#02
"Let the past reveals itself"
He opened his eyes and find his daughter sitting beside him holding his hand.
"Papa" She wispered.
He smiled weakly in return.
"I am fine" He assured her seeing her worried.
Just then her team members entered the room. Sakshi smiled and introduced them to her father. He can tell how concerned they were for him and Sakshi. His worries about his princess vanished a little by talking to them. He was relieved, at least she was not alone. He looked at her. She was glancing at the door back and forth while talking to them as if she was waiting for someone but her team was already there. He thought and then asked.
"Is anyone left ?"
She looked at him surprised by his question.
"Yes, Arjun sir, he must be coming. Actually he was talking to the doctor."
Ayesha, her friend cum sister, came to her rescue.
Just then the door knocked and he entered.
"Arjun"
Although she wispered but it was heard by her father.
His gaze directed towards the source where his daughter was looking.
"Arjun"
His voice reflected surprise, astonishment, happiness and much more.
Others looked at them confused.
"Do you know each other ?"
Rathore asked.
"Yes, I have worked under him for a case 3 years back"
Arjun replied clearing the confusion on their faces but something clicked Sakshi's mind and she looked at him surprised, her eyes met with his. There was a sudden sense of familiarity in her eyes, as if she had decoded something.
Arjun turned his gaze whereas Mr. Anand heaved a sigh of relief, seeing him after a long time was surely a feeling of content for him. All his worries were completely vanished now.
______________
She was sitting in hospital's cafeteria with Ayesha on her persistent insist as she had not eaten anything since last night, however Shree & Chotu left with Arjun & Sameer to ETF.
"Kya soch rhi ho ?"
Ayesha asked her.
"You know Ayesha once I used to be jealous from someone so much"
She chuckled.
"From whom ?" Ayesha asked.
"From Arjun" She replied amused remembering her own behaviour.
"Why ?" Ayesha asked surprised.
"When he worked with papa as they were working undercover, so papa didn't reveal his name to me but whenever he talked to me he kept on praising one of his officers and I just got so much annoyed and today I got to know it was none other than Arjun"
She told her.
"The world is too small"
Ayesha smiled.
"So it is"
Sakshi smiled back widely.
________________
Next morning, they all along with commissioner sir gathered into the ETF conference room as they had to proceed the case.
Commissioner sir hand over the file to Rathore as he opened it one name caught his attention 'ACP Samar Rathore'.
He turned his gaze towards Arjun, he was also looking at him. Rathore's eyes showed anger, hurt, pain. Arjun averted his eyes and sighed.
Till now, Rathore had kept blaming him for everything, for Roshni's death, for Samar's death, for the breakage of their friendship, for breaking his trust and he had listened every single accusation without denying it but now he knew things were going to be more difficult, also for him but more for Rathore and that was what he had been avoiding since long, but how long he can hide the truth.
Here Commissioner sir started to explain the case to them.
3 Years Back
A drug trafficking case was assigned to ACP Arjun Rawte along with another officer ACP Samar Rathore and the case was being head by DIG Anand Verma.
The case was being proceeded undercover as there was a threat of leakage of information.
One name that came into light was 'Sikandar', they were sure that he was the one behind all these illegal activities.
They had enough proofs to establish his existence and him being the master mind.
Everything was going according to the plan but then everything falls apart.
"Samar, do it fast we had to report soon"
Arjun said.
"I'm doing it bro, Sara kaam mere masoom kandhon me daal do bas"
Samar said annoyed.
"Oh hello, I'm helping you naa"
Arjun said arranging the papers just then Samar's phone vibrated, before Arjun could glance at it as it was placed before him, Samar grabbed it and cut the call.
"Kya hua ?"
Arjun asked him confused by his act.
"Nothing"
He looked nervous.
"Is everything okay ? Kis ki call thi ?"
"Oh it's just some wrong no."
He said and buried his head into the file to avoid any further talk.
'Weird' Arjun muttered to himself and get back to work shrugging his shoulders.
A full proof plan was ready to capture Sikandar. It was a final discussion between them.
Mr. Anand & Arjun were sitting next to each other in a cabin while Samar had gone to get some coffee for them & ofcourse cutting chai for Arjun as they had been working since morning and now it was too late, they definitely needed a short break.
"Chocolate ?"
Mr. Anand offered him.
Arjun looked at him amused.
"Actually my daughter loves chocolates she is not in India currently but I just have a habit to buy such stuff for her even when she's not here"
He smiled.
Arjun smiled back and took the chocolate from him.
"She must be jealous from you when she'll come to know that I have shared chocolate with you"
He said in a low voice as if telling him a secret.
"Let her be" Arjun chuckled while opening the wrapper.
