In the shore of my heart - I stand alone
Winds of thoughts swirl past
Where the dreams are gone
No winds to sail - No stars to guide
If I fail -Where should I hide?
The song pressed against her ears as Swara pushed through the crowd. She was looking for Sanskar for a while now, but he was missing from the crowd. It was the last song for the day, hence the party will be wrapped up soon. As she walked over the gleaming floor her heels ticking, Swara felt a beginning of a panic lace her thoughts. Had something happened to him? They were in Chandraraj Agrawal’s house of all places; that man loathed Sanskar and Ragini…Ragini was nowhere to be found either.
Standing at the very edge of the hall she let her eyes sweep the scene in front of her once more and made sure that Sanskar was not among the moving crowd. She had seen Laksh a moment ago, he was not with Ragini either. Taking a quick decision Swara went for the stairs that would take her to upstairs. She had to find Sanskar, find him at any cost.
The dimly lit corridors were the first sight that greeted her. At random places, a door to either side was open; and in frequent intervals a painting of lavish backdrop hangs against the walls. It seemed Chandraraj was a man of a rich artistic taste and solid financials. As she cautiously walked though the passageway the last person she wanted to meet was the man himself and as luck would have it he was in front of her, giving her that earlier intimidating look. 
‘Are you lost or looking for someone Mrs. Maheshwari?’ He asked her pleasantly.
Swara gulped. She could not possibly tell the man Sanskar was missing, what if he had some hand behind his disappearance.
‘I was admiring your paintings,’ she replied in a sweet tone.
Chandraraj raised a crocked eyebrow.
‘Oh, were you…’ he smiled at her. ‘Then perhaps you’d like to take a look at my studio as well. I have an excellent collection there.’ He extended his arm for her good naturedly. There was no way she could have talked herself out of the offer.  Her eyes still searching desperately for Sanskar, Swara followed Chandraraj’s lead in to his studio.
To say it was excellent indeed had been an underestimation. Chandraraj had a marvelous collection of paintings in his studio which itself was a luxurious room. But it was not his expensive paintings that held Swara’s attention. It was the photographs that covered the opposite wall. They came from Chandraraj’s ancient childhood and elaborate youth. She had just noticed a familiar face there. Reaching the cold pieces of glass that held lost smiles within, Swara smoothed out a certain photograph taken in front of the gates of one prestigious school she recognized. A face she was so used to in its older mask grinned with a youthful smile at her.
‘Ah yes,’ Chandraraj said joining her. ‘Recognized him, have you? He was my best friend…we were almost brothers.’
Surprised she looked at the man, he was also staring at the photograph fixedly.
‘How easily can a person go from a friend inseparable to an enemy invincible right?’
‘I didn’t know you two knew each other,’ Swara said slowly.
‘We don’t acknowledge that friendship nowadays. I’ve had old strings with your family Mrs. Maheshwari.’ He pointed back at the said photograph. ‘See her?’
It was the girl with a dazzling smile in that photograph. She stood looking so small between the two towering boys but her persona matched them with every edge. Her eyes held some kind of a familiarity and of cause her chubby flushed cheeks.
‘That’s Yashodara.’ Chandraraj nodded. ‘Your aunt in law Annapurna’s younger sister. She was another very close friend.’
‘Yashodara…’ Swara muttered slowly. This was the same Yashodara who had left all her wealth for Sanskar. When Sanskar called her Masi, she thought she might be a sister of Sujata Maheshwari. Sanskar or his father never offered her any explanations. But, Swara thought with confusion. Why would Annapurna auntie’s sister leave her shares for Sanskar? She had her own two nephews who she could have passed on her assets. 
‘The three of us were once known as three musketeers in our circles,’ Chandraraj said in a low tone as if the memories were crushing his voice. ‘Me, Yashodara and Ram…’
There was some noise of breaking china somewhere outside. Leaving their conversation in the middle both Swara and Chandraraj had to rush outside. As they reached the dimly lit corridor somewhere to their right, someone, a woman, screamed in an ear splitting, spine chilling tone.
‘Ragini!’ Swara muttered.
*
Ragini was shivering, in her dismantled state. Her clothes and hair a mess and her eyes bloodshot with tears, she was clutching hold of Laksh as he put his arms around her apparently seething in anger. Swara bit her lip as her eyes travelled the scene. The party was rushed to an end and only the Maheshwaris, Gadodias and an extremely bewildered Chndraraj Agrawal was their audience.
‘What happened Ragini?’ Annapurna asked, coating her impassive tone with a dose of unusual warmth.
At the same moment Sanskar descended the stairs, looking weary and disheveled. Looking up at him, Ragini broke in to new set of sobs that shook her violently. Sanskar exchanged a disbelieving look with Swara.
‘It was Sanskar!’ She said after a moment in a chocking voice. ‘He tried to misbehave with me!’
