Chipkali aur Chamgadar [Neirohi ff]

Chapter 4

The Sunday that Aarohi had planned to meet up with Neil again to share their findings had finally arrived. Ajay had called her yesterday and told her that he couldn't find any flights booked under that name, and looking in more detail would require higher access, which he didn't have. It was fine. He said it might be that if they did leave, they left under a different name, had someone make fake passports, or had an inside person in the airport.. I didn't know if Neil had found anything or not. He had told me that he would tell me the details once we meet in person. This time, we had met up for breakfast early at the same vafe as last time, and I didn't bother informing anyone in the house where I was going. I didn't see the point to it if they were going to misunderstand me either way. Arriving in the cafe, I saw Neil sitting in the same window seat we had sat last time. I sat down in front of him while he showed me a smile in greeting. Which was rare as people rarely smiled when greeting me, especially a Birla. As far as I know, Birla, don't smile they judge.
"Hey, so now can I know what you found because, as you know, my search led to a dead end."

"Yeah, your friend wasa great help."

Aarohi rolled her eyes at his sarcasm, "Hey, at least he tried. I don't know what's your problem is with my friend."

"I don't have a problem with your friend, I just have a problem understanding how you have a friend." He said while squinting his eyes and shrugging his shoulders dramatically. She was too used to him to be offended at this point. She ignored him and went on wothhher inquiry, "Can we get on with this Chamgadar, I'm busy."
"With what? You're suspended." Okay, I take back what i said about not being offended by what he said cause I feel offended right now. Very.

"Can.you.hurry.up.please." She said, growling at him and Neil understanding he had pushed the youngest Goenkas button and decided it was time to reveal the information he had gathered.
"Okay, so I went and talked to security, and I found out that someone the footage for that day was clear except the courtyard footage.
It was somehow not there, and the security officer said that that specific camera had the wire on it nipped by some bird or something . It was cut, they said, and they just assumed it was an animal. They replaced it but I asked to see the old camera. Luckily, it hadn't been thrown yet, and I checked the wire it hadn't been nipped by an animal, aarohi it had been cut. Also, I checked the operation room and waited room footage. At the same time, bhabi exited the waiting room was the same time that Dr.Kunal had exited the operation room, and they both seemed to be headed in the same direction. Also, I timed it, and bhabi came back only five minutes after Dr.Kunal came back. I can't see her expression that clearly on the camera, but recalling that day, she did look pale and tense after coming back to the waiting room. I had naturally thought it was because she was worried about Bhai and his surgery. I'm telling you their is a connection between her disappearance and Dr.Kunal. we need to find out what they talked about in the courtyard and any background info on Dr.Kunal."
Aarohi stayed silent for a good minute or two, taking all this information in that Neil had revealed to her. She had her suspicious on Dr.Kunal after what Neil had said about him leaving with no word the same time Akshu had left, but she didn't think their would be sp many suspicious thinks to find. Why hadn't anyone thought to inversitage this besides them. Why had no one noticed this connection besides them. Neil caring enough to investigate was understandable, but her being the only one besides Neil out of both families to care enough to find out what exactly happened instead of just judging or assuming things was unexpected. They had always said she never cared for her family and only cared about her ambitions. It was her ambitions to become smarter and career oriented, which led her to being observant and intelligent enough to find these suspicions along with Neil. She then suddenly had an idea pop into her head.
"You know I have a friend that comes from a highly reputed military family he is also a major in the military. I think he is on break right now and is back home, so I can call him. He has a lot of connections, so inversitgsting someone and their background would be easy for him." Aarohi was thinking of calling up Kanha. After a long time, it seemed destiny was pulling her back to her team, her besties. It was always during these rough times when life was showing her dead ends that they showed up. Neil, however, had many questions pop into his head at the ice queens sudden revelation of a hype social life.
"How do these highly achieved friends of your suddenly keep popping up from nowhere."
Aarohi defended quickly,
"Not from Nowhere, They were my old school friends. I have known them 10-11 years now. We were a whole group, famous in our school although we went into very different fields eventually it was our love for soccer that led us to become best friends from year 1 of high school tell now. There were 6 of including me. AJ and Kanha are part of my group." She smiled, remembering the good times again, and Neil raised an eyebrow at the rare smile Aarohi was showing him right now.
"Wow, the antisocial queen was popular and had her own clique. I'm impressed, I'd love to meet these friends of yours. I really want to ask them how they can maintain a friendship with a grumpy chipkaki like you."

"Actually, you know I'll call them all up to meet us up in the cafe. I'll send you a time it would most likely be Sunday of next week or the week after that. They are all highly intelligent and achieved in their fields, so I know you would be able to become friends with them, and they can help us out. I'd love to catch up with my friends to its been so long since I spent time with them." Neil smiled at her excitement, both not noticing that for a first Aarohi Goenka did not give a witty reply back to Neil's teasing. "Yeah, Aarohi, I'd love to meet you friends. It seems like they're amazing people with the way you're so excited talking about them."
Aarohi leaned back and dailed down her excitement, realizing how much of her true self she was unconsciously showing to Neul. She rarely opened up to people this quickly. This was bad. Getting close to a Birla was never good for goenkas.
"OK, it's settled then. I'll call or message to let you know our next meet-up, including them."
"Yep, that's fine, see you then. I gotta go before someone at home starts questioning me." Neil said jokingly as he got up to leave.
"Same, you know how bad it gets when I get questioned."Aarohi replied getting out of her seat too and walking out of the cafe with Neil , and although she seemed to say it lightly, Niel and her both know the thorns in her heart were not to be taken lightly. They both said their goodbyes and got into their cars separated. Their bond was a strange one they both knew, not friends, not enemies . What was their relationship, perhaps only the heavens know. All Aarohi and Neil know that maybe they weren't so different as they had once assumed.

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Hello Readers,

Please continue supporting my book with more votes, and especially comments. I would love to hear your thoughts on my book and any suggestions for improvements or any plotline you'd like to see. I'll be introducing Aarohis friends mentioned at the end of chapter 3, Ajay (AJ), Krishna (Kanha), Priyanka (Priya), Aman (Ace), Minakshi (Minnie). Please let me know if you'd like a certain personality, your account, occupation, or any other attribute or scenario added with these characters in the comments section. Thank you for your support and love so far. ❤️