Hi ya! Back with another chapter. Hope you like it! ❤

Moving on...💃💃💃

"Words in double quotes." - Talking

'Words in single quotes.' - Thoughts

(Words in braces) - Phone conversations.

Chapter 49 - Cousins or Killers?

Prasanth was currently trying to free himself.

He  was still confused as to why his captors had run out like bats out of hell earlier. Nevertheless, he decided to look for ways to escape.

As he sat there then, he heard some dripping.

Soon he realized that there was a leaky pipe nearby. Although he was tied to the chair, years of training helped him move himself and the chair towards it. He managed to completely wet the ropes that bound his hands behind him on the chair and soon, moved back to the original place to avoid suspicion. Now that it was slippery, he struggled to free his hands from the ropes.

Prasanth had heard some girl's voice earlier, taunting him, but he kept quiet. Soon she was pulled away by someone. He wished he could at least get some hint on who they were.

However, it was good that she left. He could work on his plan to escape. He was busy trying to slip his hands through the ropes, when he heard them re-enter. He got alert and acted like his hands were still tightly tied behind him.

Suddenly, he felt a guy and grab his collar in a vice grip.

"Tell me why you are after Ragini! Who else is working with you?" Ansh spoke from behind the mask in a fake accent so that Prasanth doesn't recognize his voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Besides, it looks like you are the killers who are after me. Ironic that I'm being termed the bad guy here." Prasanth taunted. He could tell his captors that he was actually protecting Ragini. But he didn't think he could trust his captors with that information and thought of keeping them in the dark.

"Don't act smart!" Ansh decided to take a different approach. "If you don't answer me, then your two partner in crime, Samay and Nikhil, will be next on my hit list!"

Both Ragini and Prasanth gasped at that.

Ragini turned to Karan. "What is he saying?! My cousins would never do anything to harm me! How could Ansh think this way?" she whispered.

"We've seen them meeting secretly with Prasanth. And with how they have been acting recently, we have doubts on them."

"But that doesn't mean they would harm me! I refuse to believe it!”

"I think we will find out the truth soon. And as for Ansh accusing them? He  isn't 100% sure if your cousins are responsible for it or not. He is just talking like that so Prasanth reveals something."

Prasanth, on the other hand, was thinking over the things. 'He said he knows about Samay and Nikhil working together with me. But.... But maybe it's just a trick of his to find out the truth, to make me talk.'

"Only thing I know is that they are technicians."

"Is that so?" Ansh took out Prasanth's phone and checked the messages. "You've messaged them more than I can count. And there are message which had been sent months ago! How do you explain that?"

'Looks like the cat's out of the bag.' Prasanth looked at Ansh's direction in anger. "Fine. We're working together. How did you come to know about us? Who told you?!"

Ansh paid him no attention. Instead, he turned to look at Ragini and his sister. He wasn't surprised to see their devastated looks.

Both loved their cousins so much and yet...yet they are the ones who wanted to kill Ragini. He couldn't imagine how much pain she was in right now.

And as for his own sister…he already had a hunch that she liked Nikhil. He felt issues at Nikhil for breaking her trust. Locking up the room, they came outside.

Kriti was trying to console the sisters, but with little success.

"No! I still refuse to believe it. They can't be the ones to do this. They just can't!"

Ansh grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him. "All those times....how they were at the pool after you almost drowned the previous day, them visiting the library... it all makes sense now. They were the ones who caused it. Don't you see? Why are you trying to deny the truth?!"

No matter how much Ragini wanted to drown out Ansh's voice, his words kept ringing in her head. Even though she didn't want to believe it, everything was pointing towards Nikhil and Samay as the culprits.

"I... I need to leave. I want to ask them why they did this. Why did they break my trust like this?! How... How could they do this to me? I trusted them with my life and..." Ragini couldn't continue amidst her tears.

"You can't reveal the truth Ragini. They might attack you at that instant!" Laksh pointed out. He would have continued speaking if it wasn't for his phone ringing. He went aside to attend the call.

"I don't care! I need to know why they betrayed me, my family! I want to know why they played with our emotions!"

Karan tried to calm her down. "It's not only that Ragini. It might have something to those people wanting the chip. If you confront them, they might form some new plan which will cause more trouble."

"Fine! I won't reveal the fact. But I need to meet them. Please let me go."

Ansh nodded and loosened his grip on her. He watched her go out of the room. 'Stay safe. Sanskar will kill me if anything happens to you.'

Ansh sighed and looked at Saara. It seemed that Kriti would be the best person to comfort her at that moment. He signaled Kriti to take her away. Kriti nodded and moved out with Saara.

