Chapter 1
A young man of average complexion, in his late twenties, is asleep in bed. His eyes started moving under the eyelids. Flashes of recent memory, regarding him conversing with the owner about renting the flat came to his mind. He eyes stopped moving. A minute later, his eyes moved as they did earlier. He saw a cute woman caring for her male infant as he stood beside her. She kissed the infant and he laughed. She then said, “Pavi, please hold him for a minute”. Pavaki (the man dreaming) didn’t respond and kept looking at her and the infant. A female deity decorated with ornaments suddenly appeared in the dream and said, “This will happen”.
Pavaki woke up, perplexed about the dream. He thought, “Am I feeling that lonely that I am getting this kind of dreams”? He saw the time on his phone screen, 5:30am. He talked to himself, “No-no-no, I think Raghav recently getting married caused my mind to have this dream. I don’t think I am that powerful that I can see a goddess in a dream. Marriage isn’t an easy thing, right? Anyways, it is just a dream right”?
His phone rung and he lifted the call. He said, “Hi Raghav. What’s the plan?”
The male voice on the phone said, “Let’s meet at Hotel Fairfield Marriot at 11. I can’t spend more than 2 hours with you. Let’s discuss about the code update there while we eat.”
“Okay.” He cut the call, kept the phone beside the pillow and switched on the light. The room had the bed east-west oriented and window was at its head. He got up from the bed and checked the battery. It was 2%. He kept the phone on charging and went towards the bathroom.
At 1030, Pavaki was in the stilt parking, sitting on his pulsar bike. He called his dad and the call got lifted. He said, “Dad, I hope I didn’t disturb you.”
His dad said, “No son. Never. What’s on your mind?”
“I got a weird dream; I saw a woman and a child we had together. She asked me hold him and a deity appeared out of nowhere and said that the dream will manifest in reality.”
“Are you in love with that girl?”
“No dad, I would have brought her home if that were the case.”
“You haven’t seen her even once?”
“No, I haven’t seen her.”
After a momentary silence, his dad said, “Pavi, universe has its own way of letting you know, what will happen to you ahead in time. May be that’s what happened to you. Sometimes universe makes you meet people you never even expect. Let me know when you get things on track. We will talk more about this in the evening. I am going to meditate now.”
“Bye dad.”
Pavaki started his bike and rode towards the highway.
In the restaurant of the hotel, Pavaki was sitting by a four chaired table, when he saw a couple and waved at them. The couple, a man in his late twenties and pregnant woman in her mid-twenties, approached the table and sat on the chairs. Raghav said, “Hey man, I have briefly gone through Module design and code. It is amazing. I will let you know if there are any corrections required. The sprint duration is two weeks, right?”
“Yeah, it is two weeks since it is Xtreme Programming. We still have a week and a half.”
“Okay, let’s order something.”
“I have already placed an order for the three of us. It will come in 20 minutes.”
“Great. Excuse me for a sec. I need to go to washroom.”
His wife asked, “Where are you going?”
Raghav said, “To the washroom. Want to join?”
As Pavaki smiled, Raghav’s wife said, “No”.
After Raghav left, she asked Pavaki, “I have been longing to ask you something. How did you convince those people to not ostracise the two of us? They were livid at us before you spoke to them.”
“That’s a long story Simran. I will tell you some other day. Did the baby give a kick?”
Simran said with a beaming face, “Yeah, it did. I made Raghav feel the kick. He was very happy”.
Raghav came and sat in his place. He said, “How far did the planning of the conspiracy go between you two?”
Pavaki said, “Almost ready with the poison.”
All the three grinned.
Pavaki sent his friend and his wife in a cab and left for home. Pavaki got on his bike and rode as the sun shone brightly. He just parked his bike and was about to get up when he saw a woman on a red scooty park her vehicle in front of his bike. She took her helmet, took off the cloth wrapped on her face. Pavaki was stunned when he saw her cute face and thought, “I saw her in a dream in the morning and she is here”. A roar of thunder was heard and weather changed abruptly from being hot and sunny to cold and windy. He sat unmoved on his bike and kept looking at her. It began raining cats and dogs. She looked at him and saw that he was looking at her. She smiled and thought, “He is handsome. No Valli, what are you thinking, if mom knows I will have it.” Valli stopped smiling and rolled her eyes at him. At the same time, there was a loud sound of thunder in the sky. She got freaked out. He realized she saw him looking at her, got up from his bike and said, “I am sorry”. He headed towards the lift and thought, “Is she real, or am I seeing a ghost? Let’s confirm.” He stopped, turned back and saw her following him. He got startled and went to the lift in a faster pace.
