 
## TRUTH UNDERNEATH

## PRATIK DESHPANDE
## Copyrights 2015 Pratik Deshpande

Truth Underneath is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review. © 2015 Pratik Deshpande, all rights reserved.

About the cover: Original design by Pratik Deshpande ©2015, all rights reserved.

## Acknowledgements:

This novel would never have reached in your gadgets if it wasn't for the few people who contributed their experience and invaluable time. Thank you Anand, for listening to my numerous ideas, and criticizing me wholeheartedly as well as backing me every time. Thank you Abhijeet, for pulling me out of the crunch situations.

Naheed miss, if it wasn't for your guidance and encouragement, this novel would never have been a novel. Alan sir, you imparted the positivity, every time we communicated. Thank you Balaji Aresh for guiding me and help me make a better writer. Thank you Tejaswi for reading my work, and pouring in, the much needed confidence of being on the right path. Thanks TK, Shoa, Carol, Aditya, Psmith, Harsha, Dely for helping me with the cover. Carol had some real head ache though. Last but not the least, Jyoti, I would never have reached here without your help.

P.S. Thanks Google and Microsoft word.

# To Aai, Baba and Chiki poo
Table of Contents

Chapter one

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty One

Chapter Thirty Two

Chapter Thirty Three

Chapter Thirty Four

About the Author
PROLOGUE

Piyush woke up in a room, alone, lying on the floor, his head very heavy and in pain. He lay on the floor trying to remember what had happened. The only thing he could remember was something hitting him on the back of his head after he got into the van. There was a fresh scar on his back and it burned badly when he tried to reach it. He remembered it was the knife that was stabbed in his back, not deep enough to kill, but to constantly hurt him. He tried getting up but didn't have enough strength. After half an hour the door opened, a man came in.

"Well, you are the least known person I ever came across, yet you are the one, who counter attacked me instead of just giving it up. Standing applause for that." He clapped and continued "But you are not smart enough to knock me down. You kept running like a small little rat, and I accept that I enjoyed the show. But I have got a lot of business to do, so I have to end it soon. But take my word for it, in next life time, if there is something like 'next life,' do give it a try for an entertainer's job, because you do entertain a lot." Majeed said as he went behind Piyush and kicked him on the same spot where he had slightly stabbed the knife. Piyush groaned in pain.

"It hurts right?" Majeed asked him holding his neck. "Then how dare you crush my fingers so badly?" He showed him his bandaged hand. He helped Piyush stood up and punched him hard in his abdomen. Piyush fell down, could hardly breathe for a couple of seconds and then the pain exploded in the mid-section of his body. Piyush felt like his liver was burning too. He lay down holding his stomach, crying in pain.

"A gun is a very noisy affair; I would have simply strangled your neck and gave you a simple peaceful death. But you chose the violent painful way by injuring my hand. Now gun is not an option and strangulation is something you ruled out, so stabbing is the only choice left." Majeed said playing with his knife. "And I am going to tie up your hands and mouth, stab you many times and will leave you bleed to death in pain, how does this sounds?"

# Part one: The good times
## Chapter one

India needed 337 runs to win the world cup semifinal against South Africa. Hashim Amla and AB Devillers had scored centuries to help South Africa post a mammoth total and with the likes of Dale Styen, Philander and Morkel around; it was a daunting task for the Indians to return to the team hotel with a smile on their face. Piyush walked in with Sachin Tendulkar to open the Indian innings, with the maestro's last appearance in the biggest event of the game and a long lasting dream of lifting the trophy at least once in his career, the crowd roared as if he had just scored his 100th century. Piyush too could feel the pressure of chasing 337, but the aura that Sachin created, made things a lot easier. As they were about to reach the non-striker's end, Sachin patted on Piyush's back and said, "I'll take the strike, stay calm, we'll take it over by over," and he went towards the other end to take the strike.

Dale Styen was with the ball and as soon as the umpire signaled play, he was ready to go hard at Sachin, who at the striker's end took a usual glance at the field position, took his guard and was taking his stance. Sachin was ready and Styen marched towards him, Piyush took his start, the crowd roared as Styen reached the stumps to complete his action. The master on the other end was at his usual best, concentrating on the ball rather than the bowler and the crowd. Styen released the first delivery at 146km/hr., which was pitched out side off just short of good length, Piyush tried concentrating on the batsman's technique in such crunch situations, but before he could figure out what was happening, the legend was done with his beautiful back foot drive and the ball was racing towards the fence through the covers. The celebrations that followed after the shot were similar to the ones that would follow after winning the finals. Piyush patted Sachin on his back and was back at the non-striker's end and so was Dale Styen, ready to fire another one.

The crowd, which went crazy after the first ball boundary, started roaring again as Steyn started his run up. The second delivery was a good length one between middle and off stumps. Piyush thought rapidly that a leg glance might be on show but instead, what followed was a trademark straight drive from the master himself. Piyush had to move a bit to make way for the ball to reach the fence. He figured Sachin was in attacking mode and it was really going to be difficult for the Africans to stop the run flow from the master's bat. Piyush's job was simple, to take singles and give strike back to Sachin. The huge 337 looked like a mere 150 now, and Piyush was enjoying the top class batting from the other end. The third ball was pitched way out side off and Sachin let the ball go the keeper. The spectators were making so much noise, that Piyush couldn't even hear what Styen said to another fielder while getting ready for the fourth delivery.

Styen raced to release the fourth ball, which was pitch on the off stump on good length again, Piyush expected a gentle push towards mid-off, but the ball turned in slightly and hit Sachin on his pads. All the South Africans jumped in air shouting loudly while Piyush was busy watching the ball travel to the mid-on and waiting for Sachin's signal for a quick single. Suddenly all the African fielders started running towards Styen and Piyush turned back to see the umpire raising his finger for the LBW appeal. Sachin was walking back towards the pavilion, the crowd was silent, India was 8/1 and Piyush was thinking of a steady partnership for the next wicket to keep the pressure from piling on. Lionel Messi walked in to bat at number three.

Piyush went up to him and said, "Keep a close watch on the ball Leo, Styen is firing some real hot deliveries and is moving the ball in both the directions. Take him easy, as for the rest, if you see any loose ball coming, just bang it hard." The small discussion was over and the play was on again. Piyush and Messi handled the lethal blows of the fiery South African attack and India was going steady at 47/1 in 9 overs. Piyush was not out on 17, whereas Messi was unbeaten on 19.

"Wake up."

"Pittu please, just five more minutes, we are playing steadily keeping the required run rate in check." Piyush said, realizing how weird the dream was.

"No, you can decrease the required run rate later, we are already getting late Piyush."

"We?" he asked surprisingly.

"I mean, you are already getting late," replied Priti.

"Noooo, just two more minutes Pittu, please." He said, now awake, but too lethargic to open his eyes.

"Piyush it's already 8:30 a.m. and you have to reach office by 9:30 a.m."

"Dead!!!" Piyush panicked, he immediately got off his bed and yelled at Priti, who was hiding her face under the pillow, "Why didn't you wake me up at 7:30 sharp? Sharmaji will definitely kill me today and that's just because of you. How can you be so irresponsible?" He rushed towards the bathroom while Priti followed him bursting in laughter. Piyush stopped, turned back to give her an angry look, and went inside banging the door loudly.

Priti calmed herself and knocked the door, "It's just 4:30 p.m. darling, and its Sunday." She continued laughing. "You are the easiest person to be fooled around." Piyush opened the door, came out with a toothbrush in his mouth and saw the watch. It was 4:30 p.m. He stood there and stared at Priti like an idiot, with the lather all around his lips.

"You promised me a movie and dinner tonight, Piya darling." That's what she used to call him to annoy him more, when he was already frustrated.

"Don't call me by that name ever again," was his usual reply to that. But that didn't make any difference and she deliberately continued, "Piya darling, Piya darling, Piiiiyyyyyya darrrling." He was still staring her irritably in his _Baniyan_ and _Bermuda_ , thus making his angry glare funnier.

"Okay, fine. I won't intrude your privacy anymore." She managed to say, curbing her laugh and continued "You freshen up; I'll make some coffee for both of us." Piyush closed the bathroom door as she left the room. _That was one hell of dream, playing alongside Sachin with Messi in the Indian cricket team.. Something hilarious._ He laughed at himself and locked the door.

Piyush Mehta was a lean, 23 year old, 5 feet 9 inch tall, fair boy, born and brought up in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. He completed his civil engineering from Prestigious Institute of Engineering and Technology, one of the premier engineering institutions in the country. It was everybody's dream to complete their graduation from that institution, but only a few intelligent and talented students could make it. Piyush was neither, but somehow his brain worked accurately, and all his bulbs flickered at the right time during his AIEEE paper, which helped him fetch 434 marks and helped him get admission in his dream college.

Piyush was always interested in astronomy and dreamt of becoming an astronaut like any other kid until one day, when he heard his neighbor discussing with his father about building their own house. Piyush misunderstood the statement, took it in a wrong way and searched how to build 'own house'. In this process he came in contact with the term civil engineer, of which he had only heard of the word 'engineer', as engineers 'were' given a lot of respect, and many people in NASA were engineers, which he had seen on Discovery channel. The little 6th standard Piyush thought civil engineering was his way to NASA and he could even build his 'own house'. As far as the term civil was concerned, the only thing he knew was civil war, which he had learnt in history subject. So Piyush mixed up both the things, Engineer- NASA, own house; civil- war, guns, bombs, an exciting and dream career. But, by the time it struck him that civil engineering was more than building houses and had nothing to do with astronomy, it was too late.

Throughout his graduation, he was a shy guy. He had friends, but never made any close ones with who he could continue to be in contact afterwards. After the realization of 'real' civil engineering, the only thing he wanted to do was to pass out at the earliest with good marks and run away from the studies. He was always a studious guy, a typical studious guy. The only time he changed his simple hairstyle into a cool one was when he liked a junior girl. He would try to act smart and like a 'hardcore' senior. But all the cool hair style and acting smart would be of no use as none of them paid any attention. There was just one girl who ever came close to Piyush in his third year of graduation, a junior whom Piyush had helped out with some 'difficulties', but she distanced herself away from her weird senior when he told her about what he first thought of civil engineering and the reason he had to go for it.

Early career planning, good score in AIEEE and admission in one of the top educational institute gave his parents the confidence of letting Piyush chase his dreams, and securing a job in Expanding India Infrastructural Developments ltd. in the campus placements was a cherry on the cake.

'EI', as they were popularly called, was the biggest infrastructural company in the country. Almost 60-70% of the big real estate projects were under EI's control. They had the trust of people, were on the top when it came to social welfare and charity events, had best quality in their work, and their projects had outstanding luxurious facilities as compared to others. Whenever it came to something big in terms of infrastructural projects, it wouldn't be complete without the association of EI to it. It was a dream and secured job form all prospects and Piyush had grabbed it.

Although it was not the case for a fresher, but after a month, Piyush was given accommodation facility at Expanding India's new branch at Bilaspur. It was an 850 sq. ft. 2 bedroom home, sufficient for his family, consisting of parents and younger sister Priti. It was a ground plus one floor building, and he was given the ground one. He was very happy with the quiet vicinity and privacy that came with it. The top floor was occupied by Mr. Dharamchandra. The Mehtas had been staying there since the last nine months.

## Chapter two

Piyush had taken a risk only once in his life and acted like a hero in his campus interview. The interviewer asked him the very much expected question of why he thought he was good enough to be a part of Expanding India, to which he replied the answer that he had been rehearsing for about 20 times a day. It was the only thing he was prepared for, as he looked straight into the eyes of the person and replied very confidently "Sir, I got admission in this institute where only a few can make it. I can use my potential to every extent when it actually matters and I am very much confident about it," which was a big lie, he continued, "I cracked AIEEE, I got good marks throughout my graduation and when I will be a part of Expanding India, I will again use my potential to every extent possible to overcome the hurdles." All in one go without a single 'uh..' in between. He had seen the same in movies and went for the shot. By the time he was finished he could feel his undies totally wet, by the excessive sweating. The interviewer too knew he was hell scared, but his academic records and the consistency was the advantage which added the extra points.

"Coffee is ready, tell me when you are done with your make-up, I'll serve." Priti yelled from the kitchen.

"Just a minute," Piyush replied tightening his belt. He wore a grey colored white strip shirt and blue denim and settled his hairstyle with his hands, as he knew Priti would disturb them at least once before leaving. He glanced at the mirror once again and entered the living room. Priti was waiting for him. He wondered how she got ready before him, but then, he had taken a shower and so she got ahead of him. She wore a half sleeve plain black shirt and blue jeans.

The television was right in front of the couch for his mother, who wouldn't miss her single TV show. The interiors were simple, but the sliding door to the left of the couch, opposite the entrance gave a very pleasant view of the garden, which was specially maintained by his father. His father had taken VRS as he had asthma, and that would cause a lot of problem with his increasing age.

Priti brought coffee for both of them and settled on the couch next to him. He took the cup and put his left hand around her shoulder and gently slapped her on the cheek. It was an old habit of thanking her. Her skin was a bit warmer and he presumed she was feverish, but didn't say anything and gulped down the coffee.

"How was it?" She asked him without looking, thinking about something very hard.

"What?" He asked.

She turned to him and replied very angrily, "Do you think I was asking you about the football match yesterday? I am, of course talking about the coffee, idiot." She gave him a dirty look and turned away.

"It was a rugby match and hmm.. The coffee is good. I mean not so bad" He replied.

"So you could manage to correct the football, but couldn't tell what 'it' was. And not so bad?? As if you are an expert in coffee making. Next time you want tea or coffee, go make yourself." She said as she abruptly disturbed his hair and headed towards the kitchen.

_I just gave an honest opinion, but why can't women take it. If I say it's good, then she'll reply you are not honest and if I say it's not good, then as if I am the expert. Great._ "I mean it's great, just awesome, you are an expert and the greatest coffee maker in the world. Will that do?" he asked her teasingly, raising his voice to make sure it was audible in the kitchen and chuckled.

"Just shut up and wait outside, I am coming within a minute." she shot back.

"Papa we are going out for a movie and will eat outside. You don't wait for us." Piyush told his father who was standing in the garden watching the siblings fight. Their parents immediately rejected the movie proposal as soon as Priti told them that her brother was taking her to the movie.

'It will be something full of action, car accidents and violence, which I won't be able to understand and watch simultaneously, so I am not coming.' His mother had said. And since wife was staying home, his father had no option but to politely refuse Priti's offer. Deep inside he wanted to go and watch the movie, but skipping this one was a better option than to give his wife a chance to pick up the same lines over and over again, that all three of them left her alone and deliberately went for an action movie.

"Don't make it too late."

"Yeah, will be back by 10:30." Piyush said closing the door behind him.

Priti came out of the kitchen and said tying her shoelaces, "Papa, we are going for movie and will have dinner outside."

"I think your brother just told me the same thing in the same language."

"Uhh.. I just wanted to add, tell this to mom when she gets back form the market."

"Ohh.. as if I was going to keep this thing a top secret forever." Her father now started pulling her leg.

"Papa, please don't act like Piyush, and stop making fun of me. See you at night. Bye." She too left, but came back immediately to take her cell phone, which she had left on the couch.

Piyush was waiting outside near Priti's scooty pep. Piyush had a hero splender, but he hated changing gears, so scooty was his first choice, the other one was an implied and compulsory one. He would take splender to the office but apart from that, whenever he got a chance he would use scooty. His scooty was his Harley Davidson and Hayabusa.

"Ready?" he asked, as Priti arrived with all her focus in the phone.

"Hmm." She replied without even looking at Piyush.

"Scooty or bike or a walk mam?" was the next question.

"Scooty." Again she replied without paying any heed to Piyush and went towards the gate to open it.

Their compound was small and all the space that was available in the front gate was occupied by vehicles. "Wait, I'll get the keys within a minute." He was about to call his father when Priti stopped him. "I have it with me, knew you would forget." She threw it at him and he grabbed it in one hand like a champ.

"So, somebody is getting smarter day by day. That's really a positive sign I must say." He tried to cheer up her mood, but she just smiled and signaled him to take the Scooty out so she could close the gate. He raced the vehicle a couple of times, "Haha.. my hellcat is ready."

"It's 5:45 now," Priti said looking at her watch after she closed the gate. "And the show starts at 6:10 p.m. so I think we should hurry." She said sarcastically.

"I guess you are the only girl who would be excited to go and watch a superhero movie, filled with action." He said in a bid to keep the conversation going with his feverish sister.

"Hey you alright?" he asked her casually. She did not reply again and just rested her head on his shoulder. The Sunday road had less traffic and he wanted to increase the speed. But then Priti would complain home about his high speed driving, which would be followed by a long lasting saga of lectures from his mother.

"Pittu, you okay _beta_?" He asked her very seriously nearly stopping the vehicle.

"Hmm." She replied very sluggishly.

"You sure? _Pakka_?"

"Hmm.. nothing wrong as such." This time it was louder than before. They reached the PVR cinemas. The Mehtas would watch every movie in the same theatre. It wasn't crowded as the last good movie released was about two weeks ago and since it was a Sunday, youngsters avoided the highly priced evening shows. But Piyush now had a job, and hence he would spend money on buying those costly tickets. He loved avoiding crowded places and would always watch movies after a considerable time since the release date. There was a restaurant nearby and he had planned dinner at the same place. "You park it and I'll get the tickets." Priti said and got off the vehicle outside the parking area.

## Chapter three

Anil Sathe was a 25 year old man from Jalgaon. He had finished his graduation and came to Mumbai in search of a job, thinking the city had enough of them. But to his disappointment, he could not bag a good one. Many of them, that came his way, either paid less or were not his type. He kept telling his family he was trying until one day, his mother told him that it was very difficult for his father, who worked as a daily wage worker, to run the house and it was high time since he had been to Mumbai but had a job.

Anil had found a good friend in Brijesh Gupta, who shared his room with Anil where they both lived as paying guests. He too was not satisfied with his current job and both of them decided to open a _pani puri_ stall at Juhu. Anil borrowed money from his friends for the startup, and even though they faced some difficulty finding the right spot initially, things started taking turn for the good when they found a few regular customers. Anil lied to his parent that he had finally bagged one and as soon as the news broke, his family had become dependent on him in a couple of months.

Slowly they moved closer to the Juhu beach, where the crowd was more than the initial spot. Gupta had knowledge about how to run the business, whereas Anil had Gupta. Things were going great but still Anil failed to get hold of things as Gupta would take decisions and Anil had to follow them. He could not leave everything; he was not in a position to start a business of his own as, it was too risky and the stall was all he had to support his house back in Jalgaon. He couldn't even take the risk of arguing with Gupta as any ego issues might result in breaking the partnership. Anil had no choice but to stay with his old friend in the business. It was two years since the two were in business, and Anil accepted everything, considering it was written in his destiny and he had to face it for his family.

Anil had been sick for two days and Gupta was running the stall single handedly. That was the man's specialty, he was hard working and could handle everything on his own, but somehow Anil wasn't comfortable. Today he was well enough to go to work, not fully fit but he had enough strength to lend Gupta a hand. As the day progressed, Anil felt weaker with every passing hour, wishing he had taken couple of days rest. And he surely would have done so, had he knew what was about to happen later that day.

Priti was thin, beautiful and the black shirt contrast to her fair skin made it more stunning, her shoulder length hair were clutched a small black color butterfly clip that made her 'the pretty girl' and many people couldn't help but turn their head at least once, to get a glimpse of her. She went to the ticket counter and was third in the row. The boy in front of her turned back and scanned her whole body. She avoided looking at him by pretending to be busy with her phone.

"Two tickets for Avengers." She said and further added "See to it if recliner is there."

"Yes mam, recliner is available," the man at the window told her. "300 rupees mam."

"Yes, give it."

"Corner seats mam?" He asked.

"No, middle ones."

"Okay mam, Avengers 3D, two tickets, 7:10 p.m. show, Rs. 600."

"What? There was one at 6:10, what about that?

"That's in English mam, this one is Hindi dubbed." The man replied assuming she was also one those who preferred English movies in Hindi.

"Noooo, I want the English one's tickets. How much for that?" Priti said annoyingly, wondering what would be Piyush's reaction for the Hindi dubbed tickets.

"They are also 300 per ticket mam."

"Book those," she replied taking out the money from her handbag.

She bought the tickets and headed towards the entrance. Every time Priti asked for two tickets, everyone thought she was with her boyfriend and hence offered corner tickets. But only Priti knew that it was her brother who was a complete 'Dumbo' when it came to asking a girl out for a movie or a dinner. She couldn't even imagine what a mess he would make, if he took someone out for a date. So to avoid Piyush face any sort of embarrassment and to make him a bit smarter, she would always accompany him in a bid to teach her brother, how to treat a girl on a movie or dinner without making him realize that she was fine tuning him.

Piyush parked his scooty and was heading towards the entrance, all excited to see his favorite iron man and his team, do some hard hitting action to take down the villains when he saw Priti at the entrance. She was standing near a family and he realized that his sister was really looking gorgeous. It didn't strike him when they left home. Piyush signaled both the thumbs up. She handed him the tickets and asked, "What was that for?"

"What?" he asked looking at the tickets.

"Why the thumbs up?"

"That was a signal for parking your beloved scooty pep safely," he said as they cleared the entrance and the guards were checking him.

"Oh my God. As if you did something that got you the Nobel Prize." she said rudely.

"Nah, those thumbs up were for you."

"Me?" An amused Priti looked at him and held his hand as they reached the escalator.

"Yes, you are really looking nice today. So don't blame others for staring at you. You are the only one to blame for."

"See it's good to compliment your sister." It brought a smile on her face. "But to blame her for looking good is one of the biggest sins a man can commit."

They settled in their seats and there was just one family in the entire row along with them, which consisted of the parents and their three children. All of them had put on their 3D glasses, even though it was five more minutes to go for the movie to start, a typical Indian family scenario.

"Why didn't you tell me about the fever?" Piyush finally asked her playing with the glasses pretending to be unperturbed.

"I was in no mood to spoil your evening, especially Sunday evening." She said resting her head on the seat. She knew she was ought to get caught and there was no point defending.

"That doesn't mean stretching yourself to this extent and come to see the movie." He checked her forehead which was warmer now. "I think we should go home."

"No, it's viral, will go away in a day or two. No need to worry and I don't want to miss the movie either." She replied immediately. He was still staring at her, but said nothing.

"What? I said it's alright. And please don't tell mom-dad about it, or they will force me to take those horrible homemade syrups. Yak yak yak." she put her glasses on and gave him a gentle push.

After the movie Piyush couldn't help but discuss the action scenes again and again. It turned out to be a monologue as whatever he said, Priti just replied "hmm" to it. He had taken a sweatshirt for Priti when they left as it was too cold outside and the temperature fell more at night. She never liked wearing it, but the fever and cold didn't allow her to express her discomfort. They finished dinner and reached home at 10:45 p.m. and by the time they reached; their father had called them 11 times. But neither of them answered the phone.

"Do you know that the phone also contains the feature of answering a call?" He asked angrily.

"Papa, I was just trying to reduce the phone bill by not answering it." Priti jokingly replied.

"Ohh my god, see what is happening. My children are trying to save some money after spending around 1000 rupees on a movie and a dinner. That has to be the eight wonder." He said raising his hands helplessly.

"Ohh, I think it's too late now, I have my office tomorrow, so I should go to bed." Piyush added fuel to the fire and disappeared into his room. Priti was still there, and he wanted her to feel the heat that was now supposed to come out. His father was about to react but Priti cut him off "Where is mom?" she too wanted to go one on one with her father. It was revenge time for her.

"She is not like you. She is asleep." Before he could finish Priti came up to him, pulled both his cheeks and planted a kiss on one of them. That was the best way to calm her father down and she was an expert.

Piyush and Priti shared the room and had separate beds for each of them at the opposite ends. There was a desktop in the middle of the room between them. On the right was a cupboard which the siblings shared without any major fights for the space allocation. Piyush had fixed a small television just opposite his bed when they had decided to shift to Bilaspur. He dreamt of watching it without any disturbances thinking Priti and their mother would go for the big one in the living room. But his ploy failed as Priti decided to give the big one to her mother and took over the smaller one in her 'own bedroom'. Piyush was amazed by the way everything had fallen in place after he got the house. It was perfect for him. But that's what Expanding India was known for. They cared more about their employees and hence gave them the best available amenities.

He checked his Facebook account for an unexpected friend request which was a rare scenario. There was nothing special. He scrolled down a couple of times but nothing raised his eyebrows. Priti lay on the bed waiting for her eyes to close. He checked her forehead and the temperature had decreased as he had given her pills as soon as they got back.

"I should have cancelled the movie and dinner." he said.

"It's alright. If I Had said no, you wouldn't have gone alone and ultimately you would have dropped the whole thing. So I insisted. And it's okay, I told you its viral fever. It'll go away in a day or two."

"But you were not fine, I mean look at you, you were so pale when we came back."

After Priti grew up and started understanding, she was the only person close to Piyush. She was his only best friend who was not ashamed of him for any reason and he knew that whatever happens, she would be by his side. He never said it to her even on _rakshabandhan_ , but he loved her more than anything in the world. For him, his sister was his go to person and she would always have solution to his problems.

"I'll take rest for the next two days, promise." She said and gave a faint smile. Piyush kissed her on the forehead and hugged her. He switched off the light and was waiting for Priti to fall asleep. But within minutes he himself was in deep sleep.

## Chapter four

Even though Priti was three years younger to him, she was way smarter than him, and much more practical. She was the only girl in the world who loved her idiot yet simple, innocent brother who always kept his family first. The three years difference made no difference as he shared everything with her. Be it a personal problem or anything related to his office. She was the one who understood him, cared for him, would be there in his ups and downs. She was his sister but it was years since they actually behaved like siblings. For Piyush, Priti was like his best buddy.

He would even tell her the number of crushes he had in his office and would regularly update her about the discovery of any new crush. She knew her brother was a strong guy, not as strong as the hulk form the movie that she had seen a couple hours ago, but he would protect and comfort her. More or less he would make her smile out of any situation, whether intentionally or not. She saw Piyush was asleep, but the fever made it difficult for her to sleep.

It was very early in the morning when Piyush woke up, surprised to see himself awake at this hour when the watch displayed 6:35 a.m. He couldn't sleep again after trying for some time. He didn't move out of his blanket. It was a very cold December morning. There was just one thing he wanted to do. That was to not to go to office. He checked Priti who was quietly sleeping. _What the hell is wrong with me? Why in the world I woke up so early on a Monday._ He pulled the blanket over his head again and started planning the whole day. _Take a bath and get ready, have breakfast, go to Sharmaji's place to pick him up, go to office, work for the whole day, drop Sharmaji, comeback home, have dinner and then go to bed._

He still wondered what can be skipped from the day's schedule and the only viable option was 'to take a bath'. "Deodorant will do," he whispered, but was suddenly stopped by a thought that came to his mind. It was about Sneha. Sharmaji's elder daughter. He changed his mind and dropped the deodorant idea for Sneha, as he always wanted to be clean, neat and tidy in front of her.

Piyush had once dropped Sharmaji at his place while returning from office and Mrs. Sharma invited him for a cup of tea, which Sneha served him. That was the first time he saw her. She was wearing a blue salwar-kameez and had tucked her hair with just a small clip, as if she had just returned from somewhere and loosened her hair, but her mother asked her to serve tea for her father and the visitor, so she might have hastily tucked them up. Piyush assumed this because of the good dress and the lazily tucked hair. She was fair, had black hair, was lean and tall, but not taller than Piyush. Some of her hair had slipped out and kept coming in front of her eye, which she set aside behind the ear with her index finger delicately. And like every Hindi film hero, Piyush succumbed to this small hair-setting thing. He couldn't help but stare her, and it was her father's presence that stopped him from doing so. He just took a glance and it was over. Deep inside he wanted to make her sit in front of her and just keep looking at her for a lifetime.

She had the perfect looking beautiful Indian face, the dark black eyes was something that Piyush couldn't resist. She was impeccable for him, although he was not even a percent comparable to her, but still, he didn't mind dreaming he and Sneha paired up. She was the only beautiful girl who had accepted his friend request on Facebook.

Piyush found her very gentle, delicate and soft spoken, whereas she had said only two words in front of him 'ha papa,' when her father asked her for some extra sugar. Piyush would give up his whole month's earnings for her smile. Her smiling pink lips, the dimple on her left cheek, he had no idea why the second one on the right cheek was missing, and why she would close her eyes before giving away a smile whenever she felt shy. This was something he loved the most about her. She was his perfect angel, but whenever she came across, he never had the courage to talk to her fluently.

Sneha had completed her graduation in software engineering from NIT Bangalore. She wanted to pursue her higher education from the US. She was supposed to go a year earlier but it was her mother who insisted on staying in India for a couple of years. Like every mother, she too wanted her daughter to be with her for some time before she got married. Sneha had taken a job in a small software firm in the city. There was not much work pressure and she would come home a bit early sometimes. Her employer was easy on her because every time, she would finish her work well in time. It was a good simple life she was living, well in control. For Piyush, she was an all-in-one package, beauty with brain.

"Umm.." Priti called Piyush who had fallen asleep thinking about Sneha. "It's 7:00 a.m." She went back to sleep. She had set an alarm as she knew he would not wake up. It was audible enough for Priti only. Had it been louder than that, Piyush would have turned it off and slept again. The siblings were a total contrast when came to punctuality. Priti had completed her studies till 12th standard and instead of going with the flow of other children pursuing the common graduation courses; she went directly for interior designing course. 'Something different and creative,' as she would put it.

He opened his eyes finally. It was 7:04 a.m. He checked his phone and saw the contacts where he had saved Sneha's number as 'Mrs. Piyush Mehta'. The cold morning and the romantic thoughts about his love life did the trick, making his little private organ active and as he tried to get up he found himself in a very awkward position. He postponed it for some time to let things calm down on their own, but it didn't help. He somehow got up and sat on the bed. _Oh young man not now, it's not the right time for you to wake up._ He tried pushing it down but nothing was helping out. _Hate you._ He got up and bent to avoid a direct sighting of the expanded little man and walked towards the bathroom in the same bent position, acting like his back was hurting. As soon as he reached the door he jumped inside and closed it. He opened it slightly to take a peek of the room from the gap, and was relieved to see everything was fine, Priti was still sleeping and the horrible early morning drama had gone unnoticed.

He took a bath and throughout, was thinking about what to wear, so to be at his best in front of Sneha. He finally settled on a blue stripped shirt and black trousers. He had his breakfast and left for Sharmaji's place at 8:30 a.m. He would go there any time, provided Sneha was present, so he could get a glimpse.

## Chapter five

Rishi Rawat had spent a formidable part of his career studying and researching in exploration of mineral and natural gas below the sea bed. His vessel, equipped with highly advanced technological instruments, was drilling in the middle of the Arabian Sea in a bid to find a huge reserve of natural gas. To some extent, his calculations were going in the same direction where he wanted them. The satellite data had also revealed the same, but powerful lobbying for concealment of the facts had taken care that his company was the only one to manage exploration. He was pleased with the reports and the five month long exploration had finally found something that would justify his employer's decision to invest in him, and the highly expensive research.

Rawat was on the deck monitoring the readings with his subordinates when he received a call, a call that was very personal in nature. He excused himself from the group of people and went away to receive it.

"Yes Sir," he answered, speculating why the call was made on the satellite phone provided to him instead of radio communication with the ship.

"Make arrangements for the strike with utmost priority." The man from the other end said, and Rawat understood the nature of the personal call on the sat phone.

"But sir we are not yet ready for this."

"Yes we are. I want everything to be ready by tomorrow. Wait for my further orders." The call was disconnected. Rawat stood there holding the phone firmly in his hand, staring angrily and helplessly at the coast and the land that followed, his home, India.

Vineet Sharma was a grey haired man in his early fifties. He had kept a check on his belly and ensured that even though he was fat, he didn't look like one. Sharma had been associated with Expanding India for over two decades. For the first 9-10 years he was just an operational engineer, but as he gained higher management's confidence, his responsibilities were increased proportionately and he was appointed as the head of Expanding India's central India division. Just a year ago he was taken aboard for some other projects that were related to diversification and the management asked him to keep a check on some high value activities. Since EI's infrastructural development operations were not much in Bilaspur, he was also asked to take care of the small projects within the city. The reason he was given a number of promotions was his experience, knowledge and human resource management skills.

Even after working in the same organization for such a long time, Sharma never made any best die hard friend, something same as Piyush. But he was immensely impressed by Piyush's knowledge, his ability to come up with a solution and highly logical as well as practical anticipation regarding a project. One more thing he liked about him, was that Piyush was a no-nonsense guy when it came to work. Both being civil engineers and from reputed institutes, he had gradually grown close to Piyush.

Piyush loved the way he worked and his approach, everything he did gave Piyush a chance to learn something from his senior. Piyush would always be ready to pick and drop Sharma without any excuse. Although working with Sharma meant additional work but he didn't mind as that would increase the possibility of an after office discussion at Sharma's place and Piyush would get to see Sneha, which was worth the extra work. And if Sneha was there in the living room for a long time watching TV or doing some work, then the excitement would result in Piyush taking his whole family out for a dinner.

Since Piyush would often visit them, he was not treated as an outsider in the family anymore. Sharma even eased out his work sometimes. Piyush was the only employee whom Sharma would trust personally. And hence within months, whatever work Sharma had, he would include Piyush into it.

Sharma was a big name amongst the employees at all the places where he had worked. Because of this development, he had gained the trust and access where, if necessary, he would come in direct contact with the chairman or vice chairman for a problem. It was because of this, he was shifted to Bilaspur to handle Expanding India's most ambitious project till date.

Piyush arrived at his home and parked his bike outside. He adjusted his hair and made sure he was looking at his best with a clean shaved face. He went in. Sharmaji had a Mercedes Benz e-class but he could hardly drive it because of his knee injury. A couple of years ago he had broken his right knee when his leg twisted on the bed as he tried to reach the top of the cupboard, and fell down with entire body weight on just one knee, breaking the joint. After that incident Sharma never attempted anything like that and eventually gave up reaching the top of the cupboards. Sneha, on the other hand was too worried about his knee and would not allow him to even drive his car. She would personally drop him or would ask him to get a driver. But he never liked anyone touching his Mercedes, so after shifting to Bilaspur, initially Sneha dropped him but later, he preferred his favorite Piyush to do the honors.

He ranged the door bell and it was Vineet Sharma's younger daughter Radhika, who opened the door. Radhika was two years younger than Sneha. She asked him to come and sit inside and went back to watching television, his eyes immediately searched for his girl. "Take it easy Piyush, we'll go a bit late today." Sharmaji's voice came from the kitchen. "We have got some other work to do."

"What other work sir?" Piyush replied from the living room and took a peek inside from the couch. There was no Sneha in sight. It would always be like this. Sharmaji would be busy doing something inside and the two would talk from two different rooms. Piyush was now comfortable with this small, loud voice inter room conversations.

"It's about the R&D, we'll discuss it on the way. I am coming in five minutes," he replied. Sneha would come out at least once, and five minutes always meant more than ten, but still time was running out. He got up to take the newspaper from the table to get a better look inside. She was not there. _Where the hell are you?_ He had an angry and impatient feeling inside him. He read the bold heading on the newspaper about the upcoming election campaign and again bent over to see that she was not there. _Her father is taking his time, but this girl is just not ready to come out._ Piyush was now very irritated.

Meanwhile, Radhika who pretended to be busy watching TV was observing Piyush's impatience and finally told him in a very low voice, "She is getting ready, will come down anytime soon. Don't worry." Piyush was shocked for a moment after hearing this.

She knew he was on to Sneha and gave a devil's smile to Piyush. She had caught him many times trying to get a good look of her sister. And today there was nobody in the living room, she caught him red handed and decided to corner him.

"No, I was just waiting for Sharma sir. The R&D work would be really very exciting." He tried to defend himself but there was no way out of it.

"Ohh!" She exclaimed and increased the volume of the TV so that their conversation could not be audible in the other room. She was still staring at Piyush and nodded her head.

"What?" Piyush asked her again, now totally scared but still trying to hide his condition. "I don't know what are you talking about." He spoke again but she didn't reply. Both of them did not say anything for a moment. The silence was killing Piyush. In a desperate attempt to clear the air he finally said "You are getting it all wrong here, there is.."

"Ya... I know everything," she interrupted. She was enjoying every single bit of it.

"Ohh... please stop it Radhika." Piyush said and could not help but laugh. Both of them started laughing.

"I know something is cooking inside." She said. Sharmaji came from the kitchen and sat next to Radhika. "Get us two cups of hot tea, we'll have tea and then leave, ok Piyush?" He asked without realizing that both of them were laughing or something was going on.

"Sure sir," he replied. "Uh.. Good morning sir," and greeted him.

"Yeah, good morning. Today you are going to be a happy man." Sharmaji replied.

Radhika and Piyush started acting normal as if nothing had happened. Radhika went inside to get tea. It was not even two minutes after she went in when Sharmaji shouted, "Bring it fast _beta_ we have to go."

"Just now you asked Piyush to take it easy, no hurry toady, and now suddenly too late?" She shouted back from the kitchen.

"Okay, take your time." The father replied. He had no option but to go on the back foot. Piyush wondered how the three ladies tortured Sharmaji and felt sorry for him. He was a lion outside but at home in front of his daughters and wife, he was worse than a chimpanzee. Even Piyush's father would do the same at home. _So no worries._ He thought. Sharmaji changed the channel to news.

And the golden moment came. Piyush, who was worried about what Radhika had said a few minutes ago, and was thinking of a better move to defend himself, saw it. Sneha finally came out and his eyes were stuck on her. _Thank god Radhika is in and they have news channel to keep Sharma sir hooked up. Thank god, thank you very much._ She was wearing brown color _salwar-kurta_. Her hair as always tied up by a clip. Very light pink lipstick that was very difficult to notice but Piyush had found it in one tenth of a second. She wore very small earrings with a complicated design that he could not understand at all. The sleeveless kurta exposed her slim fair shoulder and the titan wrist watch was looking perfect on that hand. _Okay acceptable exposure. But short skirts are not allowed._ He made his fast track judgment.

Her dark black eyes were something that he gave more time. The rightly placed dupatta with a small knot at the back added more simplicity. He lowered his vision and got in more trouble as the brown chudidar salwar added more emphasis on her bare feet, locking his eyes again. He gave a final full fledge look on Sneha before turning his eyes off her. In three seconds, his 'quota' for the day was over and he had seen enough of her. He realized that today, the unavoidable thing was her hand. _After marriage I'll kiss you 1000 times on each of your shoulder._ He made a note, like he always did after falling to any of her particular feature. One such was to take care of titan wrist watch more than he took care of his scooty. Every time he saw Sneha, he found a weird feature and would keep them in his to do list, although all of them were not weird. She raised her eyebrows gave a smile and waved 'hi' to Piyush. He too smiled and waved back. She took her keys that were on the table and went inside.

Radhika had deliberately come out and when she saw Sneha leaving the room, she was bang on target. Again she had caught him. She had seen all the three second drama and the waving _hi's_. She was waiting for Piyush to look at her. He saw her and their eyes met. _Dead_. His facial expression said it all. "Do you want some water Piyush?" She asked deliberately to tease him. He had no choice now but to give up and he did.

"Yes, half a glass will do," he said. She smiled and went inside to bring it along with the tea. She had been following him for the past two months and finally today she caught him live, told him, and again caught him as to acknowledge it. She was on cloud nine. She brought water and tea. Her father was busy with the news channel, so she took a chance and whispered in Piyush's ear. "I made the tea late for you, so you get to see her. Now, what's in there for me? There is a lot. As for now, you owe me this one. And don't defend yourself or act like you are innocent." And she was gone.

Piyush understood that he was left with no moves and it was the beginning of long term risky blackmail game in which he knew he would always be the loser. They finished their tea and were about to leave when Sneha shouted from inside "Bye papa, call me if I have to come to pick you up."

