OBSESSED

05

"Naira hurry up please!!!! We're getting late." Nilima said agitated. Naira always took too long to finish her breakfast.
"Just two minutes more please." Naira requested, wolfing down the remaining sandwich. Nilima sighed. Visheshwar was reading the newspaper on the dining table.
"You know what Dad I had a dream last night that I got a call and then I went to the balcony and then I slept. Weird isn't it???" Naira spoke and chuckled. Visheshwar half heard her. Nilima however was startled by the news. Her eyes opened wide like saucers.
"Show me your phone Nayu." Nilima at once demanded. Naira casually handed her her phone. Nilima unlocked her phone and went through the call history assiduously. What she found blew her mind off. Naira really had received a call from an unknown number last night. That wasn't a dream. Nilima's face was taut with anxiety.
"Nayu you actually got a call from an unknown number last night. You weren't dreaming. What....What conversation did you had with that person????" Nilima asked fraught. Visheshwar now was keen to listen. Naira looked up at her innocently.
"I don't remember. All I recall is that I sleepwalked to the balcony and then came back and slept." she replied politely. Nilima was bemused.
"No you weren't sleepwalking. If you went to the balcony that means that person asked you to do that. But why would....unless..." her voice sank into a whisper "Unless.....Unless.....SOMEBODY WAS WAITING OUTSIDE.....Ohhhhh!!!! That's not a good sign." Nilima fell on the chair with a thud. Meanwhile Neil came into the dining room and was baffled to find his sister pulling on her hairs.
"Is everything ok??" he asked warily. Nilima looked up at him in horror.
"You wouldn't believe Neil, last night somebody called Naira on her phone but that's not the scary part.....that person was actually standing outside our house. Man!!!! Can you believe this!!!" Nilima spoke loudly. Naira was a bit scared now. Neil gaped at her in shock.
"Dear can there be any chance that you're overthinking??? Maybe that was a spam call, I get one those often." Visheshwar tried to ease the situation. Neil nodded in consonance. Nilima however wasn't pacified.
"I kept telling you all that something was wrong but you kept on ignoring me. And.....Hawwww!!!! I know that's the same guy.....the man Naira met that night in the hotel. It's all my fault....I should have hunted him down by now. I failed and now he's find out our home and literally has my little sister's number." Nilima was hysterical. Neil slapped his hand on his head.
"Nilima sometimes people do not have ulterior motives they help other people for no reason. I have told you before that that guy that night simply felt pity on a little girl and helped her. Had he been a bad guy as you allege him to be, he could've done something bad to Naira maybe had taken her as a captive. But he didn't, he just wanted to help Nilima....please understand, sometimes life does not work according to shitty Bollywood logic." Neil tried to pacify her. But Nilima's big sister intuition wasn't wrong, she could tell it.
"No....I am listening to none of you this time. I am tracing this call and I am hunting him down no matter where the hell he may be. And sometimes....men do have ulterior motives. They do!!!!" she whispered as she stood up and stormed out. Visheshwar was perturbed.
"I never understand this girl. She's always so scared that something bad might happen to her little sister. But....she cares a lot for you Nayu." Visheshwar told Naira. The latter smiled adorably.

Trixie's Cafe was not usually crowded with people and today was also no exception. However there were quite a few people in the cafe mainly because it was Sunday and people are usually free on Sundays. Neil had dropped Naira here and because he was getting late for his work, he left quickly. Naira and Kirti had promised to meet here since they wanted to try food of this cafe. This was a new cafe and Naira was just curious to experience something new. Now the cafe part of the 'cafe' was localised to the ground floor while the first floor was basically a small office of somebody. And ofcourse from the behind the railings of the upper floor you can look down and observe the people eating and gossiping. So, behind the railings stood Narasimha Varma. He watched predatorily at his object of affection, his little baby girl Naira Dhariwal. She was sitting alone on a chair behind a fancy round table. She was nervously going through the menu. Her father had given her a 500 rupee note and let's just admit that the prices of even basic snack items here were a bit too high. She had decided that she will order nothing but a muffin and an oreo shake. But let kirti come first. Narasimha was never a mind reader but he could read her mind though. He knew the prices here have literally bemused her. Honestly though, like why would you charge 180-190 for a doughnut, you can get the same quality doughnut in any bakery around here at way lower price. These fancy just charge too much for no reason. Anyways, Narasimha was excited. I mean it was only him after all who remembered their full conversation from last night. Now look, Narasimha might be crazy in love but he still had vestiges of sanity intact in his head. Before he dialled her number last night he already knew that she was to come here today with her squirrel teethed best friend. Ok fine that was rude but she did have a bunny teeth. And he had planned to spend some time with her here. You want to know how???