Not knowing something you are longing to know can push you to get trapped in a predicament where the 'no exit'' sign would haunt you for the rest of your life.
The situation with Avni was no different.
It had been a little over 24 hours since her last confrontation with Neil Khanna, and within that span she had had over three episodes, all coming to her as haphazard flashes, having no connection between them, but she could feel there was a connection with her heart, nonetheless.
But then deciphering them was a task so herculean, that it again frustrated her to the core, given the fact that she wasn't someone who took defeat so easy.
In this entire one day, she hadn't been able to sleep, eat, or do anything worthwhile, all because of the flashes of memories that had no faces, yet so much to tell, making her own life the biggest mystery for her, without any legitimate clues.
And when she even remotely tried to come out of the clouding thoughts, she would get stuck at one thing time and again: 'Why the hell didn't he arrest me?''
A sane part of her knew that his reasoning for it with her medical condition made sense, but a recollection of the awkward and intent confrontation they had yesterday in this very room, and her conscience would tell her that there was more to this story than she could ever think of.
She let out a frustrated sigh as she looked at her suitcase that had been lying in the same spot since yesterday.
By now, she would have been far away from this country, but it looked like this guy was hell bent on confining her to this city, and what was his motive behind that, was something she was entirely oblivious to.
She had already developed a headache after rigorous thinking and knew that it was against her doctor's advice, since she was only asked to take good rest and not spend too much time thinking about stuff.
But how could she not?
Here, her life was such a puzzle that she was facing a damn hard time to unravel, and add to that, a certain Neil Khanna's antics was completely pushing her to the end of the precipice when it came to the unlocking of her locked memories.
But she was not someone who could give up so easily.
And so, with a determined face, she quickly wanted to act on her thought, and vowed to herself, 'This is it, Neil! You have to either arrest me or let me go! You cannot tie me to this place, this city, against my will!''
With that, she quickly opened her laptop and at a super sonic speed, browsed through the latest news and happenings in the city.
It took her less than 15 minutes to set a target and she knew what was going to be the next thing on her to-do list.
She knew Neil would have pushed Sheru and other guys in her gang to the extreme for them to have surrendered. But she didn't know why wasn't he arresting her yet.
And so, she hatched a plan instantaneously and called up Sheru, not knowing whether he would pick up the call or not, since she wasn't aware of his whereabouts.
But to her pleasant surprise, he did pick up the call.
Quite obviously, the guy was extremely happy to hear the voice of his 'Avni Didi'' after what seemed like ages. But that joy was replaced by utter surprise the next minute when after exchanging a few happy words, Avni straight away got to the point, and told him if he wanted to be a part of her plan.
For a second, Sheru was so taken aback that it took Avni repeating his name twice before he was back to reality and said in a rather stuttering tone, 'I.. I am sorry Di. But I cannot be a part of this plan. You don't know Neil sir. Last time he gave me a warning but this time he will actually put me behind bars for years and years!''
Avni rolled her eyes at that.
God knows what havoc this ACP Neil Khanna had wreaked that the otherwise courageous Sheru was behaving like a kitten all of a sudden.
'Okay, fine! Then I will do it alone!''
She said to him before hanging up.
The smirk on her face was way too prominent as she knew that if Sheru and her gang were under the constant vigilance of that ACP, then they would have a tab on the calls he attended as well, and this would have totally given a heads up to Neil on what she was planning to do.
And so, she quickly changed her clothes by wearing a jet black jeans, black top, and a black hoodie- but the only difference was, unlike all other times, she didn't cover her face this time.
'Let's see Neil Khanna! How you don't arrest me this time! Either that or you have to let me leave for NYC!''
She told her reflection in the mirror, before picking up her backpack and leaving her room.
Little did she know that neither had Sheru surrendered to Neil nor were his phones being tapped. He was rather in complete synchronization with Neil Jiju as he would refer to him, as he called him up and told him rather directly,
'You were right Neil Jiju. Avni Didi is going to be at Regal Square today. She is doing it all deliberately so that you arrest her. I refused to be involved in this but she is going to still do it alone. Today 4 p.m.''
'Thanks, Sheru! Thanks for the heads up!''
Neil hung up, and the signature smirk on his face was to die for.
'You think you are the only witty one here, wifey? Two can play this game! Besides, it will be the best chase of my life! Tumhare iraado pe paani ferne mein bahot mazaa aayega!''
And with that he put the key into ignition in his SUV and the engine roared to life.
.
.
At 4 p.m. sharp, Avni was at the Regal Square.
Reports said there was an auction of antiques taking place here, and well, like always, she wanted to give away the collected money to charity.
