here is part 6 in the tale, hope you enjoy it.
She had taken a leap of faith agreeing to his request (she would like to take it as one!) but now she was having second thoughts about this.
"Why? Why? Did I do this? I am so stupid." She thought to herself as she sat on a chair listening to a visibly distressed Khushi as she narrated everything from the very beginning, parts even she had not known while Arjun R. sat still staring at her.
Arjun R. heard her side attentively and was amazed to find a fighter's spirit in a young girl (not to mention from a small town with little exposure to the politics of the world!). Today, as she recollected everything from the first encounter with Shyam with the goons, he could see her falling apart. She was bleeding at the seams, she was holding back just by an inch, her will power was commendable, but it was not going to last very long. She was young, nave and gullible, her past mistake of befriending Shyam filled her with guilt and hatred towards herself. She saw her fading like the waning moon and if this was not sorted the crescent of light in the darkness and her world would be plunged in darkness (a new moon). He felt oddly connected to her, drawn to her simplicity and her courage, her naivety and her innocence, the missing twinkle in her eye and the shadow of her laughter. He sat there for a long while staring at her face while her empty eyes stared at Lavanya, her fidgeting the only give away of her nervousness.
He cleared his throat, trying to gain her attention and unwilling to break to her the fact that she had been played from the very beginning. The whole knight in the shining hour was a plot to gain her trust and attention.
"Is it them?" he asked, withdrawing a photograph from a file that he carried.
"Yes, they are the ones who were teasing us in Lucknow but, how do you know about them?"
"They are on his payroll, his regular thugs to settle any problems with clients and extortion."
"Oh! So I was the fool all along. I guess I deserve this!" she thought, if she were not that care free stupid child, her family would not have been in such a mess.
"Also, you are not the first one!" he added, not wanting to continue, but it was his duty,
"Oh crap! You are serious, Arjun?" Lavanya, a silent spectator from the past hour spoke up.
He just nodded in reply.
"I have tracked her down. She is not in a good condition", was all that he divulged, not ready to subject Khushi to another burden, her shoulder were dropping.
"I tracked her down with his past records and whereabouts from the locals. The silver lining is that she is ready to testify against him and she has proof that he lived with her, unlike Khushi."
"There is also Kamalaji…" Khushi's voice broke off as she saw him nodding in affirmative. "She will help in testifying against his money laundering and twisting the law according to his whims. Also, I have some other leads that will help but I cannot say surely. I will need to run up on them."
Khushi nodded and rose from her seat, "I will go know", and her shoulders slumped unable to bear the weight of the world.
"It will be alright, you know." Arjun added to her retreating figure. She did not turn nor did she acknowledge that she had heard him.
She closed the door of the room she occupied at Lavanya's house and fell against it. Unable to hold herself any longer she dropped to the floor but no tears came from her eyes. She just felt hollow. She just stared at the empty, dark room seeing the silhouettes of daemons that had haunted her as a child. She wanted to scream to them to leave her like everyone in her life, to scream to the empty room at that man outside who tried to comfort her –
"Nothing will be alright. Nothing can be alright as nothing can be same. It is a different time, it is a different world than she had imagined and it was a different her than the one in Lucknow. "
Outside the door, Arjun moved himself to face Lavanya.
"All of this will help but if you want to prove her innocence to the Raizadas especially your almighty ASR, we need more than this. We need his confession. Looking at her, I want to help more than anything."
"I know what you are saying but firstly, I do not know how that is possible. He is a lawyer, he will see through us and our cover will be blown. Our only strength lies in secrecy. Secondly, he is not my ASR." She added annoyed with him. Who in the hell did he think of himself.
"I think I can help with the first one, the second is based upon your belief", he retorted. He quickly added before his thoughts went haywire with her reply, "we have to set him up and I think your fianc can witness the whole game. That way he has to believe us and secondly the rat cannot claim that he was fooled or played."
"Why can't we just capture it on video and show it to the whole family?" La interjected.
"Shyam is too cunning he will just call it a tampered tape and BOOM! You and I will be kicked out of Delhi. Also, it is upto ASR to break it to his family and decide what is to be done with the jerk." He justified and added, "With that my work is done and I am gone to your relief."
"True" she added curtly but her insides squirmed with a feeling that felt strangely like hurt. She wanted to get this done quick, but she was not ready to say good bye to him just yet. "How are you going to manage this feat I call nearly impossible?"
"Well, lets' just say it's a great plan one of the best I have come up with so far" he said proudly and winked at her as if waiting for a round of applause.
"Enlighten me", her voice mingled with curiosity and sarcasm in near equal volumes.
____________________________________PRECAP:
His hands cupped her face but she stared at him with empty eyes.
"Don't you ever leave me again" his voice commanding authority but still sounded as a plea but her always expressive face did not show even a flicker of emotion.
Hope you liked it.
Plz like and comment. if you dont like it, do let me know. will not pull it any further.
happy weekend! Adios!
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