T H E   S I L E N T  W A T E R S

D O W N   T H E   M E M O R Y   L A N E

t h e   e n d   b e g i n s

His hands came to halt over by his night suit pocket when his eyes turned to the laughter coming from the hallway. The house was eerily quiet. That laughter—the same one—his breathing grew erratic as he took slow steps towards the source.

He walked towards the sound. "Khanna!" He called. No answer. "Priyanka!" Again. "Aradhya!" Again.

The laughter had died down by now, the only thing that remained was the dead silence around the house, the only sound he could hear was his own breathing. Slowly he walked forward, he pushed open the door only to be greeted by darkness, until. The door opened with a creak and behind the door, a figure emerged.

"So you found me?"

He gasped and sat up straight. He frowned, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. He remembered the words but he couldn't remember the voice.

What kind of nightmare was that? He looked at the clock and his eyes widened, it was evening? Had he slept for twelve hours straight?

He got out of bed slowly, he walked in the living room, only to see it occupied by his sister and Aradhya, he frowned when he noticed another figure sitting there.

"Look, who's finally awake." Priyanka commented with narrowed eyes as she looked up from her UNO cards, she took in his disheveled state and the shine in her eyes dimmed for a moment as a worried expression took over her. "Everything's alright?" He nodded, brushing away the strands with his fingers.

He stood frozen when the figure that was sitting beside Aradhya turned at that, he gazed straight into those honey brown irises, he watched as her lips curved up in a small smile, despite the crease of worry he could see around the eyes.

"Annika?" He breathed slightly, and the small smile around her lips was replaced by a full one. "I believe that's my name." She tilted her head to the side.

"What's going on here?" He asked as he picked up the toast from the tray when all three pairs of eyes snapped towards him and he nearly dropped the toast in fear.

"I-I-I didn't. Maine kuchh nahi kiya." He frowned.

Annika smiled to herself, "Haan toh humne bhi kahaan kaha ki aapne kuchh kiya?" She asked as she placed the reverse card on the table, eliciting a gasp from Aradhya as she high-fived Priyanka. "Hey! When did you both team up?" She gasped.

Shivaay sat gaping at the scene. "That's spicy by the way, you wouldn't like to eat it." Aradhya pointed to the toast that he was holding in his hand.

He put the toast down again. "Am I missing something?" He asked, and Priyanka whined when she was the only one left with the cards.

"Yes, and will you play?" She asked as she shuffled the cards before stacking them up. Aradhya stood up and sat beside Priyanka and tilted her head towards the seat she just vacated, he sat down at the now vacant seat. Annika passed him his cards.

She caught Priyanka's eyes and she nodded. Priyanka was really reluctant to let her in, when it came to Shivaay, she was wrong there too, she had forgotten her friend these years. Which Priyanka dismissed saying, when her own family did, she didn't expect anything from anyone. It hurt. It took them hours to talk it all out, when Shivaay was sleeping in his room.

He peeked over her as she narrowed her eyes, "Haw! Mr. Oberoi, I didn't take you one for a cheater." He furrowed his eyebrows at that, "Excuse me, I wasn't cheating—you kept cards that way that I could see them." He defended himself, hah! Shivaay Singh Oberoi, doesn't need to cheat in UNO, he is the winner in almost all the games he had played—

"So, are you going to blame me?" She asked with an arched eyebrow, clearly provoking him.

"It wasn't my fault—"

"—why did you peek?"

"Annika, be careful, haan, he cheats most of the time." Priyanka warned as she placed her card down.

"Prinku?"

Shivaay gaped at his sister, that cheeky—his eyes narrowed and he looked at his cards, and saw Priyanka smiling to herself——she gave him the worst cards!

"What?" She asked innocently.

"The game is so on!" He declared, as he carefully chose his next cards. He failed to notice the smile the three shared at that.

He was going to place his card when his eyes fell on her hand, and on the ring. She wasn't wearing one earlier, the room grew silent before he cleared his throat and placed the card.

She was wearing her ring again, and so was he. But what did it mean? Nothing, nothing was same as before, they weren't the same people they were six years ago. They have changed. Drastically. Some for good and some for he couldn't figure out if it was all bad or in the end good?

Annika watched him from the corner of her eyes, his gaze lingered a little longer before he turned away, and her smile deflated slightly. Trying. And her smile went up again, even if it was not as bright as before.

What are they trying? He thought as he sneaked a look around, they couldn't pretend for much longer, they were terrible actors, he thought with a wry smile and a shake of his head.

"UNO." He spoke as he placed his second last card.

"How?" The three turned to look at his hands to realise that he was holding up only one card. He shrugged, and smirked. "Didn't I say?"

"He cheated!" Priyanka said pointing at his hands.

"I did not!"

