I know him.

I first looked at him in disbelief, it sounded too good to be true. But he wasn't joking and I felt excitement gain me.'That's great,' I said with animation. I had been thinking of so many strategies to find a guardian and one had been with me all the time.

'Why didn't you tell me sooner?' I asked in an accusatory tone.

'That's because you never asked me,' he said playfully tapping my nose with his index finger.

'I was reading that the guardian needs to perform some movements in order to activate the gate. Is it true for all guardians? Do you all have the same gestures?' I asked, eager to get the answer I had been seeking.

'I can't talk for the other guardians as it's not something we share. Ash, you have to realize that not many people know I'm the guardian. It's not someting that we share with others. You can guess the cupidity it might generate, especially for those with ill intentions.'

I understood that it was a privilege that he was sharing this truth with me, but I also heard the underlying warning that it was not knowledge to be shared. I myself had been the victim of this, when word got out that I was a guardian. I was thrilled that he trusted me enough to share his secret with me. It made me feel a little closer to him again and it was a welcome feeling.

'The movements were taught to you by your mother?' I asked him.

'Yes, the previous guardian intiates the new one and they usually choose movements close to their heart. Like a daily choreography.'

I tried to think whether I had had any such moment, but I didn't have to think for more than one second as I didn't even remember my mother. I felt a wave of deception hit me. I had had so many expectations when I had thought that meeting a guardian would solve all my problems, but that was not the case.

There was one more question that I had to ask, and I didn't know how Dave was going to react to that.

'Why did you ask me to come to Bhuvar?' There, the cat was out of the bag. I clenched and unclenched my fist, waiting for Dave's reply. His eyes were closed and I could see that he was looking for the words that he wanted. In the meanwhile, my eyes started roaming around the landscape, trying to see if there were other benches like the one we were sitting on. That was when my blood froze. There, where the rows of bushes actually followed a natural curve, there was a familiar head. Apparently, we were not the only ones appreciating the view. At a distance from us, there was a couple, a man and a woman whose head was covered with a silk scarf. I did not know whether it was a fashion statement or she was trying to hide her identity. Looking at her large sunglasses, I inched more towards the last supposition.

That man, I had seen him somewhere. I didn't know why but I felt it was important to know where.

'Ash, you need...'But before Dave could complete his sentence, I covered his mouth with my hand and hissed at him, 'Duck.' I myself ducked until I was sure that we were no longer visible to the couple even though I could still see the man's profile. Dave looked at me strangely but he cooperated and followed my instructions. I put my index finger on my lips to indicate that we should be quiet.

'Bringing my mouth just next to his ear, I whispered. 'To our right, there is a couple. I've seen the man before.' As I hadn't met many people on Bhuvar, it occurred to me that I must have seen him on Earth. If he had been on Earth, then how did he reach Bhuvar? Either he was himself a guardian, or knew one. Or, maybe, he had a locket like mine. I added, 'On Earth.'

As I said this, I could see Dave's eyes light up with interest and a dose of apprehension. He lowered himself on the knees and started crawling on the ground to move closer to the couple without being noticed. If I myself hadn't been anxious about finding out the man's identity, I would have perhaps found the situation funny. I imitated his movements and soon found myself on my knees too.

Where had I seen the man? As we moved nearer, my doubts were confirmed and I was sure that I wasn't making any mistake. He had a square face with a French beard. His hair was brown with blond streaks, was slicked back and fell neatly on both sides of his face. He made me think of those suave salesmen who took on haughty airs. He had a small scar next to his left eyebrow and it didn't seem to fit the whole polished look. His eyes were a cold blue and made a shiver go down my spine when I looked at it. I've never had such an averse recation just by looking at a man's face. Maybe Dave would know him, as he was in the field of security, he would be knowing those who do not fit in the ordinary mold.

My knees were starting to pain in this position and I tried to divert my mind from the numbness that was starting to invade my lower body. Right ahead of me, Dave was still on his knees and this position pushed his bum in my direction. The cloth of his jeans stretched over his tight ass, making me want to spank it. I felt curious about my own reaction as I had never had such a thought before. My palms started itching to lift and meet his glorious assitude, but I resisted this wish with a lot of difficulty. I bit back a smile at my own daring thoughts.

At that moment, the woman stood up and she raised her hand to pull the scarf more securely over her hair. The glimmer of the big stone on her finger dazzled me, that was not an ordinary ring with a fake emerald. The size told me that she must be having access to money, a lot of it. She turned around and left through another path luckily. Had she used the same path as us, she would have come face to face with a pair of adults on the knees and it wouldn't have taken a detective for her to figure out that we had been trying to eavesdrop on her conversation.

Dave turned around and I found myself nose to nose with him. If I just leaned forward, my lips would reach his. My stomach did a funny sommersault at the thought of this.

He indicated that I needed to move back to the bench urgently and I did it to the best of my ability, conscious that it was now my turn to show him my bum. Well, I thought that he appreciated the view, I thought sassily. I almost threw myself on the bench and slid to the left to leave some space for Dave. He mimicked my move and urgently whispered, 'No time to go back to the car, he's coming this way.'

Oh my god, I didn't know who the man was, but I did know that he shouldn't recognise me and Dave was surely known on Bhuvar, so it was important to preserve our identities. What did people usually do in such cases?

'They do this,' he said and released my hair from the ponytail I had recently tied, and my hair free from their constraint, flowed to frame my face softly. He then brought his hands to cup my cheek, his hand covering entirely and he then leaned back on the bench half-dragging me so that I was almost lying on him and caught my lips in a light kiss. In this position, my hair was shielding both his face and mine and anyone looking at us would think that we were in a passionate embrace. He licked my lower lip and whispered, 'Your lips are dry, but soft.' He punctuated his words with another kiss and I felt my temperature soar. Whether for show or not, his kiss was having an impact on me and I felt my toes curl in my shoes. I brought my hand to hold his neck, bringing our bodies even closer. I pressed my lips even closer to his, rubbing them from side to side and the delicious friction sent so much pleasure through my body that I moaned softly.

As I tried to lean even more to deepen the embrace, I heard the sounds of footsteps go by and the sound of a chuckle. I felt my body go rigid in tension and only Dave's other hand at my waist kept me in the same position. He slowly massaged the small of my back, trying to make me relax and at the same time, he plunged his tongue inside my mouth and that was enough to make all thoughts go out of my head.

After a few seconds, I had to come up for breath.

'He's gone,' Dave said looking at my bruised lips.

I straightened and move back to my side of my bench, breathing with short gasps. He stood up and reached out a hand to me. I held it and he pulled me to stand next to him. I looked at his jeans which had a muddy patch around the knee area and smiled, pointing at it. Then I looked at mine and I had a similar patch. It had been a close run.

We started moving back to the car, still thinking about the kiss.

'We need to talk about it,' Dave finally announced, surprising me. Why did he want to talk about the kiss? Did he regret it?