-• and watch you get buried •-

Sara closes the door of her car, pocketing the keys as she makes her way to the elevator. Her phone starts ringing before she can step inside. She fishes it out of her purse and answers the call. "Hello," like soft velvet, the mellow tone floats into the empty parking lot, echoing back just as softly.

"Ms. Rajawat, I'm ACP Arjun Rathod. We met yesterday in the hospital, regarding Mr. Sehgal's attempted murder. I reckon you remember?"

She catches the dangling keys in her palm. They jingle. "Of course, I do. How may I help you?"

"We need you for questioning. Please be here in thirty minutes."

"Is that an order?"

"Unless you plan to defy, it's a request." He says.

Dark red lips smile. "I'll be there."

"Thank you. I'll see you soon."

"You're not escorting me personally? What if I run away?" She asks in a whisper, as if stricken with wonder at his benevolence.

"Do you have anything to hide?"

"Nope." She says innocently.

"Then I'm trusting you."

She scoffs out a chuckle. She noticed the two cops keeping an eye on her ever since she stepped out of her apartment building this morning. But she shall entertain the man if that's what he wants. She knew she should expect a call after seeing him indulged in a conversation with her ex-husband yesterday. Sure, she's blind in revenge, but only metaphorically. Her eyes see everything, ears hear everything.

Tone hardened, she speaks into the phone, "I'll be there in thirty." Hanging up, she shoves the phone in her purse and returns to where she parked her car. Sinking into the warm leather, she turns on the ignition and pulls out of her parking spot, driving out of the building premises instantly. On her way, she drops a message to the Chief Editor that she'll be clocking in for half day because she's summoned to the police station regarding the Sehgal's case. Her boss will understand. It's all over the news now, Sara is sure every waking person of this generation and nationality is aware of it by now.

Reaching the station, an officer escorts Sara into the interrogation room where she sits waiting for the ACP overseeing the high-profile case personally. She lifts her head when the door opens and the man walks in, pulling himself a chair across the desk and settling down. She looks towards the big window encompassing half of the wall on her right and smiles, greeting the people on the other side watching and recording her every mannerism.

"I'm surprised you didn't bring a lawyer."

Sara frowns, looks back ahead. "Lawyer? Why? Am I getting arrested? For a crime I'm not even aware of? Is someone using me as a scapegoat?" She leans in, bracing her arms on the desk.

"No," he says.

She shrugs and leans back. "Then why should I bring a lawyer along? I'm here for questioning. Ask away," she motions with her hands.

"The morning this incident happened, where were you?"

"I was on my way to the office. Then I received a call from Vaidehi and I quickly headed to the hospital."

He gets up and places the chair back in its place, pacing back and forth. "How is your relationship with Madhav Sehgal?"

Sara purses her lips thoughtfully. "Civil."

"Civil?" Arjun looks down at her. "I expected a lot more considering the history you share with him?"

"Because my sister was married to him?" She tilts her head to the side. Snorting, she shakes her head. "I wasn't fond of him."

"Why?" He questions further.

"My sister was the only mother figure in my life and the only family member I was close to. Then she was married off at the age of twenty. I was only fourteen at that time. As a child, I felt envy towards her husband. I couldn't bring myself to like him."

"How was his behaviour towards your sister?"

"I don't know. Told you, I was young. Very young."

"How did you discover your sister's corpse? I heard you were sitting next to her when the entire house had been burned down."

Sara clenches her jaw. "Maybe I should have brought a lawyer?" She says mockingly. "That has nothing to do with this case, so I won't be answering that question. Next."

He sighs and picks up a file he had brought along with himself and slips out a paper. "Your flight details. You returned to India very recently. Only a month ago. And now you're best friend's with Mrs. Sehgal. Is that a coincidence?"

Sara nods. "It is."

"How? By intentionally going to a party you weren't invited to?"

Sara bites on her lower lip.

Yuvraaj. That rotten chameleon.

"My cousin needed a plus one. His wife wasn't available. I tagged along."

"Even after knowing Mr. Sehgal wouldn't be happy to see you? Which he wasn't as I've heard."

"Yeah, he always had problems with me. He used to think I'm brainwashing my sister into divorcing him. It never fazed me."

"I thought you said you don't remember his behaviour towards your sister?"

"That's exactly what I said. I'm talking about his behaviour towards me, Officer." She deadpans.

He sits down on the chair and leans in, arms draping over the desk, hands interlacing in the middle. "Why did you go to the party, Ms. Rajawat? A party you weren't invited to. A party you weren't welcomed to."

"Karan Sehgal." She murmurs.

He frowns. "The youngest son?"

She nods. "I was closest to him when my sister was alive. I liked him. Could never tell him. I was married off to a man I never loved. When I returned to India, I found out he's still single. I wanted to meet him. Check if I still feel something for him."

"Do you?"

She smiles coyly. "Again, the question has nothing to do with this case."

"How did you become best friends with Vaidehi Sehgal in such a short time?"