<>

"Let's have dinner, I will wash up slightly." Aradhya spoke as she tied her hair in a low bun, she turned to look at Priyanka pointedly as Shivaay stacked up cards to place them back up in the holder.

Priyanka looked at the pair for a moment, before walking away slowly, "let them sort this out on their own." Aradhya spoke as she pulled Priyanka with her.

"I'm surprised to see you here..." He spoke up suddenly.

"I am as well...but didn't I give my word for it?" She asked with a rueful smile. He chuckled, "you don't have to—"

"But I want to—" she interrupted.

She stopped in her tracks, the file clutched tightly in her hands. Wiping her tears, she walked back to the mansion. She deserved an explanation. He will have to say the word.

Silence was what she was greeted with. There was no one. Did they reconcile? She wondered as she walked forward, he was standing here moments ago. Where could he have gone?

"Shivaay..." Her anger had dissipated. The guard looked at her strangely with a pitying look. She glared at him, "where is he?" She remembered asking him.

The watchman looked at her, before sharing a look with the other one. "Shivaay sir left, he was banished." She froze when she heard that. Was it true then? That extinguished the left hope within her, still she asked. "Where did he go?" She asked slowly.

The watchman pointed in the direction, the opposite way she came in. And without her waiting for anything else she walked forward on that abandoned road. She called his name. But there was no one.

"Shivaay?" She asked, and that was the last time she called his name out loud. She shook her head. So, it was true then.

"It wasn't true..." She breathed to herself.

"Annika?" He spoke when he heard her mumbling under her breath. He frowned when she didn't answer. He snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Yeah?" She asked snapping away from her thoughts startled. "Are you alright?" Shivaay asked as he gazed into her eyes. She looked troubled.

"Yeah, I am." She answered, passing him a smile, which he noticed didn't reach her eyes.

"Dinner is ready!" Came Aradhya's voice from the dining area.

"We can talk afterwards." He suggested and she nodded at the offer, yeah.

<>

"I feel like I am intruding in your sleepover session in a way." Shivaay spoke as he watched the three chatting while he just stirred that thick soup that was prepared for him, and him only.

And he can't believe that he was saying this, he'd rather have the oily and spicy food that they were having instead of this——he looked at the thick paste, gooey stuff. He made a face at that.

"Do I really have to eat these?" He asked.

Aradhya hummed, "better than the supplements we had to pump in you earlier." She chuckled and stilled when Shivaay shot her a pointed look.

Priyanka had quietened down. Shivaay sighed, it was a darker period but he was glad they had gone past that. Annika stirred the spoon awkwardly, observing the abrupt change in atmosphere.

"At least pass me some of the matar paneer, will you?" He asked as he sipped on the soup. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Annika passed him some and he looked at her gratefully. "Thank you." He spoke as he placed a few spoonfuls in his plate along with some jeera rice.

"It's not as good as bhaiya cooked. I miss your cooking." Priyanka spoke up as she took a bite of the rice.
"Can't tell, never tasted." Aradhya shrugged in reply. "I used to be a good cook." Shivaay frowned, pretending to be offended at Aradhya's remark. "He doesn't cook anymore." She explained when she saw the furrowed expression on Annika's face.

Annika looked at him carefully, "You don't cook?" She echoed in disbelief, then her eyes dimmed, she remembered when she heard that the last time.

Shivaay shook his head, looking down at his plate. He looked at his hands, he remembered how badly they used to shake. "Not anymore." He answered. She caught his gaze and frowned, something told her that there was more, but she didn't pry further.

The rest of dinner was spent in silence.

<>

"The ownership is in his hands, he will be looking through the company records." Tej murmured to himself as he stared at the news of the ownership of the Oberoi Group of Industries.

"We had tried to prevent him earlier in the past, when we have ever been successful, he did manage to track down. But if he is silent till now, that means he doesn't know the truth about what really happened that night." Shakti added.

"And what if he did?" They both turned around to see Roop sitting behind on a chair as she stared at the screen. "He knew the truth." She enjoyed it, their horror stricken expression, as the colour drained from their faces. Slowly.

"He doesn't. Why would he be silent about it?" Tej echoed.

"He doesn't remember, from what I can get." She chuckled as she caressed her braid.

Shakti frowned, "What do you mean he doesn't remember?" He asked. Roop just smiled to herself.

"Didn't you say, you would make sure that the truth never came out? How did he know? And why did you keep silent about it?" He asked in disbelief.

"You don't know the lengths I have gone to, so that the truth remained hidden. But the efforts are ceasing." She spoke, gravely.

She looked at the faces of her brothers. They don't know, they don't know what they are in for, at all.

I had already posted a chapter earlier, in case anyone missed. Anyways, we are reaching the end of the book. Though I hope that this book turned out better than the first one.