Paakhi

T W O

A beautiful transition to twilight was evident through the peeks of Shantanu's bedroom curtains. On his bed, he sat perched before his laptop, scrolling through social media accounts he had lost all connection with.

For some weird reason, he was feeling too flushed with adrenaline; the exact way he would feel before he would be assigned a juicy case with a deadline. Oh the kick he got out of deadlines and cases that had been declared open and shut! Solving them only re-established the fact he already knew in his head, he was good at what he did, and there wasn't any other place in the World he would be than where he was now...well, professionally at least.

His personal life was a mess he couldn't even begin to start explaining.

Fifteen minutes of aimless skimming of social media accounts later, his phone pinged with a Whatsapp message from 'Tanima School'.

06:23PM: Well, well. If it isn't Shantanu initiating a conversation on his own accord!

06:24PM: Long time man.

06:24PM: Um...

The screen returned to typing. He waited with baited breath, hardly noticing the small talk she attempted to make.

06:25PM: Um...Vandana hasn't been in touch with ANYBODY since her wedding.

He gazed at the message un-movingly for a whole minute. It wasn't until Tanima sent her next message that he managed to snap from his reverie,

06:27PM: Hey! You still there?

Shantanu found himself respond,

Any idea where she lives now?

06:28PM: The last time she reconnected, she was in Mumbai. I can get you her number if you want...?

Ten minutes later, he was staring at a contact named 'Vandana School Mumbai'. Something was odd, something didn't feel quite right.

He scrolled down his call logs, his eyes searching for a certain Mumbai based number she had rang him from.

"Am I speaking to Sh...Shantanu Das?" he recalled her voice distinctly from when she'd called him about two months ago.

"Yes, who's this?"

"Shaan, hi. I...I don't know if you remember me but this is....Vandana? Vandana Tripathi from schoo-"

"-Oh my God! Vandana hey! I...." his words had gotten caught up in his throat, his heart pounding in his ears immediately. He had been in a mild state of shock.

"To what do I owe this honour?" he'd gathered his wits and replied at last.

Even through the phone call, he could feel her hesitation thick in the air. She was nervous, almost frightened.

"Hey? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." She'd replied with a failed attempt at sounding stable, he didn't know if it was his job or just how well he claimed to know her to accredit for being able to read through her voice so easily. "I'm afraid I can't answer any of your questions properly now. But I need a favour from you, and just this once, I need you to believe in me and not ask me anything."

Call it years of practice, or his calm nature in general, but he had known better than to push her that instant.

"Done." He'd found himself respond, not even an iota of doubt in him about his answer. "What can I do for you?"

"Tenth of September, I'm coming to Kolkata and I need to see you. Can I have your address?"

Shantanu had been confused, "I...I'll pick you up Vandana, you don't have t-"

"-no!" She'd cut anxiously, "Please. Just...just please don't contradict me on this. I have made up my mind about everything. Please give me your address. I'll see you on Tenth and I will tell you everything."

The seconds' hand of the clock ticked on its own accord as Shantanu bit his lip apprehensively. He'd managed to scroll down to about two months ago and he'd found what he was looking for; the number she had called him from. But it was just another random landline number which started with Mumbai's code- 022.

When he ran the number on Truecaller, it showed no account.

Shantanu let out an irritable breath. Was he going crazy? Had he taken too much workload this year? Was it possible that he was creating a case out of nothing just because he didn't know how to get over a childhood crush?

Seriously. He was a twenty nine year old, well established Police Officer of the Kolkata Police Force. He had no reason to blow things out of proportion. He was probably just overthinking this whole thing.

Yes, his heart was broken, but that didn't need him to turn Vandana's clear lack of propriety for his feelings into a police case that required his sleuthing abilities being put to use. He'd had enough of pining for her!

Closing his laptop shut, he headed for the living room of the house and eyed it quietly. What was he supposed to do? He had an entire evening to kill until he returned to work the next day. He didn't even remember what he liked to do when he wasn't working!

Maybe he could watch some TV?

His phone pinged in the pocket of his pyjamas. It was Tanima again.

06:59 PM: Btw, thought this was pertinent to your question about Vandana. Her husband called Nishant three days ago, asking if she'd visited his place by any chance.

07:00 PM: You remember Nishant nah? Eleventh- C? That lanky boy Joshi Sir always picked on?

Shantanu's heartbeat quickened again. He opened the messenger, typing up-

I remember him.

And then, You said she is not in touch with anybody. Why would her husband call Nishant?

Tanima highlighted his last text and replied;

07:02 PM: Read between the lines, Officer. xD

For the first time in his police career, he wasn't sure he knew how to read between the lines.

A/N:

I'm trying my best to neither make the story go too fast, nor too slow. But this is such a new genre that I'm certain I'm not doing my incredible best.

I have every intention of editing the novel in its entirety once I wrap it up though. :)

~kimayaa a.k.a. Ankita