Author's pov-

The entire Kulbarwan was under a bizarre cloud. The hasty step taken by Neev had freed her, but it put the entire village under the wrath of Rajveer.

He had pulled down people's homes, smacked young boys in their fields, and assaulted many girls. He had sent his men to look around for Neev, hoping she might have survived somehow after falling down the waterfall.

It had been two days but Neev's body couldn't be found, which kept infuriating him and gave him a faint, bleak hope of her survival.

Arjun, Neev's best friend, was guilt-ridden because he had reprimanded her for eloping this time. Poor fellow.

Who would want his friend to be butchered again, even though he knew how worse her life would be with that jerk in their matrimonial alliance? He went down to the waterfall near the village to check if he could find his friend, but he did not and accepted that she was no more, cried and yelled to no avail.

Some five hundred kilometres away from Kulbarwan, down the frothing water, in the still water between the boulders, on the outskirts of a metropolitan area, lay Neev.

The cloth bag that had her clothes and belongings tied together was floating too, stuck between the boulders beside the bleeding girl, whose clothes were torn and ragged.

A large wooden block, big enough to sweep her away, came drifting toward her. It was about to hit her when someone held it back with one arm, and with the other arm held Neev's unconscious waist to stop her from floating away.

He tried to push the wooden block away, but it was twice his size. He then smartly shoved his form to the side by hooking his leg to the bolder on his side, with Neev stuck to his chest. While panting for his life, he craned his neck to see if the block had floated to the opposite side, closing his eyes in relief and after a second he opened his black, dark eyes, his jaws tight and face strangely exasperated. Finally, he squinted them in curiosity, his expressions spoke no game at all, but deep in the cold demeanour and blunt look, stood inquisition. His left arm was wrapped around her waist tightly and his right one rose now, with uncertain intent, he flickered his two fingers on her face and moved away the tendrils.

Suddenly his heart thundered, so did his gaze. He tried to see through her face, which was bleeding. He gulped in and looked away instantly, his breathing uneven for reasons he was not ready to decipher. He took her out of the water, carrying her on his shoulder.

He was a young man, with wheatish fair skin, in a white shirt that stuck to his sculpted shoulders and chest, with black formal pants. His hair, with water dripping down, fell on his forehead and made him look even smarter. When he put her down out of the water, his tattoos peaked in from the throat and neck.

He rose up on his feet and looked at the unconscious body, he had known she was alive then. His gaze lasted longer than needed and frantically he looked back in the same water at the pile of clothes, it was torn too, maybe distorted enough to not matter, but he jumped in the water again and hurled it at his chest and swam back to the shore.

Finally he sat by her side and was about to pick her up looking at her ragged condition when suddenly he heard,"Ivaan, why are you here?".

The other young man stood near the boulder, breathless, in a three piece suit as if he had been catering to his job amidst everything, searching for the young man who had saved Neev. His glance fell on Neev. "Who is this girl? Is she dead?"

The man stood up after giving a last long look at Neev moving the hair away from her face again. He could see a pretty face marked by the intrusions of a rough, troubled life and said, "Take her to the hospital and get her treated. I will book a car for myself."

"Okay, but how did you reach here? Didn't I drop you at the company's gate?"

Ivaan's stance grew dangerous instantly, his palms fisted together and he gritted out,"I am no longer part of the enlightened committee. I know very well how this decision was made."

"What?" the other man exclaimed angrily. "Don't tell me this is because of the Head Rai."

The man began walking away, taking out his phone to book a car. "It is. I was disturbed and came here to stroll in this serene area, where I saw this girl. What a troublemaker, indeed", and then involuntarily glanced back at her bleeding form, cleared his throat awkwardly and spoke trying to sound intentionally unbothered,"Rishi take her to the hospital, she had bled enough already, I do not want a fucking police case to deal with right now if she ends up dying", and then tried looking back at his phone but only after looking at the closed eyes again.

Rishi picked up Neev and tried moving out when Ivaan paused, looked back nonchalantly and said, "Take this dirty clothes pile. It seems she has run away from home in this suicidal style with zero money in her pocket. Pay for the medication bill. God knows how this fool is going to survive."

"Let it be Ivaan, it's torn as it is, won't make a difference", and began moving ahead when Ivaan voiced out sharply,"WAIT!", and got back to the shore and brought the clothes to Rishi, shoving it in his arms forcefully, while he held Neev in the bridal style. "If it were to not make a difference, this fool wouldn't have been holding onto it till her death. Take it with her, I am guessing this crazy girl has got nothing to ground herself with, chaotic menace", and then he moved out of the area, still looking at Neev before he lost the sight of the area.

The other man carried her to the back seat of the car and drove to the nearby hospital while talking on the phone with someone.

"Hey Ritz, Ivaan has just left for the meeting. Join him. I am a bit occupied right now."

"What happened? Is everything alright?" the girl asked.

"There is this girl by the dam site. I will tell you when I meet you."

He took her to the hospital, got her admitted, paid the money, and left her with the doctors.

In a big room with pictures of sportspersons, medals, trophies, a television, and a lavish couch, five people were seated. Three of the older men belonged to a different club and had come to delineate.

Rahitya Saha, also known as Ritz, was present with Rishi on the call. Rahitya was the business partner and a good friend of Ivaan since childhood. She was 23 years old, and had studied abroad in the same university with Ivaan. She looked like what power defines itself with, sharp features, confidence in every gaze and posture, she had cokoured her hair brown and slightly golden at the edges, in a tailored suit, perfume that could swallow the pride of simple women but also embarass her own precision at style.

