Pursuit (Completed)

Two - Part A

"We received an offer for the old bungalow." Chhaya Agnihotri informed as she poured the tea for her husband.

As the matriarch of the Agnihotri family, Chhaya took pride in being part of the high-class society. She liked to exhibit her wealth, even in trivial details, like the tea set on the breakfast table made of handmade porcelain from an Italian brand. The emblem of the Agnihotris, the cursive A, was painted on each of the six cups, the teapot and the creamer.

"How did that happen?" Her husband, Ankush Agnihotri asked.

In the past 30 years, she had learnt to read Ankush like a book, like a classic which you are not supposed to critic. It was not surprising that his answer was not about the bid price or buyer information, but how come there was a bid in the first place. She was supposed to keep the old bungalow under wraps, known to a few people. And his question hinted that she failed in doing that.

Born as Chhaya Luthra, she was always called a failure. The Luthras were a well-to-do family in the 1960's Saharanpur^. She was the younger of the two daughters. While her sister excelled in studies, Chhaya passed with utmost difficulty. At times, her father resorted to underhand means to promote her to the next class. She learnt from there that when things don't go your way despite putting in hard work, other hidden paths lead to the same destination.

"A property agent called saying someone is interested in buying it because it is the only unoccupied place along that road."

---

Ayaan waited for Dhruv to come downstairs before he joined his parents for breakfast. He observed their quiet conversations, as he flipped through pages of the police report in his mind.

For past three years, he had read the report innumerous times, enough to memorise not just the content but even the handwriting and the tears of the paper. It was a clear account of the happening, with details explicitly mentioned. He was a man who trusted his instincts and his instincts said it was not the complete story despite being elaborative. There was a missing link he had to drag out from the shadows.

Dhruv slapped his back. "Hey, Bro! I have interesting news for you."

Ayaan closed the file in his mind. It was time for some fun. But Dhruv was not talking about fun even though had a smile on his face. "Do you know that being the Managing Director, you don't have access to the archive?"

Honestly, Ayaan never cared about the archive. He did find it interesting. It was probably frequency illusion^ that sparked the thought of connecting this to the report. If the Agnihotris were involved in that incident, there might be a history to it that's hidden in the archive.

"It doesn't matter to me, Dhruv. I don't have time to read archived stories, so I don't need the access. By the way, what were you trying to do?"

Ayaan had provided his username and password for Dhruv to explore the company policies and procedures. While he didn't expect his brother to be serious about joining the business, he knew Dhruv would have fun digging into restricted areas, and that was what he wanted now.

---

Ankush threw the newspaper he was reading. This was not the first time they received an offer. Every time the answer was the same - No. Despite having the pre-decided reply, he disliked the discussion of the old bungalow. The memories it dug out were unpleasant, to say the least. He hated them. He had no qualms about his actions. He planned, and he executed. He did that in order to secure his life.

The timing of the offer was terrible. All the other times, he decided, and Chhaya would take care of the rest. However, this time he will have to involve Ayaan in this decision, and he knew his son to not silently accept his decision.