Mr. Anand looked at him and then laughed, He had developed an instant sense of liking towards this boy.
Arjun also joined him in laughter.
"You guys are laughing without me" Samar's voice echoed as he entered bringing 2 cups of coffee & one of cutting chai in a tray and placed it on the table.
"Well you can also join"
Mr. Anand said.
Before Samar could reply his phone vibrated which he didn't answer and cut the call.
Arjun noticed it but didn't say anything.
"So, everything is ready"
Mr. Anand asked becoming serious.
"Yes sir"
They both replied.
"Tomorrow we'll execute our plan, just make sure ye information hum teeno k beech hi rehni chahye, we can't trust anyone else"
He said some final words before they leave.
___________________
Arjun glanced at his wrist watch as he rang the bell of his apartment.
He was too late.
'She must be angry'
He thought.
Just then Roshni opened the door and gave him the space to enter, as he stepped in she shut the door hardly and walked towards the lounge.
He took a deep breath before going after her.
"Roshni" He called her.
"It's our anniversary & you are late, like... seriously Arjun"
She said complaining.
"Sorry"
He said holding his ears.
She looked at him.
"You must have forgotten"
She said while folding her arms and stood turning her face.
He came near her, encircled his arms around her and whispered 'happy anniversary' near her ear, showing her the tattoo on his forearm.
'He remembered'.
She was overwhelmed by his gesture. Moving his fingers on his arm, where her name was encrypted, she turned and hugged him.
He was surely the best thing happened to her and so was she.
They were happy, very happy in their small world unaware of the storm coming to hit them.
They just had dinner when Arjun's phone rang. He picked up the call. His facial expressions changed while listening to the other side.
"I need to go" He said after cutting the call.
"Is everything okay ?" Roshni asked concerned.
"Pta nhi" He said while walking towards the door but then he stopped midway. He turned and took her into a hug, she hugged him back. He just don't wanted to leave her right now, something was disturbing him and she can sense that.
"Sab thek hai na ?"
She asked once again.
"Promise me, you'll take care of yourself"
He parted.
Aik ajeeb sa dar tha, that can be sensed in his voice too.
"Don't worry about me Arjun, just go, shayad kahin aur tumhari zayada zaroorat hai"
She said assuring him and he left unwillingly.
He reached at the place where Mr. Anand had told him to come as he remembered their conversation over the phone call when he told him about the leakage of their plan that had made situation worsen for them, but to his surprise no one was there, he dialed his number, it was switched off. He called Samar, he didn't pick up his calls.
What was happening ?
Something was wrong, very wrong, a sudden feeling of fear started engulfing him.
Not to waste his time anymore, he headed towards Mr. Anand's house.
He stopped the car and came out while reaching at Mr. Anand's door step but the sight next to him blown him away. The only thing he can see was fire, the house was burning in fire. People were gathered around, police van & ambulance can be seen there. He kept on walking forward mindlessly. His senses were not working. He was unable to understand what was happening.
Two of the deadbodies were brought on the stretcher.
"Mrs. Anand and Mr. Anand's son, they died on the spot. Mr. Anand was breathing when he was rescued, he had been shifted to the hospital"
One of the officers told him. He nodded mindlessly.
Kabhi kabhi kuch log aapko Zindagi me aise bhi miltay hain Jin se aik alag sa rishta ban jata hai aapka aur unhen takleef me dekhna aap ke liye bhi takleef-de hota hai. He was feeling the same.
His phone buzzed. He picked it up without looking at the caller ID.
"Ar...jun"
He can hear his name but the voice seemed painful.
"Roshni"
His heart sank.
"Roshniii"
He almost screamed but the screen went blank, call was cut.
He stumbled upon his feet and ran towards his car.
He kept on calling her but all in vain. He frustratedly threw his phone on the dashboard.
Her painful voice kept on echoing in his ears.
She must be fine, everything will be fine.
He tried to assured himself, holding back his tears but they made their way on his cheeks. A heart wrenching pain was consuming him inside, an unknown fear was engulfing him.
He didn't know how he reached his building.
As soon as he stopped the car in front of the building he lived, he ran towards his apartment.
He held the handle of the door and it opened as if somebody had left the door opened for him.
For the first time in his life, he felt afraid to enter his own house.
He stepped forward.
"Roshni"
He called her. There was no response.
The level of his fear rose up.
"Roshniii" He shouted.
He kept on calling her name as he moved further, just then his eyes caught the sight of the lounge, nothing was on its place, everything was scattered and there was traces of blood as well. He stumbled.
Usay aisa lga tha jaise kisi ne us ke pairon ke neeche se zameen hi khainch li ho & then he started to find her like a menace from one room to another screaming her name but she was nowhere to find.
