I wordlessly followed Akshay, my mind being exactly the paradox I needed at the moment. It was swirling with dark and subfusc thoughts which were hard to express since what I so desperately needed weren't words, but sleep.

But I still wasn't ready to give in to my desires just yet.

Walking through numerous hallways and hoping for the next door we passed to be her door, we finally reached the appropriate room. Before we could enter the room, the doctor turned to us and whispered in a light but grave tone,

"She seems to be shaken deeply, please take the appropriate measures and don't push her too much into the interrogation. I'm afraid something worse might happen to her."

Akshay and I merely nodded our heads, already knowing the fact and kind of feeling guilty of pushing her into this state.

After his instruction, we entered the room of the wife, and saw her lying helplessly on the bed in the middle of a medium-sized room, an assortment of wires connected to her body. Although she looked harmless and extremely pitiful lying there, her right shoulder covered in a cast and bandages on her plethora of bruises, I strangely couldn't feel a thing. All I cared for in that minute was that a murder had happened, and that other lives were possibly at stake if this case wasn't solved quickly.

Akshay turned to look at me to see if I would break the ice first, but upon noticing that I was too far gone inside the tunnel that was my mind, he decided to take the reins in his hands.

He turned back to Kamla, and asked her in a relatively soft and soothing voice,

"How are you doing now Mrs. Sharma?"

"I feel better. Thank you for asking."

She answered with little difficulty, still not forgetting her manners.

"That's good to hear. You look a little weak, still we wanted to check up on you."

"Again, thank you for helping me out and bringing me here. You weren't under any pressure to help me, so thanks a lot."

She replied softly with a small smile of gratitude on her face, making me feel like dying in a puddle of remorse.

From what it seemed to be, she was playing a game with us - a really delicate game. One moment, I would feel like she's the ultimate vamp you couldn't even meet in a worn out, third rate TV show; other times, she's this really pristine, unblemished and devoted homemaker, who knows nothing beyond serving her husband and son, even though she was tormented every single day.

What wasn't a cakewalk even for me to figure out, I hardly thought Akshay would be able to solve. It's not that I'm skeptical of his mettle or merits, it's just that this is turning into a more and more peculiar case, and it hasn't even been full 24 hours since the murder happened.

It was so serious that now I was at a point where I was skeptical whether we will be able to actually nab the killer.

Would it be possible?

Or will we be just running around in circles?

Only God knows, or time.

"Although we will now be taking our leave, this is just to give you a heads up that your interrogation period is still not complete. I hope you understand the gravity of the situation and please cooperate with us the next time we come to you. It might happen on any of these days, so please be prepared for it."

Akshay reminded her softly, even though his tone had taken a small turn towards being stern.

"I am aware officer. I know this won't end until the real killer is caught. Also, I'm terribly sorry for troubling you so far, I will fully comply with the questioning henceforth. Thanks for coming again."

Kamla's voice and words were back to being robotic.

And just like that, we were back to square one.

Once we were out of the gloomy atmosphere of the hospital, and inside Akshay's jeep, I took a large breath.

Akshay looked up at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Was that so hard for you?"

"No. I just can't stand that peculiar nasty smell of disinfectants in a hospital. Makes me dizzy."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

"Yeah, it's a miracle I survived so long in there."

I told him with a straight face, making him break into a smile. What for, I had no idea.

"So, what are your plans for tonight?"

Akshay asked me, while keeping his eyes on the road.

The night had finally enveloped the glowing sun, and the moon had fully set in. Even in its crescent shape, it was capable of illuminating the darkest parts of the city. The places it couldn't reach, the job was done by artificial fluorescent lighting. All in all, the roads were vibrant and the chatter and laughter of hordes of tourists didn't seem to die out any soon.

"Why do I get a feeling you're trying to pry out information from me so you could kill me later if a make a slight error?"

"So you're snarky tonight. Alright then, I'll shut up."

He hit the nail on the head when he said this with a dramatic sigh.

"Oh wow, you could shut up too? How early have you told me this!"

I was so not in the mood to be witty or flirty tonight. It's as if someone had finally gotten a hold of my happy button and switched it off until further notice.

He raised his eyebrow again, finally understanding once and for all that I wasn't going to be answering any of his questions wittily. He decided it was best to keep mum for the rest of the ride and to not disturb me anymore.

A few minutes and crazy but smooth turns later, I found myself looking at the big black gates of my damned hotel through half closed lids.  When we reached here, I wasn't so sure anymore since the rest of the journey was a blur to me.

"We're here Shreya."

Akshay informed me in a low voice as he shook me lightly to wake me up. I stirred a bit in my seat, before finally waking up and taking note of my surroundings. I looked towards my right to see Akshay smiling at me and looking at me with a comforting look.

How did we go from biting each other's heads to comforting each other in just one day? Now, that was an amelioration even a hare couldn't reach. Anyways, knowing his wastrel nature, he definitely wouldn't be able to.

I was not fully in my sane mind yet to brush his kindness off, so I returned his smile with a grateful smile of my own, and walked off into the hotel after wishing him a good night.

Its true that we're still at a dead end in our case, but at least, we're getting somewhere in our relationship, if even we can call it that.

And for some twisted reason, I'm ecstatic about this small change in routine and relieved now that I know we won't be reaching any more dead ends with each other.

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