Beyond the Mysteries... [PART ONE OF THE SERIES]

SOL: Part Four

"Is it concern or curiosity?",Susanto asked. He was sitting on a bus. It was quite stuffed, but he was lucky to find a seat.

"What if I said it's curiosity?", the person sitting next to him, by the window, asked. The air lashed a lock of unruly hair on her face. She plugged it behind her year. The omnipresent anger that Samrita Sen always carried with her was gone now. She did even look at Susanto when she talked to her; with a smile too.

"Then I'd ask, what happened to you? I thought you hated me chasing after mystery like this.", Susanto smirked.

"And if I said it's 'concern'?"

"Then I'd say that either you're a hypocrite," he paused as the bus conductor came to him, said, "Ticket... ticket," to which Susanto gave him a ten rupee bill and said, "Two," to him and continued to Samrita, "Or, you still have feelings for me." He took the ticket from the conductor's hand. The conductor eyed at Susanto and Samrita and left. He gave one to her and asked, "So, which one do you choose?"

"Bagha Jatin namben!", The conductor hauled.

Samrita pointed with her eyebrows, "Let's go," signalling as their stop had arrived.

"Where is this place?",Samrita and Susanto were walking through the lanes that ran all through Kolkata like arteries and veins in a person's body. They had been walking for five minutes turning from one lane to the next.

"We are here," Susanto said, at last, pointing at an old but occupied house, he yelled, "TITTU!"

His voice echoed in the narrow lanes and on the walls of the old ancient housings - nothing happened.

He yelled again, "TITTU?"

Same echoes – but no sign of Tittu Sharma.

Samrita suggested, "You have his phone number right? Call him."

Susanto pulled the phone out of his pocket and dialled the number. The phone rang twice then, 'The person you are trying to speak to is busy at the moment. Please try after some time.'

"He is not picking up.", Susanto gave up on the phone. Samrita walked forward to press the calling bell.

A weird cuckoo sound rang up and soon a guy with a patchy beard wearing an old and holed undershirt came downstairs.

"Who do you want?"

"Is Tittu inside?", Susanto asked.

"No, he is not in the mess. Who are you?"

"We – are – his classmates," he looked at Samrita, "He isn't here? Strange, he said he'll be here," Susanto acted surprised, "When will he return?"

"Don't know," said the patch bearded guy, "He left with his drone last night. He hasn't returned yet."

"When did he leave? At what time?"

"At around nine thirty, after dinner.", the guy looked at Susanto and Samrita together – a couple. He asked, "You guys are here... to... hang out in his room, right?", he whispered the last words and raised his eyebrows. There a dirty grin forming around his lips.

Susanto understood his implication and mimicked a similar grin, "Well," and that was enough. Samrita understood too. And she understood what Susanto was playing. So she acted of being shy.

The guy said, "Come with me," and smiled at Samrita.

They walked through the labyrinth of the rooms and finally reached a comparatively bigger room. The guy pointed at the room and whispered to Susanto, "Half an hour tops – I'll lock the door from my end and if you hear two consecutive knocks on the door, you jump out of that window," he pointed at the bigger window.