The creases on his forehead increased with her words.
"Where did you go?" she repeated.
Randhir thought for a split second...Nah he couldn't tell her ! He reluctantly motioned his eyes to meet back hers...
"There were... some unfinished business... to take care of" he said slowly.
Her gaze scrutinized him thoroughly, she was sure he was hiding something,
"What kind of business?" she asked crossing her arms across her chest. There was definitely something fishy, she could feel it. Besides,obviously it was no mundane business we were talking about here... Textile manufacturing, diapers retailing, bananas distribution...that was what common people referred as business. What Mr.Gangster referred as business, was with no doubt , darker and more dangerous ! Weapon dealings, throats cuttings, dead bodies disposal, that was the kind of business we were talking about when it came to the devil !
She wasn't going to leave it, was she ? thought Randhir. ...And why was she insisting anyway ? She knew what kind of business he did then why asking the obvious ? he thought frustrated.
"I took care of the betrayer ." he finally said with confidence, the dangerous aura she had witnessed around him long ago, resurfacing.
The words echoed in her mind... I took care of the betrayer !Sharp...distant...cold.
"Did you do... what I think you did ? she whispered, looking at him with big shocked eyes.
Randhir's jaw clenched seeing that one emotion in her eyes. Disgust. She was disgusted... by him. That made him furious. It's not like he could not see disgust in her eyes, more like he could not tolerate it ! The whole world could judge him, fear him, insult him... but her ? NO, she had no right to do so. She had seen a lot of him...she knew him like no one else...she knew what he did from the very beginning... she was not ignorant ! She knew everything !!! ...And there she was, acting ignorant and disgusted, as if she didn't know what he did... as if she didn't know he killed.
May be in between...everything... she had forgot...But it was her own stupidity if she had overlooked that fact... he had warned her, he had warned to stay away from him. He told her countless times he was a monster, she had witnessed him killing someone for crying out loud... And her reaction at Sameer's place, she didn't seem bothered about the dead bodies that time...Then what now ?!!, Randhir thought in frustration.
Yes, it was her own foolishness that she somehow forgot he was a killer...And it was high time to give her a reality check, he concluded. He was a killer !
"I am sure, I did worse than whatever you are thinking" he said his eyes boring into hers.
Her eyes widened as she held the back rack for support. He had just killed a person. She could not help but imagine atrocious pictures...skin being pierced by his hands... organic tissue being shredded with hishands... blood soaking running down his hands...those same hands that had held her moments ago... those same hands that caressed her moment ago... the same filthy hands ! ...a hand went to her mouth.
Suddenly she felt sick to be near him...
"Why did you do it...?" her words were a mere whisper but held authority.
"It was required..." was all he said.
His words just added more fuel to her anger...
"Who the hell you think you are?" she spoke louder, "Why do you think you're capable enough of taking law in your own hands...? Haan?" she was witty and angry. She was angry at him for ...being him...she was angry at herself for allowing herself to be touched by him...a lot of emotions were engulfing her at the same moment...sadness...hatred... fear... disappointment...disgust... she didn't know what to think anymore
...all she wanted to do was take out her anger on him for putting her in this position.
He was no one to decide the life or death of a human being. No human being had the right alone to decide of the life or death of another human being.
"I did what was required." he repeated calmly, crossing his hands behind his back.
"Required ?! Who are you to decide what is required and what is not ?!" she scoffed, raising her voice again.
"I am not in a habit of explaining myself" he said sharply. She was really getting on his nerves, playing all saint and disgusted.
"And I am not liking your tone, don't forget who you are talking to !" he added as a warning.
Sanyukta scoffed. "Are we back to that ?! " she asked bewildered. Was he really bringing back the "don't-forget-who-I-am" threat ?!
They both stared at each other in a tense atmosphere, trying to comprehend the other.
"Nothing justifies taking the life of someone" Sanyukta finally broke the silence.
"Oh yeah, I didn't hear you complaining the other day at Sameer's place" he taunted her back. She had acted like dead bodies were the most common thing in the world !
Sanyukta fell at a loss of words for a moment.
