Gauri awoke with a start.

Palpating in fear, she could still see the blurry visions of her nightmare running wild in front of her.

"Calm down, Gauri. It's not real, not real," she whispered to herself, massaging her temple.

Her gaze swept to her left side which was unexpectedly, empty. Frowning, she threw the covers off of her and padded across the room.

"Did he leave?"

"Rudra," she called out.

The watch on the top of the nightstand was untouched. His shirt was still at the same place where she had placed it last night. His shoes; everything was at its place, then he could not have left.

The door to her room opened with a click. Rudra entered the room, a newspaper in his hold.

"You're awake, it's still 6," he smiled.

"You woke up early?" Gauri asked.

Rudra nodded, not much into the conversation. His brain was wide awake as ever, reeling the wheels at an admirable speed.

"You look tired," he said, caressing her face.
"Are you sure you don't want to sleep a little more?"

"Can't sleep more. Perhaps, a long bath will ease the knotted muscles." Gauri pulled her hair up in a messy bun. She turned around and faced him.

"You are still here?" Her statement twisted in a question.

"When is your family arriving?" He counter-questioned, staring at the mirror of the dresser.

"They won't be here till afternoon, I guess."

Rudra draped an arm over Gauri's shoulders.

"Then, I won't be out of here until then," he said, grinning.

Gauri simply stared at him. His humour was lost on her. She knew why he was saying this.

"I will be okay," her voice dropped to a whisper.

Rudra sighed, "I know but still, I will ensure that you are."

"Now," he got a grip of her shoulders.
"What am I going to wear? I, for sure, didn't plan to have a sleepover here, so no clothes."

Gauri burst into laughter, instantly feeling a lot more relaxed than before.

"I can lend you some of Mamo sa's clothes," she said, proceeding towards his room with Rudra following her.

"What are you going to say when he finds some of his clothes missing?" He asked, amusement shining in his eyes.

"Leave that to me, will you?" Gauri flicked her wrist and marched into the room.

Opening the wardrobe, she fished out a pastel-yellow coloured, full-sleeved t-shirt with a blue jeans complementing it. She placed the clothes on the bed and further, checked the drawers for something else.

Raising an eyebrow, Rudra walked towards the bed and threw the rolled newspaper on it while picking up the t-shirt and examining it.

"Mami sa bought him the set. Apparently, she wanted him to try something modern," Gauri chuckling, rummaging through the drawer.

"Not only were they a size bigger on him but he straightaway refused to wear them also. No matter how much Mami sa and I pouted and whined, it just didn't work on him. Then onwards, they are stuffed at the farthest corner of his wardrobe."

She placed a new packet of toiletries along with the clothes.

"You have everything ready. Are you sure you weren't expecting me here?" Rudra teased.

Gauri scrunched her face.
"Very funny, Mr. Rudra."

Draping a towel on his shoulder, she beamed.
"Mamo sa always keeps extra supply."

"Use this bathroom. I'll be upstairs," she said, pointing towards the attached door.
"Do you need something else?"

Rudra hummed, "Just a brass container for Surya arghya. First you go and fresh up."

Gauri nodded and walked out of the room. Rudra waited till she walked upstairs and then, quickly shut the door, bolting it.

Taking out his phone, he called Aadya.

"Busy," Aadya exhaled.
"Too busy for my taste. Daata's been in non-stop meetings since morning. I pity his secretary."

Her tone did not even hold one per cent of remorse, her words were expressing. Rudra smirked and spread the newspaper on the table-top.

"I know. Expected," he spoke.
"Aadya," he paused.

"How's your study going on?"

"Preparing to excel the exams again," Aadya answered nonchalantly.

"Good," Rudra scratched his chin, his eyes scanning every inch of the newspaper.
"Can you do me a favour and stay at home? Will it hamper your studies?"

"Not at the least, dhada bhai," Aadya said.
"I'm already way ahead of my syllabus. Few weeks give and take," she clicked her tongue.
"Doesn't matter."

"Fantastic. I want you to stay inside the palace and..."

"On it," Aadya responded before the completion of his sentence.

Rudra disconnected the call and glanced at the newspaper, his finger tapping on the photograph of his father. Furthermore, he scrolled down his messages.

'What is this? Were we prepared for this?'

Rudra expected him to question. This particular plan had conspired only within the confinements of his father's study room. No one except his father and him knew about it.

'Vijayendra Pratap Rathore has struck as expected. Now's the time. Strike when the iron is hot.' Rudra texted back.

Tapping his chin, he cocked his head at one side and stared at the newspaper. His trance was broken by the loud ringing of his phone.

"Yes, Mr. Murthy. Did you find out?" He asked his P.A.

"Yes, sir. The chaos was started by the divisional manager. The report of disorientation among the systems was under his supervision. What should I do, sir?"

Rudra's gaze travelled all the way long to the wall-clock.

"Not much, Mr. Murthy. Fire him. Type a letter of termination for him," Rudra said curtly.

"But sir, he..." Murthy stammered.

"I haven't established this empire to entertain fools, Mr. Murthy. I will not neglect inefficiency at any cause," Rudra said in a commanding tone, his gaze stuck to the clock.

Without any further prompt to the conversation, he cut the call.

"What a busy start of the day," he voiced out.

Beaming, he clutched the phone.
"A blessing indeed."

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.
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"You have your attention fixed at somewhere else, Veer bhai," Aadya said, looking over the rim of her cup.

"No, princess," Veer chuckled.

