Dedicated to: HARINIGANESH8, my friend who has endlessly and tirelessly provided support and encouragement

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Sampurnaa's pov:

It was Monday: a new day, a new week, and a new objective.
I did not have to be woken up today. I woke up on my own accord because I knew I had an unfinished job.
Ma-Baba, Dada-Boudi were back at home. Ma and Boudi had been pretty much affected emotionally by the incident I had narrated them about.
Dada and Baba were still angry with me for going somewhere unsafe without informing them first but hidden somewhere behind that anger and concern, there was a tiny glint of pride they tried to hide. The pride that I was brave.
We had a silent breakfast and left for our respective workplaces.

I reported to the office at precisely 8.30 am.

Senior, Peter, Abhijit, Rina and Diti were present there.
They asked me about Sridha and I told them everything. The two girls seemed pretty disturbed while the men were silent.

Soon we began discussing more what else we found. The other reporters on the team had compiled detailed reports before going on the field.

At Dharavi, there were several households with drunk men and women who worked hard. The men would squander all the money their wives earned and there was imminent domestic violence too.

At Kurla, some women were married and had 5 kids at the age of 20. They were equally unhappy.

The two colleges which had been selected for monitoring showed the involvement of some students in smuggling drugs inside the campus and then selling them to other students.

The other side of the red light area had seemed to be pretty normal and as of now, we had enough information to know that we had selected the right places for our report and that we must continue for the citizens' benefit.

At around 3 pm, I was sent for field reporting at Bandra Bandstand. I had to stand amongst the sea of Shah Rukh and Salman fans battling the constant heavy downpour just to catch a glimpse of them waving at their fans on camera.

At around 5, when I had wrapped up the live telecast, I sought permission from my senior and left directly from Bandstand.
I had to go to Linking Road to find the man who could help Sridha, the lawyer whose name I had zeroed on; Indrayan Chakraborty.
...

Indrayan's pov:

I was back from a weekend in Goa. The entire time I was there with three couples, they had tried to convince me to return with a wife of my own the next time I visited Goa. Ma had in fact plotted with aunty (Adrija's mother-in-law) and had shortlisted several candidates for my wife's position. They had both got around 25 photographs each and this time even Baba and Adri were supporting them. Abhi did not help at all and even Uncle stopped supporting me. According to the 6 of them, at the age of 29, it was already too late to get married. Ma said that if I marry now, then I could easily adjust with my wife and then have kids by the time I am 32.
Sigh!
They honestly want me to lead a simple life with any 'sundor' (beautiful) and 'bhaalo'(good) Bengali girl they find.
I was back in my office and there were neither many appointments nor many case files for reading. I would easily be done by 5.30 pm today.
....

At 5.30, I had just shut the last file and had been arranging things on my desk when I heard a slight commotion. Someone was arguing and it seemed to be at the reception.
Bracing myself for some nonsense, I walked out tall and confident, bringing on the facade of an intimidating and unfeeling criminal lawyer.
At the reception, a comical sight met my eyes.

My secretary was asking someone to go away and that someone was repeatedly asking her to call me stating that it was an emergency.

They were so very engrossed in their own world that they failed to sense my presence.

I took this chance to observe the girl who had been clearly trying to control her temper judging from the constant clenching and unclenching of her fist. She was soaking wet, her wet hair clung to her face and clothes.
She was wearing formals, a steel band Tissot watch, and had applied some kohl. Even in her bedraggled state, one could make out that she was well educated and came from a good family. She brimmed with confidence.

Just as I was observing her further, her voice interrupted me, "Sir, I have been trying to ask this lady to call you as I had to speak to you."

The secretary spoke before I could get a word in, "Sir, she does not have an appointment and I did not want to annoy you..."

And then the woman cut in, "I agree that I do not have an appointment and that under normal circumstances, I would have surely come after prior intimation. However, this is an emergency and I was honestly that caught up in work that it never occurred to me that I should have cross-checked for Mr. Chakraborty's presence before turning up here. I apologize for all that. But, this is urgent and really important. Sir, could you please spare me some of your time?"

Her eyes bore into mine with hope.

One glance into her dark chocolate brown orbs, and I instantly knew that the woman in front of me was none other than the same reporter who I had encountered two months ago.

I cleared my throat before replying, "Ms. Reporter, I am ready to listen to you as you insist that this is an emergency. However, please do ensure that you have confirmed if I am free beforehand so it saves you some work, time, and energy."

She nodded slightly perhaps shocked at the fact that I could recognize her even after such a brief meeting almost two months ago.

I gestured her to follow me into my cabin not before giving a stern warning to my secretary as to how she must consult me before throwing people out of the door.
My office is like a library with books and files arranged chronologically on wall-mounted shelves and a polished desk with a bureau and 3 seats.

I asked the woman to sit while settling down on my seat.

"Yes, ma'am how can I help you?", I ask her in my professional tone.

She began speaking, "Mr. Chakraborty, my name is Sampurnaa Roy. I am a reporter as you know already. I was in the red light area on Saturday on account of a report we are currently working on..."

She continued and then finally said, "This isn't my case that I am approaching you for. This is Sridha's case, the girl who I rescued. This is a RAPE case. Moreover, one of the accused has accidentally been killed as I just said. Sridha wants justice. She wants her culprits to get punished and she also wants a clean chit as the man's death was accidental and she had attacked him while defending herself. Sir, she needs help and she requested me to approach a lawyer and help her. Hence, I am at your office today and was really desperate to meet you."

She finished what she had to say in a composed manner. She was looking at me straight in the eye as if trying to figure out what was going on in my mind.

I was silent for a long time as I mentally analyzed the facts, the possibilities, and the attainable evidence.

Finally, I spoke, "Why do you think I should go for this case, Ms. Roy?"

Her reply was instant, "A man who I happened to interview on my very first day as a reporter told me that a rapist is a criminal and that he was happy that the criminal was going to be behind the bars. He also told me that ensuring that a victim gets justice was his duty. In fact, had he failed to put a criminal behind bars, his crime would definitely be greater."

I was impressed by her words.

"Ms. Roy, this case is complicated. There could be unexpected twists and turns. This case is certainly about Sridha, however, the total case could very well be about all the sex workers at the red light area, underworld thugs, and many and much much more. We need strong evidence! More than just what you recorded. There are unanswered questions too. We have to know who was stalking and following Sridha and what exactly happened at the college the day she was taken away. Moreover, Ms. Roy, if you enter this case as an eye-witness, you could very well start sinking into a quicksand of revelations and secrets, crimes and criminals. So, before you ensure your full cooperation, I would like you to think about it all before agreeing."

She did not have to be told twice. She looked at me with panache and forwarded her hand before saying, "I agree to delve deeper into this, for Sridha and any other girl, student, woman, or citizen. I'm in, I hope you are too."

I smirked as I took her hands for a shake while looking straight at her eyes.

Our gazes met as did our hands and then we both knew that two storms had to rise together to counter the more fiery one that was yet to arise.
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To be continued...

A/N:

A great big thank you to those few readers who have supported me and given my story a chance.
I would really request you all to vote, comment, and share this story. It would be a great help.
Criticism is welcome, however only polite and acceptable criticism.