"...That...that was different... that was self-defense" she said weakly.
"Different how ?! You just said yourself, nothing justifies killing someone, yet you are justifying a murder" he retorted, trapping her in her own words.
"When it is time to save one's own life everything is fair and morally acceptable... how very convenient ! " came his angry words, showing her the mirror. She had no right to act this way when she herself had taken part in killing not so long ago. ...Not to mention that she knew how much of corrupted persons were Raghav and his man, they deserved it !
Sanyukta was rendered speechless.
He was right...for once he was actually right ! ...and she could not argue with him. At that moment at Sameer's place, she had been so scared for her own life that all that mattered at that moment was to save her life, no matter how...she had not even thought about the guards as human being... she had thought about them as obstacles... obstacles to overcome.
He was right human were selfish creatures... when it came to themselves everything was fair and good but when it came to others the same actions were morally incorrect and despicable.
But on the other hand, law had been instituted for that exact purpose, to judge the guilty one and punish them for their misdeeds, according to agreed terms of the majority. It was not right to take law in your hands.
"Randhir...you cannot judge others and make your own decisions..." she tried calmer, looking at the problem from a different angle.
"Law has been instituted for that purpose only...you can't take law into your hands..."
"Oh please ! we all know how it works... there be might honest people out there but we all know money buys most of it..." he spitted his rage against corruption.
"And when law doesn't do it...it's better to take responsibility in your own hands..." Randhir said darkly, giving her a scornful look.
"It's easier to chant all the law and await for the decision till death... but it's much better to pull the trigger right there and then... so others might learn a lesson" he said angrily.
"But..." started Sanyukta.
"Enough !!!" roared Randhir.
"I didn't need to justify my actions to you..." he declared, pausing for a second. "But for some reasons I still did..." he informed her, intently looking at her.
"I can't afford mistakes, so many lives depend on me... on Parth, on Vidushi, on Sahil, we can't afford ANY mistake ...in your eyes we might be gangsters, lawbreakers, killers and what not... but we know what we are doing... we have a mission..."
"We KNOW that what we are doing is needed !!! ...End of the story !" he concluded. He knew it was not easy to understand what they did, but him and Parth had spent years studying every angle of the problem andthis was the only sustainable solution they had come up with.
Sanyukta's eyes brimmed up... She agreed with him... with his words, law was indeed incapable sometime... she had herself been a witness and a victim of law's incapacity... That's how it had started all in fact...this hacking...this Falcon... she had wanted to take revenge on them... she had wanted to destroy the people who had destroyed her peace... she had wanted to torture them for all the pain they have caused her and her best friend... she had wanted to kill them !
And she has taken her revenge, she had made their life miserable... But hadn't been able to kill them, as she had thought it was morally not acceptable to take someone's life. ...Randhir on the other hand has chosen the other option, he had killed. He had killed someone... he had taken a life... he had blood on his hand...yes... but this blood on his hands had surely helped saving many innocents blood, saving many lives... and at the end of the day it was all that mattered ! ...Dirt has been removed and innocents had been saved... and her moral accepted that !
Her eyes looked up at him, he was not looking at her anymore, his gaze was directed toward the night moon canopy in the window.
A lone tear escaped her eye remembering the past incident that shook her life...
"You're right you know..." he heard her say, Randhir turned to find her resting her neck on his chair near the fireplace, her face glowed under the light from the burning wood.
"We were back from shopping..." she started staring into the space, recalling that fateful day.
"When they kidnapped us, me and Arpita..."
"Tara's mom" she clarified, looking at him.
"We never knew the reason...but we were sure it was Karan's college time rival who got this done... Karan and Arpita were college sweethearts and my batch mates... " she smiled a little remembering the good old times.
Randhir could now see tears dripping down her cheeks... something in him told him to go and hold her...to sooth her.
"Kidnappers shut me into a different room than hers..." she whispered, her voice breaking toward the end.
"...and...and the last thing I remember..." she said closing her eyes, as another tear fell down.
"...was her being brutally raped... Her screams still linger in my ears..." she finished weakly, brushing away the tears that were now continuously falling down.
