ArShi GONE CASE | Season 2 Chapter 3 - THE IDENTITY (Pg 28) [OH HOLD] - Page 18

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SEASON 2

Chapter 3 : The Identity

"Give back my phone!" said Khushi trying to take her cell phone back from Arnav. But Arnav, like a kid, held her phone behind his back, out of her reach. Her phone began ringing again. Arnav saw Shyam's name flashing on the screen. He rejected the call yet again.

"Arnav, what are you doing?" said Khushi not understanding why Arnav was doing this. Arnav just threw an angry glance at Khushi and then turned to look out from the window.

"Shyam is calling me, Arnav. Maybe he needs something. Let me talk to him. Why are you rejecting the call?" Khushi wanted to know. Arnav kept looking away without saying anything, his heartbeats rising in anger.

"Answer me Arnav!" demanded Khushi.

"Because I don't want you to talk to him, damn it!"

Khushi was stunned by Arnav's reply. She kept looking at Arnav knowing not how to react. Arnav shut his eyes, trying to control his anger.

Shyam was trying to reach out to Khushi. He called her again. Arnav and Khushi stared at Khushi's ringing phone. Khushi almost pounced on Arnav to get back her phone. Arnav's hold on her phone was too strong for Khushi. She tried her best to pull it out from his hand. In all this, the phone slipped and fell on the mat below. Khushi winced at the sound of her phone falling apart. And when she opened her eyes, she found herself sitting over Arnav in the driving seat. She missed a beat. Arnav's face was radiating his anger and Khushi gulped sitting in his lap. She could only imagine Arnav thrashing her with his angry words. She shut her eyes tight, preparing herself for the tough time ahead. Arnav looked at her scared innocent face. He couldn't take his eyes off her. The expressions on his face softened. His anger was long gone. He could see Khushi's eyeballs move in her closed eyes. He could feel her heaving chest as she waited for him to start scolding as usual. Arnav saw those strands of hair hanging over her forehead. How he felt he could just move them aside with his fingers and place a kiss on her forehead! But he held back his hand. What was happening to him? He just couldn't understand. Khushi pressed her lower lip with the upper, her eyes still closed. Arnav's heart was racing faster by the moment. It wasn't easy for him to control his desires anymore. Without taking his eyes off Khushi's face, he slowly leaned forward, his gaze dropping to her lips. He partly closed his eye lids as his lips parted to take in Khushi's. He was about to reach her lips when he heard Khushi's voice.

"Are you not gonna scold me today?" asked Khushi innocently, without opening her eyes.

Arnav was stunned as he realised what he was about to do. "What were you doing, Arnav!" he thought as he gulped down his guilt and fear. He leaned back on his seat as he exhaled, feeling relieved to have stopped at the right time.

Opening her eyes slightly, Khushi tried to check why Arnav was so silent today. Seeing Arnav disturbed, she opened her eyes completely. "What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing..." replied Arnav looking away from her as he rushed his fingers through his hair restlessly.

Khushi quickly got off him and settled down in her seat, scared that he was angry and hence was silent. She looked at him. "I am s-sorry... I was... I didn't want to... Actually... I just wanted my phone... I didn't intend to..."

"It's okay" Arnav cut in, not letting her say anything more.

Khushi was surprised at Arnav's behaviour. But she remained silent not having the courage to say anything at the moment.

Arnav was struggling to get out of this awkward situation. His eyes fell on the paper and the shoe given to them by Pakya. "We must go to Shanti Nagar!" he said at once, trying to shift the topic of discussion, more importantly to shift his focus from Khushi to the case in hand.

Khushi nodded in agreement. Arnav ignited the engine and shifted the gear as they began moving towards their destination. On the way, they recalled the day Riya went missing from the hospital.

*Flashback*

Arnav and Khushi interrogated the staff present at the hospital.

"Someone of you might be knowing about the girl" said Khushi.

Some of them came forward to help.

A nurse said, "Yes Ma'am, little time after you both left the hospital, the girl's grandfather had come to take her home"

"Little time?" said Arnav narrowing his eyes, "Can you think and tell us more accurately?"