"We met at the swimming pool of the Ooty resort. I've been following her blogs for years now. I'm a fan of her writing. We met and I expressed my appreciation towards her talent, suggesting she must publish her books one day. She told me nobody's supportive of her dream. I introduced her to a publisher who's an old friend of mine. I was only intending to help, but maybe she was lonely and in need of a friend. I didn't mind. I needed one too."

"So your coming back to India, going to that party in hopes of rekindling your unrequited love, meeting Vaidehi, becoming friends, making frequent visits to the Sehgal mansion, it's all a coincidence?"

"It isn't?" She questions rhetorically.

"I don't think so." He says bluntly.

"Then what is it?" The question comes out genuinely confused. She suddenly clicks her fingers. "Fate! It must be fate!"

He looks at the woman keenly. She's so beautiful. So perfect. Her tone, her eyes, her mannerisms, her expressions, her words, and the alibis proving her words, are all too perfect. But that's exactly what unsettles him. Nothing should be too perfect.

Perfection is an illusion, and illusions are fake.

"If we're done here, may I leave? I need to go back to work. We all need to earn our keep after all." She smiles.

He nods, getting up and opening the door for her. She stops at the doorstep, in front of him. "Get the cops off my back. I'm an honest citizen of this country. I won't run away, I don't have a reason to. You can call me whenever you need me."

He breathes out exasperatedly. "They're just doing their job."

"Well, they're lousy at it." She snorts and saunters off.

Arjun stows his hands in the pockets of his khakee, staring at the woman that walks away, an enchanting sight in white, so easy to talk to, just as complicated to understand.

"Yahi hai kya, sir? (Is it her, sir?)"

He peels his eyes off. "Retrieve the tail on her." He walks to his office, the doors swinging after him. His subordinate rushes inside behind him, perplexed at the order received.

"Is she off the suspect list?"

Arjun sits in his chair, retracing the conversation that transpired between him and the woman in the interrogation room. She was too casual about it, not nervous, didn't even care or was offended that she was considered as a suspect. Starkly different from the woman he interrogated last night.

Asha Sehgal could barely get a word out of her mouth. The only thing she screamed through her incessant sobbing was that she doesn't know anything. And Arjun had always trusted his gut feeling. His gut feeling said Asha Sehgal is innocent. Her anguish, her grief as a mother is real.

But.

There is countless evidence proving her as a convict. None concrete found against Sara Rajawat. He didn't even think of her as a suspect until his conversation with Mr. Chauhan. Leaning back in his chair, hands interlaced thoughtfully, he releases a sigh of defeat.

"Sir?"

He looks up at his junior.

"Just do as I say." He dismisses the man out of his office. "And call Mrs. Sehgal for questioning. Leave."

Doors swing close with the man's exit.

Sara walks out of the station, swinging her keys merrily as she makes her way towards her car. She glances at the station over her shoulder, smiling softly. They can target her all they want, their bullet will always miss its mark. She has spent over two decades calmly webbing the threads of her vengeance, it's perfect and no one can see through it.

Sliding inside her car, she checks her wrist watch and reads the time. She still has two hours left before clocking in at the work at half-day's mark. She pulls the car out of the driveway and heads towards the hospital.

Outside Madhav Sehgal's room, she bumps into Vaidehi.

"Thank God, you're here." The woman grabs her hand and drags her out of the guard's sight, down the staircase. "They called me for questioning." She tells Sara.

"Are you nervous?"

Vaidehi swallows. "A little."

"Is there anything to be nervous about? Any mistake? Any evidence they can be traced back to you?"

Vaidehi shakes her head. "I used an alias when illegally smuggling that compound."

Sara smirks. "Alias?"

Vaidehi nods. "Once the cops find out, she's in for the rest of her life."

"How are you so sure?"

Vaidehi smiles. "How do you think Madhav's grandfather died so abruptly a month after he chose his young grandson as his heir?"

Sara's eyes light up. She had underestimated this woman greatly. While she made sure nothing could trap her, she didn't bother paying attention to the details Vaidehi put in her plan, for they didn't matter to her. But Vaidehi is a lot more meticulous and smart.

"It's over for the Sehgals." Sara mumbles, victory so sweet in her mouth, she feels it spread through her body.

Vaidehi nods. "It's over for them, but it's just the beginning for my son and I."

"Of course." Sara agrees with a smile. "I've fixed a meeting with Rudra this week. Let's take care of the business foremost."

Vaidehi nods determinedly. "Sure. I'll go now. See you later."

Sara pats her shoulder in assurance, watching her descend the stairs to the floor down. Then she turns and heads upstairs, entering the VIP room Madhav was admitted in.

Attached to wires and tubes, the almost lifeless body elicits a sigh of relief from Sara. She drags a stool near the bed and settles down, sending a smile to the guard watching over the patient inside the room. He nods back.

"Any positive improvement?" She asks him.

He shakes his head.

"Poor man," she sighs pitifully and looks at Madhav. "He's known to be quite a philanthropist, you know? He adores kids." She smiles fondly. "I hope he wakes up soon to witness his son grow up. He deserves it."

