Chapter 38

All of us are in luck . One of my lectures got cancelled today therefore, my dongle's daily data is left. So! Enjoyyyy the update!!!!! 

Part 38 [MEMBERSONLY][NOCOPY]

Riya: oh god nahi! Arjun sir sahi keh rahe hai

Rathore(incredulously): Riya?!..................................

Riya: ha sir, aap unhe aisa kaam karne ko nahi keh sakte ye kaam toh (looking at Arjun) khadoos ka hai

Rathore realizes what the two of them were saying: are ha, ye kaam toh (wiggling his eyebrows) khadoos ka hai

Arjun glares at him. Riya averts her gaze.

Rathore: toh fir chalo, shubh kaam mein deri kaisi?

Clenching his fist, Arjun leaves the cabin. Rathore follows him.

Conference room-

Ayesha and Chotu were in contact with their men as usual for the information. Arjun enters the room.

Arjun: Chotu! Sabko bula kar lao

Chotu: ji sir!

Ayesha groaned mentally mv “aa gaya khadoos firse gussa karne, khud toh information dhundhne ki koshish bhi nahi kar rahe hai aur hum par baraste rehte hai.” She felt a little relieved when Rathore arrived.

Within a few minutes, the juniors came into the conference room, barring Riya of course.

Arjun(sternly): kuch pata chala?

Ayesha mutters: agar aap taang adane ke bajay hume kaam karne denge toh zaroor pata chalega

However, Arjun hears her. Ignoring her, he continues.

Arjun: Maun Vrat Hai Sabka?

Chotu: sir woh, woh hum, koshish kar rahe hai sir, lekin kuch khaas pata nahi chala

Arjun: yahi umeed thi mujhe tum logon se

Rathore rolls his eyes mv “ego hurt karna toh koi isse seekhe”

The others hung their heads while Ayesha and Sakshi fumed. The former was cursing him while the latter was doing the same to Riya.

Arjun: ab time pass karna band karo aur headquarters ke record room jaa kar list nikalo!

The ground swept away from beneath Shree’s feet.

Shree: KYYYAAAAA?!!?!?!

Arjun: koi problem hai Shree?

He gulped in fear: woh, woh, woh sir, uh, uh…

Arjun: bhin bhinana band karo aur niklo! Samjhe ya samjhau?

They frantically nod their heads and practically run out of the office.

Parking lot-

Sakshi: hum sab bhi bevkuf hai, headquarters ke record room ke baare mein toh hum bhul hi gaye

Shree: tu paagal hai? kabhi gayi hai department ke record room?

Sakshi: nahi gayi, toh kya?

Liza: Specky? Tumne itna kyun react kiya?

Shree: I don’t believe this, tum mein se koi bhi kabhi bhi department ke record room nahi gaya?

They all shook their heads.

Ayesha: relax Shree, how bad can it get?

Sakshi: exactly! Is Riya ke kaand se toh kam hi hoga

Shree and Chotu glare at her while Liza sighs. Ayesha remains thoughtful.

Ayesha: chalo chalte hai, jitni jaldi jaayenge utni jaldi kaam hoga

Shree mutters: kaam? Yea right! Ho gaya kaam… tamam!

They get into an SUV and drive to the headquarters.

Police Headquarters-

The bunch showed up outside the record room. A man was sitting on a desk outside. Shree was sweating profusely.

Officer: kya kaam hai?

Chotu: information chahiye

Officer: le, mujhe toh pata hi nahi (rudely) baarat nikalni hai ki sab ek saath tapak gaye?

Ayesha slaps her ID in front of him. Horrified! The man stands up in salute.

Officer: Jai Hind madam! Sorry madam!

Ayesha: hume shehar ke saare hit man ki list chahiye

He nodded: ha kyun, kyun nahi, main darwaaza kholta hun, aap le lijiye

Sakshi: le lijiye matlab? Tum nahi de sakte?

Officer: main kaise du? aapko jo chahiye aap dhundh lijiye

Sakshi: lekin…

Liza: Sakshi relax yaar! (turning to the officer) Theek hai, tum darwaaza kholo

He nods and proceeds to obey. He throws open the door and the team enters. The ground beneath them slips away.

The room was atleast 4 times the size of their room. There were 6 rows of shelves that extended till the other end of the room. By visible count, there appeared to be atleast 9-10 of them. Each of them were filled with files not only along the rack but bunches of them even on top of the arrangement. Not to mention, dust and disorganisation.

Liza gulped: ye hit man waala section kaha hai?

Officer: section? Aisa kuch nahi hai, bas filen padi hai, aapko jo chahiye woh le lijiye, main baahar hun, bas le jaate waqt file number register mein likhwa dena, Jai Hind!

