Riddhima woke up after a very sound sleep when she heard her phone alarm ringing.
After laying on the bed for a moment and taking her phone to silence the buzz, she saw 8 o'clock and her eyes opened wide.
She thought for a while that her default alarm used to be always set for 6 o'clock in the morning but how did it buzz 2 hours later or she slept so much that the alarm got snoozed.
Shrugging off all the thoughts, she saw a message was received by her, hence opened the inbox.
Riddhima started reading it, "Your account **********34589 has been credited with 2,00,000 INR."
She jumped out of the bed the moment she read it but still her mind ran in a fix whether she should be happy about the credited money or was it some alarm that something worse was going to happen in her life.
Riddhima took a deep breath to calm her mind from overthinking then something struck in her mind. She opened the inbox of email and tried to search the mail she received yesterday but couldn't find it. She opened the trash bin and searched for it vigorously but not even a trace of it was found by her.
Riddhima closed her eyes and thought about her telling Vansh about the email she received and then she slept.
Riddhima talked under her breath "Maybe Mr. Raisinghania complained to cyber cell and they removed it. But I'll ask him about it."
Keeping her phone aside she went to freshen up herself.
After securing permission, Mrs. D'Souza knocked on Riddhima's door and left with her breakfast.
Satisfying her hunger, she strolled over to Vansh's work desk, opened his laptop, and jotted down some current affairs for the interview she would be facing in the coming week.
She found out the morning's breaking news on the news website.
"Bank manager attempted suicide and was found dead in his own apartment by his maid."~ BREAKING NEWS.
Riddhima shuddered at seeing the image beside the breaking news, promptly she clicked to read the whole news.
" A bank manager attempted suicide and was found dead in his own apartment by his maid who visited his house at 6 a.m. The police arrived on the spot within half an hour and after a primary investigation they concluded it was a murder. According to one of the officials the body was hanged with multiple fractures and the wound seemed like someone had brutally whipped him and the most important thing we found was that the murderer had cut his tongue and all the fingers of both hands, so that anyhow the bank manager remained alive, he could not be able to write to tell the name of the murderer to anyone. Further crime and forensic investigation will go on. The police are determined to catch the murderer."
Riddhima got up from the chair and began to sweat profusely. She drank a glass of water to calm her nerves.
She picked up the phone and called Ritu, luckily she received it this time.
"I'm missing you, Riddhima.", Ritu said.
"Same with me. Where are you now?", Riddhima asked.
"In college but it's a break. Are you still with Bhai?"
"Yes, I asked him to take me home and he agreed but let's see when he does it. How is everything going there?"
"In general everything is good. Bhai allotted everything for me, even the bodyguards. But there is a problem."
"What problem?"
"Arjun is my senior."
"What are you saying? You are kidding. How come he went there? Do your Bhai know about Arjun?"
"I didn't know he studies in this university only. Bhai threatened him after whatever happened between us four years ago and he chose to stay away from that mess which was very good for me. But now I don't have anything to do and this time I didn't inform Bhai that Arjun is my senior. If he troubles me then only I'll inform Bhai otherwise our life is different."
"I understand. But take care of yourself. Study hard and build a successful career."
They bid good bye to each other and hung the call.
Riddhima felt relaxed after having a heart to heart conversation with her best friend turned soul sister. But the news she saw a while ago arouses a lot of questions in her mind which only Vansh can answer. She put aside all her worries and began reading current affairs online.
It was almost 11 at night and Riddhima was done with her dinner.
Vansh opened the door and stepped into the room.
"Why don't you knock before entering the room?", Riddhima asked getting irritated by his behaviour.
"I don't feel the need of it.", Vansh replied in a jolt and moved towards the restroom, leaving Riddhima flabbergasted by his statement.
Riddhima didn't reply but it definitely pricked her conscience.
Immediately after Vansh left for the washroom, his servant left him dinner.
Riddhima was observing him with her peripheral eyes and her eye caught the bandage on the knuckles of Vansh's right hand. Within a second her mind was full of questions and uncertainties, but she managed to refrain from asking Vansh, who was already irritated.
Riddhima reset her alarm at 6 a.m. and covered herself with a blanket before lying down.
Vansh took a look at her and then sat with the laptop where Riddhima was chalking out the current affairs.
He opened the 'history' of the search engine and went through the list of pages which Riddhima searched on. He became sure that the news of the bank manager was known to Riddhima but he was confused about Riddhima not confronting him about the murder case of the manager.
He scrolled down more and something very interesting caught his eyes and he mumbled, "Riddhima searched me!"
A smile crept on his face and a curiosity blossomed in his mind which made him click on that page.
All his smile went far away and frustration took it's place by seeing Riddhima was searching for the name of Vansh Raisinghania's wife. Vansh closed his eyes took a deep breath, looked towards Riddhima who was facing the other side while sleeping, kept his laptop aside and slept on the couch not before turning off the lights.
After a week:
"I have an interview today.", Riddhima declared, while combing her hair, to Vansh who was checking his phone wearing his three piece suit.
"You didn't inform me yesterday.", Vansh responded.
"I am informing you now, so do not exaggerate.", Riddhima answered, leaving the room with her bag.
"Where are you going?", Vansh asked her.
"I told you just now.", she replied.
"I'll drop you and when it's over give me a call and I'll pick you up from there.", Vansh stated.
Riddhima didn't argue with him as she was already running late.
Vansh stopped the car 200 metre away from the main gate of the college.
Riddhima immediately stretched her hand to open the door of the car but Vansh held her wrist and said, "Not now. Let our bodyguards give us the signal then only you will move out."
Riddhima nodded in positive as now she understands that security is paramount for her.
"Now you can go. All the best, Riddhima.", getting a signal from his bodyguard, Vansh replied.
Riddhima mumbled a thank you to him.
Vansh and his four cars, along with his bodyguards, waited until Riddhima entered the main gate.
Riddhima marked her attendance for the interview, and her serial number was 29, making her the second last candidate for that day. Her name was announced and she walked into the interview room.
"Do you live with your family, Riddhima?", the principal of the college asked her.
"No. Sorry, I meant yes. You could say my extended family.", she stuttered with her words.
"Why did you keep the 'Guardian name and signature column' empty?", the college secretary inquired.
"I don't have one. So I decided to leave it blank rather than showing dependency on my extended family.", this time she answered firmly.
"But, Riddhima we cannot accept your application without a guardian name. In your application, you can put any name and ask for their signature from an elder in your family or someone you see as your family."
Riddhima was in a pickle and went blank.
The principal said, "If you can do what Sir said right now, then we will approve your application. You can go now, Riddhima."
She could only give a nod to that and walked out of the room.
How was the chapter?....
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