The Next Day 

Author's POV

During Meera's Vidai, she spotted Danish Khan, one of the most notorious criminals out there. He was involved in all sorts of illicit activities, from gambling to human trafficking, cold-blooded murder to funding terrorists. The guy had his face wrapped in a scarf, but his eyes... those cold, calculating eyes. She could recognise them anywhere, even if she were blindfolded. She'd been studying him and plotting to bring him down for far too long.. As she saw him, she immediately started observing his moments. She entered the lift with him and put fifteenth floor, the last floor just as to know the floor at where the room of the man was. As she saw the man entering fourth floor, she knew she had to have on access to his room. As the lift stopped, the man came out of the lift. Aradhna wanted him to go to his room before the lift stopped but the man was too smart. He only made any movement when he was sure that no one was around. As Aradhna reached fifteenth floor, she called her boss.

"Sir, Danish Khan, Obroi Hotel, fourth floor." She said as soon as her boss picked up the call.

The name Danish Khan was enough to make his blood boil.But he remained composed.

"Keep a close eye on him. I want to know every detail – from the air he breathes to the water he drinks to his next target. Everything."

"I am giving yo access to the footage of the hotel. I want him alive in front of me in the headquarters." He said

"Sir you'll either get him alive or my dead body in the next week."

"Aradhna Kapoor, you're not allowed to die on me. We've got a slew of enemies left to protect this country from. That's an order," he asserted."Jai Hind Sir."

"Jai Hind Officer."  

After the phone call, Aradhna headed to her room and fired up her laptop. Almost instantly, a message popped up granting her access to the CCTV recordings for the fourth floor.

She combed through the footage and noticed that Danish Khan had checked into room 408 at noon and didn't leave until 9 PM. During his stay, he'd rung up room service multiple times, ordering who knows what.

She changed her clothes and went to the reception area. She was observing if there is any unusual activity going around. As she was seated at the reception, she saw that the receptionist who was seated at the time of Khan's check in was entering. She approached her before she could enter the lobby.

"Hi, I'm Priya Gupta, Senior Officer from the Crime Branch," I said, flashing my fake ID, one of those nifty little things we're equipped with for situations like this.

"Uh, good morning, ma'am. Is there anything I can assist you with?" she asked, sounding a bit jittery.

"Yes, you checked in a man into room 408 earlier. Did anything strike you as odd about him?" I inquired.

She hesitated for a moment, deep in thought, before answering, "Well, yeah. He had this scarf covering his face, and he only took it off briefly to confirm his ID. Plus, he seemed really insistent on getting room 408, for some reason."

"Anything else?" I prodded.

"No," she replied.

I leaned in closer and whispered, "This conversation never happened, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," she stammered and quickly retreated.

"Room 408, why?" I thought

I went back to my room and opened the CCTV recording there was no movement. I packed my bags, left it in my parent's car and was looking at the CCTV for any movement.

When I reached the headquarters, I continued monitoring the CCTV. Finally, the door to room 408 opened. The man stepped out and headed towards the elevator. I immediately switched to the lift camera and saw him busily typing away on his phone. He got off on the parking floor, and I knew I had to find a way to get into his room before he returned.

That's when Abhay, a fellow RAW agent whom I frequently teamed up with, joined me for the mission. We had a plan. Abhay posed as a housekeeping staff and entered the man's room. We both knew we might not find anything significant in there, but our primary goal was to install hidden cameras and microphones to gather as much intel as possible.

We both were waiting for Khan to enter the room. He finally did. He got into the room and called someone, once the other person answered his call, All he said was, "Eid ki dawat kal shaam 9 baje."

That single sentence was enough to send alarm bells ringing in our heads. It was clear they were planning something significant. I instructed Abhay to keep a close watch on Khan and immediately updated my boss.

Meanwhile, our colleagues in the field were on high alert, checking for any unusual activities across Delhi. There was a heightened sense of security around the Jama Masjid and the Metro stations. But the mystery surrounding room 408 continued to gnaw at me.

I kept looking at all the cases and reading them to look for any pattern. It was already 3 in the afternoon on the day of whatever they were planning, and we had just six hours left with no clear idea of their intentions. The pressure was mounting.

While going through the cases, I got to know they always had a pattern, they always have three numbers they focus on the first is the number of attacks, the second is the type of attack and the third is location of the attack. 

I knew it for a fact that the number was 408. 

It seemed like 4 attacks were planned, and the 0 indicated bombs. But the tricky part was the 8; it had to be the location.

