Simran

******

The noise of the city went quiet the more I drove towards the lake area. Even during the day, I felt like I was driving during the chillness of the night. The sun shone brightly, yet it felt like a camouflage and that I was in some darker part of the city. 

I took a left turn now to the lake, which stood still, shining because of the sunrays hitting the water's surface. 

I tried locating a three-storeyed building, which, by the way, should have come into view by now, but it hadn't. The GPS stopped, stating I had reached the location. I applied the brakes and then got out of the car. The bright Sun squinted my eyes, and I instantly put on my Prada sunglasses I had bought with my hard-earned money. 

I looked around, but there was no building in sight. I rechecked Dustin's message and the pictures of the location he had sent. It all matched, but the building was not in sight. 

Struggling to find that building, I followed the rocky path. Glad I was wearing sneakers, otherwise I would have slipped because of the heels. When I took a few steps, I saw a board. That was basically a direction board that led straight into the woods. My heart palpitated in nervousness, and going into the woods was not the right choice. 

I surely was desperate to meet a private investigator, but not dumb enough to walk into the woods without any security. Besides, I had sneaked out of the house right under Enzo's nose and driven Di's car here. Kiaan had many enemies, so I wasn't going to walk into an unknown path just like that. So, instead of walking there, I simply called the number of the private investigator's office.

"Hello, K. Investigations. How may we help you?" 

A female voice answered from the other end. I had already talked to this person on the call when I called for an inquiry and to book an appointment.

What was her name...what was her name...Yeah, right!! Bella.

"Hi, Bella. I am Simran. Remember, I had called yesterday for the appointment."

"Yes, Ma'am, I do remember," her reply came, and then she asked, "When will you arrive?"

"I am actually at the location, but I can't see any office building here." 

I looked around once more, just in case I missed something. But still, no building was in sight.

"Don't worry, Ma'am, someone from the office will safely escort you here...Just give me two minutes." 

She then hung up the call. Instead of waiting farther from my car, I went back to my car. I kept waiting for someone to show up while the burning sun kept making things harder for me. It was more than two minutes, but still no one showed up, and now my anxiety grew.

What if no one shows up?

What if it's a kidnapping agency and not a private investigation agency?

All those fears rumbled in my head.

'Calm down, Simran. You are not stuck in some novel.' 

My inner self tried to calm me down, but then was it even worth it? I might not have been in a novel, but my life was no different. And after marrying Kiaan, I could confidently say I was playing the role of a damsel in distress very well.

While I was fighting with my inner self over my thoughts and fears, I heard footsteps. It wasn't rushed, so it was obvious no one was running to get me, which I was scared of. Then a moment later, I noticed a lady in black colored jeans, a black shirt, and black sneakers. She looked almost my age, and her hair was put in a sleek bun. It looked more like a uniform than casual clothes.

Once closer, she smiled warmly and extended her hand towards me.

"Hello, Ma'am, I am Bella."

"Hi..." I shook her head briefly as I smiled back.

"Sorry, some of the members are busy with some important investigations, while some have gone out to run some errands for other investigations, so I came. Apologies for the inconvenience..."

"No, worries..."

I felt a little relieved when I saw a woman had come to get me. 

We walked straight into the forest. She informed me how this was supposed to be a discreet site, and that's why a concealed building was chosen for the office, but still, I wasn't very confident of the place. 

A few steps later, we stood in front of a three-storeyed mansion, covered in white paint. It was just some building, yet it felt like it had a story to tell. 

I hadn't seen that mansion before, but the way it stood amidst the forests screamed it was more antique than the trees there. The three-storeyed mansion in the sunlight wasn't shining, but it looked like it was waiting for the moon to shine. Like it was waiting for the Moon to send its light as a blanket of love, as a blanket of warmth. It felt as if this building was bruised and the wounds were hidden beneath.

Why would I think like that about some building?

What is wrong with me?

Why did I feel pain for some reason?

