Abhijeet had a glare fixed on the computer screen in front of him, not even blinking for once, as pasi was continously looking back from the screen to abhijeet, he couldn't at all understand what was abhijeet even looking for here. 

"sir, hum kitni der time waste karenge iss coaching class ke bahar ki CCTV footage dekh kar? kitni baar dekh liya, deepika ki maa gaadi coaching class ke gate ke saamne rokti hai, deepika gaadi se nikalkar unhe wave karti hai, gate tak jaane ka drama karti hai, phir uski mummy jaise hi gaadi lejaati hain, toh woh aage sadak mein chali jaati hai...kya hai ab ismein aisa!" grumbled pasi, as abhijeet still didn't move his glare from the monitor, not even bothering to respond. 

"yeh deepika ki maa ko phone karna zara...." spoke up abhijeet suddenly, completely baffling pasi, as he helplessly complied, dialed for mrs loda and put the phone on speaker. 

"hello? inspector?" she replied abruptly. 

"namashkar mrs loda, ACP Abhijeet Mathur bol raha hoon...aapse ek sawal puchna tha...deepika jiss din gayab hui thi, aap logon ne uss din usse naya bag dilaya tha coaching ke liye?" questioned abhijeet, as pasi raised his brow. 

"uhh, ji...nahi..." replied mrs loda, equally confused. 

"mrs loda, aap ek kaam kijiye, deepika ke kamre mein jaakar uska school bag aur coaching waala bag khulkar humein video call kijiye..." instructed abhijeet, as no one's confusion was even remotely addressed yet. 

"uhh, ok...." complied mrs loda, as voices of her climbing up the staircase were heard. There was noise of drawers and cupboards being opened, before finally noises of zips opening came, when the call was on video. 

"yeh lijiye sir...yeh black waala bag coaching ke liye aur yeh red waala school ke liye.." stated mrs loda. 

"yeh coaching waala khaali kijiye dheere-dheere...har cheez dekhni chahiye hai joh bag mein hai..." commanded abhijeet, as mrs loda emptied the coaching bag first. Multiple registers, with stapled pages full of formulas and other facts written on them sticking out. Heavy volumed textbooks followed, along with a pouch and a water bottle. 

"ek second..." intervened abhijeet, as pasi was more perplexed than ever right now. 

"yeh bottle...yeh aapne deepika ko coaching lekar jaane ke liye uss din bharke di thi?" questioned abhijeet, as mrs loda nodded in agreement. 

"matlab ki woh ghar se bhaagi hai...aur yeh bag usne aur kisi din nahi pehna ho, joh uss din pehna jab woh gayab hui...matlab ki woh din usne plan karke rakha tha bhaagne ke liye..." concluded abhijeet, as things were just starting to unravel. 

"aur sir usne bhi apna phone ghar pe hi chod diya...jasmine ki tarah....in fact, deepika ko aakhri phone arjun singhania ka hi aaya tha, jiske baad woh kaafi pareshaan ho gayi..." informed pasi, as abhijeet finally got a real lead to follow. 

"toh uthwao usse bhi, isse bhi mil hi liya jaayein...." ordered abhijeet, as pasi nodded, when suddenly paswan appeared. 

"sir ji, bahaut zaroori baat pata chali hai..." rushed in paswan, as abhijeet and pasi both looked at him. 

"jasmine ke kamre se joh chaku mila tha, uske khoon ka DNA toh match nahi hua hai, par uspe fingerprints bani khanna ke hain..." informed pasi, shocking abhijeet and pasi. 

                                                                  ***

ishita took out a new bedsheet from the almirah, as she shut it afterwards, and started to pick up the pillows and change their covers. After changing their covers, she put them aside, and started to pull out the bedsheet, when she noticed a white stain on it. she pulled it closer, carefully looking at it, before realizing that it was a semen stain. 

'ishita, agar tumhari pills ke saath tampering nahi hui hai, aur tumne apni taraf se unhe time pe khaaya hai, toh the only logical reason behind this pregnancy is stealthing...' the doctor's words echoed in ishita's head, as she sat down in the bed from shock. 

'men, often just wear the condom on their partner's insistence before sex, and then remove it in between without telling their partner...reasons could be to make you pregnant..' the doctor's words were continuing to haunt her, as she started to recount that night. 

'ab jasmine bottle se doodh pee rahi hai, 24/7 uspe dhyaan dene ki zaroorat nahi hai...i was thinking, i should start working again...' she remembered her words and how he reacted to them. he seemed to be taken aback by her statement, even looking like he was planning to do something....and now she knew what. 

she threw away the bedsheet in her hand, she felt so disgusted, it was like someone had violated her, betrayed her, made her so ashamed of her own self. 

the door opened to the room, as dushyant entered the room with a smile on his face, upon looking at her. 

she had never felt this  way before, she was scared of her own husband for what he can do to her...

                                                                     ***

ishita was lying on her left side, her eyes wide awake, as she just stared at the wall. suddenly, she felt dushyant's arm around her, he might have not even realised it, as he was soundly asleep. she felt ashamed at his touch, as she got his hands off of her and got outside. 

she finally felt like she could breathe outside, that room seemed to have made her feel trapped and claustrophobic. she couldn't help but start to cry, feeling helpless, when she felt a pat on her shoulder. she looked back to find kavin in front of her eyes. 

"aap thik hai?" asked kavin, genuinely concerned, as ishita nodded with a forced smile, looking away and wiping her tears. kavin just scoffed at her, as ishita glared at him. 

"tum kya kar rahe ho yahan, itni raat ko?"  questioned ishita, as kavin just took a sip from a bottle of beer, he had in his hand. 

"aapke pati se pareshaan...." remarked kavin, just looking forward, not at all facing her. 

"ohh, toh tumhe bhi nahi chodha?" gathered ishita, as kavin shook his head in no. 

"idea mera tha, ki investing firm se ab real estate mein expansion karte hain....hum apne clients ko ek diverse portfolio hi offer karenge, aur hamare bhi assets badhenge...singhania se puri dealings, with negotiations maine ki...i got him to agree for a partnership...singhanias literally dominate the real estate market in delhi, it's huge getting him to agree for a partnership, that too with a new firm! but phir kya hua? bhai ko gussa aa gaya uspe, toh bina kisi explanation ke pura project cancel! because he said so....i was still fine, i thought woh company ka bhala hi sochenge, maybe there's something really irreconcilable here...but guess what, now he's taking over the project...why? because i am incompetent! partnership maine todi! main ready nahi ho independent project ke liye! you know, when i first joined the firm, i simply wanted to work with him because i respected him so much, for what he did for us during such a hard time...i admired him for what he created for himself out of scratch. i thought, if i prove myself to him once, he'd finally be proud of me. he always wanted to make dad proud but i only wanted to make him proud, since forever. but now i finally understand, ki main kuch bhi karloon, it won't be enough for him. he'll always make sure to find the tiniest of mistake to dismiss everything i did, so that i don't ever outshine him! he just wants to control everyone, he couldn't control dad, so now he controls everyone else....because he's still a fucking baby inside who can't get over the fact that his dad wasn't the hero he thought he was but a fucking cheater!" ranted kavin, as he gulped down the beer, as ishita was completely disillusioned with everything she thought to be true of her husband. he wasn't loving, caring , supportive, but egoistic, controlling, arrogant, afraid to lose his power, everyone is just a pawn to him. 

                                                                    ***