-• d-day •-

It's a possibility.

Inayat Rizwan still being alive is a possibility. But if this turns out to be true, it'll either put an end to everything we've dug up so far or open a whole new chest of secrets. And I'm down for both. No matter how wild, ridiculous and complicated this case gets, I'm never giving up. I want to get to the root of it.

"Ayush, take them to the library. I'll join you guys after grabbing my laptop from the room."

He nods, leading the group towards the library. I unlock the door to my room and push it ajar, flipping down the onward door stop with my foot to keep it open and move towards my desk. Pulling the drawer open, I take out my laptop and bend to look inside for the charger.

"Don't you think that's far fetched?"

I glance up to see Shourya leaning against the door jamb.

"What?" I ask. "That Inayat is still alive?"

He nods.

I grab the charger and close the drawer. "I thought so too. But I trust Dr. Khan. If he says he didn't make a mistake, that means he didn't make a mistake. And it's not because I know him as a person. But that man has dedicated two years of his life researching through and through, there's no way he wouldn't remember the last body he examined as a doctor."

"Makes sense," he mumbles. "But if it's not murder, what's the point? I mean, you were doing everything to give Inayat the justice you thought she didn't get. But if she's alive, it must be because she plotted this? Maybe we're just wasting our time trying to find a story that was never even written?"

"You think a sixteen year old orphan is capable of plotting her own murder, finding a body that's eerily like her, replacing it with her own, performing a fake autopsy, just to run away and start somewhere else with a new identity?"

He shakes his head. "That's not what-"

I walk up to him and place my hands on his shoulders. "Shourya, don't try so hard. I'm not giving up."

He steps inside the room and closes the door. I lock my hands on my back, waiting for him to say everything he's holding back.

"Tell me what's your plan," he leans against the desk.

"I want to reopen the case." I state.

He sighs.

"Why?" I tilt my head to the side. "You didn't think it was possible, right? That is why you were willing to help me? You thought I'd give up halfway. But now that we've found a solid lead, you're afraid this will reach your grandfather?"

"Your brother won't like this, Tara." He says, surprising me. "My grandfather has a knack at bending people according to his will. If he finds out, you'll get your brother in trouble. Forget the case, I don't think you'll be allowed to pursue this course any futher. Don't mock powerful people, Taranya."

"I'll be honest with you," I say, "this case is an excuse. I want to know what happened to the girl that was abducted from the orphanage and driven away somewhere in the ambulance. And I feel, no, I know, everything is somehow connected. Wait let me explain you," I pull my Canvas closer and grab a black marker from my art supplies. "Inayat jumped off the school rooftop on the last day of our board exams, they found a handwritten letter on the scene, addressing the Sunrise Orphan Home in which she said she can't do this anymore. Hence, the case was closed after being declared as suicide." I circle the word.

"Then during our visit to the orphanage, I meet Meera. She was supposed to take a scholarship in Toronto very soon. According to her, Inayat took that step because she couldn't handle her ex friend getting the scholarship she thought she deserved. And the same night, an unconscious Meera was carried to the ambulance. Miss Rose, who was abruptly fired from her position the next day, told me she was taken to the hospital. But when I checked at the hospital, she wasn't in the records. I take the same cab that drove me there safe and sound, and what happens? The brakes suddenly fail. Coincidence? I think not." I shake my head. "Now we know two different doctors performed autopsy on Inayat's body. First report says it was a murder, which was never submitted during legal proceedings. Second says it was brain hemorrhage. Both of them registered two different blood groups for one body. The original says it was o-, and the fake says it was o+. Either Inayat was murdered and disposed off, or she was equal participant in this crime. If she was murdered, she must have found out something they want to hide by any means possible. And if she is alive, I've a hunch she knows what happened to Meera. So either way, I'm finding out the truth."

"Did you ever think of getting in touch with the college that offered Meera that scholarship and finding out if she ever made it there?"