A tingle-like pain started in my chest over my heart, and I palmed it with my right hand, gently rubbing to soothe the pain. It didn't ease; instead, it worsened. Panic rose within me as I recalled how every time I was vulnerable, Kiaan was always there to hold me, to soothe my pain, to chase away the monsters from my nightmare and to soothe any physical or emotional pain I was burdened with.

'Kiaan,' I whispered the name which was both poison and antidote for me.

Kisne socha tha...jo dard ka sabab tha, wahi ek din marham ban jaayega.

[Who would have thought... the one who was the cause of my pain would one day become my healing]

"Ma'am, are you okay?" Bella looked at me with concern as I stood out holding my heart. The pain slipped out of my system like it was never there, just from one name. Kiaan.

"I am fine," I replied.

"Miss D is waiting for you on the first floor. Just go right from the stairs, and you will find her cabin." I nodded as I followed the direction shared by Bella.

The office was on the first floor, and since there was no elevator, I took the iron stairs. Every step sounded like a weird ring; my steps announced my arrival. 

There were a few staff members glancing at me once in a while because I surely looked out of place. I wore a shiny ocean blue colored knee length dress, and my beige colored sneakers shone brighter than the dull walls of the building. While I maintained a sleek and modest appearance, that place seemed far from it. Every table around had a stack of unorganized files. Though there was no dust, the place wasn't very clean either.

I turned to the right when I was on the last step. There were a few locked doors, but one was slightly open. The door had a nameplate stating Miss D. When I knocked on the door, I was welcomed with a soft come in. 

I had thought I would witness the same untidiness inside, but the moment I took a step in, I was welcomed with the warm aroma of sunflowers, and there were no files in sight. The glass table top was clean and had only a MacBook alongside a photo frame.

The walls were empty too, except for one corner where there was a corkboard hung, which had pictures of some newspaper cuttings, but that also wasn't messy, rather organized. On one cabinet, in a vase, pretty sunflowers were there, and they lifted my mood instantly.

Dustin's cousin Daisy was sitting on a cushioned leather chair. She looked a little older than him, just like he had mentioned.

"Miss, D..."

Dustin had told me that's what she loved to be called by everyone. That was why even Bella called her that.

"I had been waiting to finally witness the beast's wife in person," she replied, smiling when she wavered her gaze from the newspaper on the table.

"Hello, Mrs. Chauhan." She had a warm smile, almost like the warmth of a big sister. She extended her hand for me to take.

"Hi..." I greeted her by shaking her hand.

"Please have a seat. Tell me what I owe the pleasure of having such a talented person here. Want me to spy on your husband?" She quirked her eyebrows up.

"No..." I replied instantly.

Then she chortled, saying, "I was just kidding. Dustin told me about your friend." 

I had lied to Dustin about a friend who needed help from a private investigator to get his cousin's details.

"You lied..." she said. I looked at her, dumbfounded.

"I am an investigator, I read people like open books. Besides, I don't even have to read you, considering you showed up alone and not with a friend."

Of course, not showing up with a friend could make anyone suspicious, especially the investigator who wanted to meet her client, who was supposed to be my friend.

She pressed the edge of the rim of her glasses covering her eyes as she went through the newspaper, which looked old and rusty. It looked like a really old newspaper from a time when digital resources were not available much. I wondered who had kept it safely till now.

"So tell me, what are you here for?" Her eyes didn't move from the newspaper as she turned the page.

"I want to find who killed my mother." Her fingers, ready to turn another page, halted mid-air. She cast me a glance, looking at me with some unknown gaze as if reading me. Perhaps that's how every investigator behaves.

"Your mother, Reena Kashyap?"

"How did you know..." I was stunned as I hadn't told her about my mother yet.

"That's my job, Mrs. Chuahan. Finding out about the history of clients I am dealing with comes out as a basic background check. We at K Investigations here don't just work for anyone. We need to be sure we are serving justice to the right people."

"Tell me more. What exactly do you know?"

