At Shekhar's house, Shreya rang the bell.

She fidgeted a little. After all, she came without notice.

She did not know if her father was home. If she only wanted to relax with her mother, she should have come on a weekday. But, just a look won't hurt, she thought.

Lalitha opened the door and after a moment's realisation, she pulled Shreya inside and hugged her.

Shreya smiled in her mother's embrace.

When she looked up, she found her father staring down at them.

She stiffened.

Noticing this, Lalitha released Shreya as she invited the couple inside.

Lakshya greeted the couple. This was still new to him. He had only visited them a couple of times soon after the marriage.

They spent half a day there.

It was all small talk. Lakshya could feel himself trying to take away their awkwardness.

Then the four people had lunch together, after which Lalitha packed dinner for the young couple, and that was the end. That was all.

On their way out, still in the building complex, Lakshya asked, "You don't want to stay for a bit longer?"

Shreya's eyes stopped on him. Then she replied, "No."

"Did I make it awkward for you?" he asked, worried. He felt her parents spoke very little compared to Shreya or Shreekant. And she did not speak much with them either.

"No." Shreya walked in front as she pulled him along.

Lakshya gazed at her back and after a few steps, he took a stride and went beside her. He hugged her shoulders as they walked away.

∼•∽

That night Shreya spent quite some time in the guest bedroom looking at the note over and over again. The contents were the same. She had not added nor stoke off anything over these days.

She still contemplated everything, while at the same time, the peace she felt was addicting. That peace was settling deep within her.

To have nothing to worry... to be at complete peace felt nice. It felt beautiful and comfortable. And most of all deserving, and just, right.

She wondered about all the people in her life. Would they miss her? Would they hate her?

Her brother would probably hate her. Her mother would be sad for the longest time. Lakshya... would miss her too, perhaps. She should not have forced him to break up with Moksha. But eventually he'd move on. Slowly everyone would forget her.

There was a knock on the door.

"Open the door! What are you doing so secretively?"

It was Lakshya. Lately he seemed to be on edge. Or was it that she felt nervous and reflected it onto him? Whichever was true, she felt it was strange.

Shreya folded the paper and put it in her purse.

"Nothing," she said as she opened the door.

"Then why did you lock it?" She had never locked her door before. She did not have that habit. So this time it felt very intentional.

"Nothing... I was just looking at some of my stuff."

"You had to lock them away from me! What kind of stuff, hm?" Lakshya poked his head inside.

Shreya giggled and shook her head. His playfulness was nice. She could get addicted, but her mind was drunk on another addiction.

"What is it?" When she failed to answer, Lakshya walked in and looked around the room as he put his arm around her neck and pulled her face close. "A past lover's letter?"

Shreya grew to love the way he spoke. Now was also an instance just like that.

"I don't have anyone like that!" She laughed. She was at ease.

Lakshya sighed. "Fine then," he said and pulled her into their bedroom.

That night Shreya did not fall asleep. Laying beside Lakshya in the dead of the night, she looked at him for a long, long, long time.

She carefully touched her lips to his for a few seconds. One final kiss.

∼•∽

Next day was like any other until lunchtime. Lakshya then received a call from Shreekant. He walked away from his colleagues to take it. Normally Shreekant would send a message to him, so it was unusual.

"Hello."

There was silence on the other end.

"Hello? Shreekant, are you there?"

Shreekant finally spoke, "Who the hell is Moksha?"

Lakshya was shocked. He soon recovered but no words came to him. He had never thought he would have to defend himself in this regard. Shreya, his rightful wife, had not questioned him as if it didn't matter. Knowing her behaviour, he never prepared himself for this situation.

His thoughts became clearer though. Somewhere his bitterness for Shreya not holding him accountable lessened with Shreekant's questioning.

He remained silent as he carefully crafted his response. He did not want what had already passed to affect his marriage.

On the other side, Shreekant's mood was terrible. He did not know one casual swipe of his finger would uncover such an awful truth. When he opened Instagram, he found a follow request from a girl. He clicked on her username before accepting the request. Surprisingly, they had a common follower, Lakshya, and the account was a public one. There were quite a few photos there as well.

Those photos painted a different story. He could not help but scroll. It was tough not to, when his brother-in-law was clearly so affectionate with someone other than his sister. The dates made everything 10 times worse. A couple of the posts were more recent than his sister's wedding.

