Chapter-38

In Navya's bedroom, Lakshman stays by Hrida's side, observing her face with guilt-filled eyes, he laments silently and blames himself for Hrida's state, he caresses her forehead and apologizes to her with a heavy voice, " Sorry, beta, I was unable to rescue from this long-suffering that you undergone these past weeks.

Hrida, we all are waiting for you to wake up. I won't leave that being/person/creature that made you go through this path of thorns. I will find him no matter what it has in store for me."

Navya heard his statement, she neared him, and consoled him with her optimism with a gentle tone, " Inspector Lakshman, you are not alone, I will also help you in finding that wicked being who tortured Hrida mentally, physically, and emotionally. Hrida is a courageous girl; she will endure and awaken from this difficulty as well. Blaming yourself is the easiest thing to do but admitting the fact that not everything can be controlled is the hardest and simplest thing to do.

So, Mr. Old Man, keep your bones straight, get back to your work, and hatch a plan to catch that mastermind behind this all.

And If there is any help that I can do in solving this case, please contact me whenever the time demands for my call, I will immediately do my part. And, Hrida, she will be soon back to her cheery self, I assure you that."

 Lakshman's frown transforms into a relieved smile, he corrects her in a playful spirit, " Ms. Old woman, just because you are old that doesn't mean you should call everyone old, especially to a young and charming inspector.

And, I will contact you if there is any need of you regarding this case. Please take care of Hrida and her cat, she loves him dearly.

Now, I need to return police station and control the situation and take immediate actions that need to be implemented in the city for the society."

Lakshman then lands at the police station, he notices the officers engrossed in serious work, arranging files, some looking through computers, a few of them addressing civilian's normal complaints, and Dhansi ji and Kimaya Mam having a serious discussion about something.

He walks next to them and enquires about the situation with a firm tone, " Officers, what's the matter? What are the officers working on right now?"

Kimaya ji answers with a respectful tone," Sir, we have already begun solving the case and applying every force to find the culprit behind these all cases. Based on our last deep serious discussion, you hinted that these culprits were good civilians till something overtook them, and, somehow Hrida was there at every incident place, so that means the mastermind/ the person behind this all has been leading Hrida to his trail of chaos and pain, and she is his actual target.

This indicates only one thing that Hrida is still in danger as long as the mastermind is freely wandering outside without any restrictions. We need to upgrade and raise the defense level and save our civilians, especially Hrida because he might go unpredictable ways through civilians to capture or harm her.

We need to discuss this matter with the Director and other head inspectors of respective branches of police stations. Sir, shall we send the notice ?"

Lakshman rubs his temples and processes the whole scenario in his mind, after a few minutes, he responds with a convinced tone, " I think, I agree with your logic, the situation is getting out of hand, so it is better to prepare and prevent the dangerous outcome to occur shortly.

You may send the notice and also add another detail, the meeting to be held urgently today. We need to be alert and carefully handle this delicate matter. We cannot risk a single life of another civilian.

Kimaya ji and Kritak, come with me to the computer room, and Dhansi ji, prepare the notice and send it to the Director of General. Okay, let's hurry up! "

In the computer room, Kritak played the mall footage video, Kimaya and Lakshman fast-forwarded the video until they caught the scene when the crowd was gathered on the 7th floor, they observed the whole chaos from the fight between college students. And then, they also witnessed how Hrida faced off the beast, and how she gave her up for Tapish and endured the pain and danger upon her because of the shadow.

They zoomed into the magnified clear image of the shadow, but none of them could figure out what exactly it was, and what its flaw point was, then suddenly a name struck Lakshman's memory.

He whispered in realization," She was trying to say one's name starting with 'Ka' but she didn't spell out his whole name although Navya mentioned a statement like I will save you from him, as if she knew who this person is. Then, there is a possibility that she might know about this. I need to talk to her."

Kritak's surprised gasp, drew Lakshman's attention from his thoughts," Ma'am and Sir, did you notice when Hrida was completely enveloped by darkness, the white marble floor beneath her is painted red out of the blue, but Hrida didn't have a large wound or bleeding injury when we took her to hospital.

