"Bro, this place is fantastic. We can eat all we want and whatever we crave."
"You're right, bro. Not only can we do that, but we can also savor famous cuisines from around the world. These foods are amazing."
"Yeah. Outside, we couldn't travel at all and enjoy all these delicacies." As they continued chatting, they indulged in the delicious food. After a while, they shifted the conversation to another topic.
"Bro, did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"I heard that there are cops waiting outside to catch a murder suspect."
"So, what does that have to do with us?" The other guy said with a confused face.
"You don't get it. I heard that the suspect was a guy. Just like us, he arrived in the city recently, and if he arrived here, it probably means he must be a player." The guy said.
The other one, hearing this, was shocked, "Someone from out there is a murder suspect. If that's the case, this place definitely isn't as safe as we thought. We need to be careful now; we can't afford to do such crazy acts if we want to live in this place." The guy expressed his concerns over the matter and warned his friend, who agreed.
"Which place did this murder happen at?" Asked the guy. After thinking for a while, the other guy replied, "... I think... I heard that it happened at the place called... Abbey Road."
"We shall avoid that place in the future." Hearing this, they both nodded to do just that and once again began to eat food, not knowing that what they talked about has brought waves in someone's mind and heart.
************
As my heart raced and my body trembled, my mind was working overtime too, trying to figure out how the police found out so soon. From my calculation, until tomorrow when the body starts to smell, the police won't be notified. I planned that I would feign ignorance after that by saying, 'I was in the house of gold during that time period,' which could make the police back off a little and be cautious in their approach because if the reputation of the twin flowers, helping to stabilize the situation and lessen suspicion on me. After that, I could continue to live normally, with some trouble maybe.
After thinking hard, a thought came to my mind. I thought, just like the cheap hotels in the outside world, they would not enter the room till I check out or until some mishap happens. But I totally forgot that, in these types of luxurious hotels, they tend to clean the room for the guests when they are outside unless told otherwise. The cleaner must have gone there as always, but seeing the body must have frozen him, leading to a scream. That should be the case as to why the police were notified. After that, they will naturally take the room owner as the prime suspect.
After thinking all these, I was unsure of what I should do. Being in a new place without any idea of its law and order, being involved with the police is definitely not a good thing. More so if that can threaten your life at any moment. I was momentarily at a loss of what to do, and I even forgot that there were some delicacies in front of me. After thinking for a while, I decided what I would do that would be better for me which would lessen the suspicion on me and give me some space to think about what I should do afterward. When all the thoughts fell in place, my body started to calm down, as did my heart.
Once I was sure of what happened, I was no longer consumed by worries and fear. I once again buried all my unstable emotions as before and continued to eat my food, but one change that I failed to notice in me was my enthusiasm for the game at the start has fallen to the absolute low, and the smile on my face became stiff and fake. After I ate, I decided to have some sweets to make my mood better.
As I moved towards the area that served sweets, I was a bit happy to see my friends were there too. They were all enjoying the sweets of all over the world, expressed by their blissful faces. When I arrived near them, Lily was the one to notice me first. I too noticed that all of them were closer than before as they shared sweets with each other. Seeing me walk towards them, Lily told others that I have arrived.
Amy was the one to hop on me first with excitement on her cute little face. She hugged me first and looked at me with her big eyes and said," Brother, you are here. Come with me let's eat the sweets there, those are the sweetest ones." She dragged me along with her tiny hands holding mine. I too allowed her to take me. While following her though, I nodded to everyone. They were looking at me and Amy with laughter and smiles.
After eating with her. I took her to the others that were chatting. "Bittu, did you eat the food here, they are delicious."said Crish. I nodded and said, " I ate them. Bro those taste just too good."
"Yeah, right" Spoke Leo seeing me and Crish speak.
After that, chit chat happens for a while and then, Max walks towards us after all this while. Lily was the first to notice him and following her gaze I too noticed him. When he was near us, he said, " Guys, enjoying the food, are we ?"
"Yeah, we are." Said Leo with a smile. " Only you were the one, left out said Laila while blinking her eyes at Max in a teasing tone. When she did this,. I couldn't help but notice that, the previously pressured and scared Laila was long gone and replaced by a flirtatious woman that teases everyone. 'Maybe this was her nature'.
After some talk with each other and seeing the closing bond between all of us, I decided to come clean about myself as I didn't want to trouble them with my problem just as we started to get close. "Guys.... I have something to tell you. " I said with a serious face. Crish was the first to look ar me and speak, " Why are you so serious all of a sudden Bittu? "
"I need to tell you guys something important; we can't talk here. Let's go there, in the corner." said Bittu with a serious face pointing towards a corner with very few people.
In the midst of the lively party, with the distant sounds of music and laughter surrounding them, Bittu's revelation hung heavy in the air. Sensing the need for privacy, they found a quiet corner in the bustling dining hall.
"Guys, I have something to tell you," Bittu began, his expression grave. "The truth is, the cops are after me. I'm a suspect in a murder case."
The party's cheerful ambiance seemed to fade for a moment as everyone processed the unexpected turn of events. Amy, the first to react still innocent and frightened after hearing that, looked at Bittu with wide eyes, "Murder? Brother, you killed someone, but why?"
Crish and Max exchanged skeptical glances, wary of the potential consequences of getting involved with Bittu. Laila, considering the situation, voiced her concerns, "Bittu, are you serious right now?"
Leo, nodding in agreement, added, "We need more
information before we decide, Bittu. It's a serious matter, so tell us what happened first."
