Priya's POV:

I got ready and waited for Neil. When I told Kashi that I was going out with Neil, she gave me a few sarcastic oh wow's and resumed watching Netflix. That girl could spend her entire life watching Korean dramas and movies.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn't see Neil's car, making its way towards my house gate. He honked twice to get my attention. He, as usual, came to pick me up exactly thirty minutes later.

"So, where are we going?" I asked him curiously as I saw a few familiar places racing back through the window.

"Surprise!" he replied. Soon we reached a place that was too familiar for me. He opened the car door for me just to introduce me to the Marine Drive view.

"Oh, wow," I exclaimed but my disappointment must've shown because he instantly pouted. I'd been to Marine Drive half a million times.

"Why can't you wait a little bit?" he retorted, shaking his head. "Close your eyes."

"What?" I asked, my eyes widening with delight.

"I told you to close your eyes; not open them wide," he said snickering.

"Fine," I huffed, closing my eyes.

He escorted me somewhere and helped me in getting into something. I was intrigued to find out what it was.

"Can I open my eyes now?" I asked impatiently.

"Wait," he whispered. I panicked when the thing I was in started moving, but he caught me. The heavy breeze shifted my hair in a million directions and I gasped as I felt cold airbrushing my skin.

"Relax and open your eyes now," he commanded excitedly.

I gradually opened my eyes and was taken aback by what I saw. We were floating in the air in a hot air balloon. The night appeared to be lovely. The crescent moon shone brightly, and the stars twinkled with mischief. The beach beneath us was gleaming as if diamonds were floating in it.

"This is beautiful," I exclaimed as I turned to face Neil who was wearing a sly grin.

"I knew you'd like it. Did I succeed in making you happy?"

"Yes, you did," I replied, turning to face the once-in-a-lifetime view. I laughed. We were in a hot air balloon! My heart melted when I realized that he'd done this for me. While floating in the air, we told each other stories, laughed aloud and pointed to our favourite spots in Mumbai below us and what we'd done there.

"Can you tell me how you got this?" I asked, quickly realising the folly of my inquiry.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you're a billionaire," I mumbled, ashamed. He just looked amused and snorted a laugh.

"Why were you upset today, Priya?" Neil asked, his eyes held worried.

"Actually something happened after you left," I confessed honestly. Neil was one of the only people that I trusted. People would say that I'd just met him but I felt an otherworldly connection while I was with him. Maybe that was because of the warm vibe I got from him. Moreover, I'd done a background search on him when he'd started sending me flowers.

"What happened, Priya?" he asked, concerned.

I took a deep breath and replied, "An important case of my career was shut down yesterday." My eyes brimmed with tears and a lone tear slid down my cheeks. Neil wiped it and engulfed me in a hug while rubbing my back softly. 

"Hey, don't cry. You are not allowed to cry when you are with me," he scolded teasingly, clearly trying to lighten up the mood. 

"I am sorry," I mumbled. I was a lumbering mess. 

"Why are you sorry? We don't have control over our emotions." He paused and faced me, "Promise me, Priya, that you will stay strong." I nodded. 

"No more tears." I nodded again.

"Say, something sweetheart. I want that voice which used to shout at me." I laughed at his remark slightly. 

"That's my girl."

"Thank you, Neil." 

"For what?" 

"For everything." I smiled when he looked confused. 

I got home around 11 p.m with a huge smile on my stupid face. I found Kashi, dozing off on the couch. Thank god she was sleeping otherwise she would have teased me to death. Smiling like an idiot, I dragged her up to my room and slept beside her in bed.

He surely did lift my mood. 

'What are you doing to me, Neil?'

The next morning, I told Kashi everything that had happened the night before. She was excitedly jumping and clapping her hands.

"You better keep him, Priya. He's really nice," she sighed.

"Yeah, sure," I replied jokingly.

Since it was Monday, I had to go to the station. I went to see the Commissioner first. I had to inform him that I received the message from Arjun regarding the case.

"I apologise, Ms. Mehra. I wasn't able to do anything," he lamented.

"That's fine, sir; I understand you were helpless," I said.

I left the office after telling him about my decision to conduct an unofficial investigation, to which he replied that he would help me in any way he could.

I was settling into my office when a terrified Ajay stormed in.

"Ma'am, we found a girl's headless body in Shivaji Nagar," he said, panicking. Without wasting a second we left for the investigation.

We arrived at the society, which was located in one of Mumbai's poorest neighbourhoods. I sighed in frustration because there was no security in these areas, making it difficult for us to find the killer. My team had gone through her apartment, looking in every nook and cranny. The body was cold and reeked of rotting flesh. When we looked into the girl, we discovered her name was Naina, and she was a law student with a reputation for dating a variety of men.

Her new boyfriend was the one who told us about the body. When she didn't contact him for two days, he decided to meet her today, only to find her headless corpse. We asked if he had any doubts about someone, he told us that her ex-boyfriend could do this because she cheated on him. I quickly directed Ajay to send a team to his house to question him. I told him to avoid getting involved with the media. They would make a big deal out of this murder.

According to the forensic department head, the death was caused by strangulation with a wire, and the weapon used to cut her throat could not be identified.

"What do you mean by unable to find the weapon?" I was perplexed. He was one of India's top forensic doctors. It was extremely unlikely that he would not be able to find it.

"I'm afraid the killer used an unusual method. There is no information about the weapon. There isn't even a single particle," he explained desperately. "All I know is that she was murdered on Saturday night around midnight. He stabbed a sharp-pointed object into her throat repeatedly in order to cut her head off. The murderer is ruthless and-,"

"Smart." I finished his sentence. My team had tapped every informant in their network and interrogated every possible suspect, but we still had no idea who had committed this heinous crime. The breakthrough came from an unexpected source, and it was only because of an ever-vigilant inspector from another station.

When I arrived at my office the next morning, he was waiting for me outside. He told me about the similarities he saw between Naina's body and a headless torso discovered in a drainage river a few months ago. The similarity between the way of killing in both the cases astounded me. I had not figured out the motives that led to the brutal murders, despite the fact that I had linked them as the work of a single person.

After thanking the constable, I dashed to the Commissioner's office. The Commissioner, who was talking to Arjun about something, was surprised to see me.

"Ms. Mehra, what happened?" he asked.

"Sir, we discovered a girl's headless corpse yesterday. She was brutally murdered. We didn't get any leads yesterday, but I met a constable today who gave me a big lead," I explained in a rush.

"Isn't that great news? Why are you in such a state of panic?" he asked. Even Arjun looked confused.

"I'm afraid I don't have good news," I stated. They raised their eyebrows in question.

"I believe we have a serial killer on the loose." 

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Third Person's POV: 

I sipped my green tea as I sat in my living room armchair. I felt at ease and content. She must have gotten the body by now, and based on how well I knew her, she would have made the connection between the two murders. That would keep her distracted long enough for me to play the game. I'd already made the first move; havoc. I would go for the second one very soon; shame. She deserved to be humiliated.

'Soon, Priya. Soon.'

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