4 IT'S MESSED UP

17 Jan, 2017; 10.50 A.M.

Vijay is clueless; he wasn't prepared for this. He goes blank and nothing comes to his mind apart from getting Dhruv. He wants him.

Patil : Subhash, go from right-side and see if there's any backdoor, keep a sharp look. We don't want him to run away due to panic. Keshav, you go from the left side, Bhosle, stand here at the entrance, Rajesh, come with me inside. Don't let him escape; we want him.

Subhash, Keshav, Bhosle, Rajesh (together) : YES SIR!

While Subhash, Bhosle and Keshav cover the house from the outside expecting to get Dhruv, Vijay along with Rajesh search the inside,

Vijay : Rajesh you search here down, I'll go upstairs and search.

Rajesh : Hall seems clear, I'll go search other rooms around.

Vijay runs upstairs expecting to find Dhruv, restlessness is making him anxious. He kicks the door of Dhruv's bedroom and takes a quick look around. He then slams the bathroom's door; although the room seemed empty still, he looks all around. He doesn't find Dhruv. Outside Dhruv's room there is another room, Dhruv's parents' room. The door is partially open, he suspects Dhruv to be inside, but his intuitions betray him again. There's still a room left, Aman's study room, which is used by Dhruv nowadays. Vijay rushes towards it. When he was about to open it, he hears Rajesh calling him,

Rajesh : PATIL SAHEB! THE BOY'S HERE, IN THE KITCHEN!

Patil : WHAT?! IN THE KITCHEN! I AM COMING! (murmuring) What the fuck is he doing there?!

Vijay comes running towards the kitchen and the first thing he sees is Rajesh's stare at him which displays his annoyance about what he saw. When Vijay enters the kitchen, he sees Dhruv sitting on the dining table having his French toast and coffee. Seeing this Vijay feels the same that Rajesh might have felt a while ago, followed by Subhash, Bhosle and Keshav who enter the kitchen after hearing Rajesh shout. Everyone stood there staring at the boy as Vijay said,

Patil : What the fuck's happening here?!

Dhruv : What? Oh this! I am having my French toast. I have to say this tastes better than usual. Oh fuck!... I didn't even ask! How rude of me! Would you like to have some?

Patil : No we don't…

Subhash : Why not!

Patil (staring at Subhash): No, we don't want anything.

Dhruv : You sure?

Patil : Yeah. You were supposed to get ready and come with us like 10 minutes ago and you are eating French toasts here? Care to explain?

Dhruv : I am really sorry for that. I had made them minutes before you came and as I was coming to you after finishing all the work, I remembered that I had forgotten about it, so I came to the kitchen to finish it before we left. I didn't want to waste it.

Patil : Oh, I see. It's ok then, just finish it quickly.

Dhruv : Give me a minute. By the way do you mind me washing these dishes before leaving?

Patil (with one hand on his forehead) : Yeah, ok. Just make it quick, we are already late.

Dhruv : Sure.

Dhruv finishes his breakfast and dishes as fast as he can. Vijay doesn't waste a minute and makes the departure as fast as possible. On their way to the police station, Dhruv keeps everyone occupied with his quirky sense of humor. Most of his jokes were about how he was supposed to explain this situation to his mother. Explaining anything to her seemed to him like the hardest job that he ever encounters. Their relationship was really complicated, he hasn't had a proper conversation with her since his suspension three months prior, but the point that really spoiled this relationship was when Ashwini started to neglect her son in the race of making money, so that she could run her house.

August, 2016

The entire month was an emotional rollercoaster for both Dhruv and Ashwini. It has been 4-5 days after Aman's funeral, everyone showed their sympathy, and relatives came to offer their condolences. Ashwini's mother stayed with her and Dhruv all this time, as Aman's parents had died years ago, it was just his younger brother Jatin, but Jatin never really stayed there longer to help them in these bad times, it was understandable of him, he too had a family to look after, two daughters to give time to, even though he was the one who mostly looked after all the work and finances of the funeral. It was a really hard time for everyone as Aman was everyone's obvious favorite. But time passed and everyone was back to their life apart from this broken family.

