The sky was filled with birds chirping as they went to their nest, marking the presence of dusk. In the quiet part of the city, there lay a lake. The reflection of the birds fell in the water. A head looked up seeing the reflection. She walked to the edge of the platform, which was designed like a dock and kept there for those who wanted to fish. A pair of earplugs fastened in her ears and she nodded her head along with the music playing from her iPhone.
She couldn't touch the birds as they were flying. Thus she ran her hands across the water as they flew above. The girl enjoyed the feeling of touching the water. It felt so real. Just as if she were touching the birds as they flew. It enchanted her. Her lips formed a sweet smile on her face looking at the little happiness she felt. A beeping noise disrupted the dead silent environment. Before, it was only the sound of birds chirping and the water moving calmly as she moved her hand back and forth.
Cursing at the person who disrupted her peaceful evening, she took her hands out of the water and patted them on her shorts so they're a bit dry. Getting up, she removed the iPhone from her pocket and opened the message. It was from a private number. '733' was all it said. For someone other than her, the message would make no sense and would have ignored.
She knew better than to ignore it though. She packed her stuff in the bag as quickly as she could and hurried home. It was a small house from outside, but inside, not so small. Only smart ones would dare to enter. She had kept her profile low in the city. But when a girl, that too her age, lives by herself, people talk. There's no stopping that. Usually, the talks end up being that of ugly kinds. She least cared about all that. She knew what her life was about and she knew lies was a big part of it.
She rushed inside the house and threw her bag on the couch as she hurried up the steps. She tied her hair up and pressed the circular button that was safely hidden behind the shelf of books. The whole interior changed. The curtains closed, making the room completely dark with only the night lights on, everything moved back by itself as if it was all attached to a railing and the way trains run on them when the engine is turned on. It cleared the middle area of the floor. The trick was that everyone was connected to each other magnetically and by pressing the button, it was activated. The compartment on the wall moved aside as a result of it as well. From the empty space left in the wall, plasma, flat screen T.V. emerged.
She said, "Flying angel," and the screen turned on. It was the codes that activated the TV and let the person on other hand know that it was safe to show them, in case someone had discovered the button by mistake. On the other side of the screen, the video conference started with Rajveer on the other side.
He spoke, "Ms. Ghai, how are you?"
Her eyes bulged out. Usually, she'd be talking to some representative, but never Rajveer directly. "I'm good sir. I-uh, didn't do anything wrong' Did I?"
He dismissed the security guards behind him and eased up. "Don't worry Kriya. You haven't done anything. I have a mission for you."
This surprised her more. He was known for his strict and formal behavior. And here he was, talking informally with her. Rajveer laughed at her expression. "Oh come on. You couldn't have heard that things about me?"
He was the head of Navy in Cambridge, U.K. He had earned many medals and from a normal agent, he had climbed his way up to being the head of the department. His name was known throughout the world.
When Kriya nodded uncertain if she should or not, he continued, "Well, you'll know the real me soon. At the moment, we have an assignment for you."
"But sir, my training still isn't complete. How can I'?"
"I know. But you've proven yourself as exceptionally well. And you are just the right person for this work. For this, you'll have to go to India and also attend St. Louis College over there."
"You mean a public college?!" she burst out.
"It's a private, highly classed college. You will have to blend in in order to protect him."
"Him?!" All that information was scaring her.
Rajveer asked, "Is she always like this Karan?"
"Karan!" she repeated and Rajveer rolled his eyes again. Karan appeared in front of the T.V. and Kriya asked, "Karan, how did you get there? Never mind, I should know."
"Sir, I'll be going by myself? It'll be hard for me then. I mean I'm not used to being around people and college will have thousands for sure'"
Rajveer taunted, "Is this the Kriya whose praises I've been hearing all along? No one told me you were known for nervousness."
"No sir. It's not like that' but'"
"Not a problem. Karan will come with you."
Her eyes glittered and she smiled. "Really? Great!"
Rajveer came back to the serious expression and replied, "Karan will meet you at the airport and you'll be boarding tomorrow morning."
"Tomorrow morning?!" she repeated again with a shock.
Karan stifled a giggle as she said that and Rajveer replied, "You're got to stop doing that! You have to fit in with those people."
She replied formally, "I'll work on that sir."
He nodded and just before cutting the conference, "And we never had a friendly conversation." He ordered.