"I did." I answer. "They said they can't reveal personal information. But I'm sure she isn't there-"

"What if she is?"

"She was abducted right in front of my eyes-"

"What if she is?"

I fall quiet.

"Will you stop this nonsense?"

"It's not nonsense, Shourya!" I throw the marker at the wall. "You can't refute the progress I've made in this case. Don't you think if Inayat is alive, she might know the answers that'll be key to open all the locked doors? Or are you afraid your family will be in the centre of talks if that happens?"

"No, I'm afraid your family will suffer the brunt of your stubbornness." He hisses through his teeth. "What do you think you're doing, Taranya? Playing cops-cops with your college friends? Do you even know who you're against? Your brother has spent half of his life winning the Chairman's trust. And you're risking everything he has done because you think you can, along with your tiny little entourage, take down the man that has the entire country fearing him. Does that make sense to you?"

I don't let his words dwindle my confidence. "I'm not giving up."

"You might as well be risking your loved ones life for this case."

That freezes me. "Don't say that." I whisper hoarsely.

He walks up to me and places his hands on my shoulders, trailing them down gently until they reach my hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so harsh."

I sigh tiredly and drop my forehead on his shoulder. "Do you remember what Rishi told us yesterday when I brought up the scholarship thing? He said twenty three students have received those scholarships until now. But the strange thing is, none of them ever returned to India." I pull away to look into his eyes. "I'm afraid it's all a lie. And I think it has something to do with the third floor."

His brows furrow.

"I wish I can go there and see for myself -"

"Don't." He cuts me off, his hands reach over to cup my cheeks. "Don't ever go there. Don't even think about it."

"Why?"

He hugs me fiercely, his arms wrapped around my waist in a tight grip. "I've never been there myself to see, nor do I know what goes on there. But one thing is clear, it's a personalised hell created by my grandfather."

I frown. "What do you-"

"Okay, let's do this." He pulls away, interrupting me in the middle of my words. "But you need to promise me something," I nod. He holds out his broad hand, I slip mine into it. The larger hand engulfs my smaller one almost completely. "You'll never think of going to the third floor by yourself, do you hear me?"

I nod.

"And if my grandfather finds out, you'll submit every evidence you've found regarding this case to me."

"Shourya -"

"Tara, please. I'm not hearing a word." He states. "Before he decides you're a thorn in his eyes that needs to be permanently discarded, I want you to accept your defeat and give up."

"But Dad says Rajput never gives up." I mutter.

He rolls his eyes. "This is not the time to joke, Tara."

"Not to you, I'll handover everything to Bhai."

He relents with a sigh. "Fine. Give it to your Bhai. And do everything he says."

I look at him with apparent confusion. "If you mean returning to England -

"That's exactly what I mean."

I push myself away. "I'm not going back."

"I'm not saying you are. But if things take a turn for worse, then you'll have to."

"So, either I give up now, or give up later and move to England?" I surmise.

His silence is enough to answer me. I sit down on the edge of the bed in annoyance. "Trust me, I want to play the naive princess and forget everything. But now that I know, I just can't turn a blind eye and move on. It doesn't feel right."

He kneels in front of me and takes my hand into his, caressing the back of my palm gently. "Then do whatever it takes so you don't have any regrets later."

"I don't want to go back to London. I like it here." I murmur.

"There's always a price to pay in return of everything we seek."

I bite the inside of my lower lip. He sits next to me and keeps holding my hand as I gather my thoughts to come to a final decision.

If everything comes to light, my family will be so disappointed with me. And I won't hear the end of it for dragging the twins and Janet into it as well. But there are chances the case will reopen and maybe, maybe we'll know what happened to those twenty three students that were offered scholarships in different countries of the world. And I'll also find out what happened to Meera. Because I know for a fact she is not in Toronto. I still remember the conversation that happened between me and Rudra in the car that night.

"Just tell me if she's okay."

"I won't sugarcoat things for you. She's not. She never was. And you need to stop thinking about her."

