It was a gloomy morning in Mumbai, the Sun struggling to make its presence known despite the grey clouds covering almost every inch of the blue sky.

His hands worked mechanically, as he transferred the boiling hot water from the stove into two cups. The coffee powder went into the burning liquid after one spoon of sugar and three teaspoons of milk.

Mohit walked further into the house, pushing the bedroom door open with his back as he balanced both cups of coffee in his hands. He'd already placed a small plate with a sandwich on the bedside table.

Sensing his presence in the room, Vandana stirred on the bed. Mohit rushed to her aid immediately, helping her up to a seating position. Even though she said nothing, he sensed her body flinch at his touch. His gut twisted, and a lump formed in his throat, but he gulped it down with all the effort he could put in.

Vandana didn't say anything when he seated himself by her side of the bed. He picked up the cup of coffee from the side table and held it out for her, she hesitated for only a fleeting moment, before taking the warm cup into her hand. Again, Mohit noticed how quickly she pulled her hand away because of their fingers touching for a second.

The sandwich had butter on one side, and jam on the other. It had been their favourite breakfast on days they both had forgotten to stock the fridge, and the days Vandana was too ill to cook. He would fill in with such weird sandwiches, she would eat them with acute fascination and then they'd laugh together at the stupidest forwards they'd receive on their chat messengers. Every time she would be ill, he would promise her that he would learn to cook proper meals. But every time, the promise would be forgotten with her improved health.

Vandana never complained, it had only led him to believe she didn't mind being the one handling the kitchen in their house. But even as he said that to himself, he knew he was lying. He'd been living in denial, turning a blind eye to her tired self, entering the house with him at similar odd hours and then working on the food aspect.

It hadn't made him feel too guilty before, but today, the messy sandwich seemed to trigger a lot of random memories.

Today, there was no laughter, there were no jokes and there were no empty promises shared. Vandana sipped her coffee and nibbled at her sandwich quietly. The rings under her eyes had barely faded, and the light but evident bruise on her wrist glared at him.

Mohit gulped, "I'll...be working from home for the next couple of days."

Vandana's gaze, which had so far been directed to the wall stirred for a second. He waited for it to land on his eyes, but they never did.

"Vandana I...I had to bring you back, I couldn't just let yo-"

She had tossed the quilt on top of her to the side by then, as she tried to hoist her body down from the bed. He could tell that she was trying her best to fight the weakness, but when she stood up on her feet, Mohit had to give her a hand to stabilize her. Her body froze this time, at his arm engulfing her frame from the side and his other palm on her wrist, his breath hitched too. He'd touched her on the bruise on her wrist.

His reflex was letting go.

Vandana took her time, but made it to the bathroom at last. She could see him eying her from the bed, his gaze hopeful, pleading, but her palms had shut the bathroom door on his face. Her back rested along the door. Vandana felt her tear ducts well up, her right hand twirling the ring on her left ring finger miserably.

She had never felt this claustrophobic in her own house. She worked on steadying her breathing, but her gaze landed on the mirror, and she felt a part of her resolve crumble. It was the same mirror she'd gazed at for minutes altogether; her heart beating in her chest as she'd prepared herself to take the pregnancy test. Behind her was the same bathroom door outside of which Mohit had kept begging her to open the door so that he could be with her when she found out the result.

By her side was the same bathtub along which he'd seated her as he'd kissed her with a breath-taking intensity upon realizing he was going to become a Father.

And now here she was; clueless, weak and petrified.

She'd left behind everything on the train. Her child, her bag, her...savings. Where could her daughter be? Would that boyish man take care of her or just...just-

Vandana felt her palms clamming and her knees buckling beneath her.

No, she had to hold herself together. She had to think of positive things in this situation. There had to be a silver lining. She racked her brains, trying miserably to think of something, someone who could help her.

But she could come up with nothing.

Her knees gave away at last, her body landing on the bathroom floor in utter hopelessness and despair.

She'd failed as a mother. She'd failed to protect her daughter.

***

"Aritro, are you okay?" Shantanu posed quizzically, worried by his lack of a response for over a minute now. When Aritro didn't respond still, he faced Mili helplessly, who herself looked quite visibly tensed.

She placed her palm on his shoulder, something gentle and caring about the gesture as she spoke calmly, "Deep. It's not your fault."

Shantanu felt his shoulders slump with realization. Aritro was blaming himself for this entire situation. This was not good. His self-pity wasn't going to help with the case in any shape or form. He needed him to be alert, and focussed.

