Arjun's POV:

(Saturday Morning)

The Mumbai sun was a few yards up in the sky, the grass glistened with dew and the birds sang as if it was for the first and last time. The air was filled with the lightness of blessed thoughts even in my room and it was just warm enough to know that noontide would be hot. I was sipping my hot cup of morning tea when my phone rang.

"Good morning, sir," I quickly recognized the familiar voice. "I'm sorry to break it to you but we may have some bad news."

"What do you mean, Ramesh?" I inquired over the phone. I controlled my voice so that it wouldn't tremble in worry.

"I was in the commissioner's office and I overheard him discussing Karan Ahuja's case." He sounded agitated. And did he just say, Karan Ahuja? My heart missed a beat.

"How about that case?" I asked. "Don't be a wuss, Ramesh! Just shoot," I said seriously.

"As far as I know, sir, they are closing the case," he replied, concerned. My breathing became uneven as he uttered those words.

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"I believe you should discuss this with the commissioner. I did not hear it completely. But, sir, please do not tell anyone that I said anything..." I recognized worry in Ramesh's voice.

"I'm not going to get you in trouble. Thank you for the information," I replied before hanging up. I took a deep breath and rubbed my face with my palms.

Ramesh was one of the people whom I trusted most and knew he wouldn't try to deceive me. I made a mental note to meet with the commissioner later that evening.

When evening finally came, I dressed in simple but effective clothes; a black shirt and khaki-colored pants. As I was closing the door behind me, my mother called. I picked it up after hesitating at first because I couldn't be late for my meeting with the commissioner.

"Good evening, Mom. Is there anything important you need to tell me?" I knew it was rude but as long as it wasn't important, I could always call her back at a more convenient time.

"Excuse me, son! A mother calls her son whenever she wants," she huffed angrily.

"But Mom, I have some work to do right now. So can we speak afterward?" I said and walked towards my garage while fiddling with my black SUV keys.

"What work?" she asked suspiciously. "It's Saturday today and I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Ah, I know what you're going to talk about," I groaned as I started the SUV. "Mom, I don't want to meet her, okay?" I was trying to be as polite as possible even if she'd brought this topic up a million times by now. I placed the phone in its compartment on speaker, fixed my seat belt, and began driving.

"What are you talking about? I was going to talk about something else..." she said innocently.

Haha. As if.

"I know you well, Mom. Now bye, I'll call you later," I chuckled.

"At least, tell me if you already have someone in mind."

My mind suddenly remembered her face. Those chocolate brown eyes... fuck they were so mesmerizing! I could get drown in them. Her long thick lashes, her not-so-perfect cute nose, her thin, yet desirable lips tinted a natural pink color, that sharp jawline, and those wavy black hair. She was almost perfect- maybe even completely perfect for me. Don't ask about her figure: she is hot as fuck.

'You must be thinking that I am a pervert, yes when it comes to her I am a pervert.'

But what attracted me most was her fiery personality. She was occasionally rude... No, most of the time, but I still liked her. I enjoyed teasing her, and the look she gave me when she was enraged was worth every trot.

"Hello, Arjun, are you there?" Mom's voice jolted me out of my reverie.

"Yes, Mom. I'm driving right now. Bye. I'll call you tomorrow," I replied quickly. It wasn't that I didn't want to tell Mom about her; it was just that I needed to express my feelings to the appropriate person first.

"All right, son, take care of yourself and please eat properly. Bye," she said and then hung up the phone.

For the duration of the drive, I debated whether or not to inform Mehra of what I had discovered. I knew this was a big case for her, but she had taken the case I was almost done with. So I decided to talk with the commissioner first.

"Good evening, sir," I greeted the commissioner with a salute once I got to his office.

The commissioner sat behind his desk, his gaze fixed on the file in his hand. He had the body of a soldier despite being nearly fifty years old. His hair was greying and the wrinkles on his face were becoming more visible with each passing day. I had a lot of respect for this man, primarily because of his honesty. He had never taken a bribe in his twenty years of service and had always stood by the truth.

"I was about to call you to discuss something, Arjun, but what are you doing here?" he inquired, perplexed.

"I came to take some files from you, Sir," I lied.

"All right," he said. "Nevertheless, I wanted to discuss the Karan Ahuja case. I know I should talk to Ms. Mehra because she was the case's main officer. But you know this case is personal to her because..." He paused and continued, "so I want you to tell her and make her understand that there is nothing I can do about it anymore. It's been almost two years since he escaped and you still haven't found out anything significant about it. So the case was officially closed by the department," he finished sadly.

"Sir, we are still investigating. We're doing our best, and I'm sure we'll find something soon," I replied confidently. This couldn't be it. I hadn't worked so hard to just fucking give up.

"I'm sorry, Arjun. I'm helpless at this point. The department wishes for us to focus on cases with more promising leads. Please discuss this with Ms. Mehra," he said regretfully.

