Gauri looked at her kidnapper carefully and that was when realisation dawned upon her.
It was Ajay.
The very same Ajay who had been behind her when they were in 12th. He had never tried to be physical with her before, then what was he doing now? And why was he here? She had never invited him!
“Ajay…?” She whispered slowly, unable ro believe the shocking turn of events. “What are you doing?”
“How dare you marry someone else? Don’t you know you’re mine!?” He asked furiously, making some of the spit in his mouth fall on her face.
Gauri closed her eyes in disgust and tried to push him away but that only made him hold her down even more tightly. He pressed her up against the wall and then pressed his body on her, trapping her.
“Leave me!”
“I’m taking you with me! You’re mine! Only mine!” Ajay whisper-roared, his voice heavy and furious.
“I said leave me!” Gauri ordered but as she opened her mouth to scream, he covered it with his hand and went closer to her, their faces now inches apart.
Worry gripped her heart as she feared of what he would do to her, making tears spill out of her eyes as she struggled against him in vain.
He trailed a finger down her face while she tried to pull her face away in disgust, her tears now staining the makeup on her face.
Her heart called out to its owner, Omkara. She knew he would come and save her, he had to. He would know she was missing. He would definitely save her.
But then another thought crossed her mind, why did she expect him to save her?
Ajay then trailed his hand down to her waist while Gauri tried to push him away, failing miserably yet again.
Nothing had ever made her feel so disgusted at herself as it did now. She couldn’t help but want to puke for having his hands on her. It just didn’t belong on her body, no one’s ever did, except Omkara of course. His touch never made her feel disgusted, instead it filled her with warmth, a sense of security and a crave for more intimacy but Ajay…She felt like each part of hers he touched was now stained. She hated herself for not being able to push him away and defend herself.
“Gauri?” Came a familiar sound calling her name. She recognised the voice to be Omkara’s. Relief washed over her knowing that Omkara had come. But he hadn’t seen her so she had to make him aware of her presence.
“Gauri are you there?” Omkara called out again. He had come out on seeing that Gauri was missing, his eyes like always had been searching for her but she was nowhere to be seen. And for some reason he felt uneasy at her disappearance. So he decided to check for her.
Gauri tried to make noises telling him that she was here but those voices didn’t reach him. Ajay on the other hand, became alert hearing Omkara’s voice and tried to stand closer to the wall to avoid coming in his line of sight.
Knowing that her husband was finally here, Gauri had found some courage that she hadn’t so far and with all her might, she stamped on Ajay’s foot making him flinch in pain and leave his hold on her.
Before he could do anything else to hold her back, she let out a small scream, “Omkara!!” and then ran off from his clutches but not before kicking him on the spot where the sun doesn’t shine.
Hearing a disoriented scream that called for his name and recognising the owner of the voice to be the love of his life, Omkara turned towards the voice only to see a disoriented Gauri running towards him, her red eyes overflowing with tears and her makeup spread out.
Omkara’s eyes widened in shock looking at her condition and his lips let out a barely audible whisper that took her name as if some kind of self assurance, “Gauri..”
He was immediately jerked back as Gauri threw herself at him. However he immediately managed to get balance and engulf her in his arms. His heart beats increased rapidy as he thought about what could’ve happened to her, his mind taking him to places he didn’t want to go.
“Gauri?” Omkara called out gently still holding on to her tightly. The anger directed towards her wrong doer kept aside, he composed his voice which was filled with concern. “What happened? Did someone do something?”
When she didn’t answer and instead just clutched on to the back of his Kurta, crying her heart out, worry gripped his heart. “Gauri please answer me what happened?” Tears filled his eyes looking at her condition.
“Ajay…” Gauri let out between her sobs “he is here..”
“Ajay? Who’s that?” Omkara asked totally confused.
“He is bad, Omkara…he….wanted to…take me away…from you….he tried to…molest..me..”
Omkara’s hold on her tightened as anger filled him. Anger for having touched his wife against her wish, anger for even daring to have such thoughts about her.
“Gauri look at me.” He called to her gently, holding her chin up. “Where is he?”