Chapter 2
A week later, in the morning at 0830, Pavaki was waiting for the lift to arrive at his floor, second. The lift arrived and he saw that Valli was in the lift. As the lift descended, he thought, “Should I talk to her? No, this isn’t the right time.”
At the same time, Valli thought, “I have to talk to him today”.
In the ground floor, both of them headed towards their bikes. They got on their bikes. Valli started feigning, she mumbled, “Oh! No, Fuel is over”. She said, “Pavaki, could you please drop me at my company?”
Though happy within, he maintained his calm and replied, “Why not? Hop on.”
As he rode, Pavaki thought, “I was scratching my head as to how to talk to her and she began talking. Nice. Should I ask if I can give her a lift tomorrow? No-no, I better not ask this.”
They arrived at her company. Pavaki mumbled as he read the company’s name, “Interior sol”.
She got down from the bike and said, “If you don’t mind, can you pick me up in the evening?”
He replied, “Yeah sure.”
After he left, Valli thought as she smiled, “What an idea Valli! My scooty will be in repair for several days now.” She got startled and thought, “What if mom comes to know? Screw it, I am doing this.”
Two weeks later, on a Monday morning, Valli knocked on Pavaki’s door. She went in after he opened the door. There was a small sit out room, following which living room was there. The living room led to three bedrooms and a kitchen. In the living room, she saw diagrams on a marker board. She asked, “What are these boxes that you have drawn?”
“Class diagrams. They are used in designing before you write the code.”
“What does this plus stand for?”
“It means public like that the variable is accessible to everyone.”
“How about something private like my feelings for you?”
He looked at her with his eyes wide open. He asked, “Did I just hear what I heard?”
She smiled coyly and said, “Pavaki, my bike doesn’t have any problem. I wanted to spend time with you. What do you think about me? If your answer is no, you better not say it. You stay silent. I will understand.”
He stood blank.
Her eyes watered and she turned around to leave. Sensing her moving away, Pavaki held her hand and pulled her towards him. He held her by her waist and said softly, “You say that you love me and leave? I was overwhelmed for the past 3 weeks. I thought by your initial reactions that it might take 6 months to convince you. That’s the reason I was silent earlier. That day we met in the parking, right? I had a dream of you holding our baby and a deity came out of nowhere and told that this will happen.”
Surprised Valli exclaimed, “What!”
“Yeah. I was unconvinced till the moment you turned away with tears in your eyes. I now know for sure that you’re serious about me and all of this is real.”
They embraced deeply.
After a while, Pavaki said with a smile, “You’re not going on your scooty to your company.”
Valli reciprocated with a smile and said, “Pavi, I am on leave today. I told at my home that I have work to do.”
Pavaki, happy with what she said, “This is my celebration day.”
Valli giggled as she asked, “What’s on your mind?”
Two weeks later, Valli went towards Pavaki’s, pushed the door open and went in. She smelled food being cooked and went straight to the kitchen. Pavaki was cooking with only towel tied to his waist. She embraced him from behind and kept kissing him on his shoulder. Pavaki asked, smiling, “You’re on leave today?”
Valli kept kissing him on his shoulder blade as she said, “I am, on, leave, today.”
Pavaki turned towards her. She said, “You have a lot of sweat on your chest.”
Pavaki pulled her closer and said, “I am waiting for the day we both sweat together.”
Valli smiled and said, “Lets save it till our marriage happens.”
Pavaki said, “I am in no hurry darling. I told you about Raghav, right?”
“Yeah”.
