Chapter 4:

21 July 2016

It took Sanskar less than fifteen minutes to reach the place as it was near to his home and he was driving in an speed that is not so allowed in the busy streets.He entered the Cafe and would have clashed into Ragini if not for his quick reflex..

Sanskar:"Where is Swara..?"

Ragini:"I dont know she left for restroom asking me to order and when she didnt come back after awhile, i started searching for her..But couldnt find her ,so thought of checking if she came back to the cafe.."

Sanskar:"And how long has it been since she left "

Ragini:"Around an hour..."

Sanskar:" And you dont think to call me or atleast answer the call from Uttara and let me know ..What were you doing for an hour..Did you forget your sister was stabbed multiple times by someone .Have you searched for her"

Ragini:"Stop it Sanskar, she is my sister and i very well know her life is in threat too.. Why would i call you first when i dont even have your number.. OR why should i call you or attend your call..I know Swara was your childhood friend and i am glad you were there for her in the last one year but you dont know anything about her or me. So yeah i didnt call you because i was searching her all around this mall.. And yeah in my search to find my sister i didnt even notice your calls as well.."

Sanskar: "Let argue later..First we need to find Swara..Wait here..Let me go and ask the help of the authorities to check the CCTV and see where she was seen last.."

Ragini:" Wait ...I am coming with you.."

It took around another 30 minutes to finally locate Swara entering the Clothes shop...That made Sanskar pause, he noticed she lost her way and was wondering aimlessly , he also noticed she didnt enter the restroom even though she crossed it multiple times ... Her behavior took a drastic turn when she entered the clothes shop out of nowhere and he waited for her to come out but she didnt..So he, Ragini along with some staff in the mall searched the entire shop and they encountered a trial room which was locked from inside, after waiting for few minutes they knocked only to have no response.. Then they broke the door only to find an unconscious swara lying on the floor with her cell in the hand ...

Two hours earlier :

Swara slowly opened the door and stepped out when she clashed with someone ..Before she could look up to see who it was, A white Kerchief covered her face...With every bit of strength she could muster up she pushed the hand away from her face and reentered the trial room she just left and with mere conscious remaining she locked the door and slowly lost her consciousness as well before she could try to call Sanskar one more time..

Present Time:

Sanskar heart literally stopped seeing Swara in such a state once again , thankfully there were no fresh stab wounds this time around..He gently picked her up and took her back home..He called in his friend who was a doctor to his house to check Swara and he told him that she was given an anesthetic that too a very heavy dose.. But not too worry she will wake up in an hour or two...

Two hours later Swara eyes slowly flickered open ,there was excruciating pain in her head due to the after effects of the anesthetic with great difficulty she managed to open her eyes and it searched for Sanskar but it found Ragini instead who was sitting beside her. The moment Ragini noticed Swara was awake she called Sanskar and he rushed back in followed by Uttara and dida..

Sanskar:" Dont Strain yourself...Please close your eyes and lie down ..You are safe now Swara..And i am with you, dont worry..."

His calming voice was the only thing that made her calm down, because the moment she woke up, she remembered the incident in the mall and it send down a shiver down her spine,she was this close to being stabbed all over again. Because not only did she remember the mall incident,she also remembered her encounter with another white kerchief. But unfortunately for her, she only remembers that much and no matter how hard she try,she cant recollect the face of the person as it was blurred in her mind..She managed to smile weakly at Sanskar seeing his concern and worry. Now is not the time to let him know about her past incident as well..Some other time she thought...

Ragini:" Did you see who did this to you Swara.. Do you remember the person who caused you to fall unconscious"

Sanskar:" Now is not the time to ask such questions..Let her rest for awhile ragini..We can ask her later"

Ragini:" I just want to know ..Who is trying to harm her , How can we protect her when we dont even know who that person is..."

Swara:" It okay Arjun..i mean Sanskar... I know Ragini is asking because she is concerned..But i didnt see that person face Ragini, i felt like being followed..So i entered the shop to feel comfortable around people then i thought i was imagining it up so let down my guard for a minute and before i know it, i was knocked out of consciousness,it was pure luck that i managed to lock myself up before falling unconscious.."

Sanskar:" No need to stress yourself about it ..I will find her.. You just take rest. Uttara why dont you stay with Swara for awhile..I will be right back"

Swara:" Dont leave me alone Sanskar Please."

