Chapter 7: Tough Times Ahead

Riya stirred awake, her head pounding and eyes squinting against the morning light.

She groaned, clutching her forehead as she tried to make sense of where she was.

Just then, Kabir walked in, two mugs of coffee in hand and a sheepish smile on his face.

"Good morning, party girl!" he teased.

Riya groaned louder.

"Kabir! Mujhe ek bohot bura sapna aaya tha..." she muttered, rubbing her temples.

"Sach bata, what happened last night?"

Kabir sat beside her, setting the coffee mugs on the table.

"Ye le—coffee rakh, aur thoda honsla bhi rakh!"

"Kabir!" Riya snapped, glaring at him.

This was not the time for jokes.

Sensing her panic, Kabir softened his voice.

"Okay okay. Listen—there was a raid. At the club. By your department."

"You passed out just as they stormed in. But at least... you recognized them."

Riya’s face turned pale.

"Did they... see us?"

Her voice trembled.

Kabir hesitated.

"One of your colleagues saw us. But... he helped us sneak out."

"NOOO!"

Riya jumped to her feet on the bed, panic exploding across her face.

"Kabir, I'm DEAD! I'm so DEAD!"

Kabir tried to pull her to himself, trying to calm her down, “Don’t worry, not everyone saw you.”

“Well, someone did!”, she shouted on top of her voice.

“OK! Relax! Sit down!”, Kabir tried to talk to her.

“Riya, STOP! SIT DOWN!”

He reached out, pulling her down beside him, trying to calm her frantic energy.

“Kon tha vo? Who saw us?”, Riya asked.

“Are koi muscle-man tha, kya body thi! Work-out regime kaafi solid hoga uska…”

Riya smacked a pillow, right onto Kabir’s face.

“Chup kr jaa, Kutte!”, Riya was in tears.

"Relax! Don’t panic. He didn’t rat you out—yet."

"Yet!"

Riya’s voice cracked.

"He probably already told Rathore sir. And Arjun sir must be drafting my termination letter right now!"

"You know, your name might go into history—fastest joining-to-resignation in ETF books."

Kabir smirked.

Riya shot him a murderous glare.

Kabir zipped his lips theatrically.

"Tu office ke liye ready ho ja. Main tere saath chalta hoon. Kuch nahi hoga.

Aur agar nikaal hi diya... to mere saath vaapis aa jana. Simple." Kabir said all this trying to keep a straight face.

Riya sighed, the edge in her nerves still very raw.

Finally, he said something that made sense.

"Riya, seriously. Agar use tujhe fasaana hi hota... toh kal hi fasa deta. But he didn’t. Usne help ki—there must be a reason. Maybe he’s not as bad as you think."

Those words stuck.

For the first time since she woke up, Riya exhaled with a little relief.

She hugged Kabir tightly, drawing warmth from his presence.

"By the way, us He-Man ka naam kya tha?" Kabir asked, snuggling closer.

"Chotu."

Kabir blinked.

"Kya?!"

"Chotu!", Riya said louder, assuming that may be he didn’t hear the first time.

He burst into laughter.

Riya chuckled too, shaking her head at the irony.

Kabir kissed her forehead softly.

"Let them do whatever they want. You earned your place. Don’t let anyone else define your worth."

---

At the ETF Headquarters, Rathore stood before the team, a thick case file open in front of him.

It was the report of the drug trafficking raid from the previous night.

"Where’s Riya? Didn’t she get the call?"

No one answered, while Chotu rolled his eyes.

Rathore scanned their faces. The silence was its own confession.

"Like it or not, she's on the team now. And she stays."

Still no response.

He didn’t press further. He knew the resentment ran deep. Acceptance would take time.

"Until I return, Arjun is in charge. And one more thing—"

"No one brings up the past. Not to the new recruit. That’s an order."

"Why?"

Arjun’s voice was cold, unreadable.

"Because she just joined. She deserves to learn things at her own pace. She’ll find out eventually, but not now. Knowing everything could land her in trouble too. Understood?"

Arjun gave a reluctant nod.

"Also, start her Integrated Training Course. You’ll mentor her through the theoretical modules. I’ll take over her field training once I return from Delhi."

Arjun looked displeased. Rathore noticed but didn’t comment.

"Take care of each other. I’ll be back in a few days."

---

Later that Morning, Riya walked into the conference room, clutching her bag like a shield, her face composed but heart thundering.

Shree and Chotu didn’t acknowledge her.

Arjun didn’t even glance up from his file.

