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EPEISODE 7: LUCKY
ISHU’S PERSPECTIVE
“Hey di! Where have you been all day?” Saumya asked me as soon as I entered my room.
“I had gone to the academy. Everyone was needlessly worried about me, so I had to go and assure them. Lucky for me, cause I even got a new phone!” I chirped, flaunting my shiny new mobile gifted by all my team mates. I had lost my older phone while getting beat up by that thug! And they were really worried because they couldn’t reach me. I smiled brightly remembering all the fun moments from the academy.
“It’s so nice! We just thought we’d give you company since you’re all alone at the 2nd floor”, Priyanka explained.
“That’s so sweet of you!” I replied. We chatted for a while and then went down to grab a snack.
When I was coming back to my room, I got a little confused on the first floor and silly as it sounds, I lost my way. I ended up near Tej uncle’s study when I heard a heated argument going on inside. I didn’t want to eavesdrop on their conversation, but it sounded really interesting. I hid myself in a corner and listened intently.
“Shakti, please! Don’t interfere in my personal matters. Whether I keep her notes or not, whether I back her or not; it is none of your concern. You might want to pay more attention to the meetings you have lined up tomorrow. On your insistence, I have handed over the file to you. You better not disappoint me. And let me handle this one.” Tej uncle’s voice was agitated a little. “What notes is he talking about?” I wondered. “Insistence!” Shakti uncle scoffed and everything was quiet for a long moment before he spoke again.
“Bhaisahab, if she comes to know about it… I don’t think she’ll take it well. It’s better to eliminate her than create more problems for ourselves”, Shakti uncle replied. I noticed how his voice shook before, but he seemed fine by the end. Tej uncle must have asked him to back off for quite a few times already, because this time he raised his voice a notch threateningly. “Stay out of this. It’s none of your business.” There was silence for some time and I figured it was my cue to leave. I walked backwards to avoid any chance of them knowing my presence during their suspicious conversation. But no one appeared and I was able to slip away unnoticed.
Once I was safe within the confines of my room, I sat down on the edge of the bed. My head hurt but I ignored it stubbornly. For a close-knit family such as this one, there seemed to be too many secrets floating around within the family itself. For some reason, that conversation bugged me to no end. I couldn’t turn my head away from the possibility that they were considering killing someone! “Why should it matter to me what is going on in their heads?” I asked myself. There were lots of people in this world who wanted to harm others in one or the other way. I wasn’t eavesdropping on them or trying to figure out its cause. I didn’t even give a damn about the imperfections of the world! Then why was this happening now? I held my head with both my hands and decided that it would do me good to get some fresh air. I walked out to the balcony and the view below was more than beautiful. Like a miracle, my headache vanished and a smile crept up to my lips.
In the dim twilight reflected from the pool, the three brothers were laughing over some joke. Each one had a different beverage in hand; juice for Rudra, espresso for Shivaay and tea for Omkara. Shivaay was making faces and it looked like he was mimicking Rudra’s antics. Om laughed all along, his hair shaking gently with the motion. Rudra called him out on having fun in other’s grief. He proceeded to demonstrate how ‘his O’ would have encouraged him to not lose hope and go out and party more in his typical poetic style. He made a serious face and said something. His childish nature and serious face didn’t go well with the perfect cut of his jawline, shabbily done hair and twinkling eyes. He finished his long monologue and flipped his imaginary hair. I was two floors above them, but I still heard the laughter that followed and Om reached out to hit him lightly on a cheek.
Shivaay protected his little ‘crybaby’ brother and Om acted out what he knew Shivaay would say next. He even did the hair thing Shivaay did at times and it looked so perfect! I was so engrossed in watching them that I got a shock when Om’s eyes met mine as he looked up. The other two also looked up following the direction of his eyes and I literally felt the happy smile be replaced with an apologetic grin. “Sorry!” I mouthed and hoped that they wouldn’t be mad at me for intruding in their personal time. Rudra seemed totally cool with it and Shivaay just gave me a blank expression, probably torn between embarrassment and irritation. Om was back to his polite self as he simply shook his head a little. I signaled that I was going back in with my thumb and went in quietly. I felt so bad for breaking the moment, but they made me miss my family more than anything else.
I had become better at staying aloof from people in these two years, running away from everyone who was close to me whenever I felt myself caring for them a little too much for my comfort. But the wall that I had built around me meticulously seemed to crumble now. I suddenly realized how my life had changed since my meeting with the Oberois! So many weird things were happening with me nowadays. “I have to leave as soon as possible”, I decided.
SHIVAAY’S PERSPECTIVE
I didn’t know how to react to Ishu watching us from far. Since there weren’t so many guests at our place who lived at the second floor, we had become comfortable with this poolside as our hang out point. We had never even thought of how it would be if someone was actually living there! But she had left as soon as we saw her and I didn’t suspect her to have been standing there for too long, so we were good. Om was lost somewhere again and I shook him a little to bring him back to our world. Rudra again began talking about Ishu and how brave she was. Om thoughtfully said, “Shivaay, what do you think about her? Have you ever thought about their uncanny resemblance?”
“What are you talking about? Whose uncanny resemblance?” I questioned him. He must have broken off mid-thought or something, continuing from where his mind left off. Now that he realized that we weren’t aware of the ways of his mind, he elaborated. “Ishu and Ishana. It’s been worrying me for a while. What could be the reason for such a similarity in their features? Is there a chance that they could be blood-related or something?”
My genius grey matter kicked in at the mystery. “What makes you think it isn’t Ishana herself?” I asked. That threw him for a moment. Clearly, he hadn’t thought of this and I rushed to explain my point before he started thinking negatively. “I mean, she could’ve simply lost her memory or something because of which she doesn’t remember us. That’s a possibility as well, right?” Rudra was quietly contemplating this option too. A furrow formed between his brows and I knew he was thinking of the likelihood of her feigning memory loss as well. He didn’t say anything either, behaving maturely this time. Om was thinking of this new prospect and for some reason, he didn’t seem convinced.
“What’s your theory?” I asked eagerly. He looked up with a weird look in his eyes. “I had considered this too, but no matter how I see it, it doesn’t sound right. There are lots of dissimilarities between them too, but that’s not all. You remember Ishana also had a father. He was a little round figured and half-bald too. Remember?” he asked us. We nodded at him waiting for him to continue. “If she did lose her memory, why didn’t he find her yet? And how come Anika doesn’t know about it since she’s her friend? Unless she’s feigning a memory loss! But she never mentioned anything like an accident, and there was nothing from the hospital either. It seems highly unlikely to me”, he reasoned.
He did have a point. There were many glitches in my option. I considered his possible explanation now. They could just be twins as well, but there was no way to know that. I voiced my concern and Rudra said, “Bhaiya, why fear, when Rudy is here? Agent Rudra 000 will find out the hidden truth behind Ishu didi!” Before he could self-employ himself on following her around, I intervened. “No need Rudra. There’s another method we can try this time”, I said. The plan had started working itself out in my mind. It wasn’t much of a plan but it would be enough to get to the truth.
I swept my hair partly in my trademark style and excitedly thought to myself that at least one of the mysteries was about to be solved now! I looked at the confused face of Rudra and meaningful look of Om and held out my hand for them. They didn’t know what I was planning but they still put their hand in mine. Their trust in me was clear in their dark eyes and the confident nod of their heads. “Let’s do this!” we said together.
Hello everyone 🙂 I have updated it sooner than I thought! Also, sorry for not being able to comment on all the amazing ffs I read. And another sorry for not including a sneak peek, but don’t forget to leave your comments because of your anger 😉
Keep smiling guys 🙂