"I am sure you guys must have heard about the rumors of cops waiting just outside the house of gold to capture a murder suspect, right? "
"Yeah" Crish nodded and said with an uncertain tone. "Don't tell me, they are here for you."
"You guessed it right, they are here for me. They are here for me because they must have found a body in my room back at the hotel."
"You mean that, you knew that there was a murdered body in the room, but you still didn't notify the police or the hotel management." said Max in shock.
"That's right....." Though it sounded like I did it when I answered that so I hurriedly clarified,"It was not me who killed her. It was a guy. I don't know who; that guy invaded my room while I was resting and that girl followed after him attacking him whenever she could." I decided that telling them the whole truth is not a good idea as I still saw their initial reaction and still don't know how they would react to the situation when they find out I was the killer.
"Ohh, so you are a victim instead, not the murdered but that still makes you the suspect till the guy is found." said Leo as he analyzed the situation.
"But, we still shouldn't get involved with the police as that would lead us to potential dangers." Said Laila still frightened at the scenario of a murder happening in the city, continuing she said, "More so in our current situation."
Lily, after listening to Leo and determined to maintain their newfound camaraderie in the face of this problem that wasn't that much dangerous if what Bittu told was true, insisted, "Guys, we can't just abandon him. We're a team now, and teams stick together. If we don't help him now, can we trust each other the next time someone needs help." Listening to Lily, everyone in the group stays silent but doesn't agree, as they are trapped in this place and in the hope of everything getting back to normal they need to survive longer, thus they can't risk it or at least for a person that they didn't even know till this evening.
Amy, still unaware of their thoughts, still too innocent, nodded emphatically, "Lily's right. We should help Bittu." She was very fond of this new brother; she didn't know why but she felt safe around him and she liked that feeling.
Listening to little Amy, everyone was left in a spot as they couldn't think about what to do as they couldn't come to a final decision. The group grappled with the dilemma, their friendship tested under the dim glow of party lights and the distant anticipation of law enforcement.
Looking at the frown and indecisive face of the three, Max, Crish and Laila and supportive gaze of Lily and Amy and uncaring gaze of Leo, I instantly recognized who are worth making friend and who are not. My trust and friendship with Lily increased by a large amount while my loving and caring feeling for little Amy was further cemented.
"Guys, there's no need to be troubled. I have already decided to surrender as that would be the safest course of action in our current situation; where we are ignorant so, you can relax." Listening to me everyone relax visibly but still showed me concern.
"Are you sure, Bittu ? You could think this through more." said Leo.
"There's no time to think anymore. The cops are outside and runnig off would be even more suspicious. So it's the only choice I have right now." I replied
Hearing me, all of them became silent. The cheerful, little Amy became gloomy after hearing that and said in a sad voice, " Brother, are the cops going to take you away? "
"Yes" I replied. But, when I saw her eyes that were on the verge of tears, I said hurriedly," Don't cry little girl, I will be back very soon. Till that time you can play with sister Lily and Laila. You can also ask the other brothers to take you to eat sweets." Hearing me, Amy stopped her tears from falling and asked, " Really"
"Really, right Guys. " Hearing me all of them nodded as they all didn't want to further worsen the trust each of them had build. After saying that, we all returned to eat and play to make our mood better. Even though we tried to, we couldn't as the first problem that we all faced almost crumbled our little group. 'What would we all do in the future? In the face of problems.' This was the question in everyone's mind as, they spend their time in the dining hall.
After about half an hour, we all heard an announcement, that the party was over and we a could return home. Hearing that, I decided to stick to the plan and surrender to the police. I moved through the palace and came out. Outside I saw a lot of policemen were checking everyone, to identify the suspect. A woman was helping them check for the suspect. She was the same woman that was sitting at the reception in the hotel when I left.
I moved and headed straight to the place the woman and a bulky policeman was standing checking the people that matches with the suspects description.
"Officer, I have something I wanted to tell you that, I think may help you with the case from the Abbey roads." I said to the busy officer. The offices then looked at me and said," Wait for a while." But the wan beside h instantly recognised my voice and turned toward me quickly. After checking my face intently for a while, as the police man was calling out to her. She said in a slightly frightened voice, " He is the one officer. He is the one that was given room 402."
Hearing the woman, the policeman was quick to react. He instantly kept his hands on the gun in his belt and shouted, "Don't move. Hands in the air." I was baffled when the policeman shouted as I have never seen the police be so forceful so I couldn't react. Seeing be not obey. The bulky policeman, took out his gun pointed at me said, "Hands in the air." I was shocked as the gun was pointed at me but my hands moved on their own and we're raised in the air.
While I and officer were occupied by each other. Others were shocked by the sudden outburst and were about to scold the one who did that but in the next second seeing the gun everyone stared to back off and run away. Only the officers were near the site, only the receptionist.l was an extra as she was too close to the sense so she couldn't escape."
The officers took out a handcuff while comming near me with slow steps, fully prepared for any ambush. Though he was too cautious as I didn't plan on doing anything but surrender.
It may look stupid to go to the police and get caught like this but I did it in this way because being direct about the fact that, I saw the body but didn't inform the police was in itself preety suspicious and if I further go away from the police now and return later then it would be very suspicious as that could imply that I was out to clear evidences. So I could only use this way.
After comming near me, he told me to lay down and put my hands in the back. I did just that and the officer handcuffed me and picked me up and put me in a police car. After that he said to the others. "..."