"No, I'll come with Piyush, you don't worry." He replied tying his shoe lace.

Radhika too waved bye to her father like she always did. Piyush waited till everybody's 'byes' were done and opened the door to leave but heard a surprising voice. "Bye Piyush," Sneha shouted form the kitchen. This was the first time she said it from the kitchen. "Bye," he replied. To this Radhika also raised her eyebrows and laughed at him. Finally they left for the office. He was a bit worried about what Radhika might do to him, but the way, in which she was taking things, it gave him a secured feeling that she will keep it to herself. One thing was sure that Sneha did not know any of this, or her behavior would have been different. But she, as always, greeted him with a smile and today even said a 'bye' form the kitchen. _That means she thought of me in the kitchen._

Even after Radhika catching him, he was happy and relieved because she deliberately brought the tea late and that was the only reason he got to see Sneha today. He knew she would not spoil anything, because if she were to do something like that, Sharmaji would never have invited him again, but everything was normal. Now Radhika was there to help him out if something was wrong, and this feeling took away the implicit burden and brought a faint smile on his face.

## Chapter Six

Bilaspur branch was basically a Research and Development branch. The main aim of starting a branch was to have a base in central India. Sharma was told that it was good from investment point of view. He first resisted that the chance of setting up something so big in a small city would be a disaster, but that was why he was shifted there, to take care of things and handle everything smoothly. It was then he realized; that it was not his job to interfere in the company's decision making. He just had to manage them, be it profitable or not. Profit was the higher management's issue. His only job was to make sure everything was running smoothly and before he got here almost half the job was done.

Bilaspur branch had nothing to do with the Real estate activities of the company. It was a R&D center as the company planned to diversify into a totally different field. Aircraft manufacturing industry, which would make them the only company in India to manufacture Aircraft. Bilaspur was selected for this venture and since it was a real estate giant, it was but natural to bring the same along with it. The Goodwill did its work and they had gained some good projects. But since Sharma was more attached to the real estate world, he would spend a considerable time in that department which was adjacent to the huge R&D premises.

Sharma was amused to see that even highly qualified IITians also went wrong with their estimations and how difficult it was to make an aircraft engine. But the responses he got from the higher authorities were positive and it assured him that he was handling the job correctly. His whole family was proud of the fact that he was heading the work that would change the whole world's perception towards the country. It was his hard work, dedication, loyalty and experience that had given him this opportunity to lead.

It was a cloudy day and the ride to office was a pleasant one. Sharmaji told him that he would take Piyush to the R&D building which was Piyush's long standing wish. He always wanted to know what was going on in that huge premise. How the engine is made and what is the process of testing and designing it. He had gathered the courage to tell his senior that he wished to visit the R&D, and to arrange a tour inside whenever possible. Every time he said something about the R&D, Sharmaji would avoid the topic and switch on to something else. But today out of nowhere, Piyush received this surprise.

"How many people work inside sir?" Piyush couldn't hold his excitement and finally asked, expecting him to change the subject.

"Somewhere around 350-400. That's a rough figure. Some of them are temporary, called here for special tasks and testing."

"What?? 400 people working on just one simple engine? I mean design of one simple engine? That's unbelievable, we civil engineers take care of a whole 20-25 story building single handedly and these 400 people are working on just one engine?" He was out with his idiotic questions right from the word go.

"Piyush it's an airplane engine and not a two wheeler bike engine. If it fails, can you imagine the damage, casualty, and even the threat to the people on ground and other aircrafts in air? There are many factors to consider here and hence so many people are required, plus the engineering is also a challenge. As per the inputs that senior people in the department gave me, they have a high developmental rate and are almost on the verge of creation of an indigenous engine. You get that?"

"Hmm." Piyush replied, but hardly understood anything.

"It's like inventing cement. Okay. In simple terms, what invention of cement means to construction of a building, an engine means to an aircraft. Now please don't tell me you want me to elaborate this. They are creating an engine. A totally made in India thing, ok? Cost efficiency and all. You understand?"

"Yes sir." Piyush now imagined the bigger picture and understood what Sharmaji was trying to tell him. _And I thought civil engineering was the toughest thing. 400 people working on the same thing and 20 story construction controlled by one man. I should better stop comparing things. Whatever it is, my field is the toughest. That's it._ He finally concluded. Sharmaji knew what he would think and said, "Piyush don't think about 20 story controlled by one man. It's like comparing Sachin Tendulkar with Neil Armstrong. The fields are different and at least consider a basis for evaluation."

They reached; Piyush parked his bike, and for the first time headed for the R&D. "Piyush keep a low profile inside. Don't get too excited. Whatever you have to ask, ask me after we come back. You know, these people are a bit egoistic, I mean, I don't know how to put this, but we don't know what they can think of." He paused. Piyush had a confused face but Sharmaji was more confused than him. Suddenly Piyush felt like Sharmaji didn't want him to visit the R&D. There was a drastic change in his behavior that irked Piyush a lot.

"See _beta_ , it's not like they are bad or wrong people, but you know, their work is sophisticated and there are many things like patents and other technical things involved. These people are so cautious that if they feel like you are, by any chance, trying to steal any design, they might go to any extent. Like, your job can be on the line _beta_. I mean you are very much part of Expanding India, but who knows what those idiots inside might think at any given point." Piyush could not understand what he was trying to say, his voice sounded heavy.

"See I don't have any back up for you if something goes wrong. I don't want you to get into any trouble; I will make sure you don't get into any of it. But please stay with me. Don't poke here and there unless you are told to. Just stick to me. Please." Piyush was totally stunned with whatever was happening. He could not understand what exactly Sharmaji wanted to convey, but the way in which he was telling him, it was annoying Piyush. He was referred _beta_ in a very different manner, as if he desperately wanted to avoid it. All of a sudden Sharmaji looked very scared, and he was confused with his own mixed feelings.

"Sir, if there is any problem, I will wait outside. There is no issue with me waiting outside, if taking me in has so much of risk involved." Piyush said. They were walking towards the building and Piyush stopped him. "Sir it's absolutely fine. You go in, I'll wait here."

"It's not like that; they may take you as a threat to their secrecy, as any leaked information is useful for other companies in competition to EI. That's it." He tried to explain things to Piyush knowing that every word he spoke, it was getting more complicated. Piyush on the other hand, was now certain that Sharmaji was not interested, and was just trying to make him leave and stay outside.

"Sir I'll wait outside, don't worry. You go in finish your work. I'll wait in the parking." Piyush said and turned to leave.

"No Piyush, come here. You wanted to see it. How it works? I'll show it to you, it's just that I don't want to get unwanted attention and trouble from these maniacs here. See, it's as simple as that, you know that you don't know anything, but they don't know that you don't have any idea about what's going on. And that makes things complicated."

"I don't know what this entire sentence means sir, I think I'll have to gain 20 years of experience to understand all this." Piyush replied jokingly.

"I hope you never get into a situation to understand what all that meant. Now come, let me take you in for a ride." He laughed and patted Piyush on his back.

Piyush could sense some tension on his senior's face. He had just seen a very different panicked side of his Sharmaji, which brought forward a frightened man. It was as if Sharmaji had drunk alcohol early morning, and the effect was now showing up. But Piyush decided to pay attention to the R&D for the time being. After all, he could ask him anytime, if everything was alright with him.

## Chapter Seven

They entered the building. EXPANDING INDIA RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT, BILASPUR was written on top of it. The guard saluted Sharmaji and asked about Piyush. "He is with me." He told the guard. The guard handed him a form and requested Piyush to give all his details. He filled the form. When the R&D arena was new, Piyush tried entering it with a few colleagues, but was not allowed, and now the same guard allowed him because he was with Vineet Sharma. And then it hit him. _Nothing will happen to him, it's me, who could lose my job and get into trouble, and hence he was worried._ Piyush felt guilty for what he thought about Sharmaji a few moments ago. _I am not unwanted, he was just worried._ He took a sigh of relief.

They entered the main building which was one of the seven buildings, three story each. Spread across over 350 acres. A glass door slid open and behind it, was a huge plush circular arena, big enough to conduct a small private marriage ceremony. As they entered, Piyush saw it was not as simple as he thought; it had a dome instead of a plain ceiling. _What the hell is this place?_ He looked up to see the sculptures that were on the dome which depicted many of India's historical monuments. He looked around; the whole area was encircled by the replicas of Expanding India's marvelous big projects. There were 21 such models enclosed in huge glass cases. He went to the first one as soon as he saw it. Piyush could not understand what it was all about. A very different structure with many tubes connected to each other and a swimming pull in between, that looked like a huge concrete mountain. _A big fountain? Or artificial waterfall maybe._

He hurriedly went through the information given above it. His eyes were blocked on one line which stated, 'Luxury apartments in five buildings of 35 storey each, interconnected with one of the most unbelievable architectural work and complex construction.' _These people are creating luxury apartments that look like nothing but a pile of huge tubes. 35 stores. Five buildings. And how is that possible? Who is the architect?_ Piyush couldn't believe that such extreme engineering was even possible in India, and not just possible, but was taking shape. Sharmaji called him. He glanced at the second model and it was none other than the 1423 meter long, 250 meter high bridge that was under construction in the Konkani region.

There was a reception table that he ignored completely. A woman sitting there smiled at them and said "Good morning Sharma sir. First week of the day, and straight to the R&D?"

"Good morning! What can I do? Your Rao sir called me saying he has got good news to deliver. And I am also a human being, so could not resist my curiosity," he laughed. Piyush was amused to see how candid he was with the employees. Be it any level, people could frankly come up to him and talk.

"Yes, he gave me strict order to not to let you go anywhere, but his cabin first. If it's very big good news than I suppose there is a party waiting for us, right?"

"I don't know about any party, but yes, if you have any intentions to throw one, than I am empty stomach. So bring it on." They both laughed and Piyush headed for the elevator with Sharmaji.

They went to the first floor and entered the lobby and stopped near Mr. Rao's cabin. He was the project administrator and also the one who heavily scrutinized and looked after the technical glitches the R&D team had faced. "Just give me two minutes, and we will leave." He said and knocked the door. "Come in," a voice called and Sharmaji was in the cabin.

Piyush wondered about the R&D and its internal secrets. _Nobody would even think of how enormous and beautiful this place is inside. Outside, it's just a R &D building but inside, its heaven._ He had given a glance at the other models and all of them were who's who in terms of design, architecture and engineering. It was an altogether different world in the R&D. He now understood what made Expanding India different form others. He felt proud of being part of such a big organization. Although he was not part of any one the big, mind blowing projects in the glass cases, yet he felt he was somehow attached to them. He too was part of the organization which created them. That's what Expanding India was known for. A relation with every one, right from clients to employees. He took a deep breath and nodded to himself. It was a sense of satisfaction.

He waited outside the cabin in the lobby and as per the Indian tendency; Sharmaji took more than two minutes. Piyush couldn't keep himself at one place and moved around in the lobby. He took five to ten steps ahead and saw two CCTV cameras. He turned around towards the direction of the lift, but there were none. _Camera only in this area and not the whole lobby, there has to be more._ He went forward to see what was on the other side of the lobby. One of the doors was slightly open. It was Mr. Dinesh Sethi's cabin, head of the surveillance department. Piyush went further to get a look inside the cabin. He saw a man staring at something illuminated below the table. As soon as Piyush got in front of the cabin to get a better view, the man locked his eyes with Piyush's. He moved his hand below the table without breaking the eye contact. Piyush panicked and ran away towards Mr. Rao's cabin. He reached the cabin with his heart pounding very fast. _Why in the world I panicked and ran away? I did not commit any crime. That will surely create a wrong impression. Shit! Shit! Shit!_

He stood there scared, and heard voices coming out of Mr. Rao's cabin, followed by both the men leaving the cabin. His senior signaled Piyush to follow and they took a left, which led them to a staircase that took them down to a long lobby followed by a door.

"I hate these doors here, I left my card in my jerkin and now I'll have to type the whole 15 digit code to open the door, swiping the card is anytime a better option." Mr. Rao said, as he typed the code and finally they were out of the building. Piyush felt relieved when they were out. _Good punishment, forget your card and you have to type a 15 digit code_. He smiled.

"The pace at which we are working is excellent. Let's say, by the end of another year, we will have the whole thing tested and ready." Mr. Rao said to Sharmaji and even looked at Piyush. He nodded with a smile.

"Of course, and how are the preparations going for Friday?" Sharmaji asked with a pat on Rao's back.

"Err.. we will have the function here itself in the arena. Because booking everything and arranging the other things will be a very difficult task." He continued, "And since we have the facilities, why not use them." Rao giggled on his own joke. Sharmaji followed him. Piyush kept quiet.

They arrived at another building that looked more like an aircraft hangar. There was huge open space and the trio climbed the stairs and settled into a small room. Piyush looked everywhere to see something written, and he found it. 'Primary prototype testing department' Mr. Rao asked a couple of operators to run a machine that was down in the open, held by powerful holding jacks that kept it in a steady position. It was connected with numerous wires and many people were busy adjusting something that Piyush did not dare to ask, not even to Sharmaji. He just wanted to see everything that his eyes could cover and avoided wasting time by asking questions, missing the whole extra bonanza thing that was going on in front of him, downstairs.

Finally all of them moved away and cleared the whole area. Then a couple of minutes later, the machine started roaring with a bluish flare behind. The intensity increased, and so the flare. The roar was too loud for everyone to hear what the person in front of them was saying. After ten minutes of continuous roaring, the big machine stopped.

"Was that a part of the engine or the whole engine?" Piyush couldn't control his curiosity and asked like a layman.

"Of course it's the whole engine, but not just an engine, a 100% indigenous Aircraft engine." Mr. Rao replied proudly looking at the huge machine in front of him. _It has to be an engine, you stupid._ Piyush's eyebrows rose automatically and mouth was open, but he closed it immediately before someone saw his awkward face.

"They successfully tested it last week. Imagine the hard work these people had to put in, just ten months and they made a powerful engine that can carry people safely. It will be low cost because it's indigenous. It's a giant leap for our country in terms of Aviation. Congratulations Mr. Rao, hearty congratulations!!" Sharmaji said with a very proud feeling.

"Thank you sir. Thanks a lot. In fact, you are the one who should be thanked. You made sure that the requirements here were taken care off on time, and helped us get some extended deadlines which were necessary." Mr. Rao replied and further added, "But now we have made history. An economical powerful aircraft engine. Well, still can't believe we witnessed history being made."

"We just didn't witness Mr. Rao, we were part of history when it was made." Sharmaji shook hands with Rao. "Congrats once again to your whole team sir."

"Thank you and same to you sir." Mr. Rao replied. Piyush too felt proud and even though he was not there when history was made as per the two seniors, it still touched him. Another golden feather was added to his company's name and Piyush was glad to be a part of the organization.

"So, how was the engine?" Mr. Rao asked as they moved towards the exit.

"Powerful enough to fly me to any part of the world." Sharmaji replied and the trio laughed, Piyush deliberately had to, as there was nothing funny in the reply.

"And you young man?" Mr. Rao asked Piyush. Piyush was taken aback as he didn't expect Mr. Rao to talk to him. Till now, it was just Sharmaji with whom he was talking to, although he did say many things to Piyush generally. But something directly to him was a surprise.

"Ya.. I mean fantastic sir, it's just waiting to be fitted with a fuselage and then ready to go. Congratulations sir." Piyush replied, trying not to fumble a lot.

"Thank you. Would you like to see how the whole thing works and its variations? The one you saw was the smallest one, say for any 8-10 seater aircraft. The other powerful variants are still in working." He told Piyush and before he could reply, Sharmaji interrupted "Definitely, let's take a look at all your other babies." Piyush understood Sharmaji did not want to lose this chance and hence took over.

## Chapter Eight

Mr. Rao explained them how the engine worked, and the other powerful variants which were 70% complete. He also explained the designs of the aircraft that they intended to make. He told them that it will take 3-4 more years to actually get the aircraft in one perfect piece, but they intended to achieve it before that. Piyush was overwhelmed with the amount of information the man was giving them. The task in front of them was a challenging one but they were facing it with full determination high spirits. Mr. Rao left a little early as he had someone to attend. Sharmaji took Piyush to other areas and could see the satisfaction of the tour on his face. The whole day passed, and it was around 3:30p.m., by the time they were finished. Both of them were hungry by then.

"I will just talk to Rao for a minute, and then we will leave." Sharmaji said as they again went to the same lobby. Piyush remembered the incident that took place in front of the surveillance head Sethi's cabin and thought that there was nothing to worry about it, as it was just his childishness and no one else knew about it, also, he was now familiar with not just one, but two powerful men. And the whole day was a very special one, so Piyush decided better to forget that as one of his idiotic antics. They reached Mr. Rao's cabin and as Sharmaji was about to enter it, Sethi came out and stopped him.

"Good Afternoon Mr. Sharma. May I know who this young man is?" He asked.

After hearing the question Piyush was way more scared then he was earlier. "Sir he is with me, he works in the EI infrastructure development, and he came to pick me up today so I brought him along."

"You must know that outsiders are not allowed here. You should have told him to wait in the waiting room instead." He replied very stiffly raising his voice gradually.

"Yes sir, but I had to meet Mr. Rao today and he was interested in knowing how the engine works, so I took him for a tour." He replied immediately with his voice low. Piyush again saw the scared look on Sharmaji's face.

"Well then let me make it very clear to you that you cannot bring in people just because they dropped you and were interested in knowing how an aircraft engine works. One day you will also bring your driver along with you, just because he dropped you and was 'interested' to know how it works inside. This is not your garden in which you can take him for a tour, alright? Is that clear? No more visitors' again." He tore apart Sharmaji in a few seconds. Piyush was angry about what he had just said and could not see Sharmaji being insulted in front of him, that too because of him. He was sweating, and trembling with anger and humiliation filled inside. Sethi had just compared him to a driver.

"Yes sir." Sharmaji replied like a little boy after being scolded by his parents.

"Good, because I don't want you to get into any trouble, and so your pick up boy. Better follow the rules and instructions. Got it?" He kept hammering both of them.

"Yes sir, sorry sir." His voice now reached a level where Piyush thought he would break down. Piyush was stunned by whatever was happening. Just before the Sethi rampage, he knew Sharmaji and Mr. Rao were the senior most people there, but this surveillance head had ripped apart any respect that he might have had for Sharmaji.

"And teach your boy some manners to not to poke into other's cabin if the door is open." He pierced a needle in Piyush's heart too before he left. Now Piyush was on the verge of breaking down.

"I'll come back in a minute, you stay here and don't move this time." Sharamji said and went into Mr. Rao's cabin.

"Hmm..!" Piyush replied without even looking at Sharmaji. His guilt was fairly visible and a very pleasant trip and day had become a horror and a forgettable one. He and his senior were insulted to every possible extent. The words Sethi had used were very harsh and had left Piyush traumatized.

In few minutes, Mr. Rao and Sharmaji came out laughing as if nothing had happened.

"See you on Friday, Sharma sir."

"Yeah sure, definitely. Your big day cannot be complete without me." He replied jokingly and both of them burst into laughter.

"And Piyush you too come along. Sharma sir told me how talented you are, and it was very pleasant discussing our work with you. I'll send you an invitation. Don't miss it." Mr. Rao said to Piyush very ardently.

"Yes sir, definitely." He managed to reply with a smile, fighting to pull himself out of the shock. "And it was really very polite of you to explain me everything step by step. It was really a pleasure to talk to you sir." This was all he could manage.

"Sure then, we will definitely meet on Friday." Mr. Rao shook hands with both of them and left.

They didn't say anything till they got near Piyush's bike. "Mr. Rao is quite impressed with you." Sharmaji finally broke the silence.

"Hmm.. but why that Sethi had to be so rude to you? I mean I was just walking down the lobby and his door was open, I saw what was visible, did not poke inside. I am sorry sir, I should never have asked you to bring me here. He insulted you because of me." He spoke his mind. He wanted to apologize Sharmaji for all that had happened, but could not find the perfect combination of words.

"See Piyush it's not your mistake. That man is a maniac and everybody hates him here. That was the only reason I was hesitating earlier. But fine, let it be, just forget it. You got to see the R&D and I met Mr. Rao. At the end of the day our job was done, who cares to come back again? Huh?"

"But sir he should not have spoken to you in that manner, I mean he should have, at least paid some respect towards you. And if everybody hates him here than you don't you complain about him at the highest level?"

"He is one of the highest level." Sharmaji paused for a moment and further added, "He has got those contacts and the dominating power, so we cannot do any wrong to him unless he himself calls for some trouble. Let it be, we are done with the R&D for the day, now let's go and finish the remaining work and go home." They left for their office and throughout Piyush was silent.

"Listen, I wanted you to get in contact with this good people here, Rao is really a nice person and he can be useful in case of a problem, you know the other people in the office are morons and you can't consider them as an important part of EI, but Rao is, and if you have connection with the right people at the right time, everything falls into place in the exact manner you want. Okay, so now forget Sethi and concentrate on what I just told you." Sharmaji said in a bid to lift up his mood.

They finished the remaining work and left around 7:00 p.m. Neither of them said a word about the afternoon. It was the understanding between the two which helped them keep things in their respective tummies. In office, Piyush would usually act like any other employee and everybody thought he was Sharmaji's bunny, as Sharmaji would ask him to pick up and drop him, to do his work and Piyush couldn't say no to him. But Piyush never paid any heed to all these things. He knew Sharmaji better than anybody else, and there was something special in him asking Piyush to do something. And Piyush always respected that.

They reached at Sharmaji's place and Radhika was sitting on Sneha's vehicle. She waved them. Although Piyush knew she would not miss a single opportunity to catch him off the guard again, but this was unexpected. She was now waiting for him at the entrance itself.

"Ok sir, good night. See you tomorrow," he waved Radhika good bye too.

"Wait." She shouted. "We were waiting for both of you from almost half an hour."

"Why?" asked her father.

"Because today your favorite elder daughter made _parathas_ for everyone. And we are not selfish enough to eat them all alone without offering you two a single bite."

"Sir I am leaving, we are already late." Piyush ignored her and said to Sharmaji, trying his desperate attempts to escape the situation. He sensed Radhika would drop another nuke on him anytime when they are inside.

"Umm.. Sneha made them personally, it's not every day she makes something like this and she was the one who insisted on waiting for you two, to arrive." She used all her emotional expressions and acted as a very innocent little girl.

" _Arre_ come on, it will hardly take twenty minutes to finish them off." It was Sharmaji now.

Piyush was now in a big dilemma. On one side he knew that Radhika would try to kill him inside on every given chance, and he will not be able to even take a look at Sneha in front of her preying eyes. On the other side, there were Sneha's hand made _parathas_. And how could he refuse an invitation of eating her handmade _parathas_? But there was one decisive solution in sight. He would at least, not a good one but at least get a small glimpse of his beautiful master chef. And on top of it, how could he even dare to disappoint Sneha, who was waiting for him for last half hour, the half hour now seemed like a half day to Piyush. _I kept her hungry for a full half an hour._

"Ohh come on, don't think so much and waste time." Radhika broke his thoughts and now his thinking increased rapidly. _Paratha? Sneha? Or Radhika's bunny? Paratha? Sneha? Or Radhika's bunny? Ok. Ok. I'll see Sneha, I'll eat her beautifully hand cooked parathas and I'll walk out as early as possible without giving Radhika any chance to raise any suspicion._ He had made up his mind.

They went in and Piyush was really hungry, but his hunger died immediately when he saw Sneha. She wore a plain black full sleeve t-shirt and checkered white shorts. Her hair were not tucked up in a clutcher but were just bundled with the help of a bow. This was a never seen before Sneha and Piyush was relieved to see Radhika not in the picture.

She pulled up her sleeve till the elbow and settled on the couch opposite Piyush. This sleeve pulling suddenly made her look more beautiful and it had a direct impact on him. _You are more beautiful than ever in something like this than the salwar-kurta you wore for office._ "So, how was the day?" She asked him interrupting his thoughts.

"Err.." he paused a while, wondering what to reply after the unexpected day and Sneha's question took him aback. "Fine, a bit hectic." He replied, thanking god for keeping Radhika out of it and sending Sharmaji inside to change. Now it was just the two of them and he didn't know what to do.

"Don't worry, my _parathas_ will help you get your energy back, provided you are alive after eating them." She said on a lighter note. _I got back my energy the moment you came in, and I was dead the very moment I saw you wearing something like this my love._

"Wait then, I'll get my insurance first before eating them." Piyush smiled with a perfect reply that he could think of in a couple of micro seconds.

"Oye.. am not such a bad cook huh! At least better than you." She jumped on the couch almost ready to get into a fight to defend her cooking skills. He observed every single expression and move she made while saying that. Her lips, eyes with raised eyebrows and the excitement with which she jumped and said 'oye.' He was surprised to see the altogether different and frank Sneha.

"You said you were going to kill me first and it's always good to make sure that you are insured before you die," he chuckled. "And you are anytime a better cook than me. I cannot even mix up the flour to make _parathas_ , you can at least make them."

"No, I just added everything, and mom mixed it for me, so I just rolled them, cut them into a perfect circle with a plate. That's it, even I am not good at it." She gave an honest reply that took him by surprise. Piyush was now comfortable with just the two of them.

"That's fine, we are even at cooking."

Sneha took the newspaper and went over it. Piyush took the chance and looked at her. He lowered his vision on her black tee, then the shorts. She sat on the couch with her legs crossed and his eyes stopped on them. _Damn! Damn! Damn! Where the hell is everybody gone? Why the fuck am I alone here in this room and why she wore shorts today?_ He couldn't help but stare her. He just couldn't take off his eyes from her.

"Where's everybody gone?" He finally broke the silence. He always wanted her alone in front of him, and today when she was there, he didn't know what to do, the shorts were creating additional trouble.

"Mom and Radhika are preparing the dishes and papa is changing." She replied shifting her attention from the newspaper.

"And how's your office?" He asked in a hope to keep the conversation alive.

"It's good, the work load is not big and sometimes I end up getting bored for the whole day." Piyush nodded.

"And hey how's Priti?" She was quick to come up with another question.

"She is fine." He was amused to know that Sneha knew he had a younger sister. "Busy in her own world." Before he could say anything further, Mrs. Sharma and Radhika entered with the _parathas_ and chutney.

"Well the lazy girl is sitting here, not even bothered to lend a helping hand in the kitchen." Radhika said to Sneha, giving Piyush an eye.

"I am tired ok! And you can AT LEAST SERVE IF NOT COOK." the elder one shot back. Mrs. Sharma signaled Piyush to ignore the cat fight. Sharmaji came with a pajama and loose t-shirt on.

"Piyush you are looking very fresh, how was the day?" Radhika asked Piyush deliberately. He looked at Sharmaji who was busy going through the newspaper.

"Normal. Actually a little tired, but I am glad you still find me fresh, that's great" Radhika was still glaring at him.

"Okay, now eat first and then talk." Mrs. Sharma tried to bring the kids under control. As soon as Piyush had his first bite Sneha immediately asked him "How's the taste? I think the salt is too much." Sneha came up with the very normal and usual question asked every time after the first bite. He swallowed it and gave a smile. "It's good. No problem with the salt."

"I thought that extra salt messed up everything" Sneha said and ate it.

"No, not at all. It's really amazing." Piyush could not find a perfect word to describe it as the whole Sharma family was looking at him. After the _parathas_ were done, he was in no position to eat anything at home.

"Thanks Sneha for the wonderful _parathas._ " He said that out of compulsion, as just bulking up and leaving would have been very rude. He loved the _parathas_ and wanted to say many things but the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Sharma and the dangerous Radhika restrained him from complimenting more, and all he could say were just the formal words. He went out and Radhika hurried after him to drop him till the gate.

"I thought you will kill me today." He said with a sigh of relief.

"No, I am not of that sorts okay!! You two were alone so I am not stupid enough to disturb you, alright?"

" _Arre yaar.._ " Piyush said sitting on his bike.

"What _Arre yaar_? I know you, okay? I have been observing you for a long time now, there is no hiding, in simple words, you are caught and dead. No chance to run away."

"Okay, you can observe me and think of whatever you want, I can't stop you. But I said _Arre yaar_ because I left my keys inside, can you please bring them for me?"

"Uggghhhh, go inside and come back again and go inside again, just because you forgot the keys inside. This is not how you treat an innocent girl." She said as she went inside.

"I know this is not the way to treat a girl but you are definitely not innocent." He said as she was about to leave. Radhika just turned back, smiled and was gone.

Piyush stood there on his bike and it was Sneha who appeared with the keys. "I thought Radhika was bringing them."

"Well.. she is the lazy daughter, not me." Sneha replied. She handed him the keys and it was the first time he looked straight into her eyes.

"Thanks," he said without looking away. But she did. Piyush was busy cherishing the touch of her soft hands when she handed him the keys. It was less than a second, but was the first time he touched her. _You perfect, sweet, gentle, soft, beautiful, not good at cooking girl, please marry me. I'll eat your parathas every day, my wife to be.. just say yes._ She was staring down at the ground with her hands folded to avoid the cold.

Piyush looked away and said, "Well it's quite cold outside, you should go in now." He told her, as she came out in shorts and only the black tee without anything warmer on. "And the _parathas_ were really a treat, I really loved them. Thanks." She gave a reluctant smile to herself. Piyush was now sure that something was on her mind.

"Yeah, it's really quite cold, and the _parathas_ were you know, 80% mom's help, but still I'll take the credit," she laughed.

"Okay. Good night see you tomorrow." He said and kicked his bike, because of the cold he had to kick 3-4 times until it started.

"It's really too cold, you want me to get you a sweater or something?" Sneha asked as Piyush did not wear anything. And although he was feeling it, it was a matter of proving his manliness in front of Sneha and he refused. "It's fine, just a five minute ride home and then directly in the blanket."

"But still, it is cold." She insisted, "So drive slowly and text me after you reach home. Bye." She waved with a smile. Piyush was now on cloud nine again. This was the first time in his 23 years of life, that a beautiful girl whom he loved, expressed so much care for him. Maybe that was just a casual 'bye', but for Piyush it was special. He too waved her and left. His move, to deliberately leave the keys inside had worked to perfection. A flawless gamble that even Radhika failed to notice.

## Chapter Nine

He reached home more excited than tired. "Hey you mother, I had dinner at Sharamji's place today. So I am going directly to bed." He said as if he was back from a battle.

"Shut up, don't interrupt and drink a glass of milk before you sleep." His mother, who was watching TV, shouted.

He checked Priti before going to bed, and the fever was still there. He patted on her forehead, but she pushed his hand away indicating 'just let me sleep' and he quietly slipped into his blanket. He switched off the light and lay there for a couple of minutes before it struck him all of a sudden. _No, no, not this time_. He took his phone and typed a message.

I reached home 15 minutes ago. Sorry for the late reply.

He punched himself on his knee for being so careless and sent the text. She had given him her number on Facebook. Without any hesitation, she had given him her contact number as soon as he asked. Although he never called or texted her frequently, it was only when he was busy somewhere and he had to ask Sneha to pick up her father.

He thought of the whole day, the amazing highly advanced R&D and the incredible work that was done inside, the polite Mr. Rao, the rude and ugly Sethi, the never seen before scared, panicked Sharmaji, the revelation by Radhika about him hitting on Sneha, her devil smile, a very natural simple sweet looking Sneha, her tasty _parathas_ , and the funny, surprising, care taking, shy side of Sneha which he witnessed that night.

The moment it came to Sneha his thought went into the details. Her simple plain black tee that Piyush thought was the cutest t-shirt he has ever seen his life, better than Priti's tops. Her checkered shorts that made it impossible for him to ignore her legs. Although he never had any wild thoughts about her, he couldn't stop himself from staring at each and every visible part of her body. He was getting into her more private details when his phone beeped. The beeps left him baffled and he immediately put it into vibration mode, fearing the sound would disturb Priti. It was Mrs. Piyush Mehta's message.

Its ok. Good night.

He went through the text thrice. _What should I do now? Text back good night or try to talk something?_ He decided to give it a try. He ignored the good night and typed

By the way, the taste of the parathas and chutney made up for the other things that you didn't do, like mixing it and perfect circular rolls.

He wanted to just talk to her for a while. Before, he was afraid of something like this, but today there was an excitement in the same thing. His phone vibrated and he opened the message even before the vibrations were over.

Keep it up. Texting huh? Smart move to get close! But one important thing before you proceed, SHE IS NOT THE ONE WHO WILL BE IMPRESSED BY JUST TEXT MESSAGES. SO DO FIND SOMETHING ELSE. Your well-wisher and beloved, Radhika Sharma.

Piyush was stunned from top to bottom after reading the text. He replied her

How did you get my number? And how do you know I am texting her?

His phone vibrated again, this time it was Sneha.

Thanks a lot Piyush. I am still learning all this. And this was the first time somebody else ate it. I mean other than the three of us. So I was a bit nervous.

Don't worry you will learn to do everything on your own after some practice. Just a couple of more paratha making sessions and you will be an expert. He replied.

_What am I doing? Shit, say something else..._ his phone vibrated and this time it was the younger Sharma devil.

Grow up. Got it from papa's cell. And I share the bedroom with Sneha, so just poked into her cell and saw your name. Who else would dare to flirt with her at this hour, and that too for her parathas? Someone as idiot as you. Fine, I will not intrude any more. You discuss your parathas.

Radhika you are too smart than you actually look, and now, you are banging me at every possible move. Great.

He began typing a reply

There is nothing like intruding, ok? And I am not flirting with Sneha, just encouraging her to make better parathas. Now would you please mind going to bed?

He sent the text and was waiting for Sneha's message. She was the only person he wanted to text but Radhika came in like an unexpected and extremely unwanted guest. Two minutes had passed since Sneha's message and Piyush's patience was on the verge of passing away. And so it did.

So how about your higher studies? Sir told me you wanted to go to the United States. How many days left in India?

Piyush never wanted Sneha to go away from him, not even for higher education. But he still pressed it. That was the only thing which could get a reply from her. It was the first time he was texting Sneha and he wanted to make the most of it. He kept the phone on his belly and it vibrated. _Yes. It worked._ He immediately saw his phone but it was Radhika, instead of Sneha.

You know what? You are not just an idiot but also a bad liar. And wait, she will reply. Don't bombard my sister with so many messages. At least let her pee. Give my sister some space Mr. Husband.

This was a straight shot on his head. He replied immediately without wasting a second

What??????

And so came the reply, without any delay.

Admit it. You are done now. Stop defending yourself. I know what her contact name in your cell phone is, MRS. PIYUSH MEHTA. Remember I asked you to send songs via Bluetooth? I used the old application that could hack into other's cell phone provided the Bluetooth is on. Old but effective technique against you. And it worked without giving you a hint of I what was up to. I checked your contacts to confirm my doubts. You are silly enough to do such a silly mistake in an excited situation. I hacked your phone. Saw the name and you were dead a month ago. I was just waiting for the post mortem which I am enjoying at the moment. Now bring those raised eyebrows down. She is back and will text you. Don't worry I won't kill you at once. But I will certainly make your life difficult. GOOD NIGHT and happy messaging MR. PIYUSH MEHTA.

After reading the lengthy detailed text, he still had his eyebrows raised and heart pounding. He had lost the battle even before it began. Piyush felt like had just been slapped hard and being kicked on his balls at the same time. There was pain everywhere. He texted Radhika a simple good night. There was nothing else left to say.

I know I am the bitch right now. But I am thoroughly enjoying it. Don't worry it's just between you and me. I will not do something as stupid as 'saving her name as Mrs. Piyush Mehta.' So you can play your cards smartly.

This was the last message from Radhika which added more fuel to Piyush's badly burnt soul. His phone, the room and the night, everything was quite for a moment. His phone vibrated and this time it was Mrs. Piyush Mehta's message. _I really, am a dumb._ He opened it.

I don't think I'll be leaving India anytime soon. There is a small delay for now.

He was relieved to get a reply.

Why? The early you leave the better it is for you.

He replied, keeping the thoughts about previous messages with Radhika aside.

You know how mothers are. Firstly mom doesn't want me to go away. And even if I still want to, she said wait here, stay with me for some time before you go. And she is right, I was away from home for graduation, so she wants to spend some time with me. Secondly, papa said there is a financial problem so I have no choice but to wait.

Piyush was astonished to get such a personal message from her. He was not expecting Sneha to share something like financial problem with him. _Today is the first time I am talking to this girl so frankly and she is telling me everything like I know her since childhood._ He did not have reply for this message. Nobody had ever shared something like this with him ever before. Not even his parents.

I don't know what to say Sneha. But you know, Sharma sir, mam, you and Radhika are the only people who actually involve me in their happiness and anything that you people have here. So the only thing I can offer you is some savings that I've made. I have got a job here, so no problem at all. But it's a matter of your education and we can't ignore this. I can't do much, but maybe I can contribute with my savings.

This was an honest reply from Piyush. There was nothing impressive or any other trick to act smart in front of her. It came right from the bottom of his heart and he immediately typed and sent it. Till morning she was just a girl whom Piyush loved a lot. By evening he got to know another side of Sneha that was very simple and funny. But now she was a friend too, and the financial crises message that she sent him, changed his perception towards Sneha. All he wanted to do was to be honest. He sent her another message.

Sneha if you want, we can discuss this later. This is not something that can be discussed on messages. Do you want me to call you tomorrow? I come to pick sir almost 3-4 times a week, you should have told me all this before. From here on if there is any problem please don't hesitate to tell me.

By the time he sent the message there was already one message in his inbox.

Piyush, you are very much part of the family. That's why I told you about this problem. And you don't worry at all. Keep the savings for Priti. I don't know how to react, but what you just said about helping me with your savings was really silly, I laughed at it first, but it means a lot to me. Thank a lot. Nobody ever extended their help to this extent so selflessly.

There was another text waiting. He opened the other one too.

I always felt like life in Bilaspur was lonely, boring, all the friends that I had are now at different places and I am not in contact with them so much. But I just found out that I had a friend who visited my place so often and yet I failed to recognize him. But am glad now that finally I have a friend, who is even ready to give his all savings so that I can go out and complete my studies, thanks Piyush, thanks a lot you are there. And yes I will not hesitate to share any problems hereafter.

Piyush was letting the feeling sunk in after reading the messages when another message came.

And please don't attempt something out of the world by talking anything regarding this with papa. It's just between you and me for now. Now go get some sleep. Papa told me you had a tiresome day. I'll talk to you later. Good night. Take care <3.

Piyush did not take too long to reply this one, although typing the heart sign needed more courage.

Good night dear. Don't worry, everything will fall in place.

He pressed the sent button and closed his eyes with satisfaction. There was a very good feeling inside. Sneha was not just a close friend now but someone who considered him as a part of her family.

The night was cold and he was too exhausted to get up and take another blanket. The girl he loved the most, he was close to her heart in a single day. That was indeed a big day for Piyush Mehta with full of ups and downs that finally ended on a life time high.

## Chapter Ten

Majeed was tall, powerful, bald and had a cobra tattoo on the back of his skull. He had brown eyes and his skin always remained pale. He looked like a sick young guy who had an unbelievably fit physic. Although the physical appearance said something else, but before the other person could figure out what was happening, Majeed was quick enough to pin down three- four heavily build men. He had learned martial arts and would use them accurately against a heavy muscled man. Just three four short moves and the opponent would be on the ground.

Majeed was very low profile, would work alone, and before every task he would try all possible situations and worked out with the best. For every big mission he would carry a SWOT analysis and then go ahead with an appropriate plan whereas in case of small ones, it was just a kill and go. Majeed had done his psychology studies and was very good at studying human behaviors in case of panic. His predictions were near perfect and he used them every time to keep a check on the situation before taking care of his business. He made every move with precise calculations and was always a step ahead of the cops. He always hired local young boys. There never was a scope of error for them, as Majeed, the name itself was sufficient enough to be very careful. The fear did the rest.

