CHAPTER 12: It still hurts
Ishana was walking inside the hotel…. She was busy checking something in her bag as she was walking ahead…. Abir had called her half an hour ago and told her to come to the hotel…. Abir and team were going to question the family and if she wanted some first-hand information she could come…. He had already asked Ranveer to allow Ishana to be present there…. Ranveer had also known her for quite a long time and knew her intentions very well so he had allowed her without much convincing…. She was so engrossed in searching her bag that she did not pay attention to the person coming from the other side…. Before she could realize that there was someone coming in her direction she bumped into the person in front of her…. The person held her hand preventing her from falling down…. She looked at the person shocked by the sudden collision…. They looked at each other…. Ishana smiled seeing him…. He also smiled back….
Abir: Madam, aaram se, itni bhi kya jaldi hai?
Ishana: What do I tell you, I thought I will get late and I don’t want to make that DCP of yours to look at me irritated?
Abir started laughing hearing Ishana talking about Ranveer while she made faces…. She was right Ranveer hated disturbances when he was working especially someone walking in late…. He was very particular with this rule of his…. Ishana lightly slapped Abir’s shoulder to stop him from laughing….
Ishana: Stop laughing and tell me that I am not late.
Abir: Well you are late but you are also lucky, Veer is busy on a call so he hasn’t actually started with the questioning, so you got saved from his anger and cold behavior.
Ishana: Thank God, I can face anything but not the cold behavior of your Veer.
Abir: I think you should go in before he finishes his call. They are in the banquet hall towards the left. I’ll come after a few minutes.
Ishana nodded and turned to go towards the direction Abir had instructed her…. She was about to go when she felt a hold on her hand and turned to look back…. She was surprised to see Abir holding her hand…. She looked at him and saw him looking somewhere else…. She followed his gaze and saw him staring at a girl…. The girl was standing at a distance and was looking at Abir…. Ishana was confused seeing the entire scene not understanding what to do…. She was about to say something to Abir but he looked at her….
Abir: Ishu, I’ll accompany you, I do not want to you to get lost in this hotel.
Ishana was finding it hard to understand why he was behaving like this…. She looked back at the girl and found her still looking at Abir…. There was definitely something between Abir and that girl…. But why was he behaving like this…. Ishana could feel something different with his behavior…. He was not the Abir she had known for so long…. But before she could understand the situation or ask him anything he dragged her with him…. She had no other option than to let him take her….
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Mishti felt something piercing her heart…. She was coming back after finishing some formalities at the hotel reception when she saw Abir with some girl…. He looked at her and then held the girl’s hand…. The girl looked at him and then he told her something and walked away with her…. Seeing Abir with someone else was breaking everything inside her…. So Abir had moved on…. He had left her hand and held someone else’s hand…. She was no longer in his life, he had given her place to someone else…. Abir and his changed behavior were hurting her…. Tears collected in Mishti’s eyes but she controlled them…. She composed herself and brushed away all the unwanted thoughts…. She walked towards the hall where everyone was waiting….
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Another pair of eyes had witnessed the entire scene…. Om had got a call and excused himself as Ranveer was also busy…. He had walked out from the hall and was walking towards the lawn when he saw Ishana coming inside…. He was talking on the phone but all his attention was on her…. She was not looking ahead and was walking…. He saw Abir coming towards her…. Om wanted to alert her but before he could do anything she had bumped into Abir…. He shook his head at the girl and her antics…. He could not hear their talks but seeing Abir laughing and she smiling at him, Om felt something in his heart…. He did not understand why he was affected by this…. He had learnt that they were friends and had known each other from a long time…. Then why was he getting affected by them…. Om was not paying any attention to the person on call and was only looking at Abir and Ishana…. When he saw Abir holding Ishana’s hand, Om felt something and did not want to see that…. He saw how Abir took her away…. Were they only friends or was there something more between them…. Om suddenly realized what he was thinking…. Why was he thinking all this…. It is their life, their choice…. He brushed away the other thoughts and got back to his call….
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Abir and Ishana entered the hall and all eyes turned to them…. All were looking at them surprised especially Ranveer when he saw Abir holding Ishana’s hand…. Behind them Mishti also entered and Ranveer understood what Abir must have done…. Why was Abir doing all this, Ranveer thought…. Ishana saw everyone looking at them; she felt a little embarrassed and took her hand out of Abir’s hold…. Abir also felt a little awkward and walked to the other side and stood beside Ranveer…. Ranveer gave him an angry glare but Abir ignored him at the moment…. Mishti looked at Ishana with a sad look, Ishana did not understand her look…. Mishti also walked to the other side and stood a little away…. There was some minutes of silence…. Ishana looked around and saw a few new faces, she immediately recognized Anika and they passed a smile to each other…. No one was getting what to say….
