"Ye kal pehen lena."

He quickly removed the shirt from his face in order to see her expressions but she had already left. He let out a small chuckle, imagining her.

She, on the other hand, went to her room and picked a black top for herself…

IN THE FORENSIC LAB:

To Dr. Salunkhe's dismay, another body was added to a line of six bodies that had arrived earlier.

"Lo ek aur laash."

The old doctor proceeded towards the body, checked its neck, hands and chest and made preliminary conclusions. From the looks of it, this was another one of those serial killings.

Tarika on the other hand, continued working with chemicals to see if she could provide some more clues. The CID officers were particularly disturbed with this case. They had visited the lab thrice in 6 hours, pressing for more information.

The forensics were not less troubled either. Testing 12 bodies, and now 13, was certainly not an easy job. Many tests were time consuming and had to be done with utmost concentration for accurate results. The day had been particularly difficult, as they received more calls than usual from CID officers with questions that were impossible to answer, given the short time span. And so, the fact that the officers called almost twice an hour and barged into the lab every two hours irked doctor Salunkhe to the core.

"Bas inhi ki kami thi," the old doctor said, irritated when he saw Abhijeet entering the lab.

Abhijeet looked at Tarika for a moment and gave her a quick vague smile. A slight bruise on his face, dust on his blue jeans, fists clenched, he looked like he had just had a fight with someone.

"Sir please," Tarika intervened to avoid a conflict.

"Sir yaha 13 deaths ho gayin hain – itna khatarnak serial killer khule aam ghoom raha hai. Aur hum..hum kuch nahi kar payein hain…harr surag humhe jiske paas le jaati hai, uski maut ho jaati hai."

"ye nayi (new) lash kaha mili?"

"Sir ye mangu ki laash hai…CID ka khabri…iss case mein involved tha – usko bhi maar diya."

Soon the doctors gave them whatever information they had and the team left. Tarika excused herself and ran towards Abhijeet.

"Abhijeet!"

He turned around to find Tarika running towards him and signalled the rest of the team to proceed.

"Kya hua Tarika?"

She nodded her head, conveying that everything was alright and that nothing had happened.

"ye," she gave him a bottle of water and a chocolate, "ye rakh lo."

He smiled at her concern and took the things but he was in too much of a hassle to stand there and be sweet. And she understood that perfectly. After she watched his silhouette disappear, she left for the lab, praying that the case would be solved soon.

AT HOME:

Abhijeet threw his coat into the sofa and then collapsed into it himself. His lips dry, he craved some water but he couldn't find it in himself to get up. What a tiring day it had been! And the worst part? He couldn't even afford sleep as he had to get the file work done by the next day.

His body aching, he squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them as he felt a gentle, soothing touch on his head. It was her, standing behind the sofa, giving him a massage. He looked at her and she smiled down at him.

"ab acha lag raha hai?"

"hmm," he closed his eyes again, "Thank you Tarika."

After she was done, she gave him a glass of water and sat next to him. He wrapped his arm around her and they sat there for a while, letting their tired bodies rejuvenate in each other's presence.

"koi movie dekhein?"

Without waiting for his reply, she brought one his favourite movies. He had watched it 3 times already but it never ceased to amazing. She switched the TV on and settled herself beside him again. While the movie started, he placed his head in her lap. As her hands rubbed his scalp, her fingers pressing it through his hair, he felt peaceful. He felt that all the energy that had been drained out of him was slowly returning back.

He could return home tired every day, if each tiring day had such a beautiful ending to it. As her fingers moved from his scalp to his neck and down to his shoulders, he felt relaxed.

After his shoulders eased, her hands moved from there, back to his scalp. She sure knew how to make him feel better. Her fingers applying slight pressure to his temples, she smiled as his grip on her thigh softened. His other hand which was resting on her knee, slipped down and she realized that he had fallen fast asleep.

She switched the TV off and then bent forward a bit so that she could take out the cushion that was behind her back. She placed the cushion at the edge of the sofa and lifted his head from her lap gently. Careful not to wake him up, she placed his head on the cushion.

She then got up and removed his shoes and placed them on the shoe rack. Next she removed his belt and kept his coat in its proper place and came back with a blanket. She covered him and then ruffled his hair.

"kitne cute lagte ho tum sote hue bhi."

She blushed at her own statement and kissed his forehead.

"oops sorry," she mumbled, embarrassed.

The kiss had left a lipstick mark on his forehead. She took out her makeup remover from her handbag and carefully wiped his forehead. Then she removed her own makeup and touched his forehead.

"ab tumhe kiss kar sakte hu."

She pecked his forehead and then kissed his closed eyes to be confronted by the voices in her head.

Bas kar Tarika!

Kyu bas karu? Mera boyfriend hai.

Haan par wo jag jayega na…waise bhi kitna thaka hua hai.

Haan wo toh hai. But, ek last kiss?

Nahi nahi – no more kisses….ek bhi nahi. Wo uth jayega toh?

Toh wapas sula dungi.

Arrey par – disturb ho jayega faltu mein.

Huh! Waise baat sahi hai.

Deciding not to disturb him, she sat on the chair opposite him and soon fell asleep…

So how was it guys? Do leave a review please : )