Arhi FF:Mirage #2 Next thread link on Pg 151 - Page 61

"Bhai! You're finally back!" Aman exclaimed as he saw Arnav enter the house.

"Hey Aman! How was your trip to Rohtak? And how is your family?" Arnav asked trying to divert the topic in Aman's direction so that he didn't have to divulge specific details about him and his whereabouts for the past two days. He had wanted things with Khushi to remain undercover for some more time until it was right time to tell Aman about it.

"They are great." Aman replied casually. But for a minute, Arnav felt like he saw some fear flash in his friend's eyes for a second. But he wasn't quite sure about it because the next minute, it was replaced by a perfect calm.

"How is Guddi?" Arnav asked remembering the youngest of Aman's five siblings. He had been very fond of that fourteen year old girl, who adored Arnav and had instantly formed a bond with him from the first time he had seen her when she was just a toddler.

"She was asking about you. I think she likes you." Aman said jokingly trying to bring in some humour in their conversation. Only he knew what state his family was in.

"Aman, she is like my sister. Put that into her brains. I don't want to mislead her in any way." He said rolling his eyes.

She is like my sister.

The words rang in Aman's mind. Not only did Arnav consider him as his brother, he even considered his family as his own.

Pangs of guilt lashed his conscience. But he pushed it aside. He had to sacrifice one to save the others. And for once, he wished he never knew Arnav, coz if not, he wouldn't have been exploited for this knowledge against his own wishes.

"I'll go and freshen up." Arnav said and went away. As he walked towards his room, Aman noticed that Arnav's hands were empty. Didn't Arnav bring along the file with him? Maybe it was inside his shirt. Aman knew that it was Arnav's favourite place to hide such stuff without attracting unwanted attention from any eyes. He stealthily sneaked behind Arnav and saw him removing his shirt off and tossing it over his bed, as he grabbed a towel and rushed into the washroom.

There was no file.

Shit! Aman cursed to himself. There was no file in his hands when Arnav entered the house nor was it inside his shirt. So where did the damn file disappear?

He felt sweat slowly dribble down his temples as panic struck him. No, he had to find it at any cost. Otherwise, he would be in really deep trouble.

o0o

The icy cold water gushed down the strained muscles of his back, trying to release the tension scorching in it. He tilted his face upwards, allowing the water to trail down on it. Nothing but silence prevailed in his mind. A nerve wracking silence that threatened to drive him insane.

"Khushi..."he whispered softly, leaning on the wall with the support of his palms.

He had pondered a lot about her. About their future together. He knew that he couldn't part her away from his life. She had intruded too much to retreat back from him. And his mind had completely accepted her as an intimate part of his life.

But there would be no future for them together in his current situation. Delhi was not a safe place for him anymore. He couldn't guarantee his own life. Then how could he protect hers?

Arnav knew that once his enemies came to know about Khushi and him, they would use her as a bait to force him to back out from carrying out any important tasks. And Khalid Bhai wouldn't be too happy about it. He couldn't fail Khalid Bhai after all the things he had done for him. It would be selfish of him to only think about himself.

Maybe he could leave this country and go somewhere far away. Maybe he could volunteer to go away to Bangkok.

Abbas.

Yes, Abbas was the person who could help him out of this. If he could somehow convince Khalid Bhai that Abbas needed him, he would willingly agree for this proposition. Maybe Khushi and he could commence a new life there. Afterall, she didn't have any family here to stay behind for.

But his hopes were far away from what the reality stored for him. He had to talk to Khalid Bhai about this. And soon.

And it was going to be a very difficult task to convince that man.

o0o

"There is no file. I don't know where it is. He didn't bring it along with him." Aman whispered frantically into his phone, looking at his bedroom door once again to verify that Arnav wasn't in the vicinity.

"But you said that he had taken it from Kashyap's house right?" the voice on the other end blared at him.

"Yes, Arnav confirmed that. Maybe he has already handed it over to Khalid Bhai."

