ArHi FF! Dante's Labyrinth: Thread 1 [Completed] - Page 75

Originally posted by: enlightenme

I have been following this whole story must say its whole lot of confusing. There is just much happening around its just difficult to say what's significant and what's not. this a brilliant piece of work.

Malvika wants to know who is punisher, Shyam doesn't want to know about him, but is interested in knowing whether Khushi is innocent or not, and in his opinion Khushi is pretending to be insane.

According to some sources Punisher is the one who killed Akash's family after which he tortured some man and became insane. Punisher is also the one who is suppose to have killed Khushi's sister (because I don't think Khushi did it anyways, its not her style, she is not physically violent. In fact its the other way round she can provoke people, that's all I realised about her. She can poison/ inject something into her sister, but kind of ripping her stomach with scissors is very crude thing to do) So, basically Punisher is the one behind Khushi's and Akash's case, its why they are here.

Khushi is interested to know about Akash that is very evident and Arnav helps her in this out of boredom (which is definitely not the reason) Even I'm interested to know about Akash, there are many facts (like Akash's family was the Punisher's 1st victim and he was never interrogated by ACP Shukla) that indicate either he or maybe Arnav is the punisher. Akash is more likely to be the Punisher than Arnav. Just in the similar way even Akash is interested to know about Khushi, that is really amusing. Arjun will find out about Arnav, till now nothing much have been said about him, maybe finding about him him can fill the spaces and make the picture complete.

In between there are lots of other things like Payal cutting her wrist Malavika says Arnav nullifying the effect of her sessions, where as Shyam thinks he is innocent. Down the rabbit hole about. 1997,2004, what is this all about.

Chapter 13: Karma

"Go ahead and dazzle me." Khushi leaned back in her chair and saw Arjun chuckle. She couldn't help but smile.

"Nothing gives me greater pleasure in life but to dazzle you with information I have procured thanks to the illegal bug you planted while being inside on this facility," Arjun deadpanned. She couldn't help but grin at him.

She hadn't told Arjun the entirety of her plan nor did she feel it was necessary to do so.

"Akash's transcripts are clean. Everything he talks about during his session is with respect to his anger management, endless guilt and pining for the past he has lost. He has a lot of grief but the anger remains his constant companion." Arjun looked up from the notepad where he had jotted down summary of the transcripts.

"There is nothing with Shyam either?" Khushi didn't bother to hide her disappointment.

"Sorry, there is nothing we could find." Arjun felt bad seeing her disappointment.

"Show me the transcripts. Akash must have had at least half a dozen sessions by now with Malvika and Shyam." Khushi felt oddly constricted. Arjun handed her the file. There weren't many people around and they had chosen a corner so that Khushi's back was to the camera.

They didn't speak for another thirty minutes and by then Khushi read everything back to back at least twice. She sighed in disappointment and pushed the file back to Arjun.

"I was so sure that Akash was being himself – this true self with Shyam and not the pseudo insane one. I had no idea that his gag would involve his best friend too."

"Are you sure about that Khushi?" Arjun raised an eyebrow. Khushi nodded.

"I wasn't until yesterday. But now I am very sure that Akash is hiding lot more than he is letting on. And he seems to have developed a fascination towards me."

Arjun looked surprised. "He likes you?" He was flabbergasted.

Khushi was scandalized. "No you idiot. I think Akash wants to catch the Punisher as he believes that the Punisher has killed his family. I can understand that sentiment." Khushi replied. "However I believed that he would take help of Shyam to do so as Shyam has a direct access to me."

"And so does Malvika," Arjun said and looked at her pointedly.

"Malvika won't be getting anything out of me against my wishes. What are the medications they are giving me here?" Khushi asked remembering the threat she had made on the resident psychiatrist.

"Nothing great – just a cocktail of tranquilizers, inhibitors. At least that's what they claim," Arjun said. He belatedly realized his mistake when Khushi's eyes widened.

"It's possible that they may be administering something entirely different, right?" Khushi asked. Arjun shrugged in noncommittal way.

Khushi studied the man in front of him. There was a streak of malevolence in him which never escaped her radar; it was always directed towards her and never at Tara. Arjun was their family friend and she had known him since her teens.

"I know that Arjun." Her voice was unexpectedly sharp.

Arjun sighed. "Good for you then."

"Did Arnav really kill people in rehab or was it just whispering their ears?" Khushi didn't know where she stood with Arnav. "The man is even bigger enigma than he was three weeks before. He attacked staff personnel this week."

Arjun looked at her curiously. "Stay away from that man Khushi. He is capable of doing anything. No one had good opinion of him in rehab facility." He warned her for old time sake.

Khushi didn't reply but continue to study him intently. An old memory stumbled out of deep labyrinths of her mind and it was making her both nervous and excited.

"I am allowed to read books. Can you get me some from my house?" Khushi asked writing the names of the books on notepad. She wasn't expecting a response so it surprised her when he did.

