Nihaal, who was quietly seated on his study table,  just writing something down on his notebook, from his macbook, when there was a knock on the door, and came in equm. An awkward smile on his face,  a genuine attempt to seem cordial. Nihaal, glared at him in return, as he walked over and sat in front of him, on his bed. He noticed the notebooks and books scattered around his study table. 

"padhai kar rahe the?" asked equm, never feeling so dumb before, as nihaal looked at him with disbelief, going back to writing. 

"school ka kaam kar raha hoon, joh aaj hua...ab apne doston ke saamne toh atleast zaroorat nahi haina mujhe koi drama karne ki, main kitni sadmein mein hoon, meri behen missing hai....etc..etc..." stated nihaal bluntly, as equm placed his hand on his shoulder, which only added to nihaal's annoyance. 

"what the fuck do you want!" exclaimed nihaal, as equm just retracted his hand back, equm was getting desperate. Nihaal grabbed him by his collar, taking a sniff of him, before letting him go. 

"equm kitni baar bola hai yaar lunch tak toh ruk jaya kar! aur agar tumne notice nahi kiya hai, chachu ghar pe hain aaj...haan, agar ab unke liye woh tumhe khareedne ka tareeqa hai toh...well, ismein hairaani ki baat kya hogi...how does it even matter...laadli jasmine ke gayab hone pe bhi ghanta farak padta hai inn logon ko! main ya tu kal mar-mura bhi jayein kya farak padta hai!" ranted nihaal towards the enraging apathy his family had been showing to him for years, equm just let him, as nihaal covered his face with his palms, taking  a long sigh of distress. 

"i mean, you know how i felt about jasmine....yaar, woh jaisi bhi thi, mera problem kabhi usse thodi tha...it was mom and dad....unka attention nahi milta tha mujhe, but, aadat ho gayi thi ab yaar...even i knew usse resent karne ka koi faydaa nahi hai....and woh meri behen thi...par..." paused nihaal, as he got up from his chair, his back facing equm now, he was standing by the window.

"nihaal..." called equm softly, only to hear a loud sound of fragmentation of glass, caused by nihaal punching the window. 

equm immediately went to his rescue, as nihaal was just casually looking at his knuckles, the glass embedded into them, the blood oozing out of his fist. 

"tera dimaag kharab ho gaya hai kya!" yelled equm, concerned, as he took a look at his hand properly to see how hurt he really was, when he glared back at nihaal, his eyes closed, a tear escaped his eye. 

"I think i'm a horrible person....because a part of me is glad ki mom and dad ko dukh pahauncha...and they are worried and hurt...and i'm not.." confessed nihaal, sobbing as his voice sounded of a little, who was crying to his mom as if he was in her embrace, telling her about how dad scolded him and he feels very bad about it. equm, gave him a hug, as he let him sob uncontrollably. 

"mujhe samajh nahi aa raha hai...ki main khudse naraaz hoon ya unse..." admitted nihaal, as crying even more, as equm just rubbed his back, comforting him, shook at what he had just witnessed. 

                                                          ***

Abhijeet, who was just disturbed completely from the inside after the two shocking reveals he had heard today, just closed his eyes, and covered his face completely to take a deep breath, before being actually able to continue further with the investigation. He leaned forward, to talk to Bani, but it's like he had too much information for today. 

"uhh....beta, aap bhi aaram karlo, jao...thank you..." stated abhijeet, this probably couldn't get worse, right? 

But Bani had not even got up to leave, when Pasi and Paswan arrived. 

"sir.." called paswan, as abhijeet just glared at him. 

"ab tumhe kya hua?" asked abhijeet in response. 

"sir, woh, jasmine ke kamre se...yeh...yeh chaaku mila hai..." revealed pasi, a butcher knife that he had put in the evidence bag, there was still blood on it. 

ishita, who was just coming out of her room, was hell shocked, after witnessing the new evidence that was found. this was reciprocated by Bani, who was genuinely horrified, as kavin just slammed his forehead, he was so done here with everyone. 

"aap mein se kisiko...nahi...ok...isse lab bhejwado.." replied abhijeet, as pasi nodded. 

"uhh, sir ji..." called paswan, as abhijeet passed him a glare too. 

"haan ji, aapko laash mili hai?" retorted abhijeet, as paswan shook his head in no. 

"nahi sir...woh, yeh diary mili hai...aur ismein...badi ajeeb-ajeeb si drawings hain sir...aap khudh hi dekhlo..." informed paswan, as abhijeet still had his glare on him. 

"yeh bhi evidence mein rakhwalo..." commanded abhijeet, as paswan took the red diary back. 

"aapko, kuch?" asked abhijeet to bani, as she shook her head in no. 

"thik hai, kavin sahab...kaafi tha aaj ke liye...chalte hain hum..." got up abhijeet ready to leave, as kavin stood up to, along with Comissioner Karwal. 

"uhh, excuse me..." called ishita, walking to abhijeet. 

"ji, madam..." responded abhijeet unwantedly. 

"aap log ab kya karne waale hain aage?" questioned ishita, as abhijeet looked at Karwal. 

"uhh, mam, yeh log apne baaki ki interrogations complete karenge, aaj ki information se ek lead mil gayi hai, toh koi break through nikal hi jayega case ka....agar interrogations se nahi toh, evidence humein kisi suspect tak le hi jayega.." explained Karwal, you could tell that he probably wouldn't want to know any other detail of the case after what he witnessed today. 

"toh, hum aap sabko, updated rakhenge...thik hai phir, radhe-radhe." took abhijeet his leave, as bani finally took a breath of relief, seeing him go.

ishita just  crashed on the couch, letting out a loud grunt, which kavin noticed. 

"bhai kahan hai?" asked kavin, as the thought suddenly hit him, ishita just shrugged her shoulders in response. 

"beta, tum jao kamre mein...rest karo..." stated kavin, as bani nodded and left. 

Kavin sat on the couch next to ishita's, taking  a good look at her, before uttering his next sentence. 

"jasmine ka abortion?" questioned kavin, as ishita nodded. 

"pata nahi chal kya raha hai iske dimaag mein...aur...jasmine arjun se kab mili?" wondered ishita, unable to process what happened today, as kavin chuckled. 

"baat toh tum bhi mujhse nahi karti ho kisike saamne...." stated kavin, as ishita just turned her attention to her phone, there was a notification for a message. 

the name of the contact, flashed on the top of the notification bubble, 'Gautam Singhania'. 

"i have to go..." got up ishita immediately to leave, as there was this unexplainable satisfactory smug across kavin's face, as if he was amused by what had just happened. 

                                                                        ***