Maybe Shourya doesn't know as much as Rudra considering he was sure Meera is in Toronto fetching the benefits of her scholarship. But I know it's of no use even if he proves it through records and data. It's all a faux and I refuse to believe otherwise.

I chose this case and I can't leave it in the middle. Not when we finally have a hope.

"I'm doing this." I declare.

He pinches the bridge of his nose. His shoulders sag down in defeat. "Fine," then he sits straight and looks into my eyes with determination. "Let's do this."

I nod in certainty.

We head to the library and join the rest on our quest to find any link connected with Inayat's disappearance. If she's alive, finding her will be like finding a needle in the hay. And if she was murdered, figuring out where her body is buried will be an important, but almost impossible task in the checklist.

"Hey, if she's alive, she must be on social media."

"Wouldn't a 'legally' dead person keep a low profile?" Ayush counters Janet's idea.

"When it comes to our generation, staying off social media is slightly hard." Shourya says, piquing everyone's interest. "I see this as an addiction," he turns the screen of his iPad that has Inayat's old Instagram account pulled up. "She never missed the date and time. To say she was dedicated towards it would be an understatement." He sits straight. We gather around him. I fold my legs, sitting on his right and leaning in to look past his broad shoulder. "See this," he scrolls down, "kind of peculiar way to express her emotions. Like she can't say it, perhaps because she doesn't have anyone to talk to, but has so much to tell. It's color coded."

"I said the same," Janet chimes in. "If you see her last few posts, they're all monochromes of grey, getting darker and darker as the days pass and on her last day, her last post is black."

"If she's alive, she must be living with a different identity, in some place where no one recognises her. And considering how she never had friends, I don't think she's likely to make any new ones when she's supposed to be dead. She'll try to hide as much as she can. But social media is one place where you can have a sort of digital barrier between you and the world. There's no way she'll stay off social media."

"And if she's dead?" I murmur.

He turns his head, his gaze flickering between my lips and eyes. I blink awkwardly. Trust him to turn me into a puddle of a blushing mess while my brothers are around. "Then it's another dead end."

I tear my eyes off him and look down at the screen.

He clears his throat.

"Let's make two groups. Arush, I and Shourya will follow the case assuming she's alive. You, Ayush and Atharva continue assuming she was murdered." Janet suggests.

I frown at her. "What's with the teams?"

"I'm on Instagram half of the time, Arush is no different, Shourya has a hacker friend, we're a perfect team to search the internet." She shrugs.

I blink. "But-"

"I'm on social media too." Ayush grumbles.

Janet pulls out her phone and opens something. "Your last post was three weeks ago." She shows him the screen.

He pouts sadly.

"Aw, don't make that face." She coos. "You're a book nerd. Remember you told me you've read at least over a hundred books revolving around murder and mystery? This is your forte." She explains.

He nods with a long sigh.

"And you two were already digging through things from the perspective of suicide or murder. Don't change the lane." She looks between me and Atharva.

"Yeah, sounds good to me." Atharva says.

"I've the same opinion. I'm not really thinker type of a person. I'd rather stalk a dead girl on social media than investigate her murder mystery." Arush shares his agreement.

"Alright, then," I say reluctantly. "If nobody has any problem," I look pointedly at Shourya over his silence, he fails to catch up on my disapproval regarding the teams Janet has made. I snort. "Let's go with your suggestion." I splay a hand towards Janet.

She beams. "Great! C'mon boys! The computer lab is on the first floor." She grabs their hands, jerking them straight and drags them upstairs.

Ayush and I watch with forlorn eyes.

"This is to avoid confusion so don't confuse yourself." She shouts over her shoulder, looking at me with reassurance. I twist my lips at her. She chuckles and looks forward.

Ayush and I look at each other. We share the same feelings. Though he doesn't know of mine yet.

"Am I missing out on something?" Atharva muses thoughtfully.