She gets up from the stool. "I should leave now. Please look after him." She smiles at the guard. "Let's pray he wakes up soon," she looks down at the unconscious body, her smile dropping slowly.

I want him to know who did this. I want to watch him suffer more. And I've a question to ask.

"Have a great day," wishing the man, she walks out of the room and takes an elevator to the ground floor.

Unfortunately, she crosses paths with her arch nemesis right in the parking lot of the hospital. Ignoring the mountain of a man, she strides towards her car and unlocks it.

"How did the questioning go?"

Her head whips over her shoulder. Eyes narrow in glare. "I'm not even surprised you already know."

She would have had the least involvement in this case as a mere spectator if this good for nothing ex husband of hers hadn't stuck his foot in between.

He chuckles darkly. "Told you, little rebel. I can see through you so easily. And I know, I know for sure it's you who did this to him."

She pockets her keys and turns, leaning against the car door. "Your opinion is both vindictive and personalised, there's no concrete base to it. It's all in the air." She waves her fingers in the air.

"And if I prove it?" He challenges.

"Be my guest." She looks him dead in the eyes, not at all fazed.

"Let's start now, it has something to do with your dead sister. I take it the housefire wasn't an accident? Was she set on fire intentionally?" She stiffens, not because he got it right, but at the blunt, unempathetic mention of the person she lost so cruelly to the heavens. "How many points do I get?" He smiles.

She clenches her hand tightly. "Congratulations. You passed with flying colours. Your mumma will be so proud of you." She taunts back, smirking when she sees him go cold. "Oh sorry, my mistake. She could care less about you, she was too busy drowning you."

Yuvraaj snaps.

"Sara!" He growls, wrapping his hand around her throat and slamming her into the car behind. "Shut that mouth, you spiteful wench!" He snarls in her face.

Sara chokes out a breath, grabbing his wrist and fighting back to her capacity. He easily overpowers her. She can do nothing but gasp at the scrapes of breaths her lungs struggle to inhale.

He breaches the last inches of distance between them, loosening his hand so she's able to breath. Sara sucks sharply. "Unlike you, little rebel, I don't need to lay traps to catch a prey. I can shoot you dead in the centre of your forehead and nobody will question me."

"Be-because you can bribe the law?" She stutters, still not backing out.

He pulls away.

Sara crashes to her knees and heaves long, elongated breaths.

"No, because I own it."

Putting on his sunglasses, he pockets his right hand and strolls back to where his Mercedes is parked.

She lifts her head, feathers her fingers over the sensitive flesh where he choked her and watches his car drive out of the parking lot of the hospital. With great efforts, she manages to get back on her feet and slide into her red Bentley. Dropping her head back on the seat, she exhales deep breaths, trying not to think about him or the past he dug out of her miseries so mercilessly.

Flashes of those nightmarish memories run past her closed eyelids.

The scent of charred ashes penetrates her lungs.

Her chest starts to rise and sink heavily.

Her hands fumble as she lowers the window, shoving her head out and breathing deeply.

Once calm, she ignites the engine and pulls out of the parking lot, rejoining the busy roads of Jaigarh. At the signal, she grabs the opportunity to look at herself in the mirror. Her eyes grow wide at the sight of finger imprints around her throat.

"Shit." She quickly digs through her purse, thanking the heavens when she finds a scarf inside. Tossing it around her neck, she ties a knot, looking back at her reflection in the mirror and fixing it.

As she goes to flip the visor, reflection of a familiar car behind her stops her. She has been seeing that car a lot since this morning. When the signal turns green, she keeps her eye on the car, checking if it's following her, and for the first few turns, it does. But then she loses its sight and releases a breath of relief, shaking her head at her stupidity. The incident with Yuvraaj has just made her paranoid, nothing else.

Parking her car in the basement of her office building, she steps out and makes her way to the elevator, busying herself in work for the rest of the day. This month is almost over. They need to get a headstart on next month's edition.

She returns home at seven in the evening. The sight in the living room makes her escape to the kitchen awkwardly. She fills herself a glass of water and turns, leaning against the kitchen counter as she takes slow sips.

"When are you sending that kid back to his home?" Virat inquires, stopping at the threshold as he eyes his niece curiously. "Shourya keeps complaining that he has to babysit the kid all day."

Sara flips the glass upside down in its cabinet and nods, "Soon."

She leaves the kitchen, avoids looking at Shourya and Vishal in the living room, and heads to her room. Closing the door, she grabs her burner phone from the drawer and calls Mrs. Dave.

"Hello,"

"Hello, ma'am. I was waiting for your call."

"Keep Advait at summer camp for a little longer. Things need to settle down here first so your exit appears normal. Especially now, since the cops are involved."

"Okay, ma'am. I've waited over ten years. A few more weeks isn't a problem."

"I'll let you know when the time is right." Saying that, she hangs up, walking towards the window to close the blinds. Her uncle believes the room needs ample sunlight and air to make it livable. She likes them closed, prefers the dark.

Grabbing the blinds, she goes to yank them close when her eyes fall to the car parked at the side of the road in front of her apartment building.

It's the same car.