Swara drew in a heavy breath as the words punched air out of her lungs. Annapurna was staring at Sanskar with pure disgust masking her features.
‘It was so dark…I…I was so scared…I couldn’t see where I was going and he was right behind me…His phone beeped in the same message tone like Sanskar’s…I..I pressed my speed dial and called you right before he pushed me!’
She looked up at Lakshya as she sobbed.
‘When I reached there he was gone.’ Lakshya spat the final sentence as Ragini could no longer continue.
‘This is utter nonsense!’ Sanskar snapped as his eyes held Swara’s gaze. She looked at him impassively.
‘Where were you Sanskar?’ She asked after a moment, he gave her a broken look noting the indifference in her tone.
‘I was in the wash room.’
‘All the time?’ She asked once more.
Sanskar pinched the bridge of his nose, frowning.
‘I don’t know Shona, I don’t remember much…it was all hazy after a certain point.’
Annapurna could no longer tolerate it. With a sharp force she slapped him, shocking the audience as well as herself. She had never restored to violence before.
‘How many more lies do you think we’ll believe Sanskar? Even after witnessing the plight the poor girl is going through. ‘No one in this room is going to take your word against Ragini’s!’ She stopped for a moment her eyes swept over his face and rested upon Ram Prasad. ‘After all blood traits leave its effect upon characters!’
‘Bhabhi ji!’ Ram said in a threateningly sharp tone. That was the second surprise for the audience as never had they heard him arguing his sister in law. ‘You can’t talk to my son like that.’
‘Your son deserves these words Devar ji!’ Annapurna retorted. ‘Much harsher ones as well...’
‘We should call the police,’ interjected Lakshya at the end of her speech.
‘Wait Swara said after a moment.
‘Sanskar deserves a chance to explain himself even if the police comes.’ She said in a calm tone. ‘I don’t agree with you Badi ma. Although none of you take his word, for me Sanskar’s word is more than enough, I trust him.’
‘Huh,’ said Lakshya. ‘So you’re saying that your own sister is lying? Of cause, perhaps you were a part of this as well…!’
‘Laksh,’ Annapurna said slowly and he fall silent.
‘I’m not saying my sister is lying,’ Swara said slowly. ‘I’m saying that my husband is also speaking the truth. Ragini herself said that there was darkness, perhaps she is mistaken.’
‘Prove it then,’ challenged Lakshya. ‘Let’s see who is more trustworthy, a traitor or a friend.’
Ignoring him Swara turned to Sanskar.
‘Do you have your phone?’
Sanskar felt inside his pocket and pulled it out. Swara took the phone from his hand and checked it. There indeed was the message she sent, asking him where he was. She sighed for a moment.
‘You heard the message tone right Ragini?’ She asked after a moment. ‘And you yourself had your phone with you?’
‘Yes,’ Ragini answered in her shuddering voice.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Where are you going with this?’ Demanded Laksh.
‘Yes,’ Ragini said once more.
‘Do you remember Lakshya that recently Ragini stopped Sanskar from committing a certain business swindle, by connecting her data devices with his?’ Lakshya nodded slowly.
‘He was foolish enough to ask for her assistance then,’ said Shekar a long last. ‘Perhaps this was his revenge for the same thing!’
‘Wait a moment, I’m not done yet,’ said Swara.  ‘You know Ragini, when devices are synced, whenever they’re within closer range to each other they get self synchronized?’
‘Yes,’ Ragini said after a moment, in an uncertain voice.
‘And there’s a log where time and date of those synchronizations are recorded in every phone.’ She said working her way through Sanskar’s phone. ‘Laksh, check Ragini’s. If everything she said was true and both hers and Sanskar’s phones were within range of each other, there should be an entry on the synchronization log tonight closer to the time you went for Ragini’s rescue.’
*
In chess there is an unspoken rule. Always plan two steps ahead. Sometimes what you see as the attack is just a step taken in order to lure you in to the actual trap. Sometimes when you are obsessed with saving your knight, you end up exposing your king itself. Ragini smiled slowly, watching Laksh brushing past her in to their room. He was angry at being outsmarted by Swara and Ragini’s seemingly foolishness. But what did he know that her arrow went exactly where it was supposed to go.
She watched Swara muttering something to Sanskar as they entered their room, both paid her no attention. Had Swara thought that she was stupid enough to forget that big a detail when she made that move; her sister was sadly mistaken. She had left that clue about phones deliberately so that Swara could easily prove Sanskar’s innocence. What she wanted to extract was a certain sentence from Annapurna. That she had done.
‘If I wanted to kill you I could have easily poisoned you Sanskar.’ She muttered to herself in her sweet tone coated with ice. ‘But sometimes for some people death is trivial; there are pains worse…far, far worse. Truth is one of them.’
With that she went inside her own room and with a snap shut the door.
The war had begun, this time none of her enemies would survive the storm she is about to unleash.
*