She nodded stiffly and professionally, suppressing the giggle. With this new mission, somewhere inside of her, she was getting a thrill feeling that it was about to bring a huge change in her life. The screen went blank, but not before Karan gave her a wink. Pressing the button again, the screen went behind and things went back to normal. No one would guess that this house was more than just a mere house. It had many secret places that sometimes even she herself would forget them.
She sighed and excitedly, lay down on the bed. She was going on her first official mission! She couldn't have asked for anything better as her birthday gift. It was a different thing that her birthday was a month away. Regardless of that, she was excited for the journey. Yea, it'll be tough one and not the fun kind every girl would dream of having. Then again, she wasn't just any girl. She had always been the special kind since as long as she could remember.
Immediately, she got up to pack her bags. She could be different from every girl, but she still was a girl. She had dreams as well. And just like anyone else, she would get excited to see new places. Looking at her clothes collection, she picked the best and packed them in. As one of the first things she had learned in theory training, one should know the whole background about the place. She didn't know much as Karan was going to tell her the details about person tomorrow, but one thing she did know was the college' name. She opened up her laptop and ran a search on the college. The first thing that popped up was the college popularity website. She was getting more and more excited with each new thing she discovered.
Just then, she saw the big achievement for the college was dance. Dance was one thing she always wanted to do. But Karan would never let her. And she knew the reason very well. She never questioned it either. She knew it only gave her pain and she had stopped. One thing she decided then itself, she would have to give her 100% in trying to not get distracted by dance. Even though she would never do it, there was always this temptation inside of her that she had to fight hard to resist.
When she felt like she knew enough, she had a light dinner and listening to music, fell asleep.
***
Next morning, she woke up and got ready fast. She rushed out of the house and drove to the airport. At the entrance, she met Karan. He greeted her with a warm hug and said, "Hey tiger. How are you?"
"I'm a tiger. How do you think I am?" she asked back with a laugh. Both checked in together and as they waited for the plane, Karan filled her in on the details.
"The boys name is Reyansh Singhania. Everyone calls him Rey and a very sweet boy actually. A bit of a flirt, but no harm. He's the son of the governor of the city and very carefree. Governor called two days ago, reporting that he suspected someone wanting to hurt him through his son. Till the time Rey is safe, everything is in safe hands. Our job is to find who wants to hurt Rey and also find out why etc. To do all this, we need to protect Rey and be close to him at all times. You'll join as the student and I'll be a professor there."
"Hmm, sounds very clear. All ready for it. Uh, is there a picture of him?"
"Oh yes." Karan replied as he reached for his bag and pulled out a photograph. She looked at it and any other girl would be awe-struck at the handsome face, but she just nodded seeing it.
"Oh come on! He's not that bad looking!" Karan said.
"You're right. But he's probably not my type right?"
He just shook his head. "You just don't like any guy in that way. You know, sometimes I wonder how you keep up with me."
"That's because no one can be like you." She commented hugging his arm as they walked to the counter to show their boarding pass and entered the plane. As they took their seats, Kriya noticed Kriya being distant and a bit worried. She thought it was because it's her first mission.
"Hey Comrade, chill alright? We're going for a trip, not some suicide mission. Besides, you've trained me. Nothing'll happen to me."
Karan smiles at her attempt to make him worry free. He put his arm around her and replied, "It's not that sweetie. There's a problem. Rey is best known for his looks and his dance. Dance is his passion and he's around it 24*7.
The smile wiped off Kriya's face as well as she heard it. Now that was a problem. She couldn't go near dance and Rey always danced. That was a major problem.
"Now?" Kriya asked.
"As we're taught, mission comes first before personal things. Rajveer has instructed that he'll appoint a dance teacher for you when you're home. You'll only learn enough to convince them to let you around them when they dance. Hopefully with the right cards played, you won't have to dance." He explained.
She took a deep breath in. "Let's hope'"
***
What seemed to be a long boring flight, landed in India at night time!
They grabbed their bags and coming out of the airport, Karan said, "Tiger, we'll go separate ways for the moment. I have to report to the office here. You go home." He stopped a cab for her and opened the door to let her sit in. He gave the address to the driver and watched as the cab drove away. Then he took off for his own way.
***
Next: Chapter 2 Page 85
Cricket
Bhabhi Ji Ghar Pe Hain?
