Prejudice

38. Concerns

Tara knew, she was in trouble.

From last two days, she was being followed. Initially, she brushed it off, thinking she was getting paranoid. But that morning, she had seen a car with black tinted windows, standing below her apartment.
A weird feeling creeped within her. She did not want to be careless, knowing very well who the owner of. that the car was. But she was not sure why Pranav was taking such a step and stalking her.

She had no choice to show up when a man stepped down from the car and asked her to present herself in front of Pranav in his office.

There she stood with stoic face and her hands behind her back.

Pranav's looked at her twirling a pencil in his fingers.

"What are you up to?" He asked in a calm tone as always.

"Nothing, Boss." She replied with same confidence as ever.

Pranav sighed. The small headache was steadily growing as the day proceeded.
He stood up from his seat and walked around the desk and stood in front of her.

"Last I remember, you were loyal to me." He said disappointed.

She looked up at him and held his gaze for a mere moment.
A whirlpool of emotions swirled in her eyes.

"What makes you think Jay Sir is against you?" She asked back.

"Then why this secrecy? In my own house? Do you both think, I don't realize?" He did not lose his calm.

She skillfully managed to keep a straight face.
"There is no secrecy, Boss. I told you last time that I wish to learn about the gems. I am taking train from him."

Pranav scoffed.
"Really? How many types of diamonds exist?"

"Diamond Type is a method of scientifically classifying diamonds by the level and type of their chemical impurities. Diamonds are separated into five types: Type Ia, Type Ib, Type 1aB, Type IIa, and Type IIb. The impurities measured are at the atomic level within the crystal layers of carbon atoms and so, unlike inclusions require an ......."

"Enough!" Pranav whisper screamed to stop her ranting and she immediately stopped like a robot.

She blinked at him innocently and Pranav held his forehead for a moment.

"Tara... Jay can be reckless sometimes. Please don't fall for his trap. He doesn't think straight when he is angry or troubled. He might cause himself an irreparable damage. Please... Please let me know... What's going on?" Pranav pleaded.

Tara blinked at him with determination.
"Nothing, Boss. You should trust him more than that. He knows what he is doing....  I mean... He is helping me to study diamonds."

Pranav somehow knew, she was outright lying. But he had nothing in his hands to save them from whatever they were trying to do.

"Leave." Pranav ordered turning his back towards her.

Her heart skipped a beat. She knew, her loving boss might not trust her ever again. But she was determined to help his younger brother. She knew he had his own reasons for whatever he was doing. And she was fine doing it, provided, it was not against Pranav.

She turned around to leave and the door opened to reveal Siddharth and she halted in her tracks for a moment. Siddharth did not expect her there and blinked rapidly at her. She looked down and walked out without anymore interactions.

But the small twinkling in Siddharth's eyes was not missed by Pranav.
Unfortunately, Pranav could not think about it as he felt a momentary lapse of his balance. He held onto the desk and settled himself on the chair. A weird whizzing was ringing in his ears and he felt drained. He held a palm on his forehead and blinked rapidly to let go of the sudden complication. The room revolved around him for a mere moment.

"Pranav?" Siddharth kept his hand on his shoulder, but Pranav was still struggling to get hold of himself.

"Are you alright?" Siddharth asked crouching down to his level.

The phase was gone and Pranav relaxed after a moment.
He looked up at his friend and nodded.
"Yeah. All good."

"What is it? You look pale." Siddharth prodded.

Pranav picked up the glass of cold water and drank it in one go.

"Any progress?" He asked instead of answering Siddharth.

Siddharth stood straight and shook his head.
"When will you accept thapt she is no more? We tried everything. Even her bank accounts and social media accounts are untouched. We have searched everywhere. We even followed your father so many months. What else should we do?"

Pranav sighed.
"It means, our search is not in right direction. We need to find her at the earliest. I am more worried for Jay now."

Siddharth furrowed his eyebrows.
"Jay? What did he do now?"

"He has not done anything. Yet. But he is up-to something. And that could be really dangerous." Pranav's replied.

Siddharth raked his fingers in his hair.
"Why don't we tell Jay about your suspicions of Diya being alive?" He whispered.

"No. We can't do that. He would go insane to find her. He might confront Dad and Dad would know that we are aware of her existence. He might kill her even before we know."

Siddharth knew how right Pranav was and how reckless Jay was.

He looked at his friend who closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead  probably to sooth the pain that was gradually increasing.

Prithvi had left the island and was back to West Bengal, along with the baby and his wife.
Baby Kabir had captured his heart and mind.

Prithvi was engaged in a  special task of decorating the baby's room. He had not allowed anyone  not even his wife to take part in setting the baby's room. The walls were painted in light pastel colors and the lights were soft on eyes. Large open windows were secured with safety grills and had ample free flowing air.

The walls of the room had multiple pictures of Jay.  Prithvi had always made sure to send his people behind Jay and they had captured his pictures for him.
None of the pictures had Jay smiling carefree but the pictures were clear enough to be framed and posted on the walls of the baby's room.

Prithvi had made sure to spend every possible moment with Baby Kabir.
Though the baby was asleep most of the time, and was too young to understand, Prithvi tried to talk to him.

That night too, Prithvi held the sleeping baby in his arms and told him, "You know what, your Daddy is a very talented man. He loved you even before you were born."

He kissed the baby's forehead and placed him in the cradle. He left a dim light on and left the room, instructing the maids to wake him up when the baby wakes up.

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Another chapter up

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