Majeed was careful enough to sneak away from the police, but he was recognizable to the people it actually mattered. Almost everybody knew who he was and how he looked, yet he was invincible. He approached those who were desperate yet patient and skilled. He paid them good, made them do the work and never hired them back again. For some goons, getting a chance to work with Majeed was a once in a life time experience, that they had been waiting for. The ones, who did get to work with him, couldn't tell anything other than how he looked and what he asked them to do. Majeed always gave them only that information which the police would eventually find out in the investigation. In most of the cases, they were asked to keep an eye on the person, and the person always turned out to be the victim. They never dared to tell when they were actually working with him. Everybody publicized their 'Majeed experience' only after the work was done.

" _Utho, 7:30 baj gaye,_ " his mother said softly keeping in mind not to the disturb Priti.

"Hmm..!" replied the lazy Mehta lad. But the previous day had done a huge impact on him and just for the sake of being a 'responsible man,' he woke up without any further resistance. He checked his phone and there was a big message. It was a message from Mrs. Piyush Mehta. An early morning message that brought a broad smile on his face.

Good morning Piyush. I'll pick up papa while coming back. So you just drop him to office now. Don't worry about the evening. Have a nice day.

Every time there was something about picking and dropping, Sharmaji himself would communicate, but today it was Sneha's message. He immediately replied.

Good morning Sneha. Fine I'll pick him up.

The early morning message had charged up Piyush. He woke up, pulled an extra blanket on Priti, got ready without bothering much about how he looked. But he looked the same as he would after bothering a lot. He was ready as his mother served him breakfast. Surprisingly, it was _Paratha_. He thought about the previous night's episode. How he appreciated Sneha for her _parathas_ , and his mother had been doing all the things right from his birth, she was there for him every time but he never appreciated her for that, never thanked her or never thought about it. For Sneha he was so excited and for his mother, it was an everyday business that he never paid any serious heed to. Now both the important ladies of his life had made the same thing, and he realized how foolishly he ignored his mother's love in the small things that she did for him every day.

There was a sense of guilt in his eyes and he couldn't look into her eyes with it. She was sitting on the chair opposite him reading a newspaper article on a new recipe. He finished breakfast and did not say anything. The guilt didn't allow him. He felt like appreciating his mother too, but couldn't say a word. He was confused, he stood up, hugged her from behind, kissed her on the cheek, said 'bye.'

"What is wrong with you today? A surprise hug? Everything alright?" She asked him still coming to terms with what Piyush had done. Piyush couldn't utter a word. His eyes were teary and he somehow fought them. He tied his shoelace and left in a hurry. "Idiot, I too love you," his mother said, laughing from behind. He drove slowly today than he usually did. There were mixed feelings. He was at peace, satisfied with Sneha in mind, and there was guiltiness for ignoring his mother all the time. He never did that deliberately, but the 'Sneha effect' made him think of the small simple things in life.

The leaving hurriedly, made him miss one of the most important daily routine things before leaving. _I should have gone to toilet before leaving._ He had found a space where he could urinate without any disturbance. He avoided going to the washroom directly after reaching the office. Once, he was busy releasing the pressure and a street dog came close to him. Piyush was so scared that he couldn't control the flow and had to move away from the dog leaving a horizontal trail. From then onwards, he always made sure that there was no human or animal presence at the place where he urinated, and that incident gave him a new artistic way of relieving himself.

He would always draw some figure with the water supply in a small attempt of improving his single attempt drawing skills. And because of no human presence there would not be any awkwardness in the different movements he would make. He had found this 'his place' and whenever in case of an emergency, he would pay a short visit. He unzipped and started. Like most of the time he tried carving down his name with his 'golden ink,' but the power supply went off before he could finish it and ended his name without an 'h' in it. _Next time I'll have to let the pressure increase so that the tanker will have enough firepower to complete the full spelling._ He looked at the incomplete name. pnyus. _Whatever happens, I'll give the dot first, on the 'i' next time._

He went to Sharmaji's place, there was nothing special today. Sneha did come out, but normal smile and 'hi'. Radhika was nowhere in sight and they left for office. They reached office and Piyush did some warm up work for the day.

"Hello Piyush! Good morning." Nandini Sahu said. She was the head of the finance department of the Bilaspur branch. Sahu 37, was too good looking for her age and most of the people who didn't know she was married, were left heartbroken after they found it. Their broken heart was then baked in the oven when they got to know that she was a mother of two. Piyush too went through the same process like everyone else. But even after knowing everything, he still had a huge crush on her.

'She is just too hot to ignore,' was what he had told Priti, to which she had replied with a disgusted look, 'at least leave the married women _yaar_ ,' and Piyush again defended himself saying 'all the people in office find her hot.'

'Go live with them then. Learn to pay some respect towards women Piyush, at least you will grow up as a good man if not a great one.' Discussion on some controversial topic always ended with Priti emerging victorious and Piyush would promptly follow what she would ask him to. But with Nandini Sahu, it was an exception.

"Good morning Nandini mam." He replied with a smile.

"Seems like you are getting into the league of big people, huh? You have got an invitation for Friday's function. Here it is, Mr. Rao gave handed it to me." She passed him a small envelope that had his name on it.

"Umm.." He paused, unaware of how to react. "That's great, actually not in the big people league. Sharma sir took me to the R&D yesterday and I met him there, so he might have invited me too."

"That's really good then, because many people are supposed to come so you will be having a good time with lots of food and drinks." She replied blinking an eye.

"But I don't know anyone there, only Sharmaji and Mr. Rao. So I am going to end up standing in a corner alone." He said frankly looking at the invitation. First it looked great. This was the first time he had his name printed in something other than his university degree and results. But now, the same printed invitation was a matter of concern for him, as he actually had to attend the party where he'll be with 'big people,' and no idea as who they would be.

"Wait. Who said Sharmaji and Mr. Rao will be the only people you know, I am also coming." She said as he left her out of the important list. "But don't worry; I'll be there to accompany you in the corner then, as I too don't know many people. So we'll stay together on your debut, ok?" She assured him.

"Ya sure. But I have not been to a big party like this before, so you will be having a pretty boring company." He said again looking at the invitation, now with a heavy heart.

"Don't worry, you are not that boring, and you will realize this when you will be there. There are bigger boring people in the big league too. You just get ready for some lavish high end time. At least I am going to do that and take my advice, you should also do that. Okay, I have some work now, will catch you later." She left. She had come all the way to his cubicle to give him the invitation which was very genuine, keeping in mind the difference between her and Piyush's designation.

He looked at the invitation card now. It was not a party, it was a function hosted for the R&D team's achievement. The chairman of the company Mr. Mohnish Goyal and the vice chairman Mr. Vicky Singhal were the big dignitaries who were supposed to attend it. The two people didn't go out on many occasion. _So if these two are coming, then this is too big a function. And this is a function, whereas I was saying party, party through out in front of Nandini mam. Damn it. Height of stupidity._ Piyush now got the gravity of the function that was to be held. _What am I supposed to wear, there is no dress code here and I don't even have a suit to wear. In case I was married, that one might have come in handy, but now what? Sneha why don't you marry me?_ From nowhere, the thought ended up on coming to Sneha.

For the next fifteen minutes he kept thinking about what to wear on Friday to look perfect and then he realized how difficult it is for a woman to finalize a single dress and get ready for a function. _The pressure to look good takes away so many efficient hours_. And he too was feeling that pressure. He decided to take the matter to 'master' Priti as she was the only last resort on for such a calamity. For the whole day, Sharmaji was busy in his work and he could not talk to him about the function. There was nothing special that took place throughout the day other than the invite. He took Sharmaji's permission to leave early and got home by 5:30 p.m.

## Chapter Eleven

"So early, have you been thrown out of the company?" His father, who opened the door asked him.

"Coming home early doesn't mean I am thrown out. It was an odd day where I had no work to do and Sneha was coming to pick up Sharmaji, so I got back home instead of sitting idle." His mother was ready with a glass of water by now and he gulped it down. There was something that was eating him inside and he didn't know what it was.

"Tired?" She asked him.

"Ya.. maybe.. I don't know, just not feeling well." He gave multiple answers.

" _Garam Garam chai banau_?" She asked him, "Or you want a hug and kiss?"

"I think both will do." She hugged and kissed her son.

" _Buddhey umar ho gayi teri!_ " Now it was his father who wanted to make fun of him by taking advantage of his tried situation.

"As if you are just 20 years old huh?" He was ready with a reply "And mom just turned 17 yesterday, right?" He asked her. That was the best option to keep his father in control. Whenever his father tried to take advantage of any situation, he always used his most powerful weapon, bring his mother in it. And his father would back off easily.

"Sixteen." She replied with a loud voice.

"Mom, from last 4-5 years you have been 16. Move on now, it's common. 17 looks good." He went near his father deliberately and said, " _Satra pe khatra_. Wife is the only thing that a man is afraid of, and she is my mother so a soft corner for me. Now if you want to continue it, than face her along with me." That's it. As soon as he pulled 'the wife plug', his father gave up and Piyush went in his room with a triumph. Priti was sitting on the bed watching TV.

"How are you feeling now?" He asked her removing his shirt and threw it away in the laundry bag.

"Fine. How come you got to sneak home early today?" He told her the same story that he had told his parents a few minutes ago and pulled the pillow behind her and kept it under his head. He checked her forehead.

"No fever, that's great" He ruffled her already disturbed hair. Priti who was quietly watching TV till now, yelled at him immediately.

"Don't you dare touch them and give me my pillow." His head being right in front of her, helped more as she gave away fury of 5-6 quick slaps on his cheeks and forehead "It's very bad to disturb a girl's hair". Piyush was covering his face to avoid one more slap, got up, and as soon as he was near the bathroom replied, "But I didn't disturb any girl's soft silky hair, that was just a bird's nest," and immediately closed the door.

"Come out and you are dead." She shouted.

But nothing violent happened after he got back. His mother brought him tea and he lay on the bed watching TV with his sister. She kept changing the channels and he didn't say anything. He kept staring at the TV and was quitter than usual. Nothing wrong had happened that day, but still something was missing that even he could not find out.

"What's wrong? Too quiet and low today, any bang bang from your Sharmaji in office today?" Priti enquired.

"No, nothing like that. I don't know what's wrong. Just want to end the day early by going to bed now. Don't even feel like having dinner." He replied honestly without avoiding her question, wondering how she could read his mind.

"You want to go out for walk? What say?" She asked pulling both his ears lightheartedly.

He knew that she was not well, but whatever it was that was missing, he knew only a walk with Priti could help find it. Sneha, his mother, the invitation, Sharmaji, he didn't know what it was, but something was there.

"Can you manage?" He asked her.

"Yes, but not a long one." She was sure that something was really affecting him.

"Let's go," he said and got up, "And make yourself a bit. The bird's nest is making you more funny and ugly." He added.

"Shut up, that's none of your business. It's my problem how I look." She argued.

The brother-sister duo was out for a walk, with the sister in a pink sweater.

"You look pretty in this sweater." He said.

"Stop flirting around. You are not smart enough to impress me." She replied immediately not paying any heed to the compliment.

Why do all the girls in the world think I am not smart or an idiot? Sneha never thought it, but the way she texted 'don't attempt anything out of the world' meant I could be an idiot who could attempt anything till that extent. Radhika proved that I am an idiot. So no doubt on her. And Priti always say I am not smart enough. I mean what's wrong with all the girls, except Radhika? Do they even remember the definition of being smart?

Whenever either of them had any problem they would go out for a walk and it helped as they could easily speak it out without disturbance and the other would react considering all the circumstances. And most of the time it was Piyush who had some or the other issue and Priti would show him a way out. They walked a few yards where three children were playing football with a small plastic ball.

"How can these boys play football with such a small plastic ball?" Priti asked on a lighter note realizing that Piyush was already upset and her 'not being smart enough' comment dampened his mood a bit.

"They can even attempt table tennis on the dining table with a cricket ball and badminton racquet if permitted." He replied like an expert telling countless facts. They went further where there was a small bench and sat down.

Finally Priti asked, "So why are you making a face as if you are being beaten up in the office and sent home for not doing homework?"

And Piyush started it, thus realizing what was wrong. "Yesterday I was texting Sneha and.."

"Sneha?? Sharamji's daughter?" Priti interrupted.

"Ya, and she told me that she is delaying her higher studies because of some financial problem."

Priti was taken aback. She did not have any answer to this. She looked at her brother who was staring at the ground meaninglessly.

"I mean how can such an established man have a financial problem, that too for his daughter's education? Even Sneha's got a job. I know that man makes shit load of money and owns a Mercedes, and still she complains that her father is having a financial problem. I mean, I would have sold the car if I had a problem for my daughter. And she told me all this, I can't even help her Pittu. It's just so.." He paused. Priti was letting all his emotions come out first.

"Tell me what your matter of concern is? Sharmaji owner of a luxury car, very established man and suffering from financial crises? Or his daughter Sneha?" She asked.

"Both." He replied.

"And what is more important?" now Priti was acting as if she was the elder one.

"Of course, Sneha." He replied in a hurry as if about to break down. Priti held his hand and said, "Okay.. so this is a 'falling in love' matter?" She gave a gentle punch on his stomach.

"I don't know, maybe." He replied. They sat there for some time without discussing anything and then left.

He had a quiet dinner. Priti knew that he felt something for Sneha, it was a complicated situation and he could not express it. He sent Sneha a good night message and she replied immediately. Priti was worried about one thing, that Piyush was never this tensed before. She told him not to get too carried away and refrained him from texting her too much. She also told him that if she wants to discuss anything about the financial problem than phone is not the right place. It was the first time he was in love, and Priti was trying hard to make sure that Piyush doesn't end up getting hurt too badly, if something goes wrong. Because, it would just be a bad past relationship for Sneha, but for Piyush it would be a disaster.

It was clear to Priti that he was totally into Sneha, which was good. Being loyal, helping, supporting and honest in love, but that was the only thing which worried her too. It was just one day since she told Piyush about her problems and Piyush was worried as if he was Sneha's father, not Sharmaji. She could not see her brother disturbed so much and that too for a girl he had barely known for 24 hours.

## Chapter Twelve

For the next two days Priti told him not to think of Sneha and not to text her back. And in front of his strict sister, he followed her instruction like a small puppy with a dancing tail. There was less work for Piyush on both the days. Sharmaji paid least attention to Piyush and did not even talk to him on Thursday. Sneha dropped and picked up her father both the days. She texted Piyush only good night but he did not reply to that too. His 'master' Priti had told him to wait and watch if Sneha was really interested in him or was just using him as a shoulder to cry on, which Piyush found very insane. He was angry at Priti, but she asked him to trust her rather than directly letting his heart break down into pieces. When he finally lost his cool and asked her to stop all that she was doing, she replied

"I have never seen you so serious or worried about anything except for me or mamma-papa. So just shut up and listen to what I am saying. You are madly in love with a girl who was just your crush till last week. And now, all of a sudden she is your responsibility? Her problems are your problems? You are spending sleepless nights and that too just after she told you that you are her close friend?? Hello!! Wake up. Don't let yourself lose the YOU for another person. Let that person keep the YOU in YOU. And YOU are important to me more than that Sneha. You are an idiot ok? So don't go for a girl about whom you are even not sure whether she loves you or not. It might just be infatuation. I don't want you to be worried for such a reason that is not even related to you. It's her problem, she will take care of it. So you stop your heart from pumping so fast for no reason. Is that clear? If no, tell me, I'll hit something on your head so that the problem will be fixed."

Her high profile lecture went directly into his head and he had no option but to say 'yes'. He was still trying to figure out why she said powerful YOU's so many times and was angry at her calling him an idiot right on his face. She later told him to wait for Sneha's call and he had no choice but to do so. Meanwhile Radhika too texted him, but he did not reply.

On Friday after a huge discussion with Priti, she forced him to keep it very simple and professional yet casual and he was standing in front of the mirror in a plain white shirt, black trousers, well-polished shoes, with one of Priti's perfume. It was a ladies one, but had better fragrance than the ones he had. He tried many hairstyles and after finalizing, saved the coolest for the office washroom. He had usual breakfast and told everyone about the huge function that he was attending. He pulled over a jacket to protect his well ironed shirt. There was no call from his senior or his daughter so he went directly to the office. He saw Nandini mam in a simple _salwar-kameez_. _Don't tell me you are not coming, you are the only person I know there and Sharmaji and Rao sir will be busy attending other people._

"Nandini mam, are you not coming to the function tonight?" He did not even bother to greet her with a good morning.

"I am coming. Why?" She asked, surprised.

"Err.. no I thought..." He fumbled to find the right words to put them in a proper manner. "I mean are you going directly or through home?" He found the combination of words that made it look like a question, which did not directly mean whether she will be wearing 'this _salwar-kameez_ ' for the function.

"No, of course I'll go home first, get ready and then go. What about you?" She asked.

_What about me? I am a super idiot. I have to attend a big function tonight and I am ready from the morning itself._ "I will be going directly mam." He replied, shameful to even look at her and talk.

"Then do one thing. We will go to my place first, I'll get ready and then we will head for the function. You okay with that?"

"Ya, but what if Sharmaji asks me to go with him?"

This was a very simple and unexpected question from him that made Nandini Sahu laugh. "Piyush he is too busy and since Mr. Goyal and Singhal are here, he doesn't even have a minute for us today. He won't be asking you." She knew he would pick and drop him often and the question from Piyush came out very innocently. "Today you don't have to worry about him." She said and patted him on his shoulder.

"Okay mam, I'll come with you." He laughed and turned for his cubicle.

"I'll give you a call before we leave. See you then." She paused and said, "By the way, you are looking good. I'll be having a gentleman's company tonight for sure." This came with a smile. Piyush blushed and was too busy in his own thoughts to reply.

_She said you are looking good. I should have been to Sharmaji's place so Sneha could also have seen me. And I'll be a gentleman's company to the bombshell Nandini mam. Wooo hooo. It can't get better than this. Damn it Piyush. You just nailed it my man._ He secretly pumped his fist in his pocket. For the whole day he kept a check on his looks and went to the washroom 7 times to get a look in front of the mirror. Pulled his shirt from every possible angle to make sure it was perfect and wrinkle free. _I think this is the reason why women visit washroom so often. I mean every one of them don't have to pee so often. To check the mirror, adjust their clothes, etc., etc. Cracked the code young man. Keep it up. For me it's just today, but they do it every day. Anyways, hats off to their consistency._

The good looks, Sahu mam's compliment, and the rare discovery of why women might be using washroom so often took Piyush on a totally different level of high. He was so excited that he couldn't control himself anymore. _Whatever Pittu, I am sorry._ He picked up his phone and dialed Mrs. Piyush Mehta. He had found a good topic to discuss today, 'Sneha are you coming to the function?' Piyush was riding high on his emotions and was no more the boy who was scared of talking to her or the one who went speechless. _Come on pick up the phone darling, I have so many things to say, just pick it up._

She answered and before he could say anything she began, "Hello Piyush! Where are you? I was waiting for your message or phone call, not even a single reply. What happened? You ok?" After listening to her tensed, panicked voice, all his high end emotions reached the total opposite of the word 'high' and he had no answer. _My sister told me to stay away from you, and check whether you are using me or not. But I couldn't control my emotions and called you. I love you._

"Hello! Can you hear me?" She asked again from the other end. He panicked and hung up. He could feel his heart pounding. _Why the hell in the world I hung up the phone?? Why didn't I say anything?_ His phone rang again, it was Sneha's call. He gained control this time and answered. "Hello."

"What? Zero balance?" She asked. _I am not that low to not to have any balance and call you. At least not in the initial stages of our love story_.

"No, some network problem here in office." He lied.

"Where are you yaar? Are you ok?" There was concern in her voice and that helped his heartbeats go back to normal.

"Actually Priti was suffering from viral fever, so could not reply to your messages." This time, he partially lied.

"How's she now?"

"Fine, that's why I called you."

"Ok." And then there was the awkward silence which both of them hated.

"So, are you coming for the function tonight?" He finally used his weapon for the day.

"No, papa is not taking me with him. Actually none of us, and never does. I don't remember going out with him for an official function from last two years. Your boss is actually a bad father huh!" She laughed at her own joke.

"It's not like that." He choked again. There were so many things lined up inside ready to come out of his throat, but he just failed to.

"You are going, right?" _How come the every line she speaks turns into a question? Sometimes multiple questions._ He thought, and decided to take a chance.

"Yeah, but I am totally alone. No company at all. It's going to be a killing time. Sharma sir and Sahu mam are the only people I know there, and both of them will be busy for the whole evening."

"Enjoy then, don't worry you will definitely find something to be occupied. It's just a matter of few hours, go, move around here and there, give away fake smiles to unknown people, have little chats, eat a lot, drink less and come home."

_Wish you would be waiting home. I would never leave in the first place._ "Ya.. let's see." He paused and continued, "Wish you were there, could have found something to discuss and if not anything, then your _parathas_ are always there." Both of them laughed. "Hmm..!!" She replied.

"Hmm..!" He too did the same thing. He never knew how to react when a girl said 'hmm' on the phone. Many of his cousins would say it, so he would always reply 'hmm' to that.

Again there was the awkward silence and Piyush was out of his arsenal now. But it was Sneha who broke the silence this time.

"Maybe we can go sometime later, when you get some time from your work, then we can discuss my _parathas_." She said. This was an open invitation for Piyush. He did not want to let this opportunity go, he was in full control and tried to grab this chance with both the hands.

"Yeah sure, you tell me when and where to meet to discuss the _parathas_?"

"I'll text you about it at night. Do reply, ok. Have to go now, urgent work. Sorry." She hung up. For a moment it looked like it was Sneha who wanted to meet him, and now, as if it was a mistake. Piyush failed to understand this behavior of disconnecting the phone. He was still trying to figure out what it might mean, when he received her message.

Sorry Piyush. Senior called me. Have some important work. So hung up like that. Will text you without fail tonight. sorry again.

He read the message. _Was I mad at you? Am I going to hurt you, punish you, slap you? No need for an explanation with two sorries. Anyways, thanks for clearing my mind. I thought I went wrong somewhere._ He went to the washroom again to check how the outfit was and after an hour, received a call from Nandini mam and they went to her place as decided.

# Part two: The Downfall

## Chapter Thirteen

Rawat was busy making the arrangements. As soon he got the call, he had started his work along with three of his colleagues. They were busy giving a series of commands to an unmanned submarine when Rawat received another call. He answered, this time not bothering about the presence of others around him.

"Are you ready?" The man asked as soon as he answered the call.

"Sir, we need another 3-4 hours. It's impossible to assemble things so fast without obtaining confirmation about the accuracy of the predicted results."

"I don't care about accuracy, set a margin of error and finish it. All I want is result, accuracy of the impact is not my matter of concern. All I want is an impact. A powerful one." He cleared his throat and continued "I want you to get over with it right now. I don't have more time."

"But sir, if we start everything right now, the ship will not get enough time to reach the port." Rawat replied, more panicked and frustrated than he was after the first call.

"The ship is on its own, that's not my business to worry about. And we too will have to suffer some damage, if it has to look clean, so if it has to, the ship must sink. So be it. I am sending a chopper for you, and you will leave the vessel in an hour, you, and your team of three. Is that clear?"

"But sir, what about the crew and others onboard?" Rawat asked, now frightened, instead of frustrated.

"I told you, there is always some collateral damage, or it might raise suspicions. And if the ship is lucky, they might end up getting stuck instead of sinking. So there is always hope for them. The chopper will be there in an hour. I want you to be ready with your work done."

"Yes sir." Rawat replied and the call was over.

Rawat gave some commands on the computer and was packing his belongings when the captain of the ship asked him "Sir, any plans to go fishing?"

"No, not today, we have to go to the headquarters immediately; they are sending a helicopter, so no fishing for now." He replied as casually as he could, trying to avoid the worried look on his face. He made a call before heading for the deck.

"Sir, we are a go."

"Good, pack your stuff, the chopper is on its way." The man replied.

The chopper arrived in the next twenty minutes and Rawat, with three others was ready to leave the ship. As he boarded, he turned around to see the crew and other personnel, feeling guilty for abandoning them, knowing that chances of their survival were less. Within minutes, they were in air, heading back home.

A young girl opened the door and Piyush understood she was the maid. Nandini mam's house was not the one provided by the company, but was a private apartment. Even after being a busy person, it was well maintained as compared to his room. Her two sons, Amit 6 and Aman 4 were sleeping. Nandini mam disappeared inside as he settled on the couch with the newspaper. He turned the newspaper pages, a big heading appeared. **Mohnish Goyal to visit Bilaspur for an historic announcement.** _And I am the one attending the historic announcement's function_. He ignored the whole news as if it was just an interview given by him and there was nothing new in it. He finished the paper within 10 minutes giving more than half of the time to the entertainment page like any other youngster.

_Damn. Women really take a lot of time to get ready._ He was about to start blaming her, but then he too had been to the washroom 8 times and was constantly taking care of his looks. Instead, he started thinking about how much time actresses might be taking to get ready. And hence the amount of time Nandini mam was taking was considerable enough.

Nandini mam immerged with a set of keys in her hand. _Bomb.. you are a super sex bomb. Now I know why all the men in office are crazy for you, but after this, I am super crazy_. She wore a red _saree_ , with gold colored embroidery on it. The blouse had more than sufficient exposure of the back and the damn designer made sure that any man, whether lusty or not, would not miss the perfectly exposed cleavage. A clever design that acted like a magnet for the male eyeballs. _Long live the designer, God bless you_. Piyush was all praise for the designer.

"Let's go, we'll reach there early so that we can have our own comfort zone." She sat on the couch to wear her wrist watch. She had put on more make up but was careful enough to keep it well away from the 'too much' limit. And it worked. For any person who didn't know her, she looked five years younger.

"Ya, sure mam." He took his time and finally said, "You are looking beautiful in the _saree_ mam."

"Oh, thank you Piyush," she laughed. "But my children don't find me so beautiful, for them their superheroes and cartoon characters are the best." Piyush smiled. More than Nandini mam, it was he, who was blushing after complimenting her. She went inside again. _It's just a matter of 10-15 years, if I had taken birth then, they would have been our children. And you would have been my beautiful wife._

They left in a blue color ford, and he was amazed by the fact that she owned another car than her usual WagonR. She brought the WagonR daily and the car meant she was present in the office. He thought that the ford might belong to her husband, like scooty belonged to his family and bike to him. _I too have 2 two-wheelers, it's just a matter of another four wheels._

They reached the R&D arena but Piyush was confused where they would conduct a function and how. Guests had started arriving and the parking was packed.

"It's almost packed," he said looking around. Nandini mam who was busy driving didn't reply. He said many things after watching the plush cars and every time he told Nandini mam, his eyes would go down at least once, the designer's work was doing its job. Finally they parked and at last she spoke.

"Ya. All who's who are present here. And the worst thing is, we don't know any of them. But again this is the double edged sword for us. If we don't know them, they too don't know us, so for them, we are also who's who." She explained it to him in a lighter way. Although he found it complicated but that did make sense. "So don't worry even if this your first big outing, just act as if it's not new. Stay calm." She further added after sensing he was too nervous.

"The only functions I attended before this were wedding functions, birthday parties of some friends and colleagues, and college annual functions." He replied honestly.

"That's totally fine, you will be comfortable in 10-15 minutes once we are in. After that just enjoy the drinks, dinner and we are home." She replied as if she was also there to just eat and drink in an attempt to make him comfortable.

_Dinner, that's what I am here for, I am not going to miss it at any cost._ He made sure that his stomach was empty enough to make the most of the evening. Both of them showed their invitation cards to the guard. Nandini mam took hers out of the clutch bag, and Piyush from his wallet. Her card was as it was, perfect, neat, whereas Piyush's was folded from one of the corners and had wrinkles all over it. Since it was in his wallet from the day he got it, the bum effect had given it a concave mirror shape.

They went into the auditorium and he realized that something was there to attend before the dinner. And he remembered the events given in the invitation. _Speeches, press conference and then dinner. Shit. long way to go._ The atmosphere inside was very composed. He felt more comfortable now. _What else is hidden here inside_. He wondered, as the auditorium was not part of the tour he had with Sharmaji on Monday. Nandini mam was searching their seats while Piyush was following her, searching for any face he knew. And he found three of them. Sharmaji, Mr. Rao and Sethi. All of them were dressed in black suits. Piyush imagined how stupid it would look if he had to pick up Sharmaji on his bike for such a function. He was busy discussing something with Mr. Rao whereas Sethi was talking with the vice chairman. _Give me one chance and I'll tear apart your whole suit you son of a bitch._ He thought, staring at Sethi. But all of them were too busy to even look at him.

Nandini mam found their seats. Around 10-15 men were staring her and at one point Piyush stared back at a man who then looked away. All of a sudden he was very possessive about his senior. _She is with me._ He gave that look to everyone who was staring her, but more than half of them, didn't even give Piyush or his gaze any heed.

"Here is our team." Nandini mam said cheerfully after spotting their seats. Piyush was surprised to see that Sharmaji's name was also with them. _Are we sitting with the biggies or Sharmaji sitting here with us? Whatever, at least me and Nandini mam are not alone_. He was very much relieved to see his favorite seniors sitting with him.

"We are not late." He said looking at the half filled auditorium. He felt special as he was the only one from his office after Sharmaji and Nandini mam to get an invitation, although it was just because Mr. Rao invited him. To get a chance to be present on such a big occasion was a big thing. In the next 15 minutes the auditorium was almost full and all the people were so sophisticated, that Piyush didn't even look into their eyes. To his left was the stunning Nandini mam, and Sharmaji on his right. Nearly all the people were dressed in suits and Piyush was one of the few who wore just a shirt-trousers. The others sans suit were 5-7 old gentlemen who Piyush thought would be either politicians, or some who's who, as explained to him by Nandini mam. _I am the only pumpkin here._

After some time he asked Nandini mam like a small bored child asked his mother, "How much more time?"

"It should start within minutes now. It's too boring, I know." She replied again asserting Piyush that he was not alone. He kept reading the messages that Sneha had sent him since they started messaging and gave surprising, tensed facial expressions, trying his best to create an impression of being a busy man. Nandini mam made a phone call and he overheard the conversation. The call was made to the maid to enquire about her children. He wondered how caring person she was. Since they reached the function, she never made Piyush feel like he was attending the function for the first time, and had made every possible attempt to make him feel comfortable. She was still on the phone when Sharmaji came and settled down. And without wasting a single second, he asked him.

"How did you reach here _beta_?"

"I came with Nandini mam, sir." He replied with a much secured feeling now. Sharmaji addressing ' _beta_ ' made things simpler. The chairman and the vice chairman came on the dais. Nandini mam hanged up phone and greeted Sharmaji. The host was an elderly woman who gave a small speech and the introductory formalities took place.

## Chapter Fourteen

Mohnish Goyal was a 58 year old polite gentleman. This was something Piyush knew about him. But the way in which EI was growing, he understood that Goyal was a man who not only had a giant business but also had money, political contacts, power and was the king in his business, yet he was down to earth. Piyush never heard anything negative about him, even if there were any crises; the man would handle it on his own without much gaga over it. He was a highly advanced version of Sharmaji when it came to handling problems. And it was true, as he was running an enormous organization with all his employees respecting him, not a single bad mouth on his back. Piyush too had huge respect for the man and even though the man was very far away from him on the dais, Piyush could feel his presence and the aura he created around him. The whole nation was proud of Goyal and he was a role model for many new entrepreneurs.

The vice chairman Vicky Singhal was exactly opposite to that of Mohnish Goyal. He was in his mid-thirties. He was never spotted anywhere other than at EI's function. He was not in the news like Goyal. Goyal would attend many functions in colleges and cities to motivate the youth, but Singhal was a very private, reserved, hardworking man who would spend more time doing behind the spotlight work. Singhal was a well-built, good looking man. He was fitness freak and had a prefect physic. He had worked so hard that when he was newly appointed, everybody was shocked and even criticized the decision. But the young man silenced all his critics by handling the responsibility in his own manner and by giving results. And within few years, the highly criticized young vice chairman had become a youth icon. But still he preferred his low key life style and encouraged the youth by writing a few columns in business magazines. Piyush, like everyone, was more interested in Mohnish Goyal than Vicky Singhal. Finally the time came for the chairman to give a speech. Piyush was dying to hear what the man had to say.

"Good Evening everyone. All of us know why we have gathered here today evening. It is a very big moment not just for Expanding India but for our whole country. I am visiting Bilaspur for the first time and making such an announcement. It's like hitting the first ball of the game for a sixer. Till date, all the aircraft fleet that Indian airline companies have, are manufactured in some other country, and we have been procuring them at huge costs. The delivery time for the order is huge as there are very few companies into it. I have a couple of friends who are into aviation industry and whenever they discuss something about increasing their fleet, the delivery time and the actual operational mode and the revenue to be generated from it, has been a concern. Mainly because it take years to reach the crafts here and by the time it reaches, the cost increases, thus reducing the revenue of the company. But we have to face competition, so even after the increased cost, they try to keep the fares as low as they can and sometimes end up getting losses.

Now the dilemma comes in. If the company suffers losses, who will be the one bearing them actually? The Shareholders. And if the company decides to increase the fares, then who will suffer? The consumer. The fliers. The common man of our country. But wait here. If we increase the fares, the common man will suffer. But if we don't, then common man will not suffer and the losses will be borne by the shareholders. Who are the shareholders? They are none other than the common man of our country. So if we want to grow, somebody suffers. And it is no one else, but the simple common man of our own country. That is you and me. So I thought why not try to bring down this problem. Why go and buy aircrafts from outer countries, make air travel costlier, which in turn will increase the road and rail travel costs as people will prefer them more. The simple demand supply logic. So we at Expanding India decided to take up this challenge and after 3 years of sheer dedicated hard work, we have managed to develop our own indigenous aircraft engine's prototype. Although it will take a couple of years more to make a test flight. But yes, we have proved that we as a nation, are not far behind when it comes to taking up highly advanced technological challenges. Today is a historic moment for us. We have successfully tested the smaller version of the engine, and the larger one with higher passenger carrying capacity, will be tested in the upcoming months." There was a huge round of applause. The whole auditorium was charged up.

He continued, "I know everybody here is excited and I will not take much time today. The whole event belongs to Mr. Rao and his R&D team. The night belongs to them and it will be very selfish of me to stand here and take the limelight away from them. A very big congratulations for the whole team and all the very best to them for the future." There was another round of applause. Piyush was so excited and proud that he was clapping his hands as hard as possible. The whole event was now turning out to be a different one than what he had anticipated. Piyush was surprised to see how easily the man pulled everybody's attention and charged up the whole auditorium. The host came back and was thanking the chairman when Piyush's cell phone vibrated. He checked, it was Sneha's message.

Sorry to disturb Piyush. How's the function going on? Mom and Radhika are not home. Am alone struggling to pass time.

Piyush was taken aback by the message. He wanted to enjoy the function but he couldn't even ignore her. But his favorite Mohnish Goyal had given his speech and Piyush didn't mind about giving others a miss. Compared to them, Sneha was more important.

No problem, they are just giving speeches. The chairman's speech was great, but now it's just too boring to pay attention.

He told her he was completely available and was hating being in the function, but in reality, he wanted to switch off his phone. For the next half hour they kept messaging and he made sure that Sharmaji didn't poke into his cell phone to see what he was doing. By this time, Singhal and Mr. Rao had given their speeches; it was time for Piyush to wind up texting, as the next big event was the dinner. He told Sneha that he'll have to leave to which she replied with a heart in the message. Piyush almost jumped in his seat and was scared if Sharmaji noticed it or not. But he was too busy looking at the podium.

The dinner was a grand affair. Piyush couldn't recognize the numerous dishes he saw, everything was different and he felt too embarrassed to ask Nandini mam what they were and how to eat them. Sharmaji was busy with other guests. Piyush saved the name of almost all the dishes in the drafts to Google them later. _Okay. That's Chinese food there but how to eat it here?_ He thought after watching a few people eating with chopsticks. _I am not going to go home empty stomach. Mom has not prepared anything for me today, so if it's a no show here, then no food there too_.

He went to the Indian dishes and gulped down everything he could without letting anyone specifically notice, not even Nandini mam. He settled down on a table with Nandini mam, with only the Indian spicy _paneer_ and _nan_ in his plate. While eating, he found her very talkative and easy going. She was talking more and eating less. They discussed many things and Piyush was heartbroken when he saw Nandini mam eating Chinese food with chopsticks. His only comfort zone was now gone.

"Why are you not trying continental food?" She asked.

"What? Where?" He replied after looking around at the dishes. Both the question came one after another without a second's pause. She signaled him to his left. Piyush was afraid to answer. How could say he was unaware about the etiquettes, so he kept looking at the tables like a layman.

"Ok, what about Chinese, Thai food? You don't like that?" She asked.

"No, _paneer_ is fine and it's tasty." He replied awkwardly and was more uncomfortable than he ever was in the function.

"It's ok, go get some. It tastes really good." She insisted.

"Mam, I don't know how to eat them. This is the first time I saw them, don't even know their name or how to pronounce it, even the Chinese, I have never used chopsticks in my entire life. So it's better to stick to the Indian food." He replied looking at his dish. She understood that she had now made the young boy helpless.

"Doesn't matter, come I'll show you and teach you how to eat this thing with chopsticks." She tried the repair work, but because of the many unknown dishes, Piyush had already attacked a lot of Indian snacks and there was not enough room left inside for the Chinese, Thai or the continental dishes.

"Ohh come on buddy, it's not every time we get a chance to visit something like this. Make the most of it. It's party time. Right? And there are many things to eat and drink." She tried cheering him up, and Piyush told her the truth.

"Mam, I've already had enough, there is no more room inside, please." He dodged it.

"Fine, but then don't complain that there were so many things, and you could not eat them." she laughed and took a bite. "Sharmaji cares a lot for you, and he will be very disappointed if you don't fill your tummy here." She chuckled.

"I don't want him to be disappointed either for me bulking up half of the food alone." He too replied with a smile. They had dinner and Piyush felt good that she was there all through the function and never left him. She was very nice as a person and all the 'hot' image of hers that he had in his mind was now changing into a caring one. _What can you do if you are so beautiful? Everybody will find you hot, if you are hot. Even I couldn't help. But now, I would say you are beautiful. Love you too mam._ The moment she called him buddy, Piyush was more frank by the time they finished eating.

"By what time your husband comes home, mam?" He asked casually. "The children would find it hard to stay away from you for too long."

She looked down for a moment and then replied "He passed away after a stroke two and a half years ago."

"Sorry mam." He replied. She too refrained from reacting. _Why did I ask her about her husband? I've got nothing to do with him. Shit. Nobody told me this before. Wait.. nobody knows a thing about her_. Piyush felt bad for what everyone thought of her. It was the first time he got personal with her and got to see the other side of the lady, the only common thing between the one in the office and the one here was her name. _And I just pierced a big knife straight into her heart by asking the wrong question._

"It's ok," she replied after a 10 second silence. "And yes my children really find it hard to spend time without me. Aman, the younger one, most. He needs me every time before bed. And sometimes he doesn't even eat without me." She replied forcing a smile. Piyush felt that she would break down any time soon but a voice called her name out of nowhere.

"Hello Nandini mam! How are you? I mean where are you? I thought you gave this one a miss, huh?" A bald man asked her.

"Hi! Oh my god! Manoj Raje. Look at you. You have gained a lot of weight in the last couple of months. And I am perfectly fine, here in front of you, thought you gave it a miss." She replied flashing a broad smile and hugged him. "Seems like you are losing a lot of hair nowadays." She said pointing his head. Piyush was very jealous of him, especially after the hug.

"Ugh.. I have been trying new hairstyles lately. This is one of them." He replied and both started laughing.

"Well, I think you should stick to journalism itself. Because you are really very bad at lying," she said. Piyush was staring at him, but the man paid no heed to Piyush. In the small conversation that had taken place till now, Manoj Raje had lowered his vision twice to take a peek of the designers work. Piyush felt like covering her with an overcoat. But he did not have one. _Why in the world the designer had to do that exposure. Meet me once and I'll show you how to expose_. Piyush was now ready to beat the designer as he moved behind Nandini mam in an attempt to at least cover her back.

