Chapter 12: Jailhouse Rock
"You don't like waiting much." Arnav said looking at his chessboard. Khushi, who was also looking at the board, frowned.
"It's been three weeks since…and there is nothing substantial? Give me a break," Khushi hissed under her breath.
"You really need to exercise some patience Khushi. These things take time." Khushi's hands stilled. She raised her eyes towards him and saw him looking at her. He winked throwing her off the balance.
"You seem to know how things work around psychiatric facility. I take it this isn't the first time you have pulled off a stunt like this." She preened.
"I assure you I have never planted a bug this deep. It isn't my style to get my hands dirty. I am just..."
"…a mastermind." Khushi finished for him.
Arnav shrugged. "Mastermind has a criminal ring to it; I prefer planner."
Khushi snorted. "I don't understand one thing," she said keeping her voice as neutral as possible.
"Yes?" He was distracted. She could work with that.
"Why are you interested in helping me?" She asked observing him intently for visual tell.
She saw his shoulder stiffen for a moment and a nerve pulsed at his neck. His heart rate had accelerated and pupils dilated. So, there is a good reason for him, she thought wordlessly.
"Boredom Ms. Gupta; mind numbing, nerve aching boredom and your insane plan gave me much needed amusement I require." He said making his move on the board.
"That's all there is to it, eh?" She didn't press further. She could tell Arnav was surprised at her easy submission. He was waiting for her to pick on him, dissect his words, massacre his actions and try to come up with a theory of her own. But she had done no such thing.
"Yes Khushi, that's all there is to it." He said amused. She smiled and then immediately frowned.
"Why is that orderly looking at us and making notes?" She grumbled under her breath.
Arnav looked at her surprised. "What one are you talking about?" He asked.
"Three o clock," she said and concentrated on her move. As soon as Khushi made a move, he immediately looked at orderly who noted down something in his notebook. Arnav went still.
The orderly was recording their game.
Khushi looked up from board and saw that Arnav was blatantly ogling at the orderly. Before she could fathom what was going on, Arnav rushed towards the orderly and started beating him. She sat frozen in her chair and could hear her heart pound erratically in her ears.
It was the first time she saw Arnav lose control and given into the rage he was bottling.
She didn't know if his action was real or was it part of some game he was playing.
Payal came to her and hugged her, scared of confrontation. However her eyes were trained on Akash. The smile on Akash's face chilled her bone. He wasn't looking at Arnav with sympathy or anger. The look was that of pure academia; he was observing Arnav like one observed a rat in a cage.
Recreation time was stopped and everyone was ordered to go back to their rooms. While she crossed the area where the orderly was standing, she could see a piece of bloodied paper stuck on the corner. She picked it up and looked at it, surprised.
"What is it?" Payal asked. They, along with Akash, were the only three left in the recreation room and were waiting for their turn to be picked up by the orderly to get back to their rooms.
"It's the chess game we were playing minutes ago." She said biting her lip.
"Why would anyone want to keep track of that?" Payal asked surprised.
Khushi looked at Akash who was studiously ignoring the ladies. "With a dozen of these, a skilled psychiatrist can figure out how we think in face of adversary. Like chess if someone managed to record or take snapshots of our Go game, then…"
"What then, Khushi?" Payal asked excited to hear about something new.
"When we play a game like 'Go' or Wei Qi, the strategies used to play the game is abstraction of our own psyche. It requires a lot of control to go against our natural tendencies while making a strategic move. If one has to fake a personality in Go, then the person has to completely morph into a different person and then play the game. It requires skill, concentration, control over another identity – which is very hard and most of all overcoming natural instincts. When Arnav and I played the game, we had our guards down a little." Khushi explained. Akash refused to meet her eye but she knew that he had heard her completely.
"Okay, you lost me a mile away." Payal groused. Khushi smiled a little.
"To make it short – someone is taking a lot of trouble to find out more and Arnav and I. It is possible it's either him or me which has caught their interest." Khushi replied.
"That's a bit roundabout way to get details isn't it? I mean you are already under their treatment." Payal looked confused.
Khushi looked blankly at the floor while walking towards her room. Akash had fallen in step with them and an elderly orderly was escorting them to their rooms.
"That's because the orderly didn't get this assignment from either of the doctors. I bet it was someone else who is doing this." Khushi felt her throat go dry. She wet her lips with her tongue and chanced a look at Akash. Akash looked up at that very moment and looked at her expressionless.
"I bet it's someone from the inside," Khushi said holding Akash's gaze.
Akash didn't even blink or show any sort of recognition to her accusation. He just walked past her when his room was in sight.
She swore she could hear a chuckle when he passed by.
*****
Arnav looked up from the board. "What do you think you are doing?" He asked looking at her and then looking at the board.
Arnav was let go from solitary confinement after one and half days. Khushi was waiting for him in recreation room with Go board ready.
"I don't know what you are talking about," she replied and kept her eyes on the board.
"This isn't how you play. This isn't your game. This isn't you." He finished. She knew what he was talking about. If Arnav could figure her out in these months then Akash could have written a book.
"I told you how my sister and I used to play a game right?" She asked looking up. She placed her elbow on the table and dropped her chin on the palm. Arnav simply nodded but leaned a bit forward hinting his interest.
"There were times when we used to be a completely different person – we used to borrow not just the physical aspects of the person but also psychological aspects. Maybe that's why I ended up being in more trouble than necessary," she said whimsically.
"As in you consciously behaved as a totally different person. That's not easy." Arnav replied.
"In the beginning, it wasn't. But with passing time it became easier." She replied.
"But Khushi, when you start being someone else – even for a little bit of time, wouldn't you lose who you are? With passing time the loss of your own personality becomes more and more and after a certain point of time, your own psyche becomes alien to you." Arnav argued.
"Thanks for an utterly unnecessary lesson Arnav," Khushi replied sarcastically her voice borderline on annoyance. His words pricked her sides and she was aware of the downside of the stupid game. But that wasn't what she was on about.
"Look, I think there is someone here who got the orderly to record our games." She said hoping she kept the tremor out of her voice.
"That's impossible." Arnav replied flatly.
"Well, breaking into psychiatrists' office is impossible too but here we are." Khushi said blithely.
Arnav swallowed. He looked around to gauge the kind of people who were in facility. His eyes stopped at Arnav for second more than necessary and finally came back to land on Khushi.
"It's him." Arnav said. Khushi knew very who he was talking about. "I don't think he knows what we have done."
"I don't think so either." Khushi said. When she hesitated, Arnav looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"I think Akash is observing me, not you." She said finally.
"Why do you say that?" Arnav wasn't all that surprised and wanted to know what she was talking about.
"I think he believes Punisher killed his family. If that's the case then I will be his primary interest here."
Arnav didn't respond and looked thoughtful. His silence unnerved Khushi for reasons not known. She knew that Arnav knew more about everything than he let on but deftly managed to divert the questions away from him.
She hoped Arjun would have something on him when he visited her the next day.
Hindi TV Shows
Bigg Boss 19
44