Wait, let me zoom in more...Oh my god, she was crying and, that red stain was due to her tears. I can't believe it, this mastermind isn't just a supernatural being but a devious and wicked one." 

Kimaya expresses her thoughts in a determined tone, " Whatever the being might be, we must capture it first before it captures Hrida because Hrida is her main target, he won't stop hurting people till he enslaves Hrida. We need to protect both Hrida and civilians.

I feel that Hrida is the only one who can help us know better about this sneaky mastermind after all, she had close encounters with him many times, and I think she is our only source to combat this dark force. Once Hrida feels better, I will talk to her about this. "

Lakshman nods. Dhansi ji appears in the room and informs them that the notice has been sent, and now they are just praying that The Additional Director of General invites them for an open discussion between all the Head police officers about the urgent critical problem.

After an hour or two, The Director of General's notice for an urgent meeting was delivered to each police station branch of the city. Lakshman and Kimaya were going to attend the meeting but then Lakshman's phone rang, he immediately rejected the call, then again his phone rang, rejected the call, then again his phone rang.

Kimaya ji told him to accept the call but Lakshman informed her that it is an unknown number and it isn't the time for picking up wrong calls.

Again, his phone rang, Kimaya advised him in an ' I told you ' tone, " See! The caller won't stop calling you till you receive the call. And, if you keep your phone switched off/ silent, you might miss the important calls although during the meeting, the phone should be kept in silent mode. Hmm.....

Do one thing, answer and tell that person, you are busy and will call him/her later. I am going in; you come quickly after attending the call."

Lakshman nods. He groans silently, receives the call, and starts scolding the caller with a pissed-off tone, " Don't you get it, is your mind thick, I didn't pick up your call two times, which means, I am busy with serious work. Now, whatever work you have with me, call me later and inform me about it. Right now, I am getting late for my meeting. Stupid-"

He is interrupted by a familiar female voice, she responds with a witty remark, " I didn't know that you were thick head but thanks for letting me know. I don't have time to waste your precious time, I just wanted to inform you, Old man, that Hrida is still unconscious, she hasn't woken up at all, and this is raising my stress level.

I thought you should know since you seem to be attached to her. Listen, after your important meeting is over, come and visit Hrida, she needs all of us to help her wake up. And don't stress about the meeting, everything will eventually turn out good, otherwise, you might physically appear as old soon."

Lakshman's stress bubble bursts and a relaxed grin takes over his lips instead, he lets her know that he will visit Hrida after an hour and ends the phone call. Before he steps into the conference room, he mimics Navya's last statement and chuckles thinking about his interactions with Navya.

The meeting took more than an hour to come to a conclusion and final decision regarding the safety of the city and civilians, Lakshman and Kimaya returned to their police station branch and declared the new rules and regulations set for the city for their protection and safety. 

Kritak curiously questions Kimaya ma'am," Ma'am, these new rules and regulations are to be implemented when and how. Are we going to secretly defend the civilians or accommodate them with new rules and regulations?

And Lakshman sir, what about squishing the sneaky shadow out of his zone to put a full stop to these chaotic circumstances revolving around the city ? "

Kimaya gently explains, " Kritak, the public needs to be aware and alert about the new implementation so that they can protect themselves better and about enslaving the real culprit is to simply defeat him and diminish his power but the question of how is still needed to be figured out. We are police officers, we will find the way no matter how difficult the problem is, and we will protect the residents of this city.

And, strangely, only our city is affected by this sneaky creature yet, who knows he might be planning to take over slowly over the whole world. We need to block him from all sides leaving not even a tiny dot of space for him to escape.

And, yes, the special training for us starts today itself, we need to exercise and strengthen our muscles because we are going to need it in the fight. The training will be held for 2-3 hours daily in the morning/ afternoon time and officers, eat well so that we can train without draining our health life."

Lakshman gets back to his work, he tries to quickly finish his work so that he can visit Hrida but he doesn't catch time as he is completely engrossed in drafting a proper notice about new rules and regulations to be delivered to the public through newspaper and media medium.