As the clock ticked closer to the deadline, it was already six in the evening, and I was running out of time. I frantically called up other agents, instructing them to check places like Metro Station 8, the eighth metro train, that street near Jama Masjid with an '8' somewhere, and lastly... well, I was still trying to crack the last piece of the puzzle. The pressure was real, and I could feel the weight of the city's safety on my shoulders. 

She filled her boss in on the latest developments and got a call from the bomb squad informing her they'd identified bombs at three locations. It was already 8 PM, and the pressure was mounting. She still didn't have the third location figured out, and time was running out.

 She knew Abhay and her had to confront Khan. They wasted no time and headed straight to his room, using the master key to gain entry. Khan seemed ready to leave for some sinister mission, but he didn't realize that they were onto him.

The moment Khan laid eyes on me, he gave me a smirk, taunting me about being a RAW agent. But what he didn't know was that I had unraveled the mystery of room 408.

And his face lost all the colour. He was dumbstruck. As a reflex he took out his gun and pointed it straight at Aradhna. 

Aradhna just smirked and said,"Not so soon Khan."

Before he could react, she had disarmed him and injected a drug that would keep him incapacitated for a few hours.

As Khan writhed in pain, his phone rang. she answered it, and the voice on the other end said, "Only shop number 8."

Aradhna immediately called her team while taking Khan out of the hotel using Abhay's help.

She directed her team to investigate shop number 8. While the other bombs had been safely diffused, it was 8:59, and she was anxiously awaiting further updates at our headquarters..

"You did great officer, all four locations are safe." Came the voice from the other side.

Aradhna sighed in relief.

"Sir Khan is at headquarters."

"You may leave, will be notified as soon as he wakes up." Told her boss

"Jai Hind Sir."

"Jai Hind Officer"

I headed back home, and when I arrived, I found Monster and Ram bhai in the garden, engaged in a deep conversation.

Monster wasted no time and asked, "Where were you the entire day?"

"Wait till you hear the news," I replied. 

Ram bhai quickly pulled up the news on his phone, and the first thing we saw was that Danish Khan had finally been nabbed, and the planned bomb attack had been foiled, all thanks to RAW.

Both of them had proud look and hugged me tightly.

Monster broke the hug and asked," Are you alright? You are not injured right?"

I smiled, no matter how much we fight, he always cares for me.

"I am absolutely fine, I can't say the same about Khan though."I said

We all shared a laugh when all of a sudden Mumma came and said," Now that you have saved the world, go inside and meet your future husband."

I looked at her horrified and asked," My What?"

"Your Future husband." Maa said

"But I don't want to get married." I said

"Aradhana Kapoor, he is a nice guy and you are going to meet him and give him a chance." Maa said

I sighed and walked in. 

As I saw the person sitting in my living room, I was shocked.

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The Same Day, A few hours back

Abhimaan's POV

It is the next morning after Meera's weeding. We are all having breakfast but my Jaan is no where to be seen. Her family is here. As I was looking for her, I saw Maa talking to her mother and I couldn't help but feel anxious. Maa happily chatted with her for around 15-20 minutes.

As she came towards our table, I asked, "Maa, what were you talking to her?"

She gave me a look and said,"Why do you care?"

"Maa tell me na, did you talk to her about me and Ja- I mean Aradhna."

"Why would she talk about you and that pure soul Aradhna? Weren't you the one who was adamant on not getting married?" Said my dad.

"Papa yaar" I. whined

He chuckled

"Yes, I did talk to her about you and Aru." Maa said

"And?" I asked

"And she said that she would rather marry her daughter off to me" Kabir said

I glared at him and looked back at Maa.

"She has invited us for dinner today." Maa said

I was feeling a hundred different emotions all together but the most important one was, I was gonna go and meet her.

Time Skip

Evening

It was 8:30 and I was standing outside her home and my hand was all sweaty. I had no idea how she would react. As papa ringed the bell. A man opened the door and we entered, her family was waiting for us. As we went inside and got seated my eyes were searching for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Aru had an u urgent meeting, that is why she had to leave." Her bhabhi answered my unasked question.

As the elders were talking, I was interrogated by her brothers. It was the fir time that I, Abhimaan Singhania was being interrogated. Although I knew from where they were coming. I it was Ayesha who was getting married, I would have done the same.

After they were done interrogating me, they went outside. I was keenly listening to what everyone around was saying when papa asked," What does Aru do?"

To which her father replied,"She works for the Government Of India along with some Ministers."

To which we all nodded.

As we were talking the door flew open and there was my Jaan. She had a shocked expression as soon as she saw me and I could't help but smile at her.

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