T H E   S I L E N T   W A T E R S

U N S E E N   P A T H S

Annika rinsed her hand in the faucet. Her mind travelled back to all the years that she had spent in silence and loneliness. This all was fated, wasn't it?

When she had seen him for the first time she was agitated beyond the words. She despised the way he walked around like he owned the place or the way he could just disrespect thinking that because they are not as rich as he was, he's above them all.

Then those impressions came true the moment he held her brother Sahil, the only one that she had in her life, against her. She never thought he'd stoop so low. But then again she was in for a surprise. Tia. Tanya. Her trust was broken from time to time but she still held onto that little string of hope.

But when she saw the papers and the tape. She realised that she was again used as some kind of collateral he puts on exchange for his family and its reputation. She was tired. She can't forgive the same mistake over and over again.

She was in denial that it was some kind of sick joke that they were playing with them but how wrong she had been. When the family confirmed that the papers and the voice tape that was brought, was brought by the family advocate, who was there to alarm the family to take actions.

Despite not believing at first, at last she had to. But she was surprised when his own family didn't. And then he returned. He looked rugged and disheveled. He wasn't even allowed to step inside the house.

Her hands clenched around the marble sink. The words she spoke. His pleadings. It was all too much. They kept echoing in her ears. She turned off the water tap and walked outside.

Till now she believed all that, but what she saw today made her question her own conscience.

That scar. How?

The tremors of his hands?

The way he refused to say anything. Now looking at it, she never heard him say anything. To anyone. And she didn't want to come to the conclusion they all were pointing at.

How oblivious did she have been?

<>

Shivaay stared at the veranda. He walked over and sat in one of the chairs. His eyes fell upon the doctor who was staring ahead with a blank gaze.

"Bhaiya? Aradhya? Why are you both outside in this hot weather? Come inside." Priyanka called. Aradhya was startled out of her thoughts when her name was called, she turned around and nodded.

Shivaay turned to her. 'When are we beginning the speech therapies?' The doctor was surprised at the question, usually he was the one to avoid it, it felt odd to see him looking forward to it. She pursed her lips and sneaked a look at her phone.

"Dr. Rana is not available at the moment and I haven't been able to contact anyone else. Give me some moments and I will inform you soon." She said with a tight smile and walked away. He frowned at the formal tone, it lacked enthusiasm that he was used to. She sounded so monotonous, like all those hospital staff. Frowning at that, he walked inside.

He swiped open his phone to see numerous texts.

Mrs. Saini; 9:04 am.
Mr. Oberoi, I apologise for
contacting you abruptly.
But Mrs. Sharma, as in,
Mr. Aditya Sharma's wife is demanding
your presence in the office,
she has brought press reporters with
her as well. They are causing a ruckus
outside, our employees can get harassed
as well. What are we to do?

Shivaay frowned. Not again.

"I thought they were good people." Priyanka spoke, she was looking at her phone and Shivaay knew what she was talking about. Looks like she got the same message as him. I thought so too, Prinku. But life gave me another reason to never trust anyone. Not anymore.

Arjun S; 9:07 am.
Shivaay, about what happened
with Aditya, are you alright?

Me; 9:07am.
Why of course, I am.
When are you joining the Mumbai
branch? And how's Jagriti? Give her
my regards. And to your parents as well.

Arjun S; 9:09 am.
Most probably, this weekend.
Jagriti is doing well now, I will.
Alright, i will, besides Maa was
already missing you.
Also, I saw the invitation of the
Annual Gala. Are you sure you are ready
for another public appearance? This
time your speech will be a must.

Me; 9:11 am.
I don't know. We still have a few days in
our hands. Besides Aradhya has been saying that they have been recovering well
so I thought I should begin speech therapy as well. How long will I just stay in the shadows.

Arjun S; 9:13 am.
It's your choice. All I could say is
you don't have to rush these things.
Give them time and it will be alright

Shivaay closed his cell phone with a sigh. Give them time. He has given four years already. It's always easier said than done.

<>

"Who did this number belong to?" Neeraj mumbled to himself. It shared the same location with Shivaay's phone. On that very day, they even shared the last location.

Neeraj turned to the operator, "Let me have a look sir." He pushed up his glasses and looked at the screen after typing a few things. "It says Naman Mishra."

