A week passed like this. After a lot of insistence, Rishi and Bikram finally managed to squeeze out information from Koushik. They were also puzzled by Ankita's behaviour. After dinner, Bikram and Rishi went to the roof and leaned against the railing deep in thought.
Finally, Rishi broke the silence, "What do we do, bro?"
Bikram just nodded his head, without saying anything.
"Hey! I'm asking you something." Rishi gave him a light push.
Bikram staggered.
"What the hell! Were you so busy with that piece of note that you forgot to eat? Look how weak you became." He said, poking at Bikram's arm.
"Tsk. Stop it. I staggered because I was deep in thought and lost balance when you pushed me so suddenly." Bikram swatted Rishi's finger.
"Okay okay. So what's the plan? I really can't look into our flirty boy's withered face anymore. At school, he looks like he doesn't give a dam* out any shi.."
Rishi was interrupted by Bikram's side eye which said, "Language."
He growled, annoyed, "Yeah, yeah all that. But I know perfectly well that it's just a front he's putting up. I even caught him trying to approach Ankita a few times. But she escaped the moment she spotted him anywhere near her."
He sighed and looked at the starry sky above.
"Bro, we will be having our first concert this year after our period test is over. How are we supposed to perform well if he keeps sulking like that?"
"Hmm," Bikram said.
"What hmm? Say something. We need to resolve this problem before our exams start."
"I know," Bikram said solemnly.
Rishi's lips twisted "Bikram Sen! Are you even listening?"
Bikram finally looked at him with a tired gaze, "The only thing we can do now is to ask Ankita...."
"But she ain't even willing to speak to Koushik. Do you think she will open up to us?" Rishi said.
Smak
"Let me finish, idiot!" Bikram smacked his head.
Rishi pouted and pursed his lips, rubbing his head where he had just been hit.
"We will have to ask Rai and Rishav to get Ankita to talk. This has to end. What are they? Six years old? Can't they just talk it out?" Bikram said in an irritated voice.
They talked for some time more and went downstairs to sleep. When they were passing by Koushik's room they saw him sitting by his study table and doing homework.
'But didn't he finish his homework after coming back from school?' Both of them thought.
They looked at each other with understanding gazes and headed towards their rooms.
Before sleeping, Bikram took out his phone and opened their class group on Blin. He searched for Rai's number and added it to his contact list. Then, he opened their blank private chat where a message showed Please send something to start your conversation. Just as he was about to write something, his fingers paused.
'It doesn't feel quite right. Getting a girl's number secretly from the class group, and texting her in the middle of the night as a straight guy... Nevermind. I'm just going to tell her about our plan. There's nothing wrong with it.'
He shook his head, driving away those thoughts and started typing.
[Hey, I'm Bikram. Me and Rishi...]
Delete.
[Good evening Rai, I'm Bikram Sen from X-B....]
Delete.
[Hello Rai. Sorry to text you now....]
Delete.
''Sigh."
He placed the phone on the bedside table and stared at the ceiling contemplating what and how he should text her. Just then –
Brr. Brr.
Bikram lifted his head and looked at his phone. There was a message on the notification bar. He got up on his elbows and leaned against the headboard, before taking his phone. Looking at the notification, his eyebrows shot up.
[ Hello Bikram, this is Rai. I got your number from the class group. Rishav and I wanted to speak to you and Rishi regarding Koushik and Ankita's behaviour. Would you be coming to school tomorrow? We can discuss about it and come up with something. If you're up for it. ]
He began typing.
[ I'm not going tomorrow. Rishi too, I think. But we came up with a plan to get to the bottom of this case. I'll tell you about the details later. Can you come by our place? It will be easier to explain things face to face. If you're uncomfortable coming over, we can talk about it over the phone tomorrow. Anyways, phone or meet-up the time is 4 p.m on our side. Are you free then? Good night. ]
Bikram waited for some time, but there was no reply. So he turned off his phone and went to sleep.
On the other side.
A girl wearing an oversized white shirt and loose black trousers, was leaning against the headboard, with one hand on a pillow and the other holding her phone. All the doors and windows were tightly closed, and the curtains were also drawn. The room was in complete darkness. If anyone walked in, they would freak out seeing a ghost-like figure on the bed. Her white hair and eyelashes, grey irises and fair skin made her look like a literal ghost. And on top of that, her black trousers made her legs almost invisible in the dark.
She was reading a novel on her phone, when suddenly, a mechanical voice rang in her earphones. They were the same ones like Olivia's, but she had a watch on her right hand and a thin bracelet-like thing on her left wrist.
The mechanical voice said, "Bikram Sen is texting you on Blin."
She raised one eyebrow and opened Blin. The box under his name was showing Typing, a second ago. But then, it became blank.
'He probably mistook me for someone.'
But just as she was about to exit the app, the voice in her earphones rang again, saying the same thing.
She reopened his chat but like earlier, there was no message. This happened for a few more times. But even after waiting for ten minutes, there was no message. She was speechless. Unable to bear it, she sighed helplessly, she decided to text first.
For a few seconds, there was no reply from the other end. Then –
[Me and Rishi...]
The reply came.