"After about half-an-hour" said another nurse.

"Had he come alone?" asked Khushi, "Or was there someone accompanying him?"

"He was alone as far as I know" said the first nurse looking at the other for confirmation.

"Oh..." said Arnav with a thought. "Can you please tell us in detail as to what had exactly happened?"

Trying to recall the incident, the nurse spoke " Sir, he went to the reception as soon as he entered and began asking Pooja about his grand-daughter"

"And then?" prompted Khushi.

The nurse continued narrating, "Then Pooja asked him who his grand-daughter was. He said that two people had just now brought his grand-daughter to the hospital"

Arnav and Khushi were shocked. How did he know that?

"Did he say this?" Arnav asked to confirm. The nurses nodded. "Had Pooja checked his identity?" Arnav asked further.

Both Nurses looked at each other and nodded saying "no". Arnav and Khushi already had a doubt about this.

The other nurse remembered something and said, "Sir, he had brought a photograph which showed the girl sitting in his lap"

Arnav and Khushi exchanged glances. The moved aside to discuss.

"Maybe the girl knows the person" said Arnav.

Khushi nodded. "There's a possibility that the man was the girl's grandfather in real"

Arnav didn't agree to this. "No Khushi" he said thoughtfully, "I think there's something fishy"

Turning towards the staff, Khushi asked, "Did the guy know Pooja?"

One of the nurses said, "It didn't seem as if he knew Pooja" The other nurse also nodded in agreement.

"The guy... I mean the girl's grandfather must have told his name, did he?" asked Khushi.

"Don't know, Ma'am. I am not aware of it. Maybe he did tell" replied the nurse.

"That wouldn't have helped anyways" said Arnav, "Even if he has told his name, that would only be fake"

They tried to call Pooja many times, but her phone was switched off as expected. Dr. Sakshi too had not arrived yet.

"Why is Dr. Sakshi not here yet?" asked Arnav. He told Ramesh to call her again and check where she has reached.

Ramesh dialled the number but the phone was switched off. Arnav and Khushi were shocked.

"What can this mean?" said Khushi looking at Arnav. "Is Dr. Sakshi too involved in all this?"

Arnav had no answer to this as of now. "Khushi, get the CCTV footage. We need to do something as fast as possible!"

Arnav and Khushi checked the footage but nothing was found. Later, Maya's attacker was also caught. It was clear that the girl was, in no possible way, related to the attack on Maya. Arnav and Khushi had not shared any details of this with any of the team mates, not even Shashi. Shashi was already busy with some important stuff. Both felt very guilty about the whole thing. They should not have left the girl alone in the hospital. They had never imagined anything like this would happen. It was because of them that the girl was in danger.

They checked the footage again and again, to find some clue... something that they were missing. Finally they found it!! There was a shot where a burnt mark on the hand of the grandfather was visible only for a couple of seconds. Arnav's eyes could not miss it this time!! And surprisingly, they found this man in the police criminal records. He was Munna.

Arnav and Khushi checked the file which had the serial number 00.2015T23.4 on it. Arnav opened the first page which had the details of the criminal named Teja. Teja was hanged two years ago for murdering his business partner Manoj, Manoj's wife Meena and their 10 year old son Rohit. Manoj and Teja together, along with Teja's brother Munna, carried out the business of Drug Trade. When Meena came to know of her husband's bad deeds, she threatened of divorcing him and reporting about all this to the Police, if he did not stop his work. Manoj was very much attached to his family and did not want to lose them. But Teja didn't want Manoj to quit. Because if he would have quit, he might have revealed Teja's Drug Trade and handed him over to the Police. As Manoj, on any terms, did not agree to continue the partnership, Teja killed Manoj and he also killed Meena and Rohit as they had witnessed the murder. When Teja had killed Manoj, Manoj's six-year-old daughter, Riya, too was present to witness the murder but she had run away.

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Riya was the same girl who had come across Arnav and Khushi's car that night and was missing now. Munna was a threat to Riya. Arnav and Khushi were trying to sort everything out, keeping everything from the team. And here they were, with a shoe and an address in hand, without any idea whether Riya was still alive.

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