Having got where he was standing Omkara rushed towards that side only to find it empty. He turned sideways hearing someone try to desperately start their bike. Running as fast as he could, he pulled the man on the bike by his collar. The man looked terrified and nervous, it had to be Ajay!
Ajay looked on nervously into the eyes of the man infront of him. Eyes that shot daggers at him. Those bloodshot eyes had a fire in them that he knew well was directed towards him.
Hearing the sound of someone else come there, Omkara turned around to find Gauri standing there, her lips trembling. One look at her and he knew the man he caught was Ajay. Forcing him down from his bike, Omkara threw him on the ground and got on top of him. Ajay tried to keep up with fight and counter attack but the fire inside Omkara had already started to burn him down, turning Ajay to ashes.
The hungry tiger never showed mercy, and neither did Omkara’s punches show him any mercy. “How dare you try to misbehave with her!?” He roared furiously, hitting his face again and again.
Gauri stood there rooted to the ground to see her husband so furious, showing no mercy to his prey. She had never seen him get this angry before and when she realised that Omkara could kill Ajay if it continued, she knew she had to stop him.
She tried to pull him back but it seemed like he had no plan to stop so she called out to him helplessly, “Omkara please stop. You’ll kill him!”
“Let him die!” He said furiously as he punched him again and again.
“Please Omkara, stop! I beg you!” Gauri said trying to get a hold of his hand. “For me!”
For the first time since he started beating Ajay, he looked at her. As their gazes met, Omkara felt his anger melt down seeing the warmth in her eyes that called to him to stop the fight.
If he was fire, she was water. One look at her was enough to calm the storm in his raging heart. One look, and her water knew how to extinguish the flames within him.
“Please?” She whispered pleadingly while Ajay had almost blacked out.
Getting up from Ajay, he pulled him up and called Khanna, their security incharge. Then, he handed over Ajay to Khanna and asked him to file a case against him. Finally he turned his attention back to Gauri, whose hand he had held on to all this while.
“Please don’t let anyone know..” Gauri said softly, looking up at him and strengthening her hold on his hand. “They’ll be worried. Please?”
Looking at her asking him something with so much worry, Omkara couldn’t help but nod. Then, he opened his arms for her and she immediately clasped her hands around him letting him engulf her in his big safe hands, that took her away from this world.
“Did he hurt you?” He asked sofly as he ran his hand down her head.
“A little.” Gauri said. When she felt his body stiffen for a second, she continued, “But I knew you would come. Thank you.”
“You knew I would search for you?” Omkara asked a little surprised.
“I had trust in you.” She replied looking up at him with a soft smile.
“I’m sorry for letting you out of my sight. If I had been-“
“Omkara,” She gently called out to him, cutting him off “I’m safe now and you are with me. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Who was he?” Omkara asked the obvious question. She stiffened a little at his question but he held her tightly reassuring her that he was there and she needn’t be scared. And that whoever he was, it didn’t matter.
“Ajay.” Gauri said. “He was in our school. During my 12th, he asked me out and I rejected him. He kept troubling me for the rest of the year because I used to ignore him. But after school, I never met him. I don’t know from where he popped out after all these years or how he got to know about our marriage. I didn’t know he was so cheap..”
She shuddered in his arms as she recalled the incident when Ajay tried to misbehave with her.
“He can’t get you anymore, Gauri.” Omkara said softly, not leaving his hold on her and calming her. “I’m right here with you.”
“I know.” Gauri replied closing her eyes and feeling his warmth, the sound of his heartbeats filled her ears as she hugged him even more tightly.
“I love you.” Omkara said placing a kiss on her forehead. Gauri’s heart skipped a beat hearing his confession for the first time since their marriage. The last time he told her that his love had only increased but never did he say the three magical words in these 11 years. For a second she felt guilty hearing his confession. Guilt for not loving him back but all sorts of thoughts stopped forming in her head with his gentle reassuring kiss.
“Thank you.” She whispered as she made herself more comfortable in his arms.
To be continued…..
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Have a nice day!
And stay safe!