Next morning, Riya, Shree and Chotu were sitting in the conference room, waiting for their seniors. Shree cracked a joke to which Chotu laughed but Riya didn’t react. She was engrossed in a file. Shree nudged her.
“RIYAAAA!!!", he said irritated at her disinterest.
“Beghar Mukherjee!!”, he said teasingly, again nudging her. And this time, she left out a chuckle.
“Not anymore Mr.Sen. Now I have a flat, prettier than before, 2BHK, facing Sharma General Store, with no khadoos chik-chik landlord, maatra 20K per month m.”, she said animatedly, like a real estate agent.
Shree and Chotu started laughing. A pair of eyes was watching them through the glass door. A smile creeped up on Arjun’s lips. Rathore, though joined the party late, stood silently behind Arjun, without him realizing, observing the three cartoons inside the door and the bigger one, standing outside.
He shook his head in disbelief, thinking, “Why don’t you accept this Rawte, you too want happiness. It is knocking your door. It is you who is not willing to open that door. You need to push it open on your own. But, being your friend, I can help you and I definitely will.”
So, he decided to have some fun. He cleared his throat and startled Arjun. Arjun was taken aback like a child caught stealing candies.
Adding further to his embarrassment, he questioned teasingly, “Kya hua Rawte, darwaaza atak gaya h?”, opening the door to the conference room.
Rawte recognized his tone. Though it had been quite sometime, he knew Rathore and his antics too well. Had it been old times, it was certain that he would have to face his teasing gaze the entire day. He shook his thoughts away, realizing how he had drifted to a time that was never coming back. He then, finally went inside the conference hall.
The day was as boring as it could get. No cases and just paper work. Arjun was making every effort to talk to Riya, but with collective efforts from the entire gang, his efforts were not showing results.
Arjun would purposely ask for the file Riya would be working on. So, she would pass it to Agent Shree who had strategically seated himself between the two.
Agent Chotu took upon himself to supply essentials as and when required, right from a pen to a cup of cutting. He had got everything covered in advance. While the mastermind, Agent Rathore just smiled at the chaos in front of him. “Crazy people!”, he muttered under his breath.
Arjun’s favourite person on the planet, Raju, the chai wale bhaiya walked in the conference room for the 5th time today. He filled his cup with the steaming brown liquid, when suddenly the glass slipped out of his hand. The hot tea fell on Arjun’s hand. Riya instantly stood up in horror seeing Arjun wince in pain, and so did the others.
The poor boy almost started crying, scared to the bones. Shree rushed the boy out of the room, Chotu hurried to get the first aid box, while Rathore ran to make a call to the doctor. Arjun looked at Riya, frozen at her spot. He looked around the room and saw his team running around like mad men. Before he could bring back his gaze to her, she was standing just in front of him.
Without even saying a word, making an eye contact or wasting another second, she pulled a chair next to him. She glanced at his hand, that was shaking, turning crimson with each passing second, though his face showed no emotions.
Very carefully, she removed his watch and the arm band, he had been wearing all this while. It was the same band because of which he scolded her, “Itna dimaag case pe lagaogi,to case solve hone k chance 90 percent Badh jaate h”, she imitated him in her thoughts.
She hesitated a bit, looked at his face from the corner of his eyes. “If he had any objection with me removing his arm band, I would have been dead meat by now.” , she thought and continued doing what she was, with utmost caution.
Arjun, on the other hand, was numb. He could hear his throbbing heart. He felt no pain at all. Just the thought of Riya caring for him, was enough to drive away all his pain. His eyes never left her face. She was being all careful, he could tell by her nervousness. She started removing the arm band, revealing what he had been hiding from her for so long- his scars, his heart and his love. But today, he didn’t mind the revelation. He felt so vulnerable in that moment, right now he was willing to open up every inch of his body and soul to her.
Riya's breath hitched in her throat at the sight in front of her. He had been hiding a tattoo all this while under the arm band. But it was not an ordinary tattoo, it was his dead wife’s name, with a deep cut. She tried to keep a straight face, but her eyes had turned moist. She kept looking down, and poured water on the burnt area. She didn’t want to pity him, he hated that, so she didn’t react at the tattoo at all.
Gathering courage, Arjun spoke in a low voice, “I'm sorry Riya, for my behaviour. I don’t know how...”
Just then, Rathore and Chotu came running with the Doctor and he took over, not giving Arjun any chance to speak further. He bandaged his wound and prescribed pain killers. Arjun kept looking at Riya. His face dropped at the lost chance of talking to her, after all these days. He still couldn’t forget the concern he saw in her eyes few moments back, and how he felt. His heart was still beating a hundred times per minutes.
Rathore had been observing him for quite sometime now, and he knew it was the right time for him to talk to Arjun. He knew Arjun had given up his ego and felt guilty for his behaviour towards Riya. Just what Rathore’s master plan was about.
Little did he know that Arjun had started REALIZING another feeling, this master mind has no idea about. But will soon come to know, well best friends can see though each other. Can’t they?
Rathore purposely sent Shree, Riya and Chotu out of the conference room so that he and Arjun are alone. He pulled a chair next to Arjun’s and began the much awaited confrontation.
