Part 27 The Calls...

Anjali lifted the sleeping Shali in her arms and walked out. Shyam started his bike and they reached the area police station in fifteen minutes. A constable approached them.

"What do you want sir?"

"My sister is missing," Anjali said worriedly.

"Inspector sir is in his room... go and tell him"

"Ok, sir"

"One minute... let me get his permission. He may have to do some other work"

They nodded ok. Anjali ran her eyes in the station. She saw a few guys sitting at the corner of the station, looking at her. of course, they were accused. She turned her gaze somewhere. The constable who went to get the inspector's permission came to her.

"Two minutes, madam... the inspector sir is on call"

Anjali nodded ok. The inspector came out, finishing the call, and call them inside. Anjali and Shyam went to their room.

The name board *Inspector Alexander* had been kept on the table.

"Take your seats..." Inspector Alexander said.

Anjali and Shyam sat in front of him.

"Tell me, Sir"

"I'm Anjali. He is my husband, working in Saudi. I'm living in Mumbai with my sister. She is missing, sir" Anjali said before Shyam said anything.

"From when she is missing?"

"Form today morning, sir..."

Alexander looked at the watch.

"You can wait for a while... she may come home if she went to meet her friends..."

"No Sir, she won't go anywhere without conveying it to me. This is the first time she is doing this..." Anjali said.

"What do you think about it?"

"I think she left our house in anger..."

"Anger? what happened? Why is she angry with you?"

"She is a music graduate. She got a music teacher job in a Delhi school but my husband denied sending her to Delhi... that's why she should have left our house as she was already upset with him"

"Already upset? But why?" Alexander lifted his brows.

Shyam gritted his teeth whereas Anjali hesitated to speak further.

"Listen, Madam, we can proceed further only if we are clear about the case. If you hide anything important then how could we find it out?"

"I was looking for a groom for her. I liked the family and also the groom. Khushi also said yes to marrying him. That was when my husband asked for their phone number to take the alliance forward. I gave him his father's phone number. He asked about the groom's HIV test report. That made his family upset"

"HIV report?" Alexander chuckled.

"The marriage called off..."

"Of course, it has to... then?"

"That's why my sister is upset with him"

"Why did you ask for the HIV report, sir?"

"Just for Khushi's safety..." Shyam said.

"Did you provide your HIV report before your marriage?"

Shyam nodded NO hesitating.

"Then why are so concerned about your sister-in-law's safety?"

"It became common nowadays, sir. I don't know why everyone is taking it seriously"

"It's because our social setup is like that, Mr...?"

"Shyam... Shyam Jha"

"Don't you know it will touch the ego of the groom's family?"

He turned to Anjali,

"How did you let him do it, Ma'am?" – Alex.

"I don't know about it, sir. He asked them without my consent"

"Oh... did you think, discussing it with women is not needed?" – Alex.

"No, Sir... not like that but what it will do with this case?" Shyam asked.

"Who knows, Mr. Jha? We can say anything at the end of the case only because anything can change anytime..."

Shyam tried not to show his frustration.

"Don't your sister have a mobile?"

"Her mobile is switched off sir"

"Who are her friends?"

"She has only one friend, sir, Preeto."

"Any love affair?"

Anjali nodded NO.

"Write your address and her phone number and yours also" he extended a paper to Anjali.

Anjali wrote the numbers and house address on the paper. She gave it to Alexander.

"There is a writer outside. Give him a written complaint. I will take it further... I will call you if needed"

"Sure sir"

"You can go now"

Anjali and Shyam left the place. Alexander called the control room.

"Yes, sir..."

"Raj, note the number down. I want all the last two days' incoming and outgoing call list of the number... with the user name and address"

"Yes, sir... I will send it to you in an hour, sir"

"Thanks" Alexander disconnected the call.

........

Anjali could sense Shyam was upset but it seemed she didn't mind about it. in fact, she was hell upset with Shyam. Somewhat he was the reason for Khushi to leave home, she thought. Her mind was thinking only about Khushi. Don't know where was she struggling alone in a new place.

RM

Arnav was on a call with Aman.

"I don't want that video to be posted on social media," said Arnav.

"But why, ASR? You wanted to release it before Aryan released his movie"

"Yeah... but now, I don't want it to get released and that's final"

"Ok, ok... by the way, Aryan's movie release is getting delayed it seems"

"But why?"

"It's because your trick worked"

"Really?"

"Yes... as you made Khushi sing the song at the party, it spread in the field. Everyone got to know Khushi is your introduction. So, he lost the need of releasing his movie hurriedly"

"Mmm... then we too don't have to release the video on social media"

"Ok... we will release it officially"

"Ok"

Arnav disconnected the call and saw Khushi looking at him with an unnamed expression. Arnav smiled at her.

"Why didn't you want to release the video, Arnavji?" she asked.

"It's because I don't want your sister or Jeeja to see it. They will try to reach you through the video"

Khushi was speechless.

"But, people talked at the party that Aryan sir is releasing his movie next week"

"No... it's getting post-ponded. Even though it is not post ponded I don't care because your safety is more important than anything for me"

"Thank you so much, Arnavji"

"Welcome"

"Why did you call me?"

"Sit" he pointed to the recliner.

Khushi sat on it. he handed her a paper. It was a musical note. Khushi looked at him calmly.

"My next movie song notes. I composed it long ago but I didn't feel to give it to anyone because I didn't think anyone is capable of singing this because it's a tough note"

Khushi went through it and nodded yes. The notes had extreme levels of HIGH and LOW pitch ups and downs.

"It's not easy to sing this song but you can..."

Khushi was baffled. Was she the one who was going to sing the song? She smiled softly.

"Are you ready?"

She nodded yes.

"By the way, Arnavji, you stopped the video just because you don't want my sister and jeeja to get to know about my whereabouts. But, if this song gets released, definitely everyone will search for the singer. There are a lot of chances for my jeeja to get to know me. what will we do that time?"

"How long will you be lurking? However, you have to reveal your whereabouts to the world one day. You should face the problem which is waiting to swallow you. I brought you out of your house because I don't want you to face it ALONE. Let them know your whereabouts... we will fight"

Khushi was looking at him stunningly. She didn't know whether he understood the exact issue or not.

"What are you looking at?"

"We will face the problem but the world will question you about me. What will be your answer then?" Khushi asked.

"I will tell the world who you are for me..."

"Do you think people will believe it?"

"I don't care whether people will believe it or not because it's not my problem. People will have a conflict with everything... we don't have to think about it, Khushi. We will decide when the right time comes. Until then, don't think much about something we are not sure about... relax..."

She nodded ok slowly.

"Are you alright, Khushi?"

She nodded yes with a slight smile.

"I can understand your state of mind. It would be hard for you to stay away from your sister... she must be feeling dejected not finding you at home. If you want to speak with her then..."

Cutting him,

"No, Arnavji... no... yes, I'm feeling bad about my sister. I behaved weirdly with her to make her believe, I'm upset with her. She must be disappointed as I left the house without any hint but I don't want to talk to her. It will lead me to trouble. I don't want to call her. I had switched my mobile off right away when I got into your car last night"

"I will get you a new sim card if you want"

She nodded ok.

"I can't use the old number anymore"

"Ok... I will get you a new number."

"I will give my adhar number"

"Ok, get ready, we are going to the recording"

She nodded ok and went to the next room that was her room to get ready.

..........

After a while,

A constable handed over the call list of Khushi's mobile to inspector Alexander. Alexander saw the list and frowned seeing the name of the last incoming and outgoing calls. It was from and to Arnav Singh Raizada.

To be continued...