Always You

#16.1 A brush with danger

I still love Seyon after eight years. I always did...

The thought makes Thiya want to choke herself to death whenever it pops into her head. And it pops into her head often. Her self-loathing is growing each day, spiralling into a maelstrom. The situation hasn't improved in the past few days. Encountering Seyon at work every day worsens things. Sitting next to his desk also suffocates her, his mere presence, the sound of his breathing or just him going about his tasks at his computer, the faint scent of his cologne ever present around her.

She desires to be far away from all of this, if possible. She suppresses her emotions and distracts herself with tasks, but her frustration still bleeds out. It's unstoppable, sometimes. The other day she snapped at Seyon for merely heaving a sigh, muttering she can't concentrate. Though his brows knit, and he threw her an agitated glance, Seyon didn't retaliate. He never does. This is new, as usually he would have a few words to say.

Of course, they never got into any spats after Mira's birthday, but he would say something, anything. More often in that bossy tone of his. He's the team leader, isn't he? Self-made or not. Thiya can't help but think his quiet is disquieting. She sighs when her phone beeps with the perfect excuse to step out of hall 57. The rest of the SIT is presently at the studios, monitoring Kavya and she's left behind, reanalysing Aran's laptop to dig out more data and what does she find? Nothing.

The email she received on her phone is still a good lead. She grabs her wallet and pistol just in case. She leaves a message for the team leader in the answering machine and locks the entrance to hall 57 before stepping out.

***

Lunch break. Seyon and Soham head towards hall 57. Mira is currently at the studios, having a conversation with Kavya. She is hoping to have some alone time with Kavya to dig deeper into the actress' relationship with Aran. The men had to leave them alone.

Seyon unlocks the door to hall 57 with his palm print unlocks it. He finds it strange that the door is locked, but he feels a sense of relief that Thiya is not there when he enters, although he also misses her. What kind of irony is this? And where is she? Has she gone to meet Dr Shah?

Or is she back to gossiping with Ramya again? Or with Ulla perhaps. Is she still venting out about him? While she isn't the type to gossip, He'd rather prefer they have a personal chat than beat around the bush. How does he bring up what he overheard? And is this even the time to discuss personal stuff? There's the case!