Not the suspicious look again!

"Seriously? Again?" I asked, looking at him with irritation.

"I didn't say anything." He shrugged, averting his eyes while doing so.

"Your face did all the telling," I deadpanned. "Can't believe you are back to suspecting me." I huffed.

"Not my fault. You looked so scary."

I raised my eyebrows at his words. Pointing a finger to my chest, I asked, "Me?"

"Who else?" He asked sarcastically.

"I guess, you can say it would be me." I nodded in agreement, "after all, you don't remember your past self." I smiled at him sarcastically while he scoffed at my brilliant punch.

"Anyways, how did you get hurt in the first place?" I asked curiously.

Did thorns grow from his pillow? How can someone get hurt while sleeping?

"Ah, that!" He muttered, running his hands through his hair, while looking here and there.

"Yeah...that."

"I was just being an idiot," he said nervously.

"That you are, but what did you do to end up like this? It's not that easy to pull out the stitches." I looked at him sternly, not giving him any leeway to get out of the question.

He opened and closed his mouth, not a single word coming out of his mouth. I was about to probe him again, but suddenly the doorbell rang, making us jump.

"Hide," Rehaan whispered to me urgently, his eyes wide with panic.

"Don't be scared. It must be the doctor," I informed him.

"You called the doctor here." It wasn't a question but a statement, a statement filled with fury.

I gulped nervously looking at his face. It was now his chance to act stern.

"Even after clearly stating that we aren't going to let anyone in?"

I bit my lips nervously, but then puffed out some air, gathering all the courage I could to fight it out.

"It's not my fault that you hurt yourself again. The way the blood was gushing out, I had no choice but to call the doctor," I said defensively.

"You did bandage me with the help of the video call." He reminded me while still glaring at me.

"I can only bandage. What if something has gone wrong inside? What if it turns out to be deadly? We need to check it out. Or do you prefer to die out of your stupidity first rather than dying because of the culprit? Is that your plan? Huh? Huh?"

I got on his face angrily, before huffing and moving to open the door, leaving him there stunned.

★★★★★

"An...Ananya Di?"

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, looking all over me to see if I was fine.

"I...am, but why are you here?" I asked her, while nervously glancing behind to see if Rehaan hadn't come near.

I will be dead if he sees her here.

"I was so worried. Those thugs destroyed everything yesterday and today you weren't picking up my calls. Do you know how many bad thoughts ran through my mind?"

"About that...," I trailed off, scratching my forehead sheepishly.

"I thought something happened to you," she said, her chest still heaving.

Either she ran till here or was still frightened. Probably the latter.

"Sorry Di. I wanted to, but Rehaan said not to take any calls or let someone in," I said apologetically.

"Really?" She scoffed, obviously offended. "Now you don't trust me either?"

"It's not like that Di. We are just scared, and don't even know what is going on." I tried to explain in vain, when I clearly knew that my words and actions must have hurt her.

"To think I was worried sick about your safety," she muttered to herself, before harshly handing me a bag.

"What?" I asked in a confused tone, before looking inside the bag.

"My...clothes." I curled my lips, feeling guilty for my actions. "Di, I—"

She cut me off, before I could apologize again. "It is understandable for Rehaan to be suspicious as he doesn't know or remember anyone. But you? Don't you have memories with the people around? Can't you differentiate between the good and bad people in your life based on all these years we spent time together? Or are you deliberately choosing to forget everyone and suspect them equally?"

"Di...I am really sorry. I know this isn't enough and I did wrong. I really am sorry. But please please understand this once. What happened shook us and we really didn't know how to handle it..."

"So you decided to cut off your people?" She asked, looking shocked.

"Not only people, but we decided to cut off ourselves entirely from the outer world."

"House arrest?"

"Lockdown, house arrest, whatever name you want to give. We are really scared that they will come back to hurt us and—"

"They won't," she said, shocking the hell out of me.

"What?!"

It wasn't me, but Rehaan who questioned, looking just as shocked as me.

"Rehaan, she just came to—" I tried to explain thinking he would be angry, but he cut off mid-sentence.

"It's fine. Let's hear what she has to say first," he said to me, but all his attention was on Di.

"Explain," he ordered, after having ushered her inside and given her a glass of water.

Manners, even in this situation.

Rehaan sat on the one-seater couch, while I sat with Di on the longer one. He turned a bit in his seat to face us.

"They came back today," Ananya Di started, throwing a bomb at us.

"They did?" I screeched in alarm.

"Yeah, that was the reason I was calling you relentlessly, but you were busy suspecting me," she taunted.

I ignored her taunt, knowing that I would pacify her sooner or later. Right now, the main concern was her and other renters' safety.

"Are you okay? What about the other girls? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I am here, aren't I?" She questioned back, rolling her eyes at me, while pointing towards herself which looked unharmed.

Fortunately.

"Why did they come back? You said they had already burned all her documents," Rehaan asked, his tone calm and collected, unlike mine.

"To give these documents," she said, before raising her finger to hint 'one minute'. She rummaged through her side bag, before holding out a file.

"What is this?" I asked, while taking the file.

"Your new documents," she said, just as I had turned the page in the file and saw my photo but with a different name.

"Why burn it if you are going back to make another one?" Rehaan muttered, shaking his head in confusion.

"It's in another name," I muttered in shock.

"What?" He asked, standing up to be by my side, and then peeped at the papers over my shoulder.

"The identification document has my photo but is in another name," I said to no one in particular, before turning to look at Ananya Di, in question. For only she had answers to this weird situation.

"The man said he will leave you alone if you live quietly with this new identity."

"What?" Rehaan and I shouted in unison.

What the hell was going on with my life?

Ananya Di smiled awkwardly. It was clear from her face that she found it weird too.

"He said he wishes you to live a great life. He will try his best so you don't face any obstacles in your life. You just need to forget your previous identity and live with the new one. And even better if you leave Rehaan's side."

"Is this a joke?" I asked in a low, furious tone.

"Don't look at me like that. This was what he said to us. I just repeated it as it is," she clarified, looking scared.

"We know. We aren't angry at you," Rehaan assured her, before roaming his hand over his face.

What was even going on? Nothing was making sense to me. This was beyond absurd.

I was already confused by the fact that someone was hell bent on destroying my identity. But now this?

Why would anyone go to such lengths to make a new identity for me? Their work was already done after destroying it.

And why did he want me to be away from Rehaan? What was that culprit's motive?

"It's clear that Muskaan's identity is somehow a threat to him," Rehaan summarized. "They don't want her to go and try making her documents again."

"They don't want to hurt me either." I added.

"But they didn't hesitate to hurt our parents," Rehaan reminded, turning the situation into a puzzle again.

"One more thing," Ananya Di piped up.

"There's more?" I asked with a groan.

This just doesn't seem to end.

"I didn't hear it, so I can't guarantee the words. But the other girl in our room heard him muttering this while he was leaving."

"Come to the point," I urged impatiently. "What did he say?"

"Only if Rehaan had taken money and agreed to shut his mouth."