Exhaling deeply, I opened the door to one of those memories I hated visiting.

"The day my mother and I got into an accident, she...uh...she told me about a letter. I found that letter in her room. In the letter, she had mentioned that if I was reading the letter, it meant she died and that her enemies did their job well..." My throat went dry, and my voice grew heavier.

"The letter also had a mention of M.P.'s initials. She had mentioned I would need to find M.P. I thought that was the way to find who kill...killed her ...." 

I struggled to speak, so I stopped for a moment, catching my breath. She poured water into a glass and slid it towards me on the table. Picking up the glass, I took a few sips, feeling a little better than before, and then kept it back.

"What happened next?"

"I hired an investigator, and he found that there is someone named Marco Polo, and M.P are his initials. But he couldn't find much. He informed me that Byrol Paine, the famous Modeling Agent, knew about Marco Polo."

"Did you talk to Byrol Paine?" I shook my head.

"He vanished."

And then I found his bloody tie as a gift from my stalker, but I skipped that part.

"I got married after it...and since then, the investigation is nowhere..."

"What happened to the investigator who was working for you before?"

"He ditched me." 

That asshole was a coward who didn't want to go ahead because of the danger involved, but he did take money from me. Greedy monster.

"Mrs. Chauhan, this investigation could literally devastate you. I am saying it with confidence because of the involvement of Byrol Paine. Wherever he is or was involved, it never ended well. He worked as an informant not only for cops but also for people one should be scared of. So, are you sure you want to go ahead with it?"

How could I not be sure? 

No matter how dangerous Byrol Paine and the people he was involved with were, I wanted my mother's killer dead, and I was going to do anything in my power to achieve that.

"I am very much sure about it," I replied with certainty.

"I want to know what happened to my Mom. Why did anyone try to hurt her when she was such a nice human being? And I also want to punish whoever hurt her."

"Okay...."

She picked up the receiver of the landline on the table, dialled someone's number, and said, "Alexander, come in."

A minute later, a man whose age was almost similar to Grandpa's age entered. His hair was completely white, his features wrinkled, but he looked fit. He smiled at me curtly while I returned the gesture.

"That's Alexander, my subordinate and co-owner. He will explain the further details of the investigation process and everything you need to know. I would have been here too for further discussion, but I need to go to a court hearing."

She got up and then took her bag hanging on her chair all this time, slung it on her shoulder, and walked away to the door.

"And...Simran..." I turned to her.

"We will definitely catch the culprit." She said with confidence. I smiled at her certainty, feeling a little confident that this time, finally, I would get to know what happened to Mom and why someone tried to hurt her.

Alexander took a seat on the chair that was kept beside the one Miss D had been sitting on. He seemed like a warm human, cracking lame jokes in between while I told him what I had told Miss D. 

He heard everything quietly, and then he got up and walked to the three-columned black colored wooden cabinet. He opened one of the drawers of it and then pulled a black zipped pouch. He came back to his seat and put that kit looking thing on the table in front of me.

"What's this?" I asked.

"We call it a Survival Kit."

I looked at the black bag in confusion and then at him.

"Miss D doesn't pull me in every investigation. I might be a smart man, but an old one as well. But if I am needed, then this means the case is concerning. So, for concerning cases, we have prepared a survival kit, which has basically some self-defence items and a burner phone to keep you in touch with us."

I opened the bag and scattered the objects on the table. It had a pocket knife, a pepper spray, a self-defence key chain tool, and a stun gun too.

"Are these really needed?"

"This is part of our protocol. Our investigations sometimes turn grim, and we are always accountable for our clients' safety. In further investigation, if we find out you are under threat, we will temporarily assign a bodyguard to you as well, not that you need one, considering your husband is very much capable of protecting you... " he laughed, then tried to lighten the serious mood and environment.

"But... yeah...that's our rules. For now, these self-defense items would do." 

I nodded, putting them back inside. Now, this was a little over the top private investigation agency, still better than my previous one.