Of course how can he leave her alone.. But he needs to find the person before the trail runs cold..And he need to act soon. Her safety is the top most priority..

Sanskar:" Shhh..You are not alone swara..See Dida,Asha ,Uttara and your sister Ragini all are here... And you know this house is well protected right..So no one who will harm you can enter this house. You just relax..I will be back before you know it..I have to meet the police and let them know about this incident. It important we find the person Swara.."

Ragini:" I am coming with you Sanskar..."

Sanskar:" Why i will let you know what i find.. Swara will need you now.. You stay with her"

Ragini:"Do you know Swara friends, do you know anyone from Swara life after she was 12..Dont you think i would be able to give more information to the police then you can..Plus she is my sister and i want to find the person as well..And to her i am stranger..So my presence wont be necessary..She will be more comfortable with your family and Uttara is here as well..Please let me come"

Sanskar:" Okay. I need to ask you a few questions myself.."

An hour later:

Ragini and Sanskar were seated in the same Cafe, Swara was with Ragini earlier the same day. This was the last place they visited in search of the mysterious person who tried to harm Swara.. And there were retracing her steps backwards from the Clothes shop to the cafe.. As CCTV provided to be of no use since there were many people on the Clothes shop and plus the shop had four enterances making it hard to shorten the list of suspects. Also the workers in the shop didnt notice anything out of ordinary and so they decided to retrace Swara steps and ask the cafe workers if they found something out of the ordinary. But it turned out to be a failure as well.. So it was Sanskar who suggested taking a short break before heading back as Ragini seemed Exhausted.

Ragini:" I cant believe we didnt find one clue as to who the person is , in spite of all the efforts.."

Sanskar:" It just proves that the person is smart..She didnt gather any attention to her. Even when Swara locked herself inside the trial room,she left her opportunity to harm her slip then gather attention to her identity..She is smart and we have to be smarter than her if we have to catch her.."

Ragini:"So you said before, you have some questions for me .."

Sanskar:" Yeah do you have any suspects in mind..As you said, i know Swara only upto 12 ..And you knew her better.. So any clue as to who the culprit might be .."

Sanskar was trying to make her open up..He still finds her hiding something from him but he cant make up his mind about her. He not only searched for the culprit in the CCtv but observed Ragini as well. Her emotions were so controlled and restricted in her visit with Swara in the cafe as if she is trying so hard to not to show her real emotions. But at the same time the small glimpse of her searching for Swara later showed she seemed geniuenly worried about her as well. Also she seemed like she really wanted to find the person who tried to harm her in the past one hour he spend with her. Yet he feels she is not sharing everything she knows. So he decided to ask her few questions before driving back home as swara wont allow him to interrogate his sister..

Ragini:" No Swara has no enemies..And i have no suspects.."

Another lie,Sanskar can detect them easily. Well he cant push her now. Then she might totally close off from revealing anything.

Sanskar:"Okay then..Also if you dont mind me asking..Why do you hate Swara "

Ragini:" I do mind Sanskar, if what you are asking is some stupid preconception of yours..What makes you think i hate her..She is the only family i got.."

Sanskar:" So you are trying not to hate her because she is the only family you got but you do right"

Ragini: "No i dont hate my sister..I am not sure what makes you think that way but you are wrong"

Sanskar:" Okay maybe i was wrong on that but you are angry at Swara right for leaving you alone..That why you were trying so hard not to show your anger in the cafe and keeping your emotions in check "

Ragini:" I thought our objective was to find the person who harmed swara and we would have succeeded if you focus was on it and not on me .."

Sanskar:" Well you didnt deny being angry on her..So i take it as an yes..Listen Ragini, i know Swara running away has made you angry but she must have had her reasons and we cant find it now. And she needs her sister to help her and if you decided to stay angry on her for something that happened on the past. It wont help her or you "

Ragini:"You think i dont know that.. But of course you will come to her defense given you both are one and the same"

Sanskar:"What does that mean?"

