Prejudice

44. Digging The Truth

Siddharth pulled out his car with frowning Tara on the passenger seat.

Any other time, she would have did her best to avoid him, but he did not let her protest, when she was called in Pranav's office and was briefed about the situation. Siddharth demanded her presence at the airport and now she was in the car with a frown face and angry demeanor.
Siddharth smiled internally at her misery.

It was a real wonder when the staff at the airport readily handed him the data of the passengers travelling that day. He was taken aback by the co-operation showed by the staff. The data that is meant to be so confidential was handed to them on a silver platter. It was as easy as getting a bank statement.

Something did not sit right with both Tara and Siddharth.

But there was nothing that they could put a finger on.

"Just like that? They did not try to refuse?" Pranav asked bewildered.

"No. And that is not sitting right with me." Siddharth replied thoughtfully.

Pranav hummed softly.

"Can we hack the airport system and verify if the data is correct?" Pranav's asked.

Jay and Siddharth were giving it a thought when Tara spoke, "can we just make use of whatever we have now and work on that?"

Siddharth looked at her impressed and she just looked away.

All of them studied the details of all the passengers and found three kids named Kabir, while only one kid was 4 yrs old and other two were 8 and 10 yrs old respectively.

The details 4yrs old child shook the core of Agarwal family.

He was not just Kabir, he was Kabir Jay Agarwal.

The child was accompanied by Mr. Prithvi Arunoday. They had their flights booked to West Bengal.

While all of them were sent in deep shocks at the information, Jay could not forget the surname 'Arunoday'.
He had two very annoying people with same name while he was still studying. No matter what, he could not forget Arjun Arunoday and Dev Arunoday and their dearest friend Ajay, whose mere thought send him on an unavoidable guilt trip. Jay had badly failed to protect Ajay's sister and could not make himself look in the eyes of him and his friends.

The name 'Arunoday' had once again come back to haunt him.

Not to mention, the place -West Bengal, where the two notorious cousins hailed from.

Jay widened his eyes as he realized something.

Could there be a connection? 
It was extremely impossible... But it could be possible too.

Diya was very close to Ajay and the cousins.
Was it remotely possible that she was with them all along? 

"Find Arjun and Dev." He suddenly spoke up and other three looked at him startled.

"Who are they?" Pranav asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"They.....  Do you remember? On the night of arson, there was another man with Ajay? His friend and my rival." Jay said while he tried to recall something.

Pranav appeared confused.
"What is he have to do with this?"

Jay banged his fist hard on the table and cursed loudly.

"We were too high on the emotions, Bhai. We were not thinking straight. And I now realize that Dev was missing from the scene. Both Arjun and Dev were inseparable from Ajay, but that night he did not turn up even when Ajay lost his sister. He was not there on her funeral too."

Pranav still could not understand what was Jay telling them all.

"What is Arjun and this Dev have to do with the arson?"

Jay looked at him with cold emotion less eyes.
"They have nothing to do with arson. But I have a hunch that they are involved with disappearance of Diya, if she is alive."

"What?" Pranav's asked shocked.

"Yes, they too are Arunoday." Jay clarified.

Pranav closed his eyes in irritation. He did not think that his brother could prove to be dumb.

"There can be plenty of people with same name." He snapped.

"It's not that shallow, Bhai. This is not that simple as it appears. Arjun And Dev belong to a royal family and Prithvi Arunoday is the king in a province of West Bengal. Now when I connect dots, I realized that indeed Arjun and Dev belong to the same powerful family, as Prithvi Arunoday."

Pranav's eyes glinted with hope.
"That makes it easy. We can easily find if they have Diya with them."

Jay slumped down on a chair and held his face in his palms.

"What's wrong, Jay?" Pranav's asked in concern, stroking his back.

Jay looked up and wiped his face.

"Arjun and Dev already hate me. They would push the horizons to stop me from finding out the truth. That is....  If Diya is indeed with them."

A line tear slipped from his eye.
"I am this close to losing my mind. I had finally accepted that she was lost to me. I don't know if I will be able to dwell on this new hope. I am.... " He could not complete and hugged Pranav's midriff and cried bitterly for the nth time for his lost love.

His mind was not prepared to accept that small bud of hope.

Pranav's sighed and stroked his luxurious hair, until Jay was relatively calm.

Pranav held Jay's face in the hollow of his palms and kissed his forehead.
"I promise you Jay, I will get her back. No one can stop you from meeting her and your child."

A small flicker of uneasiness washed over Jay.
"What if this is just a theory? What if Arjun and Dev have nothing to do with Diya? What if she actually died that night? We have nothing to prove anything."

Pranav's heart to was momentarily filled with doubts. But next moment, he composed himself and wiped Jay's face.

"Have you ever seen a Santa Clause riding a reindeer sledge, Jay?"  He asked.

Jay furrowed his brows.
"That is just an imagination."

Pranav smiled.
"Even if Santa doesn't come for real on this Earth, the world still tells their kids to wait for Santa, decorate a Christmas tree, put up a star, and hang lots of socks with loads of chits, full of wishes. That's because, on this Earth, there is nothing stronger than belief. Believe in yourself, Jay. Believe in Love. Believe that, the world for you will be happier again."

Jay looked at his brother in pure amazement.
"Just like you believed that she was alive somewhere?"

Pranav smiled lightly, with a sheen of tears.

"We will get them back. We ate going to West Bengal. Get ready. I am sure, you kid knows you as a strong man."

Jay chuckled lightly. The thought of his kid sent sweet tremors in his body.

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Another chapter up.

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