"Hello?"
'Kahan h tu?'
"Ghar pe. Kyu?"
The call ended and Daya stood there hearing the beeps with his narrowed eyebrows. The caller, Rishi, was sounding a little hurried and agitated. Wait what? Did he really sound agitated?
Thrash! And within a few more minutes, the door thrashed open. Rishi entered inside hurriedly and forcefully placed some papers in his hands. Daya couldn't really help but to read what the paper stated.
'The Airlines Company' written at the top was all he could read before his eyes widened and he threw a shocked and questioning glance at Rishi.
"Yeh.. tu.. Yeh kya mazak h Rishi? Tu.. tu pagal ho gya h kya?" Daya almost shouted in the end. The anger, the emotions, everything that his heart was hiding since long, came out when he exploded.
"Tu.. tu use mujhse door le jayega haan? Te- teri himmat kese huyi esa faisla lene ki? Pagal ho gya h kya tu?" Daya grabbed his collar rashly.
"Nhi.. mai nhi hua pagal. Lekin kuch dino mei voh zarur pagal ho jayegi." Rishi replied looking fearlessly in his eyes while trying to escape the latter's tight grip.
"Toh.. tu kyu h haan? Tu sambhal na usse! Tune vadaa kiya h mujhse Rishi. Tu esa kaise kar skta h?" Daya yelled again. He shivered with the very thought of seperation. He was seperating her himself but this.. this wasn't supposed to be happening!
"Arey kyu nhi kr skta mai?" Rishi yelled as if he yearned for this moment, "Vadaa kiya tha ki use sambhal lunga. Lekin mujhe lagta hai ki jab tk voh yaha rahegi, voh sambhaal nhi payegi khudko!
Isiliye mai use apne sath Canada le ja rha hu. Naya business set up krna h mujhe vaha, hum milkar dekh lenge. Aur tujhe toh vese bhi teri nayi girlfriend-"
A tight slap was pasted on his cheeks. Rishi couldn't speak anything. Rather the anger and patience stored inside him, bursted like a volcano. He grabbed Daya's shirt collar and was about to punch him but something in him freezed his fist in mid.
Daya stared him for some moments. Daya was shocked as well as hurt with this action. How could Rishi raise a hand on him? Rishi never did this, whatever be the circumstances but today.. this behaviour broke Daya.
"Tu.. tu mujhe marega Rishi?"
"Haan maruga mai tujhe!" Rishi left him rashly and shouted. He could hardly control his moves as he was burning like a fire ball, "Aur agar zarurat padhi na toh.."
"Toh? Toh kya Rishi?" Daya asked blankly.
"Toh teri jaan bhi le lunga!" He raised his hands to portray pressing Daya's neck. Daya stood their quietly, his eyes tearing up with every word Rishi spoke.
"Aaj tak sirf tere peeche chalta aaya hun mai. Lekin ab bas! Bht hogaya yeh sab! Ab apni aur Shanaya ki zindagi.. mai khud sawarunga. Aur tujhe? Tujhe voh bht jld bhul jayegi! Dekh lena tu!"
"Uss din maine Rishi ki ankhon mein ek tarfa pyaar dekha tha. Voh.. voh tadap dekhi thi jo mai itne saalo mei kabhi smjh nhi paya. Usne kabhi jataya hi nhi ki voh Shanaya se.."
Daya was lost in his past and all his eyes spoke was pardon. He looked in his side to find Shreya staring him. He jerked his head and tried to be a little more alert.
The supari killer, Mangu, had finally stopped at a place after wandering around most of Mumbai. The stalking cars were stopped at a safe distance and the cops were now hiding, in a old factory in outskirts of the city.
"Shreya.. I'm fine!" Daya whispered as he witnessed Shreya's glare.
"Yeh aap khudko samjha skte h Daya?" She spoke peeping out a little from behind the huge cartoon boxes, where they both were hiding.
"Shreya dekho-"
"Daya voh dekhiye! Koi aa rha h shayad!" And she was right. A man suddenly appeared in front of Mungu.
The man looked in his 60s and was wearing dark coloured clothes. Everyone tried to catch his looks but the man wore goggles and masks. But something was unusual about him. He.. he looked kinda familiar.
"Abhijeet?" Daya whispered in the Bluetooth.
