A red Ford EcoSport entered the gate of the society around nine in the evening. The driver parked the car swiftly and smoothly.  He turned off the engine and the headlights went off.  Soon he unclenched the seat belt before opening the door.  Taking his bag from the passenger seat he stepped out of the car.  He was wearing an azure blue shirt tucked in his black pants.  His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and a black belt was around his waist. His hair were neatly combed, and although his eyes looked tired he was looking fresh just like he did earlier in the morning.  Kabir was observing him ever since his car made an entry in the society. He chuckled as he saw his brother walking towards the building.  He could not help but shake his head.

"You cannot come out of a car without making it a bid deal,  can you? "

Samar smiled at his brother before saying, "what do you mean? "

"Do you always have to look like a hero? "

"I just came out of the car. " Kabir sighed making him smile again.  "What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for you." Kabir said.

"You could have waited for me at home.  Why are you doing the watchman's job? "

"I just came down. I knew it was time for you to come home, and I did not have anything else to do, so I thought of coming down. "

"What's bothering you Kabir?  All good? "

"I guess. Are you tired?  Let's go for a walk. "

"Let me keep the bag in the car, and then we can go. " Samar said with a quick Bob of head. 

"Okay." Kabir waited as his brother unlocked his car and kept the bag inside.  He pulled his phone out from his bag and pushed it in his pocket. Locking it, they both started walking out of their society.

"Mom is going to Nasik tomorrow. " Kabir started the conversation.

"Why? "

"Someone is sick. She will be back by evening. She leaves at five in the morning. "

"She is going alone? "

"Naah. How can she go without her sister?"

"So no tiffin tomorrow. "

"That's a bummer. "

Samar chortled making his brother smile.  He observed Kabir for a while before asking, "what is it? "

"Nothing related to me. Anya is upset, so that makes everyone of us upset. "

"I highly doubt that makes Ali upset. Is there anything that can reduce his excitement and enthusiasm? "

"Nothing." Kabir smiled. "But you understand what I mean. "

"I do.  What I don't understand is why is that bothering you so much? "

"I am just confuse.  I am worried that maybe my advice might cause a problem. "

"What did you advice? "

Kabir took a deep breath. "You remember Dia?  Her cousin. "

"I don't remember her face, but I know her. "

"She was in the hospital because of her abusive husband. "

Samar's eyes widened immediately "That's bad. "

"Yeah. Anya went to meet her and found out that her uncle and aunt told her cousin to go back to her house. So her cousin did not have anywhere else to go, so she went back with her husband. "

"Okay."

"Anya asked her to come with her.  I mean she told her to leave her husband and go with her.  She said she would help her, but her cousin refused to go. "

"Now Anya wants a place to hide her body? "

Kabir chuckled. "I thought that would happen, but Anya was surprisingly calm. She left her card with her. Today in the afternoon she received a message from an unknown number.  I don't remember the exact message, but it said something like 'come by 6. Don't be late and please come.' Or something like that. "

"That sounds creepy. "

"That's what everyone said.  We checked on true caller."

"It did not have any name?"

Kabir shook his head couple of times. "It did not have any name. "

"How did you come in the picture? "

"She thought it was Dia. She said, she would go and check.  Ali being Ali told us that maybe it was her husband and maybe he came to know what Anya did and is planning something bad."

"So? "

"Anya said she would still go. I told her we do not know who messaged her and that message does not sound good. Can we sit somewhere? "

Samar looked around to see where they were.  "There is a fast food centre just five minutes away.  Let's go there. "

"Yeah."

"So did she go?"

"She did not. Actually it's way more complicated than that.  Ali, that idiot reads a lot of mystery books.  His mind never works like a human being. He immediately turns such things negative. So even our brains turned negative.  I feel we created a small thing big." He paused for a second. "Maybe it was her brother or someone she knows.  It does not have to be something evil. "

"It does not have to be. Maybe it's nothing. "

"Yeah." Kabir agreed. "Maybe it's nothing."

"What is bothering you then? "

"What if it's not nothing?  What if it is something?  I would hate it if something bad happens because of me.  I convinced her to ignore it and go home. What if her cousin is actually in need.  I am just worried about that. "

"Hmm. Anya could have gone and checked. "

"I know!  I don't understand why I was against that idea.  What would have happened if she had gone?  I don't know what happened to me."

"I guess you just wanted to go against Ali. "

"Why will I want that?  He is my friend. Unfortunately best. "

Samar smiled."You did not like how he turned everything into a mystery novel, right? "

"Yeah, I did not like how he made us think something we would have not started to think if it wasn't for him. "

"And you thought it wasn't something serious?"

