Unexpected Journey ✓

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖

꧁☆★ 𝒦𝒾𝒹𝓃𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹? ★☆꧂

10th October 2022

Divya's POV

By the time I arrived home, it was already seven. I had informed Aisha beforehand that I would be late. The aroma of butter chicken hit me immediately as I walked into the apartment. I took a long breath. I walked into the kitchen to see Aisha grooving to a song while making roti. "What's the special occasion?"

"Nothing. I just felt like making it. Go and freshen up, then we will have dinner." She had set the table when I later entered the kitchen.

We had just finished eating when both of our phones beeped with notification.

"Three college girls missing from Hyderabad" This was the headline. After learning more about Tanya, we downloaded The Times of India's e-paper to our phones in the hopes of finding some useful information as we conducted our investigation. We discovered after reading the entire article that although the three girls came from different colleges, they were all abducted at the same time. They also had one thing in common: they came from middle-class families.

We both walked in the direction of Aisha's computer room. I just stared at Aisha as she began to code for two reasons. 1.I don't understand anything written on the screen. 2. When she is coding, Aisha tends to feel most confident.

"Divya, look!" I immediately turned towards the screen. "Look at this number! Within their contacts, it is common. More troubling is the fact that they all save the contact's name in a remarkably same way. One number and three different names in three different person's cellphones. I am going to recheck Kriya's contact list."

"There it is! It is saved as Chachi. That's weird. Other girls saved the number with the boys' names."

"I think this person was toying with those girls, Aish. Did you get the person's name?"

"Ragash Brokes. There is not even a single information about this guy. It seems as though this person doesn't exist. The telecom office is the only place where this name is mentioned."

"This case is getting more and more mysterious day by day, isn't it?" Aish hummed at this.

"Aisha, how about we talk with our moms?"

"No."
"But why?"
"We don't have concrete proof, Divi, that Kriya's death was a murder. We are simply looking into the matter based on our doubts. It is unnecessary to involve our mothers."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"I really don't know," She let out a long breath. "Perhaps the police will discover something in the households of the girls."

"So, how are we going to track down this idiot named Brokes whose location shows up in 20 different locations outside of Asia, not to mention that those locations change every second?" I huffed.

"Leave all that. Tell me, how your date with your crush was?" I glared at her. "It was not a date; we simply went for lunch together." She was still smirking while I huffed saying, "I should not have told you that I had lunch with Abhiraj."

"Abhiraj, hmm. I thought it was Mr. Devil Rathore."

"Shut up." She laughed loudly, still teasing me.

"I want you to come with me to Saxena's Diwali Party." As soon as I said that she stopped laughing and began to look at me as if I had grown two horns. I then continued, "I know what you are going to say, but please, Aisha, please," before she could respond. "You know, I don't know anyone over there, but I have to go," I said.

I gave her my puppy eyes while she kept staring at me. "Fine, but the moment I feel uncomfortable, I am leaving," she said, her eyes narrowing. "I have a beautiful saree for you to wear in the event," I said while grinning broadly at her.

"Divya, there is something I wanted to discuss with you."

"Yeah."

"I am thinking of doing Master's."

"That's great, Aish." Before I could say express my happiness further, she interrupted me, "In US." I looked at her with worried expressions, she kneeled in front of me and said holding both my hands with her hands, "You may be concerned, but don't be; I'd be okay. With all of you here, I feel like it's getting worse. Don't get me wrong; I know you all love me, but perhaps I need to try habituating to a new environment away from everyone. I realize it will always be there, but surely it can be lessened? Besides that, I would like to see a therapist, but I am unable to do so while we are in India for fear that our family will know. Hey, why are you crying?"

Before she pointed it out, I was unaware that I was crying. "I still have months, you idiot, so I'm not leaving now." She said this as she wiped my tears away. "If you cry like this, your Devil might kill me."

"Shut up." I said swatting her away. "Did you tell our family?"

"No, I will tell tomorrow, it's already late."

"Yeah, we should sleep." saying that we both went to our bedroom and called it a night.