She felt a hand over her shoulder, sliding down toward her hand, squeezing it, reassuring her softly. As his other hand went to her face, brushing away the tears.
"She couldn't bear the incident and died in shock while...The culprit was set free to go, even with enough evidences to prove him guilty... because his dad had enough money..." she counted him the whole story.
"Sometimes law does turn unfair...or rather blind..." she finally agreed with him.
"Someone...indeed needs to clean the mess..." came his words... completing hers.
She turned to look at him, his eyes held assurance, his gestures held affirmation, his touch gave her strength. Randhir bent down to her level on his knees leveling his eyes in front of hers...
"Sanyukta do you trust me?" he demanded. ...It was maybe the first time she was hearing her name from his mouth so softly...his words a mere whisper yet they held enough emotions but her heart was still in a tiff with her brain... She knew there was more to this sentence than just cordial agreement. ...Much more... It held depth... depth and an invisible promise...a promise she didn't know if she was ready to make or not.
"The question is..." she moved her hand to caress his cheek... "Can I trust you?" Her mere touch relaxed him but her words pierced his heart.
Both fell into silence.
***
Before Randhir could say anything, Sahil opened the door stepping in.
Could not have chosen a better moment to enter, thought Sanyukta. Some people really had a timing problem...
...And guess who came in following him ?...the panda ! ...Great ! ...Couldn't she take a hint ?! Sanyukta muttered...I mean I had been pretty clear last time that she was not needed here...Sanyukta thought, scowling at the panda. Clingy little thing...Talking about clinginess, Sanyukta decided to promote the panda to a new rank : the koala. You know that ugly little thing that is always awkwardly hugging trees... Yup, definitely a koala. ...Now if the koala thought that Mr. Gangster was her tree, Sanyukta would be glad to give her the number of her ophthalmologist ! Mr. Gangster was NOT a tree and definitely NOT hers !
"Sir it's time for your bath..." she heard the koala say. Sanyukta rolled her eyes the very instant she heard her words...
"What...?" came the koala's confused reply...
Randhir who by now stood up next to Sanyukta shifted slowly behind her only to whisper in her ear mischievously, "Aren't you going to do it yourself this time?"
She turned back only to give him her death stare as if she would straightway melt him with her laser vision. ...Were they really discussing some important matter just minutes ago ?! ... she wondered. ...Well if that was the case, every traces of it were gone now, gone was the soft and caring side... instead he had adorned back the devil's avatar, arrogant, perverted and devious.
"What...don't you remember last time...?" He shamelessly smirked back at her... How did he do to make her want caress his cheek one minute and strangle him to death the next...she sighed.
"Keep dreaming !" she replied. No ! She was not going to do that again. Being this close to his perfectly sculpted chest without being able to touch it freely was pure torture. Besides...there was still unfinished and unsettled business between them. It was really not the time for close proximity... They always seem to forget everything around them when they invaded each other's personal space... and right now some thingsreally needed to be settled...! Their relationship, as twisted and as confusing as it was, was taking some really unexpected and dangerous turns...!!!
Sahil cleared his throat to bring them back to the present, Sanyukta glared one last time at him and started walking.
"I'm outta here" she declared holding her bag and moving away... Leaving the devil in the clutches of the koala was a tough decision to take...but it was for the greater good !
As she started moving away, she saw the koala's eyes glow in excitement, as it shyly smiled at Randhir to which he smiled back...
Sanyukta stopped in her tracks, her mouth forming an "O"...seriously ?! ...ab yeh sab chalega yahan ? she boiled, imagining him close to her.
"Seriously ?!" she growled aloud, raising an eyebrow at Randhir.
"What darling...you seem a bit...umm...irritated" said Randhir, once again totally amused by the situation.
"Irritated ?...no am absolutely not irritated" she told him, a fake smile plastered on her face.
"Am just this away..." she showed a little space between her thumb and index "from turning into a violent psychopath and skinning you with a trident" she finished angrily.
She turned toward to koala.
"OUT" she yelled as the trembling koala and Sahil moved out.
Sanyukta almost banged the door on her face. Good riddance !!!