Shantanu knew what would happen if neither one of them intervened. Aritro's guilt would cause him to spiral, to a point where he wouldn't even be able to rack his brains for any memory of the night on the train. This needed to stop.

"-let's get out of this house. Let's have dinner somewhere." He announced.

Mili did not even try to hide the disbelief in her eyes. He didn't have to be a cop to read through her expression and know that she thought he was crazy. He wanted to tell himself he didn't care what she thought of his move, but the words had already tumbled out of his mouth; sounding an awful lot like an attempt at a justification,

"Him and I...we're similar in some weird ways. I think he needs a change of air."

Before Mili could respond to that though, Aritro had cut anxiously, "I couldn't even recognize a man from a picture, Sir! I'm the last person who can help you with this case! It's a lost cause, I don't even-"His voice resonated in the living room, sounding so uncharacteristically dejected, that Shantanu felt a weird disappointment at the pit of his stomach.

"-shut up and get back up on your feet, Aritro. This is what dealing with any police case is like. Sometimes you're able to solve the case, and sometimes you're late. But you have to keep giving your best, that's all you can do."

Shaan was up on his feet now, his eyes focussed on Aritro. "Get up. Take a break from the brainstorming, have some dinner and then start racking your brains again. We have to get Vandana out of there, safe and sound. And we have to do it without any official help."

Aritro looked rattled, but shuffled in his seat and stood up on his spot too. Mili followed, her brows drawn together in deep thought.

Shantanu felt the urge to ask her what was on her mind, but dismissed the thought as quickly as it came to his head.

"Okay. Where should we go?" he heard Aritro ask.

***

Shantanu wasn't someone you would call tall, especially if you made him stand next to Aritro, who almost always managed to make heads turn by his six feet plus height and long legs. But when Shaan walked, there was always a weird wave of calmness that followed. He tried to tell himself it was all his imagination, but as he sat in the waiting lounge of the restaurant; his back resting against the comfortable couches as he absently scrolled through his phone for messages; he could sense Mili's gaze on him. She of course; didn't seem to realize she was doing it.

This wasn't the nice kind of gazing that she was doing. You know, the kind where you are certain that the person in question is finding you attractive. He hated to realize and subsequently admit to himself that he wouldn't have minded that sort of a look from her. But Mili seemed to have a weird hostility about her gaze, like Shantanu's presence was not something she appreciated.

It amused him more than it offended him.

While he'd always been known as a fair man, Shantanu was also known for his professional and no-nonsense image. Whoever managed to loosen up around him because of his caring and understanding aura, always retracted their steps when they took a closer look of the dramatic, thick moustache he sported; one that practically covered his entire upper lip.

He didn't care how outdated the moustache looked. It helped with interrogations and intimidating suspects.

In fact, he'd almost always had people getting intimidated and nervous around him till he would open his mouth and show them his warm side he reserved for people he wanted to help. Which is why, when Mili eyed him with such evident contempt, showing zero signs of fear or discomfort, he felt rather off about it.

Shantanu cleared his throat, alerting Mili. "You either don't like cops or I've personally messed up somewhere in the past two hours." He stated flatly, his eyes still trained on his phone.

She sounded surprised when she posed, "Excuse me?"

Shaan's gaze was now directed to his side, at Mili's purse, which he eyed with surprise. Aritro wore a locket of sorts at all times; well both times he'd met him. It was a random black thread with a rather off-looking bead in it. Shantanu had found it amusing. For a man who had a rather trendy sense of fashion; that locket had felt very out of character.

Next to him that instant, he saw that Mili had a similar keychain hanging from her purse. A thick, white thread this time, with the same kind of a bead hanging.

He felt a small smile of satisfaction touch his lips at his observation.

"You have this hatred in your gaze." He informed anyway, now looking up at her.

She looked taken aback, her bold, brown eyes seemingly vulnerable for a second. "I..."

Shantanu sensed a raw nerve somewhere, immediately adding, "No, I...I don't want an explanation. I just wanted to make sure that I didn't personally offend you in any way today."

His words surprised himself. They were so earnest, he must've sounded like a real softie to her. Urgh.

Mili pushed a chunk of hair behind the curve of her ear, looking away. "You didn't."

He didn't know why, but he felt relieved.

Aritro had still not returned from the washroom, and the restaurant manager had still not informed of an empty table. Obviously Bengalis went crazy with their Chinese dinners during Pujo.

"How do you know her?" he heard Mili ask, her voice extremely cautious with its neutral tone. It seemed to him that she wasn't sure if it was okay for her to ask him questions.

"Vandana, you mean?" he asked gently, to which Mili gave a short nod.