And Neeraj froze.

He turned to the operator, "Check if this man has registered any other number to his name."

The operator looked through his screen and shook his head. "No, we can't see any registration on his name. And the number that he used is also given to someone else. You can contact some other service providers. Maybe you can have your lead from there."

Neeraj looked at his phone uncertainly, he needed all the information that he could get.

<>

The woman looked at the building, her purse clutched tightly in her hands as she stared ahead at the silver building with the shining V, at its crown. All the glamour was now turned dust the moment her husband was arrested. The media was dismissed when they were informed if they didn't moved they would be sued for trespassing. And the lane was now deserted, she too didn't have another choice but to walk away.

Aditya was bailed but that is till the court proceedings, after that he must obey the verdict. He was tensed.

The sun has already set, having no intentions to go back home. She drove off to the bar where she and Aditya used to go regularly. She was sitting on one of the usual seats when a woman took a seat in front of her.

"Having troubles at home?" She heard her speak. Closing her phone she shook her head. The music was causing her a headache. Not that she cared.

"Work?" She sighed at the question.

"Kind of." She answered turning to look at the bar, and the people around. She was always careful when she came to have a drink or two, alone. Can't risk getting spiked, now can she?

"Your husband can get his position back at the company." At this she froze. She turned to look at the lady. Properly this time. She couldn't see her face properly in the dimmed light but she could make out some highlights.

"What do you mean?" She asked narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Just what you are thinking." The woman in front of her shrugged and took a sip of the drink that she had ordered. Her movements were careful and alerted.

"Aditya Sharma. Isn't that his name?" She spoke. Radhika was at loss of words. How did she know all this? Or who was this woman?

"Who are you?" She asked carefully looking around for any kind of trouble. The woman assessed her and tutted softly.

"He was a foolish man." Radhika's eyes narrowed at that. She couldn't see where the conversation was going. "When he could have all the power and authority, he chose to go for the riches."

Radhika's lips pursed.

"Do you know, what was his mistake?" She asked as she leaned forward. "He went through the easy way and got caught. Hah! Foolish indeed." And saying that the lady took a large swig of her drink and walked out, paying the bills.

Radhika hastily paid her bills and rushed outside the door after that woman. She could bring them out from the trouble?

"I knew you would follow me out." She heard a soft voice speak, now she could see her face carefully. But it was carefully masked, with the face paint that some artists use. She couldn't recognise her.

"If you want him out of the trouble, here's my card. But beware of the cost." She spoke handing her the thin paper card with only single number scribbled on the back. And when she looked up the woman was gone. She flipped the paper dubiously, she needs to speak to Aditya before anything happened.

<>

Catering. Decoration. Planning. Guests. She had looked over everything that she needs to. It's safe for her to say that her work have finished somewhat early considering they have postponed the event a week, right on the day. She couldn't care less much about that.

"It's nice." She heard a appreciative hum behind her. It was Priyanka. She was looking around. "Do you think it will stay for the week?" She asked with genuine curiosity lacing her voice.

"I was given the deadline of this weekend. I did what I had to do." Annika spoke with a shrug.

"We had to. Some issues came up and we had to push it to the day of establishment, usually we do the annual function a week before as it gets to hectic." Priyanka said more to herself than to her. Annika hummed, she watched as Priyanka looked around. "There are no flowers." She observed.

"Haven't put the flowers or any other decoratives that soil easily. And I thought fake flowers wouldn't be appreciated. I will come after four days to look over them again."

Priyanka voiced out her approval at that.

"You have changed." Annika spoke up before she could stop herself.

"We all did." Priyanka smiled ruefully as she dusted her sleeves. "Yeah." Annika agreed before she walked out of the door but she stopped.

"I need to ask you something." She turned around to look at Priyanka.

"I am not promising that I will answer your question if I don't want to." Annika smiled at that. "It's okay."

"It's about Shivaay." Priyanka stilled.

"No, I am sorry." She spoke up before Annika could say anything else. She shook her head. "I can't say anything about him. I have my own reasons and he have his to keep it safe." She could see Annika looked troubled.

She can't answer her questions. Because this lies between Annika and Shivaay, and she doesn't want to interfere in that.

Umm....I actually don't remember Mishra's first name.....
Well, kind of a boring chapter this one was.