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Gumnaam hai koi
Badnaam hai koi
Kisko khabar kaun hai woh
Anjan hai koi

❁❀𑁍᪥❁❀𑁍᪥❁❀𑁍᪥❁❀𑁍᪥

The room was bathed in the early morning light that seeped through the sheer curtains, casting a soft glow in the dark room. It was four in the morning.

Oindrila sat cross-legged on the chair, her focus entirely on the chessboard set atop the small tea table.

She wore grey sweatpants and an oversized black t-shirt with "Oindrila Mukherjee" emblazoned in bold white letters across the back. Her wet locks were wrapped in a towel, and a faint line of kajal highlighted her intense onyx eyes that were currently drilling holes in the wooden chessboard. Her lips, coated in a layer of transparent gloss, pursed slightly as she contemplated her next move.

Oindrila reached out and moved her knight from g1 to f3, her fingers lingering on the piece for a moment before she let it go.

This was no ordinary chessboard; it was designed to move pieces on its own, powered by algorithms and advanced AI that Oindrila had painstakingly developed. Each piece on the chessboard was crafted from polished wood, with tiny sensors embedded at their bases, allowing the board to recognize and move them with precision.

This whole setup was the result of the lack of strong opponents. Playing against someone who couldn't challenge her intellect made the game monotonous.

But this board was different; it could actually challenge her, even though it was yet beat her.

Calculations, strategies, logical thinking, algorithms, encryption, decryption- and many more were the types of things she was used to dealing with.

She was just an ordinary girl with an extraordinary mind, a truly brilliant brain. Despite her genius IQ of 196, which she knew was impressive, she never bragged about it. It was just her high EQ that kept her grounded and human, not robotic.

She moved her queen from d4 to g7, placing the opposing king in check.

Chess was her favourite. It tested her patience, her IQ and challenged her- she loves challenges.

Her fingers scooped the king up in its grip and her fingers tightened around the curves of the piece.

Usually playing chess and winning it would give her some peace, but not today, not after what happened with the whole fiasco of inhaler.

She clearly remembers the note, as it's still freshly imprinted in her head.

"Hi Raven" was written with neat curves, unlike her messy handwriting.

And the bloody smiley-it wasn't just ink. She was certain it was blood. The faint, metallic smell, she could recognise that smell.

Recalling the scene made her grip tighten around the chess piece, her knuckles turning white.

How did that person know?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft mechanical whir.

The chessboard's AI had responded to her move, the pieces shifting into their positions. Getting ready for another match.

But her mind was no longer on the game.

She stood up abruptly, her chair scraping against the floor. She needed to get to the bottom of this.