9

1 hour later.

She walked out of the pool room and visited the secluded room. After a while of glancing at it, she locked it behind her and headed to the sitting room.

She sighed as she glanced around the living room. Just a while ago, there were people in the house and they were having a good time but with a turn of events, she's now the only one here.

3 minutes later.

She'd just left the house. There was a protective array all around the home. No one can get in and this house doesn't attract much attention anyway.

She was heading to an inn where she'd reside for the next 3 days. She didn't want to be alone. Mingling with others, meeting new faces and maybe drinking away her sorrow was something better than loneliness.

****

Earth.

India.

Theresa's Grandpa, Yuvraj Sharma's residence.

Yuvraj, his wife and Aqualino were discussing in the living room.

"How long will it take to locate where they are?" Yuvraj asked as he adjusted his specs.

"Um..." Aqualino suddenly rose as he sensed something.

"What is it?" Yuvraj asked in concern.

"Where did you say they disappeared?" Aqualino asked.

"In the room where we placed our daughter's coffin."

"Let's go there now." he urged.

"Oh ok."

The couple rose and walked ahead of him until they got to their destination.

"This is the place. My daughter's coffin was placed here and this is where my son-in-law and the girl he brought, disappeared. What? Did you find anything? Any clue?" Yuvraj's wife asked.

"If I'm correct, then they should be arriving soon," Aqualino said.

"You mean..." Yuvraj didn't get to finish his words as a portal suddenly appeared.

"Retreat," Aqualino shouted. The couple hid close to the door. Out of the portal came Marabelle.

Then Clark came out.

"Son-in-law." Mr Sharma exclaimed but didn't let go of the door handle. His wife wrapped her arms around his waist. One more person stepped out of the portal and both of them fell to the floor in disbelief.

"Honey, are my eyes playing a trick? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked his wife with trembling lips.

"Yes. I can see our daughter."

"No. Maybe it's an apparition. Our Aarti is no more. Maybe we miss her too much that's why it's like this." Yuvraj dryly laughed. At this point, the portal had closed.

"Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, we're back," Clark said with a smile.

"Clark," Yuvraj quickly rose and ran towards his son-in-law. "Clark. You're back."

"Mum, Dad. I'm back also. Why don't you hug me? Or you don't miss me?" Aarti asked with a raised eyebrow.

"This... Clark, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked.

"Don't be afraid. That's my wife, Aarti."

"Impossible." Aarti's mum cried out, also quickly rising from the floor. She ran to hug her husband. "That's not our daughter. Our daughter is no more. How dare you pretend to be my daughter?"

Aarti shook her head. "Mum, you really don't wanna recognize me?"

"Clark, who's she? Why did you bring a woman who bears similarity to our late daughter? And you two disappeared with my child's coffin. Tell me, where is her body?"

"Her body is right here, mom." Aarti pointed at herself.

"Liar! Clark..."

"Mom, you always wanted to belly dance. A pity you didn't have the talent. You love drinking Masala Chai. You told me that if possible, you wanted to bear another child for dad. Mom, is that a lie?" Aarti asked.

"You..." her mum stopped hugging her husband and slowly approached Aarti with doubt written all over her face. "Why do you know all these things?"

"Dad, you gave me chocolate at 7 even though mom clearly told you not to. You cried bitterly because your favourite singer, Shyla Ansh died in a car accident. You also told me that a girl must be strong then she'll attract the right people."

"You know this too?" Yuvraj asked. He, like his wife, slowly approached Aarti and touched her hand.

"This is the feeling. And this is the birthmark. Aarti, is this really you?" he asked emotionally.

"Aarti, you're really alive? Th... This is not some prank of Clark's or a dream?" Mrs Sharma asked as she felt Aarti's cheek.

"No, mum. It's not some prank and no, you aren't dreaming. I'm real. I'm Aarti, your only daughter. I'm your Aarti." Aarti said emotionally.

"My child." her mum hugged her tight and started weeping. "Aarti, my beloved daughter. You're back. I can't believe I'm really hugging you."

"Mum, I'm real and you wanna know something?"

"What is it?" her curious mum asked after they broke the hug.

"I saw Theresa," Aarti revealed.

"You saw Theresa?" her father asked.

"Yup. My wife's right. We saw her in where we're coming from. Theresa is in good hands. She can't come over now. But when it's time, we can speak to her." Clark chipped in.

"Why can't she come here? I want to hug her and reassure her that everything's alright." Mr Sharma asked.

"Can you see the clothes we three are wearing?"

"These are Chinese traditional clothing. The embroidery's extraordinary." Mr Sharma praised.

"Theresa is on another planet. People there dress like this." Aarti clarified.

"This... But she can't speak Chinese. Clark, I know you don't have a problem with that language." said a worried Yuvraj. "Or do any of them speak Korean, English or German," he added.

"From what I know, people in that world speak just Chinese. And it's interesting to know that it's not just me who can speak Chinese. Marabelle here and Aarti, my beloved wife are now fluent at it." said Clark.

"Fluent?" Clark's mother-in-law asked in disbelief. "It takes roughly 4000 hours of intense study to become fluent in that language. And you're telling me they've become fluent in a few days?"

"I can speak that language too." Aqualino raised his hand. All attention was drawn to him. "If you want, I can help you test them." he offered.

"Dad, who's he?" Aarti asked.

"I'm Aqualino."

"Nice to meet you. Sorry for not acknowledging your presence soon enough." Aarti said as she shook hands with him.

"Haha. That's not an issue. You guys were reunited. I'm just an outsider." he rubbed his neck.

"So how are you?" Aarti asked in Chinese and Aqualino replied to her. They soon had an interesting discussion with Marabelle even joining in. Aarti's parents just looked at them in disbelief. They were really speaking Chinese like it's their mother tongue. Gosh! This is sick!

"So now, do you believe that Theresa over there has no problems with the language?" Aarti asked with a smile. Both nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Well, we can't all be here forever. Let's go celebrate." Mrs Sharma suggested as she put her arm around her daughter's shoulders.

"Yeah. We need to celebrate. Aarti, welcome home. You know you have a lot to tell us. How my Aarti was revived. I gotta know." Yuvraj said with a chuckle and led the way out of the room.

Now only Aqualino and Clark were left in the room.

"Aqualino, nice to meet you." they shook hands.

"You too."

"So I guess you aren't human?" Clark asked.

"I'm Meera's mate. She'll become my consort after she calms down."

"What are you?" Clark asked.

"You'll naturally find out. And no, you can't ask your in-laws." Aqualino said with a smile.

"As long as you mean no harm. But if you do something stupid, I'll teach you a lesson." Clark said with a menacing aura.

"Now, now, Mr William. You just came from another dimension. You have to be calm in my presence and act humbly coz this prince doesn't like being threatened." Aqualino's eyes changed to that of a snake.

"Bingo." Clark chuckled. "I now know what you are, reptile."

"How dare you..."

"What? You wanna refute it? Snakes are reptiles. It's a well-known fact even if you are able to assume human form." Clark smirked.

"Whatever. I'm not as smart as you." Aqualino said in a sulky manner before leaving the room. Clark shook his head in amusement before finally leaving the room.

A/n: Pls after reading this chapter, pls leave a comment or suggestions, coz I love reading them. And if you like this book, pls share to others. I have a dream of turning this book into a comic. If you support this idea, pls indicate it in the comment section. Thanks! :)