when 77 met 32 [ishman ff] [shubish]

2025

Days passed by in anticipation. Ishan could now contact the members once a day; Suhani had given him a burner phone the day he met them. She asked him to contact someone only once a day; if he had already spoken to someone that day, he should avoid calling anyone else.

She also said that this number should only be used to contact people who were present that day; anyone other than them was a threat, and the secret of the burner phone shouldn't be revealed to them. Ishan's cook and sweeper were in on this plan of theirs, but Suhani suggested that even they should not know about the existence of this number.

Ishan compiled; he called only one person every day from this number. No questions were asked about where she got this phone from. Under whose name was this number registered? Nothing was asked.

The current concern of the team was to speak with Mayank. Mayank being the mole was just a theory until he spoke up. They needed this clarification to move forward, but Mayank was nowhere to be found. After the day Abhishek watched him leave in a hurry; nobody had seen him. He had disappeared in thin air because not even his family could inform them of his whereabouts.

"He randomly disappears sometimes; it is completely normal. He will show up in a day or two." Abhishek said when they were all seated to discuss the topic. "How can you be so sure about that?" Virat asked. "I just know; trust me. He will return." He said that with so much confidence that they decided to trust his gut and wait a bit longer.

He was right. On the third day after that meeting with Ishan, he appeared. On the ground, for practice. "Hey, Mayank. Where have you been?" Suhani asked him, sounding quite cheerful. She was a great actor, they realized. "Just somewhere, why?" he asked just as casually, not suspecting anything. Or maybe he did, but he didn't let that show on his face.

"Let's have a talk." Her expressions changed the moment they were out of sight. She had dragged him, Mayank realized this with a start. Suhani looked like a predator right now. This wasn't the usual smart and cheerful Suhani. She dragged Mayank to a room, locked it, and messaged someone.

"Did you guess it already?" Mayank asked, looking at her dead in the eye. She knew what he was talking about, and he knew what she wanted to talk about. Soon, all of the other members entered the room one by one. The room was locked again. Not to be easily opened this time around.

"You know what you are here for, so don't waste your breath and start spitting," Suhani said. Abhishek looked at her amusedly, then his eyes met Mayank's. "You guessed it," he questioned Abhishek, but the question was more of a statement. Mayank smiled. "What did you do?" Abhishek asked Mayank.

"I will tell you everything, you need to decide if you want to trust me or not. No matter what I say, just remember one thing: you would have never guessed that it was me if I didn't want you to." "Is that supposed to be a threat?" Suhani asked. "Who am I to threaten you?" Mayank said, smiling.

"He was your friend; how could you do this to him?" Hardik asked. "I did not do it because I liked it. I was made to do it. You'll are a bit late with the investigations. I warned him; he was an idiot. Everything is casual to him." Mayank said under his breath, his voice not reaching many of them.

"Explain," Abhishek said again. He looked anxious for some reason. "It was during 2021 that I was approached by him." Mayank started. "whom?" Suhani asked. "Let him continue," Abhishek said. Suhani looked at him like he had grown a thorn, but then she saw something in his eyes and decided to keep quiet.

"I was struggling at that time. I had played cricket for quite some time then, but I got no breaks. My family was struggling with me. I had played two seasons for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, but then I was sacked."