Chapter 3

AASHIQA'S POV

After reaching the orphanage, I was entering through the huge gates when I saw all the kids playing together in a corner of the playground. I snuck up quietly behind them and surprised them with a loud "boo".

All the kids were so surprised and happy after seeing me that they started jumping and running around me. I felt so overjoyed seeing them jumping here and there. They were even more surprised after seeing all the gifts and sweets I bought for them. Sister Sofia came running outside after hearing all the chaos to see what was happening outside, when she saw me she had that glad look on her face.

She walked towards me with a bright smile and hugged me tightly. By seeing her and these cute little kids smiling so brightly a sudden warm feeling engulfed me to know that some more people loves me apart from my brother and Maya.

When you know that there are people who love to spend their time, their grief, their happiness, and who wants to include you in there happy moments, all your sadness just disappears and after seeing these little cute creatures smile so cutely and jumping here and there for me is such a wonderful feeling.

Sister Sofia relieved me from the hug (that I needed) and said with a smile "Here you come my child...I was waiting for you since today morning when you told me you were going to visit us."

I replied "Yes sister. How have you been?? Have these kids been troubling you a lot??"

"I am fine child and no, these little monsters didn't trouble me a lot, just a little bit" she said laughing.

I also laughed after listening to her complaining about these cutie patooties. Well just like that my entire day just passed and I didn't even realize it. I saw the clock and saw that it was 5 in the evening, so I decided to head back home but biding goodbye to these kids in whom I see myself was not easy for me. They wanted me to spend some more time with me but bhaiya will soon be returning back from his office and he would be tired so I have to go and prepare a meal for him. So after convincing them that I would come very soon next time they finally agreed to let me go this time.

Oh, I am so bad at goodbyes.I returned home with a big smile on my face and started making dinner. Bhaiya returned soon after. I had dinner with bhaiya and told him how I spent my day and how all the kids were happy and excited to see me. After some more talking, I went to sleep.

[TWO DAYS LATER]

Inhaling a deep breath I looked forward towards the trees. Children playing together with their parents, giggling, grinning when they get chocolates or ice cream, was oddly relaxing to watch. I now am in a park which is near my house to relax my mind.

It had been two days I visited the orphanage and in these two days I have tried every possible way to find something or anything about Maya but not even a single clue. It was really stressful. So here I am, sitting under a tree at a far corner of the park alone, to relax myself and start my work again. After relaxing myself I picked up my laptop and started looking for if she had turned her phone on or not.

When I was busy doing my work I didn't notice one elderly man came to sit beside me.I was so busy in my work that I didn't notice that he was looking in my screen. As soon as I caught him looking I quickly hid the screen as my work was purely confidential.

Looking at him, it felt like I know him but I am seeing him for the first time. After I shut down my laptop, he looked up to my face and smiled while saying

"Hello child!! My name is Albert" I also smiled out of courtesy and said "Hello sir!! I am Aashiqa" Then he said "You are quite good at what you do. I mean you seem like a good hacker."

"Uhhm...yeah now that you already know about it, I think I am busted. I love hacking and I completed my graduation in this field"

Then we talked for some more time and I don't know why I told him about Maya when I haven't even told my brother about it. Surprisingly it didn't feel wrong or weird when I was telling him about it. After listening to my full story, he said"I can help you find your friend child. But you have to help me too."

"What? really!! But how can you help me when even I am unable to track her down? And how can you be so sure that you can find her, and why will I help you when I don't even know you? like at all."

I replied shockingly because how the hell could he find her? And he said it like it was a very simple and daily task for him.Then he spoke while smiling at me

"I know you will not trust me but you have to. Trust me, child, because I might be the only one right now who can find Maya, and about knowing me, I know you will not believe a person whom you just met, but I know you that too very closely. And I also completely understand your concern that's why I will also tell you the truth...."

At first, I was shocked to find out that he knew everything about me. What? Was he a crazy stalker? All my thoughts were shut down after hearing what he said next..............