"Well, big news today. So now you people are into Aircraft business too? What else is left out there that you are not willing to do? I mean give someone a chance to compete."

"The whole Airline industry is there for the people to compete my dear. And who said we are not letting people compete? You just heard Mr. Goyal. It's good for the Aviation industry in India. And that is what it is, where people are fighting a good market share in providing the best air travel services, we are here to provide them best aircrafts. Whatever you term it Manoj, boss is always the boss, you can't help it. EI is always at the top. Always Expanding." She gave him a befitting reply that left him wondering what else to say. Even Piyush was surprised after the reply.

_That is brilliant!! What a strategy. They could have gone for an airline company for expansion, and could have tried to grab the market share from the competitors. But these people just grabbed the whole new market leaving the small players fight for a smaller market, many airlines, but no aircraft manufacturer. No competition at all._ Piyush was letting the whole idea sunk in. He too was wondering like Raje.

"Nice function by the way, you EI people are not only good at business, but also at throwing such grand functions." He found something to reply.

"Yes, thank you very much. But its people like you, who bring life to such functions." She replied patting Raje on his shoulder. "Okay Manoj, I need to leave now, actually the baby sitter just told me that Aman has got fever, so need to reach home early. Can we please leave?" After she mentioned 'we', it was the first time he looked at Piyush and realized he was accompanying her. And Piyush who was busy covering Nandini mam's back moved a little to make his presence feel and smiled. _I am the man with her right now. Okay, you bald horny idiot? I am not hot, not exposing, that doesn't mean I should be completely ignored._

"Yeah sure. No problem at all. Take care of him first." This time he smiled at Piyush too. He took out his wallet and gave Piyush his card, "Manoj Raje, if you have any problem, feel free to call me, young man."

Piyush took it and replied "Piyush Mehta, sir. Thanks, I'll call you for sure." _But I will never call you a young man. You will always be a bald man._ He hugged Nandini mam again, for Piyush it was just a formal handshake.

"Well, handled quite well." Nandini mam said to Piyush after Raje was gone. "You will get used to with such introduction, and visiting card things. This is how you get to meet a lot of people. You never know, when someone might come in handy."

"Haha, but I was not that scared of this man. I mean so many people were looking at you, this time I was totally prepared for it." He said light heartedly.

Nandini mam laughed at his comment. "I don't think I am looking that good. And most of the young men were just flirting around, ok!! I am surprised how come you did not lose your control."

I am not that cool or smart, am just trying my level best to keep things in control with Sneha. Her father is present here and I can't even afford to take that risk of looking around for some beautiful ladies. And you are more than enough for me to lose control, but I have started respecting you more, instead of flirting with you.

"I am not much into this flirting thing, can't say about other people though."

"Not much into? That means you are into it, even if it's smaller. Keep it up." She said cheerfully, "Men will be men." Piyush was now regretting why he said 'not much into.'

"By the way mam, the competition, market share thing, the whole idea was awesome. It didn't click me before."

"This is how big decisions are made at higher level. See it yourself, a perfect strategy and you can now picturize the results. You will learn this; keep reading business newspapers, so that we can discuss more on this." She said as they moved towards the exit.

"Mam, I'll tell Sharmaji that we are leaving" He saw Sharmaji, who was with Sethi instead of the other dignitaries he was supposed to be with. After a close look he observed that the two were not talking, but arguing. "What is wrong with this Sethi? I mean, is he always arrogant like this?" He asked her without moving his eyesight.

"Well ego clashes, or the best term for Sharmaji and Sethi is catfights. Just ignore them, we'll leave, it's getting late and Aman is really having fever. That was not 'something' to get away from Raje."

"I'll tell him that I am leaving with you mam."

"He is busy Piyush, and we are not here, means we are gone, it's understandable. He'll not be upset over this."

"Mam I'll just signal him that we are leaving. It will be very rude if we just leave." He insisted when they reached the exit.

"Ok but don't take too long. I'll wait outside." Piyush found her behavior very strange about not even waving good bye to people she knew. He went in the corner where Sharmaji and Sethi were standing, but they were gone. He looked around and found Sharmaji coming towards him.

## Chapter Fifteen

"I don't want to be with you sons of bitches. Go hell with you and your fucked up thing." This was loud enough for people around him, and the women there made dirty faces at him. Piyush was too stunned to say anything. Sharmaji walked directly towards him.

"Sir, I am leaving with Nandini mam." He managed to speak.

"Yes yes. You go home _beta_ , it's getting late for Nandini too. I am also leaving."

Piyush couldn't hold it anymore and asked immediately, "Sir, are you alright?"

"Yes I am fine, let's just get out of this place. Good night." He literally held Piyush's arm and pulled him out. Sharmaji got into his car while Piyush left with Nandini mam. He did not say a single word and even Nandini mam saw that Sharmaji was angry, but she too didn't care to ask. He was quiet for some time as they drove, still absorbing the shock of Sharmaji's unexpectedly pathetic behavior at such an event. The person, whom Piyush respected so much, had crossed the line at a big social event.

"You seem tired." Nandini mam deliberately asked him.

"No, not tired, just thinking about Raje," he lied.

"You like him? By the way, that baldie is not that bad."

"No, I found him a bit strange" Piyush was now praying that they reach their destination at the earliest.

"He is the guy you can put your money on. Yes, he does seem a little silly, but he is a man of words. I have known him for quite a while now, and he is really good at what he does. I mean I trust the man. And there is no problem if you like him. You will make a good couple." She started teasing him. She knew Piyush didn't like the man at first sight and was not going to let him go easy with that.

That was her trump card for pulling his leg now. Piyush just laughed and ignored her. She dropped him back to the office where he had his bike. He reached home, totally tired. It was the language Sharmaji used, bothered him. It was Sneha's father who publicly misbehaved and this thing was more difficult for him to accept. He avoided discussing the whole event back home, stating he was too tired and directly went to bed. There was one unread message in his cell phone.

She missed you.

It was from Radhika Sharma. He typed sorry, good night and sent it to both the sisters. There were two instant replies.

The younger one replied

Its ok, good night.

While Mrs. Piyush Mehta's message had

Why? Whats wrong?

_Ohh come on, please leave me alone. Please, I don't want to talk anything to anyone._ He replied Sneha, ignoring Radhika's text.

Nothing. Just too tired, so sleeping immediately. Hence sorry. Thought you would be waiting for my messages.

Priti came in and saw Piyush in the blanket with his cell phone and kept watching him.

"What?" He asked.

"You should have at least told us how the function was. All of us were waiting for you to come and tell us how it went. But you seem to be a grown up guy, private life, no sharing now." She now started what Piyush sensed was the start of a week long war of angry tantrums and then followed by a couple of weeks of cold war between the two.

"I am really tired now; I'll tell you everything in the morning." His phone vibrated and he got back to it.

Function over? So early?

"Ok, I see, you are tired for me and mamma-papa, but you have enough energy for late night texting with Sneha. That's great." Now Priti was in the attacking mode and Piyush just wanted peaceful night's sleep to forget the violent Sharmaji episode.

Yeah, I left with Nandini mam 45 minutes ago. Now already in bed. Dinner was great.

The thing he was avoiding became inevitable after he replied Sneha instead saying something to Priti. "Ok. I see, till a couple of days ago, you were tensed. And now, you don't even want to listen to me. Next time you ask me to make a cup of tea or coffee and I'll show you my bargaining power." This was the warning she gave him every time but Piyush somehow always convinced her. Since that was not a big deal, he ignored her altogether. His cell phone vibrated again. _Now I understood why they say, women can really suck the blood out of an innocent man for doing something and even for doing nothing._ He decided not to say anything to Priti till she finally slept, as any single word would ignite another explosion of 15 minute of continuous horrible lecture, so instead he checked the message.

What? Papa told you anything about when he will reach home????

_Why so many question marks? One sign means the same and four also mean it is a question mark._ His eyes were now almost on the verge of blacking out. He somehow typed.

He left with me, should be home by now.

The whole day he was worried about his looks and made sure that he was at his best. The function took the toll which was followed by a horrible Sharmaji, the day was over for him finally. Priti's murmuring was stopped and there was no message from Sneha for the next fifteen minutes. That was enough for his tired brain to fall asleep.

Next morning he woke up and there were two messages from Sneha and 15 missed calls. _What the hell is wrong?_ He called her immediately.

"Hello." Her voice was too sleepy.

"Hey what happened? Why did you call so many times? Everything okay? I am sorry I fell asleep. Was too tired." He started without caring to ask if he disturbed her.

"I'll call you after some time, now sleeping." She disconnected.

_Is this girl nuts? First she called me 15 times at night, and now when I call her, she is too busy sleeping._ But he realized that when she was calling, he too was busy sleeping and she also might have thought the same. _Sorry Sneha. Love you._

He now checked the messages. The first one came around 11:45 p.m.

He is still not home and is his phone is also switched off. Did he mention anything about going somewhere else other than home?

This message was followed by the 15 missed calls and the second message came around 1:45 a.m.

He's home. And in a very bad state of mind. Even scolded Radhika very badly when she asked him how was the function and why he took so much time to reach home. I've never seen him behaving this way with any of us before. Anything went wrong there? Sorry you must have been asleep. Will talk to you about this tomorrow. Good night. And sorry for so many panicked phone calls.

_I should have checked the messages first_. He took a shower, had his breakfast and told his parents about the previous night's event. Priti was still angry and pretended as if she was not interested, but he knew she too had an ear on everything he told. Today, there was no Sharmaji in office. He had tried calling him earlier before leaving for office, but there was no answer. Later he called Radhika, who told him that her father left early in the morning in their car. But the man had not reached office yet. Piyush visited a site for some inspection and was back by 12:30 p.m. He decided to take a day off and went to ask Sharmaji if he could go home, but he had not arrived. Finally he started searching the various dishes on Google that he had saved in his cell phone. He even found out how to cook and eat them so that he could have a say about the taste in the next function. He was still looking for more recipes when he got a call from Sneha.

"Sorry I was sleeping when you called." She started as soon as he received the call.

"And I am also sorry for not answering your calls, actually I really don't know when my eyes closed. And I kept the phone on vibration to avoid the message beeps because Pittu was sleeping. I mean Priti."

"Pittu?? Great. By the way, I am really.." Sneha interrupted but Piyush continued from the other end.

"Actually when I saw you had called me fifteen times, I was panicked and did not even go through the messages before calling, not giving a thought that you might be sleeping." He finished it fast, trying to defend before Sneha could accuse him of something.

"I know everything. No need to be sorry Piyush. It's not at all your fault." She spoke very softly and in control. "Actually I should not have called you so many times, but I too was panicked because you said he left with you but was not home till 1:00 a.m., so all of us were worried."

"What actually happened yesterday?" He asked her getting back to normal.

"He came home around 1:45 a.m., till then we didn't know where he was. So I called you, but you were also asleep so the anxieties kept rising. I tried many times thinking that you would answer at least once. You had said he left with you at 11:00 p.m. and by 11:45 he was not home, he did not even gave us a call that he would late. Now, by the time he reached home it was almost three hours since he left. So many negative thoughts started popping up, and finally when he was home, we asked him why it took him so much of time to reach home, he then directly yelled at Radhika, so badly that she broke down straightaway. It was a monster when he came back. All this drama was over in half an hour and he was asleep. And today morning when I woke up, he was gone again, told mom that he would be home late. Did he say anything about where he was going when you left?"

"No, he just said that he was also leaving, that's it." He replied.

"And did anything go wrong there, which might have made him behave so abruptly?"

Baffled with the thoughts of betraying either one of them, he was now caught up between the father and daughter issue. On one hand it was Sharmaji, his boss, who trusted him a lot, and on the other it was his love cum close friend Sneha. On one side it was the trusted bond between him and Sharmaji and on the other it was the care of a daughter for her father.

"Hello? You there? Anything went wrong yesterday? In the office or at the function with anyone?" Her voice was doing the talking. She was tensed and Piyush could not just react.

"Actually.."

"Actually what?" She asked, pressing hard this time.

"He was normal at the dinner and I did not get to see him much because he was busy with other people." He was in a fix now.

"Still he left with you? Piyush is there something that you know, but you are not telling me, than please don't do that to me. Yesterday changed the whole equation at home, you know Radhika did not eat anything; mom even did not speak to papa about what is wrong with him. So please, if there is something that you know then don't keep it from me, because I can't live with this no talking and no eating stuff. This will just end up accumulating the problems more."

Finally deep in a pit hole, Piyush gave it in. "It has got nothing to do with Radhika. He was already angry, I too have never seen him in such a bad state ever before. I was too scared to ask him about what happened. I was with Nandini mam throughout and went to tell him I was leaving, but he was so angry that he said let's leave the place, that's it. And we left. Nothing else."

"What are you doing now? Are you free after office?" She asked.

"Right now I don't have anything to do, was planning to take the day off and go home. But sir is not here, so I am sitting idle. And yes I am free after office, why?"

"Okay do one thing, just leave papa a text that you have some important personal work and you are leaving. Meet me now."

"How's that possible? And what about your office?" He was surprised by her instant demand.

"Don't worry about my office. And if papa says something, I'll handle it for you. Just do as I say." She replied, not leaving any scope for Piyush to avoid it and continued, "You know any place where we can meet and talk quietly?"

The first place that came to his mind where they could talk without any disturbance was the area where he took his pee breaks. _No not there._ "A garden, I suppose?"

"Ohh come on, can't you men think of some other place than a garden when you have to meet a girl? I mean it's really ridiculous. There's nothing romantic here that we have to go to a garden."

"But even children and families also visit there, and we can talk. At this odd time, there won't be any rush and disturbance too. That's why I said garden." He counter attacked.

"Ya ya, people won't even pay heed to what's going on around. Whatever, you know any such GARDEN that is decent enough talk comfortably?" She asked him in a very irritated manner.

He told her about a place he knew and was confused what kind of talk it was going to be. And before he could do something, Sneha had already decided. He couldn't even have a word.

"Ok Piyush, see you in half an hour." She said and the call went off. _Why in the world with me? I am hungry here and this girl wants me to reach there in half an hour and lie to my boss. My tummy comes first, but just for the sake of love..._

## Chapter Sixteen

The only time Majeed made a mistake of hiring the same guy was when he had to kill a member of parliament in New Delhi. He had asked the guy to do the back ground check and other surveillance. The young man was left after some primary enquiry by the police during the first time. But the police chief was a smart man. He kept a check on the man until Majeed came back to him again. The trap was laid as he had no option to refuse neither the cops nor Majeed.

Majeed sensed foul play and had a narrow escape after killing three police men and injuring nine. This resulted in an all-out war against him. People were scared and the police thought they lost him. But that was not Majeed. How could he run away without finishing his job? The incident had brought his whole reputation at stake. He had killed 23 people before this and got out cleanly. But here, one small loophole and he was almost locked in. The police blocked all the roads and checked every vehicle leaving the city thoroughly. On the other hand, Majeed hid in the same area from where he escaped. He never left that area. The police searched every part of the city except that. He worked out everything again, and found the root cause of the problem. IPS officer Shailendra Kumar.

He was the man who planned everything and got Majeed into trouble. Majeed shot back in quick succession and in style. He first killed Kumar, paralyzing the whole 'catch Majeed' operation and caused panic. In the next two hours, before the police could come up with something and take appropriate measures, he killed the Member of Parliament, Viraj Bhatia, he was originally supposed to. He had hired a 14 year old young boy for help. The boy was caught within twelve hours after the murders, but by then Majeed was out of Delhi, not by road or rail, but by air. He disguised as a businessman, boarded a chartered flight and again it was so close yet so far situation for the cops.

The Delhi twin murders crowned Majeed as the invincible criminal mind. After this, even if the police had any Intel on him, the people who were assigned after him, would hesitate before going after him. But they never actually got him.

One thing was sure that Sneha was very serious about whatever she had to say. Piyush was very nervous as it was the first time he was actually meeting a girl in a garden, although not a date, but still, he was scared and excited too, because Sneha wanted to talk something important. _I am the man. Be strong, support her. Be by her side._ He cheered himself up. As instructed, he texted Sharmaji and was about to leave when Nandini mam arrived.

"Hi Piyush. Good afternoon. Going somewhere?" She asked, watching him all geared up to leave.

"Good morning mam, ya actually a small problem. My sister, Priti is not fine, have to take her to a doctor. You saw Sharma sir today?" He replied thinking _Things I am doing for love._

"No, he is not around. Even I am also looking for him. He didn't even answer my phone calls. I thought you must know about his whereabouts. Fine, you leave, I've also got some work. Take care of Priti." She turned to leave. Piyush picked up his bag and hurried up to leave with her. A few of his colleagues passed some signals behind Nandini mam as they passed them. Piyush turned to look at them all. _Fuck yourselves_.

"How is Aman now?" He asked her.

"He is fine, just normal viral fever, nothing too serious to be worried about." She replied.

"The weather is very nasty, I mean we adults find it tough, so children are bound to get affected."

"Piyush you free tomorrow morning?" She asked him all of a sudden. _Don't tell me it's Sunday, you have to go out and the babysitter is not coming so I have to look after the kids for some time. I am very bad at handling kids._ He started thinking and giving a flat no would have been rude.

"Yes mam." He replied.

"Then come home for lunch. Amit and Aman will also have a good company." She said without asking him if he can or not.

"Sure mam," he replied, without any choice. Piyush was still thinking about how the 'garden date' with Sneha would go.

"Don't think so much about the baldie, you will fall in love if you keep him in your head for long." She pulled Raje into the conversation out of nowhere.

"Please mam, there are many girls in the world and they have more hair than your baldie." He replied more frankly as he headed towards the parking.

He reached the garden and to his surprise Sneha was already there. He parked his bike and had to pay Sneha's parking charges too as she had not parked. _Go.. fall in love, now pay the parking charges, don't know how many more charges to pay_. He thought on a lighter note. Sneha found a bench that was in a deserted area. The odd timing really had very less people in the garden and the duo settled down.

Before he could say anything she started, "Ok, so what were you saying? He was very angry. Angry with what?"

"I don't know, no idea at all. I told you, I went to tell him that I was leaving and he was abusing badly, and then told me he was also leaving."

"What? Abusing badly? To whom?" She asked, shocked to hear that her father did something horrible at a big event.

"I don't know, I was not there, I was with Nandini mam throughout the function, told you he was busy with other people." He replied in a frustrated manner.

"Ohh.." She realized she was pressing too hard on him now. "And what did he say where was he heading?"

Piyush was now more irritated by the same questions again and again "I don't know, I was too scared to ask. He just said that he too was leaving, and literally pulled me out the function. That's all. But he was not angry at me, he told me politely as if he was in total control. It came as a shock when you told me that he took all that out on Radhika." He said trying to keep his voice calm.

"He was angry I know. He yelled at her so badly as if he would beat her up. All of us were scared. I have never seen him like that in my entire life. And I don't know where he was and what he was doing for the three hours after he left." She replied staring at the ground, lost in her own thoughts. This was the first time Piyush saw her so worried and closely, the repeated questions she had been asking were now justified. He just kept looking at her.

She was looking pretty, simple, dressed in a pink kurti and jeans, worried, worried for her father, she had never seen him so violent before, never seen him scolding or hurting Radhika like that, and this care for her father made Piyush fall for her more than ever.

"Today morning also, he went out early saying he'll be late." She said not moving her gaze from the ground, her voice on the verge of declaring that she would break down any time soon.

"He didn't even answer my call." Piyush said, but she didn't pay any heed. He saw her eyes filling with tears and he immediately tried saying, "It's ok Sneha don't worry," But he was too late to do the damage control. She broke down.

"I don't know what's wrong with him." She said, as her sobs increased. But Piyush's heart beats were increasing faster than that. He did not expect anything like this, that too for the first time he met her. He understood that the love of his life was very weak when it came to her family. He placed his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to console her, but she slipped in, rested her head on his chest, buried her face and started crying like a small girl, her body shaking with every sob. Piyush was nowhere in the scene and didn't know what to do. It was the first time a girl came so close to him and started crying. Even Priti never broke down like this.

"It's ok; there is nothing to worry about him. He might have some work pressure; yesterday's was a big function, which might have taken the toll. It will be fine, he'll be back to normal in a couple of days." He said while patting her shoulder. But nothing helped. She was still crying without any respite. He finally covered her in his arms and shifted more close to her. She grabbed him and the sobs increased again instead of decreasing. _What now? I am trying everything. How to make this crying machine stop?_ He decided to let her cry and held her till she was done. _Ok now movie story._ _Hankie time._ He gave her the hankie after she was quiet.

"Wipe them up, it doesn't look good." He threw a dialogue but nothing happened. She wiped her tears and moved away from him. Both found it awkward now.

"No, you don't scold your daughter if it's just work pressure. He has attended many such functions and has been working here since my birth. You just can't behave in this manner for such a small reason." She said regaining her calm.

"Okay just let it pass, he will be fine, than you can definitely talk to him about it. Just be normal with him now, whatever the problem he is facing, stay by his side."

"Hmm..!" She replied.

"Hmm..!" And came the trademark reply from Piyush for that 'hmm'.

"I am feeling much better, relaxed now. Thanks." She said looking at him.

"It's ok. It happens. Sometimes you just can't keep things to yourself and you need somebody to share it. It eases things a bit." He replied very casually, as if he experienced all this thrice a week.

"I don't know, but I never felt so insecure about him, I mean that was totally different side of papa that I could never even imagine." She said, holding his hand.

He looked at her, she was in her own thoughts but his heart beats, which had just got back to normal increased again. "It's fine, even I was also taken aback, but you know what kind of man he is, how decent he is, just don't worry, he will get back to normal. And if there is anything I come across, I'll inform you right away." He removed his hand beneath her's and stroked her shoulder again. She just nodded.

He took the chance and said "Now since you are relaxed and fine, can we eat something? I am really very hungry." She did not reply but was looking at him impassively. "Please." He said childishly signaling towards his empty stomach. And before he could even think of what was happening, she kissed him. First one on the lips, second and third on the cheeks and that followed a tight hug. He was still figuring out what was the flavor of the lipstick, it was not a long kiss but long enough for Piyush to guess the taste. _Why no lipstick today? Every day you put it on but today no lipstick, why?_

She released him and moved away. "Sneha, I love you. I always wanted to say this but never had the guts, I just love you." He couldn't hold it any longer and said breathing heavily, still absorbing the three rapid fire kisses and the tight hug. He was waiting for her to say something. She looked down like any other conservative girl and gave away a shy smile. _Ok, so now you are shying away, what happened when you kissed me all of a sudden and that too in full public view? First, you forced me to meet you, than you broke down making me uncomfortable to every possible extent and made me look like a fool, after that all of a sudden you kissed me, that too three times, than hugged me as if I am your teddy bear and now just looking away?_

"What?" He looked at her and asked.

"Why do you think I made those _parathas_ for you? Why I came out every time, smiled at you and said 'hi' when you were home to pick up papa. Why do you think I called you here today and broke down and hugged you and all?" She asked and continued, "Whatever, I am also very hungry, I've not eaten anything since yesterday night. Let's eat something." Piyush could not reply a single word. He was too excited, confused and hungry at the same time.

They had _chat_ at a nearby stall and this time Sneha paid for it. It was like a dream come true for him. And the most surprising thing that made it more special was that, she too would come out every day for him just to say 'hi'. Piyush had never ever expected that all this would happen when he would meet her for the first time. Forced invitation, crying, kissing and hugging, and that she too was secretly seeing him for a long time, also like most of other couple's date, all of 'it' took place in a 'garden'.

He reached home, very high on emotions, singing dancing on his own. He told Priti about it.

"I got a kiss today from my sweetheart. Haha..!" He told her.

"What? Urghhh!! Keep that to yourself, don't get into the details." She replied before he could open his mouth to say anything. He sent messages to Sneha but there was no reply. The next day he went to Nandini mam's home for lunch and had a very good time with her children. She treated him like someone from her own family and asked him to help her cook. And by the time he left, he felt guilty for having those wild thoughts about her and resolved never to think again like that. For the whole day, again there was no message form the other end of his relationship. By night, Piyush had made more than 20 calls and she didn't answer a single one. Late at night, he got a reply.

I love you too. You stupid. Everything fine and normal here. Was just checking if you could manage a day without me. Look likes no. I loved watching you become restless for my messages and phone call. Enjoyed a lot.

What? I was dying for your message here and you were enjoying all that? He replied.

Haha..!! Won't do it again. Sorry. Now with papa, he's pampering me a lot, may be realized that whatever he did yesterday was wrong. He even took Radhika out for a dinner. Just her. So now making it up for me.

As usual Piyush was too sleepy to reply and was out while thinking of a reply. The next morning he woke up to see a message from Sneha.

We both broke down. He told me how many things are there that he has to do, my and Radhika's education, our marriages. He felt bad that he couldn't send me to the United States. Promised he will never behave so rudely with anyone of us. And when I pretended to be asleep he sat next to me for few minutes and gently patted me. Piyush you are there with him most of the time, please take care of him. I love him. good night, love you too.

He was moved by this message and replied.

Good morning and don't worry about him, I'll take care. Will call you later, now getting ready for office. Take care.

## Chapter Seventeen

For the whole day Sneha and Piyush kept calling each other after every couple of hours. All the things that both of them had in their minds were coming out. Sneha had to go out with her mother and sister in the evening and that was the only time they didn't text or call. It had been four and half hours now and there was no word from Sneha. It was late and his parents were asleep. Priti was watching an award function on their small TV and Piyush was eagerly waiting for his phone to blink.

"What? Waiting for her message?" Priti asked him and continued, "So you didn't listen to me right?"

"Pittu.. she told me that she loves me, real love, not the using and throwing type. So there is no need for you to worry. Ok?"

"Who said I am worried about you, do whatever you want. As if we people have loved you like the 'unreal love'. The only person who really loved you in your whole life is Sneha. So go to her, live at her place. Why stay here?" A series of high end lecture was about to start.

This was clear indication of jealousy for his new found love. He grabbed her neck, twisted her wrist playfully and said "Now I know why little Pittu is angry at me. Ok ok. I love you guys more than Sneha. Now, can I stay here?" He laughed and released her. She gave him a couple of punches on his shoulder and went back to the screen without replying him. Piyush really loved this childish egoistic behavior of his sister, a few days ago, she was his mentor on this issue and now when she was being ignored, the volcano was erupting slowly. His phone blinked and it was Sneha's call. _Thank god_. He speedily woke up to move out of the room to talk to Sneha.

"Privacy!!" Priti taunted him as he woke up.

He stood there, "What?" He couldn't clearly understand. Priti ignored him. "What?" He said again turning back to Priti.

"Nothing." She replied, realizing he was talking on the phone and not with her. He was still standing there trying to understand what Sneha was saying from the other end.

"Go out and talk, might be a network issue." Priti advised. But before she could understand what was happening, he ran out of the room, took the keys of his bike and told Priti, "Will call you back, don't worry. But stay awake."

"Where are you going? What happened?" she asked him, but he was gone by then. She didn't even know whose call it was and for the next two hours she waited patiently for her brother's call.

Piyush couldn't believe what he had heard on the phone. It was late and cold, the streets wore a deserted look. He reached Sharmaji's place in five minutes. There was no one outside. Piyush rushed in to see Radhika sitting on the couch quietly.

"Where is Sneha? What happened?" He asked her but she did not reply. He went inside and heard Sneha's voice coming from a room. He progressed to see Sneha crying, with her mother sitting numb on the floor and Sharmaji lying down. His tongue out and face swollen. There was a _saree_ tied to the ceiling fan. Piyush was stunned. He sank on his knees holding the wall to support himself. His eyes were filled with tears. He closed them to let everything come out and opened them again to see his boss's body. For some time, Piyush was too blank to react anything. He looked around, Sneha and her mother were still there with Sneha's phone on the ground. He checked it, the last and the only call was made to him. _Shit_.

He made two calls. One for the ambulance and second to the police. The ambulance arrived first followed by the police. Piyush also called Nandini mam some time later. Piyush took Sneha and Mrs. Sharma out of the room. Both of them were not in a state to say anything. The cops asked some question but none of them could answer them. A suicide note was found saying no one is to be held responsible. Nandini mam took care of Mrs. Sahu whereas Piyush stayed with the two daughters.

"Radhika, look at me, listen to what I am saying right now." He told her but she didn't respond. Sneha hugged him hard and started crying. "How could he do this to all of us? How could he just leave us like this? He loved us so much." Piyush took her in his arms and patted her head. Radhika too hugged Sneha and eventually broke down. Piyush wanted Radhika to take all of it out.

The body was taken for postmortem. Piyush and Nandini mam completed all the formalities for the Sharma family. After the police were gone Piyush called his parents and told them about everything. He stayed there with Nandini mam till morning. Sneha had fallen asleep on his lap, her eyes were swollen and she had complained severe head ache before. Radhika was still awake sitting on the couch traumatized. There was no word from Mrs. Sharma. She was still in state of shock and had not uttered a single word or a cry. After the relatives of the Sharma family started arriving, Piyush left with Nandini mam.

The postmortem report confirmed it was a suicide. He was dead well before the three ladies had arrived. All the people from the company visited his funeral. Radhika fainted when his body was taken away for the last rites. Piyush found it very hard to absorb everything. Mrs. Sharma hardly spoke and ate anything. Even though many relatives were present, Sneha wanted Piyush to be with her every time. He was the first person she had called and he knew how important it was for him to stay there. After everything was over, Sneha couldn't control herself and one of her cousin had to come to help Piyush handle her. The most important problem was Mrs. Sharma. One of their relative, who was a doctor, warned that the severe shock could have bizarre effects. She finally broke down after five days.

## Chapter Eighteen

Twelve days had passed and Piyush was still trying to get back to normal thinking why his boss took such an extreme step, when his mother woke him up early morning, " _Beta_ take a look at this, Sharmaji's affair." She handed him the newspaper. He rubbed his eyes and saw the heading.

**Case Cracked: Extramarital affair leads city man to end life.** Piyush was stunned. _Extramarital affair and a love child? Impossible._ He read the whole news and immediately rushed to Sharmaji's place. All the relatives had gone and only the three ladies were present, so he just wanted to be by their side. Mrs. Sharma and Sneha were having tea. "I'll get tea for you." Sneha said and left.

"You saw the news?" Mrs. Sharma asked him. Piyush was not expecting her to take up the matter straightaway. He looked at her, she was waiting for a reply.

"Yes." He replied looking away. She didn't say anything to that. "Mam I don't know what to say, it's unbelievable, I mean.." he fumbled.

"Do you think he can do something like that? You were with him for so many days, you were close to him." Mrs. Sharma asked him politely.

"No mam, that's not at all possible. I mean he could never do something like this, it's baseless."

"You ever saw him with any other woman?" She asked again.

"No, never."

"You ever heard him talking something suspicious on the phone?" She was now almost interrogating him like the police.

"No mam, I don't remember, I mean no.. not at all" He replied, slowly succumbing to the unexpected pressure created on him by his boss's wife.

"Did the police asked you all this during the investigation, or anyone else, since you are one of the closest one to my husband."

"Investigation? No mam, nobody approached me." Piyush looked more confused now.

"Then you should not believe in that news too, neither of us." She replied drinking her sip of tea.

"You mean the police finished the investigation and found this, without consulting any one of us here?" Piyush now hated the guessing game.

"None of us." She replied, peeking inside to see if Sneha was coming.

"But why? How they got to know about this love affair and all, and how could they just go public with this news? Did not even bother to ask us at least once."

"The answer lies with them _beta_." She replied calmly as Sneha came with the tea. "They are the police and did their part. All we have to do now is to move on."

He waited there for some more time and left. He felt like Sneha would need him but she was not bothered about what was written about her father in the news. He went to office and sat with his colleagues who discussed everything about Sharmaji. Piyush did not give any input, but kept nodding to the bad mouthing that was going on. Everybody was talking about Sharmaji and he couldn't imagine how ashamed Mrs. Sharma and her daughters would be, if they hear any of it. He went to see Nandini mam after lunch.

"Mam if you are free, can we talk?"

"Yes sure, in fact I too wanted to see you but you were with your friends there. Come in."

"Mam you know Sharma sir from a long time, do you think he can do something like this?" He directly came to the point without wasting any time.

Nandini mam who was expecting this from Piyush replied immediately, "Piyush _beta_ we know what kind of person he was. Very helpful, polite, professional, ethical. I know it is very hard to believe but we don't know him personally to that extent." Piyush interrupted her, "But I know him personally. I know almost everything about him," he looked down clutching his fist tightly.

"Almost." She emphasized. "There might be something that you don't know about him."

"But mam I am very close to Sneha, she told me he could never do something as creepy as this."

"Listen to me." She tried to calm him, "She is his daughter, try to understand, no girl would ever accept that her father did something like this. And that's something important I want to talk about. If she is that close to you, then instead of paying heed to this news and talks, it's important for you, us, to be by her side, support her and her family. Help her face this tough time. If we really feel something for Sneha, Radhika and their mother, then we have got nothing to do with what Sharmaji has done. It's the past now, it's gone. These women have not done anything wrong and they don't have any right to suffer for his wrong doings." She took a sip of water and continued, "Ok now there is a good news. The company has decided to let his family have that house as long as they want, for the contribution he has made. So the Sharmas are, at least for now, fine. They have got time to think of what to do from now, where to settle, where to move, etc., etc."

"Do you think, the management will stay firm on their decision after learning the reason of his death?" He asked curiously.

"He worked for the company and had a son with other women at the same time. Now this was the past, so I think if he could do so much for the company with all this, then they can also do something for his innocent family, right? And if the higher management, who doesn't know him so well, can do so much for his family, then we have a bigger role to play. Just try to imagine Piyush, what a widow with two young daughters would do after she found out that an extramarital affair was the reason for her husband's suicide? She is defamed, have nowhere to go and soon people will start turning their back on them. You see, they sound sweet on the face, but when it comes to actually helping someone out, who would associate their name to such a characterless person's family? It sounds pathetic, but it is the true world and they will soon have to face it."

Piyush was thoroughly moved by what she told him. After all, Sneha was like a responsibility for him. He was her biggest support and how could he just listen to the things that other people were talking about. _Whatever it is, I will be there for you Sneha, don't you worry at all._

"Yes mam." He replied. All this while he was thinking about what Sharmaji had done, but now it didn't matter, all that was gone now. Sneha, Radhika and their mother was all that was left and he had to be there for them.

"Ok I am going to Sharmaji's place today evening, you may come if you want." She opened her drawer and handed Piyush some papers. "I have some extra work for you, and don't tell anyone that I asked you for help regarding this. It's actually related to my accounting stuff, but because of the busy last week, I couldn't finish. Just read it and keep it to you, I'll be right back." She left and for the next fifteen minutes Piyush tried to understand what it was.

It was regarding a new project that consisted of huge generators in the basement of a building. _Oh my god. They can provide power to almost half the city. Awesome. Plus the land above it can be used for their respective use, that's really something big._ He went through other things that were too technical to understand. He turned the papers and his eyes stuck at the estimated cost of that project. _What is this? 1800 crores. Are you kidding me? This is once in a lifetime project. Nandini mam, please involve me into this._ He now started praying without reading the details. He kept turning the pages and ended on the design and mapping of the 8 huge generators that were to be installed. _This is unbelievable._ He again tried to reread it so as to understand more technical details when he received a text form Sneha.

Meet me at the same garden in half an hour. Tell the personal problem crap again and leave. I'll be waiting.

_Damn it._ He couldn't resist himself and got out to find Nandini mam. She was in the cafeteria talking on the phone. He waited till she was finished and said, "Mam I read the papers. And it's really a huge project. In fact I am glad that I am getting a chance to help you in such a wonderful project. But mam I have to go right now. Have a personal problem. Can I go, I'll read it after I am back, or may be tomorrow." Nandini mam was now staring at him shockingly.

"Are you insane? What the hell do you think I gave you? And what personal problem is more important than that project?" She asked angrily.

"Mam I am sorry, but Sneha called me and asked to meet her in half an hour. She said it's important. And I know this is a very big, historic project for me and a huge responsibility on you too, eight huge generators with total cost of 1800 crores, is huge, but Sneha sounded tensed. I will help you out tomorrow for sure, but can I go now? Please?" He asked making his face look as innocent as he could, and wondered why she was so rude all of a sudden.

"Piyush just go, don't worry about it, I'll sort it out. And if there is something important, I'll call you for help. Ok? Now go. I should never have asked a man in love for something like this." She replied in a very irritated manner.

"So sorry mam." He tried to do the damage control, but in vain.

"It's ok. Now leave. I am always here. She needs you right now. I am not a bad person who will stop you from reaching her out for my own good. Now just leave. And don't discuss it with anyone that I shared this project with you ok. Top secret." She punched Piyush on his shoulder playfully.

"Thank you, mam." Piyush replied with a relief. _One moment you were angry, and now you are cool. But still, you are the best._

"It's ok. Totally fine. Don't worry. I can understand how many things are going inside you at the moment." She replied disturbing his combed hair teasingly. Piyush now had to arrange them again to make sure that he looked decent and understood how difficult it would be for Priti after he disturbed her hair every time.

"See you at Sneha's home in the evening mam." He said adjusting his hair. Nandini mam just smiled and left.

## Chapter Nineteen

Piyush reached the same garden, and this time also Sneha was already present. His phone vibrated. It was Sneha's message.

Come inside on the same porch.

She wore a violet kurta, light blue jeans and looked pale. She immediately hugged him. Piyush was surprisingly not embarrassed. _Nothing violent in public now. Please._ She took his cell phone from his hand but didn't say anything. She checked the contacts and found Mrs. Piyush Mehta and looked at him when it displayed her own number.

"I saved it around six months ago," he said. She ignored and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I don't know what to do. How come all this happened? There was nothing serious that could lead to something like this. I told you the other day we broke down at night, everything was normal and now suddenly everything is so dark." She said very slowly.

He held her hand and replied, "I know everything, even I had a void feeling today while going to the office and.." Sneha interrupted as if she was not listening to him.

"I just don't know how to face this situation. I can't imagine my life without papa. Every day is incomplete Piyush, every single day. The police said he had an affair and a son. I don't know from where they got all this, but it is not true Piyush. Papa would never do anything like this. He loved us so much. All these things have left a dark spot on his name. I just can't believe this; I can't even discuss this with anyone else. Mom and Radhika are too stressed to talk all this. All this is killing me inside." Tears rolled down, she did not cry but couldn't even control them. Piyush saw and wiped them away. Both of them stayed quiet for a while.

"Sneha, I know it's hard, whatever people are talking about him, let them talk. We can't go and make all of them shut their mouth. We know how Sharma sir was, he was a good man and that's how we will remember him. It might have been a tough decision for him too. To even think of going away from your loved ones is very hard to imagine. He is always there in our heart. Don't worry, everything will be fine. You have mam and Radhika to take care of now. And even Sharma sir would not be happy to see your teary eyes like this." He finally broke the silence.

"All right, then tell him I am also not very happy with him leaving all of us alone out here. Ask him to apologize. One day he is very angry, rude, other day he says sorry, tells me there are so many things to get done, my education, my marriage and again the next day, he commits suicide. What is this? Why all this happened? He knew everything, he knew how much he means to all of us, he even realized that getting angry on Radhika like that was bad, but still, he just went away Piyush." She broke down.

Piyush held her more tightly now. "Sneha, everything will be back to normal. Everything will get back on track."

"No, nothing can get back on track anymore. I can never have that happy family time anymore. I can never sleep on his lap again, I can never go out with him again, I can never ask him for a new dress again, I can never sit and talk to him again, I can never get him back again, I can never get his love again, I can never.." she couldn't continue. Piyush hugged her, rubbed her back trying to control her. "It's ok. Stop it." He said. "Stop it Sneha. It's all right. Everything will be fine." She wiped her tears and sat there quietly.

