Kidnapping

By now, Sia was dressed in the new clothes her friends had arranged for her. The guard who they had exchanged with one of the usual guards, had successfully managed to make everyone else busy in his discussion. She knew that she would get some time if the guard in-charge would find out that there was an untrained guard with them, out of his alarm and concern. *Apart from her Massi and Danny, he was another person who acted like yet another mother to her, and had always cared for her beyond what his duty required. He was probably the oldest guard she could remember, he even used to be present around her own mother.*

"Sia, come fast!" One of her friends called out, ushering her into the exciting reality. She approached them, chirping like a bird, as she was on cloud nine that day. 

*It was the first time she had revolted about anything, or tried to sneak out. It was not that she had never had the wish to do so before, but she had dared to make an actual plan this time, because she knew that no matter what, her Manya di would save the day. She might get angry afterward, but she would make sure that she was okay first and foremost. And because of Manya being there, she would always have three people by her side and in front of her eyes, for her entire lifetime! As long as that was true, she couldn't ask for anything more. She felt a sudden rush of emotions as she was reminded about her parents. Wouldn't it be awesome if they had also been alive, then they would have been a big and happy family!*

Seeing her lost in her thoughts again, another one of her friends prompted her this time, assuming that she might be having second thoughts about their plan.

She turned around and shouted over the noise, "Sia, come, or else we will be late…" 

Sia quickened her pace, but she was sure that she had heard the whistle again. 

*No, she definitely wasn't hallucinating, there was someone there, who was whistling the same exact tune!*

She ran to catch up to her friends and asked hesitantly, "Guys is it only me, or are you all also able to hear the whistling sound?"

Everyone stared at her for a while before bursting into laughter. One of them managed to reply while laughing, "Sia , you know we are not in primary right? And don't you think that you trying to fool us with the same whistle story is now becoming old?"

"But- but I am really not lying!" She managed to utter in her defense, while the others were still laughing about her attempting what they thought was an old prank.

"Okay, okay, now let's move or else, we will get caught." The boy who had come to brief her about the arrangements earlier, reminded everyone. 

They all sat in the vehicle they had been standing by, and drove out of the concert hall. What they could never have imagined, was that someone was actually stalking them, other than just the guards.

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Manya was breaking down into tears, and Arjun was clueless as to how he should make her stop. Technically, he was aware of everything that would usually help soothe her, but at that moment, he felt so overwhelmed that he was unsure of everything. He would come up with an idea, only to doubt if it would actually be able to help her, fearing that it might make her more upset. 

He simply hugged her and held her to himself, hoping that she would at least feel comfortable enough to let her tears out. Seeing the way she visibly leaned in for comfort, he found himself wishing with utmost sincerity that if only he could hug her tighter, he would definitely have done so.

*He knew that she must have been holding back on many things, so many things since she had lost almost everyone she used to be close to! Losing a single person can change your life drastically; it takes a lot to deal with the fact that all along, they have been with you and all of a sudden, they are nowhere to be found. It is a heart wrenching experience for any stable person to go through, even someone who is completely independent and has accepted death as the ultimate truth of life. Then how tough it must have been for a teenage child, who had lost a major part of her family all at once, and somehow had ended up thinking that her mother was the sole reason behind it!*

His mind had managed to bring up the guilt once again that had arisen due to not being by her side, and not being able to console her at that time. 'But now, he won't leave her alone at any cost!'

He repeated the same oath he had already repeated almost a thousand times in his mind, and proceeded to wipe away her tears with his hand, even as new ones kept shedding from her eyes.

Meanwhile, Manya was unwilling to let go of Arjun as the tears kept on flowing. She felt like her emotions had finally gotten the release they had been starving for, for so long. And now, they did not want to stop, for fear that this moment might get taken away once again.

*Isn't it amazing that she could be deprived  of something so crucial to her life, without even knowing or remembering what that thing was! But everything would be okay now, because he was here. Yes, he was here with her, and that was all that mattered. She could express herself any way she wanted, and he would be there, to not only listen to her and protect her from anyone else, but also to join in the feeling and enhance the experience somehow. There was a sense of guilt gnawing at her mind, of leaving him behind in the world they had always imagined for the two of them, together. And she had left him, even choosing to prolong their self-imposed separation while he was still here, living life the way they had planned. She couldn't even begin to fathom the massive shock he would have gotten when she was unable to recognise him, even though his idiotic attempts to cover up for him initially referring to her as 'Minnie' still managed to bring a smile to her face. And yet, after everything, he had still not given up on her. Despite that sense of guilt, there was a sense of relief as well, of finally having found a fragment of the map that would lead her back home. She knew that it was still a long and arduous journey back, but her steps were lighter now, her heart more full of hope. She had not exactly found the home she had wanted, but it felt like she had been dragged to the corner of her street from where she had been before, in the middle of the dense forest of Hiraeth. Her home might not be visible just yet, but she knew somewhere in her heart that she just had to wait for the fog to lift.*

Sniffling into her arm, she lifted her head and looked at Arjun's concerned face as her tears slowly came to a stop. He did not say a word, but simply wiped away the remaining tears even as his frown persisted. She gave him a small smile and he pulled her into his side again, letting out a deep, content breath.

Manya was the one who spoke up first,as she sat up and folded her arms over her knees. "How could you have left me like this?"

Arjun sat up with a jolt, as if this was the last question he had expected to hear. "Miss Rahal, if I must remind you again, it was the other way round!"

