"Holy moses!!!!, bless my innocent eyes".

My eyes snapped open hearing a very horrified voice. I tried to get out of Adi's
embrace but the man was not budging,
lost in his own world.

"Adi, let me go, someone is outside", I
whispered gritting my teeth, trying to
detach his muscular arms from my waist, as I couldn't get the view of the person on the other side of the door
as his wide chest was covering my sight.

He finally loosened his tight grip unwillingly, taking his own time to step away. He closed his eyes irritatedly, muttering profanities under his breath, seeing the beautiful young girl smirking at him.

"Well, well, well, who is this pretty lady
who finally captured my unfeeling brother's attention"?, the young girl circled around me slowly assessing my features, crossing her arms behind her back immitating a dominant man.

My lips curved at her playfulness, making a gentle smile to appear on my face.

"Hello, you must be Hita, this unfeeling
man's little sister", I said pointing at Adi, who glared at me at my reference.

Her eyes twinkled gleefully and a full blown smile appeared on her angelic face. She marched towards me with a sudden force, seizing me in her arms,
which made me to take a few steps back, crashing against Adi's front.

"Slow down you little crack-fire", Adi
scolded her, grabbing my shoulders to balance us.

"I'm really sorry, I was just excited to meet a new friend", she smiled cheekily
taking a few steps back apologetically.

"Hey, no worries. I'm Ira, his friend",
I introduced myself, causing her to smirk in our direction.

"Ow!!! really?", she smiled mischievously at her brother, "If I remember correctly, someone was allergic to hugs and touches from the opposite gender".

Adi snorted at her moving towards the lavishly decorated hall, leaving the
young girl in a fit of laughter.

"Let me make a special tea for our very special guest", she announced dramatically moving towards the kitchen.

"No!", Adi yelled petrified, causing the poor girl to jump back in terror."We
don't want to burn down grandpa's
mansion now, right?"

"Huff !!, you stupid man", she let out a relieved breath, "you almost caused me an attack", she said holding her chest glaring fiercely at her brother.

"I will prepare the tea, my little bug ", Adi said calming her,"meanwhile you can entertain our special guest", he said winking at me before moving towards the kitchen.

What a flirt!!!

"I'm not a bug, you dumbo and I can perfectly make a cup of coffee, without burning down the kitchen", she glared towards his disappearing frame.

"It's alright darling", I said dragging her towards the couch.

"Moreover, It's not everyday we can enjoy a cup of coffee from the hands of the great Adidev Varma", I said smugly.

Her face brightened. "Hmm! now that's
true", she said sitting beside me.

"You look so young as compared to Adi", I asked her curiously.

"Yes", she said relaxing on the couch,
"We have 9 years of gap between us as I'm still 20 now", she said smiling.

"That's nice. I'm sure he is a great brother", I said staring towards Adi who was working in the open kitchen.

"Yes, I'm very lucky in that matter. I couldn't have asked for a better person as my brother. He never made me to feel the lack of my parents in my life", she said staring at the large photo frames of a couple with two little children hanged on the wall.

"That's a beautiful picture you have got there", I said moving towards it to take a better look.

It was a picture of a beautiful young couple in their 30's, with a little girl of 3 years in their arms and a boy lovingly
laughing at the child in their parents arm.

I was enchanted by his heartfelt laugh.
I have never seen Adi laughing heartfully before. He always gave a lopsided grin or a smug smirk but not this beautiful laugh.

"He grew up so fast", Hita said in a grim tone staring at his picture.

"He was always a momma's boy. I really don't remember my parents other than some vague moments, but he was a 12 year old fun loving kid, with lot of naughtiness. But that day changed him completely. He suddenly became a parent to me", she said trying to hold back her tears.

I hugged her trying to comfort her as no words left my mouth. I was very bad at
consoling people eventhough my job was always surrounded by the people in sufferings and pain.

It always made me to remember my dad. But I felt an instant connection with this girl, like a bond that has been formed between our souls.

My heart constricted at the thoughts of Adi suffering alone in that tender age.
It's not easy to bear the pain of losing both the parents together and taking up the responsibility of a child, eventhough he had his grandpa by his side.

But he neither took it as a setback in his life nor he let his sufferings to overpower his goals. I'm proud of the man he has become today. A strong, kind hearted person who thinks of everyone's betterment, who is prioritizing the people and the village he is born into, rather than escaping his responsibilities like me. It makes me to question myself.

What am I doing in that unknown city?rather than being with the people and the place I truly belong.

Was I hiding like a loser without facing my realities from the past 26 years of my life?

I rubbed her back gently, assuring her through my gestures, till she finally pulls back.