"No," Ayush and I echo. "Let's get started. Ayush, you can study if you want. We need to discuss about the article I've written on our current progress. We've to submit it this Thursday."

"Okay," he mumbles and takes out his books from the backpack, scooting his chair afar to provide himself and us some needed privacy.

I change my seats and occupy the chair next to Atharva, opening up the word file on my macbook. "We need to publish this on school website. I made everything sound as I vague as I can, but let me know if it requires any changes."

He nods and pulls the laptop closer.

For the next two hours, we work on altering and perfecting the article as much as we can. When the sun falls, Shourya comes downstairs and insists he and Atharva leaves. Since Shourya drove him here, it's his responsibility to drop him back home.

"Can't you guys stay for dinner?" I ask softly.

"No." Shourya flat out rejects.

"Did you forget what happened yesterday?" Arush whispers in my ear.

Right.

"C'mon Saxena, get your ass off." Shourya swings his jacket over his shoulder and walks out of the library.

"Asshole." Atharva mutters, rushing after him hurriedly with his phone. "Bye, guys!" He calls out loudly before exiting the library.

"Bye!" Janet and I return the greeting.

"Ugh, I'm tired." Arush stretches his arms over his head, groaning in relief. "See you at the dinner, girls." He waves and walks off.

I pack up my stuff while Janet waits for me. "You're not coming?"

Ayush lifts his head from the books scattered in front of him. "No, I've a lot to study. I'll see you during the dinner." And he buries his head back in there.

"I can't ever study with so much focus." Janet murmurs, almost mesmerised. "Glasses look good on you, Ayush." She compliments.

He doesn't look up, but his ears turn bright red. I hold back a chuckle. "Tha- Thank you." He stutters, sliding up the glasses with his index.

"You're welcome." She smiles before looking at me. "Shall we?"

"Let's go." I motion towards the doors. "So, what's happening in your family? Does your mom know?" I ask once we leave the library behind.

She shakes her head. "Elliott chickens out everytime he decides to tell her the truth."

"Don't talk him into it, or don't talk him out of it. Let him make the decision."

"Should I tell her?" She asks me.

My mouth falls agape. "Wait, you want to?"

"I don't know, Tara. I mean if you found out my boyfriend is cheating on me, I'd want you to tell me."

"You don't have a boyfriend." My brows pull together.

"That's not the point, dumbass." She clicks her tongue. "Anyway, I want to tell her but I can't. Not over a phone call or a text. I can't do that do her. I'll just wait until Elliott musters up the courage."

"Yeah, that should be the way to go." I nod. "May I ask you something?"

She hums, looking at me with concentration.

"What do you think about Ayush?"

Her eyes squint. "What's going on in that empty head of yours?"

"It's a simple question."

"Tara, c'mon, I know you. But don't try to set me up with your brother. Especially Ayush."

"Why? What's wrong with him?"

"Okay, first of all, I'm not his type. Secondly, Arush and him are twins."

"And what's wrong with that?"

"I don't know, it's just awkward. Like I'll be spending time with the same face, but different person. It's weird." She shudders.

I roll my eyes. "You think about things that doesn't require much thinking but become spontaneous doing things that needs to be thought over a hundred times."

Her face experiments with all sorts of emotions before settling on confusion. "That made so much sense but not at the same time."

"Shut up." I reach my room and scan the card. "See you-" I stop seeing Agastya come out of his room hurriedly. Before I can ask what's wrong, the door opposite opens and Arush scrambles out, buttoning up his shirt hastily. "What's going on?" I ask, hearing the thumping of footsteps that belong to the remaining twin.

"Bhai is here." Agastya whispers nervously.

"Wait for me! I need to pee!" Ayush rushes inside his bedroom.

Janet and I share a look. She pats my shoulder, nodding at me in encouragement. "All the best, guys."

We look at each other.

"The D- Day is here."

Oh, the next chapters are going to be a hell of a ride. So buckle up.

Don't forget to vote and comment. Makes my day.