"Piyush I love you. Don't ever leave me, please. I am not capable of losing another person of my life. Just don't ever leave me. Be with me. Love you." She hugged him.

"I know that. I am not going anywhere." He assured, stroking her hair.

They ate some light snacks and went to Sneha's home. Nandini mam was already present there. None of them were surprised to see Piyush and Sneha coming home together. Nandini mam left after some time signaling Piyush to leave too. She later told him that the atmosphere wasn't good inside. That night he found it very hard to sleep. There were many thoughts surrounding his mind. Sharmaji committing suicide, news about his extramarital affair, things that Sneha said about missing her father and all the simple family time. _Why all these things are taking place in such a manner. Why they are happening to good people like Sneha, Radhika and their mother? They haven't done anything sinful to face such circumstances._

The newly discovered attachment with Sneha and the recent events made him believe that life was not that simple and sweet as it looks like. He just wanted to see Sneha smiling, even if for a brief period, but a smile on her face was all he wanted. Both the time he met her alone, she broke down. There was one thing that he found a bit scratchy. Whatever Nandini mam said about the things that Piyush might not know about Sharmaji, and the financial problem that Sneha told him about, it all made sense now. _Because of that affair he couldn't provide sufficient money here. Otherwise a person in his designation would never face a financial crisis._ Piyush was almost convinced now _. Even the police have proved it. Hence the news is out in public. His own guilt and regret took over and he finished it. Right._

It all started getting clearer in his mind. _I agree that you were always good to me; you were always good to everyone. But you should not have done all this to your family. You made a mistake and now your innocent daughters and wife is paying for what you did. You offended all of them. You have made life more difficult for them. And for all this, I have lost every single ounce of respect I had for you Sharmaji. Even if you are Sneha's father, I will never look up to you as someone to follow. And yes, I'll never leave your daughter like you left her._ Piyush felt like his 'almost' perfect senior had stabbed his own family in the back. But still, Sneha's love for her father kept him from losing all the sympathy for the man.

Next day in office Piyush received a call. He didn't know the number. He answered it. It was Mrs. Sharma.

"Hello _beta_ Piyush, its Sharma mam." She said.

"Yes mam, what happened? Everything fine?" It came out spontaneously from Piyush out of concern.

"Yes, everything is fine. I hope I didn't disturb you."

"No mam, not at all. Just having lunch."

"Piyush, _beta_ can you meet me?" She asked hesitatingly.

"Ya, sure mam, no problem. I'll come home after office."

"No, can you meet me somewhere else? Other than home, in a restaurant?"

"Restaurant? Why? Any problem mam?" He found it very strange.

"No, but I want to meet you, have to talk something important. Is it possible for you to meet me today?"

"Yes mam, sure." He replied in a hurry with no idea where to meet. He told her one restaurant and asked her if she wanted him to pick her up, but she declined. He left for the restaurant after office and all the while he was thinking, what could be so important. He reached there on time, Mrs. Sharma had not arrived. _There is a difference between the mother and daughter. The daughter is punctual whereas the mother..._ Mrs. Sharma's sight broke his thought. She came in an auto rickshaw. _Why in the world she came here like this? She could have used the car or could have asked Sneha or Radhika to drop her_. He went to her.

"Sorry Piyush, had to call you all of a sudden, but it's important. I just needed to talk to you at the earliest." She said as they went inside. They took the corner table. There were very few people present and Sneha's mother was relieved to see that. She ordered two coffees and waited until a young boy brought it to their table. Piyush didn't say a word till then, as she looked frightened and was breathing heavily. She took a sip and asked him very casually.

"How is office going on now?"

"Fine, no excessive work load." He wanted to tell her that it's different without her husband, but he kept Sharmaji away for the moment and continued, "What happened mam? You look so worried."

"Yes, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." She took another sip and added, "Piyush you know everything about us. What we are going through now, what everybody is talking about. Even our relatives, they too are staying away from this as much as possible. You are the only person who hasn't changed and.." Piyush cut her off, "And I will never ever mam, you all are like family to me."

"I know that, you are the only person who hasn't changed. My two daughters are young and now I am the only person left to look after them." She paused for a while and went on, "My husband trusted you a lot and so I don't want to keep you from the facts." She was in tears now. She wiped them down whereas Piyush gulped down half of the cup in one sip to avoid eye contact. He could console Sneha, but had no idea about her mother.

"Piyush," she continued, "You might not know Sneha too well, but she wanted to go abroad for higher studies. But I wanted her to say close to me for a while." _Í know all that mam, I am much closer to Sneha than you thought._

"But here, we met you. Vineet trusted you, liked you and he always wanted Sneha to marry you." Piyush was shell shocked after hearing this. All he ever wanted, had just fallen into his hands without any efforts. "And even Sneha likes you too. But after what happened, everybody feels like my husband was a cheater, filthy man. But that's not the truth, he didn't commit suicide. He was killed. My innocent Vineet was killed." She broke down. Piyush who was very relieved to find out that it was a go for him and Sneha, was blank.

"What?" He couldn't believe what she just told him.

"Yes, he wanted to get away from everything, we were saving money for that. We even lied to Sneha about some financial problem, so that we could delay her education and use that money. But everything happened so fast that we just couldn't do it. He just couldn't make it."

"What was it that he was trying to get away from? What and why? And who killed him? And how do you know all this?" Piyush fired questions one after another in panic.

"I don't know, I don't know anything." She said wiping her tears. "He just wanted you to get in contact with the good people, settle down and marry off Sneha. We had planned to leave the country. He was also trying if he could make it possible for you too, to leave the nation. But now, everything is shattered. Every dream. My whole family." She covered her face. Piyush was still thinking, absorbing everything that she was telling him.

"It all started around a year ago, he was tensed that time, said everything was wrong, I asked him, but he never told me. Then we moved here, and he decided to leave the country instead of sending Sneha alone. He said that there were serious differences with a few of his colleagues. But you were a good person and he really wanted Sneha to settle down with you. I don't know how he managed to tackle this thought amidst such serious problems, but he was sure about you and Sneha. After all he was her father, and he knew what would be best for her. Even I want you to marry Sneha. He wanted you to get out of here. He also tried recommending your name to his friends so that you could get a good job somewhere else. He had told me that people here were very bad, he was scared of them. He feared they would go to any extent for their good. He feared they would hurt us."

"Who would hurt you all? And why didn't you go to the police mam?"

"Not just we three Piyush, the 'us' included you too." She replied, "And I don't know those people. He never told me. And the police, Yes, I told them that he had told me about a threat and some differences with some people in the company. But they never paid any attention. I even tried reaching out to some people secretly, but one day I received a call to stay away from all this. I went to the police again telling about this call. But they just heard out what I had to say, never acted upon it. Then I warned them that I would go to the media if they didn't register my report. But again, I got a call from this man. He told me that what happened to Vineet could also happen to me or my daughters. He also knew what dress Sneha wore that day. He warned me that the two beautiful young girls won't be only killed; they would be first enjoyed and then killed. He also said that your elder daughter has got really juicy flesh." She started crying again.

"Tell me Piyush, what should I do? Fight them out risking the lives of my daughters? And fight who? I don't even know who they are; the police are also with them. It's like they just closed the case, without any investigation. As if they just received orders to do so. The news about his affair and all, if these people are so powerful, than I don't want to lose my whole family to them, all Vineet tried to do was to protect us, and I can't risk up all that he tried to protect and lost his life. I can't risk my daughters' lives and their modesty."

"Mam, I don't know what to say." He started in a very low voice. "I mean everything is so disturbing that I don't even know how to react. Everybody is against us. The police, the bad people and how do you think we get out of all this?" He asked, entirely confused.

"Piyush, beta I may look like a coward now, but I don't want to lose anything now. We have saved enough money; we are shifting to Canada next month. By then we will stay in Bangalore at my friend's place. It's just you, whom I am telling all this. I don't want you to get into any trouble, so you just resign and leave this city. We will be in touch. But now, it's not at all safe. And please don't tell Sneha or Radhika about this, they don't have the slightest of idea about all this. They are already broken; I don't want them to live in fear and lies around. I don't know if you fully understood what I said, but this people, whoever they are, are very dirty, filthy, danger and ruthless. I don't want you to come in contact with them anyhow. He even said taking you to the R&D was also a mistake. So please leave this job very soon and move out. And please don't tell anything to anyone about what I told you. Whatever has happened is the past now, forget it and simply get away from this. At least for Sneha." She asked for the bill and the young boy came up with it.

"Mam, don't you think the man who called you warning about Sneha and Radhika, might have followed you here?" He asked, his mind going over the things again and again, fearing what if somebody really tries to hurt Sneha, him or the other two Sharma family members.

"I don't think so. Because from that day, I was so scared that I just stopped going to the police. And he never called back. Even after the news in the papers yesterday, I didn't react. So, maybe he thought that I have given up, and yes, I have. I just wanted to warn you. And even if he follows, I don't think so he'll hurt. I kept my word. I stayed away from everything for the sake of my family. So I am not afraid anymore." She replied confidently. _But I am, I am very much afraid mam._

They left the restaurant, Piyush offered her to drop home, but she told him to visit her only in the presence of Sneha and Radhika to avoid any kind of suspicion. He reached home, had dinner and sent Sneha a message.

Not fine, fever. Going to bed early. Good night.

## Chapter Twenty

Piyush, lost in his own thoughts, still could not think. Whatever Mrs. Sharma told him was hard to accept. He couldn't think of Sharmaji being killed and his attempts to help Piyush get another job. There was nothing else that came to his mind. Priti was watching TV and he just lay on the bed doing nothing. Priti observed the silence and then at last asked him, "No, messaging today? Everything ok?"

"Yes." He replied.

"Anything wrong with Sneha?"

"No, just tired." Again a plain reply.

For the next fifteen to twenty minutes, he lay there as it is. "Do you want to have a massage? You look tired." She asked.

"Yes." The one word reply made it clear that her brother really need one. She gave him a coconut oil massage on the head and he fell asleep immediately after that. His cell phone blinked. It was Mrs. Piyush Mehta's message. Priti opened it.

Ok. Take a day off tomorrow and stay home, take rest. Good night. Love you.

Priti checked the sent messages. 'fever?' She checked his forehead, but there was nothing. She understood that something was going on, which he didn't tell her. She pulled a blanket over him and turned off the lights. Piyush opened his eyes, but it was still dark. He checked the time, it was 3:35 a.m. Sharmaji being killed was the only thing that was going on in his mind. Piyush thought of everything again.

Sneha told me about the financial problem. Then Sharmaji committing suicide because of an extramarital affair. So the financial problem was because of the affair. He was providing money to the other partner also. Mystery solved. Now Sharma mam came to me and told another different story. Some deadly colleagues killed Sharmaji for a rivalry or something that even she doesn't know. They are powerful people, that's it. So somebody just came and killed him, but we couldn't even do anything. Now to run away from these people, Sharmaji saved money and hence the financial problem, mystery is solved. So what now? The girl I love the most, her father is killed and that too with two different powerful versions. Both correct from their respective prospect. And apart from the two, Sneha is going to Canada. So where do I stand now? Nowhere. She has got money, so she can go. But how can I just quit this job and leave? I have just started. And on what basis I should leave? No experience, nothing. It's going to be a suicide if I quit this job now. But again, what if Sharma mam is true?

Piyush couldn't sleep the remaining time and ended getting up early. The way things were going on with the Sharma family, he would have preferred to stay away from them. But there was just one thing that kept him from doing so, and that was Sneha. She never lied to him, she trusted him more than anyone else and he could not betray her by not being on her side. He had to find a way that would result in a win-win situation. He was afraid if he doesn't work out on something fast, he would lose her as she would shift to Canada. The impatience was very frustrating for Piyush.

Next day the first thing he decided to do was to discuss it with Nandini mam. He told her to keep herself free for lunch and she obliged.

"Hello! So what is it? You sounded tensed today." She asked him as he got in to her cabin.

He settled, leaned forward and whispered. "Mam, Sharmaji did not commit suicide, he was killed. His wife told me yesterday. She called me in a restaurant and told me that he had some problem with a few colleagues, and he even tried to get away from everything, but before he could do something, they killed him."

"What?" She asked him shockingly.

"Yes, and she is leaving India, shifting to Canada. She tried telling everything to the police but they are also not supporting her. She received a call from someone, who threatened to hurt Sneha and Radhika if she pursued the truth."

"Piyush, are you all right? Do you even know what are you talking about?"

"Yes mam I am absolutely fine, and this is what she told me yesterday. She said that the people who are behind all this, are very powerful and she don't want to take any risk, regarding her daughters. So she has decided to leave India. Sharmaji saved money for all this, but before he could, they killed him. Sharma mam even told me to quit this job and settle somewhere else far away from such people."

"Well, Sharmaji did say he wanted to quit the job, but there were a few things he wanted to finish first." She said trying to relate it to her past conversations with him.

"She even told me that he was trying to get me another job so that I don't end up crossing path with those people. Sharma mam said that the man, who called her to warn, knew which dress Sneha wore that day. It's like the whole Sharma family is under surveillance. I mean, it's a conspiracy kind of a thing. I don't know what to do mam." Nandini mam was listening carefully to what he was saying. He told her everything that Mrs. Sharma told him. He told her how he felt about the two different sides, the one in the news and the one told by Sharma mam and how both of them were justified.

"Piyush I can understand everything. I know your concern for Sneha, but this is not possible. We all know about Sharmaji and what people will talk about the extramarital affair..." Piyush interrupted.

"Mam it's not about people, but about what Sharma mam told me."

"I know, but she just lost her husband and the reason is also very unacceptable. She is in trauma right now, and she is relating different things with this matter. Look, everybody has problems with their colleagues where there are serious differences. But that doesn't mean you kill them and stick up something like this to cover it up. And come on, nobody can control the police, the doctors, the media at the same time. Mrs. Sharma is just connecting the wrong things and coming up with something to justify her side."

"But mam, whatever she told me did make sense."

"Piyush, just because Sneha had some financial problems and her mother justified them, doesn't mean she is right. I told you, she has lost her husband and that has made an impact on her mind, so instead of just hearing and letting go things, if you are interested in trying to prove her point, then I am afraid people will soon start calling you a psychopath too. And yes, if you want to quit the job, then I have a couple of places where I can recommend your name."

Piyush was quiet. He just nodded. "Okay, tell me, were you there when she received the call from the man who threatened to hurt Sneha or Radhika?" She asked.

"No" He answered.

"Were you there when Sharmaji was killed, as you say?"

"No, mam."

"Then anybody can frame a story like that. There is nothing to prove what she is saying. She is just trying to cover it up, and that's fine keeping in mind she has two daughters to take care of and to face the society, she is making things up. So just agree to whatever she says and leave it. That's my very frank opinion."

"Mam she wants me to marry Sneha, and I don't think she would frame a story for me. Sneha never lied to me about anything; even Sharmaji wanted Sneha to marry me. She can tell stories to other people, but she told me out of concern. And I am pretty sure about that."

Nandini mam looked down in disbelief. "Oh, I have to make a call, you think over it and if you are serious, let me know, I'll give your name to a few people for new job." She left the room in a hurry. Piyush found this behavior very abrupt as if she had no sentiments.

That night he received a call from Nandini mam. She told him to stop thinking about what Sneha's mother had told him, as she called and asked if everything was alright and Mrs. Sharma told her that she was too panicked. She assured Piyush that she would look after Sharma mam in case of a problem. She also asked him to mail his CV, if he felt like quitting the job. He also received a call from Sneha telling him that she was leaving for Bangalore a day after to get away from the mess for the time being. Piyush felt like discussing it with her, but stopped, as she already had a lot of stress.

Sneha went to Bangalore along with her family for a change. Sharma mam behaved as if she never met him in secret, in fact she looked much relaxed and in control as if nothing had happened. Sneha told him that they were shifting to Canada after a month, they had a relative there. But she promised him that distance won't be a problem and everything will be fine. She also told him that she would marry him after her higher education and it was just a matter of couple of years before they would be back together. Piyush felt bad when she was going away. He was finally convinced that Nandini mam was right regarding Sharma mam. It didn't matter now, as to what was the actual reason.

Sharma family's absence made a lot of difference to Piyush. He asked Nandini mam about the recommendations she was talking about and the jobs seemed more attractive than the one in EI. She told him that the new job would also fulfill Sharma mam's wish of him leaving the job. 'This would also ensure that things between you and Sneha remain good in the long run. At least her mother would feel like you are an obedient son-in-law.' He discussed it with his parents, and told Nandini mam he was willing to go for the new job.

## Chapter Twenty one

Majeed had finished his last 'job', Vineet Sharma from Bilaspur, forty seventh of his career, and went underground again. He was waiting at the Mumbai international airport when he received a call.

"Don't board the flight. You have to go back to Bilaspur." An anonymous voice said from the other end.

"Why?" He asked, without a slightest of variation in his voice.

"Mehta, the young man who was close to Sharma, Sharma's wife made him a call about an important thing and now he intends to resign. All her phones are tapped. Just after a month of Sharma's death, he resigns. That is quite suspicious. He must know something, that's why he is trying to go off the radar. I don't want any risk. Go and take care of him too."

"But he is too small to be a problem." Majeed replied, his voice unperturbed again.

"Small problems grow large to cause the major troubles, don't leave any loose end. However small he is, finish him and close the Bilaspur chapter."

"How did you find out he is quitting? And by the way, when did you start paying heed to the small things you never cared for?"

"Nandini Sahu told me. Keep it clean like Sharma, no Majeed endorsements there." The man said and hung up. Majeed cancelled the flight and left the airport.

Piyush went to office and came home directly. There was no Sharmaji, no Sneha. He was waiting for Nandini mam's reply, which came in ten days.

"Piyush, you have to go for an interview in Bengaluru next Wednesday. I'll mail you the details in a day. Nothing to worry as such, they will ask only usual questions. I have put in a good word, so you can say you have bagged it."

"Sure mam," he wasn't expecting everything to happen so fast. He left for home excited that day after office. _No no no no. not now_. He found the tyre of his rear wheel punctured. _A good day just cannot remain good till a shadow of something negative interferes._ He started dragging his bike towards a nearby garage. It had turned dark and the road was empty. _Damn it_. _Why with me?_ He was still crying over it, when a van came from behind and pulled up near him. The driver, a bald man lowered the window and asked.

"What's wrong? You need any help?"

"No, just a punctured tyre.. There's a garage nearby, not a big deal." Piyush replied.

"Let me check." The man got out of the van to take a look at his bike. Piyush stopped. The man came from the front, bent down to check the tyre, got up and said, "It's a bad puncture." As he came close, Piyush recognized him, but was late to react.

The man grabbed his neck and pushed him down towards the van. Two men came out of the van to pull Piyush inside. He saw them and was shocked to see that they were the same men whom Piyush mistook as two roadside guys following Priti. As they were approaching him, he immediately got up and pushed one of them and started running with all his might. The bald man ran after him. Piyush went into the bushes that were to the left of the road and did not even dare to look back. But he heard footsteps behind and kept marching towards the other end for some miraculous escape.

The two kept running till they reached the other side of the bushes. There was a small complex with various shops inside. Piyush headed towards it shouting for help, hoping someone would intervene. He had taken a good lead ahead of the man to stop and think of a possible escape. He saw a narrow staircase with an iron sliding grill instead of a door. There was one thing for sure, everything was happening so fast that he knew, before getting help he had to do something on his own. And fortunately he knew what he had to. The distance between the two was now narrowed to one feet, as Piyush slowed down to think of how to use the contracted staircase.

He ran upstairs from the grilled entrance with the bald man on his tail, narrowly missing him. He climbed the first 8 stairs, took the turn to head upwards and with precise judgment, immediately jumped down midway above the supporting metal rod to land down on the first few stairs. Although the passage was very thin and small, the height was sufficient enough to hurt his legs. He crumbled and was now downstairs, behind the man.

The bald man stumbled, took a u- turn and followed Piyush, but Piyush knew exactly what to do. He got out of the entrance and as the man reached the grill to catch Piyush, he pressed it hard with all the power he had crushing the fingers of his attacker badly. The bald man yelled in pain. Piyush's countering had taken him by surprise. Piyush released the grill for a moment and pressed it hard once again to confirm that the damage was good in quality and quantity. The man yelled again, everybody who was watching the scene, with one man yelling and the other crushing his fingers, came to stop the duo. Piyush took advantage of the chaos, and disappeared as people tried to help the injured bald man. He pushed them away and ran in the same direction as that of Piyush, holding his painful hand. The grill was a big one and the force had nearly crushed his index and middle finger. His hand was bleeding, he was in pain but the anger was more than the pain. He got out of the building, but Piyush was nowhere in sight.

Piyush got into a bus, tired, breathing heavily, scared. He was trembling. He had just declared a war against the most coveted criminal, Majeed. Piyush recognized him the very moment he came near him. The bald pale face was the trademark image of Majeed that often flashed in the newspapers. He had no option but to defend himself. He was scared, and everything that followed was a result of his frightened state. He went to the same spot where he was first attacked, but his bike was missing. He then carefully headed home but found the two men standing at a distance. _Dead_. He called Priti and told her he had some important office work to do and had to leave for Mumbai immediately. She asked him why he sounded tensed but Piyush dodged her saying he had to receive another call. He went into a small hotel that night to keep the danger away from his family and figure out what was happening.

Piyush could not believe he was attacked by Majeed. _Why me? What have I done to him? Why I attacked back in the complex. But he was not saying anything, he was just attacking, what else I should have done? Why such a powerful criminal would attack me? I have never even been in a fight before._ He thought of all the things that he had done which could relate him to crossing paths with Majeed. But then one thing came forth that he found very strange. _Why a criminal would kill someone like him? Completely unbelievable that Majeed attacked me, and who am I? A nobody. Even the police would not believe me. Everybody will think that I have gone mad._ The police thought suddenly made it clear. He started thinking it all keeping in mind what Sharma mam had told him, and then, it made sense. _Powerful people, the police not co-operating, and who would believe that Sharmaji was killed? Who would believe I was attacked by Majeed?_ He could not sleep that night and kept checking the window throughout to see if somebody was after him or not.

The next morning he checked out early and was walking down the street for an auto when he found the two men in the same area. He immediately got away. He ate something at a road side joint. Tried calling Nandini mam but she didn't answer. He kept changing places and everywhere he went, the two men followed. All this while he couldn't drop the idea of the unbelievable Mrs. Sharma story and how it was coming true in its own way. _I am really included in the 'us' she mentioned._ By evening his cell phone was out of power.

He was in a restaurant having dinner and it was then, he realized how tired he was. The exhausted feeling led him to spend the rest of the night into a lodge. The lodge owner was a man in his early sixties. He was very polite, which Piyush found suspicious but he was very tired to even ensure that he was not being followed. He fell asleep as soon as he lay on the bed. The next morning he was surprised to see that no one had popped into the lodge to find him. He cautiously went out to buy a charger for his phone and there was nothing suspicious. Piyush found it very stupid. _I was attacked, and now I am just running away from those people like a moron. What is this all about?_ But he couldn't think of anything else other than running. He was traumatized by what had happened and the best way to keep everything from his family was to run, buy some time to find out what was happening and then sort it out.

He charged his phone battery, called home and told Priti that he got into trouble after a fight. He also asked her to stay quiet as he did not want to take any risk. He told her that he would do something about it and warned her to keep the matter away from their parents. He tried to reach Nandini mam again, but her phone was now switched off. He thought of everyone he knew but none of them were close enough, who would dare to risk their lives, which, in this case was a possibility, as it involved Majeed. _The best option is to leave the city for the time being._

He went out of the lodge to get a bus for the railway station but saw the men with Majeed looking for him. _Oh shit, not again_. He hurried back into the lodge, handed the owner a thousand rupee and told him not to open his mouth if asked about him. The lodge owner was a man, whose only source of income was the lodge and that too was not running smoothly. As long as he was paid, he was ready to shut up. And he did.

Piyush thought about everything from the beginning about how they found him everywhere he went. He changed buses, taxis and autos constantly and whenever he felt he was safe, the men came out of nowhere. He decided to call Priti to warn her and be extra cautious, and suddenly stopped. _Got it_. He closed his fist tightly in frustration. The only thing that could help them track him was his cell phone, which was possible with the help of police, and as per Mrs. Sharma, the police were also with them.

There was one thing that concerned Piyush more was that only the two men were in sight, but Majeed and the van, which Piyush thought they were using to kidnap him, was never seen again. He always remained extra cautious, afraid of bumping into Majeed. _Run. Run. But how far and how long? And from what? Why? What did I do? Why Majeed is after me?_ All this questions kept coming in his mind after every half hour. _Whatever it is, it is big enough to turn things around. At least in my life. And all I want to do is to get fucking rid of all this._

He bought a cell phone along with a new sim card. And before throwing away the old sim, he called Priti.

"Don't panic." He said as she answered.

"Where are you, and most importantly what's going on?" She asked, not paying any attention to what he was saying.

"I am fine, now listen, I won't be able to call you but do wait for my call. Don't worry I'll be fine." He hanged up before she could respond. He disposed the sim at a considerable distance to create a false lead for the two men.

He then went to a nearby shop and got himself a pullover, a cap and jeans. He changed into the new clothes and left the lodge. It worked; he had managed to fool around the two men and Majeed. His thoughts went back to Sharmaji and what his wife told him. After relentless thinking, he was now almost convinced that all this drama was related to Sharmaji. _But how come I got into all this? I didn't do anything. Didn't even go to the police to solve Sharmaji's mysterious death. I was just close to his family, doesn't mean I should also be killed._ He was about to break down. All he wanted was to forget everything like a bad dream as soon as he managed to dupe Majeed. He was walking down the busy street deep in his own thoughts when he bumped into a man.

"Oh!! Sorry," he turned back and said, but was shocked to see it was none other than Majeed.

"It's ok." He said politely and continued, "The two people you thought you dodged were never in the scene, they just made you come out of the hole in which you were hiding, made you move away from them, thus keeping you in limelight." He saw the same van approaching. He tried to run, but Majeed held his hand and he could feel a knife's point stabbed in his back.

"Quietly get inside; else I don't have any problem in reducing your life to this very moment." The knife was hurting him and he was too scared to react. Piyush was numb. He did as Majeed told him to, and the van went away quietly. Even on the busy street, nobody noticed anything.

# Part three: The bloodshed
## Chapter Twenty two

Piyush woke up in a room, alone, lying on the floor, his head very heavy and in pain. He lay on the floor trying to remember what had happened. The only thing he could remember was something hitting him on the back of his head after he got into the van. There was a fresh scar on his back and it burned badly when he tried to reach it. He remembered it was the knife that was stabbed in his back, not deep enough to kill, but to constantly hurt him. He tried getting up but didn't have enough strength. After half an hour the door opened, a man came in.

"Well, you are the least known person I ever came across, yet you are the one, who counter attacked me instead of just giving it up. Standing applause for that." He clapped and continued "But you are not smart enough to knock me down. You kept running like a small little rat, and I accept that I enjoyed the show. But I have got a lot of business to do, so I have to end it soon. But take my word for it, in next life time, if there is something like 'next life,' do give it a try for an entertainer's job, because you do entertain a lot." Majeed said as he went behind Piyush and kicked him on the same spot where he had slightly stabbed the knife. Piyush groaned in pain.

"It hurts right?" Majeed asked him holding his neck. "Then how dare you crush my fingers so badly?" He showed him his bandaged hand. He helped Piyush stood up and punched him hard in his abdomen. Piyush fell down, could hardly breathe for a couple of seconds and then the pain exploded in the mid-section of his body. Piyush felt like his liver was burning too. He lay down holding his stomach, crying in pain.

"A gun is a very noisy affair; I would have simply strangled your neck and gave you a simple peaceful death. But you chose the violent painful way by injuring my hand. Now gun is not an option and strangulation is something you ruled out, so stabbing is the only choice left." Majeed said playing with his knife. "And I am going to tie up your hands and mouth, stab you many times and will leave you bleed to death in pain, how does this sounds?"

"Please don't do this, I have not done anything wrong, why are you doing this to me?" Piyush asked.

"Oh cry baby, you are dumber than your Sharmaji. At least he was smart enough to know what he had done and told me not to hurt his family, I kept my word. Now, you are his family to-be, I suppose that will be 'to be' forever. But you, let's just say that you came too close to the fire. Or I don't know how to complete the phrase, so you came in contact with a rust iron rod and I am afraid you might also have picked it up, so the best thing is to dispose you. You understand?"

"I don't know what you are talking about. I really don't have the slightest of idea regarding what was going on with Sharmaji, just let me go." Piyush cried in pain, begging for mercy.

"Well that's good that you don't know what was going on with Sharma. But I still can't take the risk, you know, especially when the stakes are so high, and nowadays you have to go conservatively, carefully. And even your Sharmaji died like a brave fought soldier. He didn't cry like you when I choked him to death. But you, you are a pathetic piece of shit, begging for life and don't even know why I am killing you. You are just too useless to be kept alive." He came near Piyush and grabbed his neck.

"Stop it, please don't do this to me I have to take care of my sister's education, marriage, and my father is a retired man. Please let me go.. please." Piyush cried more as Majeed tightened the grip.

"I would not have killed you so soon, I wanted you to suffer first, to make you feel how it hurts when you crush somebody's fingers." He said smoothly and added, "Now let's make a small deal here. I will not hurt your family, provided you tell me the truth. Have you told any of your family members about anything that has been going for the last few days? I heard that you are very close to your sister Priti. Have you told her anything? Because if you have and you lie to me now, I will personally go to her to find out what she knows, and it's very unacceptable from my end to just ask question and kill a girl without tasting a young and beautiful Priti's flesh. I have seen her earlier, she looks great, it will be fun to take her first and then carry out the business."

"No, I have not told anyone about this, please let me go. Please don't do anything to my family, they don't know anything. Please." Piyush pleaded again.

Majeed bent down held his neck and said "I trust you, but if I find out what your family knows, none of them will be spared, and Priti will be given a special treatment. Mark my words, if you try to act.." Piyush had gathered enough strength by now, and Majeed's comments about his sister had given birth to a surge of anger. He used all the power and punched Majeed hard on his testicles. He fell down whining in pain. Piyush hurriedly got up and powerfully pressed his injured hand and tried to crush it again with his feet. Majeed bit Piyush on his leg, and somehow pulled his hand away to avoid hurting it more, but it resulted in more pain and bleeding. He rolled on his stomach shouting in pain. The punch between the legs and the treatment Piyush gave to his hand at the same time was nothing but unbearable pain.

He was still screaming in pain and Piyush had lost the hand he had. Majeed was down on the floor on one side trying to cover up his hand. Piyush wanted to take every single advantage of the situation, the anger in him was now above everything, he saw Majeed's back, he did not think twice before he started kicking between his legs as hard as he could. The weak point of the strong man was Piyush's strength and he brutally explored it. No matter how powerful a man is, when hit between his legs, he becomes nothing more than a painfully paralyzed body. And with Majeed, he was being hit in the same area again and again.

"This is my fucking choice; this is how I want you to suffer." Piyush said and kept hitting Majeed till the part between his legs started bleeding. "You wanted to give special treatment to my sister, you were going to hurt my family?" Piyush looked around, he found knife that fell out of his hand when Piyush attacked him.

"You know what I am going to do now? I am going to create history. I am going to kill you, the great fucking Majeed, and the history, yes, I will create history by killing you on my fucking debut 'business', you filthy piece of shit, motherfucker." He took the knife and stabbed Majeed right in his throat. Blood started oozing out of his throat the very instance the knife entered inside. Majeed was now choking holding his throat trying to pull out the knife but Piyush himself took it off and penetrated it back, second time more powerfully. Piyush got up, kicked him on his chest again and got away from Majeed. He went in the corner of the room and sat down covering his face. Majeed was dead in the next two minutes.

Piyush broke down. He saw Majeed's body lying there in a pool of blood and cried again. "What have I done? What is all this? Why all this is happening?" He said to himself and lay on the floor. He found himself more tired and in pain than he was before Majeed walked in.

He got up and went near Majeed, wiping his tears. The knife was still in his throat. Although he had killed him in a very unorthodox manner, but the storm that was going to destroy him was lying on the floor, dead. He went to the door to find an exit but hung back to get his belongings. His cell phone was not in his pocket. He checked the room, there was nothing except for his cap and bag. He went near Majeed's body again to check his pocket. His pants too were wet in blood. Piyush checked his pockets, there were two phones. One was that of Piyush and the second one that Piyush thought, probably belonged to the dead man. Both of them were blood soaked, but fortunately both of them were still working. He checked his phone first, rubbed the blood away, his was working fine. He then checked Majeed's, there were just two numbers. He was too shocked to check whose phone numbers they were. Piyush left the phone on the floor and got up to leave.

He glanced at the dead body once before leaving. His gaze stuck at one strange thing. Majeed's whole body was soaked in blood except for his throat, where Piyush had stabbed him. Piyush did not feel bad at all to see the dead Majeed lying there. He went near him to give closer look. The bald man's skin around the throat had peeled off.

Piyush found his head heavier and more painful but tried to concentrate. He took out the knife and as the knife eased out of the dead man's throat, the layer of skin also came up to a certain point before going back on its original place. Piyush moved it away with the knife and couldn't believe his eyes. It was not the skin that was peeled off but a mask that the bald man had put on. Piyush pulled it with the help of the knife but it didn't move. He touched his forehead to get a feel of it and found out that the whole forehead was the mask. He checked the whole skull without touching it, even the tattoo was on the mask. Piyush slowly peeled off the mask on his forehead and skull, and tore it with the knife, to see the real person below. He immediately recognized the face beneath the mask. He had seen him just once, but it was a well-known figure. He was Expanding India's vice chairman Vicky Singhal.

## Chapter Twenty three

Piyush got out of the room with Singhal's cell phone. He didn't know where he was; he stopped an auto and went back to the lodge which he had left earlier. He was so tired, injured and weak that he slept straight for 17 hours. When he woke up, he was in more pain and hungry. He asked the lodge owner to get something to eat, paid extra tip to avoid any unwanted disturbances and again locked himself in the room. _Vicky Singhal was Majeed. That means Majeed was fake or Singhal was fake. And he killed Sharmaji, for what reason? And why he attacked me? And Singhal killed so many people disguised as Majeed. For what reason? What is all this? Why such a big person disguised as a much bigger criminal is trying to kill people like me? I should have asked him before killing him, but by then I would have been lying there instead of him. Sharma mam was right. Her husband was killed and really by some very powerful people._ Piyush was very confused and scared, but also relieved. He checked Majeed's phone, there were 4 missed calls from only one number. Piyush hesitated at first, but then dialed it back out of curiosity. A man answered from the other end.

"Where are you? In fact where have you been? And what about Mehta? You took care of him?" The man asked. Piyush was angrier now, especially after knowing that someone had ordered to kill him.

"He must be in hell by now; I suppose the journey doesn't take more than 24 hours after death. And yes, he tried to take care of Mehta, but Mehta was too luxurious to be taken care of, so unfortunately he failed Mehta." Piyush replied calmly and immediately shot back "May I know who the fuck in the world is holding the phone on the other end? Because Mehta is tired of this cat and mice game, he wants to end this at the earliest. So how about you and me meet in person, so that I can slit your throat and finish things up." There was silence on the line for a moment. Then the man replied.

"Well if that's the case, than I am the many numbers of fucking odds Mehta will be facing before he is finished. Remember my name, 'many number of fucking odds'." The man hanged up the phone. Piyush stood in his room trembling. There was a mixture of fear and anger that resembled it.

He had killed the most powerful person and that transformed Piyush into a different man. The phone call was a cherry on the cake and Piyush was now ready to kill anyone and everyone who came his way. He did not leave the room that whole day. The same night he moved into another lodge in a different area after going to a doctor to dress up his multiple injuries.

The next morning he left the lodge, still not knowing what he was supposed to do next. Only one person came to his mind and that was Nandini mam. He was walking down the footpath in his new cloths with the hood pulled up, when he accidently saw a newspaper. The headline was something that made Piyush head back to the same lodge which he had left. He bought the paper and hurried back. The owner was a busy man, so he did not check Piyush's documents the second time and simply gave him a new room.

Piyush read the news. **Expanding India's vice chairman Vicky Singhal found dead in the city.** Piyush read everything. Piyush was totally stunned when he read: **It is suspected that Majeed killed Singhal as the vice chairman was found dead wearing a torn up mask that had a tattoo which is supposed to be on Majeed's head. The reason is still unknown and many questions are raised as to why Singhal was in town and who knew about his whereabouts, but once again the unexpected and eminent threat from Majeed to anyone and everyone, has popped up his head out of nowhere.**

"Oh come on, how can you be so stupid. Damn it!! He was not killed by Majeed, he is Majeed." He murmured looking at the paper. Piyush lay on the bed, blank. He murdered someone but he was not in picture. And the person whom he had killed was the suspected one. The great Majeed was still virtually alive and was now bigger and dangerous. Piyush was relieved by the fact that his name was nowhere in the murder of one of the most powerful and dynamic man from the corporate world, whom he had actually killed. But he was afraid of what was about to happen. The call he had made to the man and the way in which it ended, Piyush regretted making the call. The whole world was shaken after the news broke out.

Piyush was somewhat happy by the ignorance of the investigation agency and the way in which they interpreted the murder scene. He was still a common non- criminal man. This bought him the unexpected time. Piyush was expecting his arrest in twenty-four hours and with a heavy painful head and injured body he didn't know to how to give a fight. But now the police were after the dead Majeed. Piyush had a good chance to make it up and get out of all the mess. There was just one person whom Piyush could ask for help and that was Nandini mam. She was the perfect person who would help him. Piyush went out, bought more new cloths and waited in the lodge till evening. He wanted to go home but that would turn into a trap, he was safe staying, moving in lodges. For the whole day he thought of all the possible reasons why Majeed killed Sharmaji, for what reason he tried to kill him and why Singhal was Majeed. _All this meant he was the one responsible for the death of so many people. But still something is missing. What is it that connects me to all this?_ When it was dark, he assumed Nandini mam would be home and left.

It was way past midnight. Some 10-15 men tried to sneak into the Mehtas house. They carefully got inside without making any noise. The lights were off. A few men stood outside to make sure no one noticed and none of the Mehta members get away from the window. They expected the parents and the daughter would be asleep and simultaneously tried to barge into both the rooms. But to their surprise, the doors were not locked from the inside but from the outside. They opened the doors and both the rooms were empty.

There was no one in the house. Piyush had told Priti to leave the city immediately. She did ask him the reason, but his tensed voice made it clear that it was not the right time to ask questions. The sister immediately understood and agreed. She made up a couple of things to make it look like urgent and in the next four hours the three of them were on a train leaving the city.

Piyush reached Nandini mam's house but it was locked. _What the hell. Where are you mam?_ _So many things are happening to me and you have switched off the phone and now, you are not even home._ He waited on the terrace for two- three hours. He kept calling her, but her phone was still switched off. He hesitated for a while to ask her neighbor about where she was, as he feared something might go wrong, but finally gathered the much needed courage and asked. They told him that she was out of town since a week. _No way. Please. Come back mam_. He finally left and walked a few blocks to get an auto and went back to the lodge. He asked the driver to take the farthest route possible and reached there. Piyush immediately took his belongings from the room and checked out in a hurry.

He had seen a black SUV as soon as he entered the colony in which Nandini mam lived. The car arrived when Piyush reached there and didn't move till Piyush left. The SUV followed him slowly from a distance and as he got into the auto, the SUV speeded up. It followed him all the way back to the lodge. Piyush was now sure that it was after him. He had seen the number too and the car was registered in Delhi.

Piyush bought pepper spray in case of an emergency. Defending someone in a moving car would be more difficult as he didn't even know how many men would be inside. He walked, trying to be as distorted as he could. There were a lot of policeman in the area and Piyush was more tensed because of this. _Police are also with them. Why aren't they catching Majeed? Good and bad boys together._ He took out the pepper spray bottle and kept it in the front pocket of his jeans. Piyush was smoothly making his way out of the crowd when he heard two policemen asking people if they knew someone as Piyush Mehta.