The team exchanged glances amongst themselves.

Shree: ab pata chala tum logon ko? Ki main kyun chillaya? (tensed) ye pakka Ri ka idea hoga, hey maa Durga!

Ayesha: ye, ye kya hai? aise kaise files rakh sakte hai ye log? Ki koi ata pata bhi nahi?

Chotu: yaha dhundhte-dhundhte to main bhook se mar jaunga

Sakshi: aur pata kaise chalega ki kaunsi file mein kya information hai?

Liza: yaha toh pura hafta baithkar bhi agar hum files dhundhe toh bhi saari nahi milegi…. Oh god!

Ayesha’s gaze travelled across the room once again. Taking a deep breath, she turns to the others.

Ayesha: shuru toh karna padega, chalo

She goes ahead and pulls out a random file. Still shocked and worried, the others mechanically follow.

They start scouring through the room, one shelf at a time, going on for hours not caring about the environment around. All they could see was a ton of files they needed to search through.  

ETF office-

The trio were over and done with the case following which Rathore had left for the day. Riya was in the record room entering data into the system. It is 10 p.m. when Arjun comes to find her.

Arjun: ghar jaane ka iraada nahi hai?

Riya looked up from the keyboard: hi! Jaana toh hai par ye kaam hai ki khatam hi nahi hota

Arjun: khatam nahi hota toh ab ho ya baad mein, kya farak padta hai? department se kisi ki madad kyun nahi leti?

Riya frowned: ha teen logon ko bola hai, woh bhi kar rahe hai (pointing to the pile of papers) but itna saara hai hume karte-karte kam se kam ek-do hafte aur lag jaayenge. aisa bhi nahi ki pure din baithkar bas yahi kare aur bhi kaam hai, aap gaye nahi abhi tak?

Arjun: tumhara wait kar raha tha, khaana khaaya?

Riya paused. Paying attention to her body she realised she was starving. Arjun shook his head understanding her expressions.

Riya: aapne kha liya?

Arjun: nahi

Riya: aap firse khaana skip kar rahe hai?

Arjun: are office mein dinner nahi karta main

Riya: right! (glancing at her watch) ab tak toh canteen bhi band ho gayi hogi, (excitedly) baahar se order kare? Meri thodi entries bhi ho jaayegi

Arjun nods and removes his phone.

They asked each other in unison: kya khaogi?/ aap kya khaayenge?

Riya giggled.

Both: pav bhaji?

Arjun: what the hell?

Riya laughs: acha saath mein ek Manchurian bhi order karna please (dreamily) I love pav bhaji and Manchurian.

His face lit up: gravy?

Riya: balls

His face fell: mujhe balls nahi pasand

Riya (sadly): mujhe gravy nahi pasand

Arjun: with gravy order karta hun, tum balls kha lena aur main gravy

Riya: done! pata hai hospital mein woh khichdi khaate hue mujhe pav bhaji aur Manchurian ki kitni yaad aati thi, my god! Kabhi-kabhi toh aisa lagta tha jaise ki mujhe withdrawal symptoms ho rahe hai, bas marna baakhi hai

Arjun who was happily listening to her talks scowled at her last sentence: Riya!

Riya: sorry

Arjun glares at her angrily and proceeded to order food for them. She smartly remained quiet lest she anger him more. Riya continues with her work, typing furiously into the computer. He shakes his head, pushing back the reclining chair to place his feet on the table.

Their food arrived within the next hour. Riya immediately left the computer and helped Arjun unpack the parcel. Arjun fished out the Manchurian balls from the gravy and dumped them on Riya’s plate. As she bit into one of them, her eyes widened on seeing him mix the gravy with the bhaji.

Riya(incredulously): aap kya kar rahe hai?

Arjun: khaana kha raha hun?

Riya: Pav bhaji mein gravy kaun daalta hai?

Arjun: oh hello, tum bhi toh Manchurian kha rahi ho saath mein

Riya: ha toh saath mein kha rahi hun, andar mix karke nahi, what’s wrong with you?

Arjun: are it tastes amazing, taste kiya hai kabhi?

Riya: no way! Main woh bilcul bhi taste nahi karne waali, main bhuki mar jaungi but no way

Arjun: Riya honestly, bahot acha taste hai

Riya: aapka dimag kharab ho gaya

He shook his head and scooped the bhaji with a piece of pav.

Arjun: lo taste karo

Riya: no way!

Arjun: are sach mein acha lagega, taste toh karo

Riya shook her head vigorously: nahi! bilcul bhi nahi

He squinted and pulled her wheeled chair towards him.

