FF: Betrayed by Love ~(Note pg 151)~ - Page 60

Part 13

On the other side of the city

A man entered the lobby of the shabbiest hotel in the slummiest part of the city. He didn't stop until he had reached his room; he threw the key on the dresser then went around the room to check the security measure he had in place to see if anything had been disturbed. When he was sure everything was in place he took out a throw away phone he had purchased earlier and dialed a number.

He sat down on the bed then propped his back against the pillow as he waited for someone to pick up the phone on the other side.

"Hello?" Avinash felt the tension drain out of his body as he heard the soft voice of his wife. "Hey sweetheart, how was your day?"

He closed his eyes as he imagined the pleasant smile on his wife's pretty face when she heard his voice. "Hello to you too, my day was good, how about you?"

He hesitated then just came out and said what she had been waiting to hear every night for the past week. "I saw her today."

On the other side Avinash's wife, Maya sighed in relief when she heard her husband's simple statement. She knew how hard it would have been to face Priya for him because of the burden of guilt he carried on his broad shoulders related to Priya.

"Did you just see her or did you talk to her too?" She asked, keeping her tone light.

Avinash chuckled at his wife's attempt to lighten him up. His smile faded as quickly as it had appeared. "I talked to her and even tried to apologize too but you know how Priya is, she said what happened was not my fault at all and then she said she wouldn't be here today if I hadn't rescued her."

Maya leaned back to rest her head against the pillow. "I told you she wouldn't blame you for what happened. I only met her once but I knew as soon as I met her that she is a very special person."

Avinash was waiting for his wife to tell him that and he also knew that Priya had never blamed him but that didn't lessen the burden of guilt he had carried around for the past three years and it still hadn't eased a bit. "Don't you want to know about your cousin?" He asked his wife.

Maya sighed again at the mention of her cousin, "How is my cousin Arjun?"

"Still busy hating the world but let's see what effect the current situation has on him and his doormat brain." Avinash said.

Maya sat up straighter, "What did you do? You didn't tell him you are married to me right?"

Avinash rolled his eyes; he and Maya had met in college and had been good friends for a long time. He had married her two years ago. After the incident with Priya he had distanced himself from her but she refused to give up on him and didn't rest until he told her everything. He had been shocked to learn that she knew Priya and that Arjun is her cousin.

"No I didn't tell him. Frankly I don't care to officially meet him anyway. If he had cared about his family he would have come to our wedding. I still haven't forgotten the way your family had waited for him until the last moment at our wedding for him to show up." Avinash knew that his wife hoped that Arjun would return to the family one day but from what he saw today he didn't think Arjun would ever care about anything else but avenging his wife.

Maya knew nothing she said to her husband about her cousin would help to change his mind about what he thought about Arjun, specially, after the things he came to know while undercover with Priya. "Okay fine don't get hyper, I am just wondering if he has mellowed any or if he has started to question things now that Priya has joined ETF with him and Sameer."

Avinash rubbed his forehead to calm himself down; he just didn't see what was so special about Arjun that his family constantly waits to hear from him. Avinash knew he was being unfair since he has never been in Arjun's shoes but still he couldn't help but want to smack the guy and make him see the truth.

"I made my presence known and left him curious enough to search for the truth, let's see if he is smart as everyone seem to think he is and see what he finds." Avinash replied. "Maya if he finds out everything that happened then all hell will break loose and we will have to be prepared for things to go either way, you know that right?" Avinash asked his wife.

Maya knew exactly what her husband was telling her. No one can ever know the whole truth about Priya because it will break her if they come to know what she gave up to save Arjun and his love. Maya felt her eyes moisten at the depth of love that Priya held in her heart for Arjun and prayed that someday all her sacrifices and pain that she endured brings her tremendous amount of love in return to make up for what she gave up.

"Yes I know Avinash. You know what to do if Arjun corners you, tell him everything but don't tell him what happened to Priya. I know that if things go the way that we are hoping then one day Priya herself will tell Arjun everything and I am sure by then he will be able to handle the whole truth." Maya said as she wiped a lone tear from her eyes.

Arjun paced the length of his office as he thought back on what Priya told him. He had gone over the file from earlier again but something was eluding him and that was a cause of his restlessness. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration because try as he might he couldn't figure out what he had missed in that file.

He went to his desk and sat down in his chair then glanced at the file but he didn't pick it up to read it again. He picked up his phone and dialed a number then waited for the person to pick up on the other side. It was picked up after three rings and as soon as the person identified himself Arjun spoke into the phone to talk to one person he knew won't let him down. "Hello Raghu sir, this is Arjun, I need a favor form you please sir."

Arjun explained what he needed to Raghu sir, his mentor, person who brought him back to Mumbai, to ETF and waited to see if he would get what he needed. He hung up the phone after few minutes after Raghu sir assured him that Arjun would get the information he needed on Avinash Mehara.

Arjun rested his elbows on the desk to decide the next step in search of the truth. He realized he has run out of options and if he really wanted to know what happened then he needed to start from the beginning. He picked up the keys to the SUV before he changed his mind then walked out of his office.

As he drove towards his destination he thought about turning back more than few times. He didn't know if he will get any answers from where he is going but his instincts had never let him down before and decided to follow what he was head was telling him instead of listening to what his heart was saying to him.

Half-hour later Arjun pulled up in front of a small beach house but he didn't immediately get out of the vehicle. He let the memories flow through his mind of the time spent in the small house. Happy memories mostly but there were few that he had pushed to the back of his mind, the few that were hazy up to now, the ones that have been overshadowed by grief. The ones that were threatening his sanity are now becoming clearer as he sat in his car and stared at the house in front of him.

Arjun stepped out of the car and walked up to the front door slowly. He breathed deeply before pulling out his key to open the door. As soon as he opened the door the musky scent of the closed up house assaulted his senses followed by more memories of the past.

He walked from room to room reliving those memories as he removed the sheets that covered the furniture or touched knick-knacks here and there. Kitchen was bare of utensils and dishes but his mind conjured up the picture of it the way it had been set up. He relived the memories of numerous mornings spent in the kitchen sipping tea and having breakfast in the morning or dinner at night with Roshni when he made it home on time.

He recalled his first anniversary and the way he had teased Roshni at first by pretending to not remember their anniversary then surprising her by showing her what he had done for her. When he saw the surprise then shock on her face when she saw her name tattooed on his arm he had known he did the right thing.

Arjun gripped the counter and closed his eyes to push back the other memories that came along with the happy ones. He had done his best to show her that he belonged to her only but he didn't know if he ever succeeded in convincing her. Had she still doubted his commitment to her after their anniversary? He hadn't thought so but now that he remembered some of the things she had said during his investigation on Sikandar he wasn't so convinced.