Chapter 6 : Modern Loneliness
Hiren turned around as he reached his apartment door to shut it. He felt the silence in the room. He walked towards the balcony while he sighed. He got out in the balcony and looked at random buildings, thousands of thoughts flitted through his head. There were no strange sounds coming from Karan's room, nor did his smart phone buzz with Shreya's messages.
For the first time he felt lonely. He never had that many friends either. Being saddened by the loss of two of his closest people made him upset. He looked down at road, His gaze fell on a couple walking together, holding hands in each other's, as two dudes fist bumped each other. A few memories flooded through him.
The wind gave him a relaxing feeling as it touched his sweat. He stood there calm like a statue. When his phone buzzed, he felt the vibrations in his pocket. Weird sensations ran through him as he expected someone else to call, but it looked like his parents had called him.
“Hello Pitaji” he said while fake-smiling to invigorate the energy. From the other side, his mother's voice called out, "What's happened?" He closed his eyes with force as he heard his mother's question. "Beta, drop by for a visit before you go on your whatever excursion" she said with her eyes craving for her son.
"Okay" he said silently "How about your health, all okay?" he asked.
"yeah everything is fine, just wanted to talk to you" she responded.
This time he smiled, it seemed sincere, as if there would always be two people who cared for him, his parents. "Hold on," he said as he video called her.
---------------------
Police Station : Interrogation Room
A chair was tied to Karan as he sat in it. A see-through wall separated Ronak and Officer from him. "He isn't saying a word," said the officer to Ronak just arriving there. "He's going to start talking soon," Ronak calmly assured the officer.
Ronak Entered the room and sat in the front of Karan, Karan had a wicked smile on his face. "I want to see my lawyer", said Karan.
"lawyer? Thank your lucky stars that you're still alive" Ronak said.
Karan laughed as he asked, "So what is the point, let me go to my grave in peace"
"There is no way you alone could do everything you have been doing." Hiren's gaze was fiercely fixed directly into Karan's eyes. Ronak then grabbed the knife and stabbed at dorsal aspect of his hand, and the room was filled with the howls of terror.
----------------------
few hours later
------------------------Shreya felt bad about herself as she sat on the couch. She missed him, and the childish self that she had become when he was around. Her feeling was that it was the right time to leave the organization, as Karan got caught. She would love to just be a librarian, honing her writing and artistic skills along the way.
She heard the doorbell ring and was very frightened. Standing up, she walked towards the door. It was Ronak at the door, He looked hurried. As soon as he entered the room, she quickly made way for him. They sat down on the couch.
"You cannot leave Shreya" he said.
It was clear she had had enough of the organization and she was looking forward to getting out of it as soon as possible. "Why? ", she enquired, "what's the matter?". Hiren paused before saying, "It appears Karan is not alone." She looked tensed and said "Tell me everything you know"
"We will get into the case tomorrow, but just so you know we're not done with this case," he said. "He's been backed by the entire organization, so there's a lot of people doing such acts for money throughout the country."
She sat there stunned by what she just heard. "let's visit Karan tomorrow together, I would like to ask him some questions myself" she said.
"Yes, but we may need to catch a ride to Hiren's apartment first thing in the morning in order to check out Karan's room." he said "How are you coping with...?" He was referring to the Hiren situation.
“I don’t know, I felt terrible for doing that to him,” she sobbed.
He said, "I know you are not a person like that, just give him time and everything will be fine.. okay" he continued "seems like you haven't ate anything, let me order few things" he said as he ordered food, she resisted but he insisted.
A short time later, the food arrived, and they ate together.
-------------------------
With a cup of coffee in hand, Karan sat there on the balcony. The moon glowed brightly. He stared straight at the moon. When his phone buzzed, that ended his staring session.
Looked like someone messaged in his collage group, he checked it out and it was the same guy, one of his batchmate who always posted escort service numbers in the group. He was tired of him, but the loneliness grabbed his mind.
As he first clicked on the link, a few pictures popped up, he selected one girl as he just wanted to talk and wasn't looking forward to do anything else. He follows through process and was expecting someone at the door in 30-40 minutes.
Opening the door, he saw a gorgeous girl wearing a black sheath dress, dressed in a bright smile. Her curls swept across her face as she stood there. He checked his phone quickly which had details about the girl, he wanted to make sure she is the one. "please come" he said as he made way for her to come in.
to be continued.