Laksh was adjusting the tie looking at his image in the mirror. He watched the time on the wall clock. He just had five minutes to leave.

"Laksh..." he groaned internally hearing her voice. Of course his wife had great timing. He stretched his lips to smile forcefully. Swara was all smiles when she looked at him. Laksh wondered what might be the reason for her happiness suddenly. One less minute. Internally he was freaking out.

"I am so happy" she hugged him and her baby bump stayed in between them and Laksh was already thankful to his unborn child for not letting him get suffocated by its mother.

"I wonder what made you so happy this morning wifey" he brought her out of the hug giving a weak smile. "You are so damn busy Laksh. You missed the first scan of our baby yesterday. The doctor said the baby is good and healthy" she squealed happy. Laksh's eyes lit up hearing it. "That's a great news. But you know now the whole responsibility of the company is on my head and I am struggling underneath it to even breath" he said acting tired.

"Are you okay Laksh?" she asked concerned. "I am fine. And I have to hurry up now getting late for a meeting" he kissed her forehead and walked towards the door. Swara sat on the pouting and Laksh left a breath of sigh as he closed the room door behind him. "Argh.. why is she so clingy" he set his dress and hair again and quickened his steps. As he rushed down the stairs he glanced at his watch and his eyes boggled out. He is gonna be late.

"Laksh... breakfast" Annapurna called. "I will have in the office maa" he replied and walked to the exit. Annapurna nodded her head and her eyes landed on Sujatha who was lifelessly staring her food. How will a mother even think of surviving when all she has nobody. Annapurna walked and sat beside Sujata and she looked around startled searching for someone. Probably any one of her kid. But reality hit her and a drop flew down her cheek. She inhaled a sharp breath looking at her plate again.

"Jeeji" she hugged Annapurna for strength and let out some more tears. Nothing was helping to reduce her feeling of hollowness. Annapurna could just rub her shoulder to calm her for the moment. But she knew as soon as the memory flashes again she will be a weeping mess one more time.

You cannot feel the pain of a person who has lost someone. Specially a mother who lost her child. More than anyone else she gets affected. It feels like her soul has been ripped out and burnt. It feels like there is this black hole which is sucking her life slowly. Never ending sorrow, never stopping tears, the whole body feeling sore and feeling like you lost all the hope. That what was left with her.

Sanskar flinched in his place as a wave of sadness hit him. Though he was miles away from his mother he could still feel her tears and it only worsened because he was not even able to witness it. He snapped out and looked at the laptop screen where some pie chart lied and he temporarily had no idea what was it for.

He did not wanted to come out of his home for the same reason. He was not in his right senses to concentrate on anything. But his wife was too stubborn to let him face the world which had no idea of his loss.

Every morning he sat in his bed fighting her not to force him she just made sure he did not stayed home cursing himself for a sin he never committed in her point of view. But for Sanskar he had killed his sister. He should have acted more sanely that night instead of losing his cool. His anger cost him his baby sister's life. He feared that the fire of his anger will snatch others also from him and he will left out alone.

He had sure felt the pang of loneliness years ago. And he hated it and now after being with the family and finding his true love again he sure had no courage to experience the pain again. He feared of losing. He feared of not his life but someone who was more than his dear life.

The time never promised a planned destiny to anyone and it did the same to him too.

"Sir" his assistant's voice brought him out of his thoughts again. "Shreya can you please wind up the meetings for today. I don't feel like attending any of them" he rubbed his forehead. His assistant nodded her head with a formal smile and walked out of his cabin with the file she had brought.

Sanskar's head slipped and landed on the glass table. It would be an understatement if we sat he was beyond frustrated. He did everything according to the plan till now. Kept away his wife from his so called plan. Everything perfect like following the manual while you do the experiment. Then why did things turn out this way. Where did he lack in planning.

Why was he blank suddenly? All the puzzle pieces laid scattered and he wasn't finding a way to fix them.

"Your wife is following you"

He opened his eyes suddenly startled. "They knew my every move and they knew Ragini was following me before even I realized it. And the camera in my room could only help them to know Ragini came out of the room. How will they even know she was following me?" his eyes grew wider.

He grabbed the keys of his car and sprinted out of his office.

***.***

Laksh hyperventilated as his lungs required more oxygen due to the running. He held his knees and panted for breath. He looked at his watch again. It was at the position one minute more than the time he should have reached the place.

"You are late" the female in front of him spoke. "I...I tried" he could only reply in minimum words. She adjusted her glasses and Laksh could feel her rolling her eyes behind her shades.

"You only try. And never succeed" she sharply replied. "I am sorry alright" he stood up straight and still panting. "What you ran from your home straight?" she gave him a weird look.

"I ran from the ground floor by stairs and this is the fifth floor" he placed his hand over his chest. "Whatever" she moved forward and Laksh followed her. They stood in front of the glass door which had a board "Khurana Industries"

"This is the one?" he asked. "This is the one" the woman replied. "What are we waiting for?" he asked.

"The right moment" she smirked and he looked at her confused. A group of foreign clients were walking and the woman slipped into the crowd and signed Laksh to join. There was some kind of expo going on in the office. Laksh complied and stood behind her.

"I still think we should rethink about this" he whispered. "I don't have time to do so" she replied.

As everyone was busy looking after the models Laksh slipped inside a cabin. He looked around if anyone could see him. When he made sure nobody was looking he inserted the pen drive in the laptop. It asked for a password. He thought for a moment and typed a name guessing and to his surprise the laptop unlocked. He copied the files quickly and removed the pen drive. He looked around slowly and slipped out of the cabin.

He walked to the woman who was talking to someone. "Did you do that?" she whispered. "I did" he said containing his excitement. "I hope you followed the protocol" she whispered. "Urgh... I did" he lied. And she so knew he lied when he hesitated.

"What did you not follow?" she hissed. "I forgot about the camera" he gulped in scared. "And you are so cool about it moron. Quick we have to leave this place soon" she deadly whispered and Laksh nodded his head.

They quickly moved to the door and relaxed once they were out of the door. "There" a woman shouted pointing at them. "Run quick" Laksh ran from there with the woman. "Change" she said and Laksh rushed to the men's washroom and she to the women's washroom.

The guards were looking around for the people their boss told them to chase.

Laksh who had removed his wig and funky coat looked like any other normal businessman. He stood out of the building. And she stood beside him adjusting her hair and looking at her salwar which was wrinkled. "We were about to die" he whispered and she looked at him weirdly.

"Really Devar ji. That's all you care about?" she asked and Laksh turned to look at her.

"Tell me again why are we in this together?" he asked crossing his arms. "Because I don't know" she shrugged her shoulders and walked from there leaving Laksh to fume.

***.***
So what's happening any clue?

What did Sanskar discover?

Guess guess and guess.

Love

Sally 😘