Lady Enigma

Chapter 18

Khud ko mai haar gaya tum ko
Tumko mai jeetha hun...

Translation: I ended up losing myself but I won you instead. ("Jeetha" means both winning and living)

Song: Tum ho; Rockstar.

~~~

"You will have to sign here every day. Your location will be tracked. So don't try to get smart. Because it will be useless." I tried to warn the accused, while she was being escorted by one of our lady constables.

"Y-yes, sir."

I nodded before spacing out for the hundredth time in the day. It's been six long fucking days since she last talked to me. Her visits to the station are now minimal. She barely tries to make conversations with me or Sambayya.

"Is something wrong sir?" Sambayya inquired.

"What?" I cross-questioned.

"You don't seem to be... I don't know... What do they call these days... Not in high spirits?" He grinned awkwardly.

"I don't think so. I am perfectly alright. And is there any new hearing by the court regarding Ramabai's case?" I ask curiously. Because she better has a solid reason to not contact me.

"Oh! I heard the CBI is involved now." He exclaimed.

"That's old news, sir," I state flatly.

"No sir. The news we got before was just a tittle-tattle. In yesterday's hearing, it's confirmed. Kiran is doing an extremely good job." He swelled with pride.

"Isn't it Deekshith Pandey who's working?"

"Oh! I guess she didn't tell you. Deekshith Pandey will not be dealing with this. Popular opinion is that his firm forced him to not take up the case. So Kiran took his place." He clarified.

To say I'm shocked, would be an understatement. Are fucking serious? We both were in it! How can she not tell me such important news?

"Is she going to visit you today?" I inquire Sambayya. "I've got few files to give her," I assert without giving any gap.

"Ah! She is on holiday today. Weekend no?" He states. "If you want, I can hand them over to her." He offered.

"Uh... Never mind. I'll give it to her when she visits the station." With that, Sambayya leaves, putting me in an endless labyrinth of weird thoughts. They say that sometimes emotions wear us out. My eyes shut by themselves, but for some reason, sleep doesn't take over me. It's rather very... Very weird thoughts.

One time it's my mother, serving me a curry. She was talking... Something... I am not able to understand. And I am muttering answers to her.

Then Dev. It might be a long distant memory. Because he was being his goofy and idiotic self throwing random dad jokes at me.

Then Dad, trying to convince me to wear a fluorescent color shirt, while I was denying it and trying to keep my button-down shirt open with a vest inside.

And then... The sunray I have in my life. Kiran. At first, she was just smiling. And then slowly the clothing on her body disappeared one by one, exposing the darkest imperfection stamped on her body. She was still smiling, even though it was so painful for me to even see. The closer I got, the brighter she shone.

The brightness set me ablaze and then faded into the light.

By the time I open my eyes, few files were stacked up on my desk with a sticky note attached to them, something is written in Telugu. It must be Sambayya.