The walls seemed to have gotten lost in the darkness of the room, no ray of light with the bulbs and tubelights off and curtains draped over the windows. Abhijeet's darkness had consumed the air in his room too. It was only broken by a simmer of light rays entering the room when kavin opened the door and their glances met. 

"akela chod de mujhe, kavin..." warned abhijeet with a voice reeking in despair, as kavin looked on in agony at his pitiable state. 

"bhaiya...please..kuch khaalo...breakfast bhi nahi karte ho...lunch toh khair...ab dinner toh...tabiyat kharab na karein aise...please..." kavin barely managed to request as his voice broke off between words. 

"kabhi aisa hua hai...ek palak jhapkate hi...sab khatam hogaya ho tumhare saamne..aur tumhe pata bhi nahi chala..." contemplated abhijeet morbidly, as kavin could only avert his eyes to the floor with a sorry glance. 

"bhai...sab jaante hain aapko..hum...koi nahi mann raha aap par koi aisa ilzaam laga sakta hai aur woh bhi tarika..." argued kavin instantly, stepping in the room only to stop his steps at abhijeet's glare. 

"12 saal diye hai maine...izzat banane ko...kabiliyat sabit karne ko...yeh..yeh medals...sab ab wapas karna hai mujhe! naukri se ek jhatke mein nikala gaya hoon ek ilzaam pe joh sach bhi sabit nahi hua! kisike manne se kya hota hai! bacha kya hai tabha hone ko!" yelled abhijeet, throwing over his medals and awards on the wall, as kavin looked on gloomily, knowing there was no way out from his pain for now. 

Abhijeet just sat on the bed, his palms covering his face completely as he found himself in tears again, and kavin could only walk quietly, sit beside him to offer his shoulder to cry on and a back rub for consolation, but he was boiling inside despite of the helplessness. 

                                                            ***

Daya stood outside the airport, waiting anxiously near the parking as shreya rushed out of the airport with her bags, and they both immediately embraced in a hug. 

"mujhe sabsi pehli flight joh mili main usse aa gayi bas!" exclaimed shreya as they separated. 

"kambaal hi hai abhi hi transfer letter initiate hue the, phir yeh..." remarked daya, as they both shared a chuckle. 

"abhijeet sir...kaise handle kar rahe hai sab? aur daya apne bhi mujhe phone kyun nahi kia pehle! mumbai crime branch tak baat phaili hui hai!" exclaimed shreya, as daya sighed. 

"pura parivaar bikhra pada hai shreya! Uncle toh aaj dushyant se bhi milne gaye hai..." informed daya, as shreya was shocked. 

"legal consultant ke liye?" questioned shreya, as daya nodded in agreement. 

"agar woh maan jayein toh abhijeet ke liye isse acha kuch nahi hai...aur, baat ghar hi mein reh sakti hai..." stated daya, as shreya nodded in agreement. 

"khair, philhaal ghar chalo abhi, thoda rest karo, khaana bhi ready kara hua hai...subha milte hai...tab tak abhijeet bhi thoda sambhal sakega apne aapko...abhi he's in a very fragile state." informed daya, as shreya sighed. 

"tarika bhi mera phone nahi utha rahi hai...i don't know what's going on in her mind!" exclaimed shreya, as daya took care of her luggage and made her take the passengers seat by opening the door for her. 

                                                                     ***

Dushyant was shocked at the sight of his father accompanying his mother on the couch of his living room, with only a brow to raise in suspicion he quietly walked over to both of them, his glance fixed on a solemn ACP Pradyuman.

"mujhe laga nahi tha, aapke paas hai, humara pata...kabhi aane ki zimmat hi hui nahi...sewaye aaj, achanak aane ke..." uttered dushyant, slow in his tone, unable to process his feelings at the situation, seating himself on the sofa opposite direction to him, right next to his mother.

"beta, main, aaj bahaut, majboori mein aaya hoon...tumse ek ehsaan mangne...ek bete ke taur par...kyunki, bahaut hi mushkil samay hai aur...tum hi bacha sakte ho humein...humari izzat ko...hamara sab kuch..." a pleading and solemn ACP Pradyuman, could barely hold in the tears overwhelming his aching voice.

"Abhijeet pe...sexual harrassment ka ilzaam lagaya hai...humari forensic assistant ne...uspe inquiry bithani hai...par..." attempted ACP to explain, barely able to hold himself together.

"internal complaint committee mein toh Aap aur woh hi honge..." interrupted dushyant, his gaze and tone firm now, as ACP smirked, nodding in agreement.

