Dear Ishqbaazian,
Happy New year.
Thank you very much for liking my previous two chapters. I hope you would enjoy chapter three as well. Please leave your honest feedback below.
With love,
Aqua ❤
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House of the Detective:
A petite, dancer-framed female in her mid 20s, comes into the room with a perfect poise. Her features resembled that of an Arabian princess, found in many children story books: elongated face, almond shaped enchanted honey-brown eyes, lined with dark ashen shimmering khols, with a sun-kissed complexion and dusk-rosy lips.
She wore a fitted peacock green silk top, a pair of well-tailored black dress trouser pants, with cherry-red stiletto heels, and her wavy hair pulled back into a sleek high pony-tail…
She radiated an aroma of a kiss of the early morning sun on the face of the waking earth.
She held her hand forward to Soumya and Rudra while apologetically she said, “sorry for keeping you waiting, I had an important phone call to attend”.
Just as she asked them to keep seated her eyes snaked up to the masculine figure, standing facing the wall, which hung her favorite painting: Two sisters on a Terrace by Renoir. She examined him through her detective eyes:
Quite tall, 6’1,
Medium built 80 kg,
Mid 20s to 30s,
pitch-black wavy hair touching his shoulders.
Wearing egg shell-white jacket with sleeves tucked to his forearm; peeking through the jacket, sleeves of his granite colored t-shirt.
Dressed in baggy blue jeans folded above his ankle and paired with chocolate-mousse leather loafers with black ankle socks.
In utter disbelieve, the figure reminded her of a soul she would never forget.
As Om was turning toward the source of the voice, his heart was drumming faster…Lub Dub Lub Dub Lub Dub… it was beating in the familiar rhythm and frequency after an ages…not since he last saw her… Om desperately prayed for the voice to not belong to her.
Like many times in his life, he was again proven wrong—it is indeed Her! The voice belongs to Ishana, the Detective.
The blinding golden rays of light coming from the large window obscured Om’s face momentarily, as he moved towards the center of the room… Ishana saw the FACE!
The face she would never forget nor will she ever let herself to forget. It was engraved forever in her heart and gyri and sulci of her brain. That face belong to the very soul, who has the ability to both dismantle her and pull her into a whole, all on a same instances.
Ishana muttered : Om-Karaaa? (Even, the sound of the name itself spread peace and serenity throughout her heart like the soothing waves hugging the seashore.)
Om frowning his eyes, marches towards the main door, and out of the house–back of his hand slightly grazes the tips of her delicate fingers.
Rudra rushes after Om… Confused Soumya, excuses herself as she follows them out of the house, toward their parked car.
Giant nimbostratus cloud of wrath began to build up inside Om…he felt, pain, hatred, rage all at once and he felt the need to release them all!
Thus, the rock sitting quietly in front of his feet on the ground became the victim of his wrath, and landed few meters away into a ditch with a Clunk.
Rudra tried to calm his peace-loving brother from the Hulk that he became.
While Soumya stood speechless at the sight of heated Om.
Rudra said: O please clam down
Om replied: I do not want to stay here another minute! Get in the car!
Soumya: Bhaia? Are you O.K?
Om: WHAT! NO! I am not O.K. I will not stay here another min! I HATE Liars!” he got into the car and slamming the car door shut.
Sensing a frightened Soumo, Rudra protectively explained: “Don’t mind O. He was in an intimate relationship with Ishana, the detective…long story short it did not end well.”
Realizing an old wound that has cracked open in the heart of her Bade Balwale Bhaia, Soumya went over to him and she said with a sobbing voice:
“Bhaia, I am very sorry. I did not know about you and her. Had I known, I would have never brought you here. Please forgive me”.
She continued, “Bhaia, we have come this far for Bade bhaia and Anika Di. From what I heard from my friends, Ishana is a very good detective. You and she might have a past, but right now we have no other option than to take her help since both Mrs. Kapoor and Tia are pressurizing Bade Bhaia to divorce Anika di. Time is running out”
Soumya pleaded “Please bhaia, please… for my sake, for our Shivay bhaia’s and Anika di’s sake, let’s just talk to her for what we came here for. And if we find she isn’t equipped to help us, then we will leave at that very moment. I promise.”