"We were in school together." Omitting the part about his messed up feelings for Vandana felt right, there was no way he was going to share something that intimate and close to his heart with a stranger. Moreover, his feelings for a married woman wasn't something he was particularly proud about.

Mili's eyes remained steady on his, and he could tell that she knew he had held himself back with more information.

"Um...what?" he questioned, feeling a weird heat creeping up to his cheeks. No one had seen through him in a long time. It was always the other way round for him.

When at the receiving end, Shantanu realized it was not a very good feeling; to have someone read you like an open book. It actually made you feel vulnerable...and...and naked.

The corner of her lip twitched into a small, understanding smile, he noticed. The hostility in her eyes had faded by the tiniest measure, as she informed, "Nothing."

Aritro waved at them from across the restaurant, pointing at a table. This lead both of them back up on their feet, as they started towards the table. Due to the crowd and shortage of room to walk for two, Mili took the lead and Shantanu trailed behind her.

He tried not to, but his male instincts were already busy making use of the opportunity of her back facing him; to take a proper look at her. The denims she wore accentuated her waist, and got loose towards the bottom. Even with her regular sneakers, Shantanu noticed a rather uncommon grace in her gait, it was spectacularly feminine and...attractive. He got the impression that whatever her profession was, needed her to either be in front of a camera or an audience for a majority of the time.

A dancer? An actor?

She didn't really look like a model to him.

"They're so packed today!" Aritro exclaimed, when they reached the table.

Mili and Shantanu seated themselves, acknowledging his statement wordlessly. The table was quiet until the arrival of the appetisers, when Mili broke the silence with,

"There's something bothering me, Sir."

Shantanu looked up from his chilli potatoes, getting a feeling this is what she had been thinking when they were leaving his house. "Hmm?"

"At your place, you said we have to get Vandana out of there without any official help. I'm curious, why can't we make this official and take help from the police? You can surely arrange something, right?"

Shantanu put his fork down on the plate, again, his disposition meant business. "I can't. We don't have a case here."

Aritro looked surprised, "What do you mean?"

"I sifted through all the documents in her bag. It contained everything, everything except a birth certificate of the child. First, we have no evidence to prove that the baby with you right now is her child." He paused, ensuring both Mili and Aritro were on the same page as him.

"Second, Aritro you saw Mohit run towards the train and Vandana admitted to be avoiding a man whose picture suggests it was Mohit. But did you actually see him take her away? Did you even see him board the train at all?"

Mili looked thoughtful, as though processing his words.

"Third, if Vandana would have wanted a police case taking her husband down, she would've told me so explicitly even if she couldn't muster up the courage to take help from the Mumbai Police. But she chose to keep half of the information from me, so I'm certain, just like most other Indian women in problematic marriages, Vandana doesn't want Mohit to end up in jail for forcing the sex determination of their child; that is if our theory is right and he actually did force her into it."

Aritro let out a breath of disbelief.

"We have no case." Shantanu stated flatly, "The only way to have one, is for Vandana to file a case against him and the gynaecologist in question, along with her testifying against both in court. Which, I don't think will ever happen."

There was pin drop silence for the next whole minute. Again, Mili was the first to break it,

"So...what are we going to do?"

Shantanu bit his lip, looking rather thoughtful himself. "We need to figure out a way to get in touch with Vandana and we have to be crafty about it."

"What's...on your mind?" she probed.

Shantanu popped a chilli potato in his mouth as he urged, "Let's have dinner first. I'll tell you both the rest after."

***

Any of you guys Lee Min Ho fans here? I had only watched 'Boys Over Flowers' among his works, that too back in the ninth grade. After that, I experimented with three other kdramas, 'The Descendants of the Sun'; after which I fell inevitably in love with Song Joong-Ki who I'd already seen in this other kdrama called 'Sungyunkwan Scandal'. Both these shows are GEMS.

I recently wrapped up watching 'Mr. Sunshine' which is a fairly new series; but oh my; kdramas just keep getting better. This show was about the Japanese occupation of the Joseon Empire in the early 1900s with the most beautiful characters I have ever stumbled upon. Along with the whole political depiction of the relations between Japan, Korea and America, the show literally TRANSPORTED me into that era. If you love, ever-consuming, hard hitting shows, this is MEANT for you.

Moving post my kdrama rant lol, do let me know your views about this chapter. I remember having a lot of fun writing about a peek into Vandana and Mohit's world, along with shedding more light on Shantanu's character.

Don't forget to vote and comment if you enjoyed reading. 

~kimayaa a.k.a. Ankita