Chapter 39

"Someone has been threatening you for so many weeks not to let you to shut down the oil factory and you didn't even bother to ask me for help! What kind of a friend I would be if I can't help you, Shaurya," Vihaan chided him, walking along the bank of the Yamuna river at Agra.

Looking down at the reflection of the magnificent Taj Mahal into the Yamuna waters, Shaurya responded, "I thought the threats were normal business threats from our rivals who wouldn't allow us to shut down the factory here. The Taj Mahal is under the red alert zone of pollution from the nearby factories and we decided to go eco-friendly. We couldn't afford to continue running the factory here but it seems someone doesn't want us to take the honest way."

"What made you call me in a hurry?" Vihaan captured a quick glance of the Taj Mahal, which was on the other bank of the river.

"You must have known that I was visiting Delhi every now and then for the past few weeks due to my business. The factory manager Mr. Krunal Avasthi suffered from a major blockage in the lungs and choked to death last month. He was responsible for the new factory set up in Delhi after it was shifted from Agra, though the old one continues to run here. His post mortem reports say that poison was found in his lungs since he was exposed to poisonous gases." Shaurya expressed his grief and leaned against the fence beside the river.

Vihaan pressed Shaurya's shoulder in consolation. "It means it is a case of murder and you want it to be investigated. This is nothing that you need to hide from anybody closer to you, but yet you didn't allow me to inform anyone about this trip, especially to your sisters. Why is it so?"

"How can I allow my sisters and my family to get worried for me? Our manager is suspected to have been murdered and just on the night of the marriage of Vidya, I got a call from Mr. Avasthi's family telling me that they have received a new threat from some unknown person. Can you imagine that they threatened to kill me?" Shaurya shrieked, rubbing his palms together.

"Where does Mr. Krunal's family live?" Vihaan asked, concentrating on the severity of the case.

"His family lives at Connaught place in Delhi. He is survived by only his widowed wife and a daughter."

"How old was he? Can his family send you the number they received the threats from?" Vihaan enquired, bending over towards Shaurya.

"He was only forty-eight. I have already taken the number from them and coincidentally it's the same number I was receiving threats from. I'll just forward you now." Shaurya did accordingly and waited for Vihaan's answer.

After forwarding the number to the CBI control room for enquiry, Vihaan uttered, "I will let you know once I find more about the offender behind the threatening calls. So are we leaving for Indore now? I don't see why you fetched me here only for this. Do you have anything else?"

"You are right, I have a different reason. I need your help to shut down the factory here because I'm not able to do it all by myself. The caller informed Mr. Avasthi's family that he is going to kill all my factory workers here if I don't show up soon. He has plans ready to intoxicate the gas pipelines around the factory." Shaurya's face was fear-stricken.

"Since I'm here, you are not supposed to worry again. I'll visit the factory with you and do the necessities," Vihaan raised his voice, showing the confidence he possessed.

"I can't take the risk of taking you there and introducing you by your real identity. I doubt there are people within the factory who want to ruin my business," Shaurya said bulging his eyes.

"You can introduce me to be your best friend and a business partner. I'll see what I can do and I promise you'll be safe. Don't worry that much." Vihaan clapped Shaurya's shoulder lightly.

Shaurya drew Vihaan into a friendly hug. "I'm lucky to have a best friend like you."

"We should move back to our hotel then," Vihaan reminded him and Shaurya agreed to it.

As both the men began walking together, the majestic view of the shadow of Taj Mahal appeared live before them. The radiating beam of the rays of the setting sun was glistening brilliantly against the ripples of water forming along the surface of the river.

After walking for a little distance, Shaurya uttered all of a sudden, "Do you know Vihaan, Taj Mahal is very close to Vay's heart?"

"Sorry?"

"I mean Sanchi's. Taj Mahal holds a special place in her heart," Shaurya explained again, keeping his pace of walking intact.

Vihaan nodded simply. "And why is that?"

