Four is the new two

Chapter 37

Jay woke up quite late.. rather he didn't want to wake up and face this ugly day. He realised Ridima was not in the room. 

He came out and peeked inside Alia's room. Both of them had just woken up.

"Hey.. Is Ridima in washroom?" - Jay

"Nope. She must be in your room." - Alia

"She's not. Even her luggage isn't there." - Jay

"What?" - Alia gasped. 

"Ask Kisho." - Sejal

All of them came outside. Kisho was sitting there drinking tea.

"Kisho.. did you see Ridima?" - Jay

"No I don't see." - Kisho 

"Damn it. Call her." - Alia

Jay dialed her number.

"She's not reachable." - Jay

"Di.. do you think those guys followed us here?" - Sejal looked at Alia. Alia didn't want to believe it. 

"I don't think so. We left no such hints. We were careful." - Alia

"Should we call Lalu uncle? Maybe she called him?" - Sejal

"Won't he recognise your voice?" - Jay

"He hasn't till now. But that's not the issue. We have to try on our own first. Only if we know she might be in danger, we tell them." - Alia

"Kisho are you sure you didn't see her anywhere?" - Sejal asked Kisho sternly.

Kisho looked scared. He couldn't lie to Sejal anymore. 

"Sorry madam. I know she went." - Kisho

"Where??" - Sejal

"She tell me last night, she want to go Delhi urgently. She tell me to drop to bus stop early morning. From there she take Delhi bus." - Kisho

"Why didn't you tell us??" - Alia

"She tell me to keep secret. She tell me to give you letter after 4-5 hours." - Kisho held out a letter... Alia grabbed it.

Hi Alia, Sejal, Jay. 

I'm sorry for leaving this way.. but nothing felt right since last night. I know you had a lot on your plate but, something seemed off. I may be wrong, I hope I'm wrong, but I sensed you guys were uncomfortable around me. Which is completely fair. I didn't know what I could do to help, until I figured out what something. 

I can't tell you guys how much you have given me, or what you mean to me.. so consider this a payback. The best way I can help you, is probably dealing with this issue as an outsider, instead of letting you take this risk. I have a plan, and I'm hoping it will work. So I will get in touch again once I negotiate this deal and get your diary back. Don't worry about me.

Yours truly, Ridima.

All three of them were taken aback.

"Is this girl for real?" - Sejal

"She's willing to risk her life for us." - Jay 

"Most importantly, we don't know how." - Alia put that letter in her pocket. "We need to follow her before she does something stupid or grave."

"What time she left?" - Sejal

"3 hours back" - Kisho. 

"Guys.. Quickly pack our stuff. We're leaving." - Alia

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Throughout the road, Jay & Sejal kept trying to call Ridima, but she had turned her phone off. Alia's motherly instinct had come alive again.

"Now I know why dad gets pissed at us often.. because kids are so stupid sometimes!" - Alia said honking furiously. 

"Does she really think she can take on this goon?" - Sejal

"She said she has a plan. I do believe it must be a good one. I just hope we reach in time to provide a backup. " - Jay

"But where are we reaching? What's her plan? Where can we find her?" - Sejal

"For those answers we need her to pick up the damn phone!" - Alia

They spent pretty much all day reaching Delhi. They inquired on the way about other buses, and kept trying to call her entire day.. but couldn't get in touch. The only relief they had was, she was only 3 hours ahead and they hoped the distance kept reducing. 

They reached Delhi by 8 PM, but still didn't know where to find her. So they went straight to their old hostel first. 

"I'm getting worried now di.. What has she gotten herself into?" - Sejal

"I have no idea. If she had given even a small hint of what her plan is, we could have found her and even helped her." - Alia

"I have sent her zillions of texts. Told her we will be at hostel & available on calls if she needs us. But I don't know when she will switch her phone on."

"Alia, I feel we should call Lalu uncle now, before situation goes out of hands." - Jay said. 

Alia sighed.

"Time to face the music again.." - Alia

"Not yet." - Ridima said.