Karan's POV:

"What is going on here?" A voice echoes through the room.

We immediately knew we were in for trouble.

The table was strewn with newspapers, magazines, and journals, as if someone had been frantically searching for a hidden treasure. Except, we weren't looking for something to steal, we were here for the information.

Suresh sir stood at the doorway, his stern eyes taking in the disarray. He crossed his arms, his expression a mix of curiosity and disapproval.

"Arav, you can go to the nurse's office if you don't feel too well."

Arav nodded as he made his way out of the library and slowly walked towards nurse's room downstairs, taking caution to not trip and fall face first on the stairs.

He turned his attention to Jay next, "Shortness of Breath. You've been having these issues for a while, Jay. Do you think you might be allergic to something or is it distress?"

"I am not sure if I am allergic to anything," Jay answered as he composed himself, "Distress... maybe." He looked around the room, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

"Very well," Suresh sir said as he narrowed his gaze at me, scrutinizing my every movement, "You sure you're good?"

"I— Uh..." I fumble for words as I try to form coherent speech, "I think I am good, Sir. Thank you."

I expected him to scold us for creating such a mess but the understanding that glazed over in his eyes was different today.

But maybe he had a good heart beneath his tough exterior. Time and again, he had always proved that when it came to the fitness and health of his students, but...

"Care to explain what was going on here?" His voice cuts through my thoughts, snapping my attention back to him.

"We were looking for some resources." I managed with a small smile.

"By wrecking the whole library? That doesn't sound fair."

"Apologies, sir. We'll fix it right away." Jay pleaded, hoping to be let off the hook.

He contemplated for a moment before walking out of the room and giving us the much needed space.

I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding in and turn to Jay, "He seems to be in a good mood today."

Jay nodded, "Pretty unusual for him, but who are we to complain?

"Fair enough. Let's get these stuff stacked and head for our next class. Molecular Chemistry is agonizing."

"Sure, let's get to it."

We placed the books and magazines away on their respective shelves.

A note caught our attention.

Maya's POV:

Timeline: Early 2000's

A note caught our attention.

Mrs. Rekha helped me put the last of the employee registers away on the upper right corner of the shelf. There had been no solid evidence from any directories or ledgers.

Some were missing even. It made me wonder why they needed to do that.

Most importantly, what evidence were they trying to destroy?

I picked up the note. It didn't have anything written on it.

Odd.

I decided to take it and inspect it later. There must be something hidden about the note if it was hidden so deep into an employee ledger. Especially with missing entries.

Mrs. Rekha didn't mind me taking the note, it looked like blank paper anyhow.

I thanked her for her service and made a mental note to treat her with something special as a token of gratitude.

Heading back to the office, I couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding.

A chill ran down my spine.

Was someone following me?

I glanced around, but the street was empty.

Shaking off the feeling, I hurried down the familiar path.

'I must be daydreaming after a long day inside books and records.'

I thought to myself as I quickened my pace.

Except, I wasn't.

❛Such, I have long known, is the paradoxical
law of all sentiments having terror as a basis.❜
— Edgar Allan Poe

A/N: Woo Hoo!! Yet another chapter of Second Chances. I am surprised to be able to go on till Chapter 30 and still have a lot of the tale incomplete.

We are getting to the nitty-gritty of the tale and it won't be long before we finally have the train freight crash that you can't look away from (#darkhumor please don't kill me)

On one hand, we got the trio finding a solid clue of the organization lurking in the dark and on the other... we've got Maya finding herself in the web of deceit and investigation as well!

Who could possibly be behind Maya and what do they want from her? 👀

In the next chapter, we're going to have a new POV. Can you guess?

Catch y'll on the other side!

cheers,
Sara!