Chapter 10

Advika Laghari

"Don't become nervous now. Common" Whispered Kashvi from beside me while giving her best smile and walking inside the cabin as if she is not affected by anything.

Get a grip Advi. You need to act as if this is nothing and let them think that you changed a lot now.

Mustering all the courage I need at the moment by taking a deep breath and entering inside by looking ahead without looking at anyone but my chair behind the table.

From the corner of my eyes I saw that Magnus looked surprised due to my actions but there is no trace of shock in his eyes. Which confirms that he knew about this company and me before coming here. But I cannot say the same thing about Hred though. He looks as if he has seen a ghost in the daylight. His expression is hilarious but i controlled myself from doing anything stupid.

"Good morning. Sorry for the short notice about this meeting." I said with a professional voice while coming to stand in front of my chair and glancing at both of them. I again saw the surprised expression in Magus's eyes before covering it with a neutral expression of his.

"Not a problem." Said Magnus while using the same tone as I used before.

Good. He is quick to grasp the situation and act accordingly.

When he glanced at Hredhaan, he was not looking at us but something behind me. Or more probably the wall because he was lost in his thoughts I suppose.

I don't understand why he is reacting that way. If Magnus knows about me, then I think that he had informed it to his friend before coming here. Or did he not?

I furrowed my eyebrows a little before covering my expression to neutral when he came back to his senses again and blinked his eyes repeatedly to adjust the situation.

It was somewhat hilarious to watch him act like that because he never does this kind of act in front of anyone and especially if he is in his professional attire.

I so wanted to retrort him with some sassy comment but held my tongue from doing it.

He is looking at everyone to see what happened but not getting anything. And when his eyes landed on mine, I held my breath in anticipation of not knowing what to expect from his looks. It's like I was caught red handed while doing something illegal or fishy. I don't know why I am reacting the way I am doing right now as a teenager all over again.

From the moment I got to know that Hredhaan is visiting our office, I was kind of jumpy and restless all the time.

"Sorry, I was lost" He said with a straight face but I can clearly see the hint of apology in his voice.

I just nodded my head in agreement without uttering a word in return which definitely might trigger his emotions because I saw the hope in his eyes when his eyes landed on me.

This hope is not good for the both of us and especially me. So I acted like the cold hearted bitch I am busy crushing his small hope into pieces and making him hate me even more than before.

I know that I stuck a nerve and had broke his heart once again due to my lack of acknowledgement and reaction but I think this is best for the both of us even if it hurts me in return.

I cannot open my arms and heart for him again after all these years and let him inside my closed off world to see how rock and cold my heart became. There used to be a beating heart which was alive when we were friends but now it's nothing but a big rock and walls around it that no one can break.

I can't allow anyone to break those walls. Not even my best friend. He used to be my weakness and will always be. Which is exactly why he needs to stay away from me and my life.

I took a deep breath while making up my mind and heart stone again before finalising the deal with them. But they want to see our education institutions before signing up the contract with us.

This made me somewhat hesitate because I might need to spend one more day with him in order for them to show the schools.

But then again, nothing comes so easily and especially if it is Hredhaan. He always double checks everything before coming to a decision and it didn't make me surprised in the slightest bit that he wants to visit it before.

So I just agreed with them and informed them that I will schedule it for some other day and intimate them about the plan.

I only relaxed my stiff body by releasing the tension in my shoulders when they left our office. It was like I ran a marathon all over again in that past hour. I felt so tired and exhausted that I took the rest of the day off by ordering my secretary to handle it in my absence and forced myself back to my house with so many thoughts running in my mind.

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Hredhaan Grover

While driving back to the office, my thoughts wandered on the woman whom I don't want to think about.

But my mind and heart have their own way to deal with it and always makes me think about our bitter encounter yesterday.

I was ignoring this nagging and stinging feeling from the moment I realised that she refused to acknowledge our friendship and acted like a complete stranger in front of us.