"Yeah. Initially I actually thought it was a prank or something."

"Hmm. Okay,  so you did not like how he got you all so serious when you thought it was nothing.  You went against him because his way of thinking did not match with yours."

"His way of thinking does not bother me. "

"It does not.  At times we don't like that people are disagreeing with us, so we go against them.  You wanted your theory to be true so you made everyone else think like that. "

"I sound evil. "

"You are not. " Samar assured him.  "It's just how we react at times.  You had something in your mind.  I mean maybe something did not go your way, and you wanted this thing to go your way.  It's like 'Now this has be my way' kind of attitude. We all do that at times.  That doesn't make you evil.  It makes you human. "

"But what if being human is going to cost someone. "

"But what if it doesn't?  It's all an assumption, right?  So maybe it is indeed a prank or maybe it was her brother."

"It's one of the possibilities. "

"Then let's think that's what it is.  We cannot do anything now. It's way after six and Anya did not go. So what's done is done.  Now thinking that it's a wrong decision is not going to help.  Until and unless you are sure it was a bad decision and by that I mean you have proof of that,  don't torture yourself. Think what you did was right.  Cursing yourself and being upset with yourself is not going to help or change anything."

"So I should act as if everything is fine? "

"Isn't everything fine? Is anyone hurt? Did anya or anyone else say that you were wrong? "

"No."

"Then?  Everything is fine,  isn't it? "

"I guess. "

"You are thinking too much.  That's unnecessary. "

"Now that I think about it ,maybe it is unnecessary. I don't know why I was over thinking. "

"That is something you should figure out." Samar raised his eyebrows. "Why did you over think Kabir?  What's the catch? Were you trying to protect someone? "

Kabir laughed at his brother's facial expression.  "Do not worry I do not intent to be your competition."

Samar raised his eyebrows. "When did I talk about that?  Why did you think like that? "

Kabir widened his eyes and shook his head. "Wow! You trapped me. "

Samar smiled as they walked in the fast food centre. "I know right. Come let's eat something. "

"Thank you for talking to me.  I feel better."

"I am glad I could help. Now tell me what do you want to eat? "

"You are paying? "

"Did you bring your wallet? "

Kabir raised his eyebrows and pressed his lips together to stop himself from smiling.  Samar smiled before shaking his head. "What do you want?"

"Ahhhhh shev puri. "

"Order the same for Ma,  bhel puri for me and dahi puri for dad."

"Okay! "

Kabir took a deep breath of relief after talking to his brother.  He knew that would work. It always worked. He was fine and in a good mood until he met Anya the next day who was not in a good mood. She was angry for some reason and that made him nervous.  He wanted to find out if he was the reason or someone else was.

"Anya." He said slowly when they all sat together in the cafeteria for lunch.

"Yeah? "

"Did you go yesterday?  To see Dia? "

Ali who was sitting across from him shook his head in a no. Panic was evident in Kabir's eyes. He was worried why Ali told him to shut up.  Hamani sensed the tensions and said, "We have a staff picnic in two weeks. We need to give our names by Wednesday. "

"Oh wow!  We are going. No one has any other choice. " Ali said cheerfully.

"Anya." Kabir said.  "Did something happen? "

"I am just upset about the whole situation.  I still don't know if I should have gone to see her or not. I just hope she is fine."

"Anya it was a random message and I just. "

"I know you were worried. I know you were tring to help.  Let's not talk about it. What's done is done.  I don't want to talk about that. "

"Sure." Kabir said slowly.

"Can we talk about the picnic? " Ali asked Anya.

"Yes,  please. "

"We are going to imagica. " Himani informed.

"That's the only picnic destination for Mumbaikars now.  Schools, colleges,  offices everyone goes there. " Ali said.

"But it's a fun place. We will enjoy a lot. " Himani said with a smile.

Anya and Kabir were quietly listening to their conversation.  Both of them were upset and not in a mood to talk. Himani and Ali tried to cheer them up but nothing worked.  They were quietly eating. Atmosphere around was calm and slow until a text message decided to shake their lives.

"Anya you phone buzzed. " Himani's voice brought Anya out of her thoughts.  She picked up the phone that was on the table and unlocked it.  Kabir was observing her quietly.  After a second Anya's eyes widened and she gasped.  No one else noticed it but Kabir did.  "What happened? " He asked immediately.

"My mother messaged me.  She said Dia is missing since yesterday evening. "