Part 22...
"Tension math le, sab thik ho jaayega!" Rathore tried to
comfort Arjun.
Arjun nodded and let the matter be, for the time being
concentrating on the case.
After a while when they decided to take a short break from
the work Arjun and Rathore sat in the latter's cabin relaxing and having tea and
coffee respectively.
"Arjun, you know it's not that hard to find out who the guy
is" Rathore said slowly but quite randomly.
Arjun frowned, he wasn't sure if he was talking about the
case or something else.
"Who are you talking about??" Arjun asked.
"Anu aur woh jo koi bhi hain uss ke..."
"Paagal hogaya hain Sam??" Arjun was quite surprised that he
even suggested such a thing but at the same time couldn't help smile at the
thought.
"Soch Arjun, we'll know who the guy is and WE can surprise
Anu by telling HER who she has...feelings...lov...you know what I mean yaar..."
Rathore couldn't get himself to say that his sister was 'in love' with someone.
Arjun chuckled seeing his best friend struggle.
"Haan, it won't be that hard actually. Shree say poochenge
toh woh do minute mein patha laga dega..." Arjun said.
Both laughed and conspired for the next twenty minutes how
they can find out who the guy is – most of their plans ironically needed
SHREE's assistance!!
By the end of the twenty minutes though both dropped all the
plans and decided that whenever Anu was ready she'll tell them herself.
*****
Shree knocked on the door and waited. A minute later an
elderly lady opened the door.
"Ji hum ETF se hain, yeha par Chintu kehke..."
"Haan mera potha hain" the elderly woman said.
"Woh kaha hain aapko pata hain?" Riya asked.
"Pata nahi. Do din se gayab hain. Pakad ke legayi hogi police
phirse...laut aayega do, teen din mein"
Riya and Shree looked at each other and thanked the woman
before making their way to the bar where Chintu supposedly spends a lot of
time.
"Ri, did Anu speak to you about us in the last few days??"
Shree asked when they sat down in the car. Riya looked at Shree and became
completely blank; she didn't know what to say, she can't possibly tell him that
Anu is in love with him.
"Why?" She asked not able to come up with anything else.
"Kuch nahi, she's behaving...differently. I mean even this
morning when I was dropping her off at her work she was...ek different expression
tha yaar uske chehre par..."
Riya frowned with confusion. Expression? Shaayad kuch zyaada hi khush hogayi ki Shree usse drop
kar raha hai She thought and smiled inwardly.
"I – I don't know..." after a small pause she continued, "...yaar
Shree I think it's about time you both seriously sit down and talk about your
feelings. I know you are in love with her..."
"Yaar aisa kuch..." Shree tried to protest.
"Shree!" Riya cut him short and looked at him warningly.
"AGAR, agar aisa kuch ho bhi toh kya farak padtha hai? I mean
if she doesn't feel the same for me...it's just...I don't want to ruin the
friendship we've built so far"
Before Riya could say anything they reached their
destination so both got down and entered the bar. They looked around, scanning
the room for their man. When they did not find him, they started to question
the people sitting there.
After talking to about half a dozen people finally they
found someone who had some interesting information for them.
"Yeh bar tumhara hai?" Shree asked him.
"Ji saab" the man spoke nervously.
"Isse jaante ho?" Shree held up Chintu's photo.
"J...ji saab. Yeh rooz aatha tha yeha par"
"Aatha tha?" Riya
asked noticing the past tense.
"Ji madam, woh do din se aaya nahi hain"
"Usse kisi se milte hue dekha hai? Jo usse normally na milta
ho?" Shree asked looking around the room.
"Woh...woh..."
"Woh, woh kya? Batao jaldi!!" Shree said sternly.
"Woh teen din pehle, jab akhiri baar usse dekha toh, woh
kisi se yehi baat kar raha tha. Woh pehele toh kisi ke liye na keh raha tha par
phir raazi hogaya...bas itna hi maloom hai saab"
Riya and Shree thought about what he said.
"Shaayad Arjun sir ne jo kaha, that he was hired by someone
to follow you was right" Shree said thoughtfully to which Riya nodded her
approval.
"Woh aadmi kaun tha tujhe pata nahi?" Shree asked the bar
owner.
"Mujhe toh nahi pata saab lekin shaayad, Ganesh ko patha
hogi..."
"Ab yeh Ganesh kaun hain?" Riya asked.
"Woh aur Chintu dost hain...woh do din mein yeha aane waala
hain, gaaon gaya hua hain...agar aap tab aayenge toh aapko mil jaayega!!"
"Thik hain...lekin usse batana math ki hum aane waale
hain...warna..." Shree said with a deadly warning.
"Na...nahi saab, usse kuch nahi kahunga"
Shree nodded and left the place with Riya.
"Kuch zyaada hi cooperate kar raha tha..." Riya said.
"No licence for the bar...most probably..."
"Hmm, we should inform the local police" Riya said and
turned to Shree.
"After we get
Ganesh!" They said is unison.
They sat in the car and headed back to the ETF office.
"So, as I was saying..." Riya continued their conversation
as if nothing happened, "...you should talk to Anu and if you ask me you should
talk to Arjun as well"
Shree gulped nervously when she mentioned Arjun.
"If I am absolutely sure that Anu feels the same way I feel
for her...I...I'll talk to Arjun sir"
Riya rolled her eyes, ab
iss ladke ko kaun samjhaye? SHE LOVES YOU SHREE! Riya screamed in her mind.
Ab toh Anu hi
kuch kar sakthi hain. Riya thought again.
*****
Shree and Riya informed Rathore and team what they found and
it was decided that they'll again split and continue the investigation. They
worked till 7:00 pm when Arjun got Anu's call that she finished work.
"Should I go by myself bhai or will you pick me up?" Anu
asked.
"No, I'll pick you up. Is anyone with you or are you alone?"
"A couple of my colleagues are still here but they'll leave in
about five minutes"
"Can you ask them to tag along for a while till I get
there?"
Anu was about to say something but Arjun stopped her when
Riya gestured to him.
"Shree and Chotu are in that area, they went to talk to
Vikram's family remember" Riya said.
"Oh ya, Anu I'll ask Chotu and Shree to pick you up. They
won't take too long...still don't stay alone ask your friends to stay back till
they get there, okay?"
"Okay bhai, bye"
Ajrun cut the call and immediately called Chotu, knowing
Shree would be driving.
"Chotu can you guys please pickup Anu from her work?"
"Ya, sure sir we'll pick her up" Chotu replied promptly.
"Take her phone number just in case..." Arjun was about to read
out her number, but stopped on hearing Chotu's reply.
"Oh, Shree has her number sir don't wor..." Chotu suddenly
became silent without finishing the sentence as if he realised something.
"Shree has Anu's cell number?" Arjun asked surprised and
looked at Riya who was discussing something with Rathore.
In a second, quite a few scenes flashed through Arjun's
mind;
First and foremost, Riya knows the guy Anu likes – that is
only possible if Riya knew him from the beginning, since it hasn't been that
long since Anu came to Mumbai.
The times he saw Anu and Shree together, their closeness,
their friendliness – it was now so obvious, why didn't he see that before?
Anu's eagerness this morning when Arjun asked Shree to drop
her at work – why didn't he understand immediately?
Shree has Anu's cell number even Chotu knows that – of
course the trio, Riya-Shree-Chotu hardly keep anything from each other so, if
one knew all of them knew about it.
Arjun's mind put two and two together and his eyes widened
with realisation.
Edited by Aukview - 11 years ago
comment:
p_commentcount