However, unlike all her last records, this time, her face wasn't even half covered.
She made sure to appear in front of all the CCTV cameras, so that her face was recognizable.
She was deliberately giving Neil all the reasons and evidences to arrest her and see her as a convict when she was through with her plan.
Avni was always impulsive, but today, something was telling her that she was taking it way too far.
She honestly had no clue why she was doing what she was doing, but the adrenaline was extremely pleasurable, and she could feel it in her bones. It was like, a part of her brain was telling her that doing this was actually going to fetch her some answers that she had been looking for over 8 days now, ever since she was back into reality from her comatose state.
She took a deep breath as she watched the heaps of cash kept safely in a circular round glass frame and there were only a few people around, taking a look at the antiques set up for the exhibition.
This wasn't her first robbery, yet she could actually feel the nervousness, the excitement, the adrenaline, pump in her veins. It was giving her a kick that she hadn't experienced in a long, long time, and she knew from her experience when exactly she had to strike, if she wanted this mission to be successful, just like her missions in the past.
And so, right when she sees the crowd around that area disperse into another part of the exhibition hall, she fixated her gaze only on the money that she calculated would approximately total to somewhere between 80 lacs to 1 crore.
Her Ananya Verma instincts could never go wrong, and with one final deep breath, she finally marched forward to finally turn her objective into a living reality, when suddenly a strong pair of hands clutched her waist tight, and pulled her back with a such a force that her back hit his chest, and she was rendered motionless for a whole minute.
Her breathing became hitched as he turned her brutally to face him, and a moment of shocked enveloped her, making her eyes go wide.
'You!''
She was spell-bound to see Neil right here.
Yes, she had expected him to be here. Hell, she had wanted him to be here.
But only after she had already completed her mission, not before she barely even started it.
But how the hell was this guy always being one step ahead of her?
She couldn't even find any legit answer to her own question, as in a fraction of second, Neil pulled her and dragged her out of the building, her words asking him to leave her falling on deaf ears.
It seemed like she was talking to a wall as he spoke nothing but only walked with a straight face, pulling her along, and when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, he finally stopped at a place that looked quite isolated.
He let go of her hand albeit with a lot of force, and she looked at him inquisitively, waiting for him to say something, but he surprised her yet again, as he remained only silent, but his eyes were speaking volumes for her to decode.
'What the hell do you think you are doing, Neil?!''
She shouted on top of her lungs.
She was waiting for him to fight back or revert with something, but when he didn't, it only vexed her further, and she was about to lash out on him once again, but before she could do it, he held her from the shoulders tightly, and said in a voice that was barely audible but too dangerous for her liking,
'You should be telling me, Avni! What the hell do you think you were doing?''
For some odd reason, the uncalled for proximity again paired with his dangerous voice made a chill run down her spine, rendering her tongue-tied, and she almost forgot for a moment, what was even the point behind all of this.
But then again after a moment, her courage was back and she donned a brave face, as she fought back,
'You already know what I was doing. Aren't you here for the same reason? There! I gave you the reason! Regardless of my health condition now, you can arrest me!''
.
.
Nobody knew Avni better than Neil and so he could easily make out the point of all of this, but of course, he could not let it show.
His wife was the most stubborn woman on this entire planet and he knew this was her way of pushing him to either let her go or arrest her.
And he also knew for a fact that both of those options were utterly moot.
So, the next best thing he knew was to do what she least expected him to do.
He left her right shoulder and lifted his right hand to slowly untie her hair, which she had tied with a small hair clutch, and the moment he did that, her voluminous tresses came loose and carefree, just like he wanted her to be at this moment.
His heart was running at a fast pace and for a change, he just felt like letting go of all inhibitions and telling her, why exactly he could never arrest her or let her go.
How could he?
He remembered the day when he had gifted her that white gown and proposed to her in front of his police force personnel, and she had readily agreed to be arrested by him, in the cage of his heart forever.
The person in front of him, right here, was the same woman. The same Avni he was madly in love with. Yet, a part of him clenched at the thought of her not remembering any of those precious moments that practically gave meaning to his whole life and made it liveable.
For Avni, it was a moment barely expected, filled with intensity indefinable.
She was short of breath as once again she was trapped in his embrace, and didn't know what to make out of it.
On one hand her heart was racing like a galloping horse and on another hand, she was caught in a frenzy not knowing why was she feeling the way she was feeling.
She didn't realize but her one hand was actually clutching his shirt, as he held her by one shoulder, his other hand now playing with a long lock of her hair.
And in that brief moment she got another episode, where she could see vague flashes of a woman in white gown in a condo that seemed so familiar, and the woman was clutching the shirt of a man in white shirt.
