Lost And Found

6. The brothel

When we zoomed past the trees , everything was a hazy blur.
He did not offer his helmet to me like the last time.

In such a delicate moment too, I noticed this and it shocked me.
How I always thought him to be cold and rude but expected him to be thoughtful too.

It was blindingly dark and I was trying hard to make out where we were going when he turned into a side alley abruptly.

He parked into a corner and cut off the engine when the dim lights coming out of the small shabby rooms started making sense into my mind.
You could hear male laughing voices coming from the shanties.
Cheap perfume wafted in the air.

There was no one in sight but everyone seemed awake at the late hour of night .

It was a red light area!

Panic building into me, I struggled to breathe.
Screaming in this area was pretty much useless.
I had a feeling of real tremor run through my spine as I watched Riyan come closer to me.
Our eyes connected and his were almost emotionless.

'Why did you bring me-e her-re?',I heard myself utter.
He inched closer to me, and I found myself stuck by the wall behind me ,nowhere to escape.
He leaned closer to me and whispered with a voice full with fury now,
'Do you think I brought you here? You dragged yourself here. Now don't regret.'
His touch should had scared me but I felt nothing sort of fear. Being close to him didn't make me want to run ,just the place we were in did that.

'I could never imagine that you would... This place...',I spoke idiotically , full with trust for him even then.

He leaned again and murmured into my ears ,his voice severe ,yet so honey like,'Listen carefully. Don't scream. There is something terrible going on here. Its about the orphanage. Sarah you have to help.'

Suddenly I was all alert and every wrong notion regarding Riyan vanished out of my mind like it wasnt even there.

I nodded knowingly.
I did not what was wrong yet but I knew he was here to set that right.

We left the bike at the entrance of the alley and walked straight into the hell.

Riyan wasn't scared like me but he looked anxious.

We tried to not make any noise and when we reached the last hut ,Riyan motioned me stop there.
He knocked quietly.
Three knocks later, a lady peeped out of the door.

She was wearing a saree , draped shabbily, and had thrusted lipstick on her lips.
When she saw Riyan she quickly ushered us in.

'You brought your girlfriend here.',She laughed.

I looked at Riyan and watched him turn red.
'Um ,no. We are not...dating.',I corrected.

That piqued her interest.
She watched us both with judging eyes.
'If you say so...',She said not completely sure.

' Deepa.',He said her name with so much severely that she got back to business(not her literal one).

She spoke in murmurs even though there was no one but us.
'Look I have heard they are bringing her here.'

'When.',He asked even though ,I think, he knew the answer.

'Tonight.'

I listened to them not completely sure or okay about what I think they were talking about.

Riyan looked at me and explained,'They are going to bring a young girl here under the pretense of admitting her at the orphanage.

'The orphanage is not aware of this admission. I have double checked there.'

'Oh.,was all I could say.

'This is so pathetic.'

'yes it is.',Deepa said with a sigh and a sad undertone.

I could only begin to imagine how much worst it must be for her.

'So what do we do?',I asked Riyan.

'We wait and rescue her.',He told me.

That sounded easy.

We decided to hide in her shack.
It was almost dark in the little room ,maximum floor space covered by a unkempt bed and a water pot.
I decided to sit on the bed, shuddered by the occupation of the bed, and changed my mind immediately.

I found a clean corner next to the bed and sat down cross folding my legs.
Riyan having the choice between the filthy seating and the clean space , sat next to me.
Deepa comfortably sank onto her bed, completely at ease.

Riyan ,next to me looked alluring even in semi darkness.
His masculanity even more profound in the current location.
I couldn't help but notice his muscled arms or the hairs on it.
His face , chiselled sharp nose, perfect , made me want to check the sharpness of their edges.
His eyes in the dim light looked glorious ,liquid honey and gold ,stirring some solid secrets in their bottom.

His hairs curly, reminded me so much of the pictorial lamb ,in the rhyme 'Mary had a little lamb' that I had a serious urge to laugh out loud.
I repressed it vehemently.

We were in hiding.
But I couldn't help but stare at him.
He was so picture perfect.

Why was I getting fuzzy feelings?
I felt a little dizzy.
Not the best place to feel unwell.
Also I felt an alarm ring in my head that this was not a physical illness.

Ugh.

I needed a grip on my mind.

We waited for quite a long time and I was partially drifting to sleep.
As much as I tried to stay awake.
Finally I drooped my head on his shoulders and let my eyelids close for a nano second.
BAM!
CRASH!!
WHOOP!!!
The door banged against its rusty hinges and two masked men entered the hut.