.

"Don't forget that he is someone
who has recently been attacked
and it can be possible for him not to trust me as well. I have
given you the responsibility of my honest secret agent. Please do not let me down this time. He needs someone to hold him during his hard times and I know it is only you who can do it." Mr. Karthik was already a powerful expert in convincing people.

"I will but I want to put forward
some of my conditions before him. I am leaving right now because I need to convince my own self first." Saying so, I stomped my feet and disappeared through the exit.

_________

Back to my apartment, I was
restless, uneasy to sleep. Some
scenes were flashing before me
and constantly disturbing my
sleep. I woke up to a nightmare
in the middle of the night and
moved out of my bed. Sipping on
a little water, I began wondering
of the murderer and of the eyes
of the other suspicious man in
the backyard of the hospital that
morning.

I just realised that I shouldn't have left the hospital in such an angry mood.

Though I had agreed against my own principles to work for Mr. Karthik, wasn't it my responsibility to protect someone after having been the sole witness to the unusual activity? How could the incident slip out of my mind?

Rigorously blaming myself, I
wrapped a designer black stole
over my pink tank top and moved out of the apartment. It was already midnight but I somehow needed to check on Mr. Luthra. I warily used my emergency van which was always parked in the garage. I generally travelled by the van whenever the medical board or other organisations summoned
me during emergencies at night.
The driver to the van stayed on
the fifth floor of my building and
always ready to execute his duty
whenever needed.

I rushed for the hospital with the
aid of the driver and gave a call
to Lavanya. She was my classmate at the Calcutta medical college and we were good friends. She was now working as an assistant doctor at the city hospital where Mr. Luthra was admitted into. Fortunately, she was on duty that night and promised to help me as much as possible.

_________

I met Lavanya near the gate of
the hospital and she fetched me
inside. The lights to most of the
rooms were turned off and we
walked cautiously, aided by the
mobile torches. I knew she would safely lead me to the ward where Mr. Luthra was staying as their patient.

"Do you know the rich tycoon
personally? I heard people
discussing about it." Lavanya
asked me while we walked upstairs. She was a little on the
bulky side and a couple of inches
shorter than me. She wore half
rimmed spectacles and was a
beautiful woman from her heart.

I was prepared to answer to her
questions because I knew she
would be asking me. I had already created a mess in the morning by openly declaring that I was would- be Mrs. Luthra.

"No.. I mean yes. We haven't seen each other for quite a few months due to some common relationship issues. But after getting the news of his accident, I couldn't resist myself." I was telling lies to her but was not liking a single bit of it.

Telling lies to everyone about my relationship was wrong but there wasn't any other choice. I didn't know where my lies would lead me in the future but my mind was solely preoccupied for his safety at the moment.

I was the only witness to the
murderous attempt that morning and it might be true that they had escaped since Mr. Luthra wasn't in his ward at that time. He was shifted to the ICU then, but now he must be lonely in his ward. I shouldn't have left him alone even after knowing that his life was at risk. My conscience wouldn't allow me to ignore my responsibilities and Mr. Karthik had also entrusted me with it.

"But you didn't mention it earlier
to me about he being your
boyfriend? Did you?" She was
asking a simple question but I was constructing complex answers for it.

"Sorry but I had never wanted to
disclose my relationship with a
gambler. This was also a reason
for our fights and we stayed away for so many months. But now that I know he did gambling for a good cause, I couldn't help but return to look after him." I didn't know whether my answers were convincing but everything was falling into place. The reasons I was providing seemed valid and I could tell she was getting convinced.

"Do you think he will accept you now? After all, he has fame and money under his belt and billionaires mostly look for new
girls." Lavanya continued with her enquiries, rendering me nervous this time.

I was still constructing answers
in my brain when we reached the second floor. I excused myself and entered ward number 205 again. Lavanya informed me that they had shifted Mr. Luthra to his original ward in the late evening after his condition had stabilized. She quietly left the floor after successfully fetching me to the
correct room.

_________

The ward room was dark and I
had to switch on my mobile torch. There was alreadya dim light flickering in a confined corner of the room. I struggled to look through the narrow path of the streak of light when I heard soft moans coming from somewhere in the room.

I held my mobile frmly. It was
when I saw Mr. Luthra cooped up in a corner with his arms
wrapped around his trembling
knees. He was silently weeping
and the wall of hatred I had built in my heart against him came tumbling dowm. My tough emotions were beginning to melt
and the urge to help him out of
this trauma started to overtake
me.

I rushed towards him and touched his shoulder cautiously. His knee was bandaged and body was wrapped with the medical dressing, yet he was lying on the cold floor. The painful vision blurred my mind and I wasn't getting any idea of how to deal with it.

Mr. Luthra pushed me at once
when he felt my feathered touch
on his shoulder. I knew he was
scared with something and not
able to tolerate anyone near him.
He shot me his tough glance at
once and they looked sharper than earlier.

"Don't near me... I don't want to
get killed... I was not at fault..."
He snapped at me while I raised
my hands to show mny support.
I was taken by surprise upon
finding an undercover agent in
such a horrible state. The terrific
fear must have been worse than
expected but it was completely
unknown to me.

"Mr. Luthra, see this is me,
Dr. Preeta Arora. Mr. Karthik
has appointed me for you and I am here to protect you. I am a medical representative under the Government... Please try to
remember that we met in the
morning.." I tried to resemble
softer and convincing expressions in my eyes, holding the torch against my face so that he could recognise me.

I repeated again. "See, you are on your wounds... You should not move yourself vigorously at al.. Tell me if you need anything..."

I was trying to be patient with him and lent my helping hands to him. Being an expert into handling such cases, I somehow wanted to save my new client's life.

He was roughly brushing his body against the hard wall and the solid floor out of fear and he needed an assistance for his pitiful condition. I wondered if somebody had again tried to attack him when he was left alone in the room. The inevitable fear in his eyes was saying it all.

His eyes turned narrower the
more he observed me and I
suppose he was starting to believe my words. He finally
began crawling towards me when I caught hold of his arms. He muttered something bluntly in a fit of agony and I loosened my grip on his hands a little.

I was taken aback when he
tightened his hold on me, wrapped his strong arms around my waist in a steel grip and hid his face in the depression of my chest.

He was sobbing like a little baby
and hugging my torso like a koala bear clinging to his favorite tree. There was some sort of rawness in his whimpering moans. His inner pains seemed to be an open wound to me, wanting to clasp onto anything he got near him. I stayed there motionlessly, supplying him the comfort he needed until he decided to withdraw from me.

________

To be continued...