"Ansh, there is a problem." spoke Laksh, approaching them. "Your father said that someone was trying to hack into his database. I'm sure it is Samay and Nikhil, trying to find out details on Prasanth."

"Samay and Nikhil? I thought they were ordinary technicians." spoke Karan in confusion.

Ansh shook his head. "No Karan. We did some digging and found out about them. They are programmers like us. We thought we were the best out there, but they surpass us by a long shot."

"Shit! Let's go."

#City Hospital#

He struggled hard as his captors held him down. "No! Let me go! Don't kill me! Let go, let go!" However, his cries were ignored. His worst nightmare was coming to life.

"Hold him still. Don't let him escape." spoke the leader. He came near with his weapon, which Sanskar termed 'weapon of death'.

"Let go! Keep that away! No no Nooo!" he howled in fear. "Nooooo! NO!"

The others sighed.

"You can stop screaming now Sanskar. It's over." spoke the main person.

Sanskar stopped abruptly. He slowly and carefully opened his eyes. "It's over? I...I didn't die?"

"It was just a little injection Sanskar. I can't believe a grown up like you is afraid of it, to the extent of calling it 'weapon of death'! Who does that?" 😑 spoke the doctor.

He signaled for the nurses to leave Sanskar as he finished giving him the injection.

"I do!" Sanskar glared at him with all the energy he had. If looks could kill, the doctor would be lying in a pool of his own blood.

The door opened and Ragini silently walked in. She originally planned to meet her cousins. But she wanted to make sure Sanskar was okay.

"Hey Ragini. Nice to see your face amidst the torture they're making me go through."

"Ungrateful brat." shaking his head, the doctor left.

"Hey Sanskar." Raginj gave him a small smile. However, it didn't reach her eyes. Sanskar could at once tell that something was wrong.

"Um...if you all are done, could you leave us alone please?" he spoke to the nurses.

"Yes. But I have to give you another injection 3 hours later. Till then, don't cause any trouble."

"Oh come on! No one would know if you skip one injection. I'll give you a big autograph of mine. Let's cheat once, eh?"

"No use trying to bribe me Mr. Maheshwari. I will give you the injection either you want it or not." 😒

Sanskar glared at her. "I swear I'll sue your hospital once I'm out for torturing me with those injections." 😡

She rolled his eyes at his threat. "Whatever. Let's go girls."

Ragini and Sanskar watched as they left. Soon, they were the only ones left.

"Ragini, what's wrong? Tell me."

She didn't speak anything. She just moved towards him and sat on the chair beside the bed. Her eyes seemed dead to him. The eyes which shone in happiness, twinkled with excitement, sparkled in mischief, glistened with tears...were now completely dead.

"Sanskar I...I want to forget somethings."

"What?"

She looked up with a broken look. "Teach me how to not feel. Teach me how to not care. Teach me how...how to forget the things that are etched to my mind."

"You're scaring me Ragini. Please...tell me clearly what's wrong. I can't help you if I ca-"

Before he could speak more, she surged forward and pulled him into a hug.

Sanskar closed his eyes, enjoying their closeness.

"Awww...is the lioness becoming a kitty in my love?" Sanskar joked, trying his best to bring her into a good mood. He hated seeing her sad.

"Sanskar just...just hold me. I just...I just need a hug right now. Don't refuse me please."

His playful mood disappeared at her words. Bringing her closer, he held her tighter. "I would never refuse you. But I can't see you like this either. Tell me what's wrong. I'll make it alright Ragini. You don't have to suffer alone. I'm here for you... I'm here for you."

His words finally hit home and Ragini broke down crying in his arms. To say he was shocked would be an understatement. The way she was crying, it... it felt like an animal whimpering miserably. He could actually feel the pain inside heart from just seeing her cry. With each whimper, he could feel his own heart breaking.

"Ragini, what happened? Just tell me, please! I beg of you."

"All my life, I've... I've been living a lie. My whole entire life, I lived thinking my cousins loved me like their own sister. But...but it was all fake!"

As Sanksar questioned her more, she eventually told him everything...pouring her heart out to the only one she thought she could trust, the only one she knew who could mend her broken state.

#Later...Central Park#

(I'm right here okay? Don't be afraid.)

Ragini sniffed and nodded, although she knew Sanskar won't see it over the phone. "Thanks for lightening the burdening my heart. I...I think I have the courage to face them now.

Ragini turned as she heard the sounds of bikes approaching. Bidding Sanskar bye, she turned to them. 'I'm finding out the truth. Once and for all!'

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To be continued...

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~ 🌹 Mona 🌹