Episode 28

“Bhai!” Mishti exclaims, grinning, her steps quickening from where they were only dragging before.

“Chutki!” her brother says with equal exuberance, immediately taking her in his embrace as soon as she’s in front of him.

One month. They haven’t met each other for a whole month, and this is the longest, they have gone without each other, safe to say Mishti feels an empty spot in her heart getting filled as soon as she’s reunited with her sibling.

“I missed you, Bhai,” Mishti says with a pout and feels her brother’s chest vibrate as he laughs.

“I did too, Chutki. But don’t be sad anymore, come on, let me buy you some ice cream.” He says pulling away from her in favour of throwing his arm around her shoulder and walking to the nearest ice cream stall. Mishti keeps clutching at her brother’s shirt as they walk, her over-emotional self still processing that she is finally united with her brother even if it is for just a few hours.

“What flavour do you want? Butterscotch as usual?” he questions and Mishti nods, throwing a shaky smile towards him.

“Don’t cry, munchkin.” He says pressing a quick kiss to her temple, glaring at the ice-cream seller who looks at them weirdly.

“What?” Mihir questions with a threatening voice to which the man just gulps, quickly handing them their ice creams.

They sit with their ice creams on a bench outside the stall, slurping the treat silently until Mihir says, “I wanted to talk to you about something.” He says and Mishti nods because of course, she had an idea that they were meeting not because they missed each other but because there was something so important that couldn’t be communicated through phone. Not to forget, Mishti too has something to tell him.

“Give me that,” Mihir says taking the wrapper from her with one hand, the other engaged wiping the remnants from her lips with a tissue, just like he has always done.

“I’m not a baby anymore, Bhai, I can do it by myself.” She whines but of course, he doesn’t stop and only levels her with an impassive glare. “No, you are a baby. You will always be one.” He says, getting up to throw the wrapper in the nearby bin giving time to Mishti to ready herself for the news or information.

“So, what is it?” Mishti asks him once he is back, not missing the ways his face grows serious and gaze hardens.

“You remember, Chutki, how I had told you about there being something wrong with our mission?”

Mishti nods.

“Well, I don’t exactly know what it is, but it has something to do with that woman. Samrat’s mother.” As soon as he says that Mishti’s eyes widen because of course, she too had to say something about her. A lot.

The siblings voice out their concerns at the same time.

“She is the one who killed Tara’s parents.”

“She is Daya sir’s wife.”

“What?” Both of them exclaimed, wide-eyed, trying to ingest their respective shocks. It goes without saying that Mishti’s the one who is much more shocked because till now she hadn’t even known that Tara’s parents were killed let alone by Samrat’s mother.

“H-Her parents? Oh God, Bhai…” Immediate tears spring to her eyes as a hand covers up her gaping mouth. Mihir belatedly wonders if he shouldn’t have told this to his little sister. He was not here to make her cry and since the morning it is the only thing that he has done.

“It’s ok, Chutki, it – it was a long time ago, and we’re all there to take care of Tara, ok? So, you calm down, yeah?” Mihir tells, caressing his sister’s head who nods though still unable to hold back that lone tear that rolls down her eyes.

“B-But his mother. How could she? Why did she?” Mishti asks, not once doubting that her mother might be telling her a lie or giving her some wrong information. She trusts her brother fully, not to mention he is very meticulous regarding their job.

It’s then that Mishti remembers, a thought striking her head suddenly, her mouth opening into a gasp. “Bhai! There was – there was something else … She – Samrat’s mother, she used to be a police officer. He had told me. But I forgot to tell you.” She says but the way Mihir nods with a dejected sigh tells her that he knew that already.

“Tara told us this. Her father was encountered in a brawl with the police, wrongly, of course, and her mother was sent to jail where she ceased to survive. It was all done by her. I had spent the past few days thinking about how we had no idea about all this, even if – even if the agency didn’t want to tell us, something like this should be on the news. But of course, it wasn’t. She was Daya sir’s wife. He was a reputed man who worked for underprivileged people and orphans like us, through his company and all his wealth. Of course, they couldn’t just go and criticize his wife in public.” Mihir grumbles, rubbing at his temple. “Who knows that man might have been a part of it too –”

“No, bhai. Daya sir – he was a good man. He cared for us and until he was there, everything was fine.” She says and his brother sighs.

“I don’t know, Chutki, we can’t ever trust these wealthy men. They have a heart of stone, one that is impossible to break. They won’t care for the lives of some commoners like Tara’s parents.” Mihir says but all Mishti can think about is that how this definition couldn’t ever define Samrat even in a hundred years. She doesn’t think anyone knows more heartbreak than he does.

“Ranvi and Ruhi had asked around too, they got to know that the lady was suspended from her job and hadn’t retired like it had been told to everyone. It all makes sense now, Chutki, it all does.” Mihir rakes a hand through his hair, while Mishti takes her time to intake all the information, her head throbbing.

It is too much.

“One kills and the other saves.” Mihir huffs out a bitter chuckle, his gaze falling on his sister only now, who looks distraught, to say the least. His face softens immediately while his heart reminds him that his Chutki is still young. She still has that heart of gold that she had years ago, something that he doesn’t possess anymore, apart from for his friends and his sister.

“I’m sorry, Chutki, I didn’t want to overload you with the information, but this was important. I’m sorry.” He says gently and Mishti only shakes her head.

“N-No, bhai. I understand. I’m – I’m glad you told me.” She forces a smile on her face and her brother does too.

“Here,” Mihir says handing Mishti a newspaper cutting, an article.

Will we ever see the end of corruption?

A former police officer, Mrs Vineeta Agnihotri who had been suspended from her duties for encountering one civilian and wrongly accusing the other and putting her in jail. The former officer has also been caught supporting various corrupt organisations and exchanging money with them. The first name on our list is Pitampura Women Support Center……

“This is the only article that we could find against the woman, clearly validating what we had been thinking. Not to mention it makes me doubt the link between the agency and her.” Mihir says and Mishti nods.

“I think so too, bhai.” She says and tell him about how she hadn’t been surprised in the least when Samrat had introduced her as Mishti and not Preeti.

Her brother hums pensively.

“But, Bhai, you told me that all these articles were banned from getting published so how could you find this?” Mishti asks and Mihir gives her an amused smile, not knowing the following words would make his sister see stars in the daylight, or something close to that.

“Enemy’s enemy is our friend, Chutki. The reporter’s name is Sakshi, and she had published this article against her ex-mother-in-law.”

Mishti’s eyes widen, her heart thudding in her chest. “Y-You mean she is S-Samrat’s –”

“Ex-wife, yes, Sakshi Ranne, his ex-wife.”

*

“How was it?” Mihir hears a voice asking from behind, and he doesn’t need to turn to know who it is.

“It went well…I guess. Chutki got scared. I never wanted to involve her in all this.” He confesses, dejected, while Ruhi comes down to sit beside him on his balcony.

“You had tried to keep her out of this back then, we all had. But they didn’t budge. They owned us; they still do. We’ll have to do this if we want our freedom.” She voices the bitter truth with a heavy sigh, gazing intently at a star in the sky.

“It’s been tough for Mishti, but it’s been tougher for you, isn’t it? Swallowing all the pain just to have her smile.” Ruhi says with a small smile of her own, not waiting for Mihir to confirm. “She’s lucky to have you as your brother.”

“She is?”

“She is.”

“Well,” Mihir smiles at her, picking up her hand and putting it in his, delicately stroking it with it his index finger.

He looks her in the eyes. “I’m lucky to have someone too.”

“Who?”

“You.”  He says and intertwines their hands (and hearts).