Composing his emotions, Om understood Soumya’s reasoning and came out of the car and said: “Alright, I will give her a chance to help us”.
Elated Rudra and Soumya gave him a squeezing grizzly bear hug, which turned his frowned face into a subtle smile…
Ishana witnessed them through the big window, facing the front yard. She could not make sense of the words, other than “I HATE Liars!” A crystalline tear formed in the corner of her eyes and made it way down her rosy cheeks.
Ishana thought, he still hates her, even after all these years… she cannot complain…in fact, she too hates herself for what she had done to him, but she was compelled.. truth is a luxury which the affluent society can afford… one must put on a face over a face to survive this dog-eat-dog world.
Of all the lies she had told him, only one was true and pure from her heart… when she said those magical words, “I Love You, Omkara”. The same love still burns warm and bright in her heart, like it did then and it will forever, even the death cannot put out that flame of love for her Omkara.
Ishana’s sister/secretary, Mona, handed her a tissue and softly said “Di, they are coming back. Please, get a grip of yourself.”
Soumya entered the same sitting area, followed by Rudra and lastly Om. The trio sat down, but Om took a seat near the window and stared out towards the swirls of purple, ruby-orange and golden hues of the setting sun as Rudra and Soumya discussed the matters with Ishana and Mona.
Ishana, attentively listened to the duo, in between stealing glances at the love of her life. Of all the pain, which she had suffered, oddly enough, she felt very happy to be in the same room with him…her OMkara.
After much discussion, Ishana assured them, the problem was something she has the capability to solve. She also applauded Soumya for her ideas about going through the CCTV footages. With that in mind, Ishana declared that all of them should head to the city to start working on the mission: Tia’s Exposure.
Ishana asked if she and her sister can hitch a ride with them to the city, because earliest bus to the city was next morning. Soumya and Rudra elated at the prospect of the mission Tia’s Exposure, Rudra replied with enthusiasm:”five of us can easily fit into the SUV”
Winking at SOumya “even though Soumo take more space”
Soumya giving Rudra a death-shot glare said “Shud up Rudra! Ishana Di, please pack whatever you need to for the ride, Protien Shake here can carry them all even if there isn’t any space, he can carry them on his head.”
By the time all five of them with their bags and detective equipment settled into the SUV, the sun had already set beneath the horizon.
Rudra offered to drive, thinking Om should rest, after such an emotional day. The girls, sat in the back in the order from right to left: Soumya, Mona, and Ishana. Ishana took a seat directly behind Om.
And thus they began their night journey toward the city, with a mission to expose Tia.
In spite of being a moonless night, there were lights…the sky was adorned by glittering stars, and lights crept through the dark woods from the distant residential area…It was a beautiful sight. Om always admired the country sky. His best memories of his childhood with his brothers were in their farm house. As a child, he would look forward each year to return to it. As they grew up, they had other priorities in life that prevented their annual visit to the farmhouse. In fact, he could not remember when they last been there. Maybe, when Rudra was still in high school.
Om thought, the true beauty of the night is unveiled in the countryside…away from the chaos and cluttering of the artificial neon city lights.
Sliding down the car window, Om let the cool sweet musk from the woods to find its way into the car.
Om’s mind was wondering freely into the night-sky…then it halted as his eyes caught the reflection on the side-mirror. Those same intense enchanting almond shaped eyes. As much as he wanted to look away, his heart gave in and stared at them… that beautiful, deceitful face… which with all the colors and hues in his palate cannot be captured in his canvas. He hated and he loved that face equally.
When she had left him, he realized that his love for her was greater than his hatred. Her absence caused him more pain than her deceit.
Ishana finished jotting down in a notebook of the list of things to get in the city of her investigation.
She scrolled down the window looked out to get a breath of fresh air…until her eyes too, like Om, paused at the side-mirror.
It was for the first time today, they looked into each other’s soul. The side-mirror, like a time-portal, whirled them back to the day their lives collided… the day, which changed everything… very much like the beginning of the existence of the Universe…their universe.