It is a bright sunny morning. The "City of Dreams"Mumbai has woken up once again due to the huzzle buzzle and the noises of vehicles, vendors, factories ,and the very busy 9 to 5 job earners around.

Over here, it is a small cottage like home. Entering into the house, we come across a little living room with clothes ,files ,pens ,papers etc.. thrown over here and there on the sofa ,floor,study table etc. Moving further we see a photo of a girl in her mid 20's hanging from the wall. Then we enter into a small bed room with its condition more or less similar to the hall. Then facing the bed room is the kitchen with a sink full of utensils waiting to be done. The house is completely silent except for the irky sound being made by the old fan in the bed room.

"DUB!!!" The door of the rest room closed with a bang. It is the same girl as seen in the photograph. She is dressed in a Navy blue cotton saree with white buta paired with green blouse. She came out wiping her face with a towel. Her face is not that clearly visible.

She came and stood in front of the mirror. She brought her hairs sidewise thus covering her face . In the meanwhile ,the fan started to make much more noise than earlier. Got irritated , she turned to the fan, giving an angry look.

Offo!!!! Poor Anu!!! They are the great non living beings. They are not scared of you.

Who will tell her this !! Whatever!!! Mr.Fan seemed to be completely unaffected.

But, her face is clearly visible now. She has a sharp nose, Large blue eyes , round face with light pink lips. She is beautiful. But there is something else that is overpowering  her external charm; that is her confidence and self respect. Her sky blue orbs seem to be the natural sink of confidence .

She again turned towards the mirror. She took out the hair drier, plugged it and switched it on.

"Puff!!!!". Offo! There's a power cut.

"Shit!!!". She cursed her fate. She looked at the watch. It is 08:15.

"Anu! Today there is a press meet today at sharp 9:00 am. And make sure you don't miss it. It might help you make out about your friends". She recalled the words of her ex colleague.

She exhaled deeply. Her face clearly tells that she is stressed. She is still lost in deep thought.
"Every night in my dreams......"

Suddenly her phone buzzed. She came out of her trance and saw at her phone. It is from her father.
She answered the call.

"Haan! Betu! So you are coming today, aren't you?" Her father asked.

"Yes Papa. I am coming.At what time are you leaving?" Anu asked.

"Aah, may be in the noon. You can be here before 12pm." Said her father.

"Yes, I will be there before 12" she said.

And there was silence between them for few seconds.
Again her father spoke up
"You seem to be dull, Are you alright? Or, Is there something that you want to share with me?" her father asked concernly.

She let out a deep sigh and said
"Aah...., It's nothing that way Papa, Everything's fine. It's just that, I have an important work. That's all".

And she was silent for a second and again said"OK DAD! I think ,I will keep it for now. Bye. Take care!"

"OK Betu! That's alright. And All the Best for your day. Take care . Love You. Bye!"saying so her father ended the call.

She kept her phone aside and saw at the wall clock. It's 08:30 by now. She ran her fingers through her hairs and quickly went towards the bedroom.
She completed all her chores in 15 minutes,took her bag , bike keys, house keys and came out, locked the house and started moving. She took 4,5 quick steps and stopped, realising that she has forgotten something. She immediately went back ,opened the door and went to the refrigerator and took a box containing many dark chocolates. She opened it and took a fist of them ,closed it,kept it inside and again came out running , locked the house and came to her bike. She unwrapped one chocolate, kept it in the mouth and started her scooty and sped away.
Within few seconds she is out of our sight.
                         .................................

"Tang!!!" there was an irky, loud noise.
He woke up frowning. He got up and sat on the bed, yawning and said

"Arey! What is this?"he asked ,irritated by the sound.

"Ah! Sorry Karan! It's
my geometry box. I am already late to my school. It fell off my hands. Sorry!"said Anjali. By then she has finished her packing and looked at Karan and smiled at him.

He saw her as if  he had seen a big moron or a small lilyput or it might be better to say a stranger.
Anjali understood the thing and hanged her bag and said " Bye" and went away giggling to herself.

Karan gave a confused smile ,said "Bye...." and stared at her until she is out of sight.

He immediately got down from the bed and ran towards the nearby cupboard complaining " How will I survive in this world!"

He opened the cupboard and took a small plastic box. He opened it. There are few photos in it.

He took out one photo and read out
"Karan (myself)".
Then another
"Simran".
And then another
"Anjali". "Ha,it was Anjali in the morning right" He thought.
Then another
"Arjun,ACP (SHERA)".
Then some more Anamika (journo),Sakshi (ETF,Journo),Ayesha (ETF), Chotu (ETF)....

Suddenly something stuck his mind. His hands stopped. He moved his fingers over the photos slowly. He immediately moved out of room shouting "Simran! Simran! Where are you?". Then he saw a girl in another room who was going through some papers. He ran into the room.

The room was small but beautifully arranged and really very tidy. The walls were filled with posters and pictures in different stills .

Karan ran to the girl and asked " Simran! Did we see some shocking news yesterday?" By now, tension is clearly seen running through his veins. His face has become red and he was gasping for his breath.

Simran looked up from the papers and gave him a look and asked sarcastically, smiling " Wow!!! Karan, How come you have woken up so early, Is there some occassion?".

"Anjali....., Please stop joking Yaar!!!!" He said tiredly.

"It's Simran duffer!!!" She frowned.

"Aaahhh!!!! This Alzhiemers ,my God!" He turned towards and said slowly
"Simran, I am really sorry. Please tell me what had happened! Please!"

Simran inhaled deeply , closed her eyes and said "ETF team were declared to be traitors". She opened her eyes and there was a thin film of water in her eyes. She ignored it and started packing her bag.