Ranveer: Now that everyone is here, let us start with the questions.
All nodded and Ishana stood a little away from the door and took her pen and notepad…. Omkara who had been outside entered the room…. All looked at him…. He saw Ishana, she passed a small smile but he just looked away…. She was surprised at first but then thought that this was his attitude…. Om did not bother to look at anyone and took a seat with Shivaay and Rudra…. Ranveer did not like the late comer but ignored the fact…. He knew he had to have a lot of patience while dealing with the Oberois….
Abir: I think now no one is left, Veer let us start.
Ranveer: So, we have send Tia’s body for postmortem and the reports will come tomorrow, so we have to wait till then to get more clarity about the case.
Shivaay: If there is time for the reports to come, why have you called us here, tell us when the reports come.
The “Shivaay Singh Oberoi and his interference”…. Ranveer wanted to answer back but Abir signed him to keep calm…. Ranbir passed a knowing smile…. Anika was looking as if she knew that nothing could happen of him…. Oberois and Kapoors who knew him well were not at all bothered…. Om did not like Shivaay’s behavior but kept quiet…. Ishana wished that Ranveer shut Shivaay’s mouth…. Gauri and Soumya just looked at each other…. Mishti who did not understand why no one said anything and decided to speak herself….
Mishti: Mr. Oberoi, we are here for further investigation and we expect you to cooperate and let Ranveer Sir finish what he is saying.
Shivaay wanted to answer back to her but Rudra stopped him and Shivaay kept quiet…. Only his brothers were the ones whom he would listen to without much arguments….
Ranveer: Yes, Mr. Oberoi, let me complete what I am saying, you’ll also get a chance to speak. So, as I was saying, there is time for reports to come, we thought to get some other information from you all.
Tej: What information you want from us?
Abir: Some information related to Tia.
Ranveer: We need to know about her if we have to find the person who killed her, did she have any enmity with anyone or some business rival, do you have anyone in your minds, anyone you have any doubts about?
Romi: Di was not a person to have any enemies; she was always away from controversies, arguments or fights.
Janhvi: Romi is right; Tia was not a person to have enemies. She was always sweet and kind with everyone.
Mishti: But someone has killed her that means someone had some motive behind this, if not her, then maybe from Shivaay Sir or the Kapoors.
Ranveer: Mishti is right, maybe the killer had no direct enmity with Tia but maybe with Oberois or Kapoors, maybe he killed Tia to take revenge from you all.
Shivaay: I don’t think that it is a revenge plan; if it had to be for the Oberois, the killer would have attacked a member of our family, why kill Tia?
Anika: Shivaay is right, if the revenge was to be taken from Oberois, they would have attacked their family member. If Tia is killed, maybe it is to do with the Kapoors.
Shivaay looked at Anika in disbelief and anger…. He was trying to divert the attention from the families and she was increasing the doubt in Ranveer’s mind…. If even one person got the slightest doubt and tried to find any relation of Kapoors and their enemies, his family could get in trouble…. He could not let this happen…. Anika was noticing the changed expressions of Shivaay and she knew she had hit the right chord…. She knew she was taking a risk by throwing light on Kapoors but she had to do it…. She needed Shivaay to tell her everything…. She knew some things but only Shivaay could tell her the entire truth…. This was necessary for the case…. Shivaay could not hide facts from her….
Abir: You have a point Ms. Raichand; maybe it has to do with the Kapoors.
Mrs. Kapoor: I don’t think so; we do not have any enmity with anyone.
Ranveer: Do not be so sure, maybe you have made an enemy unknowingly.
Mishti: It is quite possible, many a times we do not understand the consequences of our actions, knowingly or unknowingly we do things that hurt others in ways we cannot even think about.
Mishti said all this while looking at Abir…. Abir did not look at her but even he understood that the words were not only meant for Mrs. Kapoor…. Ishana and Ranveer also understood this as they saw Mishti looking at Abir and him ignoring her….
Anika also turned to Shivaay hearing the Mishti’s words…. Shivaay could feel someone’s gaze on him and looked around to see Anika looking at him…. He felt something in him as he could see that she was also relating their situation to Mishti’s words…. He however did not find any relation and turned to look at his family…. Anika felt hurt and looked the other side…. All this was noticed by Ranbir and Prachi and they were confused and surprised….
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