"It's a very silly thing to tell you this but I just remembered it when I saw the Taj Mahal again. When we were children, we had once visited an annual fair in Gwalior where a stage drama was put up based on the love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan. I don't know what took upon her but she became obsessed with it. Since then, she used to keep telling us that she will find her Shah Jahan one day." Shaurya laughed while Vihaan frowned his forehead.

"Your sister is crazy, you know. Their love story was already overcast by the cruelties of Shah Jahan. He somehow wanted to only preserve Mumtaz's remembrance while he was cruel enough to handicap all the architects responsible behind this glamorous monument," Vihaan uttered, his voice lacking of emotions.

"You may have your own reasons and Vay will have hers. I just wanted to share this with you because I thought you need to know it. I was surprised when I met her in the middle of the night of Vidya's marriage. She was crying for some reasons she didn't tell me and I thought it was you who must have hurt her again. You had already left our house by then and it intensified my doubts," Shaurya said and looked at Vihaan. "Do you know what she answered me?"

"What?" Vihaan uttered feebly, trying to infiltrate Shaurya's words into him.

"She told me that she is happy with you. She was crying because she had accidentally broken the toy Taj Mahal that she had bought for herself from the same fair years ago. It was made of glass but she was careful enough to have preserved the glass case for so many years. I don't know how it accidentally broke but it really was!" Shaurya gasped and halted just next to the last fence boundary.

Vihaan tightened his fists at his sides to avoid facing the embarrassment because he knew he was responsible for hurting her that night. His chest was already hurting from the inner pain he was experiencing and he uttered in a low voice, "I see. She never mentioned to me about it."

"You mustn't have tried to know what makes her happy or what she likes. How will she mention it to you when she has always been such an introvert since childhood? She doesn't express her pains to anyone easily," Shaurya uttered in his accusing voice.

"I have always tried to know but she keeps denying me," Vihaan muttered in a little raised tone, trying to hide the pain behind his voice.

"Do you know when I told her not to cry over the broken glass case as she had already found her real life Shah Jahan, she denied my words strongly. She said that she is herself the Shah Jahan who stays in the faraway fort to look over to the Taj Mahal day and night. If you remember history clearly, Shah Jahan used to feast his eyes on the monument from the Agra fort after he was imprisoned by his own son," Shaurya narrated while Vihaan managed to suppress himself from breaking down before his friend.

"I do remember it," Vihaan uttered quickly and turned to face the river, basking in the beautiful scenario of the Taj Mahal.

"Why did Vay say that she is the Shah Jahan who can only admire both the Taj Mahal and the moon behind it, which rises daily in the night sky? Why did she say that the shadow of the moon which casts daily on the surface of the Yamuna river is worth devouring from a distance? Why do I feel that she is unhappy with you but she doesn't want to tell me?" Shaurya held Vihaan's shoulders in close proximity.

"I really don't know, Shaurya. I will talk to her about it. All these days we were happy being together." Vihaan said, reminiscing the happier days that they had spent together after becoming special friends.

Impatience grew in Vihaan and he suddenly felt the urge to settle everything between him and Sanchi. Though he was upset with whatever she had done without informing him, he couldn't think of staying aloof from her for a long time.

Vihaan was very well aware of the fact that he was depressed and was also missing her. He promised to himself that the first thing he would do after he met her was to talk to her and make things better for once. He couldn't keep hurting either of them for uncountable number of days. Communicating with her was the best way he could think of, to end the indifference!

***** 

Arjun wasn't ready to believe Nidhi over the phone call and disconnected it in a haste. When Sanchi pinched his arm, he jumped on his feet. "Stop coaxing me to meet your rude sister. I know this is one of her plans to meet me again."

"If it's rea-lly a plan, you sho-uld back off. But what if my grand-mother really wants to me-et me? I also want to meet her," Sanchi said in a pleading voice. "Ple-ase Ar-jun, can't you do this for me?"

"What if we go there and find out that it was one of her childish acts to meet me?" Arjun raised his eyebrows.

