Chapter 12
Anjali didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t
think clearly. The messages made no sense to her. “Address to be extracted from
Comp. Database”? The more she thought about it, the more she got nervous. And
what in the hell did ‘SSO’ mean? Those three letters were running around her
head repeatedly, just like lot of tweeties fly around Silvester’s head just
after having failed in a plan. She in fact read it once as SOS instead of SSO.
She was feeling so giddy. She then decided to check the mail. She went to take
the new iPad, her Chote had gifted
last month, for her birthday. Logging in in her account, there was a new mail
flashing just right then. She clicked on it, hoping it wouldn’t be one of those messages she’d been receiving that
night. Muttering a silent prayer she opened it. And bang! Just what she
thought; it was again from the peculiar “SSO” but this time she at least what
it meant.
“Social
Security Organisation”
Yes,
that was it. Things appeared to fall in place. It was the most secretive,
concealed organisation that ever existed. But Anjali had always thought it
always had been a rumour. Everyone always took it light when someone specified
its name. But she always used to wonder how come such a rumour arose. And when
she used to see the facial expression of the narrator, she used to laugh at
them for dreading after all a ‘rumour’. Even now, she couldn’t actually believe
it. Scrolling down, she swallowed as soon as she started reading it.
“
Ms Anjali Malik,
I understand that this is
hard to take in. I’m pretty sure that you had been thinking this whole
organisation was an imprudent, baseless rumour. All agents presently functional
had the same conception; well I’d say more of a ‘misconception’, as you now have.
But
let me tell you, SSO exists.
We
here at SSO are always in search of talented, skilled operatives simultaneously
while we are dealing confidential cases. Our latest case pointed towards close
acquaintances of yours and that’s when we knew more about your capability. We
are glad to say you’ve been selected for being one of our credible agents.
Through
our organisation, you can contribute a lot to the nation and even the whole
world. Our organisation’s prime motto is to keep globizens all around the world
safe and sound.
We
are not compelling you to join. It’s all up to you. If you are willing to
contribute your part for the well-being of the world, you are requested to meet
me at our Head Quarters. As you’d have been informed, please extract the
address from the computer database. We have encoded the address in the basic
codes of your elemental OS. It might be confusing. You’ll understand when you
restart your hardware.
Thanking
you for your patience,
N.Malhotra..
Mr
Nithin Malhotra,
Chief,
SSO,
India.
P.S. And before I conclude, I want
to add one more important detail.
We need you in the present case
we’re dealing.
And the person involved in this
case is none other than your brother, Mr Arnav Singh Raizada A.K.A Arnav Malik.
<This
message is programmed to be terminated after one reading. >
”
The world
almost came crashing for Anjali, as soon as she read the last few lines of the
mail… All she could think was “Chote….!”
~*~
As rays of
sunshine got filtered through the curtains, they found their way into the room
where Arnav was sleeping. Feeling the subtle warmth of the rays on his eye
lids, he could no longer sleep. But the first thing that came to his
ever-calculating mind was one person who seemed to suddenly have utmost
importance in his life. “Khushi” he whispered as just hearing her name roused a
sea of emotions inside him. ‘Arnav, you’re crossing your limits’
said a distant voice in his mind. But now he was clear with himself. He was no
longer going to listen to his mind.
He got
reminded of the previous night when Khushi had called him at midnight. His
eyebrows shot up when he saw the time on his mobile. It was 12.30AM. He was
wondering what could’ve made her call him at that time of the night. He,
getting out of the bed in one swift movement, made his way to the hall, trying
to look presentable by making over his hair with his bare hands, looking at the
big, man-sized mirror on the house’s wall.
Being a designer, Varsha insisted on having big mirrors on the walls at
some places, so that whenever she fabricated a new style, she could sport it on
her and check on the walls while she walked, giving a ramp-walk view. Arnav had
always said that it was not a very ‘ergonomic’ idea, thanked her now as it
proved effective. He didn’t want to be all sleepy-faced and droopy-headed when
he was going to see her. ‘Who her?’ asked his heart, naughtily.
“Well, her!” he said out aloud by
mistake.
“Who ‘her’?”
Arnav heard Varsha popping her head out from the edge of the sofa.
“Nothing!”
said Arnav cursing himself for his absent mindedness.