Around 7 pm or 8 pm, Lakshman and Kimaya were going to depart home but Kimaya confronted him before they stepped outside the police station. Lakshman didn't avoid her and asked her to share what had been bothering her besides this case.

Kimaya confronts him with a worried look on her face, " Lakshman, I still have questions that are constantly poking my brain. I need honest answers, I am expecting you to be honest with me. Would you give me my answers ?"

 Lakshman simply nods his head, Kimaya questions with genuine concern, " The missing girl, the girl you have been searching for is Hrida, whom I met at the railway station.

Soma also knew about her name and Soma doesn't hide anything from you, so he must have told you about her. Did he? "

Lakshman replies with a slightly confused tone, " Soma didn't inform at first, but later when Shashi revealed about Hrida's location and journey till then, Soma confessed that he knew about Hrida and he had met her but he didn't me because he didn't want to go against her consent.

But till now, I assumed that Soma had already told you by now about the whole situation, I didn't have any idea that you are still kept in the dark about this matter.

I am sorry, Bhabhi, if I had known earlier that you were clueless about the situation, I would have surely informed you about this. "

Kimaya's lips curved down, and she had a hurt look reflecting in her eyes, Lakshman knew she was upset about this, and he apologized with a genuine tone, " I am sorry Bhabhi. But, please don't be mad at Soma/ me, he was just trying to protect his new friend.

He is extremely worried about her, even Shashi, he too had hurt Hrida's heart deeply but he didn't intend to, he was just trying to protect his best friend. Similarly, Soma had hurt your sentiment but he didn't purposefully hurt you rather he was trying to protect her.

Forgive both of us, please Bhabhi. And I promise, I am going to narrate the whole story that I know until now."

Kimaya thinks about it for a second and forgives them but next time, she won't if they repeat the same mistake. Lakshman narrated the whole story from the start until he knew about then. Lakshman then remembers he is going to visit Hrida, so he directly goes to Navya's apartment and Kimaya, on the other hand, rides her bike home.

At Navya's apartment, Lakshman already sat by Hrida's side on the bed, caressing her forehead and whispering encouraging words to Hrida in a warm tone," Beta ( Child), I know you can hear my voice deep in your heart, so please wake up. Hold the courage within you and swim to us, we are calling for you.

Tapish has been waiting for you along with you, at least, wake up for him. I know you will wake up, you will, I know." 

He looks at Navya and asks in a gentle tone," Where is Tapish? Is he fine? " Navya stutters and starts sobbing, Lakshman suddenly becomes tensed witnessing her reaction, he doesn't want to confirm his suspicion, but he couldn't confirm from her because her tears didn't stop.

He tried to comfort her with comforting words but she wasn't in the state to hear/understand, so he didn't do so often, he held her hand and softly squeezed her hand, caressing her backhand. He felt weird in his stomach, he just couldn't tolerate her sobbing, so he did what came to his heart without hesitation.

Eventually, her cries faded into silence, she wiped her tears and withdrew her hand from his hand, and they both felt warmth melt away from their hands when their hands separated. 

Navya reassures with a slightly normal tone," Don't worry, Tapish is fine and asleep because he was injured as well but Hrida hasn't woken up once after we brought her here. I think we should admit her back to the hospital, I don't…ddon't want..to risk her health. Let's take her-"

Lakshman shushed her with a hand gesture to keep her mouth zipped, Navya smirked and rebuked, " What? Do you think, I will keep quiet just because you said although I will keep quiet but not for you, rather for Hrida since I don't want to disturb her sleep, Mr. Old man?"

Lakshman comments with a slightly playful tone, " Okay, Ms. Old woman, I just wanted to quiet your useless rambles. Hrida just came back from the hospital, and it's not some illness, she had undergone though traumatic experience, and it takes time to wake up from that.

It took me a whole 1 day to wake up from this traumatic experience although Hrida endured it for a longer time than me, so she needs extra care, affection, time, and people to be by her side. "

Navya informs him in a soft tone," Spend some time with Hrida, in the meantime, I will make coffee for both of us and fruit juice for Hrida and also bring cookies for us. "

Lakshman observed Hrida's face, he could see his reflection in her, and her condition sparked the memory box that he had buried deep within his mind.