Beyond the Beats

Chapter 43. Good change

When I returned home, Mom was upstairs, collecting the dried clothes. Srishti was watching TV, so I took the chance and went beside my sister.

"Did you notice anything?" I asked.

Dhara Di glanced at the stairs and whispered. "After you left, Mom rushed inside and started taking out her old sarees. I didn't ask her anything and acted like I was zoning out. She took a few sarees and told me that she would come back soon after giving those sarees to Rituja Aunty for making godaddhi (mattresses)."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. She came back within an hour and began repairing our old clothes. I wasn't able to keep an eye on her in the afternoon as I fell asleep, but even after I woke up in the evening, she was still here. So, I think you are just overthinking, Bhoomi."

I twisted my lips. "What the hell? I thought I was going to find something interesting. Though I am happy that I don't need to doubt Mom, I still don't feel at ease."

"Stop this now. What if Mom has nothing to hide? She will never do anything that will create trouble."

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. Mom hadn't yet come downstairs, so I silently opened the cupboard and took one of her diaries. Dhara Di scolded me, but I told her to just shut up.

It was just a small rough copy that my mother used to write down her daily expenses. I flipped the pages, my eyes hurting at the monthly expenditure being increasing month by month.

I found nothing, so I took another diary. It just had details about the chit-fund members; like this, I quickly searched through other diaries, and they were of similar kinds, detailing previous years' expenses.

I zipped away from the cupboard when I heard Mom's anklets chiming as she came downstairs. I shot a glance at my sister, and she just gave me a 'Don't try to get yourself killed' look.

I sadly took my towel and entered the bathroom to freshen up. I didn't imagine that my detective era would come to an end so soon. After eating some snacks, I left for my evening shift at Urmila Aunty's house.

Currently, I had 1000 rupees in my savings, so by working for two more days, I would have earned around 400 rupees, but if I had worked a full shift, the chances of meeting my target money would have been possible.

To solve my issue, there was one person whom I hated working for, but he was my only option because he was a master moneymaker. He managed multiple events and had a huge network of workers, both permanent and freelancers, and he had work opportunities ready for anyone he deemed worthy of it. And, he was none other than... Eknath Uncle!

I winced as soon as his face flashed before my eyes. Soon, his pterodactyl like voice rang my ears as I remembered all the scoldings I had gotten from him. Contacting him wasn't a problem, but I wondered if Fatima ma'am would agree with what I had in mind.

After getting my work done, I got back home, ate dinner and went upstairs to prepare my latest choreography. As I had predicted, I forgot to pay Hriaan a portion of his fees before leaving college. I knew he wasn't going to ask me for it soon, but I had to pay him off asap or my stupid brain would have deleted the memory because I didn't like having debts.

I spent the whole night designing my routine, and as I wasn't going to attend college, I took a rest till 10 am and reached Sarthak's studio by 12:30 pm. Before I went to my mentor, I rechecked my video and prepared myself to come out on stretcher.

I knocked on the cabin's door and entered when I got the confirmation to come in. Fatima ma'am's whole face was red, but she wasn't coughing or sneezing.