Piyush looked away, pulled his hood more and started walking faster. _Why are they looking for me?_ The same policeman then followed him and called,

"Excuse me, sir!" Piyush was surprised by the respect they had given by calling him 'sir'. _Dead. Over._ He stopped and looked back at them. The hood and the cap proved friendly and they didn't recognize him.

"Yes." Piyush replied looking down at the floor, his feet and hands trembling, heart pounding and whole body sweating.

"Have you seen this guy named Piyush Mehta?" They showed him his own photograph, the old one from Facebook. His photos on driving license and voter id were beyond recognizable. Piyush was not at all the same; the photograph was three years older. And Piyush had a beard, a cap and a hood pulled over.

"No. I have not seen him before." Piyush replied and turned to leave. One of them also turned to leave but the other, who called Piyush 'sir', turned out to be a smart one and asked Piyush to take off his cap.

Piyush was now more freaked out than before, he stopped and did accordingly. The man checked the photo and looked at Piyush again. He double checked both the faces and it instantly came out of his mouth "He is the one." Before the two could react Piyush was quick enough to spray the pepper into their eyes and started walking rapidly. They cried loudly, which alerted the other policemen and Piyush lost all his control and was now running down the street with 3-4 fat police guys chasing him. The police van behind them also started following him.

Piyush turned left into a very narrow lane to avoid the van. The men on feet were still after him and were now joined by one young fellow who was lean, strong and was running hard towards Piyush. Piyush was giving his all to keep a safe distance from them. He was waiting for some more traffic, so he could vanish in it. He reached the other end of the narrow lane and was now running on a much broader road with five policemen after him, while the young one leading the pack.

Piyush ran a hundred yards on the main street and turned back to see how far he was from his followers. The distance was considerable enough for Piyush to get away from them but he also saw something that he did not intend to. The black SUV that followed him at Nandini mam's place was speeding up towards him. Piyush ran harder. The road was coming to an end at a square and from the right, the police van was on its way to block Piyush.

Piyush was about to reach the end of the road when the SUV quickly raced across him and stopped right in front of him, blocking him. The sudden rapid application of breaks made a noise loud enough to bring everybody out on the street. Piyush tried to avoid it but everything happened so fast that he ended up slamming on the vehicle. Piyush fell down, the door of the SUV opened. A voice called from inside. "Get in fast."

It was a female voice. Piyush looked back. The police men were almost about to reach him and from the right, the police van was also approaching fast. The SUV stood on the wrong side of the road in front of him. Piyush was shaken by the impact on the SUV. He was down on the road wondering what was going on when the female voice called again, "Get in Piyush, fast." He looked up. It was the face that he was looking for and dying to see for a long time. Nandini Sahu. He immediately got in to it, and even before he could close the door, the SUV raced in the same direction as that of the police van, way past them. Before it could make a U-turn and follow it again, the SUV was gone too far.

## Chapter Twenty four

"How many cars do you have?" Piyush asked her when they had gone out of the police's sight.

"That's not the question I was expecting, you were supposed to ask what is going on instead." She replied.

"Okay, what's going on mam?" He promptly asked.

"Read that." She said pointing her finger towards the newspaper on the back seat. Piyush took the paper. It was a very little known evening newspaper that Piyush had never even heard of, but it had his name in bold and big fonts, that left his mouth wide open **. Out in the open: Piyush Mehta, the man who donned the name Majeed and took down innocent and common man's lives.** Piyush was stunned. "What?" He said out loud. "This is impossible mam."

"Yes it is, but you are the most wanted man in the country now. And the problem is that you are not in hiding. You are roaming out in plain sight. So it won't take long for the police and other investigation agencies to track you down."

"But mam, try to you understand." He said, but Nandini mam interrupted "I don't care what your side of the story is, but first listen to what I have for you. They know that you are in the city, and it will be seized within an hour. That means you are trapped." She pulled the car. "Get out. We have to change the car".

"What? Why?" Piyush asked.

"Just do what I am telling you, Piyush I don't have time to answer your questions right now. They have seen the car and would be looking for it through 'night vision binoculars' by now. So just get out and do what I am telling you to." They changed the vehicle and were now in a white color Maruti 800. This time, Piyush didn't ask the number of cars.

"Eat something. You must be hungry." She gave him a box. He really was, and started eating without any delay. After few bites he remembered asking her, but she declined.

"Mam I killed Majeed. But it was Vicky Singhal in the mask. I mean all of a sudden this Majeed attacks me while returning from office. Then he threatens to kill my family. He was the one who killed Sharmaji and what am I supposed to do, just die. I was panicked, sacred at first. But then, I beat the hell out of him.." Again Nandini mam interrupted.

"You didn't just beat the hell out of him, but you killed him. And there was no need to pull that mask, you should have left that for the police." She replied as if she knew everything.

"But what is all this, mam? And after that there were many calls on his phone from a number. I called back and told them to do the fuck they can. Somebody had hired Majeed or Singhal to kill me. I mean what is all this?"

"Wait. What? You called back? Why did you do that? And who told you to do that? Oh shit Piyush." She punched the dashboard hard. "By the way thank god you took his cell phone." She paused for a moment, looked at him and said, "I hope you still have it with you. Don't tell me you threw it away or I'll kill you."

"I have it. I switched it off." He replied immediately as soon as she finished saying 'kill you.'

"I am sorry Piyush." She held his hand and continued, "I tried to keep you out of all this right from the beginning. But Sharmaji, he screwed up everything. We can't say he screwed up everything but yes, he is the only reason."

"Do you mean you knew everything, mam?" Piyush asked holding her hand back.

"I tried to take you away from everything. I manipulated you and was almost on the verge of taking you out of this company. You would have taken the new job and everything would have been normal. I knew Sharmaji was killed. I knew his wife was right. I even knew he was going to get killed. But that was the past and the result of his impatience. We asked him to wait but he was not listening. The next thing I had in mind was my children, Sneha, Radhika and you. I knew they would go for you, since you were so close to Sharmaji, and his family."

"Singhal knew I was going to marry Sneha. How is that possible?" Piyush asked in his own thoughts, trying to work out and understand what she had just told him.

"Even I knew you would marry her, Piyush. That's why I made you go for that new job to take you all away from this. But they were already onto you before I could take care of things. I was helpless when I got to know that they had decided to get rid of you too, as they thought you would be dangerous or might leak something."

"Leak what? And who are 'they'?" Piyush asked, looking at her, as he tried to pull himself out of his own thoughts.

"Let me finish first." She continued without paying any heed to his question, "But when I heard that you dodged Majeed once, and injured him, I decided to help you out. But you were great, you did the impossible and the unexpected. You killed him so brutally that it took everyone by surprise. They were panicked and that was the right time to strike back. But you made the call, and invited them to do whatever they can, and see they turned the whole thing upside down. You are Majeed now. And that too officially in the print media, and everywhere. These people are powerful. And you acted like a fool by asking them to do whatever they can. I mean come on, who are you? This is not a fiction movie, where you would say a couple of powerful lines; beat the bad people and have a happy ending. This is real life, you killed most powerful criminal alone, but did you even think of giving it a thought, about who would be behind all this, which can control the most powerful criminal in the country? He has to be powerful than this Singhal or Majeed."

"You knew all this from the beginning? Then why didn't you tell me mam?" Piyush now understood the gravity of what he had done and the trouble he was in.

"I never wanted you to know anything or get into anything. I could not even warn you as I didn't know if my cabin or home was bugged. And right know it's important to keep you safe instead of telling you what's going on. Everything happened so fast that I could hardly think. You were out of the picture when I told them that you are leaving the company. But I was too late or I don't know what went wrong, it didn't make any difference. The second thing I got to know was that you were being attacked and killed, then again, before I tried to find out a possible helping route, you had already killed Majeed, which actually made me happy and boosted my morale. I took my kids to a safe place and tried to reach you out unnoticed, but 'again' before I could, you had done the unexpected and had declared a war which resulted in you getting into more trouble. I was very close to get you and talk to you when I found that you were named as 'Majeed'. And that news was everywhere. Tell me Piyush, with all this going on, how I could tell you?" Piyush had no reply. "One day everything was working out smoothly and the other day, things are devastated. And you expect me to tell you everything right now. That's great." She paused. There was silence in the car. "All I can say at the moment is that you are up against many problems at the same, with little help."

"But how can they just frame me as Majeed? They should have some evidence." Piyush didn't know what else to say.

"First they are capable enough of framing anything they want. And second, this is too big to take that risk, so they do have the proof. The knife, you used to kill Singhal, it had your finger prints. And thanks to the recent UID card that you have applied for, those records found your match. So I would say they framed you with proof." Piyush was speechless. He had nothing left to say.

"Piyush, we almost paralyzed them, but they overcame it within a day. And on top of it, no one would believe that Vicky Singhal was Majeed. He being dead is a cherry on the cake. The prefect way to hide the facts. Even though they lost Majeed, still everything fell in place for them and they are smart enough to make the most of it. Now can you imagine how strong they are? We are no match against them."

"Who are they? And you worked with them?" Piyush asked blankly looking out of the window.

"I worked with them, but I too have my kids. I have to protect them, I had no option. But we can still make a way out of it. We just have to stay as low as we can." She said pulling the car to a side and got out. Piyush stayed inside and didn't even ask anything. She took a pouch that was hidden below the back seat and got in again.

"What about my family, mam? This news will destroy them." Piyush said without looking at what she had in her hand.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it. Give me Priti's number, I'll talk to them." She replied holding out a couple of documents.

"See, I could not help you out with this till now. But I don't see any other possible way out of this. This is a fake id that I could manage in the given time. You take this, stay low for some time, I'll talk to your family and we will find a way out." She handed the papers. Piyush saw the election commission card. The name was Anmol Pandey. The photo looked like Piyush.

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

"Your bad Facebook photo helped. The man made it worse to look perfect on the voting card. The bad photo gives the feeling that the voter id is original. There is a birth certificate. That will help you, in case it is necessary, get a passport. But no need to worry, the passport won't be fake as 'Anmol' will apply on the basis of original documents. And the government will issue an original one. You will have the change the looks but that's very far from now. Keep one thing in mind; you might have to leave the country if it is not possible to hide safely in a population of over a billion." Piyush was amused by the way Nandini mam was telling him everything. To him, she seemed like an expert in moving people around.

"Be prepared for everything now." She continued, "And just remember one thing. You are not alone." She hugged him. There were tears coming down her eyes. "My children, I have to keep them in mind every time. I am sorry you had to get into all this and face so many problems. I told Sharmaji to keep you away from everything and he even tried his best. It all started when he took you to the R&D and then everything went out of my control. I even tried to warn you, but you never got my signal. I tried to keep you away from all this from the very beginning; I manipulated you, made you feel bad by the absence of Sharma family and convinced you to take up another job as Sharma mam had spilled the beans. You should never have been to the R&D. I know it's not your fault, but unknowingly you made enemies. And yes.." their conversation was interrupted by a police siren. An SUV with two constables in it, pulled up in front of them. Piyush was frightened and was immobile. "I'll check this out. Stay inside." Nandini mam wiped her wet eyes and whispered.

"What's going on at this hour madam?" One of the two men got out and asked her.

"Nothing we were just having dinner, so took a stop." She replied.

"Can you show us the papers of the car?" The other man came and politely asked her.

"Yes, sure." She said looking for the papers and gave them. One of them checked the papers whereas the other took a look around the car.

"Mam it's not safe to stop anywhere like this on the highway, especially when Majeed is in the town. What if he tries to run away, finds you here like this and hurts you to take the car? It is very dangerous right now, I advise you to start moving, and keep your documents outside for verification. There are various police check posts on the way leaving the city." He handed her the documents. The other man had finished taking a look at the vehicle and was standing next to Piyush. Piyush looked at him just once and turned away.

"We need to check the vehicle." The man looking at Piyush said, still looking at him.

"Why?" Nandini mam enquired.

"Routine check, mam" The constable, next to her replied. The duo got out of the car. They checked the vehicle and found Piyush's bag. _No.. no.. not there in the bag._ He panicked as soon as he remembered what was there in his bag. But Piyush could say those words only in his mind, they never came out of his mouth and the man had found what Piyush was afraid of, his wallet. He checked Piyush's driving license and yelled "Majeed. Piyush Mehta. He is Majeed." He took out his gun and pointed towards Piyush. The other man squared up Nandini mam.

"Listen to me there is something wrong. The bag is not ours." Nandini mam tried the simplest lie she could come up with to defend, but it was of no use. One of them headed towards to their vehicle to call back up and alert the other police.

"Keep a check on both of them." He said as he approached their vehicle still pointing the gun towards Nandini mam. For a moment the man in front of Piyush looked at Nandini mam, Piyush took advantage of it and kicked him hard on his knee joint. He fell down and Piyush jumped on him to take cover of his body in case the other guy fired a shot at him. Before the other man could see what was happening, Nandini mam pushed him hard on the vehicle, his gun fell down, she picked it up and banged it hard on his head.

Piyush was down on the ground trying to get control over the man. She headed towards Piyush to help him get rid of the second one, but one thing, which both of them ignored, was that even though the man could not shoot Piyush, as Piyush was behind him, he had a straight shot at her. All he had to do was to point the gun accurately and press the trigger. And he did it with perfection. The bullet hit her on the chest. She hit the ground hard.

"Mam..." Piyush cried. He lost his temper, forgot that he was fighting a police man on duty which itself was a crime. He viciously put his thumb and index finger in the man's eyes till he couldn't push them anymore. The man cried in pain with blood all over his face. Piyush took out the fingers and punched him hard angrily on his neck two-three times. He got up took the gun and without a second's thought pulled the trigger two times, blowing up his face. He went to the second man, who was still struggling with the powerful blow that Nandini mam had given him. Piyush cried loudly "Fuck you all." And kept firing till there was no bullet left in the magazine.

He dropped the gun and went to Nandini mam. But it was too late, her whole body was soaked in blood. Piyush took her in his arms. "I am so sorry mam, don't worry, everything will be fine. I'll take you to the hospital. It doesn't matter anymore if they arrest me, but enough of this bloodshed. I don't care what they will do to me, but I can't afford to see my people getting hurt." He held her close and cried. She coughed out some blood. Piyush wiped it with his hankie and tried to cover her wound to minimize the blood flow.

"Amm.." She tried to say something but couldn't complete. She coughed out more blood. Piyush carefully put her down and shouted at the passing vehicles for some help. But no one cared to stop because of the strict police patrolling and the warning given by the cops to not to stop on the highway. He got back to Nandini mam and again took her in his arms.

"Don't worry mam, you will be fine, it just touched you and went away, didn't even hit you. We'll call the ambulance. Everything will be fine." His sobs increased as he knew everything he said was a lie. She tried to reach his face with her hand but could barely reach. Piyush leaned down so she could touch his face. "Amm.." She said again, Piyush understood what she was trying to say.

"Yes I will take care of Amit and Aman. And you don't have to worry; in fact you will be fit enough to take care of them yourself." She tried to nod but could hardly move. She held his hand. Piyush kept crying, he could not leave her hand. After five minutes she stopped moving. Piyush sat there holding her in his arms like that for the next ten minutes. A passing truck's horn brought him back to the present. There were three dead corpses in front of him. He kissed his senior on her forehead, got up, took the gun that she had used to hit the man and kept it in his bag. He went into the car to take the documents related to Anmol Pandey. He saw the box in which he had eaten the food she had brought him, tears came down again. He looked at her body one last time. _I am sorry mam._ He wanted to stay by her side till somebody found out what had happened. But that would result in the end of a battle that she was fighting for and gave up her life. She was trying to help Piyush out, and he now wanted to make those people pay for what they had done to him and caused all the trouble. He had decided not to run away anymore but to face whatever that came his way.

'You should never have been to the R&D. I know it's not your fault, but unknowingly you made enemies.' Her words were echoing in his head. He realized where it all might have started and where he might have made enemies unknowingly. There was just one person who could possibly be his enemy in the R&D, Dinesh Sethi. The man who hated Piyush from the moment he saw him. _Even Sharma mam had said, Sharmaji told her that taking me into the R &D was a mistake. He was the one arguing with Sharmaji in the function and he is the only one who will give answers to my questions._

## Chapter Twenty five

Piyush got into the police SUV and headed back to the city. The police vehicle kept him away from the preying eyes and he smoothly got back in. He left the SUV in a deserted area. It was past midnight, the empty roads made it easy for him to sneak away unnoticed. At this hour, Piyush had nowhere to go. He spent the night out in the open and went to the R&D at dawn. He saw everyone entering and leaving but there was no Sethi in sight. Finally Sethi arrived in the evening and as soon as Piyush saw him he went towards the entrance. He stopped for a moment. _How to go in?_ He thought for a few minutes and then he was walking towards the entrance.

He reached the entrance, as expected the guard stopped him. Before he could ask, Piyush started, "Anmol Pandey. Crime Branch. I am here to meet Mr. Dinesh Sethi regarding Mr. Singhal's murder." He said firmly. Piyush had made himself up a little to look more decent, and the devastated look he wore the previous night was altogether missing.

It worked. The guard was taken aback. "Uhh... your ID sir." Piyush gave him the voter ID that Nandini mam had given him. "Sir, your crime branch Identity card." The guard insisted.

"Who is in charge of the security here? I would like to talk that personal directly, because this is a high profile, confidential case." He continued in the same tone and the guard immediately called the man in charge of the security.

"Sir, I am Anmol Pandey from crime branch. I am here to talk to Mr., Dinesh Sethi regarding Mr. Vicky Singhal's murder. As you know this case is very sensitive as it involves Majeed in it, we are working undercover. So I don't have my Crime branch identity card with me." Piyush paused for a moment and the head of the security nodded. He continued "I hope you can understand the severity and importance of this case. I can show you my licensed service revolver." He took out the gun he had taken after killing both the men, the previous night. The head of the security was so convinced that he allowed him inside without any further interrogation. They made him sit in the waiting room as Sethi told them he was busy with some important work, and it would take some time.

Piyush wondered how easily he fooled the security and got in. Time passed and Piyush was speculating how the meeting with Sethi would end up. The guards had allowed him to take the gun with him, Piyush did not dare to open it up and check out how many bullets were there in it, as he didn't know how to put it back and was afraid of disturbing the operation of the gun. But he was ready for another blood bath.

One hour had passed since Piyush was in the R&D but there was no sign of Sethi. _Is this a trap?_ Negative thoughts started cracking up in his mind and the insecurity started increasing. The confidence with which he had entered the premises was now fading and before it vanished, Piyush decided to make a move. He knew which way lead to Sethi's cabin. He carefully managed to sneak into his cabin, but he was not there. He checked his cabin and found his I-card on the table and a screen under the table, having various live CCTV footages. _He has to be nearby._ Piyush tried to rewind it back and it displayed Sethi going into the surveillance room.

Piyush went towards surveillance room without caring about the security cameras. He pushed the door and it opened easily. But instead of a room there was a staircase going down. Piyush followed it which ended in another cabin. He stopped to see if someone was there, but it was empty too. _Where did he go?_ He looked around and found another door, this one with a small LCD screen on it displaying 'Mr. Sethi checked in.' _Shit_. Piyush stood there helpless. He kept staring at the LCD screen. It all stuck him at once. He remembered when Mr. Rao had forgotten his card; he had to type the whole 15 digit code. He went back to Sethi's cabin, took his card and swiped it. The door opened with just a small empty cabin behind it. Piyush was more amused now. He entered; there was a down arrow that was illuminated which made him realize that the tiny room was, in fact, an elevator. He pressed the arrow and it descended. The time that took him to reach down was considerably high and Piyush was sure that it was very deep down the ground. The door opened as soon as it touched down.

A security personal saw the surveillance room sign blinking again, signaling Mr. Sethi had checked in twice. He immediately raised the alarm and called the other guards to give a check. They headed for the surveillance room.

Piyush got out of the elevator, there was one room with 5 computers in it. He checked everywhere for Sethi, but the room was empty. He went near the computers to get a glimpse of them, if they had any CCTV footages of Sethi in it. _This doesn't look like surveillance room_. He wondered as he saw different figures on the computers displaying different frequencies. One computer had Indian Subcontinent map, having a dot in the center, one in the Arabian sea, one near new Delhi and another one on the border with Bangladesh. Another computer had world map with a few dots in the Arabic countries, one in Europe. Damn. _I knew we have branches all over the world, but didn't know that their surveillance headquarter was here in the basement. They could have got it into a new building. Cheap bastards looking to save money everywhere._

Piyush was still in his own thoughts when the elevator door opened behind him. He immediately hid below the table. The guards directly went inside without looking at the room in which Piyush was hiding. Piyush didn't move. He heard footsteps approaching his room. One of them poked in the room and shouted; "There is no one in here." And the man left.

"I told you that might be an error." Sethi called from behind.

"Sir, where is your I-card?" One of the guards asked Sethi.

"That's on my table in the cabin. I accidently left it there."

"I'll check the card sir." The guard said and left.

"It's ok, it doesn't matter. No need to do that." Sethi said, but the unsatisfied guards were in the elevator by then.

Piyush got out of the room and went after Sethi when the guards left. Piyush was surprised when he saw another staircase. _What is this? I am almost a kilometer down here, and this man is working underground in the surveillance department. What kind of sur..._ his thoughts were interrupted by a very constant constant that was not audible in the upper cabin. He heard Sethi's voice who was talking on the phone.

"I had warned Sharma, but he never listened. You know how he behaved at the function. He was bound to face it, I couldn't help." There was a pause for a while and then he continued "Whatever, I don't care, Sharma is dead now. Let it be. First I want to take care of this Piyush Mehta, he has already declared a war by killing Majeed. We'll have to get rid of him now, there is no other way out. I'll talk to you about this later." Piyush saw him hanging up the phone and going into another cabin. He now started getting a clear picture.

Piyush had heard rumors about some tiffs between Goyal and Singhal. And the reason Singhal being Majeed, was slowly justifying in his mind. _I knew it you son of a bitch. I knew you were also involved in all this the moment Nandini mam said I made enemies in the R &D. I know you are the one involved in killing Sharmaji. You created trouble for my family, Sharmaji's family, because of you, Nandini mam got killed and here you are, working for Singhal in the basement. Now I'll show you what an all-out war means. I ran away like an idiot, chased by one of the biggest criminal of the country who turns out to be the vice chairman of my own company. But damn you Sethi, I killed him, got out of it and now I am going to kill you, and get out of this too._

He moved forward and what he saw was unbelievable. There was a huge area with big generators. Each one equal to the size of 4 trucks. Sethi entered a room after which Piyush couldn't hear a single thing. The room was sound proof. Piyush took a look at the huge machines once again and things started getting clearer to him.

Okay got it, so here in the basement you have these big generators and surveillance system where Singhal runs his own business and keeps a check on everyone. The one who tries to run away or leak things is killed, so is the case with someone who interferes. Can't imagine Singhal established his own scheme of things right under Goyal's nose, and is a king in his own world, a mastermind. That's great, perfect plan, control over each and every move and all the business in disguise, this is the reason why Singhal was acting like a criminal, taking down many people and no one would even think of accusing him, because who would think of a vice chairman as a criminal. So it's a perfect crime at the end of the day, and a good Vice chairman's life of such a big company.

_Singhal had indeed won the battle with Goyal in all the aspects. On the ground, it is R &D for aviation sector headed by Goyal's company and under the ground it is his counterpart running his own business, generator services and all. What a big mess! And in the midst of all this, he has me, as an unwanted guest which I don't know how, so he tried to eliminate me. Wonderful. But now I am totally on you and I am going to rip you apart_.

He tried to get a close look of the generators and moved closer to the sound proof room trying to avoid getting in sight of Sethi, but was stopped by powerful vibrations. He stumbled and could barely stay on his feet. He moved back, there were no vibrations. He took a peek of the room and Sethi was alone inside. There was no way other but to face the vibrations if wanted to get inside unnoticed. But Piyush couldn't withstand it. The small cabin was made up of glass and was transparent which made things more difficult for him. One small move and Sethi could call the security.

_Screw it_. Without wasting any time, Piyush forcefully barged into the small glass room and was directly in front of him. Sethi didn't seem surprised at all.

"You screwed my whole life, because of you my family is in danger and you were the one with Singhal who killed Sharmaji. But it's over Sethi, you are done now." Piyush grabbed a chair and hurled it towards him.

"Wait.." Sethi tried to defend, but it was too late. The impact was too hard and fast. The chair hit him on his right hand and right side of his head, tearing a part of his right ear along with the skin beneath it.

The guard, who went up to see Sethi's I-card in his cabin, did not mention it but he knew something was wrong, somebody had entered down there. The man from crime branch who came to meet Sethi was not in the waiting room and he was the only one who could be down there. But questioning Sethi was next to losing his job and get in trouble, and trying to stop a crime branch official meant more trouble. At all costs, he wanted to avoid it but his colleague had sent him to check the mad man's cabin. He went in Sethi's cabin, there was no card on the table, "Got you," he mumbled excitedly. He knew it, but needed evidence which he had now.

First, the elevator was highly secured so there was no chance of any error regarding malfunction in the software system and second, Sethi's I-card was missing. 'Someone's definitely in there' he thought. It was now just the formal part to check the CCTV footages and it became clear that the crime branch man from the waiting room was the intruder. He saw him coming out with something in his hand. 'That has to be the card' he said to himself and called another colleague who in turn alerted the security staff and they both descended for the surveillance room.

Dinesh Sethi was down in pain, with blood all over the floor. Piyush had struck it right and pretty hard, his hand was swollen enough to ensure he could not move or raise an alarm. There was nothing that could stop Piyush. He was angry and out of control, just like he was when Majeed had attacked him and the only thing that was on his mind, was to beat Sethi to death. He punched him twice on the same area where he had hit the chair on his ear. Sethi cried in pain and begged him to stop. But Piyush hardly listened.

The guards had arrived and checked the first cabin were Piyush was hiding earlier. This time they ensured to check the whole room and then moved towards the one in which Sethi was working. They opened the door and went in to see Sethi down on the floor with Piyush beating him. One of them immediately took out his rod, Piyush turned back to see who it was and before he could turn his face, the guard slammed the rod on his face. The only thing he could see, was that something coming towards him so fast that everything went blank after it hit him. Next thing he remembered was excruciating pain and some sticky thing below his cheek that tasted like blood. He saw the guards helping out Sethi. Piyush couldn't move, he tried again, but as soon as he moved his hand a little, the second guard kicked him hard on his chest. Piyush vomited more blood, and then everything went dark.

## Chapter Twenty six

Sethi received first aid, the guards insisted him to go to hospital but he said he had to finish 'the work' in the basement. One of the guards advised to take the attacker to the hospital as he too was badly injured but Sethi refused him in a very angry manner that none of them dared to say a word after that.

"Let me find out why he was here in the first place? Go to my cabin and check if he has stolen something." He said pointing towards one of the staff member and further added, "Not to speak anything about this with anyone or all of you will have to face the heat." He said to all the staff that was present there. They had locked Piyush in the first room of the basement in which numerous computers were kept. Sethi went down to 'finish his work'. He first went into the cafeteria to get a bottle of milk and then headed down.

Piyush was lying on the floor. Sethi came in the room, moved him and made him sit. He grabbed his color and tried to pull him with his one hand, but Piyush's jaw was in a very bad state. It was torn enough to make room for 5-7 stitches with ease. The only good thing was that the bleeding had somehow stopped. Sethi tried to wake him up. Piyush opened his eyes. He looked at Sethi and mumbled

"What will you get by doing all this to me? Why are you doing this?" He said realizing a few teeth missing from his mouth.

"Wake up son. You have already done a lot of damage to me and yourself." He got up to open the milk bottle and took out a strip of pain killer from his pocket. He first made Piyush gargle with water to remove the blood from his mouth, which he could not, and then gave him one tablet with the milk. Piyush could hardly open his mouth but Sethi forced him to take the pill.

"Nandini told me that she had arranged this Id's for you. As soon as the guards told me that someone from the crime branch named Anmol Pandey had come to meet me, I knew it was you. I was trying to get you all the documents that could help, but the guards, they found you missing, and before I could tell you what was happening, you attacked and rest is the history." Sethi said helping Piyush drink the whole bottle of milk.

"The security was about to hand you to the police but I told them I'll handle it." He continued, "now I have to get you out of this situation alive. You are the most unexpected person I have ever seen. You hit them right in the core. You killed Vicky Singhal who later turned out to be Majeed. I thought Majeed was someone these people knew, but he was their own creation." Piyush was surprised to see that Sethi knew everything and that too perfectly. He even figured out on his own that Singhal was Majeed, Piyush's thought of everything being over was now fading.

Piyush had finished the milk and was now trying hard to catch each and every word that Sethi was telling him. "Listen, I know you are badly injured but you need to get out of this place. I don't have time to explain you everything right now. But I managed to get as many documents I could in the small interval of time. It's a big plan and the work that I, Sharma, Nandini and many others did, almost all of it, is in here." He pointed towards three envelopes, packed and sealed.

"Wait, what? You Sharmaji and Nandini mam worked together? Why didn't Nandini mam tell me this?" He said very slowly trying not to hurt his mouth.

"Okay, so that is the problem. She met you but didn't tell you that we all are on the same side. I have been calling her since yesterday but she didn't answer and now her phone is off." Sethi said after dialing again in front of Piyush.

"She is no more." Piyush said.

"What? How? I mean what happened?" The expressions on his face told how shocked Sethi was.

"We were heading out of the city, but took a break for a while as she had to explain me everything. Police arrived; they checked my bag, found my wallet which had my driving license. They were trying to alert others when we attacked.." Piyush stopped, took deep breath as the pain increased every time he said something "We tried to stop them, one of them fired and shot Nandini mam. I killed both of them but couldn't save her, then came here to kill you, as I thought you are the one who is responsible and would tell me what all this is about."

"Oh my God. I can't believe this." Sethi said shaking his head in disbelief.

"One minute, when I came here, you were talking about getting rid of me? Why you wanted to kill me?"

"What? No! I was not talking about killing you; I was talking about killing Goyal." Sethi replied clearing his doubt.

"But you said all three of you were working together, that means you all worked for Singhal or he made you work for him?"

"What are you talking about?" Sethi, who was already in shock after learning about Nandini Sahu's death, was more confused after what Piyush was saying.

"You just said all three of you worked together, that means you worked for Singhal. And since he had his differences with Goyal, you want to eliminate him. That means you are actually working for Singhal, right? The chairman doesn't know that Singhal runs his own generators empire down in the basement, I guess." Piyush said wincing in pain. Sethi was more confused than ever. But then he realized what Piyush meant to say.

"Well, you don't know anything at all. It seems like you were being killed for no reason." Sethi laughed. That reminded Piyush of the same things Majeed had said to him.

"Now make yourself worth dying for, or at least killing. I told you I don't have time here, you go through these documents and you will get to know what this is all about." Sethi said pointing at the envelopes on the table and proceeded, "As for now, I would just say half knowledge is really dangerous. I know it's not the right time for quotes, but you are the right person, at the right place with all the wrong information. I would say zero information." Sethi went out to get something he remembered all of a sudden.

Piyush sat there confused. _Even after going through everything and being hit so hard, I still didn't know why I was being killed. Great!!_ He tried to move, but the pain was too much, as if the tablet Sethi gave him was nothing but useless. He carefully got on his feet with the help of a table. His whole face was much heavier than he had ever experienced. The one that Majeed had hit him while abducting was nothing as compared to this. Piyush stood there with the table's support. He released it and was standing on his own, with a very heavy and painful jaw. Piyush saw the envelopes, they were big and heavy.

Sethi arrived, "I have partially locked the elevator. Nobody can come down now. But we still don't have much time. And great, you are back on your feet, gather all your energy boy, you have long way ahead to get out of this hell."

"Why didn't you help Sharmaji like you are helping me? You could have saved him." Piyush asked, slowly trying to walk small steps.

"He was too impatient. He was fed up of all this. We tried to control him but he wouldn't listen. You were there at the function, you saw everything. There were other people present. Singhal was also there, Sharma was bound to get killed. We were helpless. All we could do was to help out his family in every possible way. The only reason I never wanted you in the R&D was that I knew somehow you too would come under the scanner, and you did. But it was Sharma who brought you, 'the boy wants to see the R&D, I am not taking him anywhere, where he is not supposed to go.' he had said. I resisted, but he didn't listen. And when you were actually inside, he realized he committed a mistake. He committed so many mistakes that he ended up being a liability. The worst part, you were in the game even before you learned the basics." Sethi paused. He adjusted his hand in a more comfortable position and continued, "I know I hated him, but because of his unwanted things like this, someday it would end up getting all three of us in danger. Now, at least we can help his family. And the reason I am helping you is because you are very ambiguous. When the first time Nandini told me they were going to kill you, I thought it was just a matter of time. But you, you killed Singhal, you kept moving, that kept them from tracking you down. Me and Nandini, we did try to help you out, but every time you were smart enough to manage it out on your own. I even know this, that you injured Majeed. That was very brave of you. You made your family move to a safe place to avoid any further damage. You are proactive. You have paralyzed them to an extent that you cannot even imagine.

I'll give you a live example, you killed Majeed, but they made you Majeed, although that was a loophole from your side, your fingerprints were found at the scene and they made use of them to turn the lie. Now, you are wanted everywhere, they know how you look, they know you are in the city, they know every possible thing about you, but still, you made use of those fake ids and here you are, piercing right in the middle of their heart. Nobody expected that."

"Even I never expected myself to be here. And I am no smart, I was scared, so I kept moving from one place to another, just to be safe." Piyush replied.

"But that's what I am talking about, you were scared and that kept you from getting caught. And tell me, if I know so many things about what has happened with you so far, there is one thing that still amused me, if you say you are no smart and you were scared, than why did you keep your cell phone off?"

"Because that was the only thing with me, they could use to track me down." Piyush replied still wondering how many people were actually involved in the 'they'.

"Yes, exactly. Now if someone who had been at your place, would have called for help or done something that people would normally do, but you didn't. That's what makes you a more lethal weapon. You scared the hell out of them and kept them on their toes." Sethi said placing the envelopes in a bag. "Listen we all are the known enemies, but you are just a few days old virus that corrupted the whole system." He said handing him the bag.

Piyush thought of what Sethi just said. _I ran away like a coward, I kept moving but that's what kept me safe and alive and this is my strength. I am a lethal weapon, although injured, but lethal._ It made sense.

"And yes, I guess you are very well aware of this by now, but still a word of caution, don't even think of going to the police to prove things right or wrong, they already have enough evidence against you, there is just one way to finish this thing off, and that is just by proper planning and understanding, so read it, understand it and then plan accordingly, and be careful, very careful." Sethi warned.

"Okay now hurry up; we don't have a lot of time. The people above will grow suspicious." Sethi said as he helped Piyush walk out of the room.

"It's going to be difficult for us to get out, especially with a broken hand and a jaw." Piyush laughed.

"It's just the broken jaw. I'll have stay here to keep things look normal." Sethi said as Piyush looked at him in utter disbelief.

"What, I can't even walk properly, the pain is unbearable and you want me to go alone." Piyush said loudly, not caring about the pain.

"There is no need to walk, you have to crawl and we don't have time for the argument right now. The most important thing is to get you out, alive, and that is my first priority." Piyush didn't reply. "You see that small exhaust window up there?" he said pointing towards the small window, around 30-35 feet from the ground above one of the huge machines.

"Yes," Piyush replied. "Don't make me climb that high, I don't think I can make it." He added immediately without letting Sethi say a word.

"Don't even think of this distance as 'that high'. You know how down you are under the ground." Sethi made him speechless. "I made this exhaust system design here as a last resort option in case of an emergency. In fact if you go and check the R&D map, there is no basement. So practically, the basement doesn't exist, and if you check the basement's design maps, this exhaust doesn't exists." Sethi smiled.

"And see, how useful this is now, the only way that will get you out alive, provided you don't fall unconscious there in the middle." Sethi looked at him, Piyush was still looking up towards the window. "Whatever, if you manage to get out of it, do.."

"If?? What do you mean by if?" Piyush look startled.

"Ok, my wrong. After you reach the other end safely, don't thank me, it was my pre-planning and am glad it is working out to perfection. But still, I'll take the credit." Sethi jokingly patted on Piyush's back.

Sethi brought a foldable ladder along with two screw drivers and gave it to Piyush.

"But how do I reach there? The generators vibrate a lot. It's very difficult to climb there as I could barely stand when I first came in contact with them." Piyush replied holding the screwdriver and the bag in one hand and the ladder in the other.

"What? Generators? Oh shit. Ok fine, let it be. I'll switch them off accordingly so that you can climb there."

Piyush had his own bag with him, the other one that Sethi had given him and the ladder was additional cargo. The painkiller started working, reducing the pain, but the heavy things in his hands were making it difficult for him to even stand.

Sethi switched off one of the huge machines and helped Piyush drag the ladder. There were many wires connected to each other that made things difficult for both the injured men. He kept shutting the machines till they reached the one below the exhaust window. They set up the ladder and Piyush started climbing it slowly without hurting his jaw and without losing the bag containing the envelopes.

"Mehta," Sethi called. "There is nothing like, Goyal vs. Singhal or we people working for Singhal. Everybody worked for Goyal, including Singhal. He is the one who wants to kill you, because you have caused a lot of nuisance. After you go out, be very careful when you move, make sure you are safe and don't ever think you are alone, there are people like me and Nandini who are there to help you. Just stay safe and we will take down Goyal. You have been exceptional so far, be the same, don't lose hope." Piyush nodded. He felt very guilty for wrongly interpreting things and attacking Sethi.

Piyush reached the top of the machine and gave look at the whole basement. It seemed bigger than a football ground. There were small tunnels on one side of the wall. The whole basement was bigger than Piyush thought at first. He kept the bag down and turned to open the screw of the window, but there were none.

"There are no screws here. Why did you give me the screw drivers?" He asked Sethi who was waiting down. Because of the huge hollow area, even though he was at a distance from Sethi, Piyush didn't have to shout to make it audible for him, thus avoiding the extra movement of his jaw.

"I told you it's a fake window. Just pull it. And the screw drivers are for you. You might require them to defend; it's easy to stab multiple times to injure someone." He replied casually.

"What?" Piyush was taken aback by his reply. "But I have a gun with me in my bag; I don't need these screw drivers." He said pointing at his bag.

"The guards took your gun away after hitting you. And by the way, that was very meaningless to show them your gun." Sethi slammed him.

"I was just trying to convince them thoroughly."

"Then you should have patiently waited, they would have been much more convinced by that. Anyways, whatever it is, keep them with you, you never know what more is waiting for you and how many more people you'll have to kill." Piyush gave a strange look, but he was right, Piyush never knew all this would ever take place with him.

He pulled the window and it came out. He gently kept the bag, and waved Sethi for the last time. He regretted hitting Sethi so badly, he was trying to help but Piyush had almost killed him. He got into the small tunnel and closed it from inside. It was wide enough for someone to easily run away. But the jaw and the dust inside made it difficult for him to crawl. It was slanting upwards, Piyush had to hold both his bags, and even a loose grip would result in the bags sliding down back into the basement. The tunnel design was al well thought one. It was wide enough at the opening to turn and close the window from behind, leaving no trace. It was zigzag in shape which did not give anyone a clear view of where the person inside has reached.

## Chapter Twenty seven

Piyush was pushing himself up along with the weight, trying his best not to let his jaw touch the surface, but the pain had increased, and so the stiffness. Piyush hit his jaw hard on the dusty surface. The sudden electric movement opened his hands and the bag slipped. He immediately moved his leg and got a hold of it, barely keeping himself from losing his grip. He stood there like that, panting, but somewhat steady. Piyush pressed both his hands tightly against the walls and raised his foot along with the bag, as soon as it was reachable, he grabbed it and put back the foot reducing the pressure off his hands. There were so many things coming his way, and Piyush found it difficult to climb a simple slanting tunnel upwards.