"No, he hasn't. Otherwise, I would have known about it. Try searching for it once again. If you still don't find it, we will have to execute our original plan and you clearly know what it is, isn't it?" the other person sneered at him in an evil tone.

"I know. Just give me some more time." Aman said and disconnected the call.

This was turning out into a big mess and his plan was failing. He had bargained with them that he would give them the file instead of Arnav's life. It was becoming hard for him to save his friend.

Could he just go and tell Arnav to hand over the file to him? What would he say to him? That he would be killed if he didn't hand over the file? That everyone in the criminal world was waiting for his death so they could topple down Khalid Bhai's reign over Delhi?

He dropped down on the floor, recollecting how this entire mess had begun.

It had been 11:00 pm. He had just returned back from the bar along with Arnav after finalising a deal with an Arms dealer. While Arnav had retreated to his bedroom, he had decided to lay back in the living room, to watch the cricket match, when suddenly, he had heard his phone ringing.

It was a private number. Wondering who could it be at this hour, he had received the call, that fateful call that had led him to this stage where he had to choose between his best friend and his family.

"Hello Aman, Hope you had a good time at the bar coz now, prepare yourself for your worst nightmare." The voice had said with an evil laughter.

He had instantly recognised the voice. How couldn't he? He was accustomed to hearing it everyday.

"You?" Aman asked in a confused voice, wondering whether the other person was bonkers to call him at this hour of the night and talk gibberish.

"Yes, it's me and I know you must be wondering why I called you. Here, talk to your baby sister. Her name is Guddi, isn't it? Lovely little girl she is. I wonder how her body would feel writhing under mine."

The next thing he had heard his sister screaming out on the phone for help.

"Aman Bhaiyya, Help me. Save me from these men here." He heard her sobbing out for help.

"Guddi!"

"Aman, did you hear your baby sister calling out to you for help? This was just a small trailer. Wait until you hear your whole family scream for help." He had continued to laugh maniacally.

"You b*stard! Leave them alone. Do you understand that? You have no idea with whom you are messing." Aman had screamed on the phone, rushing out of the house, his blood boiling with fury, not knowing what to do.

"Aww Aman! Poor you. But you can't do anything to me coz you have no idea where your family is. They could be anywhere in India. Are you going to hunt every city and town and village to find them?"

"Why are you doing this? What do you want?"

"Calm down. Sshh...If you want your family safe, especially your sister, then you will do exactly what I say. Get that? Even if you try to budge away a little from our orders, you better start saying your last goodbyes to your family."

"What orders?"

"You will help us in killing Arnav and in return your family will be saved."

"What!?"

"Yes, you heard it right. You consider him as your brother right? Now you will plot his murder. You will reveal all about his routine. What he does, where he goes, who he meets. And you will not let him know a word about this."

"But why?" Aman cried out in disbelief.

"Because he is the only thing that is stopping the downfall of Khalid Bhai. Without Arnav, Khalid Bhai is nothing. There would be no one to carry out his tasks so efficiently. And most of all, Khalid Bhai would never find another loyal person like Arnav ever again."

"No, I cannot do this." Aman protested.

"Fine, say goodbye to your brother here." And with that he had heard a gunshot boom over the phone, followed by a loud haunting shriek.

"NOOO!!!" Aman had screamed out, feeling his life being sucked away from his body. "Stop it. I will do whatever you say. I promise." He had pleaded helplessly.

"Oh Aman, you were a little late. The bullet has luckily only pierced his leg. But maybe you just saved another bullet from entering his head. Good, now here is what you have to do..."he had said and from that day onwards, Aman had been like a puppet, controlled against his own wishes.

A few days later, he had received the call again.

"Hello Aman, I heard about Khanna's deal. Tell me about it." And that was the first time Aman had betrayed his best friend, his brother. Somehow he had tried to accompany Arnav, but his plan of saving him had failed when Khalid Bhai had denied the permission for him.

