It was Saturday evening. A young girl stood before the gate of Pranta, the Barman couple's the former residence. The door was fingerprint protected, so she waited for someone to open it after ringing the bell.
A minute later, Rishi came out and opened the gate.
"Oh!" He exclaimed in surprise.
It was his first time seeing Rai in casual clothes. He almost could not recognise her at first glance if not for her signature low ponytail and long bangs.
As Rishi led Rai through the garden, she looked around with sparkling eyes.
Rishi noticed her expression and smiled saying, "These were planted by the previous owners. Our manager's a great fan of plants so she decided to look after them."
Rai nodded in understanding.
"Then, she must be taking great care of them. Ankita told me you guys moved here recently, but the plants haven't wilted, like not even a little."
Upon mentioning Ankita, both of them fell silent.
"By the way where's Rishav? Will he be late?" Rishi changed the subject.
"No, unfortunately he won't be joining us. A distant relative of their family fell sick. So he and his parents are going to visit them." Rai explained.
Just then, Bikram came out of the house and called out to them, "What are you two doing there? Come on in."
He seemed to love being spick and span, even at home. In spite of being dressed in a grey hoodie and sweatpants, his clothes looked ironed, and his hair was neatly combed, unlike Rishi's crow's nest of a head.
Seeing him like that, Rai lowered her voice and said to Rishi, "Does he have OCD or something?"
Rishi laughed, "Bikram, do you have OCD?"
Bikram looked at them with a piercing gaze, especially at Rai, "Yes. Do you have a problem?"
Rai flinched like a frightened rabbit and shook her head glaring at Rishi. The latter could clearly read the Who told you to say that out loud written on her face.
Bikram took them to their practice room. It was pretty large. Half of it was filled with various instruments while the other half was empty with just a huge wall mirror.
'Probably for dance practice.' Rai thought.
She feasted her eyes on the variety of instruments, some of which she had only heard of by name.
"Ankita told us that you're also a musician. Would you mind playing an instrument from here till Koushik comes? You see, I deal with music composition in our band so I'm curious to hear a fellow musician." Bikram said, sitting on a bean bag.
"Uh... I just do it as a hobby. I'm not an expert." Rai said, flustered by the sudden request.
Playing before Rishav and Ankita was one thing, they were her buddies. But if her audience was Bikram Sen, an already popular musician of their age group, it was a very nerve wrecking task to play before him.
Rishi also dragged a bean bag over and said, "Ah, Rai why are you feeling shy? We just want to listen."
"Okay but don't laugh at me if I do something wrong. I already warned you."
She picked up the violin and started playing a part of the music. It was a slow-paced piece. The tricky part of playing it was to keep the audience enchanted instead of boring them with a monotonous playing.
"I only know this much. The rest I am yet to learn." Rai said, stopping abruptly in the middle.
"It was quite alright," Bikram waved his hand.
He suddenly thought of the ghost-like girl in the park. It felt like he could hear the music whenever he closed his eyes and thought of that day. She was so young, but her expertise in music was otherworldly. Even remembering that night gave him goosebumps.
In the past few days, he had been so busy that he did not get the chance to visit that place. He wanted to check if going there at the same time and day would let him meet her one more time.
Seeing him in a daze Rai called out, "Bikram?"
He looked up with a start. His eyes fell on Rai's face. For a second, it felt like he could see the ghost girl's face in place of hers.
He shook his head, 'What was I think? I must've gone crazy.'
He looked at Koushik, who had just entered the room and sat down beside him. Rai also dragged a bean bag and settled down facing them.
Koushik greeted Rai with a smile, but it lacked its usual glimmer. He tried to act like he did not care, but the faint dark circles under his eyes said otherwise. Rai looked at Rishi with an enquiring gaze, but the latter just sighed. She pursed her lips and nodded.
"Koushik, I think you already know why we're all here. So please don't avoid us anymore. We want to help." Rai pleaded.
Koushik stayed silent.
Bikram sighed, "So, here's the thing. Our mission is to know the reason behind Ankita's strange behaviour and if possible mend their friendship."
"But of course, it's ultimately Ankita's choice to keep their friendship. My only wish is to get to the root of the problem and end it." he added and glanced at Rai.
She met his eyes and continued, "I agree. Ankita had been acting too strange recently and she broke their friendship out of the blue too. I think there's something serious going on that she's hiding. But why? We need to find out."
Rishi said with a clap, "Great. Now Bikram, why don't you explain to them the plan we came up with yesterday?"
Bikram started, "Rai can take Ankita out to play, perhaps for a day out. Then, she can bring her to a place where Ankita would feel relaxed and encourage her to talk. We will be there in advance, hiding."
"Okay, but I want to make a change," Rai said.
Bikram gave her a questioning look.
"I only want Koushik to be the one to listen from a hidden spot."
Rishi opened his mouth to say something but Rai interrupted.
"Yes, she would be unaware of Koushik's presence but I don't want people not involved directly to eavesdrop. We're already breaching her privacy, please keep it to Koushik only."
"Fair enough." Bikram and Rishi said in unison.
After Rai left, Bikram and Rishi looked at Koushik, worried. He was lost in thoughts throughout the conversation.