"That is not a good idea, Sir. You know that we don't get along." That, and the fact that she was not going to be happy when she heard about this. "I believe it is best if you inform her of this."

"No, Arjun, I'm afraid I can't. Because of this case, that girl went through a lot. I won't be able to see her disappointed again," he said dejectedly.

"I will do my best, Sir," I promised and then left.

'My Saturday is not going to end well,' I mentally sighed.

I finally decided to call her at almost half-past eight o'clock at night. I called her to let her know that I was going to meet with her to discuss something important but she didn't answer.

What happened to her now, dammit?

She always answered my calls because she knew I wouldn't call her at random. Was she all right? Was she in any way harmed? I increased my pace. My heart rate quickened and sweat lined my brows.

Soon I arrived at her house and knocked a few times but there was no response. She would have opened the door right away based on how well I knew her. I turned to face the window. The lights were turned off.

Where was she?

I called her four times and she never answered.

I hope she is all right.

I decided to wait.

Slowly the time passed and I became increasingly concerned. Was she outside for an event or something? I knew it was silly but for some inexplicable reason, I was concerned out of my mind.

Then, around midnight, I noticed a car approaching the gate. What followed was unexpected. There she was, in a black jumpsuit, looking as stunning as ever. I was about to approach her when I noticed who was driving.

Neil Singhania.

Damn you, fucking rich brat...

What the fuck is going on?

Did she go on a date with him?

I mean, seriously?!

And here I was worried about her while she was busy with him. I couldn't stop staring at her incredible smile because she was laughing at something he said. I loved her smile but right now I hated it because it was him who was making her laugh. I found myself glaring at Neil with unexplainable loathing.

I just wanted to punch Neil in the face. How could he possibly ask her out on a date?

'She is not your girlfriend. She has no idea what you feel,' my conscience replied.

'But I like her.'

She was the girl I was thinking about when my mother had been speaking with me. And now I was an envious mess. I was stunned when I saw him kissing her cheeks. How could she let him do that? I knew it was a friendly gesture but still, he should not touch what was mine.

I saw her standing there watching him drive away. When she realised he was out of sight, she walked towards her door. I cleared my throat and she finally noticed me. I felt like a complete idiot to have been worrying about her while she was probably jumping in Neil fucking Singhania's lap.

"How was your evening? Did you have a wonderful time?" I snapped. My glower was prominently stamped across my face now.

"Arjun? What are you doing here?" she asked, completely ignoring my question. She sounded surprised to find me here, and why wouldn't she? I had probably conveyed to her that I hated her when it was the very opposite...

"What do you think?" I started haughtily. "I am not jobless like him. He is free to wander around and flirt with people all the time. By the way, I have to say, his taste in women sucks. What did he even see in you?" Beauty, intelligence, determination...okay, his taste didn't suck.

"So you've come here to talk about his taste in women?" she retaliated. I could tell she was getting annoyed and it bothered me.

"I called you, but you didn't answer. Why? Were you too distracted in having fun with him?" I asked bitterly.

She looked at her phone. Her expression softened to one of near guilty.

"I am sorry for not noticing them."

I could tell it was a genuine apology. Still, I was dissatisfied.

"Yeah, you were busy whoring around," I said through clenched teeth, but as soon as I saw the hurt in those beautiful eyes, I regretted my words. Did I just say what I think I did? Whoring? What was wrong with me? The hurt in her eyes quickly transformed into anger.

"Stop it, Arjun. Enough. It's none of your business what I do with my free time, and think before you blurt out insults. Oh wait, you can't! You need a fucking brain to thing and you don't have one," she replied in mock surprise. My blood was boiling and if it was anyone but her, they would be at my feet at this point clutching their bloody nose. I stared into her eyes for a second and saw the underlying emotions beneath the anger.

Hurt.

I ruined it again. I always did. Fuck!

"If you have nothing important to say, we can continue this cheerful chit-chat in the office tomorrow," she said bitterly. She turned to go inside but I stopped her by blurting out the words that would cause her immense pain as soon as she heard them.

"Karan Ahuja's case was closed this morning."

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Third Person's POV:

I returned back frustrated and angry because I couldn't hear their conversation. I wanted to make sure they didn't know anything about me. To take out my frustration, I went to the secret room in my house. My eyes directly went to the picture on the wall. She was beaming at something her friend was saying. I clenched my teeth and took the photo to paste it onto the face of the random corpse of a girl I had in the room. This was the second corpse I had brought in a week to alleviate my angst.

I took the knife from the drawer and stabbed her neck several times whilst thinking that I was doing it to her, Priya Mehra. The feeling of pleasure and happiness flooded into my consciousness. It successfully replaced my frustration and anger.

When I finally came to a halt, I threw the headless body on the chair in front of me: I had ripped her head off and crushed it, spilling out its contents everywhere. A contented smile was carved along my lips and adrenaline pumped vigorously through my body as I looked at my artwork.

'Soon, Priya Mehra, I will bring this fantasy to life. Just you wait...'

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