Anikaa & The Mystery of the Painting

24. Anikaa goes rogue

For half of the night, Anikaa kept thinking about the riddle and for the other half, she again dreamt of diving off the cliff in the frosty pool of water. She woke up abruptly when her mother called at 8am on the landline, furious that her mobile was switched off. Last night, Anikaa had completely forgotten to plug-in her phone to the charger. After speaking to her mom she decided to spend some pent up adrenaline in her body. She changed into her jogging tracks and sprinted downstairs.

Rachel spluttered water from the bottle when she saw Anikaa entering the garden. She wiped off the water from her chin and raced towards Anikaa.

"Good morning mam."

"Morning Rachel."

"You're up so early?"

"FYI- I do get up early."

"I know. But, you are exercising at this time? Strange, isn't it?"

"Not to me," said Anikaa tersely.

Mood swing alert. Rachel knew that Anikaa was rankled, she decided to change course when Anikaa said- "We are going to Milan's tonight, he invited for dinner."

"Oh..."

"What? You don't wanna come?" asked Anikaa stretching her arms.

"No, its just Karan asked me for dinner as well."

"Don't worry. I will go alone," said Anikaa and jogged away without waiting for Rachel to reply.

Rachel stared gloomily at Anikaa's running figure. So close but yet so far, wondered Rachel and sauntered back inside the villa, turning her head back every time.

The rest of the day passed in a blur where Anikaa had a meeting with a lawyer and estate agent for property dealings in the morning and she dedicated the rest of the day in her oil painting. Rachel also had a busy day, most of it spent on documentation.

"Firoz I'll call you back," snapped Anikaa, disconnecting the phone and scourged her red-coloured Fendi nappa handbag. Her bocca sofa was piled with wallets, clutches and mini bags of different brands, shapes, sizes and colours.

"It must be here, I have to find it otherwise, mom will be furious," she muttered. Anikaa was looking for a diamond bracelet as Shireen called her to send its picture, requested by one of her cousins.

She opened one of her black clutches and her eyes widened with delight.

"Look for a good thing and you find a better one. How can I forget about this one?" she said and took out a black pendant from her purse. She placed it on top of her chest and it instantly clung to her body. It was the pendant she had slipped inside the purse the night when she was invited to Richard Sturrock's for dinner. Beautiful!

It was almost 7pm as Anikaa zipped her black Jimmy Choo Dancy 65 sandals, sitting on the edge of her bed. She hastily got up to get her phone from the closet and wobbled on her way as the four inches heel grazed the floor unsteadily. Anikaa balanced her foot firmly on the heels and strode towards the closet, grabbing her phone and locking it with a password again. She was attracted with the rolling of thunder and she went towards the balcony, shoving her phone in her jeans pocket. The weather had turned its course today and she was ecstatic as it rained incessantly since the afternoon. She opened the door of her balcony as a gust of air, borne with tiny water drops brushed her face. She flinched when the crisp air stroked her body and ran her hands up and down her arms. Her hair was down on her shoulders drifting slowly in the breezy wind. She was about to step in the balcony to feel the rain when Rachel knocked the door of her room.