Without a second thought he called Shreya. He wanted to talk to her and make sure she was alright. He would not tell her about this infidelity. He would just have a chat with her.

But he could not.

He did not wait for Lakshya's response. He said seethingly, "Shreya's phone is switched off. That never happens. She does not do things impromptu, and coming to meet me two days ago... It's odd.

"I'll no longer take you as my brother-in-law, but I am asking you as a younger brother. You are one too, so you should understand how worried I am. Help me find her. I will take the next flight back. For the sake of us teaming up in all our game sessions, please help me find her."

Lakshya was utterly speechless. He could not believe this was the same boy who would cry to him when he got lonely and bullied by his peers. The extent of alienation in his voice was damning.

Lakshya knew for a fact that he might have gotten away with Shreya for his actions but he might not have that hope with Shreekant in this lifetime.

"Shreekant, it is not like that. I will tell you everything when we meet next, okay? Don't do anything harsh, and focus on your classes. In fact, Shreya knew everything right from the beginning, so don't worry," Lakshya said. But her being unreachable had already put him on an edge.

"She knew!? How blatant are you to make her suffer like that! It's my bad putting any hope in you. Damn you!"

Shreekant controlled his breath for a few seconds and spoke again. "I was the only one who read her mindless scribbles and I didn't want mom and dad to worry so they don't know jack shit. But okay. If you don't take my sister seriously, that's fine. I will tell my mother." Shreekant knew he was too tense to get his point across. His thoughts were all over the place at this point. How did Shreya cope up, or did she just not?

"No! Everything is past us now! Your sister will not like aunty or uncle knowing these. And... what scribbles?" Lakshya warned gently.

"Just find my sister, please. See that she is fine and that everything is just me exaggerating, please." This time Shreekant's voice shook. "Just find her."

"I... I'll get to her..." Lakshya was uneasy as he assured and Shreekant cut the call at once.

Lakshya stared at his phone. He wondered how Shreekant even came to know of Moksha. But more importantly...

Shreya was on his speed dial. He called her and put the phone back to his ear.

Indeed, it was switched off.

He returned to his colleagues.

"Everything alright? You don't look good." His team lead asked him. He had got up mid lunch, after all.

"I'm taking the day off." Lakshya packed up as his team lead side eyed him.

"I asked you what's wrong! Who gave you the permission to leave!? We still have a retrospective."

Lakshya did not bother replying. He went home first.

On the lift he kept calling her phone, but it was switched off. Last known location on maps showed the TIFR lab. He hoped she just forgot to charge her phone.

He sent her messages on every app he knew her to use. Maybe she was logged into one of them on her work PC. He did not spare to send an email either.

Once he entered the apartment, he went straight into the guest bedroom. Where could he find those scribbles?

At the same time he tried calling her colleague. Since he picked up Shreya everyday, he had made an acquaintance with Zahra. But Zahra did not pick up after the phone rang for a good while.

He opened the cupboard where she put her books. She had told him they were all important since these were the basis to prove that academic papers she published are her own work should they ever be called into question.

Lakshya pulled out the top most notebook and flipped through it.

The first thing that caught his attention was a shabby drawing. But there was a distinctly ominous feeling it gave off. It was very much like her favourite comic. That art style had quite a lot of fans. Perhaps she was just a fan like any other. That would be the best case.

He flipped a few more pages and he did find what Shreekant called her mindless scribbles. In a rather careless handwriting were the words, 'I don't get it.' On the same page were the words, 'What for?'

Few more pages later, she had written, 'Stop.'

Somewhere else, 'Enough.' Elsewhere, 'All because I-' That seemed incomplete.

In another book it was more comprehensive. 'I should not be here. I should not be anywhere. I should be nowhere. Why am I here?'

And these books dated way back in the years. Lakshya itched to see what she might have scribbled more recently. What she might have written because of him.

But that could wait. Shreekant worried for a reason. It was a hard pill to swallow, but it was the truth.

He called Zahra one last time as he ran down to the elevator and to his bike. He had to get to her lab as soon as he could.

∼•∽

Lakshya reached the lab in record time. He asked for her at the front desk. The guy told him to have a seat while he went inside the lab. Lakshya tried to take a peek when the door opened and closed, but there was not much he could make out of it.

