~Dil Dosti Etc New thread AR Excerpt pg 37 NEW~ - Page 24

Part 48

"What the f**k?" Armaan snapped, as he got out of the car, and banged shut his door, running up to Atul to catch up to him, "What do you mean she is missing?" He asked, the worry and anxiety eating him up as Atul and Armaan raced inside the house.

Atul was trying to call Anjali but he swore loudly as once again the call went to her voicemail,

"I don't know, dude" Atul said quietly, his eyes calm and calculative as he tried calling Anjali again, all the time hurriedly making his way past the Gupta's gate, too tensed to acknowledge the guard at the gate.

"Come on Anjali, pick up the damn phone!" Atul snapped, and Armaan ran a hand through his hair, messing it up, his eyes wide in fear as they continued to walk down the driveway.

Suddenly they heard someone crying, and they immediately stopped, looking around for the source of noise.

Atul did not hesitate for a second, and ran towards the garden on the side, tucking his phone back in his jeans pocket, racing into the garden as Armaan followed suit.

Armaan slowed down into a walk, as his eyes widened in shock at the small figure that was curled up on the grass, hugging her knees to her chest, her face scrunched up in pain and tears streaming down her face.

"Anjali?" Armaan whispered in a broken voice, dread filling his insides and Atul quickly ran to where she was, scooped her up in his arms, sat on the bench besides and held her close, gently rocking her, whispering soft words of comfort. Anjali clutched onto him, her whole body shaking and shuddering as sobs racked through her body, and Armaan felt the tears stinging his eyes at the sight.

Anjali, the one girl he knew was the strongest of the lot, the one who never showed any emotions, no fear, no tears, was reduced a crying mess in Atul's arms.

Armaan looked away, his own tears blurring his vision, as he took out his phone and tried Ridhima's cell again.

Hi this is Ridhima, I am sorry I am unable to take your call. Leave your name and number, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!

"Come one Basket!" Armaan snapped, raking a hand through his hair, clutching handfuls of it as he squatted down in defeat, trying her number again.

Hi this is Ridhima, I am sorry I am unable to take your call. Leave your name and number, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!

"I-it's no use" Anjali hiccuped from Atul's arms, lifting her face from Atul's shoulder, to look at Armaan, "I have tried calling her about 50 times already, and it keeps going to her voicemail!"

Armaan looked away, a tear slipping past his eyes, closing his eyes hut tightly, trying not to give into the fear that something horrible had happened.

Their past precious moments flooding his mind, making him clutch his head painfully as he scrunched his eyes shut tight, a deep ache starting at the pit of his stomach, a slow burn making his way up to his throat, making him want to scream, to shout, to hurt someone.

----

"Armaan Malik, if you don't let me go this instant, you will regret it" Ridhima said, narrowing her eyes challenging him

"Make me, Basket. Because I sure as hell am not going to let you go voluntarily" He whispered, angling his head to the side so his lips came closer to hers.

"Ridhima, where are you?" Armaan whispered as he remembered the day he had cornered her against the fire-escape, refusing to let her go.

"I...I..I love you Armaan" She said eventually, her eyes boring into his, displaying every bit of fear, nervousness, relief, trust and immense love for the man in front of her.

He closed his eyes and dropped his head to his knees, sitting back on the cool grass, his arms limply falling over his knees, "I love you, Ridhima. Please come back"

********

"Armaan" Ridhima whispered as she opened her eyes blearily, taking a while to focus in on her surroundings. Her cheek was pressed against the cool tiles, her face perspiring as a few strands of hair stuck to her cheek and face, and she panted heavily, the fatigue and hunger catching up, making her feel nauseous as she closed her eyes again.

"Please help me, Armaan" She whispered hoarsely, as she succumbed back to unconsciousness.

********

"Have you called the Police?" Atul asked as he sat opposite Anjali on the dining table, having bundled her up in warm clothes, the blanket wrapped around her, her hair tied back as she held a steaming cup of hot coffee close to her, her eyes still read and tears clinging to her lashes.

She nodded and said, "We've filed a complaint, but she needs to be missing for 24 hours before they will do anything"

"f**k this!" Armaan snapped, anger spiraling out of control as he banged a fist against the table, "They want money. We'll give them all the money they want and get them on this investigation"

"We offered, Armaan" Anjali said tiredly rolling her eyes slightly, "But they wouldn't take anything"

"Okay" Atul said calmly, trying to ease out the tension that was running high from the stress of having Ridhima missing, "Let's go over the details of who spoke to her last, and then maybe we can determine when she went missing, and therefore accordingly move back and hopefully find her"

Anjali and Armaan nodded, and slowly started recounting their time with Ridhima during the day.

********

"Come on, Ridhima" She whispered to herself, as her whole body felt weak, "You have to do something"

She tried sitting up, but gave out a small whimper of pain as the ropes rubbed against her wrists and ankles bruising and chaffing them.

Remember, Ridhima told herself, If you try to move around very quickly, the ropes will tighten. Have patience, keep strong, and you'll get out of this

She moved her wrist slightly, and bit her lip as pain shot up her arm. Tears stinging her eyes, she ignored the pain and continued to move her wrists little by little hoping and praying that this technique would work and the ropes would loosen.

********

"..That was the last I saw of her" Anjali said as she recounted her time at the hospital, and seeing Ridhima coming out of her patient's room.

"Wait a second" Armaan interrupted, frowning at his phone as he looked over the text messages sent to Ridhima, "What time did you say she had come out of the room?"

Anjali frowned in deep thought as she tried remembering the time, "I had just finished scrubbing in on a surgery, which went on for 3 hours...I think.." She said, trying to remember, "The surgery finished at 7:45. By the time I finished changing, briefed the family, and then walked to where she was coming out, I'd say it must be a bit after 8"

Armaan's eyes lit up, as he said hurriedly, adrenalin pumping through his veins, "And I started texting Basket around that time as well! In fact, the last text I sent to her, I never got a reply back. I called her about 10 minutes later to find out where she was and what she was doing, but it went straight to voicemail!"

Anjali quickly got up from her chair and rushed to Armaan, her hand gripping his chair tightly, as her knuckles turned white, while Atul also rushed to Armaan and read the text.

"See this" Armaan said as he pointed to the last message he had sent to her, "I told her that I loved her, and she never replied. I found that a bit odd, so I called her exactly 10 minutes after" Armaan said, as he pointed to his call history, "But it went straight to voicemail!"

"What time was the last text?" Atul asked.

"8:45 pm"

"That means.." Anjali said breathlessly, feeling adrenalin pumping through her veins at the prospect of finding out when her sister had disappeared, and hopefully a step closer to finding her,

"She disappeared around 8:45 pm" Atul finished.

"And the fact that Anjali saw her leaving a patient's room a bit after 8, she had left the hospital by 8:30. So that means she couldn't have been far from the hospital when she got kidnapped" Armaan said.

"It takes at least half an hour to get home" Anjali said, her eyes wide as she looked between Atul and Armaan.

"So she wasn't home" Armaan said firmly, as his lips thinned and he frowned in confusion.

"But where could she be?" Atul asked thoughtfully, "Were you two meant to meet somewhere?"

"No" Armaan answered.

"Do you think the auto driver...?" Anjali said hesitantly.

"I was texting Ridhima, I am sure she would have called me if she felt there was something wrong with the auto driver.." Armaan said, frowning.

"We should still find out." Atul said, firmly.

"But how?"

They all looked at one another and the name immediately came to them. The one person who would be able to talk to any worker, any person, and get any sort of information she needed from them.

"Muskaan."

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