Arshi TS: ...Yours truely :: Part 18(LAST) :: pg 153 :: 29 June - Page 12

"That is the last day we saw her. After when she slept on Di's lap Garima aunty came and took her after blessing us. That night, we left Lucknow forever. We - me and Di shocked to know the truth of our Chachu. If Choti was not there, what would have happened to us, we can't even think. I tried a lot to find her, but I... I just  couldn't. I even went to Lucknow to know about her and her family whereabouts. We were shattered after hearing that Shashi uncle died on the next day of our departure. Then nobody knew about Garima aunty and Choti. When I went to meet our old maids, they said Shashi uncle was killed by... by... our... chachu the next day he helped us to escape. As they didn't say see either Choti or Garima aunty after that, they doubts them to be alive. But I was not ready to hear that. So, I asked you to arrange PI to find about Choti. After that you know everything what's happening with that PI" Arnav finished saying with a deep sigh and tears in his eyes.

"I really wished her here now. She would have saved Anjali like before" cried Ratna

Aman looked at Arnav with questioning glare

"Well, when we were in Lucknow, one family came to see Di for a relation. After seeing Di, they went aside to talk with each other ignoring Choti playing there - not knowing her completely. When they are talking about our money and all, Choti heard them and informed papa about their talks. They are planning to harass our Di after marriage for our money. I don't know how people can act so stupid? When they came to our house for relation with other intentions, who will talk all those things in bride's house itself? Doesn't they have minimum sense of there will be a chance to get caught? Any way... after Choti informed Dad; he called police and handed them over. After that, Choti got really angry on Dad and Ma for thinking of sending Di away from us. She was very upset with that idea. She made a big issue of that. She didn't eat for one day. To make her eat her food, Dad and Ma had accepted her words. She took the promise from Dad and Ma to keep Di and me always safe and not to let us go far from them. She even took the promise asking Di should be here in our house after Di's marriage. She was very stubborn" Arnav smiled little remembering his Choti

"And we are terribly failed in fulfilling that promise. We couldn't keep Anjali safe. We failed... after whatever Choti and her family did for us, we still failed to fulfill the only promise she asked us" Aran was so upset with Anjali's decision. He sat on the couch beside Aman with dejected face.

"BTW, what's this Chutki/Choti's name?" asked Aman looking at the girl in the photo

"Khushi... Khushi Gupta" said all in unison

"Khushi... nice name"

"Nice hearted too" said Aran taking the photo from Aman's hands.

After that everyone sat there silently for long time thinking about the past and the present happenings. When Nani sighed in defeat, everybody looked at each other.

"It's already late now, go and sleep now. We will talk tomorrow. Aman beta... you..."

"He will share my room today dad, guest room is not available" everyone looked at Arnav with questioning eyes. Arnav told them how he asked Anjali to stay away with that man. They felt relaxed after hearing Anjali is safe, at least for now. Both Arnav and Aman took their leave and left to Arnav's room

"Arnav... don't think much we will talk tomorrow. We have to be careful about this issue"

Nodding his head Arnav went to his cupboard and took two pairs of clothes. He went to change after giving one pair to Aman. Everybody slept immediately after they rested their head on the pillow. The day's events took a toll on them.

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After finishing the breakfast, Aman asked Arnav and Aran to stay at the house as there are no meetings in the office.  After making sure Aran, Ratna and Nani are fine, Aman left from there asking Arnav to call him if they needed something.

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When Aman came out from the car and walking towards the office, someone bumped into him. He turned harshly to see a petite yet beautiful innocent girl panting hardly. He felt something resemble

"Aman sab, ye packet Chote malik ko dedijiyega... Unki Zindagi khatrey mein hai... please tell him to be careful. Other than you I can't trust anyone. Please give this packet to him; it will help him to save Di malkin's life. Please... and go inside now... NOW..." she pushed Aman towards the office and ran from there before Aman could understand what's happened. He looked at the empty place from where that girl ran.

He looked at the packet in his hand and the empty place. He rushed towards the office to call Arnav. His look catches the photo of Arnav's family along with him. He took that photo in his hand How happy we were then, why did you do this Di? Why did you make things difficult for us?' thought Aman. Aman was Arnav's classmate in his college. Seeing his intelligence, his orphanage manager requested the management to sponsor him for his studies. Knowing about Aman from Arnav, Aran and Ratna adopted him as their son. Arnav and Anjali was the happiest person to see Aman in their family. While growing up together, all the three - Anjali, Aman and Arnav shared a strong bond. Aran brought an apartment near their office, to take shelter whenever they had to work late night. Aman generally stays there giving excuses of work. He is very much concerned about his adoptive family. Now, as this danger called Shyam' covered the family as a thick, fat, and black cloud - he decided to take care of this matter helping Arnav to lessen his tensions, after all whatever Arnav did you to him. He sighed seeing the picture in his hand. He kept the photo back in its place and turned back to call Arnav.

