6| Ulfat

🦢 Nigahon mei rahun ya bahon mei rahun,

Mai kabhi na kahi pe jaun,

Iraada hai mera, ye wada hai mera,

Na kabhi mai tujhe tadpaun 🦢

Arjun and Maya were sitting in silence due to the gravity of what he just told her.

"What do you mean? Zoya was assassinated?" Maya broke the silence after a couple moment passed.

"Yes." Arjun replied in a dark voice.

Maya grabbed his hands and gave them a small squeeze.

"As much as I want to know what really happened, I'm not going to force you to share. You can tell me if and whenever you decide to let me in." Maya cupped his face and said these words in a low voice.

"No, no. I need to tell you whatever happened." Arjun said.

"No, really, I'm fine. You can tell me whenever you feel like it." Maya reassured him.

"No Maya. You see, I don't have the luxury of a choice anymore. As much as I try to keep you away from this world, I cannot change the fact that you are now a very pivotal part of it. I always knew how as my wife you'll be a target to people but I guess the gravity of the situation hadn't got to me yet." Arjun started.

"3 year back, one day Zoya was out having lunch with a friend in the city. When they wrapped up their lunch and parted ways, Zoya had to walk a minor distance to get to where the car was parked. As she was on the way, a bullet was shot at her, right in the middle of her head. The gun had a silencer and hence no one heard it being fired. The area where she was had no one to bear witness to the scene. Her bodyguards failed in finding the assassin who was responsible for it. I was in a board meeting when I received the call." Arjun took a deep breath as the memories of that dreadful day ran across his mind.

He had met Zoya in a coffee shop when their orders got exchanged by the barista's mistake. They started talking that day and ended up exchanging numbers. A few dates down, they already knew this was something more than just casual dating. What started as a meet cute, ended in blood for the poor innocent soul of Zoya.

"Aashna was suddenly without a mother at the tender age of 8 months. I was in no position to handle myself, let along my barely one-year-young daughter. I relied heavily on the support of my parents and therapy to recover from whatever happened. The timely medicines, my parents' never-ending love and those long therapy sessions helped me to accept the absence of Zoya in my life. After almost 6 months of mourning her, I shifted all my focus to Aashna and my business, never wanting to spare attention to anything else in my life." Arjun continued.

"You know what's the worst thing, I never let Zoya know about my other profession. I always led a double life with her, keeping her in the dark about my ties to the underworld. I never would've guessed it would've cost me so much. She died without even knowing what she was dying after. After her, I drowned myself in my work and my duties towards my daughter and dare I say, I was okay with living alone but that was all before you walked in my life, Maya."

"What do you mean?" Maya questioned in a soft voice.

"I guess what I'm trying to admit is that, I have fallen completely, hopelessly in love with you. I cannot fathom a day of my life when I'll be without you. I want to stay with you, till my last breath. I want to cherish every moment I get with you and our daughter, as a family. I want to start believing that I deserve love, again. Even if it's a dream, I do not wish to wake up. I don't know what I'll do if you ever leave me." Arjun confessed and covered his face with his hands as he dropped his face.

"Well I'm sorry Arjun but you'll never find out the answer to that because I'm not leaving and about you being capable of receiving love, it's a good thing then that I love you as well." Maya replied.

"You do?" Arjun asked as he looked up at Maya with a surprised face.

"Absolutely." Maya confirmed as she cupped his face and brought her mouth on his, giving him a soft, reassuring kiss.

"Now you know why I behaved the way I did when I found out the same man asked for your assassination." Arjun said after their moment passed.

"Yeah, I guess your reaction was justified. But you have to know that what happened with Zoya, isn't gonna repeat itself." Maya reassured him as she caressed his stubbled jaw.

"Maya, I cannot risk losing you again. I'm extremely concerned about your safety and I'll be damned if I let anyone touch even a single strand of your beautiful dark brown hair ever." Arjun said and Maya couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"What?" Arjun got confused at his wife's reaction.

"Even in such a tensed situation, you said dark brown, not black." Maya had dark brown hair which might seem black in low light. She hates when people call her hair black and Arjun knew it.

"Ahh, I know my wife very well." Arjun said and placed a small peck on her lips.

"Let me make one thing very clear, Mrs. Maya Arjun Singhania. This alliance might have been arranged for the sake of my daughter but I am in it now for my own selfish reasons. There's no way in hell that I'll ever let you go now. You're tied to me till I take my last breath. Am I clear?" Arjun possessively said as he cupped Maya's face and brought her incredibly closer.

"Yes, husband." Maya replied and met her lips with his.

A knock was heard on the door, making them pull away. Arjun answered saying, "Yes?"

"There's good news, Sir." Arjun's right-hand, said as he opened the door.

"What is it?" Arjun questioned.

"The man that we brought in earlier, helped us in finding the person who asked him to do the job in first place." He replied.

"This better not be a joke. Are we sure he's the right man?" Arjun questioned once again as he got up from his seat in haste.

"Not at all sir. We're positive it's the same man. Please come with me." The man replied and got out of the office.

"You sure you don't wanna go home? This might take some time." Arjun said as he turned towards Maya.

"Oh yeah. I'm gonna be here, watching." Maya replied and pointed at the screen.

"You really wanna know?" Arjun asked.