He stopped in the middle of the lounge holding his head, falling on his knees helplessly. He was afraid, afraid to witness something worse. He found no courage within himself even to stand on his feet. The dreadful silence of his surrounding was piercing his heart, just then he heard the same painful voice that he heard sometime ago on phone.
"Ar...jun"
He looked up. His vision was getting blurry as fresh tears formed in his eyes.
"Roshni"
He whispered, there she was, standing in front of him. He felt his breath coming back.
He rubbed his eyes vigorously and stood up and took some quick steps towards her only to be stopped by her.
"Go Away, please Jao yahan se"
He was confused. Why was she telling him to leave ? He can see pain on her face that was enough to broke his heart. He couldn't get what was happening.
"Tum aise kyun keh rahi ho ?"
Arjun asked continuing his steps towards her.
"Arjun please, he'll kill you"
She was crying, he reached her, held her in his arms.
"Kon ?"
He asked hugging her, but then he felt something wet on his right hand as he placed it on her back.
He slowly took his shaking hand into his sight and he couldn't believe his eyes, it was blood. He looked at her shocked, she was breathing heavily.
"Rosh....."
Before he could complete his words, somebody hit a metal rod on his head and a sharp pain made him stumbled and let him fell on the ground on his knees, red liquid made his way from his head to his neck, staining his white shirt red.
"Arjunnn"
She shouted and tried to reach him but was caught by someone.
He looked at the man who hit him through his blurry vision.
"Samar"
His mouth escaped his name like a whisper. He was shocked to the core. Everything started making sense, those phone calls that made Samar nervous, the failure of their every plan to catch Sikandar, the leakage of information.
Despite everything he had never ever doubted him, how could he ? Samar was like a brother to him.
He always considered Sam's family his. Samar was very dear to Sam so was to him.
And here he was standing unbothered by the things happening to him and Roshni, infact he was the one involved in it. Arjun looked at him once, Samar's unaffected attitude gave him pain, a heart wrenching pain.
Samar kneeled down in front of him and smirked, his eyes showed no sense of familiarity, no emotions, just one thing that was cruelty.
It was hard for Arjun to believe that he was the same person whose eyes once showed care towards him, whom he considered his younger brother, for whom he can claim that he knew him from head to toe.
No, the person right in front of him was someone else, Ye wo insan hi nahi tha jise wo itne waqt se janta tha, infact he was a lie, a betrayal.
With a spur of moment, he sensed a sharp object entering his stomach, causing him an agonizing ache. His gaze travelled from Samar's face to the sharp knife that he had inserted into his stomach and was twisting it, making him yelp in agony. He looked back at his face. He still couldn't believe his eyes, he was betrayed, by the person whom he trusted the most. He felt anger, pain, disgust, agony, betrayal and many more emotions at the same time.
The pain of that sharp knife was not hurting much as this betrayal was.
His eyelids were getting heavy, it was becoming difficult for him to kept his eyes open. He tried to avert his gaze towards Roshni, who was trying to free herself from the hold of an unknown person who had hid himself in a black long hoody, only a 'S' shaped tattoo was visible on his left side of neck.
"Sikandar"
Arjun said his name, his voice was filled with rage.
Sikandar smirked and put a knife on Roshni's throat.
"Stop"
Arjun shouted. It felt as if somebody had clench his heart into a claw and the pain was unbearable.
Agar aj koi shakhs us se puchta ke helplessness kise kehtay hain to wo kehta k jab aap ka koi apna aap ke samne dard me ho aur aap kuch na kar payen. His body was becoming weak with each passing second, the blood had turned his white shirt into red & this helplessness was engulfing him to the core.
"Roshniii" He shouted her name in pain.
But Sikandar didn't care, he was a ruthless person who had no mercy for anyone, within seconds he cut her throat and freed her from his hold, let her fell down on ground.
Arjun was shaken to the core. He wanted to shout, he wanted to scream but it seemed as if he had lost his voice and he won't be able to say a single word for his entire life.
His life had been snatched away from him. He was betrayed. His trust had been shattered into pieces. He lost, he just had lost his everything. His life, his love, his world, his trust. The pain was unbearable
He stretched his hand towards her so did she but they couldn't be able to hold each other. She breathed her last. Tears kept on rolling down on his cheeks but the devil didn't showed any mercy on him, he put the knife on his forearm where the name of his love was written and kept on dragging it, giving him a scar for lifetime.
He felt his eyes closing, drowsiness was taking command over him. The last thing he heard was a sound of gun shot and falling down of Samar's body & steps of Sikandar's feet walking away.
"Sikandar never leaves any proof behind"
Devil's menace laugh echoed in his ears before he found himself going into a deep slumber.