Suddenly something hit his mind, he turned back to the photo and looked at that with a thought in his mind. He dialed Arnav's number

"Arnav... I want you in the office in few minutes...come fast..."

"Aman...? Is everything okay there in office?" asked Arnav.

"Yes, come fast damn it. And bring the parcels and letters you got from the informer. There is no time Arnav... come fast" after asking him to bring some more stuff he hanged the phone and started pacing around the cabin.

After like a life time, Arnav arrived into the cabin, followed by the security guard carrying some bags in his hand. Immediately after seeing the stuff in guard's hands, Aman rushed towards him and pulled the bag from his hands

"What the!!! Aman... what's wrong?"

Aman searched the bag and found what he wanted. He immediately rushed to the security block followed by confused Arnav. He heard Aman passing orders to the person who is working on the yesterday night's CCTV footage.

"I want today morning's footage of the camera which is at our parking" asked Aman showing him and Arnav both. Nodding his head the security person opened some folders and particular file in the computer.

"Run the video till 8.30 in the morning" the person did. When Aman saw the girl talking with him in the video, he asked the person to pause it. He asked the person how to zoom it and see.

"Get out..." blurted Aman surprising the person and Arnav, who is standing in that room. "What are you looking at my face? Didn't you hear what I said? I said GET OUT" shouted Aman in frustration.

Arnav steps forward and pattered Aman's shoulder and turned to the employee and signaled him to leave the room.

"Aman..., what's wrong?"

Without answering anything, Aman sits in front the computer and zoom the picture. He looked at the girl on the screen and the photo in his hand.

"Who's that girl Aman?" asked Arnav, concentrating on Aman's face

"Arnav..."

"Ha... Aman... who is that girl?"

"Can you recognize her?" asked Aman looking straight into Arnav's eyes

"Who is that?" asked Arnav turning his concentration towards the screen. "She is... looking like I saw her somewhere... yeah... I think she was the girl who bumped into me yesterday. I didn't remember her face. She just bumped and before I catch her she left from there. I couldn't even look at her properly. But she is looking so familiar. She is just looking like someone I knew" said Arnav

"I can't believe this Arnav" said Aman looking disappointedly at Arnav

"What?" Arnav asked

Aman gave the photo which is in his hand to Arnav and gestured him to see once again. When Arnav looked at the screen and the photo, his eyes widened with the thought of possibilities of the person on the screen being the person in the photo - Choti, his Choti.

"Aman..., is she?"

Aman nodded his head and said "let's go to cabin Arnav."

"Is she Choti... Choti... my Choti..." Arnav is smiling widely, "But how? When? Why?" he whispered

"Not here..." said Aman with clenched jaw and called the security person inside and asked him to copy the footage in CD and deleted it from the system. The person followed his orders and handed over the CD after copying everything and deleted it from the system. Arnav dragged Aman towards their cabin and closed the door once they are inside. After entering inside the cabin, Aman grabbed the bag which Arnav brought and emptied it on the floor to see all the parcels and letter he got from his informer. He looked at everything to much Arnav's impatience. He looked at every Chote malik, bade malik, Di malkin'. He looked at the packet she give him today morning and found Chote malik. A wide grin appeared on his face, he looked at Arnav who is looking at Aman with hopeful eyes.

"Arnav we are searching for our Choti everywhere in this country, when she is here, around us"

"AMAN..., Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm. How did you fail to notice her acknowledgment? In every letter and parcel she mentioned you Chote Malik' and she even mentioned papa Ji as bade Malik and Di as Di malkin. How can you skip this Arnav?" Aman is really upset with Arnav.

Arnav looked the letters and parcel which are lying on the floor. He looked at Aman with horrified look

"I'm sorry Aman... I... I... I think I missed her too much to concentrate on someone's acknowledgement. I just took this as a warning. I didn't think about these letters, parcels or this particular informer much" Arnav sighed closing his eyes "but what did Choti talk with you this morning? What did she say? And what was that packet she was giving to you?" Arnav is eager to know

Giving the packet which Choti gave, Aman said "She asked me to give this packet to you. I don't know what that was in the packet. She said we can save Di's life. And... OH God... she said, your life is in danger. Arnav you have to be careful. Wait... let me call Ajay and ask him to increase your security" Aman's hands started to shiver. His phone slipped from the hands with the tension. Arnav caught the phone in time and handed over to Aman

"Don't worry Aman... nothing will happen. First tell me, what happened in the morning after she gave you this packet?"