"hoshiyar ho...ab woh suspended hai inquiry tak...aur humein order hai ek legal consultant...independently bulane ka..." informed ACP now looking at dushyant right in the eye.

"beta, baat mere bete aur meri izzat pe aa chuki hai...bas naukri pe nahi...iss sab mein, main ek apne pe hi bharosa kar sakta hoon humari laaj rakhne ko..." stated ACP, as he got up from the sofa and kneeled before dushyant joining his hands.

"beta, please, bacha lo usse...woh toot jayega..." pleaded ACP, crying out a river as the words paused, and dushyant was left utterly speechless.

"aap please, aise mat kijiye...baith jaiye..please..." stated dushyant's mother, pointing him to the couch while dushyant froze in complete astonishment.

Dushyant swallowed a lump down his throat, barely managing to come back to earth.

"main samajh sakta hoon par...." attempted dushyant to respond but was interrupted.

"beta main jaanta hoon tum, tum toh itne bade lawyer ho ab...tumhare clients mein badi-badi companies hai, humari toh aukat se kayi zyada bade log hai...tum sab kuch toh nahi chod sakte humare liye par...beta, iss waqt main tumhare paas isliye aaya hoon kyunki main kisi aur ke paas haath phailane layak nahi raha hoon..." pleaded an emotional ACP, as dushyant only sighed.

"abhi jawab mat do...naa sunne ki haalat mein nahi hoon abhi...kal subha agar nahi aaoge toh samajh jaunga..yeh raat lelo sochne ko.." replied ACP sordidly , and got up to leave, while dushyant only looked on.

                                                                      *** 

Tarika carefully glanced at the simmering tea in the pot, as purvi placed in the cups on the counter and put a sieve on top of one. 

"megha, it better be good if you are coming in this late...ok...aao..." hung up purvi on a call, as tarika chuckled. 

"yaad hai jab tum legal assistant thi! you are exactly treating yours like you used to complain about your bosses for treating you..." remarked tarika. 

"di kya karein! frankly speaking, aaj kal koi iss layak milta nahi hai you genuinely be nice to them!" exclaimed purvi, as tarika poured down a cup of tea to hand over to her. 

The door bell rang as purvi walked over to answer the door, and tarika placed the tea cup on a tray, and got outside the kitchen to the dinning table and placed it there. 

"megha tumhari chaye!" exclaimed tarika, as megha cordially smiled at her. 

Purvi and megha sat on the dinning table, as tarika too accompanied them. 

"so,what do you have?" asked purvi, as she sipped on her cup of tea. 

"well, it's bad news for us but good news for them, they might just have dushyant hemraj..." informed megha, then taking a sip of her tea, as purvi rolled her eyes. 

"god! i hate him!" exclaimed purvi, as she shook her head in disbelief. 

"i mean, him being a complete asshole is not even the worst thing about him...i mean, i looked into his record, it's impeccable! I mean St.Stephens se history honours mein topper, LLB from NLU with the highest score in his batch and...he even got the highest package, he managed to get Samarth&Patel with a pre placement offer!" exclaimed megha, sipping on more of the tea, as purvi was shocked. 

"woh toh final placements mein bhi kabhi-kabhi kisiko select nahi karte! woh toh hire bhi NLU se hi karte hai! woh bhi sirf top 5% of the batch! this is nuts!" grumbled purvi. 

"the offer was really high too! in fact, he got all the important cases with the partners...he built his whole network there...tabhi he was able to just leave and start his own practice with all those top clients...some of them are really huge...remember that millionaire's son he saved from a rape case?" explained megha, gulping down a huge sip from her tea. 

"are we sure he's not a nepo baby?" asked purvi in disbelief. 

"no mam! in fact, isliye when he came for a special session in NLU once, i remember, everyone lost it in my batch! i mean, he has never lost a case! i remember sab aaye the...you know i was really lucky, because he really liked my question at the session end Q&A..he answered in proper detail, said i have the right eye for law.. " added megha proudly, as purvi glared at her. 

"itni fangirling karni thi toh uske yahan hi internship karleti!" taunted purvi crossly, as megha looked down in embarrassment. 

"so, fangirling aside, what's the best strategy against him?" asked tarika calmly. 

"he plays as dirty as it gets...he will flat out destroy us in court...humein matter internally settle karne ka hi effort daalna hoga...and we'll have to cover all ends before he catches a loophole...bahaut alert rehna padega." stated purvi solemnly. 

"he's very media savvy too...we don't want him to get hold of the narrative first." added megha, as purvi nodded in agreement. 

"god! i really hope it's not him..." stated purvi. 

                                                                  ***