Part 9 (1/2)

”None of this would have been possible had you not helped us in the first place! Thank you so much Ans.h.!.+”

”Stop thanking me so many times for the same thing!”

”Okay okay. Now tell me what do you want? You must be tired after the journey. Should I make something warm to drink, or something cool?”

”I'll help myself. You get back to work inside.”

”As you wish. The refrigerator has everything you'll need. We've been paying our bills on time, so we get all the facilities for 24 hours.”

She left for her room, and resumed working. I opened the refrigerator and found it stocked with food,. I took a bottle of cold water and gulped it down in an instant. I was hungry, thirsty and tired. I made myself a sandwich and began to eat.

Just when I finished my sandwich and was getting up, the doorbell rang. I thought it was Meira, and so it was. She jumped in excitement and gave me a quick hug, and we sat down together to talk about the months that we didn't see each other for.

”There's so much that I need to tell you Ans.h.!.+ A lot of good things happened after you left. Aliya must have already told you quite a bit of it.”

”Yes, she did tell me that both of you are quite stable now. It's good to see that you're doing so well.”

”Thank you. I do miss home quite a bit though. I haven't seen my father in so long. He would have been so proud to see his baby girl grow up. He would have never imagined that I could fend for myself this way.”

”Well, you are now. It's so good to see you two working so hard.”

”It's even better now that you are here to visit us. How many days are you here for?”

”I'll leave in a few days. I came here to check on you two, to see whether everything is as you tell me over the phone.

There's one more thing I wanted to discuss though. Call Aliya here too. Also, I think you may need to close the door for that.”

CHAPTER 24.

”I think I was followed here. I'm not quite sure about it, but last night, when I was asleep on the train, I saw a face stare straight at me, and then walk away without doing a thing. I think Gujjar has kept his eyes on me, since I had been very interested in you two from the start. You two will have to be a little more careful about your activities henceforth.”

”How can you be so convinced that the man who looked at you was sent by Gujjar? It could just be a co - pa.s.senger looking around for his berth.”

”I'm saying that I'm not convinced! I'm just a little worried that the person may have been Gujjar's man. Gujjar had threatened me earlier that he would keep an eye on me, and this is the first time I've left town since then. All I'm saying is that you two should be a little more careful with things for a few days.”

”As you say sir, you're the boss,” Meira joked.

”I have a lot of work to do now. I'll get back to it. Meira, have your lunch and leave soon, the break won't last forever,” Aliya said.

”Yes, I know. Let's all have lunch together. Aliya and I will resume working after that, and you can rest in our apartment.”

”Thank you for the honour ma'am. Can I help with making lunch?”

”That depends on how good you are in cooking. We don't want to end up with stomach upsets, you know. You've already advised us to be careful!”

”That was just a courteous offer. I don't know how to cook. I can help with arranging the plates, but I don't think I can do more than that.”

We had a good meal, and Meira left for work soon after that. Aliya went to her room to continue what she was doing, and I lay down on the couch to take a quick nap.

I woke up in the evening, as Meira was returning from work. The train journey had tired me out completely, and it felt good to take a nice quick nap.

”Why don't we all go out somewhere?” Aliya suggested ”That's a great idea! I haven't seen the city since we came here. Both of us have been so busy with work that we haven't really been able to go out!” exclaimed Meira.

”Didn't I ask you two to be more careful just a few hours back? Gujjar's men may be around, and we cannot take the risk of being seen by them!”

”Really? You think he would spot us here? You're worrying too much Ans.h.!.+ I think you should relax a little bit. Let's go out and have some fun now! We haven't enjoyed ourselves in a really long time. I think all of us deserve a break.”

”Alright, we'll go, but we'll go to some place nearby only, and all of us will stay together at all times. If at any point of time you see someone following us or even think that we are being followed, you will let me know. Is that understood?”

”Yes sir!” said both of them, mock-saluting me.

”Okay then! Let's have some fun!”

We roamed around the area for hours, went out to eat in a decent restaurant. Both of them insisted on paying, and made sure that I didn't. We roamed around on the street, and then went to sit on the beach. We returned late at night, and all of us fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning had a similar routine like any other morning they had. Meira got up, got ready, packed some fruits in her bag, and left for work. Aliya got to work almost as soon as she woke up, with the toothbrush in her mouth. I looked at both of them going through their daily ch.o.r.es through sleepy eyes as I woke up from my sleep.

I got ready as lazily as I could, since I had nothing much to do in the day. It was nearly lunchtime when I finished getting ready. I took my tablet out and began playing games on it to pa.s.s the time, hoping Meira would be back from lunch soon too.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. I thought it would be Meira, so I went to open the door with a wide smile. The smile changed into a look of horror as the colour drained off my face. I looked at the person standing at the gate in utter shock. My eyes felt like they would pop out immediately. The person in front of me grinned.

”So, you didn't have anything to do with it Ansh?”

I had nothing to say. Even if I did, I was too shocked to move. I just stared at Gujjar with an open mouth.

”Well, we meet again, and in a scenario that you wouldn't like. Thought you could run away forever? Well, I'm back now. My girls will go back to Kolkata, and you won't.”

He grabbed me by my collar and threw me down on the sofa there. Aliya walked in because of the noise, and recognised the face immediately.

”The two of you together. What a story. Sit down, both of you. We need to talk.”

CHAPTER 25.

”So, Ansh, you were saying you weren't involved in this.”

”I...I...”

”What!” He shouted at me.