Just Friends

Chapter - 6

'What!?'

'Yes, Sahil is not here. He is in Dehradoon.'

Everyone was shocked to hear that. Anusha and Kritika looked at each other. Kabir was also shocked but was thinking of something.

Meanwhile, Sahil's mom said, 'You don't believe me? OK, I will call him. Listen for yourself.' She looked at Kritika and went to bring her phone. She came back after some time and dialled Sahil's number in front of everyone. He picked it up after a few rings. She put the phone on speaker. From the other side, he replied saying, 'Hey, mom.'

'Hi beta, how are you?'

'I am fine. What were you doing?'

'Nothing. How are your studies going?'

'Very good. Thanks for sending the money, mom. I told you na, that tuition centre really is very good. Very good environment and nice teachers. I really liked it.'

'It's good. You just concentrate on your studies, OK?'

'I will, mom. May I ask you something?'

'What?'

'When can I come back? I miss you all very badly. It has been a long time since I saw you.'

'You first complete your studies then we will talk about it. By the way, where are you right now?'

'Right now? I am at hou.....ho.....hostel only. Why..…are you asking?'

'Nothing. Just like that. Can't I ask?'

'No, no, of course you can. OK I have to go now. I'll talk to you later. Bye.'

'Bye', with this she disconnected the call and looked at Kritika. On hearing their conversation, Kabir thought of something.

Meanwhile Sahil's mother went on saying, 'I hope you believe me now. I told you he is not here. I thought these girls were very intelligent and nice but they have broken my trust. How can you put such a blame on my son?'

'Mrs. Rawat, please calm down. These allegations can't be baseless. My son is also a witness to it,' said DSP Singh. 'Kritika, are you sure it was Sahil? You saw his face, right?'

'Yes Sir, I saw him. It was Sahil. I can never make any mistake in recognizing him.'

This time Kabir interrupted the conversation saying,'Can I see his photo once.'

Mrs. Rawat thought for a moment and then showed him a photo on her phone. It was a photo of Sahil and his mother. On seeing the photo Kabir said,'Now there is no confusion. It was him only.'

Mrs. Rawat says,'That is not possible.'

Kabir then thought for a moment, then said,'What if we call his boarding school and confirm whether he is there. There's no harm in confirming.'

DSP Singh thought for some time, then turning towards Mrs. Rawat, said,'Can I get the number of the office of the boarding school?'

Mrs. Rawat sighed and brought out her phone. But before dialling the number she again said,'I am telling you no, he's there only.'

She handed over the phone to DSP Singh while the call was being connected. He put the phone on speaker. On the other side the phone was answered by a lady.

DSP Singh said,'Hello, I am DSP Ajay Singh from Indore. May I speak to one of your twelfth standard students, Sahil Rawat.'

'OK, Sir. Just hold on for a few minutes.'

Everyone waited for some time with nervousness. After some time the lady came back on the line and said,'Sorry Sir there is no one of this name here.' Mrs. Rawat was shocked but Kabir smiled triumphantly. The lady went on saying,'There was one such student, but he was rusticated about a month back.'

DSP Singh continuously looked at Mrs. Rawat and spoke into the phone,'OK. Thank you very much,'and cut the call. He then asked her,'What do you have to say about this now?' But she was too stunned to speak anything. Then he again asked her,' Mrs. Rawat please tell me where is your son?'

Mrs. Rawat sat down and started crying saying,'I don't know,' in a small voice. DSP Singh looked at her for some time and then said,'We'll have to search tour house.' She, while sobbing, took a break and gave a little nod. At that nod, DSP Singh ordered all his men to scatter and search in and around the house thoroughly.

The search went on for about half an hour. Meanwhile, everyone held their breaths, almost expecting Sahil to be brought out of any of the rooms. The outcome of the search was that he was not even at his home.

All of them were confused as to how could this be possible. After a few minutes Anusha spoke up,'How come he was rusticated and he's here but you don't know about it. He came here one month back and he didn't try to contact you? The school didn't inform you?'

Mrs. Rawat stopped crying, wiped her tears and said,'They did. We'd received a mail and then a phone call.'

Anusha nodded and said,'I knew it. It can't be possible that a student is rusticated and his parents don't know about it.'

Kritika was looking at Mrs. Rawat unbelievingly. Now she said,'I can't believe it. This means you knew about it. And still you were covering up his fault. How could you do so. And you were blaming us!!'

DSP Singh too looked annoyed. He asked in a very serious tone,' Mrs. Rawat, I am asking once again, where is Sahil?'

(Sooooo, I finally got 100 reads. I know it's nothing as compared to the other writers who get 2 and 3K reads, but for me it is important as I thought it won't go beyond 70. Now about the story, what do you all think? Mrs. Rawat knew about Sahil being rusticated!!!!!! What now? What else does she know?? Please vote and comment people. I really need to know if you like it or not. Share also if you it's worth it. Plzzzzz.)