He had sat up the entire night wondering how he could help his friend without his enemy knowing about it. And then finally, at dawn, he had got the perfect idea. Just at the nick of time, he had handed over the revolver to Arnav, making up stories about his intuition. He had just hoped that somehow, Arnav could manage to save himself. His friend had indeed survived by a close call.

Then he had once again been summoned to execute their plans in Shimla. This time, it had been really hard for him. Their men had been constantly watching every movement of his. One suspicious activity and his family would have been harmed.

He had been instructed by them to send Arnav out on some errand. But after thinking about it a lot, he had decided to send him to G.G Sharma's Antique shop and asked his friend to hand over a gun wrapped up in a parcel to him, hoping that Arnav would use it in his defence. Thankfully, even that plot of his assailants had failed. But he knew that they were not going to stop at that.

And then he had come up with an ingenious plan. He had convinced them that if he could somehow sabotage Arnav's mission, Khalid Bhai would lose his trust in him and maybe put him out of the gang. He had bargained the file for his friend's life. They had somehow agreed, but he wasn't sure about it. Instead, as long as he could gain some time, he felt he could come up with another plan.

Alas, his luck didn't seem to favour him. It looked like Arnav's time had arrived to depart from this world. But this was atleast better than having his whole family sacrificed instead.

Maybe Arnav would eventually forgive him and understand his situation.

o0o

Arnav stood outside Khushi's house door, utterly confused at hearing no response from anyone inside the house. He tried to push open the door, but it was locked. At that minute, only one thought crossed his mind. The safety of Khushi.

Before going to meet Khalid Bhai, he had decided to meet Khushi. With the mental state that she was in, he just hoped that she was alright. Frustrated with no response, he walked out of the gate, contemplating on the possibilities of where she could be. Just then, he saw a young boy, whom he had identified as Khushi's neighbour, passing the gate.

'Hey! Do you know where is Khushi?" he asked the boy.

"Khushi Didi isn't at home. After her Buaji's funeral, she went to her friend's house." the boy replied back and went away.

Damn! He should have guessed it. She would afterall be in Lavanya's house. Now how on earth was he supposed to meet her and get in touch with her? Maybe he could try her cellphone.

He fished out his cellphone from his pocket and dialled Khushi's number. After three rings, he heard the call being connected.

"Khushi!" he called out her name in excitement, dying to hear her voice after full twenty four hours. He had wanted to know how she was doing. He was infact dying to be beside her and console her. But circumstances were not in his odds.

"Hello? Who is this?" he heard a familiar voice, but not the one he was expecting. And then, sudden realisation struck him.

It was Lavanya undoubtedly.

"Oh F*ck!" He muttered under his breath while he immediately disconnected the call, hoping that she had not recognised him. Damn his luck!

Now this was going to be impossible to get in contact with Khushi. Frustrated, he kicked away the pebble near his feet, wondering how he could get hold of Khushi now.

o0o

Lavanya was sitting in her bedroom, going through her Ipad when she suddenly heard Khushi's cellphone ringing. She glanced to her side and saw that Khushi was still asleep. Not wanting to disturb her, she strode towards the phone and saw 'Arnav' flash on the screen.

"Now who was this Arnav?" she wondered to herself. She had never remembered Khushi mentioning about any guy named Arnav. Heck! She even doubted if Khushi ever had any guys as her friends. And she being her best friend would have probably mentioned about him.

Deciding that it might an important call, she picked it.

"Khushi!" she heard a familiar voice, but couldn't exactly remember where she had heard it or why was it even familiar to her.

"Hello, who is this?" she asked curiously. But to her shock, she heard the call being disconnected.

"Hello?" she asked once again, wondering why would someone call and disconnect it within few seconds without conveying any message.

She convinced herself that he would probably call up once again if he had something important to discuss. Retreating back into her Ipad, she glanced back once again at Khushi who was now sleeping peacefully.

CHAPTER 30