“He and I lived together in a flat. He and Simran were deeply in love for few years. One day, she came to spend time with him after a gap of six months. They couldn’t take hands off each other that day. I think I knew what was going to happen. I went to a movie in the evening and they made love. Later, her periods got skipped and she became pregnant. Her father didn’t agree to marriage because they were of different castes. His father was not sure because he feared Raghav and Simran would be ostracised in their ancestral village. Raghav took the matter into his hands and married her at a temple. I was shocked when I came to know about what he did. His father got shocked too. We took them to the village to meet the big shots in the village. They were very particular about the caste thing. I sent Raghav and Simran out of the room. I explained to them that caste is not based on whom you are born to, it is based on what your profession is. I also told them that their village will become empty if they ostracise people like this. Finally, after much noise, they relented. His father thanked me a lot that day. Till date, Raghav and Simran don’t know what happened after I sent them out of that room. Simran, father started talking to her recently. So darling, making love before marriage is easy and tempting, the effects that follow later are hard to be managed.”
Valli agreed and said, “Do you think him marrying her at a temple is wrong?”
Pavaki said, “I don’t know. I am happy that he didn’t desert a pregnant woman. His father wasn’t sure. Her father didn’t agree. Frankly speaking, I think he didn’t have any other way.”
Chapter 3
A week later, Valli came into Pavaki’s flat. He was sitting on his sofa with his laptop. Valli sat beside him and asked, “What are you doing?”
“I am trying to run a code.”
“How did you and Raghav come up with the idea of Ferry App?”
“It was out of jiffy. We made a lot of money. The money came to us just before Simran’s father disagreed to her marriage. We were unemployed till then.”
After a while, Pavaki and Valli were on the sofa with her sitting on his lap. He kept kissing on her neck and made her go jittery. She let out a moan. A middle-aged man came into the flat said sarcastically, “Yeah, keep romancing here with your boyfriend while your mom is frying my brain there.”
The couple stood up embarrassed. Valli left the flat. Her father said, “I knew what you two were up to. I have no problem with you but I can’t say the same about my wife.”
Perplexed, Pavaki asked, “Sir, why wouldn’t she agree?”
They both sat beside each other.
“She has a complex, a notion or whatever you may call it. She was the most favourite child of her father. Her father, Valli’s grandfather, passed away suddenly due to cardiac arrest at 46. He was a government employee. After his death, they suffered innumerable hardships. It is only after we got married that her financial condition eased. I am a government employee. Somewhere, she started believing that only by marrying a government employee, there won’t be any financial hardships. That belief got stronger as she grew older. Now, me and my younger daughter have a hard time dealing with it. Valli hates it when she speaks about a marriage proposal where the guy is a government employee. Once both of them had a bitter fight and Valli made a vow that she won’t marry a government employee. My wife went crazy after that. Valli actually wanted to take a gap before going for a job. She saw that her mom wouldn’t let her be peaceful and took the job that she is currently doing.”
Valli came into the flat and said, sarcastically “Wow, daddy, mom thinks a lot about me. My life is about to change now.” She said angrily, “An idiot is coming to see me tomorrow.”
Pavaki said, “Calm down. We are there for you. You better sit first.”
Valli sat on the other side of Pavaki. She kept her head on his shoulder and said, “What will happen if he comes to know about us?”
Her father reassured her, “Don’t worry, I will take care of her.”
Pavaki chuckled and said, “Never knew your mom is this crazy.”
Valli said, “Yeah she is.”
Pavaki said, “I can now see why you fell for me that fast.”
Valli said, “You may be right Pavi. I can’t deny that. Despite all that has happened, I want to spend my life with you. I love you.” She kissed him on his cheek.
Her dad said, “I am right here. Have some patience.”
Valli felt shy. Her dad said, “Alright, I am going to office. Don’t make your mom crazier than what she is. We will deal with the guy when he comes tomorrow”.
Valli nodded.
The next day, in the afternoon, Valli entered into Pavaki’s flat. Expecting her to come, he was in the living room, sitting on the sofa. She sat beside him. He saw her moody, held her hands and asked, “What is it?”
“He told me that he likes me. His parents are okay with it. My mom is on cloud nine. I am not happy. My dad isn’t happy because I am not happy. Now he said that he wants to go on a date with me. My mom is pestering me to go with him. I don’t want to go on a date with him.”