Before answering Arnav's question, Aman called Ajay - security in charge and Pratap - PI agency head. Taking a deep breath to calm his tensed nerves, Aman turned to Arnav and said

"She pushed me towards the office and told me, no... no... in fact ordered me to go inside. Oh god... she is so commanding yaar..."

Arnav smiled at Aman's statement. Suddenly he became serious, remembering something "Aman did you see any men behind her?"

"NO, why?"

"Yesterday when that girl bumped me, she kept the letter in my pocket and ran, just before few men cross our gate. OH God... I think some people are behind her. I need to save her. I need to catch her Aman... she is in danger..." Arnav started to pace in the room.

"Don't worry, I asked Ajay and Pratap to come here. They will be here any moment. You just relax..." Aman gave water to Arnav to calm down.

After waiting for around 40 minutes, they found Ajay entering in the office followed by Pratap. The four sat in conference room and Aman explained everything to them.

"Can I have a look at the girl?" asked Pratap

"Sure..." Aman showed the video. Pratap took the image into his phone and sent to his men around the city. "I sent the image to my men. If they find this girl, they will call me, and then I will inform you. Don't worry; as now we know her face, it's easy to catch her. I will keep in touch with you. Now, I will take your leave" Pratap shook his hand and left from there. Aman turned to Ajay and asked him to increase security around Arnav and the family. After discussing about the security plan, Ajay also left from there.

Both Arnav and Aman sat there, praying for the call which will lead them to Choti. In this tension and discussions, they completely forgot about the packet Choti gave them.

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"This is the place, I saw some people dragging that particular girl"

"How many are there in that house?"

"12 are there excluding that girl, another lady and two men"

"Any one from your side is inside the house?"

"Yes, sir... I got all these information from her only. She is inside as a maid"

"Good... Can she come here now?"

"I will try" Pratap's man went aside to call the lady outside.

After waiting for few more minutes, they saw one lady coming out with a bag in her hand. She looked around and left the place towards the shop. After she went, Pratap and his man followed her. Before meeting her, Pratap called Arnav to come to the particular shop, where Arnav reached in time, luckily he was passing near by.

"What did you find inside?" asked Pratap pretending to searching for some product in shop beside the woman

"They brought that girl by dragging. They closed her in a room. They didn't even let her meet her parents"

"Is this the girl you are talking about?" Pratap showed her Choti's picture in his mobile.

"Yes, her name is Khushi" confirmed the woman

"Are you sure?" asked Arnav in a low voice with thudding heart

"Of course I'm, she is the girl inside"

"Okay..."

Both Arnav and Pratap along with Pratap's man came out from the shop and hopped their car and left the place. After reaching safe point, Arnav stopped his car and turned towards Pratap, who sat on passenger seat.

"Raizada, I want you to call the police commissioner now. We need their help in this matter. Now, we have some evidence against him, it will help us to file a case. If we can get that girl"

"Khushi" Arnav gritted his teeth

"Sorry..., if we can get Ms. Khushi and if she can help us, then it will be good for us. For that we have to get hold of her. So, its better we take police help"

"Okay..., but I don't think talking in phone is an good idea. We better meet him directly" Arnav called police commissioner and took an appointment in next half an hour. They met commissioner and explained everything to him.

"Give me complaint Arnav. I will ask inspector to get the warrant immediately. Then we can go inside and get hold of them. Don't worry... I will help you in this."

Thanking to commissioner, Arnav gave the complaint. After few hours they got the warrant and all left to the spot. Being a family friend, commissioner, he himself put his feet down to tackle this case ( I don't know whether commissioner will do this or not...😕 but in my stories... for my Arnav...❤️ everything will be possible, in fact My Arnav 😊  will make it possible 😳 )

Arnav called Aman and informed everything and asked him to come to the place. All the police, Arnav and Pratap and his team waited for the signal of the lady. Police surrounded the building. When they got the signal from the lady, Arnav entered the house along with the commissioner and Pratap. But what they saw shocked them to the core. Arnav stood rooted to the spot after seeing the scene in front of his eyes.

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So, how is it? I hope you like this... Please let me know, if you have any doubts or complaints... 😊

Will wait for your comments and opinion... 😳

Thank you for your wonderful support which made me dare to write more. I'm sooo overwhelmed with the awesome responses you all are giving to my stories... Love you deariesss ❤️

 ||_Sri_||

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Next : Chapter 5

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