Doomed

Chapter 4

"What is the mysterious Mrs. Raizyada upto then?" He chuckled. She laughed and walked past him muttering, "You'll never know. Now come on." She waved him to come over.

"Where?" He asked but walked behind her none the less.

"Somewhere. Now come on." She said walking out of the gallery.

***

Aghanya had dragged him to a grocery store. She walked as if she knew where whatever she wanted was. He just followed her casually with his hands in his pockets. She walked to the cold storage aisle and picked up a tub of vanilla ice cream.

"This is all you wanted?" He chuckled.

"Not all." She said as she disappeared into another aisle. Her arms were loaded with milk, packets of coffee, ice cream,etc. Viren found himself wondering what she was upto. She dumped it on the check out counter. Before Viren could give his card, she gave hers. "Don't be ridiculous, let me pay." He told her.

"You don't be ridiculous. It's my stuff, of course I'm going to pay." She said.

But deep inside he was grateful that she paid for it on her own, because he was low on budget. That really hurt his pride. He couldn't afford to but her stuff anymore, the thought nagged him pushing his bad mood to worse.

     ***

Aghanya looked at Viren who's mood seemed like it had switched to an 180 degrees since they came back from the store. He refused to meet her eyes and his eyebrows were in a constant frown. Preparing steaming coffee in a mug, she put the mug on the table and sat across him. "What's wrong?" She couldn't help but ask.

"You should've let me pay." He sighed.

"Why? It was my stuff." She said opening the jar of ice cream.

"Because, I'm the guy here. Guys pay for stuff that their wives buy. It makes them feel insecure if they can't do this much." Viren met her eyes and it almost threw her off guard.

"Seriously? All this for ice cream?" Aghanya continued, "Buying me stuff doesn't make you a man and not buying doesn't make you any less of a man. I'm an earning woman, Viren. I'm not going to make for my stuff. Simple, because it's my stuff. " She opened the jar and the smell of vanilla ice cream wafted through the air. Aghanya dug her spoon and scooped out two big chunks of ice cream and dunked it into the coffee.

"Just what are you doing?" Viren asked eyeing her strange behaviour. "Did you just dunk your ice cream in hot coffee?"

Aghanya nodded sheepishly. "Try it." She scooped a spoon and held it near his mouth. He looked at it suspiciously but reluctantly ate it. Aghanya watched his eyes go big as his tastebuds burst. She giggled and said, "I know right? It always helps me when I'm sad."

She saw a coffee staining his lips, reaching over tissues, she wiped the stain away. "There." Before she could withdraw her hand, he held it as his arms enclosed hers. Aghanya blinked as she saw his eyes twinkle.

"How nice would it be if we could stay like this forever." He said.

***

After a tummy full of coffee and ice cream and a light heart, Aghanya walked out of the gallery. Viren helped her shut the shutter and lock it.

Her phone rang and she saw it was Sakshi. "Hello?" She picked it up.

"Hey. Sanjay says that he has decoded the encryption. So just delete and reinstall the app, you'll be able to see it."

"Okay! Thank you so much."

After Sakshi hanged up, she did as Sakshi had instructed. It took a couple of minutes for it to install. She tapped her foot with anticipation. She quickly opened the app to see the message.

"It's done." Viren said but Aghanya jumped back and dropped her phone in panic.

Had Aghanya seen the message ten seconds ago she'd've known what was coming for for. Had she not bent to pick the phone, it would've come for her. But she didn't, hence she picked up the phone and Varun's message flashed on her screen.

You are next.

Her blood ran cold as she read it. But little did she know that she was not next. She was only aware as Viren grunted and in an instant he fell to the ground clutching his chest. Aghanya watched as the red patch on his chest grew larger and larger. And little did Aghanya know that she indeed could scream loud.

***

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