His inner self was much in a conflict than his face portrayed. His mind was not able to grasp the fact that so much had happened overnight. He needed to work fast before the situations slipped out of his grasp.

"Today's morning has started on a busy note," Aadya mused loudly.
"Daata has attended numerous meetings since morning. Bhai, I think you should be with him."

"Daata can handle things better than me," Veer said.

Aadya hummed, savouring the taste of the tea.

"Don't you think a little support wouldn't harm?" Aadya spoke with normalcy.

After contemplating for a few minutes, she rose from her place.

"Help me then, Veer bhai. Brother-sister time," she smiled.

"It's better to keep you away from Daata for a few hours," Aadya chuckled and gracefully looped her arm with Veer's.

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.
.

Rudra kept the brass container back on its place and moved down the stairs, rolling the sleeves up till his elbows. He walked into the kitchen.

Gauri was busy slicing the paneer and checking the gravy simultaneously. She jumped out of her skin when an arm wound around her waist from behind.

"Rudra," she grumbled.

Rudra's lips skimmed along the length of her neck. Meanwhile, his fingers found a way to pull out her hairpin, causing her wet hair to tumble down.

He turned her around, pinning her against the kitchen counter. He slowly turned the knob of the cooktop off.

"Ru..."

Her words were cut off short as his index finger came to rest at the corner of her lips. Tucking a wet lock behind her ear, his lips trailed past her cheek. Grazing the edge of her earlobe, he lightly bit it.

Gauri squealed in surprise and tried to push him away but to no avail. Rudra slid his hands down her arms and entwined his fingers with hers, locking them at the top of the counter.

Gauri locked her gaze with his. Her breath hitched when she looked into his eyes. His eyes were different, turned a shade darker. The touch of gold was swirling like a violent storm within the oceans of darkness, emitting through them.

A promise of devastation was within them. The scorching gaze ran over her like a predator mapped its hunt.

This Rudra was someone else. Never had she ever seen him like this.

The aura radiating off of him was of passion laced with unknown and imperceptibly, dangerous consequences.

For the first time in his presence, Gauri could feel the flame of her sweet destruction kindling slowly, gently and impassionately.

Rudra leaned closer, his eyes fixed on her. He kissed the droplets of water away that were framing her face, embellishing the beauty with pearl-like adornment.

Gauri's eyes fluttered shut, her hands twisting to come out of his grip in vain. A volcano of enamoured feelings erupted inside her. Its intensity was enough to manifest tremors through her body.

Little by little, Rudra was nearing her lips which were quivering under his honeyed torture. Her heart was going berserk, ready to jump out of her chest.

Their moment broke by the loud ringing of Rudra's phone.

"Ph...phone," Gauri stuttered, gulping.

"Forget it," Rudra whispered.

However, the incessant sound was too loud to ignore. Gauri turned her head to the right, causing Rudra's lips to brush over her left cheek.

Muttering something incoherent under his breath, Rudra answered the call.
"Mr. Murthy."

Gauri breathed heavily. Her hands gripped the counter for support.

"Hold on a minute."

The next few things happened in a blink of her eye. Rudra pulled her closer with a sudden yank, her body crashing against his front and hands coming to rest upon his shoulders.

Before she knew, Rudra had slammed his lips on hers. He kissed her with a fervour, intense enough to set her every nerve and fibre ablaze with something indecipherable.

Her hands fisted the fabric, seemingly trying to hold onto her sanity.

Rudra's other hand tangled itself in her hair. Lit with the insatiable need to quench his thirst with the sweetness of her luscious lips, he did not spare her an ounce of mercy.

Gasping, Gauri withdrew.

Rudra's lips stretched into a lazy smile.

"Beautiful," he whispered, his fingers lightly grazed over her crimson cheeks.

"Mr. Murthy, excuse me for the delay. Anything important?" He answered the call, winking at Gauri and sauntering out of the kitchen.

With her hair mused up and strands framing her face, cheeks flaming up and lips trembling as an aftermath, Gauri resembled every bit of a ravishing beauty.

"What did just happen?"

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"I think I was clear with my instructions, Mr. Murthy," Rudra stated tersely, glancing at the wall-clock of the living room.

"Sir, your father had recommended the man through his secretary. Apparently, his father had been a loyal helper of him," Murthy replied.

"My father you say," Rudra glanced at the clock again.

"Okay," he sighed.

"Hand him his letter of termination right away," he commanded.
"Without further ado."

Disconnecting the call, Rudra raked his fingers through his hair before staring at the clock.

He slipped out a phone from his pocket which did not belong to him. It was Gauri's phone that he had found lying on the floor while he had been inspecting the kitchen, early this morning.

He tapped open the chat between Veer and Gauri. Scanning the texts, he could not stop the smirk from lighting up his face.

Backing out of the app, he then opened the gallery. His eyes glanced at the images at an infinitesimally less seconds.

"Nothing of my importance," he mused.

However, a single image drew all of his attention towards it. The number plate of the silver Sumo was clearly visible.

"Thanks, angel," he smiled.

He transferred the photo to his phone before deleting it from hers. He cleared the history of the forwarded post and further cleaned the files, leaving no room for retrieval in future.

A message popped up on the screen.

'We will be home in 30 minutes.'

"30 minutes is a long time, " Rudra chuckled.

Raising his hands, he stretched a little and walked back to where Gauri was.

*****

Surya arghya: A ritual where one offers water and worships Sun.