Mitali Jain.

The search for the said paintings had gone too far for our parents liking, with us being out and working on it day and night, it seemed for a moment that we might as well have to postpone the dates.

But since I was getting married to Jai Kapadia there were perks, planners were hired, and so were designers and what not. Things that might have taken almost days had been done at the speed of hour's time, and through this arrangement it was that we had received a call.

The two most important paintings that we were looking for were found, and it did not just give away the place that we were looking for but as well rose a hope within us that we might find Daksh soon.

May be I wouldn't really have to go through my engagement without my friend. The thought had almost made me smile in glee. It seemed selfish but I was relieved, at least till certain extent.

With a numerous of warnings from our parents, Grandma smiling at us understandingly and Vansh voicing out his thoughts of how cool this whole thing was and somehow matched the stories of Nancy drew and Hardy boys that he once had read, while we boarded our cars, our destination being Panji.

The location that we found after finding yet another holding that was ohh so very well painted in one of the paintings that showed the name of the famous location. It didn't take us long to Google it up, and finally we were here.

It was just about next 20 minutes or so that we would reach. My hands have begun to sweat in anticipation. What if all of this just for nothing? Or maybe, even if we did found him, what was it that we were going to confront him for?

There were so many things that went off and on in my mind. The number of ways I would great him, some had the dramatic effect of me slapping him, some had a normal hellos, others had me staying still as that of a statue while Jai and Naveen would do all the work.

"Mitali, don't worry, it will be okay, I have contacted Veer, he said he will be here by tomorrow." Jai said, his hands separated mine, which were twisting the fingers in and around.

"I just hope that we are on the right track. "

"We are, Mitali don't worry, here drink some of this." Naveen handed me the bottle of water, quickly taking in, I gulped down a few huge sips and realized even though the environment was cool with the Ac running, my insides were burning, and my throat was as dry as the Sahara.

"We will be there in next five minutes." As soon as Naveen announced this, I felt my hands held on to Jai's tightly, and what surprised me more was...so did his.

It made me realize, it wasn't just me who was nervous, rather both... or may be all of us.

And as the distance reduced, the small cute house came into view; I could feel my breath stopping a bit in anticipation.

This was it... though it wasn't that huge, we were just here to find our friend, but the realization that the reason could be something worse, made me shudder.

----

"I had called the local police to look into this place an hour ago, I really hope it's them only." Naveen said as he pointed towards the small crowd that was gathered around the entrance of the house.

The cute white and blue colored house, with the shrubs that hung from the windows gave such a native feeling, as we walked closer, did I realized the significance of the sea that was hidden right behind the number of trees but could be seen from the front of the house.

'This place was made with so much of planning and love.' I thought.

As soon as we reached the gate, one of the officers walked up to us and enquired.

"Hello sir, I am sorry, but this is a private property and we are having an investigation going on here."

Naveen took a step ahead and moved his hand ahead for a handshake as he introduced himself, "thank you so much sir, I am Naveen and this is my friend and my sister Jai and Mitali, it was me who had contacted you."

"Oh yes Mr. Jain, really sorry. We tried to get inside the house but it's locked, from inside as well as outside, and it seems as though it has been well taken care of, no one has come here for a long time." As the inspector kept on informing us, all off my hopes began to deter, it felt as if all those plans, and moments that I had been planning for the past 12 hours of our journey all had got destroyed.

"But sir, there has to be something, cant we just open the door somehow and see if we could get any clue as to where Daksh could be." Jai insisted.

"We can sir, but this is a private property and until and unless we don't have search warrants we can't just barge into anyone's house without their permission."

Jai and Naveen kept trying to persuade the inspector, as I walked about the house. The small garden that was freshly watered, the clean porch I believed had just some other story to tell.

As I walked through the property, taking almost a huge round of the house, my thoughts scared me even more.

Why was it that I was scared for Daksh's well being so much? Why did it mattered to me whether he was there with me by my side as I got engaged to Jai... why did it really bothered me?

With a few more steps as I turned towards the entrance of the house, I saw a huge group of kids running off with balloons in their hand, dancing around. The scene so made me remember about Arundati's painting.

At that moment I realized why she did really wanted to capture that picture... what could be more beautiful than these pure souls and their smiles?

I wondered if we really made a right decision by coming here.

But before I could even ponder on this thought even more, a huge truck buzzed passed through the kids, almost knocking them off, but they were thankfully saved.

I quickly ran ahead, passing off the still arguing Jai, Naveen and the inspector who called after me. But even before I could move a bit more ahead, the crowd dispersed a bit, and as the scene before me changed, it made my heart beat even loudly.

Daksh, my mind called out, but my throat was not in a capability to let the words out.

His situation made me stand there in horror.

His clothes not like his usual self, the shirt that would usually be tucked in, was now hanging out, his pants rolled up, while he jumped about with the kids his hands held the balloons as if they were his world. This wasn't the Daksh whom I had met almost a year ago.

His stanza made me almost cry. What had happened to him?

I took a step ahead, and as I stood aside from the crowd, it seemed as if Daksh could now see me clearly, as he stared at me for a few minutes and then his smile increased even more if possible, as he waved at me and called out loudly.

"Mitalliiiii"

His loud voice had successfully attracted a large amount of attention. I could feel Jai and Naveen running towards me. But it seemed I was indeed in such a rush that I as well began running off towards Daksh, when all of a sudden I was pulled back with Jai and Naveen screaming not just my name but as well as Daksh.

A few seconds later, when I came back to my senses, all I could see was the place where Daksh had stood a few minutes ago empty and the huge truck running off around the corner, with everything that seemed a bit relieving turning into yet another huge mess. 

A/N 

Hello everyone, 

I really hope you all are doing well in this difficult situation. 

But I guess one thing that turned out to be nice from this was, I got back to this book after about three months. It had been very hectic, and though I had wished these last few days of my college to go well, Corona decided to pay us all a visit. 

First things first, those who are still here, thanks a lot for being the great support, I am trying my best to be regular at this, but its very difficult to just sit and write... may be I am procrastinating a bit, but I am missing my friends like anything and its really difficult to get used to a different environment, it was during this break I realized how much I had got used to them being around for hours and hours, almost day and night.  

but the brighter thing here is that Mitali and Jai found Daksh, can anyone tell what could possibly be the next part of the story... though its very interesting, I am just not that sure about it, or may be i would let you guys decide how it is going. 

so do leave your comments and messages and tell me what you think about this chapter. sorry once again for being so late, and do stay safe. 

happy reading

Yadni Bagwe