As he moved away from the basement window, the light started fading gradually till it was dark. This made it more difficult for him to get hold when the tunnel turned in its unusual zigzag manner. It took Piyush three hours to reach the other end when he saw light and the window. Piyush pushed the window hard, it didn't move an inch. _Jammed, come on_. He pushed again but in vain. He tried pulling it, and it took least of his efforts to open. Piyush threw his bags out and pulled himself out of it. He closed the window and looked around; he was out of the whole R&D premises.

The road was empty, the night was cold and three hour journey had burned all the calories Piyush had in him. He was shaking because of the cold and his jaw was hurting more than before. There was a car standing at a distance which Piyush failed to see. He knew a small hospital nearby and started moving towards it, nearly dragging himself forcefully. After a while, the car too started moving slowly behind Piyush, but he was too tired and in pain to realize any movement. All he cared was to reach the hospital and get away from the pain.

He reached the hospital and as soon as the receptionist saw him, she came to him and offered him help to sit. Another man, a ward boy, Piyush assumed, came to him and also helped him settle. The car that was following him waited for few more minutes and then quietly slipped away.

"I am new here, they looted me." Piyush could hardly speak. "Can't move, very painful." he was still trying to say something, but the man had brought cotton and placed it on the wound. Fourteen stitches were required to seal the jaw and the next thing Piyush remembered was waking up in the hospital bed. There was very light pain, he touched his face but half of it was covered in dressing. The jaw was fractured and teeth in one side of his mouth were altogether missing. He lay there feeling drowsed. He was about to close his eyes again when got up all of a sudden. _My bags_. The rapid movement caused strain and he screamed in pain. He walked out of his room and found a lot of people in the hospital moving around which made him realize it was the next day. He had slept the whole night. He stopped a man. "Sir, what is the time?"

The man pointed out at the huge watch hanging on the wall, "Quarter to two," he replied.

Piyush stood there numb. It was too late, especially after what had happened, Piyush knew he was too late, he went to the receptionist but the one, who was present when he arrived was nowhere to be seen, he asked the young girl about the previous one and if his bags were there with her. She checked the shelf and other cupboards. "No sir, there are no bags here." The girl replied.

After Piyush left, Sethi went up and told the security that he has taken care of things, this 'taken care of things' frightened the other staff members, and the 'madman' Sethi had turned 'dangerous madman' for them. He immediately went to his cabin and checked the CCTV recordings of the time when he was down packing everything for Piyush. He saw Piyush entering his cabin and leaving. He fast forwarded the whole recording like he usually did and found that someone else also entered his cabin. It was a guard, who had come to check his I-card and might have left. But he was surprised to see another guard visiting his cabin, this was totally unwanted, he switched to another camera giving audio-video footage of his own room. This camera was fixed in the ceiling fan and was not known to anyone but Sethi. He had secretly installed to keep a check on who visits his cabin and for what reason. Sethi had taken every possible measure to keep him secured.

He saw the footage, first Piyush came in, he looked into the monitor and left. Piyush came back again and took the I-card and left. Then one guard came in, looked around and left. He was possibly looking for the missing card, Sethi thought. Sethi knew all of it and forwarded the remaining recording. He saw one more guard entering inside. He checked the time, it was after he was given first aid and when he helped Piyush out. The guard placed something behind Sethi's computer. He played the same thing again and again but couldn't figure out. Sethi put his hand behind the computer and found out that there was switch that the guard pressed. He too pressed it. Nothing happened.

Sethi pressed it again and again until he realized what was happening, the switch was a direct control to the monitor's webcam. Sethi pressed the button again and the webcam was off. He was stunned, he too was under surveillance. The arrangement was so perfect that Sethi would never have realized that the cam was recording him closely and quietly. Sethi played the rest of the video on his screen. The guard then made a call.

"Sir, I have switched on the camera of his computer. And I confirmed it from the CCTV camera in the basement cabin that Sethi sir helped the man who attacked him. He had locked the lift partially, which stopped us from going down."

There was a pause for a long time and the guard disconnected the phone. He received another call after a minute, "Yes sir." He answered. "Sure sir, I'll keep a close watch on him for two more days and if something comes up in the computer camera, I will inform you accordingly." He again paused for a while and replied, "Yes sir, I'll find out what happened to the crime branch man before killing Sethi sir." He hanged up the call and went out.

'The reason you are just a dumb security guard is that you made your confidential call in my place, and if you can keep me under surveillance, than I am better at it than you.' Sethi thought laughing at the fact that the guard had repeated everything the other man on phone was saying, making it easier for the injured man to make a decision. He was surprised to know there was a CCTV camera in his basement, but his prudent nature had paid off from time to time. First the secret exhaust window helped and now the secret camera that he had installed for his own, too helped him. He picked up his things and left. Normally he would go home, but today he went to refuel his car. He filled the petrol tank to full capacity and also filled the two extra cans that he had with him. He had just one thing to do, which was to run for his life.

The dices were thrown even from both the ends. Sethi fixed a spy cam to keep a check on others and they fixed it to keep a check on him. And both the cams were highly secretive. But Sethi was more worried about Piyush. 'What if they have seen him going out through the window? They will kill him as soon as he comes out from the other end.' Sethi decided against and went back to the R&D.

He knew he had two days which were enough for him to escape. The swollen hand had made driving more difficult, but he wanted Piyush to reach out safely. He parked his car outside the premises and checked if anybody was looking at the window. He waited patiently for two hours and there was no movement at all. No person present. He too was feeling the pain of the blows that Piyush had given him.

Sethi was still in the car waiting for Piyush to reach the other end, his mind filled with thoughts of what if Piyush failed to make it to the other end. But he was relieved to see a figure coming out of the window and leaving. Sethi followed him from a distance and then left when he was in the hospital. He wanted to stay by Piyush's side but that was not an option. He had many things to do on his own. He went to his home, took the important things and then drove for six hours straight. By next day, he was out of the enemy's radar. The old man had made very good escape arrangements. He was prepared for all the things, but never expected them to happen so soon.

"It has to be here, I had given it to the lady who was here yesterday. There were two bags." Piyush replied mostly in unorthodox sign language, and the girl took some time to understand what he meant.

She thought for a while and then asked Piyush to wait before vanishing inside a corner room. She came out with a smile on her face, and made a call. "Hello mam, sorry to disturb you, but yesterday you were given two bags by a patient who came in late at night, can you tell me where they are?" There was a pause as she listened and then replied, "Sure mam, thank you."

"They are in your room sir, there is a table in your room, she kept it under them while you were asleep." The girl replied. _Damn! She is right, I should have checked my room first._ He hurried back to his room and found both the bags there. He had told the receptionist to look after them for him and she promptly did so. He paid for the bill and left immediately. Piyush had the bandage on his face and that made every person turn their head. He was now not recognizable as Majeed or Piyush Mehta, but the dressing was something that fetched more limelight. He pulled up the hood of his jacket to avoid it.

He went to a nearby juice stall and asked the vendor for orange juice. "What happened _bhaiyya?_ " The vendor asked. Piyush replied him in a very gibberish manner that he could not understand a single word. Although he could speak a bit more clearly, but he wanted to give his jaw some rest. It would hurt whenever he tried to say something. He took 4 huge glasses of orange juice. The straw made it easier for him to gulp up everything without any efforts and pain. He took an auto rickshaw that was standing near the juice vendor and asked the driver to take him to the famous brothel of the city. The auto driver mistook him for an injured notorious guy and dropped him there. He got out, paid him and desperately walked towards the brothel. Nobody paid any attention to him. A few girls called him as he passed by, the driver laughed as he watched him walk away.

## Chapter Twenty Eight

Tinoo was the guard who was kept specially to keep a watch on Sethi and the people around him. He was paid regularly by a sub inspector Vivek Bakshi. Every month he would receive Rs.15000 and a girl to spend a night with. He never thought why he was doing this and what the reason behind him being appointed was. He would regularly, secretly report Bakshi about what Sethi was doing. And not a single time Bakshi gave a surprised look. There was nothing to do, just keep a watch on the old man and report the things to a policeman who would in turn pay him regularly. He was given a special camera monitor which, only he was aware of its existence. In addition he had this job of security personnel which also paid him salary, but that was on paper, unlike the amount paid to him by Bakshi. He had seen Sethi helping the injured man, handing him a bag, giving him medicine and then lying to everyone that he had taken care of the attacker.

Although he could not see how he took care of the attacker, one thing was sure; he had not killed the CBI guy. He immediately called Bakshi and told him everything hoping for some special bonus, as this was the first time Bakshi sounded surprised. Bakshi told him to look out for the guy and keep a check on Sethi for some time. 'If Sethi gives away any lead grab it and kill him and if he remains normal, still kill him.' Tinoo was told. Bakshi also told him to look out for the other man, kill him and recover every single thing that was given to him by Sethi.

For both the assignments he was offered Rs. 1.5 lacs each. Tinoo was dying to find both of them. He knew that the injured man would have to go to a hospital to get his face in one place because the blow was really a hard one. The next morning he waited for Sethi to come, but he didn't turn up. Tinoo spent some more time, and then decided to look out for the intruder first. He knew Sethi would turn up sometime later. But this man and the things that Sethi gave him were important as per Bakshi. When Sethi had left last night after the attack, Tinoo entered the basement to check, where the intruder disappeared. How he was taken care off? But he couldn't find an answer. So after the money was offered to him, he thought of giving it a try. 'Even if the man escaped where would he go first? To hospital!! Obviously.' Tinoo knew where to begin.

He went to a couple of small clinics first and asked if they had seen a guy with an injured jaw but got a negative reply from all of them. Then he went to the hospital where they said a man visited late night. "Did he carry a bag with him?" He asked the hospital receptionist. The receptionist was not the same who was there for the night shift, but the new one had seen Piyush leave with the bag. "Yes there were two bags and he left around fifteen minutes ago." She replied. Tinoo who was dressed in his security uniform told her that the man was a thief and had stolen some important documents and money. "How much time did he spend here?" He enquired.

"Wait, the last one to leave the hospital was the same man you mentioned, and Mr. Anmol Pandey was here for just one night. He had his dressing and stitching done after midnight and then he stayed here for the night and left around twenty minutes before you came here. He must not have gone far, you should hurry." She replied.

Tinoo couldn't believe he had the second 1.5 lacs just twenty minutes away from him. "How did he look like?" He asked trying to control his excitement.

"Well I don't remember exactly sir, because half of his face was covered, so it is very difficult to describe him." The girl replied.

"What was he wearing?" Tinoo asked her again, this time acting more like a detective than a guard.

"I don't remember that sir, but he had a jacket pulled on, a grey color jacket." She replied in a very irritated manner, and looked back into her computer screen.

Tinoo came out of the hospital and looked around. He saw a medical store and asked the owner if he had seen someone whose face was half covered with a bandage, wearing a grey color jacket. The owner gave a negative nod and looked away. "Go ask the juice vendor, he might know." He said without looking at Tinoo. Tinoo followed his instructions and asked the juice vendor.

"Yes he bought 4 glasses of juice and before taking an auto from there." He pointed towards the area where the rickshaw was standing earlier. There was another rickshaw standing. Tinoo asked the driver about the one that Piyush hired.

"I don't know. But the driver is my friend; he will come back after dropping the passenger. He has school children to drop. So he won't take long to come back. Usually he doesn't drop people at this time, but if it's in the nearby vicinity, he might have gone." The driver gave a detailed reply to which Tinoo just nodded. "You wait for some time. He will come back here." The driver added.

Tinoo waited there for around 20 more minutes and a rickshaw came. "Here he is." The driver, who was chatting with Tinoo said. The driver parked his auto and came out.

"You dropped the man with a bandage on his face and had a grey jacket pulled over?" Tinoo asked him without wasting any time.

"Yes, why?" The driver asked him bluntly as he took out a small packet of tobacco ate very little out of it.

Tinoo and the other driver told him everything about the man. "Where did you drop him?" Tinoo asked.

"I dropped him at the brothel." He replied.

"Where at the brothel?" Tinoo asked again.

"Just at the entrance. I did not follow him. He gave me money and I rode back. I have school children to pick up, but by his face, it looked like he desperately wanted to have one, so I can surely say that he went inside for some fun and to forget the pain for a while." Both the drivers started laughing.

"Can you drop me at the same spot, where you dropped him?" Tinoo asked the driver who dropped Piyush.

"No, I told you I have school children to pick up. It'll be too late if I leave now." He replied.

"I'll drop you at that place where he dropped the thief. I'll be 100 rupees." The other driver offered. Tinoo knew that place was not far enough, worth Rs. 100, but he could not afford to waste time, so he agreed. The other driver asked Piyush's driver about the exact spot where he dropped Piyush and took Tinoo to the same place.

It was crowded as usual; many people were busy dealing with their 'respective businesses.'

Tinoo asked a couple of girls if they saw a man whose face was covered with a bandage to which one replied, "So many men who are ashamed of getting caught, visit here, with their face covered. It is not possible to remember someone specific."

"But this man had bandage on his face and wore a grey jacket and also had a bag with him." He tried giving her more specific details.

"I don't get paid for staring at people's faces or what kind of dress they are wearing. And if I had been that qualified to tell you what a grey color looks like, I would not have been here selling my body." She said and looked at him with her hand raised forward.

"No, I don't want to do it" Tinoo said and was about to leave.

"I don't even want you to fuck me, give me 100. I lost a client because of you." She said raising her voice.

Tinoo was not a frequent visitor but he knew he'll have to give her 100 Rs. or she won't let him leave. He handed her a hundred rupee note and started searching the whole area on his own without asking anybody. There was no man with a bandage on his face and a grey jacket. He had lost a two hundred rupees and was now heading towards a dead end. He asked a couple of tea vendors but they replied the same. 'Many people visit with their face covered so cannot remember.' Tinoo was dejected by the end of the day and left. He had to make a fresh start the next day.

Earlier, Piyush got out of the first auto, paid him and hurried towards the brothel and as the auto rickshaw accelerated, Piyush immediately turned around, and stopped another auto that was coming from behind. He took Sethi's advice very seriously, 'be careful'. He got into it and went to the opposite end of the city to the same lodge where he was living earlier when Majeed and his men were chasing him. He checked into the lodge with the fake I-card and the fake name. The person at the table was the same old man. He handed him 500 Rupees extra and told him not to tell anyone he was there.

"I'll pay you the remaining 5000 when I'll check out." Piyush said before going into his room. He was running out of cash. He had 1200 in his pocket, 26000 in his bank account which was not sufficient if he had to run away from time to time. He tried to calculate how much money he had spent since the beginning of the drama, but could hardly concentrate. From the last ten days he had learned enough about how to dodge people. Hence he went to the opposite direction first where his bandage won't attract a lot of attention, left a false trail and came back to mislead anyone, if he was being followed. He closed his room and straight away went to the bed. In five minutes he was asleep again.

He woke up at 7.45 pm. _How stiff my body is?_ He wondered. He could barely move. The powerful blow had actually caused more damage to his body than just the excruciating pain. He was feeling very weak, tired and just wanted to sleep more. He went out, bought a couple of mango juice bottles and went to the nearby joint to drink soup. He looked around. There weren't many customers at the joint. It was a small decent place. He felt comfortable and safe. A small boy came with the vegetable soup he had ordered and placed it on the table. It was cold outside. Piyush had pulled over the hood and covered his achy jaw with a scarf, which he had bought before checking-in. Piyush looked like a commando whose face was completely covered. He didn't do it intentionally to keep himself from being recognizable, but to cover it from the cold.

He moved the scarf just enough to open his mouth and drink small sips. He slowly took a sip, not hurting any part of his face. The hot soup in the cold night gave him a warm feeling. He remembered how good it felt when he used to drink hot tea that Priti used to make during winters and also the hot tomato soup, which his mother used to make often. Those simple sweet warm memories rushed back to him and his eyes were teary even before he gulped down the first sip. He could relate what Sneha said about not having the simple family time ever again. He couldn't help, but the tears kept flowing, and he was actually crying by the time he had finished half of the bowl. He firmly held the spoon and angrily clinched his jaw. The pain suddenly hit him, he let the effect minimize and then finished the soup. The unexpected cry resulted in pain that was too hard to bear. He bought 5-10 straws before going back to his room.

The old receptionist smiled at him. Piyush waved back. He was a poor old man; there were hardly any visitors who preferred his lodge. During his first stay the old man tried everything to make Piyush feel comfortable and even told him how difficult it was for him to feed his family, on the not at all good business of the lodge. He could not even sale it as that was the only thing he had for his 2 grandchildren. His son had run away, leaving his wife and 2 children, Meena 12 and Mohan 9. Piyush had told him that it was a bad time for him too. The only thing he did not know then, was that how bad it was supposed to turn afterwards. He reached his room, sat down on the floor, took out his wallet and pulled out the photograph that had all four Mehtas.

_Mom, papa, Pittu... I miss u a lot.. Please take me out of this... I want to be home with you... I don't want anything else.._ He lay there down on the floor sobbing, rolled his fingers on his family member's faces and tightly held the photograph near his chest. He took his pain killers, one which had the tranquilizing effect. He went to open the envelopes that Sethi had given him. He wanted to see what was in there. But the pain, the flooding memories, the sleepy pill and the weakness, all chipped in together and he couldn't hold his sleep any longer.

The first thing he did after he woke up, was took his cellphone and texted Priti.

I am fine.. take care.. will call u soon.

He had told Priti that something was terribly wrong. And his sister had taken care that their parents were not aware of their son being in trouble. It would give them a big shock and would turn the whole events upside down in panic state. Piyush's timely alert with a coded message 'leave the city now', that too with the old sim card had ensured that his family was out of this mess. She had lied to them that she just wanted to go away from everything for a change. The depressed acting skills added more spice. The lie was good enough to take the Mehtas away. She knew her brother better than anyone else. She never saw him that scared before, but his tensed voice spoke more than the words. Something was wrong, but she trusted him as she knew he won't do anything, that would cause unnecessary trouble for the three of them. She followed his instruction and moved out.

She was good friends with their neighbor's daughter Akshara, and she had texted Priti that two days after they left, some people barged into their house. It first seemed like a robbery, and then she thought it was a raid as they were throwing away most of the things inside, but later it turned out they were looking for Piyush. They pretended to be from a govt. agency but all of them seemed like hoodlums, so she quietly texted Priti about it. And Priti understood why her brother had asked them to leave the city. The only thing she knew that if their parents were there, things would have turned worse. She kept praying for him. Both the siblings had lied that Piyush was out of the town to attend a business meeting. He had never attended any meeting before, but Priti made it up that his responsibilities had increased after Sharmaji's demise, and now he had more work load. Priti called back immediately but he disconnected it. She texted.

It's you? Piuu? Where are you? What's going on? Everybody is saying you are Majeed and you killed the vice chairman of Expanding India. Pls tell me what's going on?

Everything's going to be fine Pittu. Just need some more time. All that is written about me is not true. These people are framing me, they are very bad and powerful. But I will take care of everything. You just make sure, you three are fine. Don't let them get affected because of this fake news. Don't come back till I tell you to. These guys are very dangerous and I don't want you here for some more time. I'll figure out a way and then I'll tell you what to do. Till then, take care of mamma papa and u. He replied.

I know these guys are bad. Akshara told me they were looking for you. They even entered our house and threw away things. I have not told mom-dad anything about it. Before Piyush could type a reply there was another message.

Pls take care of u piuu. Some Mr. Sethi had called papa yesterday night. He told him that you are innocent and there is nothing to worry about. He just asked us to not to comment on anything about you. Just 'we don't know anything about him' defensive stand. He told us you are fine and safe. I am not getting anything. People entering our house, throwing away things to defame us, looking for you and we are running away from everything, unaware of what is actually going on. We all are very much with you. Its big, complicated and dangerous and I want you to get away from it a.s.a.p. you just stay safe, Mr. Sethi said everything will be fine, it's just a matter of time. Wherever you are, just be careful, he said it's a big mess and all of you will sort it out. We don't know what to do, we are just doing what Sethi told us. He said even the police won't help. Piyush was stunned.

Yes, the police won't help. Don't even go to them and tell mom dad not to believe anything otherwise informed personally by me. Don't trust anyone Pittu. And u don't worry, I'll sort out the problem very soon beta. Ok I've got to go now. I'll stay in touch. Please hold it tight together. Take care. Love u all. He texted her back and couldn't react anything after that. He didn't know how to thank Sethi for informing his family beforehand. That was a big relief for Piyush to learn that his family was aware of him being framed and that somebody was supporting their son.

_They reached my place and broke it down. Thank god I asked Priti to move away... damn it. The person on Singhal's phone was right, he 'is' many number of fucking odds._ Piyush now knew that person on Majeed's phone was Goyal, this news from Priti left him more frightened.

## Chapter Twenty nine

He immediately opened the envelopes that had many photographs, documents, maps, and CDs. He started reading them one by one. Everything was jumbled. Sethi had packed them in a hurry without arranging anything. It was gigabytes of textual information and he didn't know where to start from. He had something that was the reason behind Sharmaji's death and multiple attempts for his assassination. _What now?_ He saw Sharmaji's photo and documents stapled to it and started with that one. It contained all the information about him. His designation, projects he was given, highs and lows in his carrier, family details, what his wife did, daughters did, where his immediate family members worked, their holiday destinations, no of vehicles he owned, people usually with him and close to him. In this column Piyush found Sahu mam's and his name.

_They were monitoring him from the very beginning and I was also in the list._ Piyush was surprised to see his name in that list. Nandini mam saying 'even I knew you would marry her Piyush' and Mrs. Sharma warning him now made a perfect sense. He turned the page and it was the last one. _That's it? Why all this. And there is nothing important in these papers. It's just some personal information and nothing else._ He kept it aside. Then there was another person's photograph. Piyush didn't recognize him at the beginning but as he kept turning the pages he remembered something about him. He was a small Politian who came in news once or twice, but not a big name. He assumed that the man must be of some importance or have some information like Sharmaji and hence his information was also in the envelopes. Some documents were related to a couple of sanction plans related to certain projects, which he ignored.

He found one familiar photograph. The woman was a social activist from Kerala. Jayanthi Swarupam. Piyush had heard about her struggle for various groups of people and their rights. Jayanthi had a very highly educated family background and had completed her graduation in B.Sc. form the Indian Institute of Science, but later took part in many social movements after having faced a personal experience of being ill-treated. Whenever she spoke, debated, her points were so perfect that there was no question to challenge her. Even if someone did, she had another series of questions relating to the counter question asked by the opponent. And no matter how big the opposition was, she would strive hard and always delivered justice to the innocent. All the corrupt people would think twice before indulging in something new as they had to find out a noble way of doing wrong things that would go unnoticed. She was someone who could not be bought like others.

Jayanthi was married to her IISC classmate, but the man was never in news. Jayanthi passed away while delivering the couple's second baby. It was an old story dated 7-8 years ago. _Great, Sethi seems to have encyclopedic information, but of no use to me._ He kept Jayanthi's documents aside. Then there was this out of nowhere man from Delhi, Piyush had never heard of him before, not even a mention anywhere in paper or news or in the company. He went through his documents. He was into construction business, and had nothing to do with EI. There was not any relation between him and EI. But one line was marked by orange marker that took his eyes directly on the highlighted words. He was the brother-in-law of Rajsingh Darbara, a member of parliament and the owner of a hefty number of cement and brick manufacturing concerns. He took a break to have lunch. He had forgotten that he didn't even have other pair of cloths or any other thing. There was less cash available. He could not even brush his teeth. Just a couple of very light gargles were the only option to avoid pain. He asked the lodge owner to get some soup and juice for him as he did not intend to go out.

He was totally into it. _What so many people have got to do with it? Why are they here in these documents? And why Sethi thought they would give me the answers?_ He couldn't understand the correlation between the papers and all that was going around him. The old man brought whatever he had ordered and Piyush gave him extra Rs.50 for his fast service. Piyush knew that he was the only one who was paying him good, so he wouldn't upset his loyal customer. But no one could be trusted. Hence Piyush kept giving him extra money. That was the only thing that would keep his mouth shut. By evening, he finished all the photo stapled documents that he found in the envelope. And there were very few faces he knew. Most of them, he had just heard of. But large number of them was big names or somehow related to a big name.

_Why the hell in the world you have given me all this documents Sethi? Why? What am I supposed to do with it? You should have simply told me everything. Are all these people involved in killing me and Sharmaji? If yes, then they are morons because so many together cannot kill a couple of guys, this is height of pathetic team work_ ' Piyush was tired and frustrated and all of a sudden found his thoughts correct. _All good, big names that are here might be the actual bad ones. Fake in front of the whole world. Their relations to the big names gave Piyush more affirmation on his thoughts, even Nandini mam had said they worked for the bad people._

He went through the other documents that he had kept aside. There were different sanction plans that he again deliberately ignored. He saw other documents in which he could not understand a single page. _"Urgghh."_ He pumped his fist on the floor. _"What's all this?"_ He stretched down on the floor and closed his eyes. _Shit, the medicines!!_ He had ordered his everyday meal, a soup and mango juice bottles and had taken the pills. He wondered how the papers and photographs and maps could fill the blank spots. _There has to be something, Sethi won't give me anything useless._ In about fifteen minutes the medicines had started working and Piyush moved on the bed with the blanket on. He kept thinking, but couldn't remember when he stopped thinking and his eyes closed.

He woke up late the next morning feeling much better. He sat there on the bed and looked around. All the documents were lying on the floor; the whole room was a mess. The injured body and tired brain was making it hard for him to think efficiently. He was blank and felt like whatever he read yesterday was a waste of time, but he stopped on the CDs. _Maybe this would help, let's see what it is._ He had totally ignored them till now. _But where? I don't even have a computer or laptop here and can't take the risk of taking this stuff to the internet café_. He felt safe inside the lodge. _Damn!! There's got to be some way out._ He checked his wallet. There was not much cash left. He rested back on the bed thinking of any way out of the situation. And found one. He washed his face and went down stairs to the owner. The man was there. He would always be there. He was the one who would be there for Piyush anytime and every time he needed him.

" _Chai loge sahib?_ " The old man asked him. He nodded. Immediately the man went outside and brought two cups of tea and gave one to Piyush.

"What happened to your face?" This was the first time he had asked Piyush about it after checking in.

"Got into a fight" He replied frankly avoiding hurting the jaw.

"It doesn't seem like you are a man who gets into a problem quite often." The old man said, knowing Piyush was definitely hiding something and could not even arrange any help.

"Yeah. But sometimes you don't know what is going to happen to you and when something unexpected happens, even a man like me, who is not used to it, has to get into a fight." He replied as he took a sip of tea. The hot sip gave him a warm feeling inside.

"So what unexpected happened to you?" the old man asked, not bothered, whether Piyush would mind asking him. Even Piyush didn't mind answering. It was the first time he was talking about all this with someone who really didn't know anything. He tried talking it out with Nandini mam but she already knew a lot more than him and Sethi turned out to be the bad turned good guy.

"Even I don't know. I am still figuring out what actually might have happened, and what was my mistake that I ended up getting into this mess." He replied.

"What mess?" Came another question.

"I don't know. That's what I am trying to find out. It happened so fast that I could hardly work on why all this was happening. But now maybe that can be sorted out."

"Where do you stay? Do you have a family?" The owner was ready with his questions.

"I stay in Expanding India's housing complexes. And I have my parents and sister. But I told them to go away form the town to be safe."

"What problem? You don't know what the problem is? And you mean, you just asked your family to leave?" The man kept firing questions one after another. But the questions were correct. Piyush found it very silly of asking his family to leave the town, but that move was a good one, a too cautious one, but it resulted in his family being safe. He didn't mind what people would say.

"Yes I don't know what the problem is. One day I was just coming back from my office when I was attacked. Since then, I am running away from people, fighting them out and trying to figure out why they are doing this to me. They even went to my place to get me and destroyed everything. Thankfully I was so scared that I sent my family away before all that, so they were unhurt." Piyush replied looking meaninglessly at the ground.

"I see. That means you are in hell of a trouble and you don't know why. That's really an unwanted position to be in." The man was making fun of Piyush, but he was not bothered at all. He could not afford to upset the old man, he was keeping his mouth shut, and that was what Piyush wanted the most.

"You know, I am no rich man. I've been into such situations before and from my experience, all you have got to do right now is to hide till the tides are low again. And after that, you can either hit back or run away from the problem forever." The old man said with a smile.

"Look, I need your help. Do you have a computer and internet?" Piyush asked.

"No, I never had so many customers that I needed a computer to keep the records."

"Then can you get one for me? Even a used one will do. I just need a computer that will read a CD and with which I can access internet. I'll give you money. Can you buy it for me?" Piyush asked and continued, "I cannot go out and get it on my own. Can you please get it for me?"

"See, I don't know anything about computers. I don't think I can help you out with this." He replied.

"I'll write it down on a paper and you just show it to the shop owner. Pay him and come back. Please." He pleaded.

"Okay you write it, give me the money and I'll bring it as soon as possible." Piyush wrote it on paper and gave it to him and asked "Is there any ATM nearby? I don't have cash with me."

"Yes, near the first left from this lane." He pointed. Piyush passed the empty cup to him and was about to leave when the old man asked him deliberately, "By the way, do you know who you are running from? At least if they come, I'll tell them you are not here."

Piyush turned back and replied, "Well it's some local big and small goons, Majeed and a powerful rich man along with the police. Let's say everyone out there. Even I don't know how many of them are there."

The old man's mouth was left wide open. "What? But Majeed just killed a person named Singhal a few days ago?"

"Yes, that same Singhal was Majeed. He tried to kill me, so I had to kill him. I don't know what he had to do with me. I told you I am still trying to find out. And then they framed me as Majeed. So I have to get rid of that problem too. Whereas the police, there are too many of them to kill. Till I get the reason why all this is happening to me, I'll have to dodge them. So if anyone asks about me, even if a beautiful girl, tell her you don't know." Piyush left for the ATM, knowing it would make a huge impact on the old man. The old man was now speechless. He had no idea who was residing in his lodge. For a moment he thought Piyush was just lying to him, but the calmness with which Piyush answered, made him believe everything.

A normal looking common man in his early 20's, turned out to be a guy who was badly injured in a fight, and had killed one of the most biggest criminal mind, had almost all the police force looking for him and here he was asking him politely for a computer, so that he could find out why Majeed tried to kill him. He wiped out the sweat from his forehead. 'I'll ask him to leave my lodge. I don't want to get into any kind of trouble or any police enquiry.' He stood there with the empty cup of tea that Piyush had handed him. 'But he never did anything wrong to me? He is paying me more than what I charge. He is injured and is dangerous. He too is a powerful guy. If I ask him to leave, he may try to kill me or my family as I know more than I should have known. If he can kill Majeed, then killing me is no big deal for him. Oh God! Why this man had to pick my lodge to stay in? Why didn't you send him to another place?'

He was still standing there when Piyush came back from the ATM. He saw the old man, who was visibly scared and had not moved an inch after Piyush had told him everything. He understood what might have been going on in his mind.

"You don't need to worry. I'll leave as soon as I think of an alternative way out. I don't want you to get into trouble for me. Even after ten days I could not find out what is going on. I asked my family to run away and I am also running away like a coward. How can I protect you? Don't worry; you don't have to keep me here for long." He took out 15000 rupees from his pocket and gave it to the man.

"Get the cheapest computer with cheapest internet connection and keep the rest of the money." The old man nodded.

"Wait."

"Yes" Replied Piyush.

"You just said that you will have to think of an alternative way out. What is the original way that you have planned?" He asked.

"I never planned the original way out. It's the people who tried to kill me planned it. That is to kill me. The alternative to this is to get out of this alive. Which is a bit time consuming, but I've managed to do so, at least for the last ten days. So we'll have a way out this time too. Don't worry."

## Chapter Thirty

He went back to his room and took a shower. The last time he took a bath was before bumping into Nandini mam. From then it had been a rollercoaster ride for him. He carefully left the injured jaw away from getting wet, he felt a bit fresh. He asked the old man to get a towel for him as the lodge didn't have any in the bathroom. After the shower, he arranged all the papers that were lying on the floor still trying to figure out what they meant. The jaw was not painful now, and he had to change the dressing. But he decided against it. All he wanted to do was to get rid of everything that was happening. He knew he was not fit enough to fight it out for long. His body was not responding him, the entire mental trauma too was taking its toll. He closed his eyes and lay there on the bed without thinking anything for a while.

Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. Piyush went up to see who it was and it was the lodge owner, standing with a laptop. Only an hour had passed and the man was ready with whatever Piyush had told him. "Great, come in. Where did you get it so fast?" Asked Piyush.

"This is a used one from the electronic market and so is this internet thing. The battery is not good. It will have to be connected to the charger constantly or it won't work. This was the best they had. All this amounted to 11000 rupees. I kept the remaining 4000 as you said. They said you will have to get an internet connection for using this. I don't know how to get that. Do you know how to?" He kept all the stuff on the floor.

"We'll get it done, don't worry." Piyush replied thinking about internet. "Okay, do one thing, go to recharge shop and ask them to get my number recharged with the internet pack, it will cost somewhere around 200 rupees." He gave it to him along with his number "Here you go." Piyush smiled awkwardly with the bandage. The old man nodded and went out.

Piyush kept the laptop on the floor and connected the charger to the plug and switched it on. It started and was working fine. Piyush inserted the CD and it opened slowly. He waited patiently just to see there were many Microsoft excel files in the folders that were in it. Piyush wondered if the laptop had MS office installed in it, and fortunately it was. The excel files were monthly. He opened one of them. The whole sheet was full of figures that were ether followed by 'hz' or had inverted commas between the numbers. He opened all of them and every one of them had figures that he could not understand. He checked the captions. They had just tectonic readings written on them. Piyush was missing Google. He was desperately waiting for the internet recharge.

He checked the other CDs which contained photographs of a number of documents; some of them had some bills and orders of very big amount. Two of the four CDs had just documents and maps in it whereas the other two had huge excel files. All the information was jumbled, he knew it was useful, but didn't know how to extract it. He kept checking the CDs again and again, kept scrolling down the excel files to see if they contained something other than complicated figures. He scrolled down the first excel file to the very last row, 37641. In cell number A37642, there was a link. This was the only cell that was different. He clicked on the link and a new window opened. A GIF of the world map opened, but there was no movement in it. He opened the other monthly files and found a hyperlink at the end of every sheet, but same thing again, there was nothing conclusive. _This thing has got something to with the tectonic reading, which refers with the tectonic plates on the earth's crust._ He remembered it was taught in school and how important school education was, which he completely ignored. _Don't even remember I was taught this entire tectonic thing in school itself. How did I pass my exams?_

He got up to stretch a bit, with different thoughts running in his mind; the first thing that came to his mind after the tectonic reading was a nuclear base underground. The big machines now seemed like nuclear reactors to Piyush, although he had never seen one. But still one thing made that thought unclear, a nuclear reactor needs more than one operator and people are always wearing masks. This was what he had seen in movies.

He went to the window to see what was happening outside when he saw the documents again. _Wait, this are the same maps like the ones in the CD._ He took the whole bunch of papers and opened the maps, they were the same. He kept turning the maps and stopped at the one that looked familiar. _It's the same project about the big generators that Nandini mam had given me. Yes. The 1800 crore rupees project. Eight huge generators. I am an idiot, she was trying to give me a hint, but I completely ignored._ After a close look, he was stunned. He had been there before. It was design of the huge basement deep below the R&D, and the secret exhaust window was not in the map. Piyush smiled. _Smart old man._

They had different number of huge generators with same design in different maps. Piyush was now on the bed with the maps on his lap. _This are not generators, they don't cost 1800 crores. And why so deep down?_ Piyush was now staring at the maps, as if he was on the verge of solving the puzzle given in the maps. _Generators generate electricity and as far as I know, they do make some noise, but here the noise was a different one._ He remembered Sethi's expression when he mentioned the machines as 'generators' in the basement and the powerful vibrations. _Vibrations, frequencies, Hertz, Hz._ He opened the excel files, the figures were in frequencies. "These are huge vibrating machines." He murmured.

His phone beeped. It was the message he was waiting for. "Thank you so much man." He said after the reading the message about the internet recharge. He immediately inserted his sim card into the wireless modem and waited for it to get connected. He checked everything about the information given to him by Sethi. He tried cross verifying the images from the excel hyperlink, but there was no difference in any of them. He had not eaten anything since morning. He took a small break and ordered his everyday meal, juice and soup.

Piyush deliberately skipped his medicines to stay awake. He went back to his work after the break but needed a fresh start; he could not relate the tectonic reading anymore to anything that had happened to him. He started from the photographs that were lying on the floor. Sharmaji was not a big name; he searched information about Jayanthi on the internet.

He tried reading as much information about her as possible. He went through a childhood photo of her, little Jayanthi with parents and younger brother. He overlooked it and started reading other information. But he paused and looked at the photo again; he couldn't believe what his eyes had seen. Whatever he was digging, it was going deeper and deeper. "Impossible," he said to himself. Although the photo was an old one, he clearly identified who her father was, the very person who had given Piyush all these documents. The news about Jayanthi came as a shocker. He checked her documents; there was no information about her father. Her parents were divorced. He read everything about her that was available on the internet and found out that she had protested against EI for setting up some sites by violating a few norms.

_Sethi's own daughter protested, Sethi helping me out, where is this entire thing heading?_ He took Sharmaji's documents again. _Sharmaji committed suicide because of an extramarital affair, whereas in reality he was killed by Majeed. Nandini mam said he was impatient, couldn't take things any longer. That means he too opposed and here is Jayanthi, who opposed and died while delivering a baby._ He stopped and hurriedly took papers related to other people and started searching information about them on the internet. Some were big names, so easily available, but some weren't big enough to be found on internet. As he searched for them, he zeroed in one thing, all of them were dead. He was reaching a dead end again, but this time with logic behind it. He tried applying the Sharmaji story to all of them and the result was a justifiable one, which made everything crystal clear for Piyush. _All of them were killed and their death was faked_.

Piyush had understood one thing, all the people who were against something that EI planned to do, were killed by their own creation 'Majeed', who would then disappear as he would fly out of the town as Vicky Singhal. So Majeed would never have got caught as he never existed. The lesser known people who were killed by Majeed, and where they could not come up with a story, people assumed on their own that the deceased person, who looked innocent, might have been in the wrong company and paid for his own choices. So it was an easy way to blame the dark world which Singhal and Goyal had created. _Fantastic, picture perfect crime._ Piyush thought.

Most of the victims had either committed suicide, gone missing, died in an accident and some had 'unfinished business' with Majeed, which had nothing to do with Goyal or Singhal. But there was still one question that was unanswered. Why they were killed, what they opposed? Piyush had solved one mystery which led to another series of questions. _What irked people so much that they were directly killed?_ There was only some information that Piyush haven't checked. He turned back to the CDs.

One thing was certain, whatever information Sethi had given him was very solid. He just had to give a closer look to everything. He inserted the CDs and checked the excel files again and again. There was nothing he could conclude from those files. He started reading the CD that had many documents photographed in it. _The only thing left is to read each and every sentence._ Some of the photos were of invoices of huge purchases, he went through all the bills, and all of them were big orders placed by some companies to other companies. None of them were related to Expanding India.

In another CD, there were photos but the documents in it weren't bills, Piyush went through them too and found out that Goyal was the major shareholder in many companies, all of them were mentioned in the invoices. He searched about the companies on the internet and found out that some of the victims were related to those companies before they were killed, and now Goyal owned the same companies. _Why would he just kill those people for buying their company? Simply pay and finish the business._ Piyush was more confused and tired now. He was hungry too; he went down stairs to the owner and asked him to get his normal soup and juice meal along with fruit jam and bread.

"I don't think anything would be open outside." The old man looked at the watch. It was past 10:30 p.m. "But I'll see." The old man insisted and left.

