Rehaan's POV

Who was that man in that memory?

No, I wasn't the one wondering about that. Well, I was curious too, but that wasn't my point of focus right now.

Even while discussing the same thing, why were we thinking of altogether different things?

"We will discuss that later. First, tell me whether you believe these notes or not."

That part was more important to figure out how we will proceed further.

"No comments." She shrugged, smiling at me cheekily, before going to look over the files.

Seeing that Muskaan wasn't making a fuss over what's written was actually nerve racking. Although I confidently said that she would go quiet, I had expected some over the top reaction, no matter what side she chose to be on. Not this calm Muskaan, who didn't react at all.

"Let's first find out who that man in your memory is. It would be a jackpot if we find his picture here," she said, while rummaging through all the papers.

"That man doesn't matter if you don't believe my memory is true." I held her arm, stopping her work.

She sighed and turned to face me. "You are like a broken clock. Stuck on a single point," she said as she shrugged off my hand.

"I wouldn't have been if you answered me correctly." I insisted. Broken clock or not, I wanted to know where we both stood at this point.

"I don't know," she said, before puffing out some air and putting her hands on her waist.

"What?" I raised my eyebrows in bafflement. What kind of answer was that?

"I seriously don't," she said, sounding almost sorry. "Your memory contradicts my own. What you are saying goes against what I have known for so many years."

"Then just say that you don't believe me," I said simply, before assuring her, "I am not going to blame you for it or even get hurt for that matter. At the most, I would be annoyed by the situation."

"Thanks for saying that. But that's not the entire reason for my dilemma," she said, removing one hand from her waist, and running it through her hair.

"Then?" I asked curiously.

There was something that made it hard for her to completely deny my memory. Even though this memory was more absurd than the others, even though it contradicted everything she knew, there was a part of it that made her hesitant to call my memory bullshit. Something she had no issue doing earlier.

"Bear with me as I try to explain it, because I don't even understand it entirely myself," she said, before taking a deep breath.

So dramatic.

I rolled my eyes, before urging her to continue with my hand.

"The last parts of what you have written," she said, pointing towards the diary.

~Cleaners, more like thugs

~Unknown scary man
   >Seemed like their leader
   >Argued about a contract
   >Gave me a similar looking envelope Muskaan's Mom gave to my parents.

"Thugs and a scary man who looked like their leader...," Muskaan trailed off, looking at me uneasily, "Don't they, don't they sound like the people Ananya Di mentioned? The ones who came to destroy my documents."

I pondered over her words, before asking, "Are you thinking that I picked out what she has told us and created a false memory to give a background to my actual memory?"

Why did she look so annoyed at my question?

That had been Muskaan's argument at first. She was the one who came up with the background thing. Then why did she look like she wanted to hurl the entire desk on my head?

"I was thinking more on the lines of them being the same people," Muskaan said, her jaw clenched in anger.

"Oh!" That was my brilliant response.

"Man, we are so out of sync," she almost shouted. Muskaan ran her fingers through both the sides of her head, looking like she was going to pull out her hair, before she put them in a tight bun.

"Is the process of making a bun really that dreadful? Or is it just you being you?" I asked, not being able to contain myself.

I gulped upon seeing the look in her eyes. She opened her mouth to probably yell, but ended up just shaking her head at me.

"How are we going to make any progress at this rate? We have different opinions on everything," Muskaan asked, looking tired and frustrated at the same time.

Clearing my throat, I got back to seriousness again.

"We can," I assured her with determination.

"Huh?"

"We can make progress. Because different views bring more clarity and more concreteness. I am so happy that you are not someone who just nods her head in yes, but actually speaks her mind. And vice versa.

"We won't end up following a single one track theory. We will be questioning everything thoroughly, before moving forward."

Muskaan raised her eyebrows. "So you are saying that our differences will help us prevent getting blindsided in future?"

"Bingo."

"Good point. But how do we go further? Is this a false background based upon Ananya Di's words or an actual scene?" Muskaan asked no one in particular.

"It doesn't matter." I shrugged.

"Huh?"

"Whether it is a real memory or false, whether they are the same people who came to destroy your documents or not; they are people I have met in my life. And possibly the people who left a bad taste in my mouth to create such a memory of them. In case. I created a memory that is."

"How are you so sure about that? I mean if a memory is fabricated then the people too—"

"You cannot dream about the faces you have never seen," I said, interrupting her mid sentence.

"Okay, so they do exist." Muskaan nodded to herself. "Related or not, we will find out later. But they do exist." Turning towards me, she questioned, "How do we figure out if they are actually related or not?"

"For that we need to find out their pictures and cross verify it with Ananya Di." I suggested.

I scratched my head as I saw her narrowed eyes.

"What did I do now?" I asked, baffled by her annoyed reaction.

"What do you think I was doing before?" She asked, pointing towards the files she had been previously rummaging.

Oops.

"You are the smart one here," I said, showing her two thumbs up.

I slowly backed away as I praised her, trying to get away from her sight. The number of times I had annoyed her today, I might as well get hit on my head again.

She huffed, blowing out the strand of hair that had gotten out of the bun, before going back to look through the files.

How was she going to find those men?

"Umm...Muskaan." I poked her back.

"What now?!" She shouted, turning back to face me, annoyance dripping from all her veins.

"Do you even know what these people look like?" I asked, while trying to muffle my laughter.

Clenching her teeth, she wordlessly placed the file she was going through on my hands, and stepped back from the desk.

I took over her place and started going through all the photos available.

"Don't laugh." She warned me.

"I am not laughing."

"I said don't," she said through gritted teeth.

"I said I am not," I countered back, trying to look offended that she even thought I would lie.

Man, it was so hard to muffle your laughter and look angry at the same time.

"Don't lie. I can clearly see you laughing," she said, coming near me.

"See; see this corner of your mouth. It has turned up. You are surely—" She stopped speaking as soon as she realized how close she had come to me. It looked like she had gotten into a trance.

While I...

I was frozen on my spot the moment her fingers touched the corner of my lips.

I gulped as her finger lightly traced my bottom lip. My breathing almost came to a standstill, but before it could stop, Muskaan jumped back.

Her face looked like deer caught in headlights, as if...as if she herself didn't realize what she was doing.

There were lots of times when we had accidentally come close, but never had we...we had never touched...

My heart was surely going to fail today.