Part 7 (1/2)

”nn.. Nothing..nothing...... I'm fine. I'm just surprised why a girl this young would commit suicide. I don't understand their logic of doing such things.”

”It might be due to poverty. She may not have seen a way out.”

”It's still very surprising. Also, I don't understand why the police are dismissing it as suicide so soon.”

”It all connects pretty well, and there seems to be no other reason for such a thing.”

”But it could be that somebody killed her. They should at least explore that possibility!”

”Stop being a detective now Ansh. The police will do its job, and you don't have to do it for them.”

”If they did their job, then we wouldn't be cursing them so much.”

”Read the sports section. You'll feel better.”

”I don't think I will. Given how United has been performing, it just seems unreasonable to even think that they'll do anything more than finish fourth this season. It's disappointing, really.”

”Then go play on your gadgets, or watch something on your laptop. That's what you generally do at home anyway.”

”Yeah, I'll do that,” I said, and I went to my room and switched my laptop on, playing my favourite TV series on it.

The thought simply wasn't going away from my head. This was obviously Gujjar's work. He must have killed her, and then paid of the cops to dismiss her case as a suicide. Since she knew no person who was powerful enough to challenge him, n.o.body would ever question this entire fiasco, and she would be buried forever. If Gujjar could do this to her, it scared the life out of me to think what he would do to get Meira back.

I continued to watch the series, and soon put these thoughts behind me. Home has an intoxicating effect on a person's mind. One seems to forget all the difficulties, problems and issues that one faces when one is at home. I knew that the problem of Gujjar was looming upon me, but I also knew that there was nothing I could do about it at the present moment, and therefore I had to let it go. The loving care of my mother ensured that I didn't think of my problems too much, and stayed as happy as I could have been.

I did think about Aliya from time to time. The realisation of being in love with her hit me hard. I had never thought I would fall in love with someone, as I was far too focussed on my future. But then, a lot of unexpected things had happened in the last few months, and this was the least surprising one of them.

I thought of her surprise as she saw me for the first time in over a decade, that anger that she could never take out on me. Both of us knew that I was too young then to do anything about it, but somehow, she always expected me to do something.

Her happiness now gave me happiness, and whenever I thought of her smile as she tasted freedom after so many years, it brought a wide grin to my face. I was content with myself for doing this for her. This redemption was definitely worth the risk attached to it.

I didn't realise that my daydreaming and browsing on the laptop had taken up so much time that mom was now calling me for lunch.

”What's for lunch today?”

”What do you want?”

”I want Pizza!”

”Stop saying pizza every time I ask you what you want for lunch. I've made you parathas and your favourite curry. You're going to love this. You can have your pizza for dinner.”

”That's great!” I exclaimed as I dug into the food.

My mom always loved it whenever I came home. With my sister and I both living outside home now, and dad working all day, mom would get a little lonely staying alone at home. Having me over for company was always fun for her.

I finished up lunch and lay down on the bed in my parents' room, watching the television. I heard the doorbell ring a while later, and mom let someone inside.

”Who is it mom?”

”It's an insurance person from Surana uncle's office. He needs your signature on a doc.u.ment.”

”Stop making me sign so many autographs! I don't like the celebrity status,” I joked, as I walked into the living room.

All of my happiness was washed out of my face as I turned pale when I looked at the agent's face.

There, smiling at me, with the insurance doc.u.ments in his hand, was Gujjar.

CHAPTER 20.

I stared at him for a few seconds, with my mouth wide open. He just looked back and me and kept smiling, his expression unchanged. I gathered my senses, and went back to normal. If he was pretending to be normal, then it was upon me to ensure that mom didn't find out about the entire episode. I sat beside mom on the sofa.

”Sir, you just need to sign here and here,” he said, as he pointed out to two places on a piece of paper.

I picked up the pen and went on to sign. I browsed through the doc.u.ment first, at which even mom was surprised, since I had never done that in any scenario before. Finding nothing fishy, I signed the papers.

”Ma'am, could you get me a gla.s.s of water please?”

Mom went into the kitchen to get him some water. Just when mom went inside, he turned to me, and said, ”Meet me downstairs in ten minutes. I won't wait longer than that, and if you don't turn up, you and your family will be in some serious trouble.”

Mom came with the water, and he drank it quickly, and left.

I walked back to the room, thinking of some excuse to leave and go downstairs. Five minutes later, I pretended to take a phone call from a friend.

”You want to play now? Okay, I'll be there.”

”Mom, Deepak wants to play pool with me. I'm going to the games centre with him. I'll be back in a while.”

”Thank Deepak from my side for finally being successful in getting you out of the house.”

”Very funny. Be back soon!”

I left to meet Gujjar, hoping that he'd be sane enough to not kill me in my residential complex. Whatever he would accuse me of, I had to go for outright denial.

”h.e.l.lo, Ansh. It's been a while since we met.”

”Why have you come here? You asked me to stay away from you, and I did. You shouldn't interfere too!”

”Well, if only you were speaking the truth Ansh. I know what you have been up to.”

”Please tell me what I've been up to.”

”Stop acting so stupid. Meira and Aliya are missing, and both of us know how they got away.”