Riya: nahi!! aap kya kar…

Arjun chuckled and stuffed the piece into her mouth. Her face scrunched up and she hit his arm. He tries hard to control his laughter.

Arjun: khao Riya

Having no other go, she slowly started chewing the morsel expecting absolute sacrilege in her taste buds.

Riya: not bad

Arjun: see maine kaha tha na

Riya squinted: Right

He raised his collar: I am always right

She stealthily picked up a Manchurian: acha?

Arjun: ha toh…

She stuffs the ball into his mouth. He groans and pushed her chair away while she starts laughing. Trying not to taste much of it, he swallows the morsel quickly.

Arjun: Riya!!!

But she only laughs harder: payback time! Ab maine gravy khayi toh aapko bhi ek ball toh khaana padega

Arjun: worst moment of my life!

He shook his head while she continued to laugh. They continued dinner over their normal talks, having the entire office to themselves.

Next morning-

Rathore arrived early as usual. As he was going to turn towards his cabin, he noticed the door of the record room wide open. Working was not going to start till Riya arrived. He looked around but barely anyone had turned up yet. Scratching his chin, he decides to have a look. He walks across the room and turns in only to be frozen in place.

Arjun and Riya’s chairs were on one side of the table at a little distance. Her head was down on a file, she had probably been reading. He was facing her, his head straightened back, sleeping as peacefully as she was. His legs were placed on the edge of her chair. Apart from the files laid on the table, there were used packets of food.

For a moment there, Rathore forgot how to respond. He didn’t know how. Waking them up would put all them in an awkward position while if someone else saw them, it would be worse. What was worse, was that his suspicions about them were returning. He half closed the door and went to his cabin. Since the beginning, he had noticed the subtle level of comfort between the two of them. Initially, he had attributed it to Riya’s friendly nature. Since none of them saw Arjun checking up on Riya while in hospital, he thought his guess was true and didn’t worry. Now, it felt like a different story altogether. He recollected Arjun’s disappearance from the office during lunch times.

Rathore mv “Shit! Ye maine pehle kyun nahi dekha? Riya ke discharge ke baad Arjun ka lunch time par bhaagna band ho gaya, aur ye sab bhi tabhi shuru hua jab Riya hospital mein thi. Oh god! Ye kya ho raha hai? kyun ho raha hai? Dammit! Is Raghu sir ne toh band baja kar rakh di hai meri. Aur upar se Vikram sir ugh! Bola tha maine ise team mein laana acha nahi hai lekin koi meri sune tab na, ugh Dammit!!!” He collapsed in his chair and removed his phone. Rathore dialled Riya’s phone. It took her a few rings to pick it up.

Riya: good morning sir

Rathore: good morning Riya, maine ye kehne ke liye phone kiya tha ki baakhi sab seedhe record room hi jaane waale hai, koi case hoga toh hi office aayenge

Riya: oh ok, thank you sir

Rathore: hmm

He disconnected the call and threw his head back on the head rest mv “ab kya karu? ye dono zyaada kareeb aaye usse pehle… nahi, Arjun kabhi use nahi chodega aur Riya? use kaise… ek baar ye sab sort ho jaaye, Vikram sir ko main ped se ulta latka dunga! Samajte kya hai khud ko? 3 saal ke plan ko paani mein mila diya. Dammit!!”

Record room-

Riya looked at her watch: oh god! 8 baj gaye

Arjun yawned and straightened: ab aadhi raat tak kaam karogi toh yahi hoga

Riya panicked: mujhe ghar jaakar fresh hokar 9 baje tak waapis aana hai oh god!

Arjun: Riya relax, tumhare paas spare kapde honge na? yahi fresh ho jao

Riya: bina mere salt scrub ke? Not a freaking chance!

Arjun rolled his eyes mv “ladkiyaan!”

Riya: main jaa rahi hun, bye!

She rushed out of the room making Arjun shake his head. He gathered the empty food parcels and threw it in the dustbin. He didn’t need to go all the way back to lodge. The ETF washroom would do just fine for him.

No matter how fast Riya ran, it was 9:20 by the time she reached back to office. Her eyes darted around. She thanked her lucky stars that Rathore was not in the conference room or anywhere on the floor outside his cabin. Heaving a sigh of relief she moved to her and Arjun’s cabin.

Arjun looked up when the sound of the door opening fell on his ears.

Riya: good morning!

She wished as she sat in her place. Arjun glanced at his watch.

Arjun: you’re late

Riya frowned: sorry, I tried, sachi mein, maine toh naashta bhi nahi kiya

Arjun smiled and bent down. Riya is confused. Her expression turned to delight when he came back up with a parcel and placed it on the table…………………………