"I'm really sorry, if I poured out my sorrows to you. I don't know why I felt like sharing it with you", she said smiling sheepishly trying to wipe away her tears.

"No worries, you can always consider me as your good friend", I said rubbing her shoulders gently.

"I will be back in a minute, he will kill me if he sees my state", she said moving towards her room to clean up her face.

I went towards kitchen to see Adi, pouring the tea to the cups carefully.

"Well, Mr. Chef, is my tea ready?" , I asked him amusingly.

"It's done", he said passing me the cup filled with hot tea. "Don't expect the perfect cup of tea from me", he jested.

"It smells heavenly", I said breathing in the aroma. "Let me take a sip of this, and don't be offended if I ever come back for this", I said blowing the hot tea.

"I'm always at your service mam", he stated taking a dramatic bow in front of me smiling.

"I'm taking that book with me", I said staring at him seriously. "Maybe I can try finding some other clues".

"Yeah. Meanwhile I will try asking grandpa discreetly regarding those unknown three doors", he stated.

"We have to find out the truth and the reasons for all these mysterious things happening around us, without further delay", he said.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

I groaned throwing away my MacBook onto the nearby chair and finally slumped down on the bed, resting my aching back against its softness.

Already three long hours passed by, trying to find any clue regarding the language found in the book, but it was all in vain.

I huffed rolling on my bed, hiding my face into the pillows to hide my growing frustrations.

I don't know what to do now, there is not even a single clue available about the forsaken language in the web.

It's almost 10 at the night now. I'm unable to get a wink with these thoughts in my mind. I wake up hastily grabbing my coat and go towards the place that I have not dared to step in from almost 17 years.
☆☆☆☆☆☆

I'm standing in front of my father's farm house, where he took his last breath. My body began to shake at the mere thought of that fateful day.

I shake my head negatively, trying not to visit those haunted memories which took 17 years of my life to bottle up and leave behind. I laugh at the irony. When I was finally gathering up my courage to forget those remembrances,
they have come knocking at my door in the form of the mystery woman in my dreams.

I ask the keys to the house from the guard and step inside it. It is not that large, it is a simple two-storyed building, with a simple study-room almost similar to the one we have in the main mansion, filled with antiques.

The study room is locked here, as dad was found dead in the same room.
Although they clean it occasionally.

I insert the key inside the locks and it takes some time to open the jammed door. It's pitch dark inside, not able to see through the darkness.

I step inside and finally locate the switches of the lights. The entire room lightens up with the bright lights, blinding my vision.

The room is tidy, which makes me to conclude that they have cleaned it recently.

I gulp down seeing the location on the floor where dad was lying the last time I came here.

I gather up my courage and move forward towards his old desk and I touch it softly, caressing it's hardness remembering how dad was enjoying his time locked up here or in the mansions study room.

Now I wonder, what was he doing almost all time behind these closed doors?

I sit on the large chair, leaning my back against it taking a deep breath, before I open up his locked drawers.

There are piles of scribbled pages and some documents, and various little spare parts of antique pieces.

I smile seeing those. He always loved to fill up the entire space with the unique pieces. It was hid passion.

I rummage through the scribblings on the stacks of paper. There are some weird sketches done on the paper, which is difficult to comprehend.

I frown at those keeping them aside as I scan other papers. There are the sketches of coins, a door, and some route maps. But they are all doodled
making it difficult to make sense out of it.

I just keep them aside huffing and move towards the array of books that are arranged on the mantleshelf.

I pass through them, just glancing without touching any of those perfectly arranged rows.

I come to standstill, as I see a bundle of papers rolled roughly and tucked between systematically arranged rows of books.

I draw closer towards it, grabbing those rolls. I open them to see the similar sketches as I saw before.

My breath skipped a beat, as I see the sketch of similar golden-white serpent
amidst the haphazardly drawn sketches

As I roll onto the next pages, my intuition regarding dad knowing everything about these mystic events, become stronger.

Those are not the sketches of some random coins or sculptures , they were all found at the place which I had dreamed before.

My eyes catch the sketch of very familiar thing. As I stare at it carefully I realize it's a complex sketch of my locket which dad gifted me.

I grab hold of my locket and open it to reveal a compass in it, similar to one in the sketch.

Why it's placed between these sketches?
Is there any connection between my locket and this place? I pondered in my mind.

But there were totally three different sketches of lockets drawn on the paper, but I had received only one with a key, but the other two doesn't have keys.

Did he really designed the other two or were they just rough sketches he imagined. If he has sketched them with the serpent, then surely there will be some sort of link between these.

If he designed the other two lockets, now where can I find them?

☆☆☆☆♡☆☆☆☆