"Uhuh." Maya said and pecked his cheek.

"Okay but turn off the PC whenever you feel like it's getting too much." Arjun said and received a nod in return.

He exited his office and walked back towards the torture room. His men had already chained the man to a chair. They had freed the assassin as per Arjun's earlier instruction. He was standing at the other side of the room, along with 6 to 7 of Arjun's other man.

Arjun walked towards the culprit and didn't waste a single second in punching him right on the face. After hitting him for another 3-4 times, Arjun stopped and took a breath. The skin on his cheekbone had started to bleed and he also got a cut on his lip.

"Bol tune kyu Zoya ko marvaya? Maya pe hamla kyu karvaya?" Arjun growled out his question.

Why did you kill Zoya? Why did you arrange an attack on Maya?

"Lagta hai mujhe pehchana nahi Arjun. Theek se dekh mai kon hu. Yaad kar!" The man who was tied to the chair, yelled his last sentence.

It seems you didn't recognise me. Look at me carefully. Try to recollect!

Arjun furrowed his eyebrows and scanned the man's face. Dark black hair with matching eyes and a gruff beard. He definitely looked familiar.

"Kya hua? Nahi yaad aaraha?" The man mockingly asked.

What happened? You cannot recall?

"Naksh Gupta." Arjun's eyebrows thinned as the name left his mouth. A smirk formed on the man's lips as he heard his name.

"That's right. And I'm assuming naam yaad aa gaya hai to tune mere saath kya kiya tha 5 saal pehle wo bhi yaad aa gaya hoga." Naksh Gupta said.

If you remember my name now, you must have also recalled what you did to me five years ago.

"As long as I remember, I haven't done anything against you in your personal life. Whatever happened was strictly business." Arjun growled at him, grabbing his collar.

"You made my company go bankrupt. My father couldn't bear to see all his years of hard work go down the drain in the span of two months. He died of a cardiac arrest. My mother committed suicide due to the news of her husband's death. They were my only family. You did not only render me bankrupt, but you also made me an orphan. So yeah, I believe it was a little more than just a business." Naksh spat the word 'business' out with pure venom in his tone.

"It was due to you and your misjudgement that you lost the deal, and it naturally fell into my lap. I did not steal it from you. You bloody killed my wife because of that when you very well knew she had an eight-month-young daughter. You did that to somebody who wasn't even connected to the business. And to top it all off, you went after my now wife, who wasn't even in my life when all the shit went down with you. There is absolutely no justification for what you have done and I'm going to make sure you pay for your actions." Arjun said as he punched him in the face again.

"Zyada se zyada kya karega? Mar dega mujhe? Mera waise bhi kuch nahi. Mar de mujhe koi farak nahi padta." Naksh said as a sad smile overtook his lips.

What will you do? Kill me? I don't have anything left. I don't care about dying.

"Maut bahot easy saza hai. Tujhe mai aane wale 4 saal aur tadpaunga, utne saal jitne meri beti ne apne maa ke bina guzare hai. To apni maut se pehle roz ek maut marega, mera wada hai." Arjun said and landed another punch to his face.

Death is an easy escape for you. I'm gonna torture you endlessly for the next 4 years, the same number of years that my daughter had to live without a mother. You're gonna die every day before you need your actual demise, I promise.

"Boys, you know what to do." Arjun said as he turned towards his men.

"Of course sir." His right-man said with an evil smirk as they all picked different torture devices from the table in the room.

Arjun and the assassin walked out of the room. Arjun also turned off the CCTV in the room, not wanting for Maya to see what was about to happen to Naksh Gupta.

"Thank you for your help, Mr.?" Arjun said as he turned towards the assassin.

"Mr. Kumar." The assassin said as he forwarded his hand towards Arjun. He landed a hard punch on his face and then shook his hand.

"You know what that was for." Arjun smugly said as Mr. Kumar rubbed the left side of his face.

"I guess I deserve that." He said and let out a chuckle.

"Mr. Kumar, for whatever's worth, I better not see you near any of my family member ever again." Arjun said in a normal voice but his words carried all the warning the man in front of him needed.

"Of course not." Mr. Kumar said and bid farewell to Arjun.

Arjun walked back to his office and upon seeing his wife, he immediately gathered her into a hug.

"Bahot bada bojh aaj dil pese utar gaya. Zoya ka kaatil mil gaya." Arjun mumbled.

A huge burden has been lifted from my heart. We found Zoya's killer.

"Zoya jahan bhi hogi, khush hogi." Maya said, rubbing his back affectionately. He nodded in reply.

Wherever Zoya might be, she'll be happy now.

"Mere unkahe dard samjhne ke liye shukriya." Arjun said and kissed her head. He was immensely grateful how Maya wasn't a tad bit jealous of Arjun's respect for Zoya. On the contrary, she was very accepting an open towards the matter.

Thanks for understanding my unspoken pain.

"Jo bayan ho jaye wo dard kaisa. Jo samjh na paaye who humdard kaisa." Maya said and caressed his cheek.

It's not pain if it can be put into words. It's not a companion if he doesn't understand the same?

"I love you." Arjun said with a genuine smile.

"I love you as well." Maya said and he placed a soft kiss on her lips.

~ x ~

They're finally out of the woods now. They also confessed so, yay!