The Decision

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The seminar began and the cadets started asking questions about the IB and its missions from Haseena. They were all really excited and wanted to know more about the academy alumni who was now the Head of IB (Northern India). Haseena answered all the questions patiently. She understood the curiosity of the cadets but what surprised her was that Karishma was patiently listening to everyone and taking in all the information silently. It was smart work. Karishma knew that somehow, all the questions she had in mind will be asked by her batchmates too, and so she did not bother ask them herself while she paid close attention to every information that Haseena was presenting them with. Haseena was intrigued with Karishma's personality, as was the case with Karishma, who was looking at Haseena with an expression of admiration and awe. Almost every cadet had asked Haseena questions about how the IB works and what would be their role in the organisation as freshly graduated officers in the future. Karishma was still silently observing everything Haseena said. The seminar was about to end when Karishma finally raised her hand to ask her question. Haseena had been waiting for this moment since the very beginning of the seminar. She somehow knew that Karishma's question would surely be something beyond ordinary. Haseena nodded while looking at Karishma, giving her the permission to ask the question.

"We learnt everything about the working and the duties in the IB, but we all know that everything does not always go as planned and not every case reaches its conclusion. Some cases are left to be a mystery because no progress could be made in such cases. You told us about the successes of the IB, but can you also tell us how to accept failure in the situations we do not have any control over. Handling success has always been easier than handling failure, can you tell us how you as a leader and as an IB Chief, handle the inevitable failure in such cases." Karishma asked confidently while directly looking into Haseena's eyes, the tone of her voice and her body language, radiating her confidence.

If not before, Haseena was now thoroughly impressed with Karishma. She was proud of Karishma for the fact that when everyone was busy looking at the brighter side of serving the country, Karishma was well aware of the not so bright side too. "It is hard, to accept the fact that sometimes we could not do anything but move forward and leave things incomplete because there is not any way that we could give them a proper end, and its tough because you had already given too much of your time and efforts into it, but we need to understand that not everything has an end to it. All such cases are declared cold cases because no new progress could be made in them, but that does not mean that they will remain an unsolved mystery forever. A case going cold does not mean that it has been closed, it just means that the case has been put on hold until something new is found in it which might give it a new direction or any lead to proceed with." Haseena explained in a very calm voice while constantly looking at Karishma who was busy in taking in all what Haseena was saying.

"Does this satisfy your question, Miss Singh." Haseena asked Karishma in an inquisitive tone while making an eye contact with her.

"It sure does, Chief," Karishma replied with a small smile while maintaining the eye contact. Haseena too, smiled in response with a slight nod, telling the other one to sit down.   

Haseena then proceeded to end the seminar with a speech. As she climbed down the stage, all the cadets surrounded her, wanting to shake hands with her. She patiently met all the cadets with a smile on her face. While she was busy with the cadets surrounding her, Karishma was standing some distance away, looking at Haseena being so humble and polite with an expression of admiration on her face while Ammi looked at Haseena with pride. Their trance broke when Haseena started walking towards them.

"To aapne ek hi mulaqaat mein Karishma Singh se dosti kar li na Ammi," Haseena said when she reached the two of them.

"Hn hn, aur hamne to Karishma beta ka number bhi le liya hai. Ab tujhe to hamse baat karne ka vaqt hota nhi, to ab se ham Karishma bache se baat kar liya karenge, tu doobe rehna apne kaam mein," Ammi said it all so nonchalantly that Haseena was shocked while Karishma was trying to supress her smile.

"Aaiye Ammi, ham aapko rest room le chalte hain, aap aur Chief dono thoda rest kar lijiye, fir aap dono ko dinner bhi attend karna hai," Karishma said while her eyes locked into Haseena's. Ammi nodded and of they went towards the rest rooms with Karishma and Ammi chatting happily and Haseena following them with a content smile on her face.

As they reached their rooms, Karishma asked Haseena if she had two minutes to spare since she wanted to ask her something.

"Ji kahiye Karishma Singh," Haseena said in a puzzled tone.

"Ham aapse Lone Wolf ke bare mein puchna chahte hain Chief. Vo is academy ke hi cadet the, aapke batch mein. Agar aap unke bare mein kuch bhi jante hain to please hame bata dijiye, hamari bohot help hogi," Karishma asked with a hint of urgency in her voice while Haseena was standing with a numb expression on her face.

"Kya hua Chief, aap kuch bol kyun nhi rahi hain," Karishma asked when Haseena didn't say anything, just kept looking at her with an unknown expression on her face.

"Ham jante hain Lone Wolf kaun hai Karishma Singh, but afsos, ham aapko bata nhi sakte. Jis raste par aap chalna chah rahi hain na Karishma Singh, saalon pahle Lone Wolf ne bhi wahi kiya tha. Ek cold case ke piche itna obsessed ho gaye the ki gunehgaar ko dhundte dhundte khud ko kho diya tha. Ham nhi chahte aapka bhi wahi anjaam ho Karishma Singh, chor dijiye is raste ko. As your Chief, it's my order Karishma Singh." Haseena said in a stern tone, before walking away, avoiding eye contact with Karishma.

"Hamare paas khone ke liye kuch nhi hai Chief, na parivar, na rishte. Hai to bas desh ke liye pyar, aur is pyar mein hame aapke orders ko violate karna pade to vo bhi manzoor hoga hame, kyunki masoom logon ki jaan ke sath khelne wale us darinde ko ham jeetne nhi de sakte. Ab ye case ham unofficially solve karenge aur us darinde ko patal se bhi khich ke dhar laenge." Karishma said with determination, looking at the direction Haseena went towards, and then walked away in the opposite direction.

Let's see where Fate takes these two Parallels.

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Hello People 😁😁😁

We know we're very very late to update the story, and we honestly won't make any excuses, but we're full time students and we hardly get any time to relax, let alone write a new chapter and update the story.

I don't know when we'll be able to update the next chapter, but we promise that we'll try.

Till then, enjoy this chapter and do vote and send your feedbacks in the comments.

Stay safe & stay healthy people 😊

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⏰ Last updated: Dec 17, 2023 ⏰

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