The guy took a good ten minutes and returned with the news he feared the most.

"Did she check in today?"

"Yes. She is not in her seat at the moment. Maybe she is somewhere else in the lab. Please wait here."

"Can you check for sure that she is here?"

The man looked at him like he was a madman.

"Only the security department can do that."

"Look, I think she is missing. Please ask the security department to check."

The guy made a call and gave them Shreya's ID number looking into his monitor.

"They will check and let us know."

"What about Zahra? She sits beside Shreya. Did they go somewhere together?"

"Excuse me sir, I can only give you information about your family."

Lakshya waited on tenterhooks when his phone rang. It was Zahra.

"Hello. Is Shreya there?"

"Shreya was here. She ate less again and went off to feed the cats. She is yet to come back."

The cat alley! How did he not think of that? "Thank you."

"Why? What's going on?" Zahra asked just as Lakshya was about to cut the call.

He hesitated, but decided to tell her. "I am not able to reach her and I'm a bit worried. In fact, I'm really worried."

"Is it?" Zahra looked at the table beside her. "Well, her station is oddly clean if you ask me. Had I not known I'd have thought she left already.

"Are you sure she did not leave?"

"Well yeah... we were just working on something. She can't just up and leave in the middle-" Zahra opened Shreya's drawers as she spoke. Shreya never took her handbag to the cats. She left it in her draw.

"Hey, so her handbag, which should be here if she is feeding the cats, is not here. But her phone which should be with her is right here in her drawer."

Lakshya's heart raced. This was all too odd.

"Can you bring me her phone?"

"Are you out of your mind? I'm working right now! Did she mistake her phone for her bag?"

"I'm at the front desk."

"What? Oh! Really? Then okay."

Zahra soon came out and handed Shreya's phone to him.

Lakshya tried to switch it on, and to his dismay, it turned on. It was not discharged.

"She turned it off!" Zahra looked from the phone to him confused.

"Seems like that."

Even seconds ago Lakshya prayed that she left her phone because it was discharged anyway. But this confirmed that she intentionally turned it off.

Zahra was exasperated. "Yes, doing math all day is not fun, but how could she do this! Just this week, and we can be done with this project and go back to our usual work! I can't believe she left it all to me! That will give me an edge over her for the promotion! What's wrong with her?"

The reception man received a phone call just then.

He informed Lakshya that Shreya's card swiped at the main entrances twice that day. The very last time was more than an hour ago and she had exited the building.

Lakshya nodded.

"Zahra, we have to search for her. I will go to that alley. Can you look for her too? Where else does she frequent?"

"Are you kidding right now? It's bad enough that I should handle all the damn math myself, you want me to fall further behind my deadline?" Zahra did not think it was an emergency. There were days when Shreya would get lost in playing with cats for hours. She would call her and urge her to come back. So this was not that concerning to her.

"Sir, I think she will return soon. Don't worry, if we don't find her in the next 24 hours, we can tell the police." The desk guy asked.

"24 hours! Are you serious?" Lakshya glared at him.

"Before that it's a waste with the police. Maybe you are worried for no reason. Please have a seat there and wait." The guy pointed to a particular spot on the sofa.

Staying there was not going to help. Lakshya gave the guy his phone number and asked him to let him know if Shreya came back.

He then ran to the alley.

Zahra trailed behind him saying she had to catch Shreya for the sake of the project.

"May not be the best time to say, but she is worrisome." Zahra said.

"Why?" Lakshya's question was sharp.

"How do I put it? She was quite a crybaby. I'm not saying she is a pushover. Her brain is on a higher level when it comes to work, but she used to be quite reluctant to leave work and I have seen her cry a lot. No, I've seen her hide her tears actually."

Lakshya did not want to listen more. He was worried enough.

"What's the point of you searching the same place as I? Think of other places to search." He took off.

Behind him Zahra made a face and decided to search near the other labs. Perhaps she had to speak with someone regarding the project. While they worked together, they each had their own domain of work.

Lakshya reached the alley. It was empty. The road reflected the bright afternoon sun.

He approached the small shop. The old shopkeeper was dozing off.

"Ah, she came by. I don't remember if it was today or yesterday."

