Chandni Bar - Updated [Chapter 9, Page 20]

Chapter 1

Her abdominal muscles flexed with the beat and every eye in the field was fixed on her swaying hips. A fat man sitting on a charpai put a roll of paan in his mouth and the more rowdy members of the audience whistled as she began singing again.

"Haye...jisko sanam maan kar shab bhar mare
Woh kameena subah hote phurr ho gaya
Jisko mohabbat ka teacher kehte rahe
Woh phateecher ik lesson mein fail ho gaya..."    

They hid behind the bushes, squabbling quietly and observing the crowd.

"Move further, Riya." He bit out.

"I have! Do you want me to go right into the audience, Sir?" He glared at her before Shree cut in with a 'shush'.

She watched as the woman danced to the cheers of the repulsive audience. Biting back her own revulsion, she turned away to see Arjun rolling his eyes at the paunchy old men.

They remained quiet for a few moments, scouring the crowd for anything suspicious, before moving away into the night.

* * *

"Raute!" Sameer barked. "Will you be standing out there all night or do you plan on gracing us with your presence too?"

Arjun gave him a disdainful look but didn't bother replying. He stepped into the small shack they had secured for themselves and sat down on a bale of hay.

"Alright team, I suppose we're all up to date now. The investigation will start early tomorrow morning. We'll meet the owner of the Chandni Bar first and then go from there. Any questions?" Sameer watched as everyone shook their heads and he nodded. "Good. Now get some sleep. We will head out at the first sign of daylight."

Riya moved to a corner of the shack and began arranging the hay into a makeshift bed. Shree and Chotu collapsed where they had been standing and fell asleep almost instantaneously while Sameer went to the other corner and lay down. Arjun remained where he was and watched the others.

Almost an hour went by before they fell asleep and Arjun stood up soundlessly. He opened the door slightly before slipping out into the cold night. Checking that nobody had awoken, he shut the door.  

He didn't plan on waiting for daylight.