Love And Lies Are Red

14

"Hello ji, you're too cute to be arrested sacchi! This prison date was so unexpected!", he said, eyeing her body continuously as she sat in the jail next to his. Rafeen was tired of Akash flirting with her since the time she was pushed into the jail. She knew Aadil must be having a lot of questions for her since the moment police dashed into her house and dragged her away with her locked wrists. She could not bear the jeering eyes of Ghanendra and Pragati. They guffawed with the police while shoving delicacies in front of her face.
"Must be enjoying your crush next to you, no?", Ghanendra said to Akash. The collective laughs made Rafeen's head reel. She really missed her mother at that time. Akash smiled sheepishly but seeing Rafeen's state of despondency, he felt sad for her.
"By the way, are you sure Rafeen did all that fire fiasco at you?", a constable asked Ghanendra in a whisper.
"I don't care about her. She was never a burden for me since the day I got her married at 17 with her age officially altered. My real intention is to pull Arshia here. She will definitely do something to save her sister. Poor sisters!", Ghanendra let out a loud laugh along with a burp. Rafeen rolled her eyes. A while later, their merry-making was disturbed by a man in black who stood in front of them. All of their faces were extinguished as they couldn't comprehend who he was.
"I'm Rafeen's lawyer, Dilip Sangwani", he introduced himself.
"Did that Aadil send you?", Ghanendra couldn't believe how someone who was analogous to his pet could do this. He was the only one laughing loudly while others stayed quiet and serious.
"No, I am sent by Arshia Aithwal", Dilip said.

~

"I am worried for didi", Arshia said, as they walked down the streets of Arnoor. They had taken a cab to cover the distance to Arnoor from the Nizamabad junction. Abhimanyu and Arshia had to think quickly to save Rafeen but they couldn't go back just when they had their sail set for their big journey. Or as if they could show themselves in front of Ghanendra.
"Don't worry, Dilip is an experienced. He has made the pants of big politicians loose. He will ensure Rafeen doesn't get even a scratch", Abhimanyu assured her as he talked about the lawyer he had sent for Rafeen on behalf of Arshia.
"We have entered sector C", Arshia said, her heart pounding in her chest as they neared the house whose walls had surreptitiousness etched on them. They stopped still in their tracks while Arshia checked the address on the marksheet and on the nameplate. It is the same.
After all the hard work of asking locals around, trying to recognise the precise house as the picture on Trijyesh's Facebook profile picture and an eternity of wait for his reply which never came, Arshia was standing in front of the house of her grandparents. How would they react to seeing her? She could feel her blood making her sweat evaporate through her palm when she pressed the doorbell. Her anticipation was answered when an old woman, feeble and frail in stature, opened the door. Oh, how her eyes match that of my mother's! Arshia wondered. She could see her mother's compassion in those dark and wrinkled sunken eyes.
"Yes?", she voiced slowly, adjusting her spectacles, trying to recognise the faces.
"Is this Tasha Dwivedi's childhood house?", Arshia stammered with her words as her over excitement added to her nervousness. The old woman stayed silent for a long minute. Until a middle aged man, stepping down the stairs at the back inside their house, asked her,
"Who is it maa?". It had to be Trijyesh with a distinct curly hair, big eyes and a classic moustache. Yet, his mother showed no reaction to his words.
"Who are you?", she demanded instead.
"I'm Arshia Aithwal...Tasha's daughter", Arshia said.
"Please go away. We don't know any-",
"Please naani! My mother's marksheet shows this same address!",
"Tasha Dwivedi was dead for us since the day she committed a crime against our community", the old woman's sunken eyes seemed to be rising like a tide out of her socket and then at once, she closed the door on their faces. Arshia's brain couldn't handle such a big shock. She had opposite expectations about this situation. She kept beating on the door with desperation and tried to persuade them to open the door in her cracking voice. Abhimanyu tried to console her.