“You should go out with him.”
Startled, Valli asked, “Are you mad? I don’t love him. Wait, have you lost interest in me?”
“Hello madam, I am not leaving you. Look, go and meet him, tell him about us. He will understand. As him to tell your mother that he didn’t like you over phone. If he tells her directly, she will choke him to death.”
Valli laughed briefly.
“Are you okay with the plan? Give me a kiss if you okay with it.” He pointed at his cheek.
Valli kissed him twice.
Chapter 4
The next day, at 10 Pavaki rode with Valli to CMR central. Outside the mall, she got down from the bike and looked at him, tensed. Pavaki pulled her closer and said, “Hey, don’t get nervous. You tell him about us. If he acts like your mom, call me.”
Valli smiled at him and he left.
An hour later, Pavaki came by the mall and called Valli but to his surprise her cell phone was switched off. He searched for her throughout the mall but he couldn’t find her. He tried with an announcement and waited for an hour but to no avail. He made a call to Interior sol.
“Sir, how may I help you?”
“Hi, I am boyfriend of Valli. Did she by any chance come there?”
“No Sir, she didn’t come. She is on leave today.”
He made another call. “Sir, did Valli come home?”
“No, what happened?”
“Her phone is switched off. I am unable to find her at the mall. I called at Interior sol and they said that she didn’t go there.”
“Okay, let me try to that guy’s number.”
After a while, Pavaki received a call from Valli’s father. Her father said, “Pavaki, the guy number is also switched off.” He panicked as he said, “I don’t know what is happening.”
Pavaki said, “Sir, please don’t worry. I have a friend in the commissioner’s office. We will try and find out where she is. Could you send me the guy’s number?”
“Okay, I am sending it.”
Pavaki made a call. After the call got lifted, he said, “Viraj, I need your help.”
“Okay what’s the problem.”
At 2, Pavaki heard a bell. He opened the door to find a young officer standing at the door.
After the officer stepped in, Pavaki asked, “Did you find anything?”
“The guy we are after is a hacker. He regularly cons people and steals their money. He has a partner-in-crime. We had failed to find evidence for all his crimes until now. He opened an account in a matrimonial website and that’s how he came to know about Valli. We have never heard of a hacker kidnapping his victim until now. We don’t know where he is or what his motive is. I have just informed the State Home Minister’s Office about this. Did you find anything?”
Pavaki nodded and said, “I have found the account to which he transferred Valli’s money. There were 3 accounts which were used as intermediaries. The balance in that account is 3 crores. I have transferred that amount to Prime Minister’s salary account. The account is empty now.”
Surprised, Viraj said, “Wow! Why Prime Minister’s account?”
“If he dares to touch that account, the whole country will be after him.”
Pavaki’s phone rung. He picked up the call. He heard, “Is this Pavaki?”
“Yes.”
“You think you’re a genius if you loot and transfer the money to PM salary account?”
“Sir, please let me explain. My girlfriend is missing and I am unable to find her. Her account has been made empty by the hacker who is also her kidnapper. That hacker is a serial offender. I found out where the loot is and transferred that to PM Sir’s account. Now that bastard hacker will definitely come out for his money.”
“Can I call you again?”
“Sure Sir.”
After a while, Pavaki received a call from the same number. He heard, “I want you and Viraj to come to Delhi immediately. A Private jet is waiting for you at Visakhapatnam airport. Meet me at the Home Minister’s Office.”
“Ok Sir”
Viraj asked, “What did he tell you?”
At the Home Minister’s Office, Viraj and Pavaki were sitting by a table across to Vijay Sinha, the personal assistant of Home Minister. Vijay said, “Let me tell you a story. There are two journalists who regularly incite people against their own country and have also caused riots. They have been warned not to go too far but they refuse to listen. The authorities also know they are funded by foreign powers. They want to do something about the journalists. What should be done according to you? Think about it for a while and let me know.”
The next day, in the morning, Viraj and Pavaki were at the latter’s home. Pavaki received a phone call. He heard, “I will give your girlfriend back to you. You must give me my money and an escape plan to Bangladesh. Prepare accordingly and let me know.”
