A little while later, Shrey walked out of the airport with weary steps. There was no sleep in his eyes, only a strange restlessness. Just outside the airport, he spotted Rudransh.
"So impatient you couldn't stop yourself, huh..." Shrey mocked. Rudransh looked away.
"Get in..." he pointed to the jeep.
Both sat inside in silence. Shrey drove the jeep straight to the old bridge where many unfinished tales lay buried.
"Did you get married?" he asked as they climbed the bridge.
"About to jump or what?" Rudransh replied from behind.
"Shrey Thakur isn't weak enough to step back through suicide..." he snapped back with a sharp look.
"That 'Thakur' attitude of yours.... "Rudransh scoffed.
"Inherited. You won't understand... "Shrey replied with a sarcastic smile.
Rudransh went quiet.
"Didn't answer are you married?" Shrey asked with a cold laugh.
"Hmm..." Rudransh nodded faintly.
"Are you happy?"
"Can someone who steals another's happiness ever be happy...?" Rudransh replied in a tired voice.
"At least you realize it..." Shrey looked at him.
"Thakur..." Rudransh wanted to say something.
"He's forgotten you... and her too... he's lost his memory," Shrey said, his voice serious.
"But..."
"And it's better if he doesn't remember. So stay away from him. And keep that girl away too... I can't watch my friend dying again..." his voice broke.
"I... I want to return Advika to him..." Rudransh said softly.
"Is she a possession? Something you want today, return tomorrow?" Shrey roared. Rudransh lowered his gaze.
"I know I'm wrong... No one's happy in this relationship not her, not me... What's the point of a life lived in suffocation? At least with him, she might be happy..." Rudransh's voice cracked.
"She'll become his death..." Shrey responded instantly, eyes red.
For a moment, both stood in silence.
"Forget Anay... and move on..." saying this, Shrey climbed down the bridge and started the jeep.
Then, as if remembering something, he paused and said without turning back
"The village chief is alive."
"I know..." Rudransh replied softly, eyes now on the river's waves.
"And... safe and sound too..." Shrey drove away.
Rudransh froze —
"Safe and sound...? What do you mean... he recovered?" he was shocked.
He immediately made a phone call. By then, his driver had brought the car.
"Ravindra... find Thakur, now."
He got into the car, speaking rapidly.
Ten minutes later, his phone rang. After hearing what was said, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes...
Then he dialed another number Advika's.
Two rings later, she picked up
"The village chief is alive... and completely recovered..."
Those words felt like poison in Advika's ears.
"He's alive...? How did he survive...? I saw him dying... Maybe I made a mistake... should've killed him right then..."
The phone nearly slipped from her hand.
"Sir, shall we drive to Banaras?" the driver asked.
"No... there's some unfinished business in Thakurpur..." Rudransh said, taking a deep breath.
Back at the Haveli, everything felt heavy. The whole mansion was eerily quiet. Even the village chief didn't come out to see Anay off.
Shrey was heading toward his room when he saw Moli approaching.
He stopped.
"Girl... you're still here?"
Moli's eyes were red
"Thakurain fainted..."
"What? Aunty?!"
He rushed to her room.
She lay unconscious on the bed.
"We called the doctor... said it's stress-related," Moli said softly behind him.
Shrey held his head. Something inside him was breaking.
Anay's face flashed in his mind.
"Should I tell him or not...?
If I tell him, he'll rush back...
But if I don't, is that the right thing?"
He took a deep breath and sat silently beside her.
"Little Thakur should..." Moli began, but stopped when Shrey glared at her.
She took two steps back.
"Go home..." he turned his face away, his voice firm.
"But... there's no one in the mansion right now... if anything's needed..."
Moli spoke hesitantly, afraid he'd lash out like a cobra again.
Shrey nodded silently.
Moli stood for a while, then sat cautiously on a nearby sofa.
"Shall I serve food?" she asked, seeing Shrey rub his forehead.
"No... just give me a headache pill..."
Shrey replied in a tired tone.
"It'll get worse without food..." Moli said softly.
Shrey glanced at her, then looked up at the ceiling.
Moli brought food from the kitchen.
As she placed it in front of him, she said —
"You have to take charge now... so your health matters. If you're not well, how will you handle everything?"
Shrey looked into her eyes
"Why are you doing all this...? I'll never be yours."
Moli didn't lower her eyes.
She replied —
"I don't dream of having you... I can spend my whole life loving you from a distance... and be happy."
She tore off a piece of bread and offered it to him.
Shrey looked at her for a moment.....
Then silently took the bite.
No matter how much he denied it
He did need support.
He was holding in more pain than anyone could see.
After a couple of bites, Shrey put the food down
"No more."
Moli didn't insist. She quietly handed him the medicine.
Shrey lay down on a sofa nearby. As soon as he closed his eyes, sleep took over.
Moli lay silently on the floor nearby.
Shrey was too exhausted...
He didn't realize she had fallen asleep close to him.
Otherwise, he would've scolded her by now.
The next morning.....
Ravindra Thakur stepped out of the haveli for his usual walk through the fields.
He was passing through a deserted path when suddenly, among several masked faces a gun pointed at his face.
"Don't move..."
And within moments, a powerful man in the heart of Thakurpur was abducted at gunpoint.
The news spread like wildfire.
Shrey heard it too... but said nothing.
Maybe he already knew who was behind it.
Maybe, deep down, he was involved.
When Ravindra opened his eyes, he found himself in a crumbling ruin.
His head was heavy, and his leg felt tightly bound.
"Had a nice nap, Thakur?"
A cold, sharp voice snapped him to full alert.
He looked ahead
Advika.
She stood right in front of him — eyes red, brimming with hatred.
Ravindra clenched his jaw "You..."
"Recognized me? Good. The sooner you recognize death, the better."
She slowly approached him and then suddenly.....
BANG!
She shot him in the leg.
"Why did you kill my brother?!"
Her voice trembled with rage.
Ravindra looked at her in agony and growled
"You can kidnap me... but don't think you'll know the truth, helpless girl!"
Before he could finish
Advika kicked his wounded leg.
He screamed in pain.
She then punched him two or three times blood trickled from his mouth, his lips were torn, and his eyes were swelling.
Just a short distance away, Rudransh stood silently with folded arms. Suddenly, he moved.
"Advika... if you keep beating him like this, he'll die... and the truth will die with him..."
He gently held her hand.
Advika was panting heavily, eyes filled with fire not tears.
She jerked his hand away and went to sit on a nearby chair.
Rudransh straightened Ravindra's collar and looked him in the eyes
"No Thakur here to save you now..."
His voice was colder than ice.
"So it's better you answer our questions... or you'll die a death more gruesome than you can imagine."
Ravindra glared at him... the arrogance still there. But beneath that arrogance, a tiny crack of fear had appeared.
"Wondering how we found out you were alive... even though you were hiding like a snake in its hole?"
Rudransh smiled a poisonous smile.
"Want to know the secret? One of your own son's friends told us..."
Ravindra's fists clenched. His face contorted with fury Shrey.
Rudransh hadn't said the name, but he understood.
Rudransh watched his pale face... and for the first time, a layer of satisfaction spread across his own.
Without another word, he walked out.
To be continued....