Chaotic Relations

Chapter 36

Hi Guys!

Here is the next chapter.

Chapters 37-43 are already uploaded on Scrollstack. If you want, you can check them out. The link is on my profile.

Enjoy Reading!!

Ruhanika

That night, sleep eluded me as I lay awake, the mysterious man's words haunting my thoughts. "Not everything you've been told about your past is true. Not everything you've been told about your family is true either." What secrets could my family possibly be keeping from me? Had they discovered something about my disappearance that they weren't sharing?

A soft knock interrupted my spiraling thoughts.

"Kaun hai?" I called out softly. Who is it?

"It's Divyank. May I come in?"

I sat up, surprised by my eldest brother's late-night visit. "Of course, bhaiya."

He entered, looking uncharacteristically disheveled, his usual perfectly composed demeanor replaced by visible agitation. My heart sank. Something was definitely wrong.

"I heard about what happened today," he said, taking a seat at the edge of my bed. "The security team briefed me immediately."

I nodded. "I figured they would."

"Are you okay?" His eyes—so much like mine—searched my face with concern.

"I'm fine, bhaiya. Just... confused. The man who approached me, he knew things. About Mrs. Senghal—I mean, Aruna. About our family."

Divyank's jaw tightened. "What exactly did he say, Anika?"

I recounted the encounter in detail, watching as my brother's expression darkened with each word. When I reached the part about not everything I'd been told being true, Divyank looked away, a flicker of something—guilt?—crossing his face.

"Bhaiya," I said cautiously, "is there something I should know? Something about what really happened thirteen years ago?"

There was a long pause before he spoke. "We've been investigating Prisha's claims. About someone in our family being involved in your disappearance."

My heart hammered in my chest. "And?"

"And we've found... inconsistencies in the original investigation. Things that don't add up."

"Like what?" I pressed.

He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture I'd rarely seen from my usually composed brother. "Security footage that went missing. Witness statements that contradicted each other. Financial transactions that couldn't be explained."

I felt suddenly cold. "Are you saying someone in our family might actually have been involved?"

"I don't know, Anika. But I promise you this—I will find out the truth. No matter what it costs, no matter who it implicates."

The fierce determination in his voice was both reassuring and terrifying. What if the truth changed everything? What if someone I'd grown to love was responsible for tearing me away from my family in the first place?

"You should rest," Divyank bhaiya said, noticing my troubled expression. "Tomorrow is a new day, and you have plans with Ansh, don't you?"

I nodded, momentarily confused by the abrupt change of subject until I remembered—Ansh had asked to take me out to meet his friends. A normal, teenage outing that suddenly seemed trivial in comparison to these revelations.