________________
A sharp pain in his head let him whimper. He tried to hold his head but his sudden movement cause an agonizing pain in his wound on stomach. He yelped in pain.
"Arjun"
He heard someone calling his name.
He tried to open his eyes, gaining back his consciousness.
Where was he ? He tried to get familiar with the environment.
He was in the hospital.
A sudden realization took over him as all the events of that dreadful night came flashing in his mind.
He can't bear it anymore. He started shouting which soon turned into a painful cry.
"Arjun"
Commissioner sir tried to get hold of him.
He again lost his consciousness and drifted back to sleep.
_______________
He didn't know how the days passed, how he recovered even how he survived because he didn't find any ray of life within himself anymore.
"Arjun"
Commissioner sir said, entering the room.
"How are you feeling know ?
He didn't answer the question.
Commissioner sir sighed. He had been seeing him like this for past few days and his encounter with Sameer had even worsen the situation as their argument over Sikandar's case turned into a heated conversation. Sameer refused to believe on Sikandar's existence and blamed Arjun for everything.
Arjun, on the other hand tried to explain him but his friend needed proofs to believe him. How could he explained to him that the one night, that one damn night had destroyed everything in his life. From the proofs he had collected to caught Sikandar to his life, his happiness, his world, his trust, everything.
And the person who can speak in his favour, who can tell the truth was laying on bed in a deep slumber. Mr. Anand survived but went into coma and he was kept under high security declaring him dead for the rest of the world, only Arjun and commissioner sir knew and his daughter was informed as she was the only member left in his family.
Sakshi, she was living away from her family for study, to complete her degree, that was the dream of her father.
She was so close to him. Her day didn't end until she shared her whole day events with him, starting from her morning chores to the ending on her bed.
It was a daily routine for her but one night, to her surprise, her father didn't call her to ask about her day, to hear her stories and ofcourse to praise his new officer that was enough for her annoyance but he didn't. It was for the first time in her whole life.
And then, there she get a call to be called back to India. She didn't know what was going to happen until she witnessed her world shattering in front of her eyes.
Her house, her home had been burnt. Her mother and brother didn't survive. Her father was in coma. This was too much painful information to grasp, her mind & heart were not allowing her to believe this. This can't happen.
Aik raat me saari duniya hi ulat gyi thi, Kal tak jo chehre hanstay muskuratay us ke samnay thay aj wo kahin bhi nahin thay, usay akelay rehnay ki aadat nahin thi lekin zindagi ne usay akela rehnay par majboor kar diya tha.
After that, She had seen her father in a deep slumber for three years.
Wo pehle ki trhan un se baat karti, unhen apne saaray din ki kahaaniyan sunati lekin in ki traf se koi jawab na ata and it hurts, it hurts everytime but she never gave up.
She kept on coming to him. She kept on telling him about her days like before with the hope of being responded by him one day.
________________
"This case is being closed for now due to lack of evidence"
Commissioner sir informed him.
Arjun just looked at him with furry in his eyes.
"You also don't believe me"
Arjun asked.
"There's is no proof left"
He tried to explain.
"I'll find the proofs"
He left in furry as he was discharged from the hospital, however commissioner sir sighed in despair.
Present
Commissioner sir looked at their faces after telling them everything.
Sameer, Arjun and Sakshi were sitting still.
The anger in Sameer's eyes had been replaced by guilt, guilt for accusing his friend, for not trusting him when he needed him the most.
Arjun's face was blank, void of any emotions like always.
Sakshi's eyes depicted the shattered pieces of past.
Shree, Chotu and Ayesha were looking at three of them a bit shocked, stunned, empathetically, imagining their pain.
Arjun took a look at Sakshi, how their lives had been entangled with each other. She was never unknown to him. He had been aware of her, even Commissioner sir kept on informing him about her, he also told him that she was searching for an officer. He knew it was him but he didn't showed up. He didn't want her to get involved in this case, it was dangerous but she decided to enter this mess.
The day she joined ETF, Arjun can tell how determined she was even when she came back to ETF within 24 hours when he made her to leave.
A glanced on Sameer's face and he can tell that he was feeling guilty, that's what Arjun didn't want to see. He didn't want to discuss the past that cannot be changed but can only brought tears and pain in their lives.
He wanted to proceed Sikandar's case but didn't want to dig the things that he had buried a long time ago.
Three of them had lost their loved ones and they adopted their own ways to mask their pain.
Arjun masked it by his anger, by making a shell around him and not allowing anyone to cross that boundary.
Sakshi masked it by her smile, by her motto to spread happiness.
And Sameer masked it by blaming Arjun.
They didn't knew what life was going to offer them further but for now they were well aware of one thing that life had gathered them on the same page.
............
So ???
Anupamaa
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Cricket
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