Unfazed

59. Uncertain (Harsh)

(IMAGE: Harsh in this chapter)

I was in a meeting with a client when I saw my phone display Dee's name repeatedly, during the course of her three missed calls. It was another hour before I could call her back and to my surprise, she answered on the first ring.

"Are you alone?" she asked me.

"Hello to you too... Yes", I said.

"Okay.. Remember you told Ma and me yesterday, during breakfast, that your boss left for Paris the previous night and that you would therefore be working late this week?" she asked.

"Well.. yeah? I was in a meeting when you called earlier, sorry", I said, walking towards the terrace where our canteen was.

"Are you sure he is in Paris?" she asked.

"Dee – just tell me what's wrong? Why are you asking me all this? Is everything okay?" I asked, unable to make the head or tail or where she was headed with this.

I heard a couple of muffled sounds and Dev's voice came on the line. "Harsh", he said.

"Dev, what's wrong? Dee has been asking me a lot of strange questions. Is she okay?" I ask for a second time, hoping he is slightly more stable than my sister is when she is excited or hyper.

"Harsh – I have people within ear-shot so listen carefully", he said. I agreed and he continued, "Dee and I came out to grab an early lunch to Aster Mall. We saw Alana getting a little, um, cosy with someone and I pointed that out to Dee. Turns out, she recognized the guy as your boss.. Wait – Dee, what's his name? Yes – Viren Kothari."

"Oh – okay?" I say, looking around to make sure that no one can hear this conversation.

"Yes.. Now, according to Dee, Viren is supposed to be in Paris and you are supposed to be in charge of the office, correct?" he asks and I confirm.

Before he can say anything else, though, I say "Dev, but that makes zero sense. I can't imagine why Dee thinks it is him. He is in Paris – he has an aunt there who is aging and unwell and once every three months or so, he pays her a visit. He had gone once before this too. He even produced the tickets for this to claim his leave", I said. Before long, I added, "Wait – you said he was getting cosy with Alana... Errm? What?"

"Take it in whatever sense of the word you can think of, Harsh", said Dev gravely, "but I do know this – this doesn't look like a case of mistaken identity. We looked up pictures of his on your social media – the inauguration of the new office and others. And.. I think it is him."

"Okay – Dev.. do me a favour and tell Dee that I will handle this for now. I don't want either of you to do anything about this until I can find out more. Okay?" I instruct.

"Alright. Understood", said Dev and in a few seconds, we cut the call.

I ordered a sandwich for myself from the food stall and took a seat at the back of the rooftop canteen, lost in thought. Ever since the issue at the café with Alana, I had asked Sneha for her number and sent her a message, apologizing for being explosive about the whole thing. We had gotten around to chatting and talking on the phone and now, I could safely go as far as saying that we were good friends.

We had chosen to keep our friendship to ourselves in light of the search for who had sent her the money and the letter for the post all those years ago – but she had come to become someone I considered an ally. But what was she doing with Viren? What was Viren doing in India now? What were they doing together? What about...?

I was lost in my little bubble when my phone rang again, signalling that Iqbal – the person who was helping us trace this entire scene was on the line. "Haan Bhai", this was our assurance that we were in a position to talk without an audience.

"Harsh", he began, "there's something I found, that I want you to come and take a look at." Being elder to all of us, Iqbal Bhai as we called him, was an experienced software technician and often helped private detectives and others with ethical hacking and the like.

"Okay – what time?" I asked.

"Tomorrow – 5 pm. Poolside Café. Is that okay for you?" he asked and I agreed.

Before he hung up, Iqbal Bhai also voiced out something that had been haunting me for a while, "Harsh – until we get to the bottom of this, don't trust anyone blindly."

Five minutes later, I called Sneha. 

Don't ask me. I. Don't. Know. But yeah - I'd make a really good villain, I think. 

Go hit that little star somewhere on your screen. Also, get ready to hate. xD

ALSO! For my non-Indian readers, "Haan Bhai" literally translated means "Yes Bro".