25th January 2019

It wasn't Arjun who walked across the street and climbed the stairs of the abandoned building ,it was Sanskar . He hid behind a name for so long that it was scary to own up to his name after so long. Arjun had been the closed off person who only cared about his family, but Sanskar cared about the little girl as he made his way towards the top.

Sanskar Maheshwari had been a recluse same as Arjun , when his parents died at the age of ten the life he knew changed and suddenly he was relocated to stay with his bade papa and his family. He left a huge part of him with his parents and Shona back then and he left whatever he had on the day he lost her .

With Shona ,he wasn't socially awkward and without her, he became the one who got shy around others . Not because he didn't have any thing to share ,it just he didn't want to try and make new friends. He foolishly remained loyal to her memory.

His bade papa waited two years for him to get over his parents death and when Sanskar refused to do so ,he was shifted to a boarding school . It was a relief actually to leave behind his bade papa family and that should have said much about him , much as he liked to stay in the school for Vacation . It wasn't possible ,so he spent the month in brooding silence .

The only person who managed to crack his self imposed exile had been Laksh . He didn't mind that Sanskar reply always had been with a single word ,he didn't mind when Sanskar was content to stay in his room with a book then play with him. And most importantly he didn't treat him differently .

Sanskar grew to love his bade maa and her ways. She wasn't like his mother who was quick to hug or be affectionate but in her own way she tried to be there for him . Sometime he couldn't imagine his bade maa as his mother sister . She liked being in control of the household and held on to the fact ,the Maheshwari have a reputation to protect .

And Sanskar was immensely relieved when he got admitted to Harvard . It was something his bade papa couldn't understand how a man incapable of stringing more than two words together got admitted to one of the best business school ,Laksh may have been younger then him by mere six months but Sanskar took a year off from his studies due to being sick back when he was with his parents.

So when his son failed to achieve that goal he set ,his bade papa had been disappointed but when his nephew surpassed his expectation . Sanskar expected he would be proud but all he heard from his bade papa was how he won't survive till the end when his social skill was lacking .

But Harvard was the place ,Sanskar learnt to find the person behind his shyness. It was supposed to be just like the boarding school where he had zero friends but Sanskar felt accepted among his colleagues. It started with him joining a book club only for fun and yet it was where he learnt his passion runs along the line of writing one .

He never once thought about his future before , he always walked in the line his bade papa set before him and the book club and the part time job in the Pizza shop where he worked as rebellion of sorts and it defined him . The pizza shop gave him a chance to interact with people without worrying about their judgments and the book club gave him the passion he had been missing from his life .

And he liked his new found freedom so much that he didn't visit his home once during the years in college and by the time he graduated and headed back home ,he believed his plan was set .That he will take over one of his uncle management division just like his cousin Laksh .

And was surprised when his bade papa insisted Sanskar start from the bottom pole of the organization and rise through the ranks on its merit . And even went as far as disinheriting him in the eyes of his colleagues by keeping the fact he was a Maheshwari under the wraps with only few of the top hierarchy aware of his existence .

No one was able to connect Sanskar the intern from the Marketing department to Sanskar the nephew of Durga Prasad Maheshwari. And yet it was where he met Adharsh who had been his boss even back then and since Adharsh had been a frequent guest in the Maheshwari house ,he was one of the few who was aware of Sanskar identity.

Adarsh didn't treat him differently of course ,but he was the first to offer a friendship of sorts and it was through their friendship he realized Adarsh wanted to prove his mettle on his own and not under his father shadow ,while Sanskar wished for his uncle acceptance . They often wondered the irony of each wanting to be in other shoes. And it was through his friendship, he got close to his family and that was how he met Sakshi .

The trip back through memory lane came to a abrupt stop when he reached the top floor of the building. Last night when he heard about the kidnap, all he knew was that he would do anything to save the child. So he did ,sent her a reply back begging her to let the child go. And he should have expected it but he wasn't prepared for her reply .

Dear Sanskar ,

I know you would ask me of that ,but I didn't went through all of this to simply let her walk away ,you come and take her back . I hope you know where to find us because the clock is ticking Sanskar. This time choose to do the right thing and don't regret it like last time because the man I knew will definitely do the right thing always . This is me giving you a chance to rewrite everything

Yours ,
Miss X

" What kind of answer is that " Pradeep asked him when he read the mail . Sanskar wished he didn't understand her but he knew what she was talking about , to him writing a book had been all about the character ,he didn't hesitate to make them as humanely as possible

The readers should be able to connect with the characters and not find them too perfect to exist, it was why he even went as far as using his own experience to write the sequence where a little kid dies because X ,his character choose to be with his wife for their anniversary that he took her out of town and he wasn't able to reach the kid on time . And it kind of defined the character

Where he choose to always do what is right at the expense of his happiness . It was mentioned in the book one to give a glimpse of his past and now by replicating the scene ,she wants him to rewrite the ending .

But the difference had been that it was fictional and right now she is playing with the people who are very much real ,he vaguely remembered the scene he described where the little kid died and yet he went over his bookshelf to reread them all over again .

" Find me all the abandoned building in the city ,and narrow it down by making sure the building once used to be a bakery . She is replicating all the scenes to the detail , this one happened in a bakery building which was abandoned for over a decade . And Pradeep get the information fast " Sanskar had asked pradeep ,who found the answer in less than 30 minutes. But there were three building matching the description .

The first two building had no sign of the little kid and Sanskar hoped against hope that she was alive and then his eyes found the couch  and the small bundle in it ,he rushed to the couch  and breathed sigh of relief when the bundle turned out to be the little girl who was kidnapped and to learn  she was sleeping .

    He tried waking her up but she didn't respond and he realized she had been drugged ,it made him all the more angry at her.

    He lifted the kid into his arms and climbed down the stairs in an hurry , as he held the little girl he felt the frustration he kept hidden resurfacing ,just how much more lives he wondered and he wasn't prepared for the flicker of cameras. He saw the swarm of reporters and realized her real mission had been to expose his identity.

" Are you Rajeev ..The man behind the Mask " , " did you find the person behind it " , " what did you give that her captor released her " , " why did you stay anonymous even when someone was killing other " the question kept coming and Sanskar froze in shock. He wasn't prepared to handle any of them but was glad when Pradeep came out of nowhere to answer in his stead .

Sanskar knew Pradeep and the police were following him ,and they had given him distance to make sure she didn't kill her . Sanskar didn't see any reporters when he went inside the building and he wondered how they reached in less than ten minutes ,but realized she must have planned it to detail. And she must be around ,his eyes flickered around everyone trying to see a familiar face.

" I know you want your headline but the little kid needs to go home first and then I will answer your questions " Pradeep had spoken and Sanskar eyes landed on Ragini who was looking at him with a smile that was meant to reassure it was going to be okay but he felt miserable that with one move ,she destroyed his peace.

He let Pradeep take the girl and drove back home ,the sight of swarming reporters before his house made him rush inside to find his daughter cuddled next to Pari and Dida looking at him with concern .

" Dad ,the calling bell keeps ringing " his little girl voice made him realize the extent of the destruction . Because his eyes was fixed on Pari ,she no longer can remain hidden with the reporters around, someone or other will take her picture if she so much as stepped out and he realized her life will be in danger .

Once again he was at cross roads because this time he knew he had to send her away for her safety but he realized his heart rebelled against it and he hated that it has nothing it do with how good she is with Asha and Dida but everything to do with how he will miss her .

He thought two heart break should have made his heart wise ,and yet it seemed like he hadnt learnt the lesson yet .

P.S : " That it for now. .Let me know your thoughts and Feedback. Hit the votes if you liked it

Juanita Reid