The recollection gave her a whiplash and she was almost about to lose her balance and fall, but that never happened as Neil understood what she might have been envisioning, and held her tightly.
It took her another minute to regain her composure and balance and when she did, she pushed away Neil's arms from her shoulders and took a step back, while the disappointment was too evident on Neil's face from her doing.
She took him by surprise once again when she put both her hands forward and asked him in a determined voice, 'You can arrest me now? Go on!''
To that Neil only rolled his eyes, making her frown, and flinch at his display of an arrogant face, as he averred, 'So, this was your plan, eh? Deliberately doing a crime so that I arrest you?''
Well, for Avni, it was as straight as it was, and so she didn't hesitate to answer with a 'Yes'' right away as soon as he asked her that question.
Neil gave her a sarcastic laugh as he said, 'Well then sorry to disappoint you! But I won't be arresting you! What you did was extremely childish and besides, you couldn't really commit the crime. And if I may add, I won't let you.''
This levelled up the exasperation in Avni as this time, she held his shoulder and made him turn to face her completely as she retorted, 'What the hell do you want, Neil?! You won't arrest me! You won't let me leave the city! Why the hell do you want to be a dictator in my life?! WHY THE HELL WON'T YOU ARREST ME?''
'BECAUSE YOU ARE MY'
And Neil stopped right there.
He was this close to revealing it all to her, not being able to hold it in him anymore, but he remembered the doctor's words distinctly. And he couldn't put Avni into danger again, when he had only gotten her back after so long, when he thought he would lose her forever.
And so, he chose to leave his sentence incomplete, the whole thing taking a toll on him, but it only angered Avni all the more as she questioned him yet again, 'I am your WHAT?''
Neil let out a deep sigh and looked her in the eye as he said, 'You are my case, and I don't treat any of my cases differently. What you did was on purpose and I have told you this before too, till you are cured of your medical condition, you can't leave! Once your memory is back, this case will go through the same trials that other cases go through and only once you are free of all charges, you are allowed to go wherever the hell you want!''
Hearing those words were the last nail on the coffin for Avni as she turned completely red with anger and disappointment, and this only brought back a feeling of levity for Neil and he couldn't help himself from saying, 'Go and drink some water, Avni! Your cheeks look like red tomatoes fuming with anger!''
He didn't even realize that those words flashed a glimpse of a sea beach out of nowhere in Avni's vision, where she could see random scenes and those familiar words echoed in the back of her head, like she had heard them before, lived them dearly, 'Jab bhi tum gussa hoti ho na, tumhare gaal lal tamatar ki tarah ho jate hai.'' (Whenever you get angry, your cheeks turn into red tomatoes!)
This time, the episode made her so vulnerable that she hated it, and in anger where she was so helpless, she threw her hoodie away, revealing her V-neck black top and skinny jeans, which she had paired with ankle-length tan boots, and for a moment, Neil was taken aback looking at this version of his wifey.
But he hardly got to ravish the moment and her beauty as she shot him one final glance before retreating from the spot, making Neil walk behind her, with a smirk on his face.
.
.
Avni was so done for the day!
Talk about living with half of your memories gone and here this guy was hell bent on giving her a hard time, with no legit reason, and if that wasn't all, she was constantly getting episodes from the past, without any head or tail, without any connectivity, all of which were triggered by some or the other word this guy said or did.
She was too lost in her frustrated thoughts that she didn't see the person coming from the other side and as baffling coincidences would have it, she crashed into a hard chest, making her almost trip, but that didn't happen, as the other person held her from her elbows, preventing her fall.
'I am so sorry, I-'
Avni had barely begun when the person in front of her said, 'Oh my god!''
She realized the voice was so familiar and instantly lifted her gaze to meet the twinkling eyes of the tall guy, who looked quite different than what he did four years ago.
Though she had hardly interacted with him back in the day, she knew him quite well and the expression of surprise was now quite prominent on her face as she slowly registered what just happened.
'Vishal?''
She remarked with a smile blended with surprise and joy, while the guy nodded in affirmative and said in return, 'Is today my lucky day or what? I bumped into AVNI! And look at you? You have transformed into the most beautiful girl in the world!''
Avni chuckled at that, enjoying the small light-hearted moment after the darkest week of her life, and in the next second, Vishal pulled her into a friendly hug, rejoicing the reunion with his college-time friend slash crush (which she didn't know of course), completely oblivious to the pair of fuming hazel eyes whose jaw was clenched in anger seeing his wifey in the embrace of this lunatic from the land of madmen.
**
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