A Game Of Emotions

"If you seriously intend on inflicting your body some pain, then you better do it the right way." Vijay started.

Meenakshi blankly stared at him, her whole appearance reflecting on her recent heartbreak. Smudged kohl, red puffy eyes, a running nose, and fresh red bruises on her hand indicated how badly she wanted to inflict some pain on her body to suppress the mental pain that was chained within.

Vijay on the other hand didn't need a clue to understand her predicament. He once went through a terrible heartbreak too and he knew what was it like. The pain was intolerable and incomparable to any other physical pain existing in this world.

True love hurts.

He remembered the days when he used to just destroy his life indulged in drugs, alcohol, and random females.  In short, he was the underrated version of Kabir Singh.

"It's not what you think, Vijay. I'm fine."

Meenakshi's voice merely came out as a subtle whisper. Her throat was hoarse with the extreme crying.

When did he start to affect her so much?

"Don't kid Meena. I can tell by your appearance! I went through the same too. But I came back after putting my body and mind through extensive training. I turned my heartbreak into a full-time motivation and now I am one of the skilled members of Dhruv's team. Dhruv doesn't select anyone in his gang that easily. He makes us go through very tough exams and the ones passing can only join him."

Meenakshi felt a pang of affliction on hearing his name.

"Can we not include his name, please?"

"Ok, I'm sorry. Now I want you to do some training here."

"Where?"

Vijay walked towards the door and gestured her to come inside. Meenakshi walked in to find darkness draping her. It felt good to be in the dark.

Vijay turned on the lights, blurring Meenakshi's vision for a moment. She squeezed her eyes to adjust to the light and opened them to witness a huge basement.

It included every kind of training equipment, starting from weight lifting machines to shooting corner. It was like a huge gym.

"You can practice here all the time. This place is used to train the new members who join, but since there's none currently, it stays unused."

Meenakshi looked around the place, her face stoic.

"Come here." Vijay called her.

Meenakshi walked towards him and stood in front of the shooting practice corner.

"Nothing is more driving than aiming the doll over there and shooting it. It'll instantly lessen your pain. Try it."He gestured Meenakshi to step onto the stage. She walked over it and looked around the place.

"Hold this."He handed her a revolver.

"Vijay?"

"Yes?"

"Do you still miss your first love?"

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Dhruv blew the smoke off his mouth, letting it dissipate in the air mixed with alcohol and sex.

The whole club was engaged with people around, dancing, drinking, and making out with each other. The dancers were given their separate headphones to tune into their favorite songs and dance on the beats.

Dhruv was quite proud of his creation. He created a hell in disguise of heaven. Ironically, people destroyed themselves here in the form of 'enjoyment'. And lost all their money in poisons like drugs. What a great way to kill yourself.

"Dhruv! The Russians didn't seem very pleased with the deal. I think we should be alarmed. They're quite good with their equipments and enjoy a good war. This can threaten your position in the cartel." Iqbaal said.

"The only thing that we should be worried about, is the lives of our enemies. Because they crossed paths with me."

Dhruv stared at the lady who was swaying her hips on the floor, throwing seductive looks at him. Iqbaal noticed that and cleared his throat.

"What about your deal with Meenakshi?"

Iqbaal noticed a myriad of emotions flashing through Dhruv's face. Anger, frustration, guilt everything was swimming on the canvas of his eyes.

"Fuck her! I don't care. I'll give her a divorce and get her pretty ass out of my mansion.

The deal depends on whether I accept her to be strong enough for me. And I don't accept that. So, simply she loses the bet!"

"Bu-" Iqbaal was interrupted by Dhruv.

"I don't want to hear anything, Iqbaal! End this discussion!"

Dhruv diverted his attention back to the lady who was now approaching him. She sat beside him on the couch, wearing a mini wine red one-piece with a golden choker and a flirtatious smile on her glossy lips.

"I didn't know the owner of this club was so sexy." She winked at him, for which Dhruv replied with a smirk.

Iqbaal knew that it was his cue to leave, so he walked out of the place after bowing down to his boss.

*

*

*

Dhruv sipped his scotch while checking out Amaira who confidently sat on his lap. They were in a private seven-star hotel beside the club, which was also owned by Dhruv.

"So, you're the infamous mafia. I like dangerous men, especially the ones with such dashing looks." she complemented.

Dhruv smirked mischievously and twirled a loose strand of her hair in his fingertips. Though, as if her hair wasn't that smooth, he abandoned it.

Amaira leaned closer, her arms snaked around his neck, and sealed his lips in a kiss. For a certain reason, Dhruv felt nothing in him. Amaira's lips were rough and didn't taste good. Above that, her breath smelled of alcohol.

Nothing like the soft petals of Meenakshi, that she owned as her lips. Her lips were so soft, getting gently molten on his mouth. They molded perfectly into him and tasted like heaven. He wondered how good it would be to capture her whole mouth and taste the sweetness that was entrapped within them.

Dhruv opened his eyes, realising what he was thinking. He abruptly broke the kiss and moved away from a confused Amaira.

Why was he thinking about Meenakshi from the day he kissed her? It was an accident and completely unintentional! Then, why?

"What happened? Didn't like the kiss?"

Dhruv didn't say anything and ruffled his hair in frustration. He couldn't deny the fact that Meenakshi was indeed a beauty. The one who didn't take any pride in it. And she was very much different from the other girls he met.

Where other girls like Amaira could strip themselves off for him, all Meenakshi did was fight with him. She never tried to seduce him in any way or try to gain any benefits from him.

