The Vile.

Chapter 12: A Burning Sensation.

The pain is long gone. The only thing he can feel is the numbness. He is drenched in water; muddy water to be specific. The tiredness has finally started to engulf him. This is the high time his heart should stop beating. He would be thankful if it did but fate had a different story on mind. A story that involves a girl with long dark hair and bright brown eyes.

He is about to close his eyes for good when a voice from far away draws his attention.

"Hey there, open your eyes. You're safe. Can you hear me? You're safe. I'll take you to a hospital, just please try to tell me what's happening to you, okay?" The voice says to him.

He very slowly moves his face a little to see who is actually crazy enough to help him. The little bit sanity he still had gets overpowered by a weird sensation when he gets to see her face. Obviously, it has to be the craziest one.

"Vasudha.." He thinks to himself. The voice was not coming from far away, she is here, right infront of him, kneeling down to reach him, just a few inches away. If only she knew his true identity, his inner self smiled at her ignorance.

"Yes, try to move. You're heavy for me. So you have to cooperate a little bit. Now tell me what is.." she stops amid the sentence to look around and immediately brings her palm to cup her mouth.

"Seems she saw it finally, my face. I knew it will be enough to disgust her away." He thinks. But then with all her strength she turns him around to find the stab marks.

"Why isn't she disgusted already, or scared for the least, like the others?" He keeps on looking at her face while thinking about every irrelevant things possible.

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"Wrap your arms around my waist." She utters surprising him even in this condition.

He has never held anyone like this. He never likes being touched. But.... she is warm, soft and comfortable. Even her hair smells divine. It feels good. It feels....home.

She then brings her phone out from her bag and dials a number.

"Ganika, you have to come down to "Ashroy" immediately. I have a very critical patient for you." She disconnects the call and start her scooty  but not before saying, "You're safe. You'll be fine."

The last thing he remembers is those words and the soothing fragrance of her hair, her smell reminded him of mountains, clouds, fresh green grass.... purity and holiness. The pain was long forgotten. As far as he understands, he is at peace after a long time.

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It took every bit of his energy to not shout back at those reporters who kept on bombarding Nihal with irrelevant questions. The bunch of nutcases who couldn't even use their sole chance at seeing him from the very front.

But how could have they, when he kept on keeping his head so damn low, eating French fries. He was easily ignored. Danuj D' can't act like the commoners, can he? But he did! And he is proud of himself.

The moment their car enters the compound of  "soon not to be" Ashroy, his eyes automatically start scanning the whole area in search of a particular person. But all he can see is the inhabitants of Ashroy running here and there after their assets which are being moved out. How the people, perhaps older than Seventy, are trying to fight against his well-trained boys. Can't they be logical and see it's impossible. They lost it, it's his property now.

"My goodness! What's going on here?" Nihal asks, surprised.

"Don't start feeling pity for them. This is why I don't take you anywhere with me Nihal." Danuj replies while bringing out his black mask.

"You can't go out there, think if any of them takes even one blurred picture, that'll be enough to bring back the whole army of devils behind you." Nihal warns.

"I am wearing this. This'll do. You don't need to come ou.." He fails to complete his sentence as Nihal says "I am coming no matter what."

Danuj gives him a very cold and stern look, but he totally shoves that off.

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It's no more that calm and peaceful place. He has solely turned it into a hell hole. Everywhere his eyes are falling he can see people shouting and crying, pleading for help. But he knows they won't get any. No one is foolish enough to oppose him.

"Couldn't you arrange an alternative for them? What will you get by torturing these innocent people Dan?" Nihal asks.

"I get to scare those who will dare to protest against The D' Imperium in future. I might have given these so much "innocent" people an alternative, if only they begged for it rather than protesting against me. They did a mistake, they are paying for that. Simple." Danuj says, his face void of any emotion.

Nihal could only shake his head in utter disbelief.

Danuj keeps on looking nonchalantly at the inhuman treatment going on infront them, but a part in him is still waiting for a glimpse, a glimpse of that pure piece of nature.

He can see her friends. Some of them are helping the inhabitants, some are busy making calls but one particular girl is looking directly into his eyes. Weird. Even he feels like he has seen her closely before.

Yes, he obviously did, isn't she the doctor?

He sees her bringing out her phone and making a call, but she immediately turns around so he can't really see her face anymore.

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It takes another hour or so when the huge gate finally opens letting her in. Every eyes turn to the gate immediately as if they were waiting for her arrival with every bit of them. Seeing all of their faces relax, Danuj understands who this must be but somehow he doesn't turn around, for some weird reasons he feels nervous for the first time in so many years. And Nihal doesn't fail to notice it.

He can hear her shout at Ojas,

"Where is the order to evacuate the compound today? Show me!"

"Ma'am, they can stay here for the coming six days, but the things need to be moved out slowly. You can't do that in one day, there are so many, so we're here to help." Ojas says as politely as possible.

"And did any of us ask for your help?!" She asks, panting.

"No ma'am, but the owner of the property has been given the right to help the previous inhabitants, if needed." Ojas replies.

"But the inhabitants don't need you. So get lost this instant and do not show your faces for the coming six days. Do you hear me?! GET. LOST!" She says getting restless.

"And how are you planning to throw the owner out of his own property Ms. Roy?" Danuj asks in his deep voice as he slowly turns around to face her. But instead of surprising her he himself gets surprised.

She is devastated, her eyes lost that confidence which obviously means she was faking it just a moment ago. They have dark circles around them. She seems to have lost weight too.

"What's wrong with her, is she sick?" He thinks to himself. But then her eyes widen. She slowly starts coming closer to him. As if on instinct he tenses up, and fists his hands beside him. His face gives away no hint of what's going on inside him but he knows that his nerves are acting differently.

Maya tries to stop her from coming any closer, which somehow irks him to the extent that he immediately glares at her, leaving her in awe.

The moment Vasudha stands right infront of him, he could see her face clearly. Her eyes tear up but she is smiling. Why is she smiling? No! She is smiling at herself, at her ignorant self.

And before he could think any further, the first thing he feels, to his and everyone's surprise, is a strong and burning slap on his left cheek.

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Love, Puja.❤