She cleared her throat softly.

"Good morning..."

Her voice was barely audible.

No response.

Trying to compose herself, she placed her bag on a distant chair and walked towards the common area to wash her hands.

That’s when she heard Chotu behind her.

"Rough night, huh?"

She flinched, turning around to find him smirking.

He leaned in, voice low and teasing.

"Imagine if everyone knew you were stumbling drunk in a club raid... with your boyfriend. You owe me one, newbie."

Riya froze.

He hadn’t told them.

Yet.

"What do you want?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing… yet."

He winked and walked away as he saw Arjun approaching.

“Since you’re finally here, Miss Mukherjee, your talent in psychology will be highly useful… for organizing the past years of closed case files. Record room. Now!”

A smirking Arjun ordered and disappeared.

---

In the record room, dust hung thick in the air.

Boxes were stacked like forgotten ruins. Some files were frayed, yellowed, and untouched for years.

Still, Riya smiled.

She wasn’t thrown out.

That was something.

Chotu had made it clear he held leverage, and Arjun clearly wanted her out... but she had survived Day One, almost.

She pulled out her phone.

Eight unread messages.

“Kya hua?”

“Kuch hua?”

Nikaal diya kya?”

“Bol naa!”

“Tu zinda hai!”

“Are un Chotu ji k pair pakad le yrr! Ya koi deal strike kr le, tere paas bhot paise h, aisa bol unko!”

“Main aaun andar?”

“Agar tune 10 min mein reply nhi diya, to main aa rha hu andar, apni team ko lekar!”

Riya laughed softly to herself, warmth blooming in her chest.

She clicked a messy selfie next to a mountain of files and sent it to Kabir with a heart emoji.

“Have fun, meri jaan. With your dust mask on!”

His reply popped instantly.

Shaking her head with a smile, she tied her scarf over her face like a warrior suiting up for battle and got to work—sorting files by year, case type, and status. One box at a time.

In the control room, Shree stared at the CCTV feed.

"She’s actually doing it."

"Give it a week. She’ll quit."

Chotu muttered; arms crossed.

---

Later in the day, Riya took a moment alone on the rooftop to breathe, as she found no one in the conference room, and just then Kabir called.

Kabir said playfully, noticing her tired face and dishevelled hair “So, how’s the glamorous record room life, beautiful?”

Riya smiled faintly, “Dusty! And I look like a Ghost!”

“I bet! Go wash your face and eat something! Don’t faint on a pile of unsolved murder files. Would be awkward. You look broke and homeless on the first day itself.”

Riya took a closer look at herself and sighed, it’s just day one, day two actually.

“OK! I’ll go, work call, talk to you later and get back to your human form please, don’t scare the shit out of your colleagues!”

"Get back to your work, clown. I’m hanging up, bye IDIOT.", Riya smiled.

“Bye, Ghost!”

Saying so, he ended the call, making her angry but relieved. He was her comfort.

Riya smiled, resting her head against the wall.

Tough times lay ahead—but she wasn’t alone.

Not entirely.

---

The team had left for a crime scene, leaving Riya alone in the office, she had figured out from the evidence board. She was working quietly in the record room, files spread out like puzzle pieces on the table.

She glanced at her watch, shifted uncomfortably, and winced.

“Okay, nature wins.”, she muttered to herself.

She walked briskly through the corridor to the WOMEN’S WASHROOM—and found the door locked. She jiggled the handle. Nothing.

“Hello? Anyone in there?”, she knocked.

Silence.

She bent down, looked under the door. No feet. She straightened up, exasperated.

“Seriously, Riya? There are no female employees in this office. Who would be in there? You should be grateful that they have a women’s washroom in here, at least.”, she talked to herself.

She searched around for a janitor’s closet or something that might have the keys, found a metal cabinet nearby marked “SUPPLIES”. But it was locked too.

Files fell off the table in the hallway nearby where she had kept some folders earlier. A stack of papers exploded onto the floor.

Riya looked around, and then spotted a bunch of keys hanging on a hook inside the tech lab. She hesitated and sighed.

“How hard can it be?”, she challenged herself.

Riya carefully removed the key ring. There were at least 30 keys, all unlabelled. She carried them to the washroom and tried them one by one. No luck.

RIYA was frustrated. “Who makes keys and doesn’t label them? Is this an office or a treasure hunt?”

She tried the last key, jiggled it, then tripped slightly and dropped the entire ring. The clatter echoed down the corridor.

