Soon the priest declared Sameer- Ayesha as husband and wife. Both went towards the elders and took their blessings. Maasa gifted Ayesha where as Mr and Mrs Kapoor handed a gift to Sameer, followed by other relatives and guests. Chotu went away from there with sad eyes but no one notice it as they were busy watching the bride and groom. Ayesha and Sameer then bend infront of Chotu's aai to take her blessings, she bless them with a look of an embarrassment. Ayesha noticed it but being the bride she couldn't point it out. They went towards her family-like team who one by one hugged her. While hugging Riya, an idea came in Ayesha's mind. Hugging Riya little more than usual, Ayesha whispered "Riya, something is off with aai. She is looking upset. Please look into the matter."
Riya with a smile said "Sure I'll check it out, you just enjoy your day."
Pulling away, Riya blinked her eyes assuringly while Arjun handed Ayesha her a beautiful earrings as gift. As Riya's eyes were on aai after listening Ayesha, she also noticed the sadness paired with embarrassment in her eyes which deepened when Arjun gifted Ayesha.
Still not able to understand the problem completely, Riya tried to take a chance to see the difference. So handing the gift to Sameer which she brought for them but with bright smile, she said "Rathod Sir yeh aai ka gift unhe Ajeeb lag raha tha dete hue isiliye mujhse kaha unhone."
Aai looked up at Riya with teary eyes out of shocked on hearing her words, which made Riya's guess confirmed. Arjun too stare at Riya confusedly as he knew Riya bought it by herself for them but seeing her gaze on aai, he understood something was between the lines which he didn't know about. Ayesha first stared at Riya with frown before turning towards aai with known look.
"Really aai, ab ap hume gift bhi doge aur woh bhi Riya ke haathon se." Ayesha spoke after few second silence where as Sameer nodded his head before adding "Haan, aai. Apke haathon ke pakke khane ke liye tou Mai Chotu ka lunch box bhi chura lun aur aap hume yeh tohfa de kar paraya banaa rahi ho. Hume bas apka aashirwad aur swadisht khaane ki zaroorat hai."
Everyone laughed at this, while aai with tears rolling down from her eyes opened her arms towards Sam Ayesha. Both hugged her together, happily.
Arjun side hugged Riya smiling at her in admiration and whispered "I love you so much." Riya blushed deeply at his words. Seeing her blush, he adding "And more when you blush like this." Riya glared at him before swatting his arms from making her red. "Stop it. Or else.." Arjun tried to tease her more, so he asked raising his eyebrow "What!?"
Riya huffed on seeing his teasing eyes before saying with gritted teeth "Or else I will sleep with Mumma from tonight."
Hearing her words teasing long forgot, as horrified Arjun shrieked with wide eyes "No way baby, please I am sorry. I will do as you say but please." Smiling victoriously, Riya said pointing her finger at him "Good, now don't even think of teasing me or leaving me in any teasing sessions alone." Arjun just nodded his head, silently on seeing his tigress back with full blow.
Guest started to leave as the marriage rituals came to an end while seniors and others peoples from police department were stunned, who were seeing totally different Sameer and Arjun. Change in Sameer, they understood as he is the groom. He even sometimes did smile or enjoy funny moments at work also and wasn't always serious and rude. But Arjun, they always saw him serious, rude and angry and he scold those badly who try to do some useless chat in work time. And seeing him like this, roaming around behind his wife, laughing at Sameer, teasing him with his juniors Shree and Chotu, this all left them shocked beyond statement. They even saw Arjun and Sameer dancing with their wives beside Shree and Liza.
Soon every relatives of Sameer too left for their hotels except few who had their flight in early morning. Soon Team, Maasa, Ayesha's parents, aai along with Riya's parents had their dinner with lots of chit chat and teasing session.
Sending Sameer and Ayesha to their room, which was decorated beautifully by Riya, Liza and Sakshi, who left them ofcoarse not without snatching a good amount of money from Sameer as Nek, leaving them for their special night.
Soon others also left to their alotted rooms calling it a night as they had to leave for Mumbai the next evening.
"Liz! You were looking damn gorgeous in that dress. Please do wear those Indian dresses more often." Whispered Shree.
Liza look at him as she whispered back angrily "You mean to say I didn't look good in jeans and western dresses. How could you Specky?"
"No sweetheart. You look fab in everything, it's just that you look different and more Beautiful in Indian dresses." Replied Shree whispering softly, to which Liza smiled shyly. "Oh My God, Liz is being shy. My. Lizard. is. shying." Shree whispering loudly in surprise. Liza slap his arm before running inside the room she is sharing with Sakshi for night. Shree smiled widely on seeing her typical-girly-shy.
...
One week later, in Mumbai.
It's been one week from Sameer and Ayesha's wedding. As planned, everyone returned back to Mumbai the next day after wedding reception. Team send Sameer and Ayesha to Bali for honeymoon as per Arjun's suggestion who made all the arrangements, himself.
Rathod was reluctant to go stating he can't just abandoned ETF for two weeks as they already had took one month off for the wedding but Arjun along with Riya, Shree and Chotu forced him to go saying "Arjun sir, the second chief in command is there to take care of ETF like last time when Sameer had gone for Undercover mission with Riya. So he shouldn't be worried now." This leads to lots of banters like Arjun's sarcastic comment on how without his information Sam was roaming with Riya all over Mumbai and here he was worried sick. And Shree and Chotu's furious glare pointed towards Riya for hiding the truth of her being alive from them. After getting assurance from his team Sameer gave positive nod for his honeymoon.
Later at Airport, where team along with Maasa came to bid bye to the newly wed couple. Arjun teased Sameer saying "Aur haan Sam, honeymoon par jaane Ko keh raha hun iska yeh matlab nahi ke tumhe meri behen ko tang karne ka cerficate mil gaya. Samjhe ya Samjhaoun."
