பொறுக்கி / Gangster [Under Editing]

//8

Running to the Night Party

Running to the night party held by those toxic friends, Lakshmi searches for him in the crowd. Ajay was drunk. She hastens to him and holds his hands, with palpitations, "Ajay, Ajay, are you alright? Why did you get drunk?"

He opens his eyes, sees her, and forcefully pushes her down. "You, you made me stupid, right?"

Lakshmi: "What are you talking about?"

Ajay (smirking): "At first sight, Lakshmi, I fell for your beauty. The way you talk to your friends, your humble and kind manner, caring and helping others, even I envied your marks. I fell for your every single behavior. Unexpectedly, you are that... 'James' who talked to me during those times...?"

Lakshmi (panicked): "How do you know?"

Ajay (laughing out): "How did I know... how did I? Huh?" (Breaks the glass) "You accepted my love only because you realized I'm your past love? Look, because of you I faced a lot."

Lakshmi: "I consoled you, supported you, and even loved you. After I revealed I'm a girl, you blocked me. What else happened? What did you face? Why-"

Ajay raises his hand to slap her but seeing her face, he cannot slap. He controls his hand and lowers his voice. She cries...

Ajay: "You talked to me like a humble person and got my photos, then, why-" (huffed) "you misused them? And then, after you confessed, you told me to be yours or else you would leak the photos. So, you are this kind of person? I trusted you... but..."

She is shocked and confused. "Ajay, what are you talking about? When did these things happen?"

Ajay: "Liar. Goodbye." (He smiles with tears and leaves)

Lakshmi, confused, her eyes dizzy, falls down. Her blurred vision captures Ram and Geetha running towards her as Ajay fades away from her sight.

---

She opened her eyes in the hospital.

Ram: "Lakshmi."

Geetha: "Are you alright?"

Lakshmi: "Ajay... where is he..."

They looked at each other, and Geetha told her, "He discontinued college and transferred to another place."

Lakshmi: "What? Where... where is he..."

Ram: "No one knows."

Lakshmi: "Wait. Wait. Wait. I felt dizzy yesterday-"

Geetha: "It's been a week, Lakshmi." (holds her hand) "It's been a week you are unconscious."

She couldn't understand anything and panicked again. They made her sit. She cried.

"I didn't do anything. Whatever he said is not done by me... he misunderstood. Geetha, say to him, I want to meet him. Take me to him, please... take me!!! Please..."

Geetha hugged her and consoled.

These are the moments Lakshmi wrote in her diary. Now, she read all these and is getting ready for work.

"It's been 7 years passed. I'm working in Cybersecurity. I can't find him. I don't know what happened that day and who misused his photos. The only doubt I have is... if he loved me, at least once he would give time to explain. Am a humble and kind person in your eyes. Why do you believe I did that? (I smiled) Where are you?

I became a hacker under cybersecurity. I got a chance in CBI to work with the crime. I hack their phones, leak their addresses, get their personals and the links. My super senior staff made me a junior in her investigations. While working on a crime story, I found something related to the 18 years girl harassment in TNR colony. I opened the file. Ajay was mistakenly caught by the police. The case was closed without any evidence. There, I had a question.

I asked my super senior, Lilly, "Didn't this girl appear to explain who harassed her?"

Lilly is eating a burger and she said, "Too many cases were like this. Since he was arrested without any evidence, he was released. Later they searched for that girl but she never appeared again. That case was closed. Just harassment."

Lakshmi: "Just harassment? Why do you speak like this?"

Lilly: "A man murdered teenage girls, father-to-daughter sexual harassment, a 3-year-old child was harassed, so many miserable business crimes. With a world with this many problems, will a case like this be investigated with a motive?"

She has a point. No one cares. Lakshmi touches Ajay's passport-sized photo in the file. "Why did you disappear...?"