But whatever I do or think, all my thoughts go back to that face which I used to miss a lot in these past years. There is not a day which goes by without me thinking about her.

I always used to wonder how we lost touch and how we became apart without knowing. And all these years I thought that maybe she lost my contact number or moved to some other place or was even suffering with her life that she wasn't able to contact me back.

But yesterday I got all the confirmation I need to get from the look on her face that she wantedly ignored me and left me to fend with my broken heart and our broken pieces of friendship.

It felt like I was unable to breathe properly in her presence the moment I realised the truth.

All of those moments we spent together in the past came flooding into my mind like a short movie playing in front of me by making me struggle to control my feelings from bursting like a volcano.

But even then all of those pent up anger, frustration, sadness and hurt from the past 8 years hit me back with full force that it was making me hard to breathe and suffocate inside. I was unable to concentrate on the road in front of me due to the black vision that was taking over my body, so I stopped the car at the roadside and got out in a hurry to take deep breaths and calm my uneven heart.

After a few moments of struggle, I called down a little bit with so much sweat on my forehead and my back that I leaned against my car for support with exhaustion.

She broke my heart all over again after all these years, that it makes me wonder how she still holds that kind of power on my heart and brain to make me hurt like this.

But now it's enough. I can't make her have this kind of power over me when she is least bit interested to talk with me.

Now, I will show her who the real Hredhaan is and how merciless he can be.

You just wait and watch Ms. Laghari.

I thought to myself angrily before getting back into my car and drove off to the office with a determined look on my face.

When I reached the office, I saw that Falan and Avinash are interrogating the two criminals by sitting opposite them on the chair while Mag was doing something on the system.

When I reached near Mag's table, he glanced at me for a moment longer with furrowed eyebrows but said nothing in return for which I am thankful, because if he asked then I won't be able to answer his questions.

He just sighed and got up from his seat before coming near to me and standing beside me by folding his hands.

"They are trying to get some answers out of their system" Answered Mag to my unasked question. I just nodded my head in understanding.

"Any improvement then?" I asked still looking at them who were asking about the plan of this kidnappings.

"Nope. They are not willing to cooperate. But, only one thing that 'they will kill is for spilling the truth' and nothing more" Mag said with a bored tone to which I raised my eyebrow in curiosity.

"They ah..." I asked while humming in acceptance and thinking about who 'they' might be. Which exactly means that it's not one but more than one member involved in this case.

Some guy came inside holding the thermal bottle and started pouring the tea to whomever asked for it. And Falan even offered it to our hostages by making a silly comment about equality in food because of being human or something.

Only 3 of our teammates took the tea including both the hostages while the rest of them rejected it since we were not in a mood to take a break when the things are so out of place.

They continued asking some other questions while I was watching the list of buyers who brought the dresses in bulk in the last ten days where there was a sudden commotion in Infront of me.

I tilted my head upwards immediately to see that one of the hostage is choking his own blood while struggling to breath and stand straight.

I immediately became alert by getting up and glancing at the tea cup to see that he was the only one to drink first and acting this way.

Fucking hell. It's poisoned. I sighed in frustration by pulling my hair.

"Don't drink the tea. I think it's poisoned" I shouted, getting near to the other hostage who was about to sip it even when he knew the cause of his partner's struggle. Or might be because he knows it already.

I slapped away the cup in a blink without giving him any second thoughts and pinned him to the table by cuffing his other hand to the chair.

Whatever his intentions are behind drinking that tea, but either way I cannot make him die when I have a lot to interrogate him.

I bent down to check the pulse of the hostage who stopped struggling on the floor and confirmed that he died.

"He died" I sighed with anger by controlling my bad temper.

"Call ambulance and forensic team" I ordered with an authoritative voice which held so much anger in it.

I rubbed my eyes in frustration by groaning out loud and slamming my hands on the table in frustration.

"What the hell is happening here?" I shouted to everyone that they became silent in a second.

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