Chocolate Uncle!

I groaned, pulling my hair tightly as nothing came to my mind. I was on the brink of tearing down the files, when Rehaan placed a chocolate in front of me.

"Eat this and calm down," he said, while closing the files and putting them away.

As if...as if he knew I was about to murder them.

"Damn they still sell these," I said, happily twirling the chocolate in my hand. "Where did you even get this chocolate from? I don't remember buying it from the department store."

"I bought it when I went to grab sandals for you," he said as he unwrapped his own chocolate.

I hummed as I happily ate the chocolaty goodness. It reminded me of my childhood memories.

Childhood...Chocolate Uncle! Shit!

I hurriedly pulled back the files that Rehaan had put away, and started looking for the photos of the dummy owners again.

"What...what's wrong?" Rehaan asked, startled by my actions.

"Wait a second, let me confirm. I think I have seen one of these men before," I said absentmindedly, while rushing through the files.

"This," I said, placing the file between me and Rehaan. "I have seen this man visiting the home multiple times in the past."

Rehaan's eyes widened at my admission. "This is a big hit. You are sure you saw this man visiting my parents, right?"

"Umm...," I trailed off, before mumbling, "not your parents."

"What? You just said you remember him." Rehaan looked confused at my admission.

"He visited my mom, not your parents," I informed him.

"Your mom?"

I nodded sheepishly, clearly knowing how the wheels of his brain must be turning.

"There's no chance of your memory being faulty, right?" He asked with raised eyebrows, clearly poking fun of the time where I questioned the certainty of his memory when he remembered his parents receiving money from my mom.

"Don't taunt me. I am already having a hard time right now."

"Why? It's not like your mom is the bad guy here."

"Don't. Don't just say that because you don't want to hurt me. I know you think she is involved in all this."

He rolled his eyes, before sighing. "I do think she is involved. But that doesn't necessarily mean she is the villain of the story."

"You aren't saying it just for my sake, are you?"

It was hard to believe that Rehaan wasn't suspecting mom. I still trusted her, but I also knew that anyone other than me would have a hard time believing her innocence.

"I am not just saying it for you. I have a logical theory for saying that."

"Logic?" My eyes perked up in hope.

"Although it is extremely weird that a guy who visited your mom became a dummy owner for me. At the most, he should have done that for you, not me.

"Still, no matter how weird it is, this makes it absolutely clear that he is from the group of people who are on our side. He is one of those who helped us rebuild our lives after the fire, and not the one who destroyed our lives.

"As he was somehow related to your mom, she is by default on the good people's list. At least with the facts we have for now."

"For once, I like your theory."

Rehaan snorted, "You only like them when it is favourable to you."

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I am a selfish human, sue me."

"Recheck the files, perhaps the other people had visited your mom too," Rehaan suggested. "Until now, we were only trying to remember them with my parents. Who knows if you start remembering them if you shift the focus to your mom."

"I will try, but I don't have much hope. I was a kid back then. Even if I had seen them, I wouldn't recollect much. The only reason I remembered this particular uncle was because he always brought me chocolates when he visited. And I have given him the nickname of 'chocolate uncle' because of it."

"Kid? Being fifteen is hardly a kid." Rehaan scoffed.

I frowned at him, barely holding back the urge of hitting him. "I wasn't talking about the time of the fire. But the time when uncle visited mom. I was probably in first or second grade at that time."

"Wait a minute, that long...wasn't he around when the fire happened?" Rehaan asked, looking shocked and confused.

I shook my head. "That's the reason I couldn't remember him right away. He stopped coming around for many years. I had almost forgotten about his existence. I never saw him after fifth grade or so."

"Yet he came back to become a dummy owner," Rehaan spoke to himself, before looking up at me, "He came to help after the fire, but didn't meet you. He met me?"

"Tell me about it." I sat down on the chair with a huff. I started spinning the chair as I vented out.

"The culprit attacks you when he wants my documents. Someone my mother knew comes to help, but goes to you instead of me. Why the hell is everyone using you as a medium? Why tell everything to you when I am right there?"

"And the best part, after having all the information, I decided to forget everything." Rehaan fumed, as he gave slow claps for himself.

I stopped spinning as soon as I heard him go into self-deprecating mode. "You didn't decide to do that, you were beaten out of it," I said in a firm tone, so he wouldn't let his mind wander in guilt.

"And I wasn't hating on the fact that you were told everything. I was just frustrated because I couldn't understand why it was like this."

Rehaan rubbed his face as he tried to calm down, before he took a seat on the adjacent chair.

"Perhaps I got myself involved in it. Like I saw my parent's receiving money from your mother, I must have overheard something that I wasn't supposed to. I must have been nosy and got into something I wasn't even related to."

I snorted, before shaking my head at him. "You are Rehaan, and not the spy aunty from next door."

"What?" Rehaan laughed at my words.

"Seriously. You do not get involved in other people's business. Even if you did hear something, you would have just shrugged it off if it did not involve you. Rehaan isn't someone who cares about what is happening in anyone else's lives but his."

"But I do care about you," he said in reflex.

Do not blush. Do not blush at any cost.

Clearing my throat, I clasped my hands, "So as I was saying...that even if they got you in the middle of all this, the Rehaan back then would have definitely said, 'Why are you dragging me into this? I-"

"-I never asked for it." Rehaan finished the sentence for me.

I looked up at him in shock to see him already looking at me with widened eyes.

Gulping, he continued, "I never asked for it. I am not part of the contract my parents made."