This was the same day police came back with their investigation report, this time it was again Vijay but followed by his head, S.H.O. Shivkumar Rathod, they had their usual formalities. They never really found any foul play in the incident, apart from an injury on his forehead. They were never able to find out how the rod reached his forehead as it was an unusual accident. The same injury made Aman brain-dead causing his death. But it wasn't the first time any such thing had happened; car accidents usually bring injuries that are hard to explain. The forensic of Aman's car showed nothing; no problems in the brake system, nothing with the accelerator or with the handle. His call logs suggested that he stayed at that location for 20 minutes before his accident and a friend confirmed that they sat on for a while and chatted about his promotion during those 20 minutes, which explained his delay. According to police's investigation, as Aman had promised to bring back cake for the celebration of his promotion, he was driving too fast and at a point, he lost control over the car and ended up hitting the pole resulting in his accident. It was concluded that maybe, Aman was over-speeding on his way back home as he was late. All this made sense to everyone, the investigation basically suggested that the complete accident was the result of Aman's recklessness. There was really nothing which needed confirmation apart from the family's condition. And to be honest, no one was really interested.

Near the end of the month, feelings had no place in this house as they had bigger issues to face. Aman had left some savings behind, which was enough for the two to survive for a few months but with car EMI, Dhruv's monthly tuition fees, and other expenses made money the prime issue to face. There was no way out other than Ashwini continuing her career that she had left years ago. The first place she went to interview was Aman's company itself or her old work place we could say. She was offered the job right away as the interviewers were her old colleagues, in fact she was given a special consideration. After Aman's death his post was empty and they were willing to give Ashwini that post but with some conditions, she was going to get only 75% of salary compared to what Aman used to get for the next 8 months, the main reason being her skills not being used for a while. If she couldn't keep up with the work, then she might lose the job as the company wouldn't waste their money on a useless employee but there was also a silver lining- if she was an capable employee then she would be given the promotion that was supposed to be given to Aman with the exact salary and increment. It was a gamble that her old friends had fixed for her out of pity towards her condition. Ashwini hated how they were ready to appoint her out of pity and not due to her skill, but her situation had left no choice; she knew no company would appoint her knowing that she hadn't worked in the last 17-18 years. She had to take the gamble. It was for the best, maybe not for today but for her son's tomorrow.

After this Ashwini got busy with her job, she used to leave with Dhruv, drop him at school and then get to her workplace. She was doing her best to prove herself there, but in that hustle, she forgot to give time to her son, because of which she had to appoint a maid (Manisha) to babysit him and to look after all his needs. Occasionally, Dhruv would stay up long waiting for Ashwini to come home but most of the time the only thing that would come home was her messages telling him to not to stay up waiting for her. With addition of Manisha as Dhruv's babysitter, her expenses were touching the sky, she had to cut the expenses, she did her best to keep everything as it was without any major change but at the end Dhruv had to leave his tuitions as it ate a chunk of Ashwini's salary. Ashwini promised Dhruv that it was a temporary change and she would do her best to start his tuitions again, but Dhruv always said that there was no need to do any such thing. He was good at study, in fact one of the rank holders in his class. He never really wanted any tuition but it was his 12th boards and his parents did not want to take any chances, so he respected their decision at that time. But for now, he made the excuse of falling behind in completing his portion and did not want to join it again after leaving it behind. Ashwini understood his concerns and dropped the topic there. With that it seemed as if there was nothing else left for Ashwini to talk to Dhruv, she barely had time for him, even at weekends Ashwini used to be busy with her work, Dhruv doesn't even remember the last time his mother made anything for him. As the time passed, talking to each other became more difficult for both. Ashwini brought her irritated mindset after her work to the dinner table whereas Dhruv brought his anger for her, over her complete negligence towards him. Having a proper chat became a new taboo to this family, every talk that started as a question, like "how was your day" ended with an argument most of the time, other times it used to be a silent dinner. In short it was a complete mess, and the relationship was messed up!

17th Jan, 2017; 11.20 A.M.

In about a half hour drive, Dhruv keeps everyone occupied with his jokes. The cops came with a damn serious attitude over their high-profile case and are stepping out of the police vehicle laughing.

Subhash : ha ha ha, that's hilarious!

Keshav : I have to say I haven't laughed so hard in quite a while,

Rajesh : Me too! The kid's damn funny! I liked you boy!

Dhruv : That's really sweet of you all !

Patil : Seems like you have won everyone's hearts in just thirty minutes!

Dhruv : So as I have all of your hearts now, it's time to break it!

Patil (chuckles): What does that mean?

Dhruv : I am the serial killer you're searching for!

Patil (laughing): It's a funny one!

Dhruv(with a gritty smile on his face) : The third one died due to poisoning, and it was cyanide that he took.

Patil : WHAT THE FUCK!