Deceiving Veils

Chapter-11{An end or a beginning}

Amidst of scorching fire and deafening gunshots, world seemed to be at calm for those few moments when he saw her. Drenched again; trembling a bit, she stood there with that something in eyes for which he could actually walk a few more miles. He slowly started to walk towards fire and he could see how she too had taken a step ahead.
He had realized long back that not all the questions have answers. He hadn't listened to them since a long time. Asking him, he still wasn't going to pay any heed. He hated it when he didn't get to find answers to so many questions as a child. He hated buzzing mind.
But now looking at her, she was one unsolved puzzle. Her pink lips always had to open to knit another set of queries. Her eyes always had something to ask.
And he believed, he loved to watch her like that.
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It was hard to tell why her heart was beating so fast. It wasn't thumping like that when a few bombs scared the angels away. But now it was racing like desperate after watching him stand there.

He came.

Was she a little too happy?
No, she guessed it was mere release of burden off her shoulders seeing him alright.

Oh, then why her chest felt like exploding with joy when his eyes met hers?
She shut it up saying it's mere relief, nothing else.

Nandini started to walk slowly and realized she was trembling even more. And it wasn't for cold rain, it was sheer inability to hold the feeling.
She realized he too started to walk towards her. Forgetting about war around, she could see herself muting death music.
Just a few meters away from each other, their meeting point ached to touch them.
But, could battlegrounds ever make midways?
A massive explosion burnt the place into pieces. Black smoke took over faces. Cries and few more explosions around, place where they stood was turned into death pit.
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Mrs. Murthy had been looking for Nandini for an hour then. A guard holding umbrella for her was trying to match her steps.
"Where are you, Nandini?" She murmured.
She turned around to see four men accompanying her.
"Is there any news about that boy who brought Nandini home?" She asked one of them.

"Ma'm, we have sent a guard to check on him. He is imprisoned," he answered.

Mrs. Murthy knew deep down where would Nandini be. She had raised a daughter and she could read what daughter's eyes had when she asked about Manik. It hadn't been easy for Mrs Murthy to cope up with Nandini's outrageous behavior recently. She was worried for her daughter. It was for her that they were doing the dirty job against their own people. And Nandini, she was expected to honor the dishonor her parents had chose to live. Strange ways! was Nandini obliged to live up to their mean expectations? She didn't know.

Walking down the hill, Mrs. Murthy stumbled over a rock and got a fine cut on knee. She sat down on rock with help of a guard. Tears brimmed in her eyes due to immense pain as well as with tsunami of thoughts striking her mind.

Her husband had put his weapons down a long back in front of dictator. She herself had a hard time digesting the fact how he could do that. He was kept away from state on purpose so that autocratic army could have their own ways. He never told it openly but she knew he had received a handsome amount for it too. On asking, she was told how it was in best interest of them and most importantly of Nandini.

Mrs Murthy gulped the lump in throat and tried to control her tears while her knee was taken care by a guard.

It wasn't easy to accept for her that her husband had sold this state to dictator. Money, power and politics; she cared for nothing... Nothing but her daughter. She still remembered how she had no answers to Nandini's questions. She had lied to her about a lot of things to safeguard her faith in good.
The day they had entered this camp, she knew now she too had to play this game, whether she wanted to play it or not. For surviving, she had to give in or at least play along.
Her husband had instructed her to follow every word of lieutenant as any breach could cause a harm to Nandini. It wouldn't be much of task for army there to kill them or throw in front of mad mob.