To which Sakshi and Liza teased Ayesha making her blush furiously. Riya, Shree and Chotu laughed heartily.
Soon after bidding bye, everyone after dropping Maasa at Arjun's place, reached ETF as there leave came to end.
Everyone was sitting in conference room, completing their pending reports of previous cases as right now there wasn't any case for ETF.
"Yaar Chotu, aai se kehna woh mithayi bana dein. Kya mast meetha banati hai aai aur waise ek hafte mei Holi bhi tou hai?" Shree spoke dreamily, while drinking his coffee as they took a short break from their never ending reports.
Chotu looked up at him before replying "Sahi bole Shree, chal ye holi mei mil kar Masti karte hai. Aai ne pooja bhi rakhi baaju ke Mandir mei."
"Wow, nice idea Chotu. Kyu na hum sab ye holi tere ghar par manaye." Riya said all excited.
"Nahi re Ri, mera ghar tum log ke liye theek nahi rahega. It's a one-room house where all of us together wouldn't be able to adjust, that too in chawl. Mai aai se bol kar mithayi banwa loonga tum sab ke liye." Chotu said meekly in embarrassment.
Riya, Shree glare at Chotu for saying such while Sakshi and Liza look at Chotu in shock. "Kya re Chotu, tu kitni bakwas karta hai. Now where did the small house issue came up?" Shree said angrily.
"Aur hum pehle bhi tou tere ghar par masti kar chuke hain? So now what is the problem?" Riya too asked in small voice.
Before anyone else could say more, Arjun entered the conference room and said "Team! we have a case."
Everyone straightened themselves as Arjun start briefing the case.
"Pichle mahine, do alag alag middle class families ka khoon hua hai - Sethi aur Mishra. Aur uss family ka sirf bada beta/beti jo hadse ke waqt ghar pe nahi majood the woh zinda hain. This case was filed in local police station in our absence but after not able to caught the culprit till now commissioner sir give this case to us. Aur unka manna hai ye ek serial killer ka case hai. So we have to caught the culprit fast before he made a move."
"Serial killer, matlab dono case mei similarities hone chahiye? Hamare pas kya kya similarities hain?" Riya asked curiously.
"Dono families ka gala ek sharp object se kata gya hai on their dining table." Liza said after reading the file.
"Sir ek aur baat common hai dono families ke bade bachhe ghar par nahi the uss samay." Chotu added.
"Haan, aur rang? Sir, file ke mutabik sabhi dead bodies ke chehre par aur table par holi ka rang laga hua tha."
"Holi Colors? But Specky the murders happened in last month and holi is next week right!?" Asked Liza confusedly. Shree sighed nodding his head in Yes.
"Shree tum dono family ka mobile aur bank details nikalo. Especially details of both survivors, I mean dono family ke bade bachhon ke. Chotu,Sakshi pata karo dono family ka aapas mei koi bhi connection tha- dosti, dushmani ya office, school kuch bhi. Liza postmortem tou ho chuka hai but phir bhi check karo koi clue, nishan kuch bhi unusual hai kya? Tab tak mai aur Riya dono ke ghar jaakar check karte hain."
Nodding their head, everyone left to complete their assigned work. Arjun, Riya went to Sethi's house to meet Ms Sonakshi Sethi, a 19 year old elder daughter of Rajesh and Palak Sethi.
Putting her hand on Sonakshi's shoulder, Riya said with sympathy, "I am sorry Sonakshi, we know its a wrong time to ask but it's our duty we need your corporation to catch the culprit. Tumhare parents ke qatilon ko saza dilaane ke liye we need your help."
Controlling her sob, Sonakshi said "1 bjhe ke qareeb mujhe Mom ne pooja ka samaan laane Ko kaha tha. Woh Maha Shivratri ki pooja ki tayyari din mei hi karti thi. Mere Papa ne bhi chutti li thi aur mera bhai Vijay sirf 10 saal ka tha bohut khush tha kyunki use pooja karna bohut pasand tha. Because of the huge crowd at the shop it took me more than half hour to get back home. Mai 1:45 ke aaspas ghar pohunchi tou darwaza khula hua tha aur jab mai ander aayi tou... tou sab... Sab khatam hochuka tha." Saying so she started crying badly. Riya with moist eyes passed her a glass of water while Arjun stood up and started looking around the house.
After few minutes, Sonakshi requested "Please punish the culprit, punish who ever was behind this. I just want justice for my family. Apko jab bhi koi information chahiye hogi Mai apki help karoongi but please punish the murderer. Please."
Giving assurance Arjun and Riya drove towards Mishra House. There they met with 23 years old Ritwik Mishra, the elder son of Mishra family.
Ritwik started with teary eyes "Sir, I don't know who killed my parents and my 15 years old sister Tara its being almost 2 months but whoever he is..."
"He!? Tumhe kaise pata ki woh ek ladka hai?" Arjun interrupted in mid.
Wiping his forehead, Ritwik said "Uh! How would I know sir? I meant to say whoever he/she is, should get punished. Kaise usne meri behen ko, meri maa...?"
"Tum kahan the uss waqt jab ye khoon hua?" Arjun again interrupted him getting irritated.
"Sir, dekhiye uss din makar Sankranti thi mai Apne dost ke ghar patang udhaane gaya tha, shaam mei jab lauta tou... Ye sab. Kash mai bhi ghar pe hota tou shayad.." Replied Ritwik being all emotional.
"Hmm. Abhi hum chalte hai. Sheher se bahar mat jana hum fir aayenge. Let's go Riya." Saying so Arjun was about to walk away when his eyes caught something.
To Be Continue...
Udne Ki Aasha
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