Piyush sat on the staircase at the entrance. The whole day had passed and he did not even realize. He could feel how deep he was into the mess, before, there were just some people trying to kill him who worked for Goyal, but now he knew that he was not the only one, and whatever the reason was, it was big. He never thought things could be so dirty, and people could go to this extent just to buy a few companies. _But what about Sharmaji, me, Jayanthi and many other people who did not own anything?_ Questions were popping up in his mind and by the time the owner got something for him, he had made up his mind to stay awake for the whole night, and go to the very last depth. There was no one else other than him, he found it strange that the old man left everything as it is and went out. He brought a packet of bread, fruit jam and juice bottle.

"The soup joint was closed." He said handing over the rest of the items to Piyush.

"It's ok, fine." Piyush replied and asked, "Why did you left everything like this and leave? What if somebody might have stolen something?"

"There is nothing to be stolen here _sahib_ , and you are the only person who is residing in the lodge at present. And since you were down here, I could easily go and get it for you." He replied with a smile. Piyush knew the owner was scared of him, and he being the only occupant in the lodge made things perfect for Piyush. The old man did not even dare to ask Piyush when he was leaving; neither had he called the cops.

He ate the bread after removing the sides to avoid the hard corners. There was less pain and couldn't take out the thought of killing people merely for occupying their businesses. _There has to be something more. Nobody can be a maniac, who would simply kill people to take over their business. But what if they resist? Still every one of them would not have declined Goyal's offer._ He could relate the killings to the ownership subject, but the huge bills for the purchase of raw materials were still not convincing. _It can't be useless. Sethi won't risk his life for giving me something that just adds the number of pages._

After drinking the juice, Piyush gave a fresh look at the bills and the excel files. His brain was jammed with so many thoughts, that he was unable to form any interpretation of the files. _Half the things are still jumbled. I wish I could get some more time with Sethi._ He regretted attacking the man, had he waited patiently, Sethi would have explained him everything and he could easily escape with an 'interrogation over. Thank you'. Piyush was so tired that he could feel his eyelids getting heavier by every passing minute. He bluntly copied the figures from the excel file and tried searching it on the internet. The screen displayed a location. _These are not just figures, they are co-ordinates._ He tried different figures but the location was same, indicating there was less distance between different co-ordinates. He then inserted the value in hertz, and tried finding information about them. The figures in the excel sheet were same all through the sheet, and Piyush found out that it was the basic frequency of earth, 7.89 Hz. He had seen the same figures on the computer screen when he was hiding from the guards in the R&D basement. What he learnt after that left him shell shocked.

He found out that if earth is given its basic frequency externally for a long time, then it also starts tuning along with it and if there is a sudden change in the frequency, it results in a big jerk, disturbing the rhythm. An earthquake. Piyush checked all the files; they had the same frequency for a long time. He checked the maps again and everything started falling into place. Every single aspect that he could not understand, including the huge bills, was now coming to terms. The companies which belonged to Goyal whose documents were given in the CDs were not big in numbers but were big enough to make up 80% of the market share. He once again verified everything and all the dots were connecting easily.

_The big vibrating machines vibrate at the basic frequency of earth, after a considerable time, the crust will also start vibrating gradually but unnoticed._ He remembered the vibrations were unidirectional, pointing towards that direction where they might have found some fault, making it easy for the vibrations to spread. _Or they might have created passages to pass the vibrations easily. And once the intended area starts vibrating at the same frequency, a sudden shoot up in the frequency, like a powerful pulse, will result into a big jolt, disturbing the tectonic plates causing earthquake. A natural cause for an earthquake. Even the artificial vibrations would not come under notice on the Richter scale as they are similar to the normal frequency. Yes. The son of a bitch is creating artificial earthquake. A genuine weapon that nobody would notice. And those who noticed are already dead._ Piyush sat on the bed holding his head; he couldn't believe what he had just discovered. _This is the reason they killed Sharmaji and so many people, and are trying to kill me. The reason Sethi was helping him was straight, revenge._ And Piyush too had the same reason, Sharmaji's and Nandini mam's death and the all-round problems he had faced so far.

Piyush kept relating all the things till he could stop. The powerful earthquake would result in huge destruction, which will create new market for Expanding India's Infrastructural development business. That in turn will increase the demand for cement, bricks, steel and iron. To fulfill this demand, Goyal had acquired the big companies, which meant he had 80% of the manufacturing units under his belt. Because of his political connections, he could easily get the government contracts too. He also understood the invoices of huge amounts. _He is increasing stock of raw materials to get absolute monopoly of the market._ Piyush was not good at economics, but in this case, it was very simple yet complicated logic, Goyal was the one who created demand and he had arranged everything making him the only supplier. _Money, growth, monopoly. Pure dumbass shithead maniac._ _The whole R &D and the aircraft manufacturing was just a big cover up for a bigger devastating lie_. He also realized why Sharmaji was acting weird when he took him in the R&D for the first time and that he was not there for managing the R&D issues, but to make sure this secret was progressing nicely without any hiccups. He was the problem solver for the big project that was in process underground. Piyush was now thinking about the amount of money Goyal would make and number of people who could lose their lives.

Piyush looked at the other maps, which were located in different parts of the world. He had seen that too in the basement computer. _If everything goes as per his plan, one day this man will be able to control the whole economy, not just of any single country, but multiple economies._ Piyush was thinking about all that Sharmaji might have been through, why he was impatient and the amount of problems he had to face. For a while he regretted joining EI, getting in contact with Sharmaji, getting close to his family and getting into all this. But then, whatever had happened, it was for a good reason. He was now the most powerful enemy Goyal ever faced. He had killed Majeed, and was now aware of everything that was going on and was the only one who could stop it. He remembered what Sharmaji had told him during his visit to the R&D for the first time. 'You know that you don't know anything, but they don't know that you don't have any idea about what's going on. And that makes things complicated.' Sharmaji was right. Although Piyush couldn't understand what he meant then, but now all of it was very easy for him to understand. _I didn't know why they were after me as they thought I knew something, whereas I didn't. But now, I know the whole game and the star players too._

_There has to be a way out of this. This fucked up maniac is too powerful, he has got money, power and the police too. Everything is almost over._ He closed his eyes losing hope after thinking of every possible escape option, but all of a sudden it stuck him. Piyush had found a way that would result a perfect payback. _There is one possible way out, one last chance._

## Chapter Thirty one

Chandalal Goyal had set up Goyal constructions. He was a very clever business man. He had got into the mainstream people right from the British rule and would carry out most of the contracts of the Englishmen. He had gained access to the high command which resulted in various privileges. His son Ishwar too had carried on his father's well set up business. Ishwar learnt it from his father that the more they donate, the higher the gains would be. The rule was simple; donation should always be treated as investments.

By the time Ishwar's son Mohnish grew up, their small Goyal construction company had become the huge Expanding India. Ishwar was clever than his father, he got into many industries. The government always gave them subsidies as EI aggressively kept creating employments in the newly formed Republic of India. The donations increased and so did the bank reserves. Mohnish was the elder of the two siblings, the younger one being a daughter, most of the results would end on her side after small regular arguments. In the beginning he used to complain, but later he understood that there are some important things that are powerful than winning small arguments. And money was one of them that could buy everything. He had seen his father asking for a price to get things done, and after the 'price' was quoted and agreed upon, the evening was followed by smiles, dinner and happiness.

Mohnish once asked his father why he gave away so much money of their hard earned money. A very justified question, but Ishwar found his son capable enough to understand the math and told him the outcomes of such 'donations'. One of them was trust of the people by way of charity work and the second was bribes, which helped in bagging contracts. By the time Mohnish took over the company, he had made his strategies very clear and also influenced his father to think out of the box for social welfare of the society. His father had never thought of any radical way to get the money back, it was always buying politicians, and reducing the charities if the inflow reduced. But after his father passed away, it was time for Mohnish to stop the traditional way and make one time investment that would be a long lasting one.

Mohnish Goyal was never a one women man. He had six affairs, two of which lasted till marriage. He had two sons from his first wife and a daughter form the second one. His private life was talked about often, but it was his public life and relations that ruled the media. He rolled in his childhood friend, Vicky Singhal. He had big plans and had done the necessary 'homework'. His control on the things he did was pretty strong. Money was never a problem and he had more than enough of it to keep things in control. His personal back up of bringing Majeed into the game proved to be the most successful gamble and he had capitalized on that success. His team of geologists had found a crack in the tectonic plate in central India. Hence he chose Bilaspur as the R&D facility for an entry into the aircraft industry, a single target for achieving both the motives. He routed all the money he needed for the basement by means of research expense for the Aircraft R&D facility. It was a genuine justification; nobody asked where so much of money went. Research was the simplest answer and huge amount in aviation research was common. He had such money routing plans for all the basements that he had created in different parts of the world. He had worked out everything perfectly and also had the best contingency plan, Majeed, for everything.

Things were going well in Bilaspur when all of sudden Vineet Sharma decided to opt out. He couldn't afford to leave Sharma out in the open, he asked Sethi to take control of things and calm things down, but it was too late. Sethi was his go to man and would do anything as he had warned Sethi that killing his daughter was really unfortunate, but he would not like to repeat the same to his son and family. This indirect warning left Sethi helpless. With both of Goyal's hands cuffed, he had to take the last resort option, Majeed was called in and Sharma was taken care of. But from the sources, a newcomer Piyush Mehta had grown very close to Sharma and his family, he had also been to the R&D and Goyal was in no mood to take any risk, the moment he got to know that Mehta was going to resign, he didn't wait to see what Mehta was actually after and told Singhal to kill him too.

Things turned dark for Goyal when Singhal stopped answering his call and it was Mehta who was at the other end. The way, in which he talked, it seemed Mehta was very well prepared and was ready to go out and hit him on the face. Goyal decided to take on Mehta with all the guns and turned things around by terming Mehta as Majeed. It was just matter of time now that Mehta would be caught, but one thing shook him when he learned that Sethi ran away from his grip and an intruder had entered his basement. He had tapped every single person's phone close to Mehta. It later turned out the Sethi was also helping out Mehta, and the text messages sent to his sister had helped Goyal pinpoint Mehta's current location through his new sim card. Goyal was now sure that the man who entered the basement was Mehta. But this time, Goyal did not order a straight shoot at sight, this time he was waiting for Mehta to reach out all possible people helping him, so that he could take them down all at once.

He was patiently waiting for Mehta to make any move, his 'everything will be fine' text to his sister and Sethi's 'we will help him out' call to Mehta's father was worrying him. Finally the anxiety increased and as Majeed was not there anymore to cover up things, his fears grew more and he made a call to his local man in Bilaspur.

"Bakshi, I want you to take him down and find out where Sethi is. I want both of them dead in the next twenty four hours."

"Yes sir." He replied.

Tinoo was still in search of his three lacs. He gave it a thought and had bargained himself that whatever happens, he will take home at least one and a half lac. He was looking everywhere, a man with his half face covered in the dressing, with a bag and a grey color jacket. He even received a call from Bakshi enquiring about the recent leads, but he didn't have any. Still, after he had made sure that whoever kills, he would get his share, gave the details about the crime branch man's overall getup. He somehow wanted to prove that he was more than just a security guard, a man of importance.

It was 7:30 a.m. in the morning; he got a call from Bakshi and had reached where Bakshi asked him to. There were already many policemen present in the area. Today he had the license to kill, the only missing thing was the person who was to be killed. He did not care why it was so important, as far as he was getting his money; it was none of his business.

Piyush was asleep when he heard a knock on his door. He did not have enough sleep the last night and was too sleepy to pay heed to the knocks. The knocks now increased into loud bangs. He woke up immediately, panicked, scared. "What? Who is it?" He shouted and went near the door. _What if it's someone who is here for me?_ He picked up the glass bottle that had fruit jam in it and went towards the door to open it. "Who is it?" He shouted again, ready to open the door, holding the bottle high to hit directly on the outsider's head. Piyush could feel his heart pounding very fast. There was still no reply but a slightly less loud thud. Piyush opened the door and was about to hit, but stopped. It was the lodge owner, the old man catching his breath. He was breathing so heavy that he couldn't speak and so was Piyush.

"What happened?" Asked Piyush, nearly panting.

The owner took his time and replied "There are many policemen looking for you in this area." Piyush was stunned. He looked back at his room; everything was lying on the floor. There were documents everywhere, the maps were scattered in the room. _What now?_ He was not expecting the police to track him so early.

"How do you know they were looking for me?" Piyush asked, hoping the man had somehow mistaken.

"I went to the temple and while coming back, there were many policemen and they were specifically looking for you. Man with a bandage on his face, grey jacket." He replied. The old man was right.

"You help me arrange these papers first." They arranged the papers and Piyush added "Get me a copy of all this papers and four blank CD's at the earliest."

" _Sahib,_ it's difficult to find something open so early, also the papers are too many to copy so fast."

Piyush was thinking of any other possible solution. "It doesn't matter, get it done, I don't have cash right now, I'll give you later after withdrawing from the ATM." he said, wondering how much cash was left in his bank account.

Bakshi had asked his men to cover up the whole area. When some people asked him what was the reason, he gave them a reply that took them away from the scene. "It is suspected that Majeed is hiding out in this area."

They entered every building and searched it thoroughly; in addition, they kept a close watch on all the vehicles leaving the area, especially the auto rickshaws, which was Tinoo's special input to everyone. The cops entered the lodge when the old man was arranging his table.

"We are looking for a man named Piyush Mehta or Anmol Pandey, he is Majeed. He has got a big bandage on his face, wearing a grey jacket and is carrying a bag with him. Have you seen him?" One of the two policemen asked him before he could even ask them how he could help them.

"No sir." The old man replied.

"How many people are staying here in the lodge," asked the second policeman, "Show me your entry register."

"No sir, there was no visitor from last two weeks." The old man replied, now literally trembling.

"Show me the register first." The same policeman said, his voice more louder this time. The owner helplessly handed the duo the entry register.

"There is no entry from last 21 days. The last man to book a room was some Ajit Mandal." One of them said and asked the owner to show him each and every room.

"Sir, there is no one upstairs, it doesn't matter if you if don't check the rooms." The old man defended.

"Now you will teach us what matters and what doesn't? Do as you are told or I will make sure you are locked up for interfering in police investigation." The one, who was quiet till now and looked little decent, shouted at the owner. The old man took them to every single room and as they approached the room in which Piyush was staying the old man had gone speechless. He opened the door and closed his eyes. There was nobody inside. He and Piyush had removed everything from the room, but still he was afraid if they might have missed something in hurry.

"Take us on the rooftop."

"Yes sir." He had no option but to follow what they were saying.

"Everything is clear." The decent one said to his partner and they left. The old man wanted to get out of all this at the first given instance, but Piyush seemed honest and harmless to him and he was not interested in giving any sort of invitation to any trouble. Piyush caught by the cops in his lodge meant trouble and asking Piyush to leave the lodge also meant the same. He was happy to let things go unnoticed. As the two men left his lodge, he smiled and whispered, "That man is not insane to wear the same grey jacket for so long."

## Chapter Thirty two

As soon as he saw the police entering their lane, the old man had torn up the last page of his entry register and moved Piyush into a Chinese food vendor's kiosk. He locked Piyush into the small shelf where the LPG was placed. The vendor was his friend and would keep the duplicate keys of his kiosk with the old man, in case of sudden visit by the encroachment department officials. He had moved the vendor's equipment into his own lodge a couple of times when the officials paid surprise visits. A new kiosk could be easily arranged as compared to the LPG cylinder and other equipment. Today the same kiosk came in handy.

Piyush was hiding in the kiosk for nearly two hours now, with a gas stove and cylinder by his side. He could hardly sit there. _What might have gone wrong?_ He checked everything step by step and realized what was wrong, he remembered that all the people who were killed, their close ones were also under the scanner and Piyush had completely forgotten that he too was a prime target like the victims, and so his family was also being watched. _This is the only reason Sharma mam came to meet me in the restaurant instead of discussing it on phone or at home. I should never have texted Priti._ _Her phone was also under scrutiny_. Piyush was helpless; he held the laptop tightly near his chest. _No money, no other help possible, no Nandini mam, no Sethi_. He took out his cell phone, it was still on. _Why did I text you Pittu?_ He kept reading the sent messages again and again. _I was on the verge of finding a way out and now everything is ruined. You people are fine there, still, why did I worry?_ He covered his face and broke down, the injured jaw didn't even let him cry properly.

_I wish I could buy some more time._ All his hopes were diminishing by the sudden search operation because of a small mistake. All that he had done from last fifteen days to save his life, now seemed useless to him. _I don't know what's going to happen but these things can't stop me from reaching out to you guys_. He typed 'mom' in the contacts and dialed it. A couple of rings later, she answered "Hello".

Piyush didn't say anything; he had heard her voice after a long time. "Hello, who is this?" She repeated.

"Mamma." Piyush couldn't hold it any longer, and started crying.

"Piyush, _beta_ what happened? Where are you? Are you alright?" His worried mother too broke down as soon as she heard her son's sobbing voice. He could hear Priti's voice from behind enquiring about him.

"I love you mom. I love you, papa and Pittu more than anybody else in the world. You are the best thing ever happened to me. Tell papa he is the best father in the world. I love you all. I am so sorry." All the things he ever wanted to say were coming out. Piyush never had had it in him to say all these things earlier, but today, time was running out and Piyush wanted to make the most of the available one, before something more went wrong.

"We all love you too, but tell me what happened? Where are you?" She couldn't bear her son crying and talking as if this was the last time he would ever speak to her. Piyush heard it but didn't say anything. "Piyush _beta_ where are you? Don't worry, everything will be fine." She tried lifting his morale.

"Mamma you make the best _parathas_ in the world, you are the best chef in the world, and whatever you made, I loved all of it." He took away the phone to wipe his tears. The jaw was causing a lot of trouble, but Piyush didn't care anymore. "I couldn't tell you, but I always wanted to say that you are the best. I love you so much, I love you all so much." He said breathing heavily, he wanted to make the most of this call.

Priti snatched the phone from her mother. "What happened piuu? You ok?"

"Pittu, I love you _beta_. You are my best friend and the best sister in the world. And I love you lot more than I love Sneha." Both the brother and sister burst into crying as soon as he said this.

"I know that." She paused trying to control herself, "And don't worry everything is going to be fine, that Sethi said he will help you out of this. Don't worry at all, just stay safe. We all will be together soon."

Piyush cleared his throat "Pittu don't cry, you have to take care of everyone now. You have to be strong, you are the only pillar of support they have." He paused as he heard her breaking down again, "And you know how much mess I always do." Piyush said on a lighter note in a failed attempt to make his sister laugh.

"All I have to say is, I love you all and will always love you forever. You mean the world to me." Piyush said.

"I know that, we all know, just don't lose hope, everything is going to be fine." She replied. She could feel something going away from her which she could not stop. "And you are going to take care of maa and papa, not me, remember you are the elder one, right?"

Piyush was in unbearable pain by now, he didn't reply to what Priti was saying. Priti stood with the phone in her hand crying, their father took the phone. "What happened _beta_ , tell me what's happening?" He asked calmly, trying to take control of the situation.

"I can't explain it to you right now papa, I just want to say I love you all." He replied straightaway.

"Yes, but where are you, are you alright? Why are you crying like this? Priti already told you that Sethi is going to help you out, don't worry at all. Why did you call, you know they can track you with the phone."

"I'll explain it you later papa, just stay safe and take care. You are the best, love you a lot. Love you all." Piyush said and disconnected the phone. He knew, that Sethi's help was far from now and he was on his own. He cried again and again. He knew there was a very rare chance of explaining things again later, a 'later' that might never come.

There was one more call he had to make.

"Hello." Sneha answered.

Piyush did not waste any time and replied instantly "I love you Sneha, and I will love you forever. Sharma sir was never wrong, he always loved you." Piyush could hardly control his sentiments.

"Oh my god! Piyush where are you my dear? And what is all this about you? Every news channel is saying you are Majeed." This was the first time she was speaking to him after all that had happened. Piyush could understand everything what she might have felt, he did not even give her his new contact number.

"I don't have time to explain anything right now Sneha. I don't care what they are saying about me, I just wanted to tell you that I loved you a lot and will always love you. You mean a lot to me." Piyush broke down again. The more he cried, the more it was hurting him. All the relief his jaw had was gone and there was nothing but pain.

"Piyush I love you too, but at least tell me what is all this about? Why are you crying like this? Please tell me." There were so many things she wanted to ask, but Piyush's surprise call left her more confused about the situation. "Where are you? I tried to reach you so many times." She continued.

"Sneha please, I will tell you everything later, I just wanted to talk to you and tell you how much I love you and you mean a lot to me. Just be the way you are and take care of everyone, I am hanging up now." With every word, his sobs were increasing. He knew it might take long after this to hear her voice again and there was no certainty at all.

"I love you too Piyush, I love you too my darling, just take care." Finally she broke down.

There was a knock from outside, Piyush heard the lock opening. "Ok. Bye now. I love you a lot, you will always be my special one, love you." He hung up. The small cabin opened, "They are gone, you need to move out fast." The old man said.

He saw Piyush wiping the tears off his cheeks, but didn't speak. "They will come back." Piyush said taking out the phone battery and destroying the sim card.

"I don't think so; they have already checked the whole lodge thoroughly."

"Yes they will come back. I just made two phone calls. They will definitely come back again. Let's go fast, we have to get some important things done first. You got the CD's and the copies?"

" _Haan sahib._ " He replied. For the first time since his stay, the old man had seen Piyush scared and crying, as if he had given up.

Bakshi had been looking for almost three hours now and yet his 30-35 men couldn't find a single injured man. He wanted to catch the guy at any cost. The reward he would get from Goyal was another thing, but the medals he would get for killing Majeed in an encounter and the praise was something he could not stop dreaming about. His phone ranged. "He is still in the same vicinity; he just made two phone calls. Don't let him slip away this time."

"Yes sir." Bakshi replied, more rejuvenated than earlier.

He asked Tinoo to keep a close watch on any suspicious activity. "It seems he is well aware of our presence. He will try to sneak away, so you stay alert." Bakshi told him.

Piyush was back in the lodge, and had made one thing very clear, that was to remove his bandage. He was in front of the mirror taking it off carefully, his decision to not to change the dressing earlier had resulted in the cotton being stuck onto the stitches. Every time he tried to pull it, it burned. Finally Piyush lost his temper and pulled it hard at once, what followed was tremendous pain and bleeding. He couldn't leave the lodge and the only remaining option was to apply some turmeric, he did and to some extent it worked.

Piyush was a bit relaxed. He had told his family what he always felt. He also talked to Sneha. All he had to do now was to stay low till the storm passed away. The stitches were still wet. He wanted a good disguise. He thought of shaving his head, but that was very common and expected, also it would make him really look like Majeed and much more recognizable because of the dead man's bald tattooed head. Goyal's involvement, Majeed's real face, Nandini mam's surprising help and Sethi's incredible amount of information had given Piyush an advantage to expect the unexpected. He wanted to make use of that experience and whisk away from the situation unnoticed, and with caution. Piyush had asked the old man to get an eyeliner and foundation. He had also brought some old clothes that would fit Piyush. A full sleeve plain black shirt and a khaki pant. Piyush changed into it.

He tried to cover the stitches with the foundation without caring about any infection it could cause. Although he couldn't get rid of the big scar completely, still it was hardly pulling any attention. He applied the eyeliner and was ready to leave.

## Chapter Thirty three

The old man had called a couple of his friends. Two young boys, Azhar and Yasif. They had an extra _Taqiyah_.

"Wear this." Azhar said, handing it to Piyush. As soon as he got into it, he was no more Piyush Mehta, at least by his looks. It was Piyush's idea. He knew the police was looking for Piyush Mehta or Anmol Pandey, a man with a bandage. So no one would pay any heed to three young Muslim guys.

"Now don't waste a lot of time, leave right now." The old man said.

"They are still looking for him and checking each and every vehicle leaving the vicinity." Yasif said lifting Piyush's bag. "So going by a vehicle is not an option. We will have to walk. We will first go to the masjid take Allah's blessing and then take the bus. That would look normal and usual, nothing suspicious."

Piyush had asked the old man if he could arrange some help and the old man agreed. Azhar and Yasif's job was simple, to take Piyush away from the center of attraction, Bilaspur. Piyush asked the old man how much more money he had to pay, to which the old man replied, "When you solve your problem and everything is fine, we will calculate how much is due. As of now, come here, a hug and my blessings are equal to the payment." Piyush touched his feet and hugged him.

"Thank you so much. I don't know how to thank you. I didn't even ask your name." He said tightly hugging the old man.

"You can call me Gopal _chacha_." He smiled. Piyush left, and before getting out of sight, he looked back at Gopal _chacha_ and nodded. He nodded back. "Tell him, I'll pay him all the money that is due. And can never forget what he has done for me." Piyush said to Yasif.

"Sure." Yasif replied without looking at him.

The trio walked up to the nearby masjid. Piyush didn't look different than the other two. Only difference was that they were healthier than him and so he looked like the youngest of them all. They entered the masjid. Piyush had never been to a masjid before. He stood there watching Azhar and Yasif pray. While leaving, he just joined hands and they left.

"Was this the first time you went to a masjid?" Azhar asked him as they walked out.

"Yes." He replied. They went past a police van and none of the cops even noticed when the three of them passed by. Piyush was relieved to a big extent. His plan worked perfectly. The next thing they wanted was a bus or an auto to get away.

Tinoo was at a pan kiosk smoking a cigarette when he received a call from Bakshi. "The boy is still in this area, not out of our reach. Keep a close watch." Since that, Tinoo kept moving on the bike his friend had brought along. His eyes were desperately searching for the 1.5 lacs. The traffic had just increased and he searched every moving auto, bus for a man with a dressing on his face, bag and grey jacket, an injured young man. He was moving with a speed of twenty kmph, his eyes scanning every single person, vehicle on the road. He saw three men standing at the bus stop. One of them had a scar on his face. He gave a close watch and stopped the bike. 'Torn up jaw, bandage removed.' He had his target. There was a broad smile on his tobacco filled mouth. He moved towards Piyush but realized that the other two people were with him. He was sure now; the man was Anmol Pandey, the man who had been to the R&D to meet Sethi. It was his 1.5 lacs standing in front of him.

Tinoo was not sure if he and his friend could handle the other two along with Piyush. He called Bakshi, "I have him, get your man here at the bus stand. There are two more people with him." He also told Bakshi how to approach them, and from where.

Piyush stood there with Azhar and Yasif, wondering what had happened to the auto rickshaws which were moving frequently when they went to the masjid. "Get out of here." Yasif said in a hurry.

"Why, what happened?" Piyush asked, still looking for a rickshaw.

"There is a man on the bike, don't look at him, he stopped, made a phone call and is constantly observing us. Piyush's heartbeats were racing up after hearing this. The trio tried to move back into the same lane as that of the masjid. They saw a couple of bike borne police men closing in on them and a police van along with an SUV approaching. Even the one that failed to notice them before, was now squared up behind, thus closing all the four directions of escape.

Bakshi saw the trio moving away from the bus stand. "Don't let them go out of sight at any cost." He warned the others too on the radio. "Slow it up." He said to the driver, taking out the gun ready to get out of the vehicle. The two-wheeler borne policemen parked their bike and were now approaching them on foot.

Piyush was totally freaked out, he could hardly move his feet, but kept forcing them to. As they moved, the two personnel hurried towards them, almost running to grab them. Bakshi, who was out of the vehicle by now, also approached, along with Tinoo, who too ran towards them.

"Piyush _bhai, bhaago_." Yasif shouted, "Behind the masjid, there is a man named Masood, tell him my name, he'll help." He took out a machete, and before any of the men got a chance, he attacked along with Azhar, who was ready with a sword. None of the constables had any reaction time, by the time they could take out their weapons; Yasif had stabbed the machete in ones stomach. Azhar was swifter than him; he had pinned down one of them by attacking on his face, and slit the other's throat who was trying to get Yasif. In two seconds, three men were down and Azhar and Yasif were on their way towards the narrow lanes. Piyush had hardly moved and had taken just a couple of steps towards the masjid, when something hard hit him in the back. Followed by that, was an explosion of pain his body.

Bakshi had nothing to do with the two men with sharp weapons, his eyes were stuck on the man with the scar right from the beginning. As soon as he moved, Bakshi fired, not letting him take advantage of the panicked violent situation. The shot was perfect, it hit Piyush in the back. Azhar and Yasif were now far away from the scene. "Get them." One of the constables shouted.

Piyush was down writhing in pain. He hit the ground flat on his face and the jaw started bleeding from the moment of contact. The pain was so much that he didn't even realize when tears flowed down from his eyes. Time was unexpectedly slow for Piyush, the incredible burning in the back and face made every single second looked like an hour. He remembered his parents, sister, Sneha. He felt glad that he at least made a call to all of them, at least got a chance to talk to them and hear their voice. He wanted to go home, sleep on his sister's and mother's lap. He wanted to go out on a dinner with Sneha, marry her, and have a family. He wanted to hug his mother, father, Priti and Sneha for one last time. All Piyush wanted at the moment was to be with his family, away from the violence and pain, and feel their warmth.

He wished his family could come up, help him rise again and take him away from the pain. He wanted to go out on a long walk with his sister and tell her everything that had happened. Pictures of his parents, Priti and Sneha started flashing in front of his eyes.

_Mom, take me home to you, papa, Pittu_. He tried to mumble but could hardly move his mouth. _I want to be home with you mamma. Hug me, take me away from all of this. Don't leave me here like this._ He tried moving his hand and legs in a bid to crawl but the movement was restricted only to the limbs, the torso didn't respond. "Mamma, papa, Pittu Sneha. Grab me, take me home with you, I don't want to leave you." He finally slurred. His whole shirt and the ground were wet. He knew it was his own blood. Piyush still had his family's and Sneha's picture in front of his eyes when all of a sudden something hit him hard on his jaw and everything went blank.

"My 1.5 lacs." Tinoo said as he kicked him on the face. He turned Piyush on his back with the same leg. His jaw was torn apart, the stitches were nowhere to be seen, and it was just flesh, teeth, bone and blood. Piyush couldn't feel pain anymore. He just felt something hitting hard on his chest and piercing in. After that all went dark.

"Piyush Mehta, Anmol Pandey and Majeed officially dead." Bakshi said as he shot him in the chest to make sure he didn't breathe anymore.

## Chapter Thirty four

Anil was serving a dish to one of the customers when he felt it. It was as if a huge road roller was moving near him, but there was nothing. He saw the plate in hands, they were trembling too. He felt he would faint as the weakness was too much, but to his surprise, it was not just his plate that was trembling. Everyone around him could feel the vibrations and people were on their feet wondering what was happening. The vibrations increased rapidly before everything was calm again.

Everybody realized what it was. The vibrations were powerful, but not strong enough to cause any infrastructural damage to the country's financial capital. People on the beach had moved away towards the streets and everyone was out in the open, busy calling their loved ones and enquiring about their whereabouts. Everybody was scared and some of them had also started thanking God for avoiding a huge calamity. Anil too called his parents and informed them about the earthquake and his well-being. There was no sound at all, just people gathered on the streets and their constant murmuring. But there was one thing that Anil found very unusual, the sea, which was always active, was very quiet.

Within minutes when everything appeared to be normal, the coast guard alarm's voice filled the beach and the nearby area. A couple of them on a gypsy asked people to vacate the beach and move away from the water. Anil had never heard the siren before and probably no one on the beach either. It was a tsunami alert. They also asked them to reach on top of the building or at any place that was considerably high. As soon as the guards announced it, there was panic everywhere. People, who were out on the streets, now started rushing towards the building to reach a considerable height.

Anil and Gupta started moving their stall out away from the area, but the roads were already blocked by then, as many people were in their vehicles, on their way to pick up their relatives stuck somewhere. The tsunami warning was being given through every medium available and eighty percent of the roads were jammed with almost everyone trying to reach a safe place away from the sea. Anil and Gupta were still trying to find a way to move their stall out, but there was no way out.

"Let it be, we will try to reach at the top of that building." Gupta said to Anil and ran towards a building, but the guard was not ready to open the gate.

"They won't let us in, and I can't leave the stall here like this, this is all I have to feed my family." Anil said tearfully, also finding it difficult to move swiftly with his sick, unfit body.

"Anil if you don't leave right now, you won't be alive to run the stall. Come fast, we will set up another stall, don't worry, we will setup our business again." He said pulling Anil's hand. The person, with whom Anil was uncomfortable, was now trying to save his life.

Many people were now gathering up by the gates of the nearby residential complexes, begging to open the gates and let them in. One of the guards opened the gate and around fifty to sixty people hurried towards it in a bid to reach the top floor. Gupta and Anil too followed the mob, but someone accidently hit Anil and he fell down. People running behind him stumbled and a couple of them too fell down, causing a small stampede. Gupta had gone inside the building and was looking for his partner, but the heavy rush of people had hit Anil many times, that he was down near a car unconscious.

The Arabian Sea, which was silent so far, was now making small moves and soon the first giant wave was in sight. The panic grew and word spread that a tsunami was on its way. But it didn't take long for the wave to hit the coast. It looked small, but as it grew closer, it turned gigantic. The first one, an eight feet long wave lashed away the coastal area thoroughly with the water entering the city easily. The second one was bigger, twelve feet long. All the stranded vehicles on the streets were slammed on each other by the powerful waves and deep beneath the wreckage laid Anil's and many other people's battered, dead bodies.

The city was water logged within minutes and marine life had also gotten inside, making it more miserable for the struggling survivors. The flow of the water was so powerful that heavy vehicles were also swept away, which caused problems during the rescue ops. All the railway stations were filled with water; the train coaches also suffered heavy damage. Mumbai's lifeline, the local trains were also in total mess. The carnage continued for around an hour and India's busiest city had come to standstill.

Piyush had asked Gopal _chacha_ to make a copy of all the documents and he copied the data into the CD's that he had asked for. There was just one person he could possibly ask for help and who had the means to help him. One who was not close to him and not under Goyal's scanner, but can be trusted, as Nandini mam had said, Manoj Raje. Piyush had his visiting card in his wallet. He used the landline phone from the lodge and called him the very night he discovered the truth. It was a very late night call, that even took Raje by surprise, but he remembered Piyush. Piyush was also surprised that he still remembered him, but then it stuck, he was Majeed and so everybody knew him. He told him everything in detail and also made out an explanation in one of CD's giving direct links of the murders, Majeed, Goyal and how everything worked. This made things easier for Raje to understand unlike Piyush. Piyush asked Gopal _chacha_ to post all the documents at the address given by Raje, he also sent the cell phone that he had taken after killing Singhal.

Earlier, knowing what could happen after things took such drastic turns, Goyal was desperate for a powerful cover up, which, in case of a problem, would shift everybody's attention from him to somewhere else. Goyal never thought he would ever face a situation like this, but after the call with Mehta on Singhal's phone and after knowing that there were many people trying to help Mehta, as Sethi had said, the only way was to bring up something that would attract everyone somewhere else, and he would get the time to clear up the mess, and undo the mistakes. He also knew Sethi had given something to Mehta, which he feared, might be documentary evidence of his wrong doings.

He had called his man, Rishi Rawat, one of the many people he had under his control like Sharma and Sethi. Goyal had made arrangements for some contingency and had set up four huge vibrators deep beneath the Arabian Sea. The cover up was also readily available, Expanding India's mineral and natural gas exploration wing. The vessel was exploring, but deep inside they were setting up what was a small version of the facility available in Bilaspur.

As time ran out and Mehta used his phone again, he decided to kill Mehta and increase the frequency of the vibrations in Arabian Sea. It worked. Rawat increased the vibrations, and a powerful pulse was given to cause one sudden rapid movement in the plates. The result was not a powerful earthquake, but powerful tsunami, especially for a city like Mumbai. Everybody would mourn for the victims and in the time being, Goyal would take care of 'his' victims.

The documents reached Raje in two days. He tried to contact Nandini Sahu immediately after Piyush called him but was shocked to hear about her death. The next day's news was another huge blow, which stated Piyush Mehta, also known as Majeed was killed in an encounter. He studied all the documents and was surprised how Piyush managed to damage Goyal so much, all by himself. Piyush's decision to pass on the documents to Raje paid off very well. Raje, who knew it was an impossible task to pull everything alone, used all his experience, contacts, and all the resources available from his journalists group of friends, to strategically bring up all the information with an immediate CBI back up. Goyal's plan worked to perfection, everywhere, the only topic of discussion was the tsunami and the damage caused by it, but Raje was ready to pull the strings and news about Mohnish Goyal spread faster than wild fire.

Raje's blitzkrieg did not give Goyal any chance to escape. EI's all the sites and offices were sealed. His political contacts too deserted him as pressure on the Government increased not only nationally, but also internationally, as the targets were located in many countries. A number of countries tried their every diplomatic way to extradite Goyal. All the killings, the duo had done were exposed by Raje and his journalist friends in a planned manner, thus not letting any breaking news die down. The whole nation was shocked when it came out that Vicky Singhal was Majeed and not Piyush Mehta.

The earthquake that generated tsunami in the Arabian Sea measured 7.1 on the Richter scale and killed nearly two lakh people in Mumbai alone, most of them consisting of the ones residing in low lying areas and in the slums. Many deaths were registered because of the traffic jams that became death traps. The epidemics that followed afterwards were also one challenge that the city faced and raised the death toll. Around 58000 people were killed along the eastern coast of India and half the number of deaths were registered in the African continent. The incident was bigger than a terrorist attack; it was an attack on humanity.

It was termed as the second most deadly crime ever recorded in the history of mankind after that of Hitler's. Although there were many people who fought against Goyal, but it was Piyush who brought him down, and hence was the biggest whistle blower. All the charges against him were dropped and he was also awarded a posthumous medal of honor by the Government of India. The families of other victims were also given compensation for their loss.

Mohnish Goyal was pressed with 375 charges in all, and the apex court awarded death sentence in 93 of them, a record itself. A total of 653 arrests were made. People were terrified and so angry that the cops had to provide extra security to the same man, who was behind such a heinous crime. Goyal committed suicide in prison. All the underground plans were halted or cancelled in India as well as in all the countries, where Expanding India had its branches. The UNO also added many restrictions and sanctions for constructing anything below a certain level under the ground. Goyal's all properties were sealed and his research documents regarding earthquakes were destroyed. A total of 132 people, including Goyal, were given death sentence in an historic judgment, most of them being the policemen who worked for Goyal.

It was estimated that if the earthquakes had taken place, it would have killed around 350 million people across the globe and thrice the numbers would be affected, thus creating an altogether new market for Expanding India all over the world. More details revealed that Goyal was very well prepared to pull down other real estate giants all over the world. A big era of the unstoppable Expanding India, which had a destructive plot deep beneath, had come to an end.

Some people gave Goyal's mastermind, criminal plan, a rating equal to six sigma. Sethi was never found again but mysteriously appeared for the judicial proceedings. The old man succumbed to the pressure through a heart attack. The Sharma family left India and settled in Canada. Sneha had to take anti depression medications for a couple of years. The loss of two important persons left her devastated.

The Mehta family never returned to Bilaspur and settled in Pune where Priti got a job. She still goes out on long walks in the evening with Piyush's medal in her hand and finds herself staring at the sky with teary eyes thinking 'I know you are always looking after us, loving us and you are there in our heart, not gone anywhere, but with us every day, every time.'

## THE END

Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won't you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite retailer?

Thanks!

Pratik Deshpande

## About the author:

Pratik Deshpande, is a Chartered Accountancy and Bachelor of Commerce student residing in Nagpur. Truth Underneath is his first novel. His second book is about a relationship between a little girl and a stranger, who decides to take care of her after he learns about her lung cancer. The book is titled **'The little girl who changed my life.** ' Currently, he is working on his third novel tentatively titled 'Mumbai under attack.' He started writing at the age of 19 and lives with his parents in Nagpur.

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