"Then we both will ret-urn and you warn her not to call you ag-ain. You tell her that you hate lia-rs in your life. Un-less we know what the tru-th is, you sho-uld meet her. I mean we both sho-uld."

"I wish I can refuse her now itself because I already hate her. Can you tell me one good reason to meet her again? Your sister isn't fit for anyone."

Sanchi laughed. "You could-n't have said it if you were pre-sent that night when my mot-her was accu-sing me and treat-ing me like a rag."

"When did your mother do that? What did she do to you?" Arjun balled his fists in anger. "You are not supposed to hide such important things from the cops like us."

"Don't wo-rry Arjun, they could-n't do any-thing to me beca-use my sister was there like a shi-eld to protect me."

Arjun's jaw dropped in astonishment. "Who was your saviour!"

"Nidhi! She protect-ed me." Sanchi narrated the whole incident of the balcony to him.

"I hope you aren't lying to me." Arjun was dumbfounded.

"Do I have any-thing to gain by ly-ing to you? Give her a chan-ce, Arjun. Beli-eve her for once and if she bre-aks your trust this time with her lies, I pro-mise I will never for-ce you to meet her."

"Are you sure I should?"

"You are a cop and I can see you are al-ready scared of meet-ing a girl! Say-ings are true some-times, 'Only one girl is eno-ugh to wea-ken the tough-est man in the world.'" Sanchi winked, suppressing a laugh.

"Obviously yes, like the way you have weakened the most arrogant CBI officer of our bureau!" Arjun smirked, laughing aloud.

"Arjun!" Sanchi shot an annoyed glare at him while Arjun sighed in relief for having succeeded in making Sanchi smile that day.

***** 

Ten days had passed since then. Sanchi was already missing Vihaan and the 'once in a blue moon' scarce messages from Vihaan was already scaring her. She was praying every single day so that everything could pass without problems for him.

Nidhi hadn't lied to Arjun that day. In fact, Sanchi's grandmother had really expressed the urge to meet Sanchi. The old lady had told Nidhi that Sanchi was a nice girl and had taken great care of her at the Trivedi house. Nidhi had agreed to help her grandmother to secretly meet Sanchi because in the back of her mind, Nidhi knew it was also a chance for her to call and meet Arjun.

Sanchi met her grandmother at a nearby restaurant, keeping her face covered with a stole, while Arjun had to intolerably pass his time sitting at the table with them but opposite to Nidhi. 

It was surprising for Arjun to witness that Nidhi was behaving better with everyone, especially with Sanchi. Sanchi's grandmother told them that Nidhi was really trying to mend her ways because she was behaving the same even at home. She was trying to also find a job for herself instead of living on the money of her parents anymore.

Upon extreme pleadings by Sanchi's grandmother and also Sanchi, Arjun had agreed to search for a job for Nidhi. Just a day ago, Sanchi found out that Arjun had really kept his promise and found a trainer's job for Nidhi at a dance academy.

Nidhi was excelled in classical dances but had never thought of pursuing her career through her hidden talent, until she met Arjun. It was only Arjun who was helping Nidhi to realize her dreams in a better way instead of living the reckless life she had once given herself into. With Arjun's help, Nidhi was trying to rectify all her wrong ways of living and Sanchi was happy that their friendship was gradually growing into a stronger bond than ever.

Sanchi was sitting across the sofa in the hallway that evening when the doorbell rang. Her subconscious mind hovered to Vihaan's return and she sprinted her way to open the door. But to add to her distress, it wasn't Vihaan but Vidya standing at the doorway, with her luggage.

"Vidya!" Sanchi dropped her jaw in disappointment.

"Aren't you happy that I returned?" Vidya made her way inside the house while Sanchi waited at the door for a couple of minutes.

"Where's Dhee-raj bro?" Sanchi asked at last.

"He left for Agra after dropping me at the Goa airport." Vidya placed her luggage aside and took a seat on the sofa. "It was a hectic journey and that too travelling all alone!"

