The police station was turned upside down when Pooja's dad came raging in, all he saw was blood. He was a hurting father. Seeing his loving daughter in the hospital morgue shattered him in pieces, the daughter who went to the police station as an informant. He thought she was helping the police when he let his daughter go to the police station, he wanted to go with her but she insisted on going alone. And unfortunately, he agreed, and that was the mistake he was going to blame himself for his entire life.
He was worried sick about his daughter with every minute she spends in that place. He made a thousand calls to the station asking the same question every time and wanting to know if his daughter was fine. He just wanted one call back saying she can come home. He did receive a call, but it wasn't necessarily a homecoming. They said that his daughter was a murderer. Then went on to further say that she wasn't cooperating with the questioning, and was demanding a lawyer. All of this was already way too much for him considering how extreme the things had turned just in few hours.
He came by the police station to see his daughter and talk to her. She refused to even look at his face. Maybe she just didn't want to face her father. But that didn't mean Mr. Mahajan was freed from his fatherly duties. He went outside the police station and started making calls. He wanted to get his daughter the best legal help he could buy. Hours passed and he was still making calls, but this time he wasn't just making calls but receiving too. His wife knew about everything and from one ear to another, things just passed. Relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues, literally everyone started calling him. While all of this was already too much to handle, the snowball just had to get bigger and bigger. A lot of noises started coming from the station and he went in to see what all the clatter was about.
When he stepped inside the station, very desk was empty. Not a single person could be seen. But the noise continued! He just knew in his guts something terrible had happened. He went forward inside just to be stopped by a constable. He was asked to stand outside, with him a lot of people in the station were pushed out. A little time passed and he saw an ambulance arrive, as the crowd outside he too was curious to know what exactly happened. All he saw was some constables bringing a stretcher and could be seen as a person lying unconscious on it. They covered the face of the body to avoid the big questions from any spectator. As Pooja's body was brought out to the ambulance, the poor man couldn't even identify his daughter.
Mr. Mahajan waited. He was still trying to find a good lawyer in the middle of the night. That's when he received the unbelievable. The call was from a hospital asking him to come over to identify his daughter's body. He couldn't understand what was happening and started shouting at them thinking it was some kind of sick prank. But it didn't take them long to make him understand that it was legitimate. They walked him through everything that was supposed to be done from then, he listened but didn't speak a word. As they put the phone down, he rushed inside the police station. He went to the first police officer he found, Vijay Patil. He asked one simple question, "WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?" Vijay identified the man from a little ago, he was the one who came enquiring about Pooja Mahajan. It didn't take him long to understand whom he was referring to.
Then and there, Vijay just knew, he had to do it again! He had to be the bearer of the bad news yet one more time! Hitting around the corner was not going to work, he just had to be as blunt as he could have been. Even if he managed to be brave enough to say the truth, he wasn't courageous enough to face the man. With a hesitance on his mind and shame on his face, his head lowered. With the mumbling words that hardly went past his tongue, he answered, "Not here, but somewhere you would not have wanted her to be!" It was enough to break a strong man.
His hands started shaking while his feet stayed still. His eyes began watering as his lips stayed mum. His body looked fine as his heart was broken. All of a sudden, he started moving. He looked around cluelessly, he cleaned his eyes and stormed off to the front door. Vijay stood there witnessing yet another person's life crumbling into dust and there was nothing he could have done to help them. Mr. Mahajan was headed to the hospital.
As he reached there, he was hammered by a bunch of papers to sign. A grieving man's pain is only known to the heart, and it was clear that no other person there even tried to console him. Police officers were just too ashamed to even look that man into his eyes. doctors and hospital staff had seen enough death to ignore one more. The family that came after getting the information just had their tears to clean. Yet another man drowning in pain!
18th JAN, 2017; 3.28 A.M.
After finding out the fact that the man was Pooja's father himself, Shiva almost felt another panic attack hitting him. But being vulnerable in front of his colleagues would have made him look weak and he didn't want others to see him that way. Seeing Shiv that way would have just reflected his guilt, and admitting he was wrong would have resulted in a big catastrophe that could lead to ideological conflict or even his junior taking matters into their own hand and trying to serve justice on their own. All that was needed for that to happen was one more thing to go wrong, and Shiv losing calm at this time was exactly that. He tried his best and somehow managed to calm himself. Vijay could clearly see a collapsing man through his eyes but he didn't speak. He had his differences, but he was not so hollow to completely bash a man after knowing the hell he experienced and how fragile he might be at that moment. He held Shiv's arms tight, not letting him fall. Shiv really needed someone to hold him that moment, he never hoped Vijay to be that person. It was comforting, but it was no time for appreciation or thank yous. He had a problem to solve!
Rathod: Vijay. I have a favor to ask!
Patil: Yes, Sir!
Rathod: Get this man out of here! Don't use too much force, be a little gentle. He is a grieving father, and who better to understands that feeling than me!
Patil: Yeah... I'll get it done! Do you want me to tell him something?
Rathod: Tell him,... I ... am so
Originally this chapter never existed in the novel, so you can think of it as a bonus chapter! This is a continuation of the story from where everything seemed to end, and it will! But how much more pain will this continuation cause is the real question?
And I hope you liked the chapter! Tell me your thoughts and theories on "THE 7TEEN" in the comments/review section.
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