"Yeah, why couldn't you have put in some effort to come and find me, if you really missed me?"

"We have already talked about this, but I shall still refresh your memory. I tried to find you so many times, and if I hadn't met you again, I would probably still be trying! But tell me, what would I have done if you had refused to recognise me again, just like you did back then?"

"Then you could have brought along proofs! And-"

"And conducted a trial to prove that you are my long lost best friend who doesn't know me, right! Wow, aren't you a genius!"

"I most certainly am, and I have always known that you need a little help with things that require intellect. Nevermind, you have never been of any help to me anyway!"

"Me? Oh ho, bold of you to make such claims. But you know what, I will be the bigger person yet again. I relent to you, you have always helped me out and I will be forever in your debt. Happy now?"

"Well, I kind of have an offer for you, chance to make things even." Manya turned to him with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" 

Manya then explained how she had filed for Sia's custody before regaining her memory so she could take her along to Milan, and give her the love she had been deprived of. But the papers were scheduled to be delivered to her home that same day, and by now, she had reconsidered the plans of going to Milan, as well as obtaining Sia's custody in favour of building her family back up from the ruins.

She spoke everything and looked at Arjun, expecting him to be jumping up with alarm and thinking of a way to sneak out the papers from her mother. But to her surprise, he just looked at her with a guilty expression. 

He then sighed, shaking his head, and said, "Actually Minnie, we happen to have a terrible case of matching timing. I may also have done a little oopsie, or you can name it a blunder as well."

"What do you mean? What have you done, an oopsie, or a blunder?" Manya asked, eyes blazing.

"Actually, both!"  He conceded.

"How!?" Manya was even more baffled by now. 

"Actually, I had a fight with Maenu. No, technically I was the one who blew up on her, big time..." 

He then proceeded to narrate the whole outburst of the day he had confronted Sagrika at his parent's house.

Manya listened to the entire story with various degrees of incredulity flashing on her face. When he was done, she just sat there silently with her mouth wide open. At last, she managed to say, "Now I can say with full certainty, that you are the dumbest human I have ever met!"

"What do you mean?" Arjun asked, getting offended.

"Do you remember the time when we hadn't done the assignment for our English class, and we both ended up submitting a total of four assignments for the two of us?"

"And whose fault was that?" Arjun taunted with a smile.

"Definitely yours! You were one who had told me that you hadn't understood the assignment. So I made one for each of us."

"And you are the one who was bragging that the school belonged to your Nanu ('grandfather'), so you are not going to do the homework because you are not afraid of the repercussions. So in my panic and thinking about your awesome personality, I ended up working extra and doing the homework for both of us."

"Great, and now we get to have a reboot of the same incident; only this time, we are older and the stakes are much higher!" Manya said as she let out a hopeless sigh. "Now what are we supposed to do?" 

Arjun looked at the sadness in her eyes and said with a newfound determination. "Nothing, I will go and wait outside your house from 4 am sharp. And I am quite sure that no summon would be delivered before that."

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The car stopped at the hotel which was the new destination for the after party. Everyone stepped out of the car and was entering the hotel, when Sia remembered something and asked her friends to go on and that she would be joining them in a while.

After everyone went inside, she was left standing in the lobby. She pulled out her phone to let Manya know about her whereabouts, but then decided against it, thinking that it would only worry her more. Instead, she dialed Ishaan's number as she had three missed calls from him. After a few rings, the call was received and an impatient voice was heard from the other end.

"Sia, baby, have you also started ignoring me, like your sister does? I have understood that I am not important to you as well." He complained in a sulky tone.

Sia felt bad for the guy and said, "This is not the matter, Ishaan. I was just busy partying with my friends, so I was not able to call you back or attend your call. That's all there is to it."

Ishaan asked hesitantly, "Are you sure that you don't have any hard feelings for me?"

"No, why would I have any hard feelings for you? You have never done anything wrong by me, and whatever is between you and my di is your personal matter. So I am no one to speak on it or to judge you."

"Thank you so much Sia, this means a lot. You know what, I was calling you because I have a surprise for your birthday; when will you be able to come and get it?"

"You remember my birthday!?"

"Of course I do! How can I forget our one and only Sia's birthday?"

"That's amazing! I think I will be able to drop by tomorrow." 

"Okay, then should I consider it done?"

"Done! I have to go now, but I'll see you later. Bye!"

"Bye bye Sia, take care. And always remember that you can call me whenever you need me."

"Yeah, I will."

Sia disconnected the call and paused for a moment. Deciding to go ahead with the call anyway, she dialed a number. But once again, she heard the same whistle.

*Here as well? She had been holding herself back so far, thinking that it must be because of the loud noises at the concert. The hotel reception, though quite busy, was nowhere as loud as the concert hall and this time, she had heard it very clearly.

That was it! This time, she was going to follow the sound.*

Determined, she started walking in the direction of the whistle. After walking a little further, she finally spotted a person amongst the crowd, who was wearing familiar clothes. 

She shouted out, "Excuse me...hello...please stop!" 

She noticed that the person's pace quickened, so she also increased her speed to match his, partially running by now.

She had followed him outside the hotel to the road, and further, onto the path which was not as well-lit. She looked around to notice that she was in a somewhat deserted lane, and there was no one to be seen around there. She thought she had lost the person, and was about to turn back, when the tune of the whistle started again. She was momentarily overwhelmed by the clarity and proximity of the sound; and stood frozen to her place, when a voice called out for her.

"How is my one and only daughter? Sia, come...come back to daa-da, baby."

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