?{6}
?Wrapped in a bright red bridal attire on a circular bed, Kanchan was waiting for her husband's arrival. In its decoration, the room too was competing with the bride. But Kanchan's attention was less on the decoration and more on the door. Even a slight sound would make her heart throb. Despite her lowered face, she would steal glances toward the door with sideways looks. But finding no one there, she would smile gently. The dimple that formed on her right cheek when she smiled was named the lethal dimple by the boys in college. Adding four moons to Kanchan's beauty, her green eyes were beyond compare. There was a stunning intoxication in them, and these eyes were a quiver of arrows that could vibrate every string of the heart. Nature had filled these unique eyes with immense hypnotic power. As soon as anyone looked at her face, their eyes would surely rest on Kanchan's eyes at least once. But this pause was of a very short life, lasting only a moment or two. While by the third moment, that person's eyelids would automatically bow down. But in that brief time, one would become their enslaved lover or a poet. This maiden kept the hearts of thousands of lovers trapped just within the labyrinth of her curly silken tresses. Sitting on the bed, she was weaving the warp and weft of her future, and just then, the wish of her ears was fulfilled. Her ears heard the very sound for which she was becoming so restless. Undoubtedly, this sound was that of the door opening. The ears immediately conveyed this message to the brain. Vijay has arrived. Your husband, your God, your everything is moving towards you, Kanchan. Her face turned bright red once again. She kept shrinking as if she wanted to dissolve into herself. Vijay switched off the light as soon as he came near.
?But what happened in the next one hour was far more terrifying than even Doomsday. Even the waves of a restless sea succeed in finding a shore, but there was no hope for the restless waves of Vijay's mind to find a shore anywhere.
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?{7}
?Kamala left after setting the food on the dining table. Akash and his wife Renu sat on two of the six chairs placed around the dining table. After a while, Vijay and Kanchan also came and sat on the chairs opposite them.
?"Namaste, Bhabhi ji," Akash and Renu said with folded hands in a respectful greeting.
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?"Ji Namaste," she replied in a voice as sweet as a nightingale.
?"Kanchan, this is my childhood friend Akash—we may not have a blood relation, but he is dearer to me than a biological brother—this is our Bhabhi, Renu ji—she is a government teacher, and the entire household expense is met from that," Vijay introduced them.
?"And Bhabhi ji, I haven't even earned a single rupee to date—after my parents passed away in my childhood, Vijay's parents bore the cost of my studies and other expenses—but just three years ago, both of them left us within an interval of six months," Akash's eyes became moist while speaking.
?"Smash!" Breaking the glass of the ventilator, a ball collided with the opposite wall. A paper was wrapped around it.
?Without a moment's delay, Vijay ran outside.
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?"Did you find out anything?" Akash asked as soon as Vijay entered.
?Vijay, panting heavily, got irritated—"There is so much traffic outside—who knows who threw it—I even inquired with some people regarding this, but everyone had the same answer: that we didn't see anyone throwing a ball."
?"What is this mystery?" Kanchan asked, showing the letter to Vijay.
?"What is written in it?" Vijay ignored Kanchan's question.
?Kanchan handed the letter to Vijay and said—"This paper was wrapped on the ball with the help of a thread."
?{8}
?Vijay opened the folds of the paper. It read:
?Mr. Vijay, I don't just hope but am fully convinced that a man named Sagar Bhardwaj must have come to you. Whatever he said was right. His murder will happen at your hands. On one side, let Sagar try his best to escape you. On the other side, you may resolve that leave alone murdering Sagar, you won't even slap him. But still, what Sagar told you is exactly what will happen. People believe there are seven wonders in the world. And I am—The Eighth Wonder.
?Vijay tore the letter into about eight or ten pieces and blew them into the air. Out of sheer anger, his handsome fair face turned red like a burning furnace. Striking his left fist against his right palm, he said—"The ball-thrower is a certified madman."
?"Why?" came out of Renu's mouth.
?"Even after reading the letter, you ask why that person is a madman—it's a simple thing—neither does Sagar want to die nor am I interested in killing him—but the ball-thrower's claim is that I will be the one to murder Sagar—you think for yourself, is such a thing possible?"
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