Anikaa & The Mystery of the Painting

12. The Research

"Okay. Arrange the call now; I will speak to the team."

After an hour of attending conference calls and catching up with her clients, Anikaa and Rachel decided to lunch. It was already 2 pm, when Shireen called. Both Anikaa and Rachel updated her about their wellbeing. Rachel didn't say anything about Anikaa's repeated disappearance in the morning and was exultant to hear about the cold weather of Canada. She was thankful that she was not part of their trip as she was not a fan of freezing temperatures.

After their call ended, Rustom and Gul called. They had reached London and were leaving for Austria in next five days to meet their daughter.

"Ahh...I need a drink. Bahadur, please get me a nice mocktail. All this talking has made me thirsty," said Anikaa.

"Well, there is nothing else lined up for the rest of the day. What should we do?" asked Rachel.

"Relax. I am going to read some books," said Anikaa thinking that she must do some research on the Himkhasa tribe.

"Great! I think, I will also read something. I haven't finished that love story yet," said Rachel. As soon as Rachel made her decision, her phone rang.

"Its Karan," she said shyly and picked up the phone.

"Hi...Well, no....I....I can....Just hold on a sec.....Karan is asking if we can meet for coffee again?" asked Rachel bashfully to Anikaa.

"Rachel, you decide," scoffed Anikaa.

Rachel took a deep breath and accepted Karan's invitation.

"So you like Karan?" asked Anikaa when she disconnected the phone.

"Yes," said Rachel shyly.

"Rachel for once, stop getting embarrassed, we are not discussing sex here," said Anikaa bluntly. Rachel gasped and looked around if anyone was about to hear their conversation. But, it seemed that were sitting alone in the living room. She was about to comment when Bahadur entered with their exotic- looking mocktails.

As he left, Anikaa switched back to the interrogation.

"So you like Karan, you gave him your number and he seems a good guy to me, but...I mean...I am not a relationship expert and you are a grown up but....trust your gut in these things. You know boys with money and good looks tend to sweep girls off their feet very easily," said Anikaa soberly.

Rachel wanted to leap and squeeze Anikaa in a big hug. She is so sweet! On one hand, she gave her the liberty to decide about Karan and on other hand she modestly asked her to be safe.

"Thank you," said Rachel.

"For what?"

"For being like this, being with me, being in my life."

"Oh god Rachel, please, if someone walks in that door they will think you are proposing me," teased Anikaa.

"So, for how long is Karan staying in India?" asked Anikaa unexpectedly. Switching moods!

"They are here for three weeks," answered Rachel veraciously.

"They?"

"Karan and Raymond. I don't know about Mr. Richard. Karan didn't tell me and I didn't ask him."

"Did you get any information about his wife, I asked you for?"

"Yes, I got a call from Sameer. He said he will submit his report by tomorrow morning. He is waiting for some key facts."