Sanchi walked over to Vidya. "Why did he go to Agra? Is every-thing alright with Viha-an there, I mean?"

"I don't know how things are but there must be some sort of tensions. Don't you know even Virendra dad has left for Agra in the morning?" Vidya asked casually while Sanchi widened her eyes.

"I just return-ed from the bureau. I don't kn-ow at all and even maa did-n't tell me. It's sca-ring me, Vidya."

"You should learn to understand their duties, Vanya."

Durga strode towards them, using her walking stick. "Why are you scaring the poor girl, Vidya? Sanchi is really tensed for so many days and you disclosed it to her. I wasn't supposed to inform her of Vir's leaving like this."

"But she has to learn to face it when she has chosen to become the wife of a cop. I am trying to make her strong, mom."

"I know you are but look at her face. She looks horribly devastated." Durga pointed her finger at a perturbed Sanchi.

Vidya clutched Sanchi's wrist. "Stop worrying now, they will be alright. They are already trained to face similar situations daily."

Sanchi jerked backwards and yelled, "How cou-ld you be so relax-ed, Vidya, when you kn-ow that they are there for some danger-ous expedi-tion? Aren't you get-ting worried even for Dhee-raj bro?"

Durga moved towards Sanchi to console her while Vidya passed a quick smile before uttering, "You are getting worried unnecessarily, Vanya. They are cops and well-trained, even Dheeraj had gone on many cases before. Mom and I, we both are not worried much but yes, I will be missing him till he is back home. Keep yourself strong, girl."

Rubbing her palms together, Sanchi closed her eyes. Besides missing Vihaan, she was growing extremely impatient this time. Though she had wished him for a successful journey, yet her heart was aching for different reasons.

It was the past ten days that Sanchi had spent worrying for him, many often lying awake on bed at night. But it was only for the past two days that he hadn't sent a text to her at all. Her worries were increasing considerably even though she knew how valiant Vihaan was, who could handle any tough situation easily.

For the next three days, there were no news from either Dheeraj, Vihaan or Virendra. Sanchi also contacted the control room at the bureau to extract any sort of information from them but they had no clues. Worries were overtaking her as the three women sat across the hallway to spend time together.

While Vidya and Durga were busy discussing on the honeymoon trip, Sanchi chose to remain quiet and aloof. A few minutes later, the doorbell to their mansion rang and Sanchi instantly rushed to open it. Behind the door stood Shaurya and Virendra, with their heads drooping lower than normal. The devastated faces and the dilapidated clothes of theirs shuddered Sanchi.

Screaming on top of her voice, Sanchi muttered, "What is Shay do-ing with you, papa? You we-nt to Agra right? Where is Vih-aan and..."

Durga trudged over to Virendra and stood facing him. "I've never seen you so devastated with your head held low whenever you had gone on missions earlier. Will you tell me what worse could have really happened this time? Where are my sons?"

Virendra simply shook his head while Sanchi turned to Shaurya. "Tell me, Shay. Your silen-ce is kill-ing me, ple-ase."

When Shaurya didn't answer, Durga shook Virendra, shouting aloud. "Will you tell me? Where are my sons?"

Vidya stepped forward this time. "Where is Dheeraj, dad? Why are you not answering? Shay?"

Virendra finally broke down before them, wiping the little tears encircling his eyes. "A brother has killed an another brother today."

The ground beneath Durga erupted, with her knees trembling rigorously. With an enormous effort and trying to contain the emerging tears within her, she squeaked, "Who died?"

Virendra glanced over to Vidya before muttering feebly, "Dh..Dhee..raj."

"Dheeraj?" Durga enquired lifelessly.

Virendra nodded with guilt and extreme pain in his eyes. "Yes, Dheeraj. Vihaan shot him dead on the spot!"

To be continued...

A/N: So the twist is finally here!

I am literally busy these days but still trying to update on time. Don't forget to vote and comment with your thoughtful views on this chapter.. Xoxo :)

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