"Haan Daya" Abhijeet answered from the opposite side, where he was hiding with Rishi and Shanaya behind him.
"Daboch le isse yahin?" Daya asked.
"Aur nhi toh kya. Tum wahan se dekho, mai yaha se gherta hu. Aur haan smbhal ke.. gun h uske paas!" Abhijeet whispered and then a gun shot was heard with, "Apne apko CID ke hawale kr do! Aur bhaagne ki sochna bhi mat!"
The masked man and Mangu shivered with the gun shot. Mangu instantly raised his hands in order to surrender after Abhijeet and team came out of their hideouts.
The masked man tried to run but bumped with Daya and fell down. Daya held him by his collar and made him stand rashly. "Arey arey Uncle ji.. kahan bhaage ja rhe h? Iss umr mei bhagna apko shobha nhi deta."
"Aur jab CID samne ho toh bhaagna thora sa bhaari pad jata h!" Shreya spoke with her gun aiming his forehead.
"Kyu Daya? Zara si muh dikhayi ho jaye?" Abhijeet smirked and after a little struggle, the mask was finally off. The hidden face actually skid land beneath everyone's feet and...
The familiarity was thus proved.
He was none other than Mr. Sanjay, Shreya and Tarika's father!
"Papa?" Shreya could only move her lips as her voice died underneath. The.. the mastermind was her father!? Her father tried to kill Rishi and trap Daya in all this?! This.. this wasn't easy for her to believe.
Daya's hand slipped from his collar and Abhijeet and Purvi could just stare bewildered. Rishi and Shanaya stood shocked after acquainting the criminal as Shreya and Tarika's father.
There was a metallic silence caging them for over 5 minutes. No-one dared to speak. Even taking a breath felt like the toughest task at the moment. Thousands of questions popped in their brains like a tight knot.
"Kyu? Kyu kiya apne yeh sab?" Shreya asked, being the most deserving person to get answered first. Her throat was gravy enough to tear everyone's soul.
The pathetic man was sitting on a barely supporting iron chair. His head hung down and shameful eyes stared dust on the ground as he spoke up after surrendering himself to them.
"Mai.. mai kapdo ke business ke aarh mei smuggling krta hu."
Shreya tightened her grip on her gun while holding back tears. Daya wrapped his arm around her as if he read her inner struggle to stand all this. Shanaya eyed them in pain and jealousy.
"Foreign se aaye drugs ko country mei supply krna mera main business h. Meri company jab bankrupt hone ki kagar pr thi tab mujhe yeh offer aaya tha foreign suppliers se. Unhe koi local trader chahiye tha jo easily yaha ki police se bach kr yeh sab kar sake."
"Toh yeh sab iss case se kaise related h?" Abhijeet, taking the initiative, asked one of the questions that popped in everyone's head.
"Meri zindagi ka har faisla is baat se related h." He glanced at Shreya with apologising eyes, "Maine apni beti ki zindagi barbaad kr di."
Everyone's eyes focused him as he resumed, "Shreya aur Tarika jab school mei the tab meri company kafi loss mei chal rhi thi. Mere business partner aur baki sabhi share holders ko apne apne shares vapis chahiye the. Lekin mai.. mai kaha se lata paise?"
Sanjay cried with his palms covering his miserable repenting tears. "Maine bht sochkr.. yeh faisla liya. Mai ek drug supplier ban gya aur isse ek nayi company ki surat dedi. Kapdo ka business toh sirf superficial reh gya tha."
Everyone was silent as they supposed Mr. Sanjay to resume. After a short pause he resumed.
"Sabse pehli baar dar laga tha mujhe jab.. jab Shreya ne ek CID officer bnne ki zid pakd li." He paused to glance at Shreya, "Maine aur Kirti ne-"
"Matlab iss mei aunty bhi?" Purvi couldn't stop herself from asking.
Sanjay gave a short glance to Shreya, who was staring some unknown place, before answering, "Haan. Maine aur Kirti ne bht koshish ki Shreya ko smjhane ki lekin.. tab tk Tarika ne khud Forensic join kr liya tha. Uske support ke karan mai Shreya ko rok nhi paya."
A/N:- The experiment I said.
Anyways, I'll update next chapter soon. The end is already decided so yeah...
See you soon and sorry if this was lame.
TD