"Then???" He asked tensed.

"Look Karan! I must leave for work. I don't have time to sit here and narrate you all the story. If you still need try calling Anu. She might know something. Bye." She said keeping some papers in her bag.

Karan then started searching for his phone.

Simran then again said" By the way, Don't call her right now. She might be in the press meet" saying so she left for her work.

He sat there itself  in a chair nearby, looking at the roof and closed his eyes.

                          ............................
"The Department is very sorry to declare that some of our officers belonging to ETF Mumbai turned to be traitors. We promise that we would very soon bring them to the law and see that such things don't happen again" said the DGP.

"Sir! What is the source of this information?" Asked one of the reporters.

"The information of the source is confidential due to security reasons. But we can assure you that it is very accurate." Said the DGP.

"Sir! Who is going to deal with this case?" Asked another reporter.

"Yes, This case is being transferred to ETF Delhi under the visilence of DCP Chirag Chaturvedi." Announced the DGP pointing towards a man in early 30's beside him.

Anu who by now is busy in eating the 6th dark chocolate ,at once lifted her head in shock.

Her shock turned into tension, then into a silent cry.

"Sir! One more question . All this thing which has happened is related to ETF Mumbai and why this drastic decision to give this case again to ETF Delhi?".

The DGP was about say something but meanwhile
"Ah! I would like to answer this question. See , the thing is , the 5 fingers of our palm are not equal. Similarly every where there are people of this kind. See, the thing is ,when there is an infection in a part of our body, we either treat it or in extreme conditions we cut it. But we don't kill ourselves. Now, it's high time ,we cut such people. But it doesn't imply that we lose trust on the honourable dept and I wouldn't let that happen"DCP Chirag said in a very serious tone.

His eyes were resembling the red hot iron.

Looking at  his eyes she thought " If looks could kill..."

Meanwhile " This is for the day. We would reveal further more details soon. Thank you". The DGP said.

That's it. There is a huge chaos everywhere now. Some reporters started running behind the DGP for extra spice while others like Anu, sighed deeply and got up to move out.

"Hey Anu!!!" Someone called out her name loud enough so that everyone could hear , but no one gave a count except Anu. She turned around to identify the source of voice and saw Ganesh, her ex colleague.
He approached her in seconds, saying "Hi".

"Hey Hi. By the way ,thanks, for the invitation. This will really help me." Greeted Anu.

"Hey, that's completely alright." He said walking along with her.

There was complete silence for few seconds. They covered some more distance by that time.

Then Ganesh spoke again.
"Hey, do you need one more favour?
DIG Coehlo is over here. Need his location?" Raising his eye brows.

Anu is shocked and a little surprised by now.
She asked, carrying the expression" Really!!!! Hey please ,tell me where he is, please!!!!"

"Hey easy ,easy. He is downstairs. In room no.5. You may go and meet him if you want". He said non chalantly.

"You are such a gem" she exclaimed happily and ran away.

She reached the downstairs in quick steps and saw the DIG moving out hurrily.

The DIG noticed her and signalled her to come.
She ran to him and said smiling"Good Morning Sir".

"Ah! Good morning Anu."he said smiling nervously.

Anu was about to say something, then he said " Ah! Anu. I am in a great hurry. Can you please meet me later?" Walking away faster.

Anu ran beside him and said" Yes Sir, Sure. But one small request". She said in a slight pleading tone.
The DIG stopped as if asking what.
"Sir! Can please send me the copy of preliminary investigation". She asked.

The DIG sighed somewhat relived and gave an assured nod and left speedily.

Anu kept seeing in his direction for few seconds and left that place, on her scooty.

                       ..................................
She reached her home in 15mins. She parked her scooty and noticed that ,her father's bike is missing. She climbed the stairs and reached the entrance of her house and entered in.

She saw her mom moving that side and this side hurriedly packing the things.
Her family is leaving the town for the wedding of her close cousin. So,it's only she who's gonna stay alone in this house for a long span of 5 days.

"Where is Papa?" Anu asked keeping her hand bag in the nearby shelf.

"He went to get a qualis for the station" said her mother, putting some food in a dish.

"Hey Anu! Look I am keeping the food here. Don't forget to eat it." Her mom gave her a sweet salty warning.

"Ok!" Saying so Anu moved towards her room.

It's a 2storeyed building. With each floor having 2BHK. It was built by her mom and dad by saving a penny by penny for over 20 years, accompained by a housing loan.

The entire family burden was earlier taken up by her father's meager pension and salary and her mother's beauty parlour income.
Now she also has a small share in it. Hmmmm ,in the beginning it was large but now it's small ,due to her continuous demotions.
Leaving all those jobs, is truly a very big decision for her life but, thanks to her family especially her father. Well it is also because of Arjun.

Arjun!!!!!

That name brought back everything once again. Her thoughts, Her tiredness what not everything. She went to the draw present in her room, pulled the shelf and took out a folder written ETF on it. She opened it and took out a photo.

It contained the ETF members, Anu, Karan, Simran, Anjali.

It was taken on that day, that day.........

"Anu!!! Go and get the clothes from the upstairs." Her mother shouted from the hall.

She looked at the photo once more .....
And there was once again a call from her mother.

"Pchhh!!!" She quickly kept back the photo in the folder and kept it  back in the shelf ,pushed it back in the draw and moved away, cruelly ignoring a lone tear that had difficultly made out her away from her sky blue eyes as a rain drop and fell on the wooden desk of the draw...........

                        ................................
So thats it guys . Firstly I am really very sorry for the delay and secondly belated Happy New Year. Please do leave your opinions. Byeee......😚😚😚😚