Rishi was the close friend and manager of Ivaan Rai, owner of the Indi Sports Club, which was founded by the Rai group. He had known Ivaan from not long back, but their professional journey of two years had met some vulnerable encounters which left Ivaan with immense love for Rishi. He was the only perspn Ivaan listened to with full heart and could anothing for, besides his mother.

The fifth man was Gyaneshwar Rai, Ivaan's father and founder of the Rai group, which had been flourishing for years in multi billionares list. He was a man known for his staunch business tactics, but also thr person Ivaan hated the most, called him a bastard and never knew anything but disgust for his on father.

They had just begun the discussion when the door banged open and Ivaan walked in, wet from the life-saving incident with Neev.

Gyaneshwar began speaking while shooting angry looks at Ivaan, who didn't care at all and sat beside Rahitya.

"So, we can begin afresh. Today's meeting is about the Bhartiya Women's Championship, which is in six months. My proposal is that I wish to recruit some of your club's wrestlers at the price you state."

The three old men looked at each other. Two of them seemed to like the offer, but the third man was uncomfortable. He spoke in a stumbling voice, "Mr. Rai, I see what you mean, and I agree that money can buy anything these days, even integrity. But I don't feel like doing it."

He smirked evil, "Won't five crores work? As far as I remember, I still hold 65 percent shares in your angel venture, don't I Awasthy", spoke Gyaneshwar

The man looked stressed. He said nothing and sat back with hateful disdain in heart and helplessness in eyes.

"Okay then. I will arrange the money and get the formalities done. We will do that, and then I will tell you which ones I want. Rahitya, get the formalities done."

Rahitya got up to leave when Ivaan held her hand and made her sit down again. Gyaneshwar glared at him in anger. Ivaan picked up his things as if to leave and said hastily, "Nothing like this is happening. I will get the participants on my own. Don't meddle in my business."

Gyaneshwar lost his cool. "Didn't I earn enough to build this club of yours? Didn't I remove you from the decision-makers?!"

Ivaan started walking away and said when he reached the door, " This club is mine, you pull out whatever your money stands and I will still hold my club intact. Your warnings can go fuck themselves in your greed. This is my last warning. Even after this, if you do as you please, I am ready to resign and leave everything you gave me and everything I earned myself, because I know you would not want your only SON, your lineage to cut off ties with you officially, right."

Saying this, he left the room and went to his office. Mr. Rai had no option but to surrender in front of his only son, with whom he had bitter relations but could not very much hold feud with.

Ivaan reached his main officer, opened his wardrobe to take put the clothes to change and went into the bathroom to change. Meanwhile, Rishi came and sat on the couch near the main desk. Ivaan came out after sometime and sat beside Rishi. He drank the coffee Rishi had bought for him.

"Look, I think you need to respect your father a bit. He did all that in the meeting so that your club could be number one. Your club has been getting defeated for three years, and I feel this year will be the same, apparently."

"Let me rest for some time. I am done with yours and Ritz's advice. What's the time, anyway?"

"It's six."

Ivaan panicked and drank his coffee fast stating,"Oh man! I need to get home by eight. Ma must be waiting. I was supposed to take her to the Mahadev temple today, but I couldn't find the time."

"Okay, rest for now."

Suddenly, Rishi's phone rang and he picked up, but before he could even greet the person he heard grumbling and he stayed silent for some seconds, and then spoke in baffled voice,"Didn't you stop her? ..........Alright...... And the money?" And then he cut the call in absurd vexation.

Ivaan looked at him curiously. "What is it?"

"That girl you saved. She is mad. Hella mad girl."

Ivaan sat up straight, his usual stoic face turned alert, he asked instantly,"What does that mean, the doctors checked and she ended up being mentally unstable.?"

Rishi made a dumb face at Ivaan's restless question and rolled his eyes,"Why you being so literal Rai? I meant to say that she left the hospital without getting her wounds treated. The doctors had to give her subsequent resuscitation shocks. She is thick-skinned, indeed. She regained consciousness and refused treatment. The doctors insisted that the money had already been deposited. She asked them to return it when they told her that a stranger had helped her. Her head was bleeding, so she took a cloth from her dirty bag, tied it around her head somehow, and gave them the rest of her clothes, saying it was payment for the treatment already done. What a fool!"

Ivaan listened and said vehemently, "She is even a bigger fool than I thought. The bigger point is, she really thinks her rag-like clothes can pay the hospital's bills."

"Anyways, will you be going straight home, Ivaan, or somewhere else?"

Ivaan did not hear him say anything, sat back with his head falling on the couchand grumbled thinkijg of the possibilities, and finally spoke slwoly"Do you think she will go begging for money?"

Rishi looked confused and said, "Ummmmm, I don't think so. She doesn't seem like someone who would beg."

"When I first saw her, I knew she was some mad girl. I mean, who comes to a city in this suicidal manner? I had decided to visit her tomorrow, now she has run away from here also, what a coward", he spoke grudgingly.

"VISIT HER ?", Rishi yelped and looked at Ivaan in mockery,"You hardly visit your own home, the headquarters, any of the interviws, any party, but decided to visit that stranger tomorrow, are you for real !?".

Ivaan looked away and nervously cleared his throat, and spoke to himself in a whisper"God knows what struggles she will face."

Ivaan grinned pathetically and said, "I am leaving for home now. I will see you tomorrow at the club with the wrestlers and coaches", but his min was captivated by only one thought,NEEV.

Chapter done guysss.

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