"By the way, do you suspect anyone in your family who could be behind your mother's accident?"

"No," I replied honestly. No one in my family could ever think of hurting Maa, that I was sure of.

"Anyone you know?"

I shook my head.

"Think clearly, does anyone ring any bell...maybe a distant friend you know...someone you thought was not important, but whose presence sent chills down your spine?"

I sat there seated thinking about it, and then someone crossed my mind. 

But was it right to talk about him? 

I hadn't even told Kiaan yet, and he hadn't approached me since after my wedding.

"If there is no one then...." I interrupted him all of a sudden, "There...." Then I paused, hesitating as I continued, "....there...is someone."

But if I had to find my mother's culprit, I would have to do it right. 

Why would he hurt Byrol Pain if he wasn't behind my Mom's accident? 

He could be a murderer for all I knew, and I couldn't stay silent anymore.

So when Alexander asked, "Who?"

I replied with, "My stalker."

******

When I got back home, the house sounded lively. Grandpa and Dad were cracking some jokes sitting in the garden. Di hadn't returned from work, and not even Namit Jiju. 

Mom was playing with Popcorn and Biscuit. It warmed my heart. At least they weren't ignored because the way my life was going, I was not focusing on a lot of important things and people in my life. I was glad my in-laws loved me and everything I brought to this house with so much love. 

But I wasn't sure about grandpa. Though he never behaved differently with me in any way, yet now that I knew what he really wanted, it made me question his behaviour towards me and this marriage.

Was anyone else pretending to like me when deep down they wished Rhea was Kiaan's wife?

I wondered, but I had no answer for it.

"Simmi, come on, let's have some snacks..." Dad called me, gesturing for me to go to where everyone was sitting in the garden, munching on some fried snacks. While for grandpa, there were some diet ones. Since I didn't prefer fried food daily, I also opted for diet snacks. I petted popcorn and biscuit, who began running around my feet as I took a seat on a spare lounge chair.

Saavi arrived from work after me with Dhruv Bhaiya. She looked serious, and so did Bhaiya.

"What happened? You look quite upset..." I said. Everyone's attention was brought to her.

"Nothing...she just overthinks a lot..." Bhaiya said, putting his hand on her shoulder and kissing her hair, whispering something which brought a smile to her face.

When they both sat down with us, Saavi said, "I checked today's newspaper right now, and I found this..." She placed the newspaper she had been holding on the table.

All of us noticed the deep black headlines.

"Business Tycoon Ian Marshall Found Dead in River Under Mysterious Circumstances"

"Why do people kill someone? I don't like it."

"Muffin, it's just an accident... don't overthink it. News reporters love to hype the situation....you know how they are." Bhaiya tried cajoling her, drifting her mind away.

"Tell me what I should do to lighten up your mood?"   Saavi still looked upset. She wasn't a fan of violence and brutality. Bhaiya slid from his chair and was kneeling in front of her,

"What should I cook for you, my lady?" Everyone smiled, and Saavi's cheeks reddened. Dhruv Bhaiya never shied away from showering his love on her, which was so different from his quiet nature.

"Manchurian," Saavi mumbled in response, and then she left a kiss on Bhaiya's hair, blushing. 

Saavi was always quieter, would sink into her space if any situation like that appeared before, but Bhaiya's love had changed her; she had become more confident, more bold, more expressive.

I felt a sharp sting of hurt, not because I was jealous, but because I was unlucky. I had a husband who claimed me as his before the world, yet tore us apart in private, leaving me to bleed. 

I tore my gaze away from the sweet couple as the longing for my husband kept clawing at me. My eyes fell back on the newspaper headlines again.

The name from the headlines stood out more. Ian Marshall.

Was that a coincidence that the man who hated my husband and wasn't very pleasant to me either died suddenly under mysterious circumstances? 

Was I thinking too much, or was there more to that?

Just like other questions, those also went to the stack of unanswered ones because the man who was the only truth I needed had abandoned me.