His eyes
searched for Khushi but she was nowhere to be seen. He casually walked to the
balcony <way too casually, that Varsha could actually see that he was trying
to act ‘normal’ > hoping to see her there. He was giving side-way glances at
Varsha, checking if she was observing him. But he saw her fiddling with the
tea-bag, taking it out of the milk dropping it again and repeated the same thing.
He wondered how a mere tea-bag could fetch so much of her attention. He peeked
inside the kitchen to see if she was
there. But to his disappointment, she
was not there too. Out of frustration, he muttered a mute “Dammit!” under his
breath.
“If it’s Khushi
you are looking for, she isn’t here.” said a distant Varsha, who appeared to be
engrossed in her own chain of thoughts.
He was about
to ask her where Khushi had gone, but stopped. Her expression was so lifeless.
She, for a minute, looked a lot older. He had never seen her so vague, and
preoccupied. Concerned, he went, sat near her ant kept his hand over her
shoulder. “Varsha, is everything alright? You look so worried. What happened?”
he asked her in a soft voice.
Shaken from
her thoughts, she just was blank. “It’s just nothing, Arnav.” she replied
unnerved.
“You’re
hiding something from me. Come on; tell me what’s bothering you.”
“I just got
reminded of those days, when we first joined at Harvard. If you hadn’t… I don’t
know what would’ve happened… I don’t know if I’d be here, alive……-” Varsha was
cut off by Arnav.
“Shhh! How
many times have I told you NOT to talk about it or why, even think about it?” Arnav asked in a
distressed voice.
“Thank you,
Arnav. Thank you so much!” Varsha said, tears of gratitude flooding her eyes.
“Stop! Not
another word, Varsh!” he said, comforting her. He just wanted to divert her
from those unsolicited memories. He knew at an instant, what to do. He knew she
was fond of teasing him. He was actually going to provoke her into teasing him.
‘Unbelievable!’ he thought to
himself.
He rose up
from there and headed straight to Varsha’s room. A surprised Varsha wondered
why. “Why are you going there? What do you want?” asked she.
“Um…I want… I
mean… I thought of…” he dragged.
“What is it?
Oh! I get it! You were searching for Khushi, weren’t you?” asked Varsha who
regained her composure. After all, who can afford to miss the opportunity to
tease Arnav Singh Raizada?
Arnav was
happy on the inside that The Normal Varsha was back. He kept the drama going.
“No. I wanted to call di. My mobile’s battery has drained. That’s why I needed
your phone.”
Just then
Arnav’s mobile beeped. It was a facebook notification. Arnav had kept it on the
tea-table when he had sat down with her. ‘Dammit!’
he thought. Before he could reach it, Varsha pounced on it.
“I didn’t
know your mobile could work even after the battery has drained! Hmmm… Let’s see…
What do we have here?” Varsha started playing with his mobile.
Before Arnav
could snatch it from her hand, she shoved it away from his reach.
“Just one day
and you both have started speaking with each other during the night, huh? This
is not fair!” she chirped.
Arnav rolled
his eyes. Varsha’s phone rang. She took the phone to see who it was. It was
from Khushi.
“Hello,
Khush!” Varsha attended the call.
“Hey,
Varshly, my dance session’s over. Can you come and pick me up?” came the reply from Khushi.
“Yeah. I’ll
be there in 20minutes. Buh bye!” she ended the call. She thought of getting
ready to pick Khushi up but came to a halt as she got a sparkling idea.
She faked a
call, and was acting as if she attended it.
“Yeah, this
is Varsha here.” “Oh!” “Okay, I’ll come to office in just half an hour.” “Yeah,
I’ll come as soon as possible.” “Bye!” Varsha spoke hastily on the phone.
After she had
cut the call, Arnav asked Varsha who it was.
“It was an
urgent call from office. Hey, Arnie! Can you go pick up Khushi from her dance
practice? I need to go to office, but she’s waiting there for me. Please don’t
say no!” pleaded Varsha who had mastered the art of acting naturally in front
of Arnav by now.
“But where is
it?” asked Arnav, who had no choice but to go.
Giving all
the details for the way to class, Varsha went to her room. Peeping out from her
room she checked if Arnav had left. She called Anjali the minute he had stepped
out. But Anjali didn’t pick her call.
“Di never
misses calls. I wonder why she isn’t picking up the phone!” Varsha said to
herself and went to get ready in her room.
‘It’s going to be a long day!’ she
thought.
~*~
and often describe one another as hopeless!
it! Leave your replies too! _1.gif)