"Yesterday was a Sunday," Lakshya prompted.

"Then, she came. She did not buy any curd though."

"Which way did she go after that?"

"I did not see."

Lakshya called out her name twice. No one answered. If she... just in case if, would she answer? Probably not.

He decided against calling out and ran through all the nearby alleys.

He pulled out her phone. She did not carry any cash usually. So if she left her phone, the only other access to money would be her debit card.

He opened her banking app but found no transactions. That meant she could not have gone far. More than that, his intuition told him she had to be near. She was not someone adventurous. She liked calmness and given a chance, she would keep herself in familiar surroundings.

So right here, where could she be?

Lakshya went through all the alleys another time. But still he found nothing.

Looking around in desperation, he suddenly remembered the only abandoned building in the other street

A terrace... An ideal place to kill oneself.

But other buildings all have security.

If he does not find her in the old building, he will check all of these.

As he ran in, he checked her bank app again. Still nothing.

The building had 8 storeys and a lift that was long out of service. As he climbed the stairs his unease over the past two months made sense in some twisted way.

When he reached the last flight of stairs he saw a broken door that led to the terrace.

He caught his breath for a moment.

He climbed the last few steps and kicked the squeaky door open.

Someone was there.

Amid the grey surrounding, she was, dressed in white.

Shreya was right across from him. She sat with her back to the parapet wall and she was facing him.

She was wide eyed. Her hand shook and she hid something behind her.

Her reaction confirmed to him that she indeed planned to do the horrible deed. With each step he took, his fury only increased.

His worry was gone and looking at her, he was angry.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Lakshya wretched the object away from her hand despite her struggle.

It was a syringe.

"Did this get inside your body?"

Shreya did not answer. She said, "Why are you here?"

Lakshya pulled her to stand and dragged her off the terrace and down the stairs.

Maybe on the sixth floor, Shreya grabbed on to the rusted railings and resisted any more movement.

"Shreya!"

"Give that back. That's lab equipment!"

"Do I look like a fool?" Lakshya hurled the syringe away from here. It fell down and shattered.

Shreya's demeanour did not show any worry. It was more like the outcome was what she wanted. She even kicked the broken glass on their way down.

It was only on the first floor that Lakshya realised she grazed her palm on the old rusted railing all along.

"What the hell!" He took her palm away from the railing and turned it. It was bruised and blotched. Even bleeding a little.

"I didn't realise..." Shreya looked innocent.

Lakshya did not know what to say.

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing... But why are you here?"

"What was in that syringe?"

Shreya refused to answer. Her defiance was clear this time.

"Shreya! What was in that?"

"..."

"Fucking say it!"

"A drug to get high..."

"Say the fucking truth! What was in that?" Lakshya was frustrated and furious.

"Something to get high on. I thought no one would find me. What are you doing here?"

Lakshya slapped her across the face.

Shreya held her cheek, shocked.

Tears rolled down her face.

"What were you planning to do?" Lakshya was unmoved with her tears. His heart broke but he did not show it. His tone was aggressive.

Shreya did not look at him anymore.

Lakshya tried a few more times but he could not get any response.

He sighed without a sound as he took her face in his palms and her tears off. "Stop crying," he said.

He caught her wrist in one hand as he booked a cab to go to the hospital. Her hand needed medical attention. They could have rode on his bike, but he did not want to take a risk.

As he waited for the ride to be confirmed, his eyes caught her fiddling with her hand bag.

He snatched it and started rummaging to see if he could find another vial or something even more dangerous.

"No!" Shreya shouted as the force made her stumble.

"Why? You have more of your drug?"

Shreya latched onto her bag trying to pry it away from him. specks of blood got on her bag. "No..." She almost cried again.

Lakshya's heart ached but he could not show any weakness in this situation.

"Look at your hands. Stop pulling the bag." He did not even blink once as he stared down at her.

Shreya relented, praying he would not find the note.

But she heard a crinkle of a paper. A moment later, she heard it again. But in the end, he did not take it out. He closed all the zips and then held it in a raw fashion that the soft leather bag did not deserve.

"Don't touch anything until we get to the hospital," he warned.

∼•∽

A/B:
I need to know what you all think about this chapter. This is one of the most crucial points in the story, so please feel free and type out your thoughts! Means a lot to me. Thanks!