Disguise

Arjun tried to calm Manya down, who was panicking badly. She kept repeating herself, mumbling "I won't let you do anything, and you just wait and watch! I will not let you hide beneath your mask this time...don't you dare touch her...help somebody, help he is gonna kill everybody, help…!"

He couldn't let Manya stay in this daze. He grabbed both her shoulders, shaking her back and forth to jolt her out of her panic state. When she was finally able to focus his gaze on him, he eagerly unleashed his volley of questions, including what had happened, and why was she panicking, was Sia alright, had someone been misbehaving with her, and what was the last address Manya knew she had been at. But in his own haste and worry, he somehow ended up jumbling all the questions in a long string, and the only one he could get an answer for, was the address.

He stepped on the accelerator, increasing the speed of the car and reached the venue of the concert. Both of them both stepped outside of the car and rushed towards the entrance, where Manya spotted the Head of her Security. As soon as she saw him, she ran towards him,  shouting in panic, "Where is Sia!? Where is Sia?" 

The other guards also gathered there within minutes, and were now curious about why the chaos was created!

*The Head of Security did not understand at first either, about why she was reacting in such a way. She had probably been the most informed person about Sia, and there was no way that she was not aware of her whereabouts! So what was the reason for her panic? There must be something she knew that they were unaware of.*

He gestured for someone to get her a bottle of water and said, "Manya baby, please calm down and tell me, where is Sia baby?"

"Aren't you supposed to know this, how can you be so careless?! Where is she, how can he come here in front of you all, and you just let him in?"

*The guard knew that she didn't want to hurt him or disrespect him, but was shouting out of concern for Sia's well-being. And now he was also getting concerned about what kind of situation Sia might be in. He had used her statements to connect the dots, that she didn't exactly know her whereabouts either but she did know that something was up.*

But before getting to any conclusion, he needed to check on Sia once, so he dashed inside the concert hall, followed by Manya, Arjun and some guards.

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When they entered inside, they found that the concert had already ended. Sia was sitting on a chair, hiding her face by laying her head down, as if she was not feeling okay. They quickly approached her and Manya crouched to the ground, hugging her out of relief.

"Sia, what was that some minutes ago? I am telling you that if it was a prank, it was not good at all!? Why do you need to scare your Di like this?"

But as soon as she completed the sentence, she recognised that the person she was hugging was not Sia. 

She broke out of the hug, saying, "Who are you, and where is my sister? I am telling you, if she gets even a hair's width of a scratch, then I swear to God , I won't be sparing anyone!"

The girl sitting there in Sia's disguise panicked as soon as heard Manya's threat.  *She didn't know how to act, no one had briefed her about such a possibility! Her next task was supposed to be to ask the guards to take her to a friend's home, then what was going on?! As if the presence of so many guards was not intimidating enough, Sia's Di was here as well! *

She was like a deer caught in headlines, and ended up spilling everything in front of them within seconds.

After listening to the entire thing, it was Arjun who spoke up first. He asked calmly, "Answer me clearly, okay? You know you guys are not adults, and you haven't even passed the legal age for drinking, so tell me honestly, were any of you drunk?"

The girl shook her head vigorously "No! Nobody was drunk, she just wanted to sneak out, only for once before her 18th birthday, so that she would also have an adventurous story to narrate, just like her Di did. She always used to tell us about her…"

Listening to the girl's statement, Manya sat on the cold hard ground with a thump. She spoke, saying "It is my fault, it's all my fault...I have never been any good, even for once! What would I do now, I was never a good daughter, and now I am not even a good sister."

Arjun walked up to her and knelt down to her level. Pulling her in a hug, he spoke "Don't worry, Manya, I won't let anything happen to her...we won't let anything happen to her! Just don't lose your hope now."

He then turned back and asked the girl once again about their plan, because if Sia had sneaked out, there was no way she had gone to the decided destination of the after party.

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Shikhawat was startled for a moment, when she hugged him and referred to him as her father.

*How could this girl be so dumb, she was definitely the carbon copy of her mother for whom the relationships were far greater than anything else- even their two pathetic lives. But how could she be so dense, to not ask about his whereabouts? According to the information provided to her, he had already died twelve years ago. Was she not the least bit curious, or afraid?*

 He was about to say something, when Sia's voice chimed up again.

"Daddy, hadn't you already died 12 years ago? Then how are you still here? How can this be possible, are the ghost stories real and are you a real ghost?"

Shikhawat smiled, his work had become ten times easier due to this dumb girl and her absurd ideas of reality.

He replied with a purr, "Do I look like a ghost to you?" 

"No, but I haven't seen any real ghosts, so I am not really sure of it!"

He let out a loud chuckle, and spoke "Oh, my silly girl, who has narrated all these stories to you?!"

"I have read them by myself, I used to do so, whenever I used to feel sad and lonely and whenever I used to miss both of you!"

Sensing the perfect time for his act to commence, he quickly shed a few tears. Through a throat choking with sobs, he whispered, "I am sorry, my poor child... You had to go through so many things alone, didn't you! I am a really bad father, who was not able to save your mother and was hiding till now because of his own safety, leaving his daughter all alone." 

Saying this, he hugged her tighter as he broke down into tears.

Sia pulled back from the hug, clearly baffled. "Save my mother? Hiding?! I can't understand anything…"

"Kid, it was not an accident. It was a murder, and your daddy has been alive all this time."

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