A Million Dreams

2. First Encounter

Six months ago ✨

Midnight breeze caressed my skin which caused a shiver to run down my spine . I cross my arms over my body .
Standing behind Danny in a squatting position , I am currently behind an old ,  ochre walled brick building . The sewer pipes behind me have  leakage, leaving a foul smell in the air .
I have to cover my nose with a handkerchief and with my other hand I tap Danny on his shoulders .

"How long do we have to wait ?" I whisper in a irritated voice .

We have been here since half past twelve and it is now quarter past one . I am getting spooky vibes standing behind this haunted , half constructed building waiting at midnight for the man to show up .

" Have some patience Ran . He would be out anytime soon ." He whispers back without moving his eyes from the front door of a house which we have been staring at since the last forty five minutes . Apparently Ran is my pet name . Ran for Aranya . Like seriously ?

The lights from the house go off and the door creaks open . A man in his fifties comes out with a garbage bag in his hand . His eyes are bloodshot and the way his legs sway , there is no doubt that is he is drunk . A young girl comes out wearing very little clothing , her hair all dishevelled and a lustful smile on her face , follows him towards the exit of the building .

I don't even want to know what games did they play inside.  Danny holds my wrists and turns his head towards me with a finger on his lips . We silently walk over to the house, go inside and leave the door half open in case the man comes back.

The smell of cheap liquor fills the one bedroom house . Clothes are lying on the floor , three cans of beer are up on the kitchen counter and three are lying on the dresser .

"Okay , what exactly are we trying to find Danny ? "

" Anything that can give us information on him . Like a pen drive , hard disk , bank statements , anything ." Danny says while rummaging inside the drawer of the dresser .
I start with the wardrobe . One by one I start throwing the clothes on the floor and start searching inside .

Amid that Danny whisper yells , " Holy cow !"
I run towards him and ask , " What ? What did you find ? "

He starts laughing and says , " The jerk uses a vibrator", and brings a black colour vibrator up for me to see .

" Ew , Danny . Throw that away , wash your hands and focus ." I say with a disgusting look on my face .
He raises his hands in mock surrender after putting it away with a devilish grin and gets back to his work .

I open a drawer of the nightstand near the bed and was about to look at the contents when Danny shouts , " Got it, let's go Ran." 

"Really? Great let's go." But the black and silver revolver in the drawer draws my attention, I scream and push the drawer close again . My breathes are uneven and I am still in shock .

Danny immediately rushes towards me and puts a hand on my mouth to muffle my screams but it is too late because the front door opens up harshly banging against the wall in the process. There stood the man , Jenti Verma , who Danny was stalking since three months to finally catch hold of his old house address at which we are standing in .

The colour of his bloodshot eyes now matched the colour of his furious face . Swaying he made his way towards us , slowly reaching the pocket of his khakhi capri and removing a pocket knife from it and aiming it in our direction .

"What the hell are you bastards doing at my house ? And who the hell are you ?" He slurred . There was no way he was going to remember this encounter tomorrow morning .

Danny slowly took his hand away from my mouth and tucked me behind him and started walking sideways with one of his hand on my back and one raised straight ahead to keep an arm distance between the man and us .

The man kept saying something while he continued advancing towards us with a rage in his eyes , meanwhile my eyes were concentrated on the iPad and the pen drive on the bed and that Danny kept nudging me on my elbows with a look that said 'do not do anything stupid ' .

It all happened in seconds . I pushed Jenti with how much ever force I could gather from my small body frame to push his giant one . With one swift moment I grabbed the iPad and the pen drive and with the other I held Danny's arm and made a rush for the front door before the Jenti could get up from the floor .

Unfortunately he caught hold of Danny's leg and brought him down with him . Danny pushed me out and ushered me to keep going .
That sucker punched Danny on his stomach and with the help of door handle , picked himself from the floor and sauntered towards me .

Before I start to panic , I take a few deep breathes and started running .
Running towards the darkness for my life like I always do , I run away from my problems . I run away from my downfalls but today , I run away for the right . I run to bring the truth in light . The truth of the night of 10th July . The truth of my father's death .

By now , I can taste the salty liquid in my mouth , which is when I realise that I am crying . I can still hear the footsteps behind me . They are getting louder and closer . The padding behind me is getting closer .

I glance behind my shoulders to take a look at Jenti who seems hardly twenty metres away and that is when I collide with a hard muscular shoulder , the iPad goes flying from my hand and I lose my footing , ready to fall flat on the ground .

If not for the hand that went around my stomach , I would have thought I actually ran into a wall because of the impact .

I am gently pulled back and brought into a solid but a warm chest that without a doubt is of a man, a muscular man who smells like a mixture of mint and sweat but surprisingly the scent has a soothing effect on me . I want to melt in his arms . A hand protectively rests on my back.
His breathing is heavy and his heart is racing . Is it because if me ?

"You okay there little one?" He asks me but I hardly register it because my virgin mind is lost in his touch .

"Hey, you okay ?"
This time I manage to nod still lost in my world .
Trust me it looked like we were in each other's arms or practically I was in his arms for hours but it was literally only for seconds when I heard the padding again bringing me back to the reality .

I lifted my head from his chest and looked behind his shoulders . Jenti was ready to stab the stranger with the knife in full swing and hastily , I turned us both around but I was a little late as the knife cuts through the stranger's arm on my back , a little whimper leaves his mouth and the cut starts bleeding .
"Oh god , you are bleeding ." I say frantically with a hoarse voice . After taking his arm in my hand , I take a look at the wound and my vision turns glassy because of the unshed tears . I try to blink them away and finally look up to see the stranger who saved my life .
Danny comes running and after analysing the situation, he tells me to take the stranger to the hospital and that he will go behind Jenti . I absent mindedly nod my head and tell him that I was fine and will also take Mr. Stranger to the hospital .

My world stops for a millisecond after looking at the hazel brown eyes which are deeper than the ocean and warmer than fireflies . A emotion that I cannot decipher passes through my heart which causes my chest to ache .
The unshed tear now rolls down my cheek .
In a life death situation at midnight was my first encounter with Veer Pratap Singh .My fiance. My stranger .

.........❤️.........

Xoxo , until next time;)