....continued from previous part....
Neetu had already had her breakfast.Now she went outside at the back of the house to get the already-dry clothes and put some more clothes to dry.While putting Ansh's school pants to dry,she heard the sound of talking of a man, indicating that Rudra Master was already here. Neetu hurried,because the tea should reach the table in time.She put the other clothes to dry and entered the house.Mother,seeing her,said,"I'm going to the market.Get the rice ready for lunch."This was the last thing Neetu would wish for.Yes,it was true that without mother at home,She was half-independent,but this master of Ansh makes her feel really uncomfortable whenever she goes near him;and if she's alone,she feels even more tensed.This man had something-the way he looked,the way he spoke-everything seemed to make Neetu more and more nervous as well as insecure.She didn't tell her mother because she knew she would never be able to describe it.
As she put the tea leaves in the boiling water,the master called her.A sudden chill went down her spine.Why would Ansh's master call her?Nervously,she walked up to the room where the two people were sitting.but when she entered,there was just one person in the room-Rudra Master!
"Where is Ansh?"Neetu asked."He just went to the washroom for a while",replied the master. Neetu enquired "So why do you need me here?Is there something about Ansh?Isn't he studying well?Is...."
"No,no,he is doing just well"the master didn't let Neetu complete her words,"And so many questions at once!I think you need to be patient."
-"Oh sorry,master"
-"Oh it's alright.And do not call me 'master'.Call me Rudra bhaiya.How much older am I from you?Maybe 2,or 3"
The environment was getting more and more uncomfortable for Neetu. She had the strong desire to run away,but she couldn't;that was utterly impossible.When the master was about to continue,Ansh entered the room.With his abrupt appearance,the master was bit shocked,but soon got over the hangover.Then he said something that shocked Neetu much more than Ansh's abrupt entry.He told Ansh,"Go now,to the other room,please.Can't you see I'm talking to your didi now.It is a very bad habit to interfere when two older people are speaking",as if Neetu was someone very close to him,as if he was talking about something related to----
"Relationship" was the first thing that came to Neetu's mind.She was always afraid of this man's ways of conduct towards her.Now she could understand why.This man had got some very bad intention in his mind.Neetu now really wanted to run.But as she backed off,the doorbell rang,and she ran downstairs in a speed she never ran before in her life.Her mother was home.As soon as she opened the door,her mother shreiked."What's the matter,Neetu?Why are you....",her words remained in her lips. Rudra Master was coming downstairs,with his things.He said he wanted to speak to mother,and Neetu was so afraid that she almost said,"Don't listen to that jerk,he is a bad guy!",but resisted herself.She knew that it would invite further danger.And moreover,this man has not done anything to her yet.
Not yet.
As the two people went to speak in private in the garden,Neetu sat down on a chair and asked Ansh,"Bhai,tell me the way your master has been behaving towards you for the last few weeks.It's really important."Ansh was scared by her sister's tone,but replied without any nervousness,"He kept on asking about you,more than even our huge syllabus"Something is certainly fishy,thought Neetu.She was swimming deep in her thought when both of them,she and her brother heard a scream.
It was mother!
Certainly it wasn't coming from the garden,but from the back of the house.Neetu ran,with Ansh following her.Something was certainly wrong,Because the master wasn't screaming.
As she broke open the back door,the scene made her feel chilly even in the warm summer rays of the sun.This was the most fearful scene of her life,till now.Also she concluded that the suspicion she had about this Rudra Master wasn't,after all,wrong.
.......to be continued(in part III).....