~Chapter 2~

Abhijeet was just cleaning up the living room when the doorbell rang. He wondered if Manisha Bhabhi had heard the news. He looked up and the clock showed 7.00 pm. ’She must be really worried’, he thought. Thinking of ways to comfort his worried Bhabhi, he walked to the door. As he opened the door, the sight of the person made him catch his breath.

“Hello, Abhijeet”

“Tarika…”

“May I come in?”

“Of course… it’s your… I mean… yes”

Tarika entered in and walked to the sofa just like she used to. She turned to look at him. He raised his eyebrow.

“I wanted to talk… but before that, I want to see Shreya… Uh… can I?”

“Of course… I’ll call her…”

“No… I… uh… I’ll go see her…”

She walked towards the rooms and looked at the most colorfully decorated door. Smiling a little, she knocked once paused, then knocked 4 times continously, paused again and knocked 3 times continously. Abhijeet looked surprised

“What are you…”

But before he could continue, the door burst open and his daughter rushed directly into the arms of the woman he had loved so long. The sight of them in embrace made his heart so warm that suddenly he felt his cheek wet. Shreya broke the embrace and looked at her then she signed

“Manisha chachi said that you were back… Why didn’t you come see me earlier?”

Tarika turned and silently glanced at Abhijeet, her lips trembled a little and she quickly turned back but Abhijeet had noticed it. Shreya pulled Tarika’s hand and signed again

“Are you mad at me?”

“No beta… How could I be mad the most beautiful angel in my life?”

“Then why didn’t you come see me?”

Thinking something, she suddenly signed

“Are you mad at Papa?”

Tarika sighed, children asked the most difficult questions. As she was contemplating what to say, Abhijeet responded

“Arrey beta… why are you asking so many questions? She just came…”

Shreya shook her head and signed.

“No, No, chachi said she returned 2 weeks back… You used to come every weekend to school to see me, when I called you home, you said that you needed to get back… But now that you are back why didn't you come see me, Mumma?”

As she signed the last word, Abhijeet looked up surprised, his voice choking, he asked

“Mumma?”

Tarika felt her cheeks redden. She mumbled so that only he could hear.

“It was a long time back… around the time you adopted her officially…”

He felt something twitch in his heart, how had he not known? As their eyes met for a brief second, his eyes reflected the guilt he carried for not truly taking time to understand what she had wanted all along. If this wasn’t proof enough, he didn’t know what was. As if reading his mind, she nodded in negative and turned to Shreya.

“Beta… sometimes there are things I can’t tell you… I really was busy unpacking… I promise we will keep our weekend routine together… Now that I am here… let’s spend some time together… What shall we do?”

Shreya didn’t look very convinced, nevertheless she nodded and signed.

“Let’s make dinner together.”

Tarika nodded and looked at Abhijeet. He gave a small smile and nodded softly.

****

Daya sipped his coffee and leaned back on his chair. Suddenly, he felt warm soft fingers gently massaging his head and neck. His lips curved up involuntarily

“Shreya…”

“Heard you had a rough day at work”

He sighed and reachafed out to hold her hand. He pulled her towards him. She sat beside him and squeezed his hand.

“I don’t know why they always must think the worst of him”

“Well, we have to prove otherwise”

“Yes… I need your help, I need you to talk to some of your contacts”

“Why do you think I am here?”

He looked at her with his eyebrows raised. She chuckled a little.

“What? I am a detective too. You think I don’t know how your brain works. I talked to some of my CI’s before I came here.”

He pecked her cheek.

“You are incredible, my girl… So what is your plan… how do we start”

“Well, we start by cooking ourselves and Mihika some dinner… Then we head out to meet Hari who has some valuable stuff to share… I believe you can put that big hand of yours to some use and get better information…”

He grinned as he followed her into the kitchen. He was happy they were together again

****

Pradyuman looked at the unopened parcel in front of him. He put on his gloves and mask and was about to touch the parcel when his friend entered his cabin

“You called me, Pradyuman”

“Haan Salunkhe… look here this parcel came in today. It’s addressed to me and has no name. Looks like some documents. “

“Ok let me check”

Carefully the doctor examined the parcel and used a pen knife to open it.

“You are right these are case files”

“Case No. 2199… This one… Isn’t it…”

“The case in which we lost Freddy…”

“Why would someone send the case files to us now?”

Pradyuman scratched his head and then said

“Abhijeet… I think it’s because of Abhijeet… Now he is a suspect… back then Freddy was killed by the bullet intended for him…”

“It wasn’t his fault…”

“No it wasn’t… but you know why it happened”

“That wasn’t his fault either…”

“Salunkhe… do you think I blame him? I don’t. You are the only one who knows the entire truth and what happened after that yet you are doubting me?”

“I know Pradyuman but what is bothering you?”

“The similarities between then and now… I am worried about Abhijeet and also worried to lose another member of our family…”

Salunkhe patted on his shoulder.

“We won’t let anything happen this time… Let’s examine this…”

Half an hour past as they examined the files thoroughly, suddenly Salunkhe let out a yell

“Pradyuman look here…”

Pradyuman looked where Salunkhe was pointing

“I can’t see anything…”

“Arre yaar look closely… the watermark”

He looked closely.

“You are right, it has S added to our logo”

“Yes, lets arrange the papers in sequence, if we take these additional characters, maybe we are upto something…”

It took them 10 minutes to get their papers straight. Salunkhe took a pen and noted down the additional characters and read out.

“Case Number 227… Pradyuman, what is this case about?”

ACP looked up and a sudden memory of a frightened young Abhijeet flashed in front of his eyes.

“It’s the case when Abhijeet talked to me…”

“Huh?”

Pradyuman straightened up suddenly and said in a commanding tone

“Salunkhe, it’s already late go home…”

“Home?”

“Yes home… I have to go someplace tonight… Good night…”

“Bu..but…”

Pradyuman rushed out not bothering to answer him.

“Pradyuman!”

The doctor screamed frustrated. Muttering under his breath, he quickly straightened up the files and cleaned the cabin. Looking at the time, he knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything more, so he walked out locking the cabin. He turned around to see a desk light om in the otherwise dark office room.

“Purvi?”

“Yes, sir…”

“You didn’t leave?”

“No sir, I was just working on something…”

“Abhijeet’s case?”

“Yes sir, I am trying to track the source of this video.”

“Purvi beta, its late… isn’t it time to leave… You can see this tomorrow… You need rest.”

“Rest? When my mentor is suspended? He has saved me countless times and… uh… you do know how Tarika and him stuck their necks out just to keep him safe… what I am doing is nothing in front of it…”

Salunkhe took a deep breath, he remembered the incident only too well. It was what had transformed the chirpy, bubbly girl into the stoic woman sitting in front of him. Seeing her determined face, he knew that she won’t leave now, so he said

“Ok then I’ll bring my couch here… I can’t leave you alone”

****

P.S.: The sequence of knocks 1, 4 and then 3 in this chapter by Tarika translates to ‘I Love You’. I assumed that the vibrations by the knocks can be felt by Shreya hence she came out.