Riya groaned and went to pick everything up, when she suddenly had a lightbulb moment. She eyed the mop handle propped against the corner.

“Fine. If no one wants to open it… I’ll open it myself.” RIYA was determined.

She wedged the mop handle into the lock of the women’s washroom and started applying pressure.

In the meanwhile, Arjun, just back from the crime scene, walked in silently. He was tired, annoyed, and definitely not expecting to find papers everywhere, a busted mop, and Riya—caught mid-break-in—trying to jam a stick into a lock.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”, Arjun said sharply.

Riya jumped, startled. She turned around, cheeks flushing.

“I— I wasn’t breaking in, I—", Riya was scared looking at Arjun’s angry red face.

“That door leads to restricted archives. You think you can just sneak around and break in wherever you feel like?”, Arjun cut her off.

“What? You keep your restricted files here? In the women’s washroom!”, Riya was confused.

It was in that moment Arjun understood what she was upto. Suddenly pity took over, but he didn’t let it show.

“I needed to pee!”, she spoke in an innocent voice and Arjun did melt realizing she might be really in trouble all this while. But he covered his concern with sarcasm as soon as Riya looked into his eyes.

“And you needed a mop to pee?”

RIYA was frustrated. “The door’s locked. No one’s fixing it. I tried to find the key. I even tried all twenty-seven of them, by the way. And clearly, none of them worked.”

Arjun frowned. He walked over, trying the door.

“Huh!”

He bent down, trying the knob again. Looked at the hinges.

“There have been no female employees here, so, it has never been used”, Arjun lied through his teeth.

He straightened up, and there was a moment of awkward silence.

“We’ll get this fixed. For today, use the men’s, no one’s here!”, he tried to come up with a solution.

“WHATTT!!! NO!!!!”, Riya shouted, loudly.

Arjun was irritated.

Realizing that Riya wouldn’t agree, Arjun broke the lock with a rod, and spared a glance towards her over-excited form.

“So… can I go now or are you filing a case?”, Riya joked, finding Arjun still standing there.

Just seconds later, after Riya had entered the washroom, he heard a scream and just as he turned around, he found a scared-to-death Riya running towards him.

“Aah! Aah!”, he held onto him and shouted her lungs out.

“Ab kya hai?”, Arjun was irritated with her constant screams. He placed his palm over her mouth to shut her up. It was just a moment, but he felt electric current flowing through his veins, that looking into her eyes, would lead to a disaster.

“Kya hua?”, he asked again, he composed himself, realizing she had stopped screaming.

“Are! Andar poori chooha family reh rahi h”, she was baffled at what she saw inside.

Arjun wanted to smile but he chose not to, not even for a moment.

He hesitated, eyed the mess, then nodded towards the men’s washroom.

“Use mine. I’ll stand guard.”, he spoke in a commanding tone.

Riya refused again.

“Your wish! I’m sorry if our washrooms can’t meet your hygiene standards!”, he said and walked away.

“OK! Fine!”, she finally agreed, finding no way out.

He returned. Riya raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She walked past him towards the men’s washroom.

“Ye aadmi utna bura bhi nahi hai!”, she thought to herself.

---

Later that evening, Riya was back in the record room, after clearing all the mess she made.

In his cabin, Arjun was reviewing the ongoing case files but couldn’t focus. His eyes kept drifting to the small screen showing security footage—of Riya working late in the records room.

He finally gave up his ego and walked up to the records room. The door of the room creaked open making Riya jump with horror.

“You seem to have wasted an entire day, I see no improvement here!”, Arjun taunted, making Riya fume.

Riya narrowed her eyes, trying to come up with a fierce comeback, but he interrupted her again, “Go home now! Tomorrow 10 a.m. sharp. I don’t like late comers.”

Thankful that at least it was time she could call it a day, she chose not to mess with this hot-headed man again.

While packing her stuff, she cursed herself, “Why in the world did you say to yourself ke ye utna bura bhi nahi h? Vo kaafi bura hai!”

---

Just as she was dragging her tired feet out of the office, he called her back again, and handed her a file.

She looked at him and the file questioningly.

“Study material for week-1 of your introductory training course. I’ll be your mentor for the theoretical portion. Do not forget your weekly tests for which I would be setting the EASIEST question papers!”, Arjun was enjoying her face losing all colours.

She was baffled. Such a thick file and him, he was going to be her mentor. Before she could process everything, Arjun had already moved out.

“Ye bhot bhot bura hai, Riya!”, she murmured.