Ragini:" Well you abandoned your family and she abandoned the only family she had.. Both of you will try to justify it as you got your reasons..Why bother to care about the reality of the persons you left behind..Do you know how much you leaving has affected your family .Of course you dont"

Sanskar:"Do you know my reason for leaving my family..Did lucky tell you..And if you did how can you think i could have stayed back"

Ragini:" Dont worry Swara reason is guarded by her Memory loss and your reason is guarded by your family..No one even takes up your name in that house .If we both didnt know you in our childhood we would have thought your father had two kids only. Swara agreed to your father demand to stay with your family for awhile because of you. She didnt say it out loud but i knew that was her reason for accepting the invitation. And she was shocked to know you were no longer living in that house,but no matter how hard we tried to ask the reason..Your whole family refused to reveal it.And they wont even give Swara your current address. But our short stay lasted longer than planned and we began to notice certain things.

After the first three months we stayed there we gave up trying to find about you until your birthday came,Well i didnt know that but Swara told me and she believed you will come home that day. But you didnt and more than that we noticed how differently everyone in your family acted that day. Your mom who used to be always around your father couldnt been seen anywhere near him that day.She refused to eat or even serve him food. Your brother Lakshaya who i havent seen say anything other than yes dad refused to acknowledge your dad on that day. He didnt speak one word with him , and he still doesnt speak to your dad on your birthday. Well i couldnt ask him the reason back then but i did this year as we were married and i thought they were too many secrets. He told me he lives 364 days as a son of Durgaprasad Maheshwari for one day in an year he wants to live as a brother of Sanskar Maheshwari. And Uttara the lively sunshine of a girl loses her bright smile that day. So yeah you got your reasons but how can you justify abandoning this people who loves you. I can guess it between you and your father but what did the rest of them do except love you"

Sanskar:" I cant justify abandoning them. But your sister is not like me, you know that right ..So her reasons will be able to justify her decisions. She must have ran away for a day not forever like me and she would have returned back to you the next day if not she was stabbed and left to die. Well i dont know the truth but i know you sister and she wouldnt abandon any relationship that easily .."

Ragini:" Maybe you are right.. But i dont think you would understand the feeling of being completely alone with no family and well you might given you are living alone. Humans are so complex right.."

Sanskar:" Yeah they are complex indeed..Let get back before your sister worries about us"

He was glad he had this talk, he got her to open a little bit ,a small crack but well he will continue till she reveals eveything he needs to know to find the person who tried to harm Swara. She still is hiding a lot but he will keep pursing till he finds out. But now he has to head back home as Swara will be worried.

He opened the door. Only to be blinded for a minute by the sparkling decoration in the house..Well put Uttara in charge and it bound to happen. He was about to take them all down as party was cancelled only to find his whole family well his current family in an full on party mode with Swara being in the center as if she didnt almost lose her life few hours earlier.. Well besides him was a confused ragini as well , not understanding the reason for the party.

Sanskar:"What is this Uttara? I told you to cancel the plans before i left right...Swara needs rest and you dragged her to it .."

Swara:" Dont blame Uttara..Why should i forego celebrating my birthday and i have more reasons to celebrate now..After all i barely survived today which makes me appreciate living a whole lot more.."

Sanskar:" But you are tired and you needs rest.."

Swara:" I can take rest after i cut the cake right Asha dear.."

Sanskar:"Sorry i forgot to get the cake "

Uttara:" They delivered it in home when you didnt come to pick it up..We were just waiting for you to come .."

Asha:"Come Daddy..I want to eat Cake,you know i have been waiting for long time and Pari aunty is refusing to cut the cake without you ...You are very late tonight"

Sanskar:"Sorry my princess."

Ragini:" I am sorry Swara..It totally slipped my mind"

Swara:" It okay Ragini, i finally found out i have a sister and that more than enough to make this birthday brighter and you Sanskar stop looking so grumpy..We can talk about everything later..First let me enjoy my birthday.."

And it was a happy celebration indeed..Sanskar forgot the gloomy day in the laughter of Asha and happiness of Swara till his phone vibrated with a call that he even missed the important aspect of the party. He slipped out to attend the call while swara was searching for him to feed the cake. Swara was kept busy by the rest of the family that she only managed to sneak out with the cake to give it to him who was in the garden much later.

Swara:" So you are back to being grumpy..I thought i saw you smiling when i cut the cake and what was the phone call that made you grumpy now.."

Sanskar:" Nothing we can talk about it later..How can the star of the party miss out the party..You go back in.."

Swara:" Well you planned so much for me and i have to go and get myself knocked out and ruin your mood. I will go back if you come with me.."

Sanskar:" I will be back in five..I was waiting for a call.."

