In the evening…
At Rivan’s house…
Rivan walked into his room holding a water bottle and a few snack packets. Earbuds were plugged into his ears, and loud music was playing.
As soon as he opened the door to his room, he froze.
Ira was sitting on the floor in front of his bed, his laptop placed on top of it. Things were scattered everywhere.
Carefully stepping over the clothes and items on the floor, Rivan quietly moved closer to Ira and suddenly shouted.
Startled, Ira jumped slightly and screamed too.
After taking a few deep breaths, she shouted, “What are you doing?!”
Narrowing his eyes, Rivan replied, “You stole my dialogue, Baby Doll. It looks like you’re trying to steal my laptop too!”
Annoyed, Ira turned her face away and tried entering the password again.
“You imagine too much! Why would I ever need to steal a laptop from someone like you?”
Sitting beside her, Rivan said, “I don’t have the answer to that, but maybe you can answer my question. How did you even get in here? I don’t remember leaving the door open and you sneaking in like a cat.”
Pointing toward the window, Ira replied, “I tried coming like a decent person by ringing the bell, but the useless owner of this house turned out to be deaf! Since you didn’t open the door, I had to come through the window.”
Hearing that, Rivan immediately removed his earbuds.
“Okay, fine, my fault. But are you crazy? What decent person comes through a window? You could’ve called me!”
“I forgot my phone at home,” Ira said while entering yet another wrong password.
Watching her, Rivan said, “My laptop will get locked if you keep entering the wrong password! Give it to me, I’ll unlock it!”
Before he could finish, Ira entered the password again — and the laptop locked. A timer started on the screen.
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Taking the laptop from her hands, Rivan said, “Hey! I told you I’d enter it! Now we’ll have to wait for the timer to end before trying again.”
Looking at her, he added, “What do you even do? There’s not a moment of peace with you!”
Ira rolled her eyes and said softly, almost weakly, “I just… I just wanted to hear Anamika’s voice.”
Rivan went quiet.
Closing the laptop gently, he said, “Baby Doll… we need to be patient.”
Ira remained silent.
Rivan took a deep breath and placed his phone in front of her.
A voice recording began playing:
“You started painting again! You should rest for a few days.”
Then came the faint clinking sound of metal.
After a while, a boy’s voice said, “I told you… you can remove those chains now. Don’t keep wearing them.”
After a few seconds of silence, a girl’s voice responded, “No… I don’t want to remove them.”
Ira immediately said, “That’s Anamika!”
Rivan nodded slightly.
They continued listening.
For a long time, there was only silence. At the beginning, faint footsteps could be heard. After that, just silence — and the very soft sound of chains.
Just as the recording was about to end, the sound of a door opening was heard. Just before it shut, a voice said:
“Fine! Be as stubborn as you want. But eat the food and take the medicines kept there. If you don’t take care of your food and medicine, then I won’t take care of the things and people you love.”
Footsteps echoed for a few seconds… and the recording ended.
Ira grabbed Rivan’s sleeve and asked, “Why is that the only recording?”
Putting his phone back in his pocket, Rivan replied, “There’s nothing important after that. Just silence. Maybe he removed his jacket — the one where we stuck the microphone sticker.”
“Hmmm… maybe,” Ira said, remembering how that morning they had gone to Koyo’s house under the excuse of giving him a thank-you gift. While pretending to pat his back, Rivan had placed a tiny sticker on his jacket. It was small and matched the color of his jacket perfectly, making it nearly impossible to notice from a distance. It even looked childish — no one would suspect it contained a microphone.
Feeling Rivan’s hand on her forehead, Ira looked up.
Smiling, Rivan said, “We have his location now. That sticker also had a GPS. I have data of where Koyo was during different time slots. We might be able to figure out where Anamika is.”
Excited, Ira said, “Then hurry and find out!”
Looking at his laptop, Rivan replied, “That will take time. The data is in my laptop.”
“Oh… I guess rushing really does ruin things,” Ira said innocently.
Seeing her expression, Rivan struggled to control his smile.
Meanwhile
His jacket lay on the bed, and in his hand was the same sticker.
He stared at it, then fell back onto the bed. Looking at the ceiling, he took a deep breath.
“How na?ve those kids are… They thought I wouldn’t notice a spy sticker. I knew about it. But I felt there was no point hiding things anymore.” he thought.
He placed the sticker back onto his jacket.
“I knew this day would come. Anamika… you are a witness that I tried my best to prevent this day.”
Taking another deep breath, he walked out of the room while murmuring.
“Now that this day stands so eagerly outside my door, I want to end it as soon as possible. Aditya… we will meet very soon.”
In that same dark roomIn her hand was a letter written by Koyo:
“Remove your chains. They are not letting your wounds heal. If you think wearing them will remind you not to dream of the outside world, then let me tell you — it’s useless. What is destined will happen. Don’t worsen your injuries for it. This is the last time I’m telling you — remove those chains.”
Anamika looked at the key lying near her cage and asked herself: “Why did he leave a letter to say this? He could’ve told me directly when he sat silently in this very room. He used to talk to me even when I refused to talk to him in the past…”
She looked toward the door.
“I don’t know what you are planning to do… but I do know this — you are going to hurt them.”
A tear rolled down from her eye.