After he cut the call, Pavaki said, “He is acting as we thought. Get the satellite phones and a transmitter.”
Viraj nodded.
An hour later, Pavaki made a call to the number. He said, “Here’s the plan. Viraj will take you into the sea till the international waters. You let me know the location of my girlfriend. I transfer the amount after I see her. You will be taken on a ferry to Bangladesh. Where will you meet us?”
At a deserted location, Pavaki and Viraj were waiting in a sedan car. Two men of average complexion, dressed in black, came and got into the car in the rear seat. As Pavaki rode towards the sea, one of them said, “We want you transfer the amount to this account”, and handed over a paper to Pavaki. Pavaki nodded. He dropped them at a beach where a boat was already ready for them.
Viraj took them into the sea. After an hour, they approached near a ferry. One of them said to the other, “Send him the location”. The other man sent a message to Pavaki on the satellite phone Viraj gave them. Pavaki saw the co-ordinates and raced the car towards the location. At the location he saw an empty shed, with an Omni in it. He went near the van and saw Valli unconscious and tied in it. He saw that the van has passworded slide door.
Pavaki made a call and asked, “What’s the passcode?”
“Send the amount first.”
Pavaki sighed and did as they said. He heard, “2571”. He entered the passcode and the door slid open automatically. He cut the call and untied Valli. She woke up and cried on seeing him. She embraced him and lamented, “See what my mom’s madness for government job did to me.”
On the boat, two men were happy that they received their loot.
In the shed, with Valli beside him, Pavaki made a call.
The two men were surprised when they received a call simultaneously on the satellite phones in their hands. They picked up the call and said, “hello”, twice.
Pavaki sent a message from his phone.
The phones blew up simultaneously and their bodies fell into the sea.
At the same time, the cell phones of two journalists blew up while they at their channel offices, elsewhere, in the same manner and they died instantaneously.
Pavaki dropped his phone and it fell on the floor. He held Valli’s hand and walked towards the car. She asked, “Why did you throw your phone?”
The phone blew up as soon as Valli spoke the word ‘phone’.
Previous day, at the home minister’s office, after Vijay completed his story, Pavaki said, “Kill them without getting our hands dirty.”
Vijay smiled and said, “Exactly, and that’s where I need you, Pavaki.”
Pavaki thought for a while and said, “Sir, I have a plan. Can you tell me how much is the bank balance of these journalists?”
Vijay said, “1 crore is the bank balance of each of them. Why?”
“Sir, first we transfer the amount to these hackers. I get my girlfriend back. Then I will make a call to the hackers and these journalists simultaneously. They lift the call and put the phone in their ear. I send a message within 5 seconds of the call. Their phones blow up due to overheated battery or triggered explosives placed within. I have already tested this twice, at my home. It worked. The death of hackers will be a collateral damage. We both achieve what we want. If today a phone in your hand can go off, tomorrow anything can go off. They will stay in their limits. What do you say Sir?”
Vijay grinned and said, “Deal”, and they shook hands.
In the present, Valli got frenzy and screamed, “What was that?”
Pavaki said, “It is a long story. I will tell you later.”
Valli and Pavaki reached the parking on his bike. He received a call from Viraj.
“I have just reached the commissioner’s office. Where are you?”
“I am at the parking.”
They went to her home. Her mom was genuinely worried for her, and felt relieved as soon as she saw Valli. She hugged her. Valli broke the hug forcefully and said, “What is all this for? You will anyways start searching for someone with a government job. Tell me one thing. I love Pavaki, and I want to marry him. Will you agree or not?”
Her mom faced the biggest dilemma of her life. To say yes means to give up her notion altogether. With a lot of difficulty, she said after a sigh, “Yes”.
Valli was surprised. She asked, “Did you say what you just said.”
Her mom said again, “Yes”.
A year later, Valli was caring for her infant in the living room. She kissed him and the infant laughed. Her face lit up. Pavaki came home. Valli saw him and said, “Pavi could you hold him for a minute.”
Pavaki remembered his dream and said, “You said the same words in my dream.”
Valli smiled and asked, “Really?”
He said, “Yes, you did”, and held the infant.
