Lady Enigma

Chapter 1

"Saar!!!! Please, Saar! Cheptanu Saar! Kottaddu Saar... Chachipota..!!" These are the wails for mercy every police station is familiar with. Confessing their crimes, cries of agony, pain. These walls are storehouses of trauma. All dark and painful.

And we, as in the officers who run it, are the torchbearers. We guide, we locate, if not correct, we burn.

Most of the problem in a case comes with helpers. Those who associate a conspiracy only for the sake of money or manipulation etc. They are a real pain in the ass.

Right now, the no longer suspect, Obulesh, is going to confess his role in the case, and if nature is too kind, even the whole process of the crime.

•

"How is the case going, Vijay?" My superior. Not a bad one. But not someone you can trust.

"So far better, Sir. Obulesh gave his statement. If it's true, the case will go for trial." I reply.

"Good good. Wind it up ASAP. Somaraju gaaru? Aa file-u..." He trailed off.

I really can't wait to go home and j-

"Please make it faster. I've many other things to do."

It's her again. It's been more than a month and I was not successful at seeing her face. She comes here every alternate day, asking for some FIRs and evidence we collect, whenever she requires. With a little digging, I got to know that she is a junior advocate (God knows under whom) and tries to dig something or the other from our good ol' constable Sambayya.

He is the oldest person in service, in our station. The best, if I must say. He has taken about two extensions after his retirement. Once because we needed him, and another because he couldn't sit at home.

She asks him every kind of question. Without any kind of context. And he keeps on answering her.

For example, once, they disagreed on the trade of information. It was intense. I was half tempted to butt in. Then suddenly silence cast over them for a beat and she changed the topic asking who cooked his lunch and he answered with the same enthusiasm.

Everyone calls them weird partners. But they are very amusing, adorable pairs of people. In an attempt to go to my cabin, I accidentally trip over the carpet and a few files on Sambayya's desk meet the ground.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!"

Stupid leg.

A dislocated leg is the real pain in the ass. Something I've had since my fifth grade. Stupid activities, lead to stupid outcomes. My leg was the outcome. But what makes me question my stupidity is that, despite my leg, I passed my IPS training.

Talk about ignorance. Yet, I call it bliss.

However mortifying my action be, I will always cherish this moment.

She bent down and helped me with those files, handing a few to me.

"Are you okay?" Her angelic yet authoritative voice spoke. It was then I saw, a burnt mark, marring her face from the right curve of her nose to her neck, which was mostly covered by her long-sleeved Kurti.

Is that what I think it is?

"Yes... Yes, I'm fine. Sorry by the way."

"It's fine, Sir. No need to be sorry." She says with a polite smile. Her burnt skin is wrinkling because of her smile.

Maybe this is what people call a bittersweet experience. My heart aches. And I don't even know if it's because she has had a terrible experience, or because she smiled at me. Seeing her face flustered me a lot.

Ugh! Fucking feelings.

"It's okay, Sir. We've got this." Sambayya interjects. Begging our attention. Maybe he sensed my uneasiness.

I give a curt nod and small smile to her and reach my destination. Through my seat, I see how she talks animated to Sambayya. Making all kinds of gestures, a really happy smile gracing her lips, eyes sparkling with mirth as she talks to Sambayya.

Lucky old man.

-

Her visits became more frequent as time passed. And I most of the time have some work at Sambayya's desk. Both of them talk about all sorts of things. About politics, about science, about how she will change our society if she were the god, about how he doesn't like the current generation, and she always defends it. About what our judiciary needs, what they did yesterday, how they were born, well, in a nutshell, everything and nothing.

"Okay Tatha, I'll take a leave."

Sambayya glances at his watch and says "Already? You just came here!"

"Why? Do you already miss her?" I remark. After a beat of silence, she and I laugh at now crimson-colored Sambayya. Sambayya is a very fair-skinned man. Like, the purest form of Aryan rays. Whenever he runs or chokes on something, his face becomes a tomato.

It takes us a while to regain our composure as he makes a failed attempt of rolling his eyes, which only we Millenials mastered.

"You're actually good. I always thought you were some up-tight officer cursing others." She said in the middle of her laughs, with a hint of sheepish attitude. That sets me off for another round of hysteric laugh. She is wheezing now...

"What is your name?" I ask finally, relieved that I found an opportunity without embarrassing myself.

"Kiran." She says, ever so softly from those plump lips. As if the word will pierce everything with its brightness.

Kiran. A ray of sunshine.

How can someone be so alluring? She intrigues me. I have millions of questions.

Where are you from? What do you exactly do for a living? What happened to your face? Where is that bastard right now?

Yet, all I end up saying is "See you tomorrow?"

Her beautifully blemished face blushes as she breathes, "Of course. Bye."

"Bye" both, me and Sambayya say in unison.

-—-—-—

A/N
Tatha: An informal way of calling Grandfather in Telugu.

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