Chapter 5

The conference room was silent, everyone staring at Riya. A couple of minutes later, she began feeling a little self-conscious. Clearing her throat at the discomfort of everyone's gaze, she squeaked out, "Hi?"

Her voice brought everyone out of their stupor and joyous shouts rung around the room. Shree and Chotu stepped forward to hug her, feeling the same warmth they had missed in the past 2 months. She laughed loudly, happy to be back home. "Ri, welcome back yaar. Tumhare bina ETF bohot alag lag rahi thi.", exclaimed Shree. He was definitely the happiest with her return.

"Sach mein Riya. Tum nahi thi toh ETF mein apnapan gayab ho gaya tha.", Chotu said. Riya smiled at them as their words stole her heart for the millionth time. It meant the world to her to see her friends caring for her. Her eyes welled up and and she embraced them tightly, promising to never pull a stunt like this again.

Breaking away from her crazy partners-in-crime, she walked towards the chief. A smile was etched on his face, glad to have their Miss Statistics back on board. She responded with a smile of her own and greeted him formally. However, he shocked her and everyone present by throwing his arms around her and pulling her to his chest. Although stunned, she reciprocated and smiled pleasantly at him.

"If you ever dare to scare me again, I promise you will regret it. Heart attack se marne ki umar nahi hai abhi meri.", Sameer joked, causing others to giggle loudly. He pulled back slightly and kissed her forehead affectionately. "But on a serious note, I'm proud of my best student. Tumne prove kar diya ki meri training bilkul sahi thi Riya."

Riya managed to control her tears and said, "Thank you so much sir. Aapki training ki wajah se hi main itni kaabil ban paayi." The duo broke their embrace, smiling widely at each other.

Heart racing, she turned to face Arjun who was a silent spectator of this emotional scene. His eyes were stuck on her since she had entered the room and he patiently waited for her to notice him. It was a relief for him to see her well in front of his eyes. She ceased in her movements and waited with bated breath for him to initiate a conversation, but he remained silent. Mentally chuckling at her stupidity, she reprimanded herself for expecting the akdu to open his mouth. And she knew that he wouldn't bother unless she greeted him first.

"Aap kaise hain Arjun sir?", she asked politely. He wanted to laugh at her innocent question, and laugh louder at her poor attempt of starting the conversation but his face remained blank.

"Hospital mein tum thi Riya, main nahi. Toh yeh sawaal toh mujhe tumse puchhna chahiye.", he replied in his usual stern voice.

She pouted slightly at his tone, only visible to him, cursing him playfully in her mind. Can't he ever speak to us nicely? He's always either taunting or underestimating me. And not once did he show his soft-side when I was in the hospital. Akdu kahin ke..but he's such a cute akdu. He almost cracked a smile, almost. But aware of his surroundings, he maintained his composure.

"Main theek hoon sir. And I'm glad to be back to duty.", she said merrily. She wasn't going to let anyone rain on her parade, not even him. He merely nodded at her words, acknowledging her excitement.

Finally noticing the new faces in the room, Riya turned to them with a confused smile on her lips. "Aap sab...?", she posed the question to not one person in particular. Reading their poise, she understood that they could be cops as well. The three girls were equally confused and shocked with the pleasant welcome she received from the men of the team.

Rathore intervened, deciding to introduce the new members to the old returning one. "Riya, yeh new officers hain. Uss incident ke baad inhone team join ki hai. Aisha Kapoor, Lisa D'Cruz and Sakshi Anand. And girls, yeh hai Riya Mukherjee, ETF ki research specialist."

Riya smiled formally at them, relieved to see more female faces in this male-dominated team. Recognition crossed Aisha's eyes as she heard the name and she forwarded her hand to Riya, saying, "It's an honor to meet you Riya. Tum sach mein ek bohot bahadur officer ho." Riya blushed lightly at being appreciated for her bravery. The girls developed a comfort zone with each other.

Arjun lightly smiled, witnessing the reunion from the corner, unnoticed by everyone. His heart swelled with pride at all the recognition she was receiving. The woman he believed was incompetent proved to have the soul of a sacrificing soldier. She was far more brave and stronger than the entire team combined. And that thought brought a content to his heart.