"I will not be coming next time. I will send someone in my place." Arjun said.

Khushi's hands stilled only for a moment and she continued to write without missing a beat.

"Sure. That's not going to be a problem." She said easily. Arjun looked taken aback. He thought she would at least ask him why or try to convince him otherwise. He wasn't really meaning that. He just wanted to see what the facility had done to her in her months of incarceration.

It seemed like Khushi was still the same old narcissistic manipulative woman he had met years ago; and she was only eighteen then.

"You never explained why you did it." Khushi said continuing to write in the notepad.

Arjun didn't know what she was talking about. "I don't know what you are talking about," he said plaintively.

"Why did you let Tara walk free even when she caused an accident and killed someone?" Khushi's voice was pleasant. Arjun was momentarily stunned at the implication of her words.

Being their family lawyer, Khushi's father had called Arjun's father in tears when Tara was involved in an accident. Arjun was new in to his family business and it was sort of an initiation into the world of deceit and lies by winning Tara's case.

Arjun cleared his throat and maintained a neutral tone. "I am a defense lawyer Khushi. It's my job to help the clients." He looked at crown of her head as she continued to work on her books list.

She looked up taking a breather from making list. "So any sense of morality isn't important when it comes to saving your client, right?"

"I beg to differ." Arjun started on an answer which probably every defense lawyer in town spoke at least once in their lifetime. "I am not the one to decide if someone is guilty or not. It's the court. If Tara won it's because the judge weighed in the arguments from both sides and gave his judgment."

Khushi smiled charmingly. Her full blown smile was unnerving as she oozed of feminine charm and warmth. But he knew how dangerous it was.

"Did your dad make you practice that in front of mirror hundred times a day? And smack you on your bottom if you get it wrong?" She smiled wolfishly. Arjun couldn't help but chuckle.

"I wonder what will happen if evidence exist which incriminate Tara and just happen to end up in prosecutor's office. Will they reopen the case?" Khushi asked.

Arjun raised an eyebrow. This was probably one of her mind games which he had no mood in entertaining but he was compelled to respond anyway. "Since Tara is dead, nothing of such sort will happen."

"And if the evidences go public?" Khushi asked writing on the notepad once more.

"It will not be too good for us. Me, specifically." Arjun bit his lip.

This was no game.

She was threatening him because he mentioned his displeasure in coming to the place.

"You don't have that kind of evidence, do you?" Arjun said slowly.

Khushi only smiled in response. "Here you go. This is the list." She stood up marking an end to visiting hours.

"I will see you next week." Arjun called out to her retreating form. She turned around and smiled that half-smile of hers which he had come to term as wicked witch's smile.

"Good bye, till then." She waved and walked away without any backward glances.

Arjun collapsed on the chair and watched her go. He didn't know if she was serious or if she was bluffing. He wasn't the one to take chances.

"f**king bitch." He cursed under his breath and collected the papers.

*****

"You seem busy." Malvika said leaning on the doorjamb. Shyam looked up from his laptop and smiled at her.

"I was just about to pack up for the day, actually." He stood up and shut down his laptop as Malvika strolled into his cabin.

"Ah, yes. Italian dinner." She smirked at his surprised face.

"How did you… You spoke to Anjali." He finished realization dawning upon him.

"We were texting each other back and forth for most part of the evening. She is in some boring society meeting and less than an hour ago she went home and started on dinner." Malvika updated on his wife.

Shyam raised an eyebrow at that. "It's pretty disturbing that you know so much about my evening plans." Malvika grinned.

"I enjoy chatting with Anjali." Malvika said genuinely happy to talk to a smart woman.

"You spoke to her recently?" Shyam asked packing laptop and some case files into his bag.

"We chat online a lot. Since we are both busy individuals, I prefer texting, emailing or chatting. Anjali is the same, isn't she?"

Shyam sighed. "I find it stupid to be honest. All you have to do is pick up the phone, talk for a minute or two and hang up. End of story."

"You are such a man!" Malvika exclaimed.

"I hope so," Shyam winked at her causing Malvika let out a bark of laughter.

"I'll see you tomorrow Shyam. Have a nice evening with my friend." Malvika said blithely.

"Sure. If you are nice to me tomorrow I may share my lunch with you." He grinned at her. Malvika simply rolled her eyes at that.

Shyam's smile left his face the moment he turned his back on her. He clearly remembered tucking a file - a private file in his table drawer which had gone missing three weeks ago. He couldn't afford to let that fall into anyone else's hands.

He had a reason to believe that Malvika had stolen that file when he wasn't around his office. He had every reason to suspect her as she made it no secret about her ambitions.

There was darkness in the file which when unleashed would corrupt and consume the person. Death would only be salvation and sweetest release from the monster it would unleash in the person. He berated himself for the umpteenth time since he realized that the file was missing. The risks were far too great to imagine.

He now had to plan on getting it back from her office without raising an alarm in the process.

Only he had no idea how.

**Edited**