Swara:" Okay i will wait with you then, here open your mouth..You first need to eat a cake to snap out of the grumpy look ..

With that she smeared the piece of cake in his face instead of feeding it to him, which made him finally break into a smile. And the phone decided to ring right then, and it successfully wiped the smile off his face once again..

Swara:" Okay i give up..What bothering you tell me..?"

Sanskar:"It nothing.."

Swara:" Now you are going to lie to me.."

Sanskar:" Sorry..It just that i was not able to find anything about the person who tried to harm you today.. No progress at all.."

Swara:" I think the person who stabbed me and this one are the same ..Because there method was same"

Sanskar:" What do mean the method..Did you remember anything or noticed anything"

Swara:" I think i was kidnapped from the wedding Sanskar..I am not sure but today i got this brief recollection of some one trying to knock me out of conscious like today. And i remember a glimpse of me in the mirror and i sure was wearing a bridal dress but you told me when you found me i was in a simple dress right..So i thought i ran away first. Then got stabbed ..But i was knocked out of conscious in my bridal wear means i was kidnapped before the wedding..I thought of saying it later but i am telling you now because i thought it might be helpful .."

Ragini:" It not possible.."

Swara and Sanskar turned around to look at the voice that rang out belonging to Ragini.

Swara:" What do you mean it not possible ..I remembered it today and yeah i dont think it was clear but it was a possibility"

Ragini:" Well what was the colour of the bridal dress"

Swara:" Red and golden"

Ragini:" It cant be.."

Sanskar:" Why it cant be Ragini..Tell us that please no more secrets.."

Ragini:" It just along with you letter,we found the bridal dress and all the jewelry placed in the bed. So if you were kidnapped in the dress then it means ,that person not only had access to your room but also was able to set it up such that no doubts would be raised.That would mean.."

Sanskar:" The person was close to our family and the suspect is not someone far away..But a close member of either my family or yours..Because they only could have gotten such access.."

Ragini:"Exactly.."

Sanskar:" So tell me when did you find Swara missing.What i mean is when was the last you saw of her.."

Ragini:" I was so busy that day.Uttara was the last person to saw her ,and she went out to help lucky and when she returned Swara was missing and so she called all of us. It must be around less than 20 minutes before she last saw her and found her missing .."

Sanskar:"Did you search for her right way.. Or you assumed she left .."

Ragini:" Of course i searched for her and no one saw her leaving the room either..So yeah it was mysterious that she left without no one noticing..But now it more mysterious how someone was able to do so much in such a short time, more so how was they able to get her outside the house.."

Their conversation came to an halt when Uttara entered the garden as well..

Uttara: "Bhabhi it getting late..Dad would be angry ..We need to go now..And bhai the promise to take me shopping remains and if you didnt attend my call from now on wards , i will just barge into your house uninvited.."

Sanskar:" First i need you to answer few question Uttara"

Uttara:" Bhai it getting late..You know if i am not at home before 9 ..Dad will surely raise his voice. And i wont be able to come here ever again"

Swara:" Let them go Sanskar..Our questions can wait.."

Sanskar:"Let me drop you then.."

Ragini:" I am not coming, tell maa that i decided to stay with my sister today Uttara.."

Uttara:" Bhabhi ..Dad will not like it .."

Ragini:" I know..But i really need to do this.. Sorry Uttara..I will bear the brunt of it when i come back home tomorrow..I call Lakshya and let him know as well and i will call home and let them know too..So dont worry"

Swara:" Are you sure Ragini..If your inlaws wont like it then you can go..I am fine.. "

Sanskar:" Let her stay Swara. I talk to my parents when i drop off Uttara..They will understand..And dont worry i will be back soon,and dont under any circumstance open the door..I know the password so i can come in on my own."

Swara:" I know the rules Sanskar...I havent forgotten that yet..So dont worry"

Sanskar efforts at gaining any new information from Uttara proved fruitless as she wasnt able to provide anything new than what Ragini has told them. Sanskar second visit to his house was still awkward and hostile but he managed to let them know Swara was kidnapped from the house and that she didnt ran away. Which somehow turned his mom anger away and made his dad reasonable enough to accept Ragini staying with her sister.

P.S - Do let me know your feedback. It would really motivate me a lot.. And thanks for all the lovely comments and votes for chapter 3.. It sure made me very happy