Chapter 7

“ Will you come out from your so-called CEO attitude and tell me what happened? ” an irritated Kartik yelled because he was waiting for Krish to spit out something whereas he was sitting on his moving chair and was busy with his thoughts.

‘ Was she having an affair with someone?’

‘ Did she run away with her lover? ’

‘ How dare she cheat on me!! ’

“ Are you telling me anything or I go? ” said Kartik while pursing his lips.

“ What do you think? Where can she go? ” Krish finally spoke while Kartik sighed,

“ If you would be a normal man, you would have already figured it out, ” Kartik mocked.

“ What do you mean?” said Krish as he raised his eyebrows.

“ Come on man, where does a woman go when she fights with her husband? ” said Kartik, trying to make him understand but Krish still looked confused and asked, “ Where?? ”

“ Ohh, you really lack social knowledge, to her parent's home, of course, a woman rushes to her parent's home whenever she fights with her husband, see how easy it was... ” Kartik said proudly whereas Krish looked at him angrily.

“ And do you still remember that she belongs to a nomad group who doesn't have any home, they kept roaming throughout the year, maybe they are here today and would be in the south next month, how would she know where her people were? More importantly, she was illiterate, she didn't have money, she wasn't used to our lifestyle, how could she find out their location and would travel to her tribe, it's impossible for her, ”

“ Umm... I didn't think about it, oh by the way, why are you so worried about her, do you know according to a survey ninety percent husbands want their wives to disappear but it never happens, you should be proud that you are the luckiest one who is experiencing this, hehe, ” said Kartik while grabbing Krish's coffee mug. Krish glared at him while he gulped, “ Oops sorry, bad joke!! ”

“ By the way, this coffee's taste is as bitter as you, ” he added

“ I'm concerned about other things too.. ” said Krish and explained everything to him that happened with him in the past three days then added,

“ Don't you think it's strange, she was illiterate but she wrote a letter to me and in Hindi, she even read newspaper ads and called a maid. How could it be possible? ”

“ Will you stop calling her illiterate for once? Come on man, you ruined her innocence and still talking so rudely about her, don't you have any conscience, huh, ” said Kartik while his expression darkened,

“ I didn't ruin her innocence, I didn't do anything to her, in fact, I was the victim of everything, ” Krish shouted while Kartik looked at him with stunned eyes, “ What do you mean? ”

“ I once doubted whether I really had sex with her that night or not, and therefore I checked her body... ” he paused,

“ And...? ” Kartik asked impatiently.

“ She was a virgin ”

“ Whattt!!!! ” Kartik blurted out in shock.

“ It means, that night nothing happened between you two and that woman knew about it, still she didn't speak up, how vicious she is, when did you know about it? ” he asked in rage, however, he soon calm down and said

“ It's not her fault, maybe she would be afraid that time that her people would not believe her and her reputation would be doomed, girl's reputation is different from men and they care much about this, that girl must be scared that time, ” added Kartik while Krish sighed, seeing his only friend taking the side of an unknown woman instead of feeling pity for him.

“ I found it a long time ago, ” said Krish.

“ Oh, by the way, you said that your wife didn't ask money from you yet she was living well and even maintaining your home, how is it possible? Was she working somewhere? Maybe we can get some clue from her working place, ” asked Kartik while Krish looked at him coldly, he suppressed his anger and said while pursing his lips,

“ Where could she work when she didn't have any identity card, and not mention that she was ill.. umm, you know what.. ”

“ Oh yeah yeah, she was illiterate, I get it, then there is only one possibility.. ” said Kartik while thinking something deeply. Krish looked at him with deep eyes and asked impatiently

“ What? ”

“ She was having affair with someone, ” said Kartik whereas Krish clenched his fists in anger, he grabbed a file lying on his desk and threw it on Katik's face

“ What nonsense are you spitting out? ”

“ Oh come on, bro, why are you feeling so jealous, it's not like you have any interest in her. You think how could she have money when you weren't giving it to her? And what's more, she was married to you for two years yet you didn't touch her, women also have a sexual need, if she wasn't getting it from you, of course, she would fulfill it from someone else, ”

“ Get out.. ”

“ What... I just speak the fact, you just can't cage a woman without doing anything.... ”

“ I said get out, I don't need your help.. ”

“ Okay, okay, I'm not saying anything, is that fine? ” Kartik apologized, only then did Krish calm down.

“ Then, what do you think? From where you will start? ” asked Kartik with a serious tone.

“ I have prepared her sketch and asked Naksh to find her whereabouts, ” said Krish while holding a file in his hands, Kartik chuckled.

“ What?? Did you busy your man to find a girl with a drawing? There are billions of people in this country and you are finding a girl with no identity and no clue. Even if your men are the best, they won't be able to find a single clue about her, not even in a month, I'm telling you it's impossible.... ”

“ Sir, we found her.. ”

Kartik's words were still stuck in his throat meanwhile Naksh barged in holding a file in his hand. Krish stood up excitedly whereas Kartik chuckled, he couldn't believe that this man had just proved his words wrong.

“ Are you a man or a computer? ” he murmured while looking into the file Naksh was holding whereas Naksh started scratching his head as he looked confused about his words. He then pointed a name to Krish and said,

“ Sir, the portray you have given us, we matched it from the registration data of Kuki tribes and it got matched with this girl name, Abha.. ”

“ Abha... Yes, that's her name. I remember it now, ”

Krish said excitedly while Kartik looked at him with stunned eyes...

“ Don't tell me that you had forgotten your w... ” Kartik paused as Krish started coughing hinting him to not speak up by giving him a cold glare.

“...your maid's name. You are such a jerk, ah, poor girl, ” he patted Krish's back while pursing his lips.

“ What else do you find about her? ” asked Krish.

“ Sir, as you said, she is not the daughter of Kuki's headman. She was a daughter of a normal man and the most important thing is that she died two years ago.. ” said Naksh while both Krish and Kartik were stunned. They glanced at each other, meanwhile, Kartik said with frowned eyes,

“ H.. Have you ever checked your w... I mean your maid's shadow before? ” he stuttered as he gulped.

“ I have heard that ghost or spirit doesn't have shadows, ” he added while Krish glared at him

“ What nonsense, are you sure about it? ” Krish asked Naksh while he nodded

“ See, her death is recorded here, ” said Naksh while both Kartik and Krish saw it carefully. It was two days before the marriage date of Krish with that girl.

How could it be possible? He was living with a girl who was already dead. If Abha has died two days before their marriage then who was the girl living with him and with the same face? Was she a ghost?