I decided to let off some steam with my dance practice and to push my husband out of my head. I had another show the next day, and it was better if I practiced. That would also help my mind clear. With that thought, I excused myself.

I headed to the spare room on the first floor, which Mom had arranged for my dance practice. It was nothing like the one I had at my home, but still, it was nice.

My home

That realization always hit me hard. Even after a week at my in-laws, I couldn't call this place my home, but only Kiaan's mansion was the place I felt truly belonged. I miss living there. It's not about the people, it's about the feeling of belongingness which only that place could provide me, which only one man had given me.

I missed his voice as I danced. I missed the glide of his palm over my skin as I burned with desire, gliding across the floor effortlessly.

That man had so much power over me that it was time I stripped him of that.

Practicing more not only improves my performance, but it also keeps the unwanted thoughts away. But it wasn't happening this time. He stayed, in my head, his touch lingered on my skin, the memories of his lips on me burned my soul, and I had turned to ashes.

After breaking my bones for one and a half hours, I sat on the floor. 

I recalled one evening when I was depleted after practicing for two hours and also felt underconfident, I had settled myself on the floor. My heart was sinking. But then all of a sudden, Kiaan appeared. He had brought me two hot cups of cappuccino. We had it in silence, sitting on the floor in my dance room, just enjoying the view the sunset graced us with and hot cups of coffee in our hands. We didn't speak, didn't talk, but stayed quiet. And that moment felt intimate, felt like us.  

And when he finally looked at me, he put a strand of stray hair behind my ear and murmured,' You are graceful, firefly.'

Four Words. 

All it took was four words from him to lift my mood, ease my weariness, and bring back my fading confidence.

The memory warmed my lips with a smile and pricked my eyes with unshed tears.

I pat the towel on my face, wiping the sweat, missing him, when I heard a car honk. 

It was similar to the honk of his car, not the one he sent for servicing, but the other one. It could be possible that Enzo or someone else sent him that car, and now he has come back.

I didn't want to go, didn't want to be disappointed again, didn't want to be hurt again...but...the bubble of hope was too big to ignore. So, I scrambled to my feet and darted downstairs.

As I sauntered down excitedly and anxiously, my feet stopped right on the last step of the staircase. 

He wasn't there. 

It was Rohit Bhaiya who had come to take Di with him as her in-laws wanted to spend some time with her. Bhaiya smiled at me, and I smiled back. Saavi and Di gave me a comforting but sad smile, but it appeared like pity. I grinned in reply, even when I could hear the crack of the piece of my heart breaking.

The myth...

I hate him.

I hate him.

I hate him.

The truth....

I can't hate him...no matter how hard I try. That was why I had to do this. That was why I had to call Arjun.

"Hello, Arjun...did you see my message?" I asked about the text I had sent him that afternoon.

"I did, Simmi. But are you sure about it?" 

 He asked, concerned. 

I looked out of the window of my room at the empty sky, the clouds covering the moon, leaving the stars bereft of the shine of the love of their lives.

"If I hadn't been so sure, I would have never asked this from you."

"...And if you are worried because he is your friend, I understand. I can find another lawyer to do it..." 

I could understand if he didn't want to go through with my request because of Kiaan being his best friend. I wasn't going to put him in a bad light if he wasn't fine doing that.

"I am the only one who can win here....you know..."

That was why Arjun was my first choice.

"That's why I am seeking your help. I am really not backing down, Arjun. I am suing my husband. I want to send a legal notice to Kiaan Chauhan."

******

Aur ho gayi tabahi ki shuruwat. 🙈

Hi Lovelies,

I hope you all are doing well. 🤗

Will Simran find her mother's culprit this time? 🥹

And what about her stalker? Will he appear or be in the shadows just like always? 🥹

And about the legal notice, do you smell something fishy, or does everything seem fine to you all? 🤔

Do share your views about the chapter. It would mean a lot to me. ❤️

P. S -> The next update will be on Wednesday ❤️

Thanks,

Shrishtee