We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

Chapter 19: Atrocities

⚠ Trigger warning : mildly abusive content ahead; illustration of sexual abuse.

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"Its been fucking 48 hours, Awasthi. There must be some thing, some clue, some loophole." he barked into the phone, frustrated.

His mother watched him as he paced around the room, in the balcony and then again in the room, listening to what the person on the other end explained for a long time while. Her heart knew he cared so much for the girl seeing him restless since the night he came to her sloshed, and cried his heart out, whimpering like a child in her lap as she caressed his hair with her fingers, exactly like she would do when he was a child all those years back. All she could do right now is pray for the girl's safety, and his happiness, for she saw right in front of her how the serenity his face reflected these past two months had vanished.

His hair was messed up, dark circles surrounded his eyes, one of the sleeves of his shirt was unbuttoned and loose while the other one was tucked up near his elbow, one end of the shirt tucked inside while the other just lay there. He looked disheveled.

"Okay. Fine. I'm coming over." he said, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding for how long.
He disconnected the call, and found his mother staring right at him.

"Pyaar karta hai na usse?" she asked with a smile.

His eyes widened, the bottle of water he just picked up almost fumbled from his hands, as he opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't form words to say.

She patted his back with light taps as he looked everywhere but in her eyes, for he feared what to tell her when he himself was in scepticism about what js felt for Shehnaaz.

"Kho nahi sakta usko Mom. Pyaar? Pata nahi!" he said, sitting down on the bed, his head leaned against the headboard, his eyes closed.

"2 din me theek se 2 ghante neend nahi li hogi tune. Thori der ke liye bhi tujhe chain se baithe nahi dekha. Bechain sa, pareshan sa bas yaha waha kar raha hai. Gussa dekha maine teri aankhon me bete, us insan ke liye jisko ek waqt par apna dost kahta tha. Nafrat dekhi us khayal se ki usne us ladki ko chot pahuchayi hogi shayad. Khone se darta hai. Yeh pyaar nahi toh kya hai?"

She said, handing him a pair of fresh clothes to change into before leaving.

" Saath lekar hi aana! "she said, kissing his forehead and then left for her own flat.

He reached the expected location. It was a deserted locality, a few abandoned buildings here and there was all that could be seen.

Stepping out of his SUV, he was met with Awasthi and three other constables.

"Mr Shukla. Here." he said, pointing his fingers towards a railway line that passed through nearby.

"You're sure about it right?" he asked with uncertainty.

"Very. The calls were unreachable, most of the times. But, Mishra ji here," he said pointing to a constable, and continued, "he somehow found out the details of the person on whose name the number is registered. A few hours of investigation amd thorough search in our own records, and we found another number registered on the name of the same person. Of course, the identity given both the times were fake. So that made the work easier. "

Sidharth nodded at the constable in a grateful gesture as Awasthi continued," So 2 hours ago, we tried to call on both the numbers again. One of them like always was switched off. But this other one, somebody picked up the call. Now I don't recognise the voice so I'll play the recording for you to confirm our doubts."