He knew that she had the beauty and charm to make any man desire her and have her in bed. Though the idea of any man touching her didn't fit very well with him.

He clenched his fist in anger.

"Hey, you alright? You seemed to be lost and angry about something."Amaira asked.

"Mhmm. I need a drink."He stood up from the couch and walked towards the bar to make a drink for him.

Suddenly, Amaira's phone vibrated inside her bag and she excused herself for a minute.

"Hello! Yeah, he's here. I'm sending you the address, come quickly before anything wrong happens."She hung up the phone, regained her flirtatious smile, and walked back towards Dhruv.

"Who was it?"

Dhruv inquired while putting the ice cubes in his drink.

"My sister. Always gets worried about me."

"She should be."

"Why?" Amaira knitted her eyebrows.

"Because it's your last day."

A sound of gunshot succeeding with a scream vibrated through the glass walls of the hotel. The glass was soundproof, so the sound didn't reach outside.

Dhruv walked out of his hotel, ordering his staff to clean up the mess, and hopped in his sleek black Lamborghini. The engine roared to life and he rode off.

He was very much sure about Amaira being the enemy gang's spy. He would've taken an earlier action, but he wanted to enjoy his time, so he opted to play with his prey for the moment. More or less, he wanted to divert his freaking thoughts about Meenakshi and the kiss.

From the day the kiss happened, all he could think was how good it was and how he wanted more. The thought frustrated him and so he thought to distract himself and ensure his interests by spending time with Veronica. But it didn't work that well. He was still thinking about her.

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Her knuckles bled and burnt like anything, but she still kept on punching the bag. In the beginning, the bag felt like hitting a wall and it didn't move an inch.

So Meenakshi kept throwing punches at it until her knuckles started bleeding. She still didn't care. It felt good to scream out her frustration and pain through this.

Vijay was right. It did help a lot.

Meenakshi kept punching the bag until her body gave up and her mouth was in dire need of water. She walked towards the bench, her body drenched in sweat, and chug the whole bottle of water in a go.

She thought about how the water tasted so sweet and heavenly when someone was thirsty enough.

A week passed and she was slowly learning a few techniques. Though she wasn't good enough, but she was resilient to learn. At least, till the moment it numbed the pain inside her.

The sound of a clearing throat caught her attention and she turned back to find none other than the great Dhruv standing at the door.

He silently stared at her, his eyes checking her out from top to bottom.

She was wearing a black sports bra with black chinos and her hair tied up in a high ponytail. Her body covered in sweat was glistening under the light in the basement.

Dhruv felt a certain amount of arousal, much to his dismay. He didn't understand why he was so affected by Meenakshi?

He took predator steps towards her, but Meenakshi didn't move an inch from her place. Their surroundings shifted to a denser one as if something strange acting between them.

"Learning to scratch, little kitten?"

"Don't call me that! I'm not a little kitten!"

Dhruv smirked.

"Then what should I call you?"

"I have a name! It's short and can be remembered easily."

" Sorry, I don't remember things that are not important to me."

Meenakshi arched her left eyebrow.

"And here you are, wasting your time on the most unimportant thing."

Dhruv's eyes turned darker and his face turned into a grim one. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her towards him. He gripped her hair tightly, pulling her face close to his, and bit her lower lip hard.

Meenakshi whimpered in pain and felt blood oozing out of her lower lip.

Such an asshole!

Meenakshi pushed him away and slapped him hard on the face. The impact made his cheek burn and his blood boil.

He pounced at her, making Meenakshi fall on the cold ground. He was about to pin her hands when she punched him on the face and dug her claws into his arms.

Dhruv groaned in pain. He had enough.

He quickly hovered over her figure and pinned her hands on top.

Both of them were panting for air and challenging each other. Meenakshi had lost all her senses and she wanted to end all of it in a clean fight. Even if it meant her death.

But her attention was diverted by his eyes that were staring at hers and then scrolled down to her bloody lips. Something changed in his eyes, which Meenakshi couldn't figure out.

He slowly placed his right thumb on the swollen area. Meenakshi hissed at the pain but tried to not show it.

"You're hurt." He moved from top of her and Meenakshi felt the air beneath her shifting as he pulled her in bridal style.

"Where are you taking me?"

Dhruv didn't answer her queries and walked towards his room. He opened the door and slowly placed her in his bed.

Meenakshi tried to move away from the bed, but his warning glare made her sit at her place.

"Don't move!"He staggered towards a drawer and pulled a first aid box out of it. He placed it on the bed and soaked a cotton in antiseptic.

He softly held Meenakshi's head in place and started to apply antiseptic on the swollen area. Meenakshi again hissed in pain, as the antiseptic burnt on the swollen part of her lip.

But more than that, she was quite dumbstruck by Dhruv's sudden change in behavior.

Why was he being so kind to her?

Dhruv was done with cleaning the wound, so he moved his box back to the drawer.

He walked towards Meenakshi with a serious face and crouched to her level. His eyes stared straight at her, the black orb reflecting sheer vulnerability.

Meenakshi didn't know why, but she felt her heart-melting again.

Why did she have to be Olaf, when he was her sun?

"Meenakshi."His tone was low and warm.

"I want to ask a favor from you. Please don't say no."His voice sounded like a genuine request. It shooed away all the anger inside her.

One small gesture and she could forgive all his sins.

"I want a divorce. Please agree to that."

And just like Icarus flying near the sun, her wings melted and she fell off the sky. Only this time, she fell on the grounds of harsh reality.

And shattered into pieces...

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