Moonflower

CHAPTER 6

Mehek slowly lifted her right hand and went closer to Ayaan. Ayaan began stepping back but froze as soon as Mehek's fingers touched his face.

Ayaan's insides burned.

Mehek touched Ayaan's flushed cheek and felt the warmth that made her sure that he was real. Everything felt so delusive, that she had to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating. Her eyes narrowed into a pleasant gaze as she let her hand down slowly. Now that she knew that he was real, another doubt rose in Mehek's mind.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Now you have a purpose," Ayaan replied, "You will now have something to do, something to look forward to. You just have this one aim to accomplish, to keep the flowers alive. You will have a purpose in life, a purpose worth living for."

Mehek listened in silence.

"But this doesn't explain, why you, a stranger, is taking such efforts for me?

"Are we still strangers? Didn't we exchange names yesterday?"

Ayaan ruffled his hair and giggled at Mehek's unresponsiveness.

"But-"

"I am doing this," Ayaan interrupted "because I don't want to experience what you are experiencing, because of you."

Mehek was lost. She couldn't quite grasp the answer and she also got scared for a second over a thought that she might be losing her linguistic abilities. She let it go for she had enough pain in the head to add another one.

Ayaan pulled his mask over his nose and ran out of the balcony after reminding Mehek to take care of the flower. Mehek stood there blank before she turned towards the vase. She remembers it. She remembers that she had bought the vase when she was decorating the interior of her new home. The vase has always been empty since then because the day she went out to get some flowers, she heard heartbreaking news of her parent's getting divorced and that's when her life started going downhill.

Now, the vase has a flower.

Is there hope for Mehek's empty life to bloom like a Moonflower?

~

"So, you finally decided to come back, I thought you wouldn't be showing your face for another couple of days," Blue Volt scoffed.

Black Beast rolled his eyes as he tossed his mask away. He started moving towards his bedroom when Blue Volt stopped him by his shoulder.

"Pirate is not happy with you and you haven't been bringing any loot from the past two days. I don't see anything bought by you today either."

Black Beast turned.

"Where is he?" Black Beast asked to which Blue Volt simply sighed before pointing out in the direction of the storage room.

Black Beast entered the storage room that smelled of tobacco. He saw Pirate repairing something as he smoked a cigarette by the window. He lifted his head and looked in Black Beast's direction, and went back to his work without saying a word.

"I have the weapons prepared, I had them prepared long back," Black Beast broke the tension.

"And what will those be? A stick? Or a taser perhaps?" Pirate remarked sarcastically. Ayaan frowned, "You do know why I am sticking to this gang, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah as long as we don't kill anyone. That's why you are in charge of the weapons. How much more trust do you need in us?"

Black Beast wasn't very fond of Pirate for he knew that Pirate carried a murderous intent which was buried deep down somewhere inside of him. Though Black Beast preferred to work alone, he decided to join the gang, when Pirate invited him to, for better chances of survival.

"Look, you are one promising lad," Pirate stopped his repairing work and continued, "You have 98% of success rate which is immensely valued in our field of work. The three of us keep our guns to ourselves and just for defense purposes; Crackhead is probably losing his mind but who cares. As long as I get my loot and the men cooperate, I am content."

Pirate's expression turned stern and scary, "You seemed to be disturbed from past few days and I don't care for it's your personal problem but I do care about the daily loot that has not been coming in. So, whatever you do, I want the loot on the table by every dawn. As far as the next big burglary is concerned, I want full cooperation from you and any interference from your side or if anything goes wrong because of you, I will..."

Pirate paused before he broke into a vicious grin.

"I can't kill innocent people but I "can" kill people who are "bad", right? Those who have committed some crime. Because, Black Beast! ... you are a criminal after all."