Time rolled by and the team buried themselves in the complicated case they were assigned for the day. Due to health reasons, Riya wasn't allowed to participate in the field but she provided her assistance in paperwork. As the lunch time passed, she noticed that nobody made a move to grab some food so she decided to prepare her special coffee for them.

"Coffee anyone?", she asked the table. Instantly, two heads bobbed in yes and she chuckled at her silly best friends. Her eyes scanned the room, receiving nods from everyone but the chai lover. Understanding that he will never drink coffee, not even if the world was ending, she smiled at him and said, "Arjun sir, aapke liye ch-"

Her sentence was cut off in the middle by Sakshi, who said, "Riya, Arjun ko coffee pasand nahi hai. Main uski chai laayi hoon so tum baaki sab ke liye coffee bana sakti ho."

Astonished, Riya managed to nod before silently gesturing Shree to meet her in the kitchen. It was shocking for her to see that even Arjun didn't complain. On her way, she wondered when did Sakshi and Arjun become so close that she doesn't add the suffix 'sir' and he doesn't correct her for the same. Shrugging away the unnecessary thoughts, she began her task at hand and prepared her special coffee for the team.

Minutes later, Shree joined her. He sat on the counter, quietly observing her work. He had missed her immensely in the past two months and it brought him relief to see her well in front of his eyes. She turned to him, a little moment of hesitation before she asked, "Shree ek baat batao. Sakshi kya Arjun sir ko pasand karti hai?"

She knew the answer. And she knew that his validation will only disappoint her. But she needed it. Certainly, Shree didn't disappoint her. "Haan, wo aisa kehti toh hai. Lekin Arjun sir use ghaas bhi nahi daalte. Tum tension mat lo Riya.", he said in a failed attempt of consoling her.

Though she was expecting the response, it humoured her to witness the nervousness on Shree's face as he broke the news. Deciding to lighten the slightly grave atmosphere, she joked, "Shree, I'm not worried about her liking Arjun sir. Tension iss baat ki hai ki usne pyaar kiya bhi toh uss akdu se. Bechari ki choice sach mein bohot kharab hai."

Shree's head snapped in her direction and his eyes widened as a laugh escaped his throat. Her ill-humoured jokes were the reason why he lost his belief in comedy. "Waise Ri, tumhari choice kaunsa better hai. Tumne bhi toh apna dil uss khadoos ko diya hai.", he teased her with a mocking twitch in his nose.

Her mouth opened in an 'o' at his taunt and she slapped his arm, her face adopting a pout. She playfully glared at him and said, "Shree...maine khadoos se nahi, Arjun sir se pyaar kiya hai. Dono mein bohot farak hai. Samjhe ya samjhaun?"

The last three words froze him and he obediently nodded on instinct. The duo stared at each other for a while before they burst out into laughter, shaking their heads at their silliness. Grabbing the cups of coffee, Riya and Shree returned to the conference room. However, the moment they opened the door, they realized that something was amiss with the environment. Before they could question their friends, two loud voices caught their attention.

"Bas bohot ho gaya Rawte. Wo sirf tumhara wehem hai aur kuch nahi. Enough of these baseless theories.", Sameer yelled rather angrily.

Arjun glared at him, his eyes red with fury. Squaring his shoulders, he spoke in a dangerously low tone, "Main pehle bhi keh chuka hoon aur ek baar fir kehta hoon. Sikandar hai aur main use dhoond kar rahunga Rathore."

The matter was as clear as the glass. The bosses were arguing over the murderer of Arjun's late wife. And it was evident that Sameer didn't believe in his existence. But a question arose in every junior's mind. Why was Sameer reacting with hostility over this topic? However, nobody noticed the drain of colour from Riya's face at the mention of 'Sikandar'. Her eyes widened and beads of sweat rolled down her forehead.

They were drawn out of their thoughts by another angry shout of Sameer. "That's enough. Sikandar doesn't exist Rawte. Aur agar hai toh wo tum ho. Wo tum hi ho jisne Roshni ko maara tha."

If his words affected Arjun, he certainly didn't showcase it. But it managed to shock the entire team. However, before the matter could heat up any further, the commissioner entered the room and announced that he was assigning an important case to ETF. The curiosity was heavy in the room and the chief asked, "Whose case are we going to be working on sir?"

The commissioner spared a glance in Arjun's direction before forwarding the letter to Sameer and said, "Sikandar."